PaperModelers.com

Go Back   PaperModelers.com > Card Models > Model Builds > Ships and watercraft

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 09-04-2011, 11:51 AM
CDNGUY68's Avatar
CDNGUY68 CDNGUY68 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Greater Toronto Area
Posts: 218
Total Downloaded: 163.85 MB
Post JSC 1/400 HMS Nelson/HMS Begonia

This isn't *really* a build thread since I'm providing updates while the build is in progress. This is my first attempt at a commercial kit (many thanks to papercut for realizing that this and a few other kits were surplus to his needs ). Because I did promise papercut on purchase that I would build what I bought, I tip my hat to him in this thread.

General Comments

I will add photos is subsequent posts, but I wanted to add a few observations on the kit first.

I do like JSC for their relative simplicity when compared to other kits. I'm not yet ready to tackle a full-hull kit, so being able to worry about waterline-only is a plus for me at this stage. I was able to obtain the English-language instructions - saving me from a crash course in Polish - and I was off to the races.

The paper in my kit was clean, crisp and of identical weight throughout. The parts layouts were simple with sizes ranging from the two-piece main deck down to the tiny shields for the 20mm Oerlikon AA guns.

Thoughts

If there were room for a wish list at this stage, I would love to see differing thicknesses of paper (particularly for some of the parts requiring a lot of shaping) and mirrored layouts for some of the parts that are doubled up when assembled (e.g. some of the intermediate decks for the main superstructure, and some of the various small gun platforms, along with the mid-mast platform abaft the funnel) I think it would make for cleaner cutting and shaping. In some cases, like the access points on the bow for the anchor chains, I ignored the separate cut-out of the doubled-up piece and simply took the required piece, cut it long enough to fold/double, then glued it up and cut around the lines. Same result, different method. (regrets I didn't think to photograph this idea in progress but will try for another one later.)

Observations/Discoveries

The last thing that surprised me was the lack of pieces for the main gun. Granted, a tight roll of a 16" gun at 1/400 is tough, but surely not impossible. I purchased the 1/250 JSC HMS Dreadnought, as well so I am going to scan, scale, and print out some of the guns from there and see if I can make them work for Nelson. I will probably use stretched sprue for the smaller masts, yards, and guns once the kit gets closer to that stage of the build. One nice discovery along the way was that Q-Tips, stripped of their cotton ends, will work very well for the tripod mast. I may do some tests with my drill, toothpicks, and sandpaper for larger pieces as well, but I'm playing that by ear.

That's all for the moment. Photos to follow once I get them off my iPhone and scaled down for ease of use.

Last edited by rickstef; 09-04-2011 at 04:11 PM.
Reply With Quote
Google Adsense
  #2  
Old 09-04-2011, 12:46 PM
D-H's Avatar
D-H D-H is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Yorkshire
Posts: 308
Total Downloaded: 0
Try and source some Evergreen plastic rod / tubes in the small sizes. Amazing for detailing little models (and big ones too).

D
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 09-04-2011, 01:02 PM
CDNGUY68's Avatar
CDNGUY68 CDNGUY68 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Greater Toronto Area
Posts: 218
Total Downloaded: 163.85 MB
Thanks, D-H. I think I have some of the rods & tubes kicking around somewhere. I do know for sure I have LOTS of plastic runners in my basement...more importantly, I know I have them in a suitable grey to (almost) match the colour of the ship so I may do a mix & match, particularly for gun barrels where I need different sizes to match the barrel thicknesses fore & aft.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 09-04-2011, 01:14 PM
CDNGUY68's Avatar
CDNGUY68 CDNGUY68 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Greater Toronto Area
Posts: 218
Total Downloaded: 163.85 MB
Post Photos & Notes #1

Attached are the first two pics. The first shows a close-up of the main superstructure in progress. The tall "conning tower" consists of this inner core above the first two decks, on top of which come the two main bridge decks, then wrapped with the final cladding (just off to the right, scored, pre-folded, and ready to go). Kind of a neat way to build it. In the foreground you see the in-progress HMS Begonia, the Flower-class corvette that comes as part of the kit. I was using it as a bit of a warm-up for Nelson.

The second pic shows a view down the hull from the bow showing the expanse of the gun deck area. Length of the hull is approx 22" I'm using a portable UHMW cutting board as my portable work surface.
Attached Thumbnails
JSC 1/400 HMS Nelson/HMS Begonia-img_1146.jpg   JSC 1/400 HMS Nelson/HMS Begonia-img_1148.jpg  

Last edited by CDNGUY68; 09-04-2011 at 01:16 PM. Reason: Added more detail to description.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 09-04-2011, 01:27 PM
CDNGUY68's Avatar
CDNGUY68 CDNGUY68 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Greater Toronto Area
Posts: 218
Total Downloaded: 163.85 MB
Post Photos & Notes #2

Here is a more extreme close-up of the forward part of the superstructure, showing the centre core of the conning tower. Sadly this detailed view shows more than a few of the flaws in my work thus far (but I hope to get better...).

