Steamer Ben Ain

[Guest]

Part Three

Once the fist boat had been manufactured it was a slightly easier process to decide on how to tackle the other boat. The first boat is a transom sterned dinghy but the boat on the starboard side is a ships lifeboat so it is a double ended design.

I decided that the jig I used for the first boat could be adapted to use again by making the transom end of the jig reflect the bow end and so I simply removed some of the station profiles, made a few more of the same shape as the bow ones and added them to the jig. Not only was I now deviating from the original plan as regards length and width but I had now copied and pasted two bow sections together. I was really out on my own now.

Once the jig was made the process was exactly the same as it had been for the first boat with a keel built up to give a stern post and a stem post and the keel laid in the jig. The model was then planked in exactly the same way as the first boat was and then fitted out with ribs before I actually got my hands on a superb Harold Underhill plan of a ships lifeboat, which I then referred to for the fitting out. A floor was fitted of a similar design to the Underhill plan and typical lifeboat accessories such as stores bins and water bowsers were placed in the bottom. The thwarts and their associated knees were all glued into the hull and a set of sails and a mast with all the relevant rigging was made from bamboo skewers and folded up and painted tin foil. These were arranged inside the boat to enable all the detail to be visible and lockers and floor grids were fitted at either end of the boat. A rudder was made up from scrap and hung on two pintles made from bent wire and a tiller was made and fitted, again built up from a bamboo skewer.

Outside the hull the original model footholds were glued to the base of the hull and grab ropes were fitted to small eyelets which were glued into small holes drilled into the top strake. Once again a cover was made up from tin foil, with stitching runs printed on from a pounce wheel, before folding it up, spraying it with primer and finally painting it a typical green canvas colour.

That was basically the two boats required for the Ben Ain. A bit of careful weathering would be the only remaining thing to do before fitting them to the boat platforms and a figure or two added to make it look a bit more realistic and justify having both boat covers folded up. Instead of the two boats taking a couple of days to assemble from the fibre glass kit parts and some wood planking inside they ended up taking more like eight months from start to finish.

[ATTACH]20642.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]20643.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]20644.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]20645.IPB[/ATTACH]

[Guest]

Chapter Sixteen- Detailing the Quarterdeck Superstructure.

Part One

With the two boat models completed it was then simply a case of assembling the pieces and adding some more pieces of detail.

Water Tank

The first thing was to have a good look at the original owner’s plans for the ship and decide on just how the water tank should look. I only had a side elevation and a plan but it still looked to me, based on the chamfered ends, like the tank would be cylindrical rather than square so I measured the diameter from the plan, scaled it to the model and set about looking for something of the correct diameter. Strangely enough a broom handle in the garage seemed perfect so it mysteriously lost about two inches from it’s length one evening and I put the piece in the lathe to face it up and chamfer the ends as per the plan. There was not a great deal else obvious from the plan however so the rest was basically assumed by me. I decided that it would almost certainly be a steel tank with a means of filling and a gooseneck vent. The filling line was capped with a hexagonal cap, a brass compression fitting from the steam bit box, and the vent was made up from the ever useful domestic copper cable core. The tank I decided would be resting on two wooden battons on the deck and held down by two straps, bolted through the ends and the battons into the deck. The battons were a couple of pieces of 4mm x 2mm beech, the straps were made from two strips of litho-plate, bent and drilled on the ends to match the battons and the bolts were four small diameter brass screws set into holes drilled in the deck. I also detailed the ends of the tank with what I would assume to be joints with the end caps by gluing two strips of 1mm litho-plate around the circumference, which I’d previously run a pounce wheel along to give a rivet detail effect. The pieces, apart from the battons. were primed and then painted before assembling on the wooden deck with the brass screws.

