Steve's Models

[Sailor Steve]

I decided to finish the two British cruisers first, since Iris was the very first steel warship, completed in 1879, and is the oldest ship I'm planning on doing for this version of the game, which was supposed to be World War I. These ship still used muzzle-loading rifles when built, but were soon upgraded to a battery of 5" breech-loaders. I posted a thread on the weirdness of the design of the 64-pounder muzzle loaders.

These ships are not nearly as detailed as they could have been, but any more and there would be ever more parts to break off when people use them to game with. Also the question comes up of balance between time spent for return gained.

I finished these two last night and took pictures this morning. The pictures revealed things I was unhappy with, so I broke out the paint brushes again and redid the parts I didn't like. Of course the pictures make the models so large that the tiniest blemish is several feet across in scale. Still, they can't be seen from even a few inches away, so I declare these two done.







And to give an idea of the scale...

[Jimbuna]

I am impressed

[Sailor Steve]

Frustration strikes hard. I had thought that those two kits I ordered would have come fairly quickly, so I put my scratchbuilding project on hold. Now it's almost two weeks, and I keep thinking I could have had it done by now. I just got an email apologizing for the delay and saying they haven't recieved them from the manufacturer yet! I would have thought they would have things like that in stock, or would have said so at the outset.

Anyway, now I have to decide if I'm going to take it up again or keep waiting.

[Sailor Steve]

And the gunboats are finished. The four ships of the French Fusée class of 1885: Fusée, Flamme, Grenade and Mitraille.

[Jimbuna]

Bloody amazing work when you consider the size of them compared to the coin

[Sailor Steve]

Hoody-hoo! Exactly three weeks after I ordered those kits I got an email today saying they were shipped Friday. I know Poland is a long way from where I'm at, but it has to come airmail anyway, so they should be here pretty soon!

[Jimbuna]

Good news

[Sailor Steve]

Well, the kits came yesterday. I was too busy with game-related stuff to start on one or even take pictures, but today we get underway again. These kits are wonders to behold - resin parts with some etched brass tinybits and real wood struts! I may have to replace those with brass wire, but they are to scale and show that my original work was way over scale.

The box.


The package.


The parts laid out.

[Jimbuna]

Looks like a great kit Steve but the brass etching is far too small for my eyesight these days.

[Sailor Steve]

I'm so nearsighted that I've found over the years that removing my glasses makes my eyes a natural magnifier for reading or close-in work. On the other hand I have a friend about ten years younger who let vanity get the better of him. Thousands of dollars for laser surgery and now he has to wear two pairs of reading glasses to paint figs.

[Sailor Steve]

A preliminary start. I've determined that the scale wood that comes with the kit is too fragile for gaming. The brass wire I ordered hasn't come yet, and the saw for cutting thicker brass rod won't be here until Wednesday. I wanted to redo the rear framing with finer stock first, but I'll have to work on the fuselage instead.

The fuselage is one piece, with fake wood framing inside. It's bowed in a little at the top, so the first job was to use the last of my 1/32" rod to make the upper framing, which forces the bent sides to where they should be. Then I put a first wash of paint. The sides are so thin that when I painted the frames brown they show through to the outside, which is as it should be when the covering is clear-doped linen. The forward part was made of metal, hence the silver on that part.

[Sailor Steve]

Well, the next step was to paint the exterior of the body prior to putting the engine assembly in. I was looking forward to finally setting up my compressor and getting some airbrushing done, but the pressure regulator wasn't allowing any air to get through. The adjustment valve seems to be stuck, and no amount of force will make it turn. Using serious tools will likely just break it, so I'm on hold once again until I can call them tomorrow. I'm sure they'll replace it, but it's another delay I could do without.

[Sailor Steve]

Just got off the phone with the people who sell the compressor kit. They're sending a new regulator right away. Hopefully this one will work properly. Meanwhile, back to working on stuff that doesn't require an airbrush.

[Sailor Steve]

Control assembly with plastic stick, resin rudder pedals and etched brass fuel and spark levers and steering wheel.


Pretty much complete interior with seats and fuel tanks installed, and control column installed and painted. Just the instruments to do and then put the lid on.


The kit comes with etched brass 'leather' straps for the tanks, but I figure they're barely going to be visible anyway, and it's a toy, right? Ah, the excuses we make when laziness sets in.

[Sailor Steve]

Well, after spending several hours fiddling with different sizes of brass and plastic rods and bars, I gave up in frustration and decided that I could spend several more days trying to make a decent frame and still not have one as good as the first one I made. It's oversized for the scale, and thin brass bars would have been better, but I don't think anybody who sees it in the game or uses it himself will complain, or even know the difference. I cut it down so it would glue onto the back of the kit fuselage and put in a couple of thin brass pieces to have a solid link from the frame to the inside of the rear cockpit. The result isn't perfect, but it's not too bad.