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RMS Carpathia, Scratchbuild, 1/500 Scale


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56 minutes ago, Redshift said:

Excellent work there Mr Bandsaw, that milliput bow wave looks properly splooshy (official nautical term, honest).

Indeed! I often write properly splooshy under sea state in our MVS logs.

 

Martian 👽

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The Cruel Sea

 

At the end of post #251 'The Easy Way Out' I thought I was fairly close to having this sea-scape sorted out. But then three cruel things happened...

 

1.  @Michael M  used this very thread to remind me that the most widely recommended finishing medium for seascapes is liquitex acrylic medium. I then had to admit that the only reason that I don't use liquitex is because I'm a cheapskate and the local craft supply store only has it in ridiculously expensive 2 litre buckets. Cruel indeed!

 

2. @general melchett posted his RFI of Saratoga powering across the pacific - which not only put my seascape completely to shame but made extensive use of liquitex. A Cruel blow to be shown up by a trench warfare specialist so widely recognised as 'non-nautical'. 

 

 

3. I went to Adelaide and found an art's supply store that sold liquitex in sensible sized bottles for very reasonable prices. Perhaps not cruel 'per-se' but now I had no excuse to not use liquitex. Rework was going to be required...

 

SHnQPGo.jpg

 

So now I looked at my 'accomplishment' to date (vis-a-vis the oggin) and in retrospect thought it looked crumby!  The main issue is that there was no illusion of depth. The froth and foam was obviously just painted onto the surface - it looked completely 2D.

 

e5ifAKy.jpg

 

By the way at this point I had used @Dave Swindell's advice and had finished the seascape using a satin varnish which I thought looked really good - however, all of my modelling buddies  insisted that it had to be finished in high gloss!  So that's what happened in the end. Sorry Dave they outnumbered me!

 

Anyhow - following the General's orders and after reviewing Chris Floodberg's work I waded into the Cruel Sea once again and added some more fluffy foamy wake bits using both cotton wool and some flecks of this fine upholstery rayon.

LQW009P.jpg

 

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I did a bit of work on the bow-wave to make it a bit fluffier! Don't worry, smothering this in liquitex smoothed it down a lot more. 

WmWho1i.jpg

 

I added some torn off shards of tissue paper and paper napkins and smothered them in liquitex. Using a variety of papers worked well as each takes on it's own unique level of opacity and a slightly different shade of white.

qW4HQHm.jpg

 

I liberally blobbed-on about four irregular layers of liquitex medium.

 

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Swirled each one around a bit with a paintbrush... 

 

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and popped as many little bubbles as I could find before letting each layer dry.

 

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Here’s the result!  

 

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And here's the view from ahead - some of the liquitex is still drying in this photo but it's now fully clear.

 

iTWfosV.jpg

 

I hope you like this because the sea-scape is now with the picture framers and if this is no good then it's too damned late! :penguin:

It seems the sea is a cruel master - especially when you are trying to make it out of extruded foam.  

 

Best Regards,

Bandsaw Steve!

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Great result Steve, a big improvement, (I'm sure you won't mind me saying). The cotton works well too. I agree that while the satin finish may look truer to scale I think it makes the scene look a little dead, a bit like full flat varnish on an aircraft doesn't look right, there's always a certain amount of sheen in varying amounts due to the environment and basic physics. Liquitex is excellent stuff and well worth the investment, especially if you can get it for a decent price. Must admit I use it quite sparingly, a lot of the illusion of depth can be created with the painting of the baseboard or, in my case the watercolour paper, (using a lot of different green/grey, blue/grey, inland brown etc tones appropriate to the part of the world you're modelling). Look forward to seeing it in it's finished glory...

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Gidday Steve, I think it looks very good. A calm sea lit by starlight and the ship going like a bat-out-of-hell, which was the case I believe. And I finished the book. I see what you mean by the ice field. Regards, Jeff.

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8 hours ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

3. I went to Adelaide and found an art's supply store that sold liquitex in sensible sized bottles for very reasonable prices. Perhaps not cruel 'per-se' but now I had no excuse to not use liquitex. Rework was going to be required...