Aft Mast

Next to be made was the aft mast. I hadn’t made a mast for the model yet so the best method was yet to be determined for their construction which combined ease, accuracy and, preferably, as little mess as possible. I eventually decided to buy a small 12v powered lathe, which is actually produced for the purpose of making masts and spars, which had the distinct advantage of being able to be held in a workmate and taken outside. I found that the 12v motor was far too fast with the first piece of wood being ejected across the garden so I eventually rigged up an old ‘Bob’s Board’ speed controller and used a 7.2 v Tamiya battery pack. This worked a treat and gave me a bit of control over the process. I marked up the dowel at the various diameters with a pencil and slowly reduced the diameter with rough sandpaper to the required taper. This was then finished to a smooth surface with fine sandpaper ensuring the various white metal fittings fit at the correct points along its length. The fittings were then painted up and glued in place, the mast treated to a couple of coats or matt varnish before gluing it to a hole in the deck with epoxy.

Standing Rigging

The next significant bit of detailing was the rigging and I started this with the wire shrouds for the aft mast and the funnel. I wanted the wires to look realistic and the most significant aspect of this was always going to be able to maintain tension. There really is nothing worst then loose standing rigging so I started to experiment with a few arrangements. Eventually I decided the best was to emulate reality and use a bottle screw to tension the wires. These are now quite readily available in a lot of suitable model sizes so I purchased a number of 12mm long ones with shackles of a suitable diameter joined together to the pad eyes with rings made from broken up old chain. I tried a number of alternative possibilities for the wires to get a realistic look and eventually decided on the multistrand copper core of servo cables. These looked just like steel cables of the correct diameter after a bit of increased twisting in the battery drill. When they were looped and run through a short section of heat shrink to look like a thimble they looked pleasingly realistic. The shrouds were all assembled with the wires cut to suit the extended bottle screws and the bottle screws carefully adjusted to tension the wires. When they were all installed the wires were painted with a metallic grey enamel and the thimbles, bottle screws and shackles were painted with a grey enamel as they would almost certainly be of an aged galvanized finish.

Ventilators

The ventilators as supplied with the kit were white metal castings and not completely hollow, the instructions indicating that they were to be glued to the top face of a couple of lengths of dowel. As I wanted to take advantage of every means possible of getting air in and out of the hull to keep things cool and the boiler supplied with oxygen I particularly wanted the ventilators to be operational so a few modifications were required. First I set the white metal cowls up in the milling machine and skimmed the bases perfectly flat before gently pushing the end mill down the bore of the cowling to open it out and make it completely hollow. This I managed to achieve without breaking through the thin white metal so I was quite relieved about that. Next I looked high and low for a piece of hollow pipe to suit the outside diameter of the cowl and eventually settled on a piece of gas pipe, designed to supply gas fires, at the local hardware superstore, This was cut to length and a brass insert was made to connect the pipe and the cowl together. These pieces were then simply epoxied together and holes drilled in the sides to accommodate the handles, which were also epoxied. Then I decided to simulate a bit of plate detail so I cut thin strips of cartridge paper, ran the pounce wheel along them and glued them in appropriate places around the pipe to look like a plate joint. A coat of grey primer followed by red enamel inside the cowl and the satin black mix I used for the funnel and the hull on the rest of the ventilator. The ventilators were then epoxied into the deck of the accommodation and supported underneath by a good build up of the glue.

[ATTACH]21375.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]21376.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]21377.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]21378.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]21379.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]21380.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]21381.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]21382.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]21383.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]21384.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]21385.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]21386.IPB[/ATTACH]

[Guest]

