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HMAS/m AE2, Scratchbuild


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Disclaimer: Some information provided in the following article may vary from the truth. Naïve people should read no further.:tmi:

 

Nobel Prize

 

In 1895 the Nobel prize was established as a means of rewarding outstanding service to humanity.  To this day, once per year, the prizes continue to be awarded in the following categories:

  • Peace
  • Economics
  • Literature
  • Physics
  • Chemistry
  • Medicine
  • Scale Modelling

In 2017 I was fortunate enough to win the 1.1 million US dollar 'Services to Scale Modelling' Nobel prize. The citation read as follows:

 

'The half lamination technique represents a significant breakthrough in the field of scale modelling . It allows the rapid and accurate transfer of 2 dimensional surface details onto a model with minimal expense or difficulty.  Bandsaw Steve has developed this method and following its successful use on a 1/48 scale Mig 15,  he has advanced its application into the demanding field of maritime modelling'.

 

Gosh how I blushed!

 

Here's how I won the prize...

 

Start with a set of plans that show the 2D details that you want to transfer to the model.

IMG_8884

 

Mark out the details in question - in this case I have traced around and shaded the hatches on the casemate using fine black pen.

IMG_8864

 

Cut out the areas in question from the plans and lay them on a piece of plain paper.

IMG_8869

 

Place the plans and the plain paper inside a laminating envelope.

IMG_8870

 

Pass the whole lot through a laminator - make sure that the laminator is at full temperature as you need a good strong bond between the plastic and the paper.

IMG_8876

 

Now take out the laminated product and cut out the original piece of paper that you were interested in (the bits that had the plans).

IMG_8879

 

As you cut these bits out they will separate from the piece of paper that was laid under them.  

IMG_8880

 

Leaving this - a single piece of the original plans with a single layer of laminate over the top.  The paper has been 'half laminated'. If it had been 'fully laminated' it would have laminate on both sides - but you don't want laminate on both sides in this case.

IMG_8882

 

Now you can measure off the position of each detail and...

IMG_8904

 

plot the position on the model.

IMG_8906

 

Use scissors to cut out each half-laminated detail - here, it's the hatches at the very bow of the vessel.

IMG_8909

 

Use PVA (or superglue if you prefer) to stick each half-laminated detail onto the surface in question.  Make sure you get each one in the correct spot. The surface-to-surface grip is quite good because the bottom half of each detail is paper, not plastic. We are effectively gluing paper to primed wood so the bond is pretty firm.

IMG_4214

 

The top surface of each detail is smooth laminated plastic - so it makes for a nice finish. It has to be primed however as finishing paints will not stick to laminating plastic. Here I've just sprayed a layer of 'Mr Hobby' primer onto the details. It works fine.

IMG_4221

 

Here's what the stern section looks like with various little hatches and bits and pieces added.  Note that the thickness of the half laminated details are probably just a touch 'too thick' for the true scale thickness - but I quite like the look and it will probably  save me having to use a final weathering wash to 'bring out' the surface details.

IMG_4222

My main concern with this method is that the paper and the plastic might slowly delaminate over time - but, one year on, and the panels on my Mig15 are still as good as new so I'm hoping that's not going to be a problem.

 

Don't tell the Nobel prize committee, but the main advantage in this technique is that it is good for lazy modellers who want to get accurate surface detail onto their model with the minimum of fuss.  The entire process above took about 1.5 hours - the slowest part being waiting for the laminator to warm up. It's a really old unit and I had to wait about 15 minutes before it reached full temperature.

 

Right - I'm off to spend my millions!

See you later. Steve

 

 

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But,surely,your process involves the bonding of different materials to each other, this involves both chemistry, physics and a bit of wizardry, I suggest you get on to them ask for the other 2 million you are owed.

 

BTW I bought some of that Tamiya PLA you mentioned. It is just thin plastic card,despite their fancy name and price tag. But the 0.2mm might be very useful for plating larger models,it is about 8 thou and so falls between the normal 10 thou and the really thin 5 thou that Evergreen sell,so should glue better and be less likely the melt if too much glue is used. Still useful for anyone that scratchbuilds, even for the odd kit builder that likes to mod.

 

mtd

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Hi Mollythedog,

 

I suspect that you are right, Tamiya PLA paper probably is just sheet plastic, but I will mention that the stuff I bought is 0.14mm not the 0.2mm sheet that you have got.

 

This stuff feels more flexible and ‘gossamer’ than any other plastic sheeting I have used.

Perhaps I just haven’t yet come across Evergreen’s thinnest product.

 

I agree with you about the price. It’s not cheap!

 

 

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Plating

 

Unlike on most modern submarines, E-class hulls displayed some prominent plating. I'm guessing that these plates were either an artefact of the contemporary construction methods or were there to provide additional strength in some critical areas.  In my view, this surface texture adds character to the vessel and will add interest to the model. It has to go on.

 

On the top of each saddle tank, just on or above the surface-trim water-line there is a single elongated plate that I wish to recreate.  On the photograph below I have added some crude red lines to indicate the bits that I'm talking about.

