Dutch Royal Mail ms Oranje

[scon10]

Further on Lars' remarks, I was thinking how to improve the looks of the lifeboats with the side cuts needed to give them that nice bulbeous look. Lars commented, that those side cuts spoiled the looks of the boats, because they were too obvious. I had the same feeling, so I tried to reduce the visibility of the ridges that arose from this construction method. I tried this correction and it seems to improve the presentability of the lifeboats.

Pic 1 shows the lifeboat as-is, i.e. untreated. What I did was to sand down the ridges carefully with very fine sanding paper, grid 320. Next I painted the sanded areas with normal Humbrol white enamel paint (the same as Revell enamel, I believe), see pic 2. The chromolux paper is shiny by itself, and the colour matches very good the colour of the enamel.

This action improved I think the looks already notable, see pic 2. As a further detailing I added bilge keels to both sides, which also draws away attention from the ridges, and the result is shown in pic 3.

It is just one method, and I am very interested in your views and other techniques.
Regards,
Robert

[Don Boose]

A big improvement.

Don

[ashevilleangler]

Very nice work on such tiny details!

Curt

[LarsW]

Great work, Robert! I was wondering how to treat these cuts to let them "vanish", congratulations on your efforts, your courage to experiment and of course the fine result with the boats!
Did you make additional cuts (smaller ones) or did you stay with the 2 cuts per side?

[scon10]

Hi Lars,
I used two cuts at bow and stern of the lifeboats, see pic 1 with a template.
I did try out with an additional cut in the middle, but in the end, that didn't give any better shape than just two cuts.
Succes with your lifeboats and let us see a picture, if possible.
Greetings,
Robert

[scon10]

I have reached the last phase in the building of the "Oranje": putting up the rigging of mast and cargo booms. In pic 1 the mast is in place. It is made of a wooden round stick, and sanded to the correct shape. At various positions, I drilled 0.5 mm holes for passing through the rigging thread.
The "Oranje" only had one mast, for the aft cargo holds were designed for light, small cargo and for passenger luggage only, so light deck cranes were sufficient for that function. It also saved weight, not to install a rear mast. Rigging is done with smooth cotton thread, which has no fluffing.
Rigging thread runs through the holes in the cargo booms and the mast and is secured with a drop of glue. A clothes pin puts weight and tension on a thread, so that it will dry in a taut shape. The winches on the poopdeck at the bottom of the mast were constructed with long strands of thread glued in place on the cabledrums. Then the complete winches were glued in their appropriate locations on the deck. That's why the ship looks a bit untidy in pic 1 with all the loose threads curling all over the place.
Pic 2 shows some details of work in progress.
The final steps will be putting in the small details, such as adding deck chairs and passenger figures etc.
Cheers for now!
Robert

[chapuzas100]

A stunning model, an exquisite work.

[jimkrauzlis]

Wonderful work, Robert; the rigging of the forward cargo mast is coming out very well. I admire the work done on the lifeboats, the end result is certainly worthy of all the efforts in trying new ways of improving on the shape of the bow.

Superb build!! Thank you so very much for sharing photos of your work!

Cheers!
Jim

[macadam]

nice work I remember this ship well when it docked in wellington new zealand in the early sixty,s keep up the good work matt

[scon10]

Thanks All, for your kind words. As soon as I have made some more pictures, I will put them on the forum.
Robert