Part Two

Weathering

Although putting the boats onto the model was to be the next step it was obvious that the painting of the main assembly should be completed before the boats were put in place, which would make painting so much more difficult. I therefore decided that the time had come to complete the painting and the weathering of the structure. The weathering was to be very simple to start with as I could always add to it later but the main effects of washes and dry brushing needed doing before the boats were attached. I started with a very dark brown wash all over to make the steel plates grubby and enhance the rivets. The top deck was done selectively two or three times as this area would be heavily dirtied with soot fallouts from the funnel. The wooden deck was scrubbed with a wire brush to roughen up the surface before adding selectively more wash to try to get the area looking more realistic. Wash was added more and more to such points as around the bases of the fittings and around the funnel. The boats were also given a single light coat of wash to enhance the detail and subdue the very bright white paint of the hulls. After the dark brown wash was dried another wash was used, again selectively, of a much lighter brown rust colour. This was added a lot more around the funnel and ventilators as well as such fittings that would rust like the bollards and staining around the water tank and around the screws and hinges of the engine room skylights. Once this wash had dried I was quite pleased with the effect and so decided to stop at that point. More could be added at a later date if it was thought necessary. The next step was the dry brushing and I simply used the top coat colour of matt enamel orange to very lightly go over the steel work, fixtures and rivets to very gently enhance the effects. The difference is hardly noticeable but the raised detail and edges did stand out just that bit more. Next it was a bit of scuffed paint effect which was done with a lead pencil on the surfaces where paint would likely to be worn away. This was the tops of the ladder rungs, the tops of the handrails and the door handles. This was fixed with a matt varnish, dry brushed over the top afterwards. Finally a soot effect was airbrushed around the top of the funnel and the aft mast, so typical of vessels such as this. This was more of a concern that most of the weathering as I have seen pictures of vessels like this one which look almost completely black around the aft end so trying to copy that would end up looking a mess. I wanted the effect to be noticeable but not to the point of dominating the model so I brought it down enough to effect the red band on the funnel and just the top of the aft mast.

Attaching the Boats

Then it was time to finally add the boats. After thinking for some time as to how I could go about attaching the boats without any glue being visible I finally decided to, yet again, simply rely on what is done in reality and I tied them down to the deck pad eyes and the ring bolts. They were secure enough and the ends of the ropes were spotted with cyano to prevent them from ever coming adrift and the boats seemed surprisingly secure. The ropes for slewing the davits were then added and tied down to the deck pad eyes with the ends being looped at the davit heads and secures again with short pieces of heat shrink to look like thimbles. A spot of cyano glue was added just before the heat shrink was warmed up.

Coal Bunker

I’ve noticed in just about every example of this model that I’ve seen elsewhere that the modeler leaves a few planks of wood open on the bunker to show the coal inside. Consequently I wanted to do something a bit different, particularly as the forward bunker was only ever open to fill it so would be very rarely seen open at any other time. I was going to work on the assumption that the vessel had bunkered recently and the covers were being replaced so the boards were all fitted and the ring bolts added before submitting it to the washes and wire brush effects. Then I made a cover from foil tape. This tape comes in a roll and is glued and is used extensively in the air conditioning business but it’s big advantage is that it is just that bit thicker than the foil you get for kitchen use but not as thick as litho-plate, which could not be shaped as easily. The only trouble is that you have to remove the glue first which requires a good rub with a paper towel soaked in a suitable solvent. I use Hammerite thinners, which is about the only stuff that moves it. I then cut it to size, run the pounce wheel over the back where seams would be likely and carefully fold it into shape. This particular one has been folded to look like it is being laid out ready to open up over the bunker. The cover is then carefully removed from the model and attached to a stick of wood with a spot of blu tac where it receives a couple of coats of grey primer and a base coat of green matt enamel. The cover was then glued in place on the model and the highlights and shadows enhanced with lightened and darkened samples of the base colour to give the cover the required degree of life. A rope loosely draped over the cover and coiled up was glued to the cover and a figure will be added later who will be positioned as though fitting the cover.