IMG_4165_LI

 

Initially I was going to use my Nobel prize-winning half-lamination technique for this, but I decided that the resulting plate would look too prominent and too thick.  Instead, I have turned to Tamiya's thinnest PLA plastic (0.14mm).  I think that this stuff, as per MollytheDog's comment above,  really is just super-thin plastic sheeting - nevertheless I can say that it really is super-thin and so for creating a streamlined surface detail like this one, it's very good.

 

Here I've cut out a pattern for the shape and stuck it onto some PLA plastic with a bit of 'UHU Stic' glue - the same stuff kids use at school.  I still haven't got any of that spray-on photo adhesive  yet, but I'll get some one day...

IMG_4223

 

Anyway, obviously enough, once the paper pattern is stuck on I just cut it out with scissors.  The PLA Plastic Paper really is like paper in this regard.

IMG_4224

 

Once cut to shape, I threw the whole lot into a sink with some luke warm sudsy water and the paper lifted off easily leaving nice clean plastic.

IMG_4228

 

Then the two plates got stuck on with a bit of super glue.

IMG_4239

 

Alongside each of these large long bits of plating there are four little ovalish plates.  I really don't know what these are for but think that they might be removable access points for access to flood control valves or some such. Whatever they are they are quite visible (there's one at the tip of the burgundy pencil in the photo below) so they have to go on too.

IMG_8861

 

 I knocked out eight small circles of PLA plastic using my little disk punching tool. Ideal!

IMG_4250

 

Then used a razor blade to trim them as shown.

IMG_4252

 

After a bit more rounding and trimming I ended up with this.  Note that number 8 in the sequence below has had a bit too much knocked off it and had to be replaced.

IMG_4257

 

Carefully scale off the location of each of these little blobs - and glue them on.

IMG_4264

 

Leaving this...

IMG_4269

 

As you can see, there are also some carefully positioned new panels on the side of the casemate.  Next posting there will be a myriad of minor details to go onto the hull.

 

Slowly making progress on this one.

 

Best Regards,

Steve

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Hello Barside,  

 

Part of the reason I am posting all of this is to show people that there’s no real mystery or magic in basic scratchbuilding. I think nearly anyone with a few kit sets under their belt could build what I’m making. That’s why some of these posts are almost embarrassingly basic. 👍

 

RichO’s work on the other hand...well...that’s in another league! 😲

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I think people generally think it’s more difficult than it is. In any case, if a piece doesn’t work out just throw it away and have another go! 

 

Truth be be told - on this project the original casemate ended up in the ‘spare bits of wood’ box. I concealed the worst of the debacle from my Britmodeller friends! 😬

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Steve, I would say you are completely correct. IMHO one of the most important "skills" is being prepared to try something,and being equally prepared to stop,and try again. This is part of the learning process, and can be,at times, the most fun-problem solving and thinking outside the box. Of course for kit building it is meant to have already been done for you (supposedly) but it is a very important part of scratch building. And,quite often, the "mk 2" is better than the first effort.

 

And you are not alone when it comes to mistakes  and what gets concealed either-ask me how I know.....

 

mtd

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I totally agree with the two statements above. It really is not that difficult especially if you start with something relatively simple and build your confidence. If you look back through my posts you will see I have posted a collection of Mk1, Mk2  ... through to the finish product.

 

On ‎22‎/‎01‎/‎2018 at 09:31, Bandsaw Steve said:

if a piece doesn’t work out just throw it away and have another go! 

 

 

So true it's not like you've mucked up part of a kit. There's plenty more wood, plastic, wire whatever.

 

9 hours ago, mollythedog said:

And,quite often, the "mk 2" is better than the first effort.

 

So I'm not the only one who has found this .......

 

a quote I believe from Winston Churchill

" Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm "

 

Kev

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Here’s another thing!

 

I sometimes think people (subliminally at least) think scratchbuilding is difficult because it would be really difficult to scratchbuild to the same standard that they might build a kit.

 

Well it would be really difficult!

If I had wanted the ‘best’ possible Mig15 model I would have built the Tamiya kit and added a heap of extra after-market gear. The outcome would have been heaps ‘better’ than my scratchbuilt model, but that’s not really a problem.

 

I knew when I started the project that I wouldn’t reach ‘Tamiya standard’ so was not concerned by the various imperfections in the final product - I just say they add character!

Truth be told I surprised myself with how well it turned out - which just goes back to the original point...I don’t think it’s quite as difficult as many people imagine.

 

If you feel like having a crack at it then have a crack!

 

 

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Hull details - including some more of the dreaded ovals!

 

One of the things that I've noticed recently is that whoever draws submarine plans often show heaps of interior detail while almost completely ignoring the exterior.  The photograph below shows a good example. The plans from the RAN historical website show a full cut-away of AE2 but almost nothing of the surface detail.  I guess that the assumption is that there will be very little detail on the surface of a submarine and that to make the drawings 'worthwhile' they need to be cut-away. From my selfish point of view, as one building an exterior-only model this is a pain in the arthritis...

