Monika - JSC 1:250 Passenger Ferry

[redhorse]

In between cutting out and putting together track links in my current tank build I've decided to take a break with a simple little ferry. This is the Monika, a ship built in 1965 and based out of Gdansk.

This is my first attempt at re-scaling. The kit is in 1:200 and waterline. But I've decided I want all my waterline ships to be 1:250. I first tried scanning it in and then printing it at reduced scaling. I couldn't get that to work very well and the resulting prints came out quite blurry. Then I tried just using the printer as a simple photo copier and that worked quite well. The colors aren't exact, but they are pretty close so I'm happy.

It's a tiny little kit with four 6" x 8.5" card pages of parts. These fit perfectly on two sheets of 8.5" x 11" when scaled down to 1:250. There is no bottom panel and no laminating. From what I've read, I guess that's pretty much standard for JSC. Makes it nice on the wrists.

Also, there are parts to make this into 4 sister ships of the Monika so you can have a whole fleet. Now if someone made the Star Ferries of Hong Kong like that I would make the whole fleet!

Here are the first pictures, a very nice break from track links!

[redhorse]

Got the fenders on. Only two layers are needed in 1:250 instead the three provided in the kit.

[Don Boose]

Nice work, Jim! Those fenders look a bit fiddly to cut out but the end result is very good.

Don

[redhorse]

Thanks Don! They were a bit fiddly and next time I think I'll laminate and cut once rather than gluing two tiny strips together.

The cabin's on now...

[Barry]

Looks good

[redhorse]

Got the open air seats done last night. Now it's time to laminate the roof and cut out more track links for my tank.

[eibwarrior]

Jim,

That's quite a detailed little boat for an "in between" project. I salute you for the nice work. Very clean job on all those little benches...

Keep us posted!

[Zathros]

This ship looks a lot like Lilla Weneda. Are they sister ships?

[redhorse]

This ship looks a lot like Lilla Weneda. Are they sister ships?

I think they are. I was actually at digitalnavy.com last night looking for Lilla Weneda to see if it would down-scale easily to 1:200 for a full hull ferry and started comparing. They seem pretty much identical down to the masts and nav light locations, but the Digital Navy model is a lot more detailed, and free...

[redhorse]

A bit more progress to post on this. I didn't like the way the front roof looked after notching it for the compound curve. The notches were too big so I filled the gaps with paper clay and painted with gouache. I think next time I have to do that, I'm going to skip the paper purist thing and just use wood or modeling putty or something like that. The paper clay is kind of difficult to work with.

[Zathros]

I think they are. I was actually at digitalnavy.com last night looking for Lilla Weneda to see if it would down-scale easily to 1:200 for a full hull ferry and started comparing. They seem pretty much identical down to the masts and nav light locations, but the Digital Navy model is a lot more detailed, and free...

I don't know about scaling down but I scaled it up to 200% of it's original size. I have a build thread called 200% Lilla Weneda here. I just have to finish the props and rudders. It is a lovely boat.

[APA-168]

Looks fantastic Jim, very nifty little kit.

Yes, Lilla Weneda and Monika are/were near sisters. Externally they were identical, but Weneda was a SZ-600 with a 600 HP engine, and Monika was a later SZ-390 with a 390 hp engine. I'm building the Digital Navy version now. I considered scaling the kit down but when I did it looked so tiny! Very nice job on your version.

Here's an interesting thread on another forum regarding this class of ferry:

Forum : Shipspotting.com - Ship Images, Ship Photos - The worlds largest archive (http://www.shipspotting.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=1376&forum=1#forumpost16230)

[redhorse]

I have a build thread called 200% Lilla Weneda here. I just have to finish the props and rudders. It is a lovely boat.

Zathros, I just checked out your build thread, your ship looks great!!

APA-168 - thanks for all the info, very interesting and I like that ship spotting website. I learn so much stuff through these build threads.:)

[Zathros]

Thanks!! I am not a paper purists either. Sometimes you gotta use what works. Wood is a more primitive form of paper so I don't feel it's cheating. I had to use plastic for the windows.etc. Your model looks great. Those seats must've been a pain. They were for me, I ended doubling them up for strength..

[redhorse]

The seats were kind of a pain actually. There are a lot of little fiddly parts on this thing, but at least they are all pretty simple shapes. I used that Canon matte photo paper to print this on and this is the second model I've used it on. The printing quality is incredible, but the strength of the paper leaves something to be desired. It also doesn't curve very well, against or with the grain. I don't think I'm going to use it for modeling again.

Oh well, other than that it's going together quite nicely. Almost done.

[birder]

That's a nice little model!

[redhorse]

Thanks Glen!

I finished her up today. Overall, it fit pretty well and was fun to build. It came out to 142 parts. (Yes, my favorite Sesame St. character was always The Count). Now back to finishing up my tank tracks...

[redhorse]

And here are a few shots outside with my other 1:250 ships.

[APA-168]

Great collection excellent set of builds. I started the Emiliana some time ago but never got around to finishing it. Not often you see one built up :)

[redhorse]

Thanks! Emiliana was my first paper model, between breaks I think it took almost 2 years to finish...

[Zathros]

Nice fleet you got going there. I really like the Emiliana.