JSC 1/400 HMS Nelson/HMS Begonia

[CDNGUY68]

The progress continues...

The first picture shows the main conning tower inner structure, along with the two upper decks. The deck pieces are double thickness and could stand from the mirroring technique for ease of cutting and alignment. The top deck has placements for the lower gun directors & radar and the structure to support the upper gun director/radar and the fore mast. There are also the obligatory spots for some light AA guns forward and protruding aft on each side.

The second pic shows the cladding piece ready to go on. I did a little colouring on the inside with a coloured pencil, but the texture of the paper made it a little rougher than I would have preferred. I'm sure there's a secret to doing this well, but since this is designed as a learning project I'm trying out things as I go.

(Side note: I also have some watercolour pencils...anyone have experience using these with paper kits?)

[CDNGUY68]

Here's the final installment in this round.

The first pic shows the conning tower attached with the armoured wheelhouse now attached to the forward part of the second deck. You definitely want to try and adjust the fit of this piece once the cladding is attached (I wound up starting at the centre/forward and working my way aft one panel at a time.) Looks fine from the front, but from astern it's, well, not quite so pretty.

The second pic shows a bit of a fit problem with the cladding once you get it wrapped around the conning tower (centre rectangle). Mine had a gap of 1-2mm. I did my best to minimize it, but there's not much more room for improvement there. The piece at the bottom (68) illustrates a bit of haste on my part not to check the fit properly, (circle to the left) but also the risk of no bracing in the second deck structure below (ellipse to the right). Any downward pressure can put a nasty slant on this piece. Frustratingly, the piece looked nice and square when I checked it during assembly, but it wound up with a dreadful fit. I *think* I'll be able to adjust the level of the piece that goes on top (70) and the platform for more light AA guns, but because I know it's there it's gonna drive me bananas.

So...that's all for now. All comments, hints, and suggestions are welcome.

[CDNGUY68]

@doctormax: That clip really works well, but it seems like that style is harder to find at my local office supply big box store. I'd love to get some different sizes. I also have a long, flat-surfaced spring hair clip that my wife wasn't using. Originally, it had a slight curve but I flattened it out to function like a simple set of forceps. Very handy for holding glue tabs in place. Will have to post a photo in the next round.

[marco1971]

Mark , welcome to the mini world of 1:400 . excellent construction

Marco

[CDNGUY68]

Originally Posted by marco1971

Mark , welcome to the mini world of 1:400 . excellent construction

Marco

Gracias, Marco. It's been an interesting experience for sure. I've worked 1/700 in pl*stic and had no problems, but the shift to a malleable medium like paper is a challenge. I'm learning a lot as I go, so that's never a bad thing.

[CDNGUY68]

I had a small Eureka/Oh Sh** moment during some of my build time yesterday.

To recap, I had built much of the superstructure already, but still had to put a number of the bulwarks on them. I then realized that it probably would have been easier to build the decks and gun platforms WITH the bulwarks on before adding them to the model proper.

To test my theory, I carefully removed the gun platform above part 64 and fitted the bulwark to it, starting at the centre notch and moving outwards with the CA glue. That seemed to work nicely. So....I will be building any similar deck/bulwark components as a unit first from this point onwards.

Sadly, this also means - in hindsight - that I made a real mess of the deckhouse of HMS Begonia by not building in this method but I might be able to salvage it from my scans assuming I have enough of the right weight of paper kicking around, and assuming I can saw off the existing deckhouse without wrecking everything in the process.

For Don Boose, I think this is one of those JSC Building Tricks you'll likely want to file away.

My final realization is that I'm likely going to have to invest in one of those Fiskars circle cutters in the short-term because my freehand cutting is OK, but still not as precise as I'd like.

(I keep consoling myself by saying that this means I'll produce a much nicer HMS Dreadnought when I start building her, but it still burns a little that I didn't figure it out beforehand).

[CDNGUY68]

After a short pause for station identification, I returned to my build/butcher of HMS Nelson.

I think I've managed a slightly cleaner set-up of the gun shields/bulwarks on these platforms...but only slightly.

Also showing here is the aft deckhouse which sits as the basis for the main tripod mast (the rear legs go to the small circle marks just abaft the deckhouse). This was really hard to get square, more because of my clumsy fingers than anything else. Also visible is a view from forward showing the notch where the main mast will sit.

Aft gun platforms and remaining work on the deckhouse to follow.

[CDNGUY68]

This gun platform is one of the trickier things to put together in this kit. If we start with the platform itself, it sits above the aft superstructure on three cylinders. The challenging thing about this piece is that it is two pieces glued flat together and has an integrated bulwark/shield that is supposed to be folded up and glued. Hopefully the pictures tell the tale, because heaven knows the instructions don't. I did my best to cut very carefully but I suspect the tolerances in this older JSC kit aren't as tight as one would like.

First pic shows the funnel. The dotted line above the printer ladder is where the searchlight platform goes. I'm saving that piece of madness for later.

Second pic shows the bulwark around the deck of the aft superstructure. The directions are NOT clear on how this is to be attached. Only a really close look at the elevation and part callout on the kit cover showed how this piece went on. While I'd figured out the aft-most connections, given the other similar constructions, logic would dictate that it wraps around the dark grey area. Not so. I would also like to point out that the small AA platform just hanging in the air above the main deck was no treat to put together. The three white circles note the position of the supports for the aft gun deck.

Third pic shows the underside of the gun deck platform after gluing the center pieces together. I have also added the three legs/cylinders. This is fairly zoomed in, so the flaws look worse than they are (but the do keep me humble) The white pieces you see underneath are from the upper piece. The outer areas are what get folded/glued into the bulwark/shield.

Fourth pic shows the cone pieces cut and ready for glueing. I did these freehand. very. carefully. I *think* I'm getting better....

Final pic in this post shows the upper side of the platform once the sides are all glued up. You can see the two holes I punched through for the two aft legs of the tripod mast. The square area (105) is part of the after deckhouse and the circular spot (146) is for a gun director turret. The two other spots (135) are for AA guns.

[CDNGUY68]

A few more shots of the platform and the build-up of the aft deckhouse. I will point out that it's a really tight fit in there. I thought it might have been a function of the 1/400 kit, bit I checked the diagrams of my 1/200 FLY HMS Rodney and it's just as tight there...so I guess it was just like that on the real ship.

Only a couple of pics here. I took more but my zoom on the iPhone is sufficiently detailed that it really does look like I butchered it, so I'll save my ego and your eyes in the process. Suffice it to say that I have some edge cleanup to do. ;-)

Second pic shows the wrapping of the bulwark in place around he upper portion of the aft deckhouse.

So that's where things sit for the moment. The aft gun director is mounted as well, so I have a few small superstructure/deck things to add then it's onto the guns. All of them. Haven't decided if I'll mount the mast before or after...I'm open to suggestions...

[Royaloakmin]

There is no substitute for practice and a sharp knife. You are progressing nicely, Mark. What corner of GTA are you in?