RMS Mauretania - 1:250 - Šarūnas Vilkas

[Marco]

I haven't posted for a while - I was busy building in wood!

Time for a paper build again, and after enjoying building the Canberra, I chose to build Šarūnas Vilkas' other free download ship model, the RMS Mauretania. One of the famous four-funnel liners, and a direct competitor of RMS Titanic and Olympic.

The PDF file of this model is in the downloads section of this forum.

First the frames. I printed on regular 80-grams paper and glued on 1mm cardboard. I used clear glue, which does stain the paper, but it won't be visible in the final model.

[Marco]

It's a full hull model, and here are the bottom plates.

[Siwi]

Smart move by the designer to glue strips over the hull formers. That will help prevent 'starving horse' ripples when the hull plates themselves are glued on and during handling.
Neat work so far.

[sharunas]

Originally Posted by Marco

Time for a paper build again, and after enjoying building the Canberra, I chose to build Šarūnas Vilkas' other free download ship model, the RMS Mauretania. One of the famous four-funnel liners, and a direct competitor of RMS Titanic and Olympic.

I appreciate your choice. You’re a very skilled builder, and I believe you’ll manage to build the Mauretania even better than this kit allows.

[Marco]

Originally Posted by sharunas

I appreciate your choice. You’re a very skilled builder, and I believe you’ll manage to build the Mauretania even better than this kit allows.

Good to hear from you! It's going well so far, although I ran into a minor disaster when I tried to glue the formers on cardboard with white water-based glue, and they warped too much when drying. That's the good thing of being able to re-print parts.

I'm here building up the lower structure and decks up to the point that I'm able to attach the above-water hull plates.

[sharunas]

Originally Posted by Marco

I tried to glue the formers on cardboard with white water-based glue, and they warped too much when drying.

that's a usual drawback when preparing formers. I usually apply glue with a spatula onto the cardboard. In this case, the thin paper remains dry until it is placed on the cardboard.

The assembly so far looks good!

PS, please check PM

[Positive_Rate]

Originally Posted by Siwi

Smart move by the designer to glue strips over the hull formers. That will help prevent 'starving horse' ripples when the hull plates themselves are glued on and during handling.
Neat work so far.

Good tip Simon. Maybe I could apply this technique elsewhere?

Alan

[Petestein]

Beautiful model. It reminds me of the famous sentence by Rose Dewitt Bukater in the film "Titanic": "It is not bigger than the Mauretania" And Cal responds "100 feet longer and far more luxurious."

[Petestein]

Fortunately this fantastic model is full hull. I have always considered incomplete and looking very funny waterline ship models displayed over a wooden surface. EVERY ship card model should have at least both options: to make either the waterline or the full hull replica like some Maly Modelarz models have.

[Marco]

Happy New Year all!

Sharunas: Thanks! I just replied to your PM.

Positive rate: Very easy. I actually just used 80-grams paper strips, and painted them with the appropriate Tamiya-colour.

Petestein: Indeed, that Mauretania. What a sight it must have been to see these ships up close. I've come across the QE2 "in the wild" twice (Halifax CA and Auckland NZ), and was well impressed both times.

Here is the rest of the hull plating. The stern parts are a bit of a challenge due to the very curved shape, but the trusted painted thin paper strips to connect parts helped a lot.
I've added a white water line - not strictly necessary, as the parts above and below the waterline fit very well, but I enjoy the look of it. And she did sport this line during part of her career. Very simple method, 2mm wide thin white paper strips.