Maly Modelarz HMS Vanguard

[Royal Navy Fan]

Greetings! This is my first post as I am new to paper modeling, although I have built in plastic, wood, and resin for over 50 years.

A friend just gave to me an old HMS Vanguard by Maly Modelarz. Does anyone know of this kit? It does not list a scale, and the instructions are sparse and in Polish. Is it an accurate depiction of this ship?

After looking at photos of other builds in this forum, I believe that I can figure out the building of this ship. I m wondering what any of you might think of an idea I have of aligning balsa blocks and attaching them to the false keel to help align the frames. Also, what type of glue works best for these kits?

Thanks for any advice and information!

Bill

[modelperry]

If you could post a picture of the front cover, some of us may be able to provide more insight on it, however please be aware of the following with old maly kits:

Many are printed on rather brittle paper that does not like to fold crisply or roll nicely. You may need to scan this one and print it out on good paper before building to avoid these issues depending on its issue date.

New ones are on much better paper that does not have this issue.

Greg

[Tim Crowe]

Best place to look for other builds would be:

KONRADUS - MODELARSTWO KARTONOWE

They have a database of Maly kits. Think the scale is about 1:300.

Tim

[Royal Navy Fan]

Gentlemen,

I will try to post a picture this evening. Anyway, the paper is very heavy, and I can't imagine how it actually rolls. I hope that I can figure out how to post pics!

Bill

[SCEtoAUX]

Here is how to post a picture in a response:


When you click the paper clip a window will open allowing you to browse your computer to upload a picture.

If you have a picture stored on another site click the mountain icon and insert the url of the picture. The img tags will be attached to the url and the picture will show up in your posted response.

[Royal Navy Fan]

Thank you! I appreciate your help and will post pics of the kit tonight.

Bill

[Royaloakmin]

Our Polish friends often brush that old Maly paper with a coat of clear butrate or nitrate dope. It makes the paper much more workable.

[Royal Navy Fan]

I've been having camera issues that I expect to have resolved tonight. I hope to post pictures then. Thanks for your patience!

Bill

[Darwin]

Bill, the Vanguard is one of the bad-old-days Maly kits respecting paper quality. If it is anything like my kit, the paper has yellowed and is generally brittle. The best approach to kits of this era are to scan the kit, clean the images up in Photoshop using the levels tool, and then print on a better quality of paper (my recommendation would be 9x12 inch, medium-weight tagboard). If you are interested, give me a private message and I can help walk you through the process and point you to a good mailorder supplier for the paper. Since the kit is one in my stash, I can give it a go to assist and advise (and guarantee that the advice will be worth at least what you pay for it, which is nada). You will find that the construction technique is not much different from building a wood kit...same skill set. Which, I suppose, is logical since wood is just paper in the raw. For the most part, white glue works just fine for adhesive. My personal preference is Aileen's Tacky Glue. As for all models, the better job you do with the framework, the easier the rest of the build will be. Pin the base platform to a flat building surface, then build the upper half of the frame. When it is thoroughly dry, remove the structure from the building board and add on the bottom half of the framework. One technique I have used is to make two base platforms, the thickness of each being one-half of the specified thickness in the plans, pin both platforms down to the proverbial flat building surface, and independently build the upper and lower halves of the frame...when thorougly dry, glue the two halves together using a contact cement. I strongly advise using additional reinforcing to keep things aligned and stable. Simple gussets will work just fine for the keel and bulkhead pieces. It is also a thought to add stringers to the outside surfaces of the hull framework to help support the hull skins and avoid the 'starved puppy' look. Exactly like building a stick-and-tissue balsa airplane model...for this particular ship, my recommendation would be 1/8" square strip, the harder and heavier the better. And, oh yes, the scale is 1:300.

[RAFleischman]

Darwin, would you be willing to write up your process for all?...I have some old kits that I would love to take on, but the paper is rubbish!

Thanks,
russ...