Paper Ship: Bismarck, HMV, 1:250
Discussion
4321go said:
I admire your perseverance, Doc. We can be certain that the eventual result will be stunning!
Thanks! It’s not the first time I’ve re-done a ship hull, although nothing like this size - the Corvette sides were wrongly printed, so I had to get another and fettle them. In fact I think HMV sent another one of those too after I pointed out the error. Zoobeef said:
Gutting to have to go back over old ground. Must feel good to know its progress from now.
Is it the engine on the left in one of your pictures?
Yes, I remembered it was in a box and thought it deserved to be on show. So I cleaned it up and put it with my Wilesco engines.Is it the engine on the left in one of your pictures?
The steam roller is yet another project that needs finishing.
Tried a new technique for the deck joints this time. The planking is staggered, so any straight cuts/joints are obvious:
...but if you angle the scalpel blade so the chamfer on the rule side is vertical, or gives a slight undercut, it gets rid of the angled edges to the paper, which reduces the shadow that the resulting trough in the surface causes:
I think someone on a paper model forum mentioned it on my Corvette thread, but I didn’t fully appreciate what they were on about. Hopefully I can glue it neatly enough.
...but if you angle the scalpel blade so the chamfer on the rule side is vertical, or gives a slight undercut, it gets rid of the angled edges to the paper, which reduces the shadow that the resulting trough in the surface causes:
I think someone on a paper model forum mentioned it on my Corvette thread, but I didn’t fully appreciate what they were on about. Hopefully I can glue it neatly enough.
So this time - obviously - I’m using a different method of fitting the deck. The kit has you slot horizontal tabs in the four mid-ship deck pieces into corresponding slots cut in the vertical bits of the sub-structure. This makes it impossible to pre-assemble the decks and ‘drop’ the assembly into place in one go. I wanted to match the parts’ deck planking accurately on the bench, Using the new undercut joint method, then fit it.
For the record this was the sequence:
1) Cut all horizontal tabs off. These will be replaced once complete, to support the now unsupported edges.
2) Slightly relieve all non deck printed joint lines by slightly chamfering away from the joints, in order to give as much lateral flexibility as possible.
3) Start with the rear deck, and precisely match the first two mid-ship decks to each side. Don’t secure the mid-beam lateral joint.
4) Add the second mid-ship deck pieces to the first, again precisely matching the planking, and not securing the lateral joints.
5) Drop this assembly onto the sub-structure and check fit and alignment with centreline, bulkhead edges and gun turret wells.
6) Align and secure all lateral joints.
This is as far as I got:
The deck is very slightly wavy, but should glue flat enough. I might make and temporarily fit the primary and secondary turret mounting cylinders, which will precisely align the deck with the corresponding wells in the hull substructure. Assuming everything aligns, I’ll then UHU the deck in place.
After that, the two front deck pieces will be added. I’ve left these until last, because the joint lines are angled, and are covered by breakwaters, making alignment less critical. Any length adjustment required can be made when fixing these two pieces.
That’s the theory anyway.
For the record this was the sequence:
1) Cut all horizontal tabs off. These will be replaced once complete, to support the now unsupported edges.
2) Slightly relieve all non deck printed joint lines by slightly chamfering away from the joints, in order to give as much lateral flexibility as possible.
3) Start with the rear deck, and precisely match the first two mid-ship decks to each side. Don’t secure the mid-beam lateral joint.
4) Add the second mid-ship deck pieces to the first, again precisely matching the planking, and not securing the lateral joints.
5) Drop this assembly onto the sub-structure and check fit and alignment with centreline, bulkhead edges and gun turret wells.
6) Align and secure all lateral joints.
This is as far as I got:
The deck is very slightly wavy, but should glue flat enough. I might make and temporarily fit the primary and secondary turret mounting cylinders, which will precisely align the deck with the corresponding wells in the hull substructure. Assuming everything aligns, I’ll then UHU the deck in place.
After that, the two front deck pieces will be added. I’ve left these until last, because the joint lines are angled, and are covered by breakwaters, making alignment less critical. Any length adjustment required can be made when fixing these two pieces.
That’s the theory anyway.
Primary and secondary turret base cylinders assembled and drying while weighted in alignment:
They corresponded pretty well to the cut-outs in the hull, so they’ll make good dowels for aligning the deck when securing it. Still in two minds about trying to cure the slight waviness in the deck - seems it might glue down, but if it doesn’t it’ll be too late to fix it...
