S.M.S. Emden (1910), HMV, 1:250

[shalmaneser3]

Wow! The amount of skill on display from the both of you!



@drg: Really impressive work on those tiny guns. One question: how are you able to cut all those small parts so cleanly and accurately?

[drg]

Originally Posted by speedbird

I thought I’d drop a line to let you know how closely I’m following this build. I’ve been a fan of card models for many years, but never found the time to begin one for one reason or another.

You can see I’ve been a member of this forum for nearly a decade and this is my first post.

This thread is what made me stop my current 1/700 build and take a side-bar into card modeling for a bit. The same-old same-old with my small scale ships was starting to feel like a rut, which thanks to this thread is over.

This is what I typically build:

HMS Tiger, resin hull, mostly scratch built superstructure



HMS Orion, resin hull, extensive scratch building.



S/Y Endurance, Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship on the Imperial Trans Antarctic Expedition, fully scratch built.


Now you can see what just arrived....



I thought it would be a good idea to try my hands at a less complex kit, and I have quite a stash of JSC models, among many others, in the library, so I thought I’d start with my favorite Dreadnought of the war, SMS Viribus Unitis. It was certainly a good place to start and while I made mistakes I learned a lot. I feel like I’m ready to tackle my Emden now, especially with the help of this thread.



Anyway, I just thought you might like to know that your hard work in making this build log is going a LONG way to help me with mine. Emden is such a great subject and your work is really doing her justice. Again, thank you for keeping this thread updated, and I’ll be sure to share my finished Emden once she’s finished.

Joe

Thanks very much Joe! Your 1:700 ships are stunning, and the paper ship also; I doubt the Emden will pose many problems for you. If you can get the hull joints right, the rest should be straightforward. The instructions need careful study, and often you need to ignore part numbers and assemble using intuition, but that’s half the fun...I suppose!

[drg]

Originally Posted by shalmaneser3

Wow! The amount of skill on display from the both of you!



@drg: Really impressive work on those tiny guns. One question: how are you able to cut all those small parts so cleanly and accurately?

Thanks for the positive comments!

For tiny parts I tend to hold them steady on a cutting mat with a cocktail stick or tweezers, and stab, cut and slice the outline with a #11 blade. I find piercing small corners with the tip of the blade, with it’s sharp edge facing along the cut line away from the corner works well. If you have two opposing corners, do this as two operations, then slice or stab the remaining bit out. Work your way around the part and the waste bits will eventually fall away.

[drg]

Originally Posted by Don Boose

drg - Outstanding work on the ordnance.

Joe - Your ship models are superb. I've been impressed with your work displayed at Model Warships (ModelWarships.com - Gallery ). I hope we will see your work on Viribus Unitis soon.

Don

Thanks Don!

[speedbird]

Originally Posted by drg

Thanks very much Joe! Your 1:700 ships are stunning, and the paper ship also; I doubt the Emden will pose many problems for you. If you can get the hull joints right, the rest should be straightforward. The instructions need careful study, and often you need to ignore part numbers and assemble using intuition, but that’s half the fun...I suppose!

Thanks for the tip there, I’ll keep and eye out for mis-numbering. Thankfully I’m very familiar with German cruiser designs having built a diorama of Königsburg during the Battle of the Rufiji Delta. I’m glad you mentioned it though, I’ll make sure to remember I might be lead astray.

I’m glad you like the 1/700 ships. That’s really where my passion is but I enjoy trying other mediums too. I love building ships from resin and scratch building as much as I can, to me it’s far simpler than a plastic kit. I loathe plastic model kits anymore. Gaps, seams, errors! Resin, photo etch and scratch building not only make for a much more tidy build, but forces me to research each subject fully.

Card modeling, however, offers a lot of the same fiddly detailing and construction without having to paint everything in the end. I enjoy building more than painting, but a long time ago I decided that the paint on my ships had to be perfect, so I invested a great deal of time and money into learning to air brush well. Card models, at least to me, offer up a lot of the things I like, while removing some of the things I don’t.

As for my SMS Emden, all I have finished so far is the base. It’s a beautiful piece of exotic Bacote wood with hand-rasped edges and finished in tung oil. I spent a good many hours on it, so I guess I’ve officially begun!

Again, thank you for this thread, I look forward to every post.

[drg]

Originally Posted by speedbird

Thanks for the tip there, I’ll keep and eye out for mis-numbering. Thankfully I’m very familiar with German cruiser designs having built a diorama of Königsburg during the Battle of the Rufiji Delta. I’m glad you mentioned it though, I’ll make sure to remember I might be lead astray.

I’m glad you like the 1/700 ships. That’s really where my passion is but I enjoy trying other mediums too. I love building ships from resin and scratch building as much as I can, to me it’s far simpler than a plastic kit. I loathe plastic model kits anymore. Gaps, seams, errors! Resin, photo etch and scratch building not only make for a much more tidy build, but forces me to research each subject fully.

Card modeling, however, offers a lot of the same fiddly detailing and construction without having to paint everything in the end. I enjoy building more than painting, but a long time ago I decided that the paint on my ships had to be perfect, so I invested a great deal of time and money into learning to air brush well. Card models, at least to me, offer up a lot of the things I like, while removing some of the things I don’t.

As for my SMS Emden, all I have finished so far is the base. It’s a beautiful piece of exotic Bacote wood with hand-rasped edges and finished in tung oil. I spent a good many hours on it, so I guess I’ve officially begun!

Again, thank you for this thread, I look forward to every post.

Thanks Joe. I know what you mean about plastic vs scratchbuilding vs paper. I build plastic kits too, often with added resin and p/e. I have done some scratchbuilding, albeit mainly additional details, mainly 1:72 aircraft. I have an airbrush, but I get OCD about finish and weathering. I often wonder why I do it! I think a paper ship somehow doesn't need to be as 'perfect' to look good, unlike a plastic model, and of course no paint required (apart from edges). I justify my errors by saying to myself, c'mon: it's made out of paper!


With all my models I have a set vision of how I want them to look, and pretty much don't give up until I've reached that result.



Cheers!

[speedbird]

I guess we’re all our own worst critic. I agonize over the smallest details and sometimes it’s extreme. I built a model of HMS Montagu as she looked before smashing headlong into Lundy Island but afterward I was able to purchase a very obscure book on the accident. All these new photos! So while the old model looks fine, the new and improved HMS Montagu is well underway.

[drg]

Pretty much finished the main deck guns:





Each complete gun comprises 30 parts.

And there are still four more to build for the hull guns, then the secondary armament. This bit of the build isn’t that much fun.


Deck mounted 5.2 cm guns completed this evening:

[drg]

All 18 guns finished now. Glad that’s done tbh:



Now to fit them...

[lizard]

Truly amazing work. Wish to have that much skills and patience as you.