discussion An American Spy Ship?

[Si Benson]

Top job Richard,
I keep missing a lot of the builds going on . I really like your sea scape and great stuff with the stencil work, looking very nice :smiling4:

 

[rtfoe]

Thanks Scottie, Rick, Jim, Neil and Si for your kind reply. I'm happy it turned out okay.

Today I experimented on making those circular insulators for the supporting cables. The scale called for something very small so I tried attaching little drops of white glue with a tooth pic.



The blobs were 3mm apart, then I coated the line with future varnish to seal them in. I sprayed Nato black overall.



I then picked out the thread in between the blobs with silver.



Turned out okay and I will attach it to the rear mast.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Steve Jones]

Wow! Great idea. Thanks for sharing

 

[rtfoe]

Wow! Great idea. Thanks for sharing

You're welcome Steve, I thought I'd put up the Christmas tree early this year and started with the tinsel...stretched sprue :smiling2:



Made two different thickness. The thicker is for the middle mast and the thinner are for the six arms...



All glued nearly looking like Han Solos light sabre :smiling6:



After trimming I attached the fine thread...



This one is for the mast at the bow...



The other two were for the rear main antenna mast




Now I will have to string up the streamers ala the four insulated cable supports that hold the rear main antenna mast. Looks like the Christmas decorations are up.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Tim Marlow]

The work you’re putting in on this is almost insanely fine Richard.

 

[Guest]

Richard, you are a magician. Lovely to see such skill and ingenuity.

 

[rtfoe]

Thank you Tim and Peter,

Friends over this side have asked that I make an appointment with the phsyc ward at the hospital. :tears-of-joy: The tree antenna wasn't that difficult as I paced myself separating the phases into three days.
The main armature first then anchoring the first ends then finally attaching the other end and affixing to the mast. I must admit affixing to the mast was challenging as the tree had to be attached at two points and still be aligned from all angles. Since there were many tiny scale and position errors, every attachment was eyeballed to look like it was at right angles and straight. I used slightly older CA that cured slower for last minute adjustments. Obviously when wanting the glue to hold it took ages.:smiling6: Thank goodness that's over.

One thing that occurred to me is that I shouldn't have removed my glasses when wearing the magnifier as at times I couldn't quite place the joints often missing it. Also the thread was black and I had to find a lighter background on the table to see it...didn't help that the part to fix it on was white.:smiling6:

We learn as we go along.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Richard those Christmas trees are amazing!

 

[Mini Me]

I'm going blind following this thread............cruelty to modelers! :nerd: .....there I've put me specks on now I can see what you are up to Richard. There is just so much to take in on this.....
Rick H.:thumb2:

 

[rtfoe]

Thanks Neil and Rick,

My apologies on blinding you with my Christmas trees :smiling2: I shall blind you further with the following...

I fitted the bow Christmas antenna drilling a little hole and inserting with a drop of glue. I anchored it further with CA.



The derrick/crane received its cables. They were cut slightly longer to create the bend to the heavy cables. Painted them black and rust.



Cheers,
Richard

 

[Mini Me]

Amazing.

 

[dave]

Great work, loving following this build.

 

[rtfoe]

Thanks Rick and Dave,
Just a bit more to add before I go bananas with weathering and detail painting to cover some over painted parts. This time I will up the magnification. The one I have now is starting to blur. :smiling6:
I've put up the insulated support cables for the rear mast...will upload picture later tonight.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Guest]

Now that stretching of sprues is indeed a black art form at the highest level Richard. Dude1 has explained the method but try as I do I can't get anywhere, other than a blob !

 

[Jim R]

Hi Richard
Those insulators on the cables is a real success. Great idea and so neatly done. Love the Christmas trees. I'm still jealous of your ability to stretch sprue as evenly as you do.

Richard, you are a magician.

Definitely :thumb2:
Jim

 

[rtfoe]

Hi John and Jim, thanks for your kind comments.
Seriously stretching sprue is not black art. Take a look at the Tamiya instruction sheet...that's where I learnt to do my first aerials. Just get a good length of sprue preferably clean without any tabs, hold one end and heat about a centimeter over a candle flame somewhere in the middle twisting the sprue for even heating until the other end of the sprue flops down, take it away from the flame, hold the other end and pull apart...simple as that. Best done in a heated room...I guess in your cold environment the melted part would have cooled by the time you stretched the sprue. Also don't bother blowing out the candle if that interferes with the timing. If you're afraid of synging your fingers, a 3 inch length of sprue is safe enough.:smiling2:
Remember that it has to flop down showing that it has melted all the way to the center of the core or it will snap the moment you stretch resulting in a blob.

Here are some bits of sprue I stretched from Pit-Road sprue. Tamiya sprue is also good for stretching. Forget Revell.



As promised a picture of the insulated support cable fix...I drilled holes in the deck with a drill bit the same diameter as the thread and affixed one end with CA and let it cure before attempting to pull and secure the other end to the mast.



With that done I worked on the the stairs and here are four...I need nine. I've mounted them on 3M tape to be painted.



That's it for tonight...it's sleepy time.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[minitnkr]

I'm just blown away. PaulE

 

[rtfoe]

Thanks Paul,
Don't get blown too far. My PE work is far from perfect as I don't use any tools except a flat nosed plier, blade and tweezers.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[wotan]

Richard

Been spying on this in a clandestine fashion. Just an outstanding piece of micro smallness. Bravo

John

 

[rtfoe]

Thanks John, even with all those antenna and surveillance equipment, you can be quite hard to spot...are you using satelite? :tears-of-joy: :smiling4:
Glad you've been watching and kept interested. I'm quite surprised at the large following of this small build.

Cheers,
Richard