The second pic is of the same area but from a different angle. As this builds up it gets to be very crowded with gun platforms and other doo-dads. I still have some filing and shaping to do on those two forward AA platforms before I put the railings on (Thank heavens for CA glue...)
Attached Thumbnails
JSC 1/400 HMS Nelson/HMS Begonia-img_1150.jpg   JSC 1/400 HMS Nelson/HMS Begonia-img_1152.jpg  
Reply With Quote
Google Adsense
  #6  
Old 09-04-2011, 01:36 PM
Don Boose's Avatar
Don Boose Don Boose is online now
Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Posts: 20,702
Total Downloaded: 424.90 MB
This is good work. I see the minor flaws you are referring to. I think they will disappear to the viewer when the model is finished. I am enjoying following your progress and learning some useful things about this kit and about building JSC ships.

More! More!

Don
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 09-04-2011, 01:39 PM
CDNGUY68's Avatar
CDNGUY68 CDNGUY68 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Greater Toronto Area
Posts: 218
Total Downloaded: 163.85 MB
Thumbs up Gracias...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Don Boose View Post
This is good work. I see the minor flaws you are referring to. I think they will disappear to the viewer when the model is finished. I am enjoying following your progress and learning some useful things about this kit and about building JSC ships.

More! More!

Don
Many thanks, Don. My iPhone camera lets me get some pretty good close-ups, so some of the flaws are more visible at this level than they would be to the naked eye. However, there are a few hiccups still to come. Flaws aside, this is still an enjoyable build. More pics coming....I took a whole bunch this weekend once I got some time to get back to the build.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 09-04-2011, 02:06 PM
CDNGUY68's Avatar
CDNGUY68 CDNGUY68 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Greater Toronto Area
Posts: 218
Total Downloaded: 163.85 MB
Post Photos & Notes #3

The first pic shows the conning tower cladding temporarily clamped in place. There are two bridge decks that are visible through the slits to the sides and aft of the tower. The larger/deeper opening forward is later to be covered with what I can only presume is an armoured plate that leaves the slit the same height throughout.

I marked two key spots on this second pic. The ellipse at lower left shows the platforms for 5 light AA guns and the railing. The railing is not yet attached but it is glued to its final shape. For the most part I have been careful and trying to cut inside the black outlines for all of my parts. However, by doing so for this set of pieces, I wound up with a folded rail that was too long and doesn't fit properly. The rail is now glued in place and will likely not look too bad once the kit is closer to completion, but I was still a tad frustrated. The circled area on the right shows the join of two second deck areas. The deck superstructures were separate because of the complexity of shape (I get that) but I was surprised to see that the deck covering pieces did not overlap the join, instead, they were butt-ended together. I think a few problems could be avoided here if the deck piece for this second deck were made as one. Perhaps some keen future builders of this kit can scan and photo-join them together to make a smoother surface for the conning tower.

(Build thought) It might be worth adding some bracing under the aft portion of the second deck that will be below the conning tower. Given that you'll be placing a few more pieces there once the cladding is added/finished, the extra stability will help keep things level.

The third photo shows the main deck and a close-up of the lower portion of what I presume is just below the armoured wheelhouse (64...not yet added). I'm actually pleased with the deck join and managing the curves in this area. You'll see just below the AA gun area, a marked space for a tricky curved piece (32) In hindsight, I would have built the first deck upside-down to allow for adding this piece THEN attached it to the deck, but I only just put it on last night. Not. Fun. Again, I was plagued a bit by the "cut inside the lines" motif, so that fit isn't great (coming up), but at least it's on now.
Attached Thumbnails
JSC 1/400 HMS Nelson/HMS Begonia-img_1160.jpg   JSC 1/400 HMS Nelson/HMS Begonia-img_1154.jpg   JSC 1/400 HMS Nelson/HMS Begonia-img_1162.jpg  
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 09-04-2011, 02:46 PM
CDNGUY68's Avatar
CDNGUY68 CDNGUY68 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Greater Toronto Area
Posts: 218
Total Downloaded: 163.85 MB
Photos & Notes #4

Here's a little more progress on Nelson.

The first pic shows one of the midships slits for the smaller guns. These are a flaming pain to cut out, but at least I had the presence of mind to cut out the slits before cutting the piece from the sheet. You also have to fold two side shields back across the deck, which works well if everything fits properly The dotted lines to the fore and aft of these smaller guns are for more vertical shields (parts 34 and 35)

The second pic shows my favourite method of managing smaller folds. I came across this small paper clamp in my desk a while back and it does a very nice job. Depending on the size of the piece, I have enough depth to work outwards from the centre with my folds so I (mostly) avoid over-folding the paper. This piece is one of the center pieces that act as the core of the visible portion of the upper bridge.
Attached Thumbnails
JSC 1/400 HMS Nelson/HMS Begonia-img_1164.jpg   JSC 1/400 HMS Nelson/HMS Begonia-img_1166.jpg  
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 09-04-2011, 02:50 PM
doctormax's Avatar
doctormax doctormax is offline
Eternal Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Doomsday Dublin IMF european island
Posts: 3,037
Total Downloaded: 0
Nice idea i use a clip thing that was for the earphones for a motorola phone handy thing and i also used some clip things that were for hanging christmas cards all gone now and i know i can buy some of them soon again for two euro and last a while
Reply With Quote
Google Adsense
Reply

Tags
build, in progress, jsc, nelson, newbie

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 07:36 AM.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.

Parts of this site powered by vBulletin Mods & Addons from DragonByte Technologies Ltd. (Details)
Copyright © 2007-2023, PaperModelers.com