 

 

 

Been following this along from the shadows Steve, outstanding work as always.

 

Have you tried Jackson's in Subi? They're about 300m up from the train station on Rockeby Road. Always found them to have what I wanted and not make the wallet have a heart attack. And I know they have a good range of Liquitex.

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2 hours ago, Crayons said:

 

 

Have you tried Jackson's in Subi? They're about 300m up from the train station on Rockeby Road. Always found them to have what I wanted and not make the wallet have a heart attack. And I know they have a good range of Liquitex.

Ok Thanks for that info. Good to know.

I know the store but it’s been ages since I’ve been to Subiaco.

Is that where you get your crayons? 😀

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1 hour ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

Ok Thanks for that info. Good to know.

I know the store but it’s been ages since I’ve been to Subiaco.

Is that where you get your crayons? 😀

Sadly not, I'm only allowed the kids crayons from Big W because of my habit of eating them. 😁

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15 minutes ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

Not really.  I think anyone could eat crayons if they put their mind to it. 🖍 

https://www.amazon.com.au/Wee-Can-Too-Organic-Crayons/dp/B005PO4PM0/ref=mp_s_a_1_fkmrnull_8?keywords=edible+crayons&qid=1555247367&s=gateway&sr=8-8-fkmrnull

 

You’re welcome.

 

Model coming along nicely too!

 

Trevor

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Ventilators

 

With the seascape complete and away at the picture framers I now must resume work on the ship itself.  Like all ships of this period the Carpathia had numerous ventilators - in this case 'cowl ventilators'. These are the big sticky-uppy pipes with a 90 degree curve so that they face forward and scoop up air as the ship moves along.  They are also the same kind that Indiana Jones hid in while the U-Boat crew searched for him in Raiders of the Lost Ark. (See I know my maritime history!)

 

On Carpathia there were three different sizes. Let's call them 'big', 'middle' and 'small' - I hope I'm not confusing any of you with this technical stuff.

 

I had a rummage around the shed and had a small stroke of luck. In this box-set of brass picture framing hooks were two sets of hooks as near as damn to the right diameter for the big and middle sized ventilators and with a convenient 90 degree bend already in place. 

 

KaJvigS.jpg

 

So using a pair of pliers I just snipped off the excess overhanging bit...

 

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and then filed the resulting rather ragged face of the ventilators flat.

 

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I then drilled a fine guide hole in the centre of the ventilator's opening and followed up with larger diameter drill to create...

 

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the appearance of a hollowed out item.

 

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Snipped off the excess threaded screw bit with the pliers.

 

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Painted the whole batch white and...

 

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brush painted the insides red. 

 

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This dealt with the big and middle ventilators.

 

The small ventilators were simply made by 'skillfully' smacking small-diameter brad nails with a hammer 🔨 until they bent through 90 degrees. I then snipped off any excess with pliers and filed the faces down flat - much the same as the big and middle ones. They are too small for me to bother drilling out and I haven't included any photos because it's not that interesting. 

 

Anyhow - the ventilators are now ready to go and I'm feeling renewed confidence that this will be ready for WASMEx.  When I'm getting down to small bits and pieces like this I can't help but think that most of the work is behind me.

 

I wonder how wrong I am this time... 😧

 

Steve

 

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50 minutes ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Gidday Steve, very clever. Two weeks to go? Regards, Jeff.

For me it’s actually nine days to go as I am away from Perth for the working week prior to WASMEx However I think things are under control as I am now further advanced than this thread shows and I have all of next week off work.

 

So.... she should be done by Sunday week...

 

Hopefully...

 

Last year I finished AE2 in time for WASMEx and carried on with the WIP thread for another 6 weeks just so the build was fully documented. I think I might end up doing something similar here.

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Gidday Steve, I look forward to seeing her in the flesh - nautically speaking of course.

 

I was thinking of entering a 1/12 scale model of HMS Victory with full working rigging, or a 1/24 model of IJN Akagi with firing guns and flying aircraft (and lights). Only thinking of it mind. I HAVEN'T ACTUALLY BUILT the models. 😁 Regards, Jeff.

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