They corresponded pretty well to the cut-outs in the hull, so they’ll make good dowels for aligning the deck when securing it. Still in two minds about trying to cure the slight waviness in the deck - seems it might glue down, but if it doesn’t it’ll be too late to fix it...
I’m a bit paranoid about fitting the deck after last time.
The primary and secondary turret mounting cylinders are a nightmare to keep round, and accurately adjusting their mounting holes in the deck is tricky with a scalpel. With this in mind I 3D printed some tapered plugs for the mounts, which keep them circular while they’re being mounted to the deck (important to avoid local warping). I also printed a pair of tapered reamers (sandpaper glued to the cone sides) to adjust the deck holes uniformly:
Result - pretty much as perfect a fit as you could get with paper, plus they will form accurate location dowels for the deck/hull side attachment:
The primary and secondary turret mounting cylinders are a nightmare to keep round, and accurately adjusting their mounting holes in the deck is tricky with a scalpel. With this in mind I 3D printed some tapered plugs for the mounts, which keep them circular while they’re being mounted to the deck (important to avoid local warping). I also printed a pair of tapered reamers (sandpaper glued to the cone sides) to adjust the deck holes uniformly:
Result - pretty much as perfect a fit as you could get with paper, plus they will form accurate location dowels for the deck/hull side attachment:
Turn7 said:
I think you need to start taking this seriuosly Doc, stop playing at it....... lol
Id love to have a 3d printer just to knock up random things like that....
Yep, a bit overkill, but since I’ve got a printer why not use it? This weekend I’ve used it for a prototype light sabre for my son, some mirrors for a model car and the “Bismarck butt plugs”).Id love to have a 3d printer just to knock up random things like that....
dr_gn said:
Turn7 said:
I think you need to start taking this seriuosly Doc, stop playing at it....... lol
Id love to have a 3d printer just to knock up random things like that....
Yep, a bit overkill, but since I’ve got a printer why not use it? This weekend I’ve used it for a prototype light sabre for my son, some mirrors for a model car and the “Bismarck butt plugs”).Id love to have a 3d printer just to knock up random things like that....
Turn7 said:
dr_gn said:
Turn7 said:
I think you need to start taking this seriuosly Doc, stop playing at it....... lol
Id love to have a 3d printer just to knock up random things like that....
Yep, a bit overkill, but since I’ve got a printer why not use it? This weekend I’ve used it for a prototype light sabre for my son, some mirrors for a model car and the “Bismarck butt plugs”).Id love to have a 3d printer just to knock up random things like that....
No offence to dr_gn's excellent work, but a cardboard ship model always reminds me of this:
The front fell off
Let's hope yours does better
.
The front fell off
Let's hope yours does better
.AW111 said:
No offence to dr_gn's excellent work, but a cardboard ship model always reminds me of this:
The front fell off
Let's hope yours does better.
Strange you should say that because HMV do a model of an oil tanker:The front fell off
Let's hope yours does better
.
...and the front does actually fall off:
It looks a good model now I look at it more carefuly than I did before.
So the time has come for deck fitting part deux.
There was a slight warp in the deck, so I chased it around with various rulers and weights until it was around a secondary turret hole. I the sliced the deck locally through the hole and could then see the extent of the mis-match:
Then marked and sliced it using the bevelled edge technique:
Backed up with plain printer paper:
Not forgetting to add the deck steps:
Then crunch time - sticking the deck, this time with UHU. I worked middle to edges, front to back in stages:
Despite daubing the substructure in glue with a cocktail stick, no wrinkles!
I re-reamed the modified deck hole so it was circular again, and temporarily fitted the turret mounting cylinders with their jigs:
Still to add the front two bits, but should be a trivial task. The cut-and-shut didn’t fully get rid of the warp in the end, but it’s in a fairly unobtrusive place, so it’s manageable now I think.
There was a slight warp in the deck, so I chased it around with various rulers and weights until it was around a secondary turret hole. I the sliced the deck locally through the hole and could then see the extent of the mis-match:
Then marked and sliced it using the bevelled edge technique:
Backed up with plain printer paper:
Not forgetting to add the deck steps:
Then crunch time - sticking the deck, this time with UHU. I worked middle to edges, front to back in stages:
Despite daubing the substructure in glue with a cocktail stick, no wrinkles!
I re-reamed the modified deck hole so it was circular again, and temporarily fitted the turret mounting cylinders with their jigs:
Still to add the front two bits, but should be a trivial task. The cut-and-shut didn’t fully get rid of the warp in the end, but it’s in a fairly unobtrusive place, so it’s manageable now I think.
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