 

IMG_6497

 

in a way these drawings are  'too good' for my purposes - they contain too much information! So instead I have to view and interpret the photographs.  Oh well - no real harm done... Worse things happen at sea!

 

IMG_4272

 

At least there are some quite good photographs on the public record. In this case to 'interpret' the surface detail all I've done is use a fine permanent marker to draft on anything that I want to reproduce on the hull.

 

By the way, the little white strips on the 'step down' on the forward casement are just more PLA plastic, I stuck them on straight after the last post.  There is clearly some linear texture in this area in period photos but I could not work out exactly what this feature is - my guess is that these are just wooden rungs placed there to stop people slipping. That's how I've represented them anyway.

 

IMG_4276

 

The hulls of these vessels were riveted - to my knowledge there was no welding in WW1 submarines.  As I understand it structural hull welding was cutting-edge technology in World War 2, and was treated with great suspicion in submariner circles.  Anyway some of these 'rivets' appear to be just great big structural bolts with heads sticking out onto the visible surface.  Such things are easy to make a basic representation of, just stretch some sprue...

 

IMG_4279

 

Cut off a few mm,  and stick it on with some superglue.  Once the glue is firm, sand or snip away any excess.

 

IMG_4280

 

There were several more rivets on the casemate. Here are some more that I've stuck on - this time using fine evergreen plastic rods rather than stretched sprue.

 

IMG_4303

 

I then used some of these very high-quality shears to snip off the excess plastic. These snippers are specifically made for cutting parts from plastic kitset sprues.  They cut plastic like a hot knife through butter.

 

IMG_4304

 

Leaving this.

 

IMG_4306

 

Dotted along the casemate at various intervals are these little oval-shaped openings. I'm not sure exactly what they are but they need to go on as they are quite visible. As Hendie says above, ovals can be a bit tricky - but these ones are pretty simple to get right. Just find a piece of evergreen tube that's the right size...

 

IMG_4327

 

boil some water...

 

IMG_4313

 

dunk the plastic tube into it while the water is still as hot as possible...

 

IMG_4314

 

and after about a minute, pull the tube out and stick it in a vice as shown.

 

IMG_4317

 

You can either leave it to cool gradually while in the vice or cool the plastic by plunging it into a cup of cold water. I chose the latter because it reminded me of how the Vikings used to quench newly cast swords by plunging the red hot blade into the body of a slave!  I have not posted the photos as it might be too upsetting.

 

IMG_4318

 

Either way, you end up with an oval section tube as shown.

 

IMG_4328

 

This tube can then be cut into little slices - like cutting slices of bread off a loaf.

 

IMG_4333

 

After a bit of sanding to get them down to an appropriate thickness they can then be stuck onto the submarine in all of the right spots, or at least as close I can eyeball off the photos.

 

IMG_4337

 

And here's where we are up to now.  Soon it will be time for a bit more paint on the hull but I think we still have one or two more posts to go first.

 

Best Regards,

Bandsaw Steve

 

 

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nice detailing. I've used that method for creating ovals myself a few times (actually without the hot water as the kitchen is too far from the modeling cave)

I'm a bit concerned about the permanent marker through  - I've seen some comments about the ink working it's way through paint over time.  Being the big cissy that I am, I'd probably go pencil, just to be on the safe side.

 

The detail parts are really making the model pop now

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The devil is in the detail and it's the detail that makes it...

 

 

5 hours ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

I then used some of these very high-quality shears to snip off the excess plastic. These snippers are specifically made for cutting parts from plastic kitset sprues.  They cut plastic like a hot knife through butter.

 

If anyone is wondering how to get them all the same length. I use a piece of plastic card of the correct length/depth. Drill a hole slightly oversize place over the rivet and snip/slice or sand down to the card. Et voila all the same length.

 

Kev

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3 hours ago, hendie said:

... I'm a bit concerned about the permanent marker through  - I've seen some comments about the ink working it's way through paint over time. ...

Guilty as charged!  Most recently, I used a red Sharpie permanent marker on my Elco build to mark the hull side vent locations.  The red bled thru the grey primer coat sprayed over the marker.  I ended up having to remove the primer & marker & stop the bleeding. :(  I know some model aircraft builders have used black permanent markers without issue, so it could be just a red thing.

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1 hour ago, JohnWS said:

I know some model aircraft builders have used black permanent markers without issue, so it could be just a red thing.

 

'Fraid not John.  I've seen a few posts about the subject and color doesn't seem to matter.   This post by Rato Marczak is very interesting, if somewhat frightening.

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Hmmmm...

 

Hendie,

Good Point about the permanent marker. I hadn’t thought of that. Like you say - pencil from now on!

 

Longshanks,

Good suggestion with regards to setting all of the rivet heads to the same height. Fortunately all of mine are still standing slightly too proud of the surface so I can still give your method a try.

 

I Always appreciate everyone’s input and encouragement. 👍 Thanks again!

 

 

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On the permanent marker issue, I tried using a sharpie a while back for marking walk area lines on a wing.  Hen spray it over & it comes through.  Can look quite effective if you know it will come through & plan for it

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