Running Rigging

The final part f the detailing of this piece was the adding of the falls to the davits. These started off as purchased double blocks which actually have a wooden block with two brass rotating pulleys fitted. I drilled the blocks, four of them on both sides and four of them on just the one side and fitted hooks and eyes made from bent wire to suit the running rigging. The blocks were then painted up with matt grey enamel used for the pulleys and two coats of stained varnish used on the wood. A coat of dark wash toned things down and a spot of rust coloured wash around the hooks and eyes completed the effect. The blocks were then fitted with ropes to the eyes, looped and secured with heat shrink, before rigging the blocks in place on the davits. The ends were drawn back through the guide pulley on the davit arm and secured around the cleat fitted to the davit. The excess was then coiled up and bound before securing with a spot of cyano and placing inside the boats where they would normally be stored. To finish off the boats a couple of lifelines added to the starboard lifeboat slewing rope completed the rigging.

[ATTACH]21387.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]21388.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]21389.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]21390.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]21391.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]21392.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]21393.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]21394.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]21395.IPB[/ATTACH]

[Guest]

Part Three

The final touches were the addition of port glasses, which were cut from acetate sheeting on the top of a Christmas cracker box and glued inside the posts with spots of PVA adhesive, and steps made from the steam pipe covers supplied with the kit and glued on the door thresholds.



I may well add further detail as time goes by such as some clutter and ropes etc. This area of these type of ships seemed to be used as a general store for all sorts of gear so a few bits and pieces will not look out of place and a couple of figures will really add some life to it.

[ATTACH]21460.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]21461.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]21462.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]21463.IPB[/ATTACH]

[Ian M]

Do you know Richard i was following this on Mayhem and had forgotten all about it. I am Glad I found it again (thanks to the What are you building thread) and I was also very pleased to learn that you are plugging on. I hope there will be an update here soon as I can imagine that there has been lots happening since your last update almost a year ago!!!!

ps are you still stuck in Germany?

[Guest]

I'm afraid I've been at home very little this year, which is why progress has been very slow. I am now however home for a couple of months and hope to progress the Ben Ain a bit.

[tr1ckey66]

Hi Richard

That's incredible! I'm in awe of your model and your skill in building it. Wow!

I really do look forward to see this steaming on the water!

Congrats and good luck with the rest of it - it already looks amazing and very complex!!!

Cheers

Paul

[Guest]

Thanks Paul, I'm looking forward to doing a bit more to it.

[Guest]

Hi Richard, nice to see a ship on the forum for a change, you obviously have tons of patience to be able to include all that fine detail. Superb work. Cheers Derek

[Guest]

I'm not always sure if the line between patience and insanity gets a bit blurred!! I have just spent the last three days putting together a 1/35th scale pushbike to add a bit of detail to the boat deck, which i could have just have easily simply left off. Still if you are going to put everything into your model you may as well go the whole way.

Thanks for your comments Derek

[Ian M]

Nice touch. Are you building the push bike from scratch or did you get hold of the tamiya ones, I think there are two in a pack with a couple of German mobile infantry soldiers.

I think the most amazing thing with what you are building is the fact that its not just going to sit in a cabinet and look fantastic but is actually built to run on live steam.

Had any thoughts as to the next project.

Ian M

[Guest]

Hi Ian, the pushbike is an old Hornet kit which I found on eBay in the United States. The frame, handlebars, tires and some bits were white metal and the wheels and a lot of the detail was a PE fret. I looked at the Tamiya kit you refer to but the thing that put me off was the fact that the spokes were out of scale and spoiled the whole effect. The Hornet model has much more realistic spokes and so looks a lot better.

Next project is an Engle Type VII U-Boat. The attraction is not only the fact that I love Type VII's but the Engle one is a masterpiece of engineering, is a complete kit with all the electronics, engineering and model built to fit together and it is the same scale as the steam coaster so they should look good together on the water. I've been saving up for the last few years for the kit and by the time I finish the Ben Ain I hope to have enough together to be able to buy it.

[Ian M]

Sounds Like a photo worthy project that bike. I had no idea of the quality of the Tamiya ones, I just knew they are out there.

That Type VII sounds a cracker, hope you do the build progress on here.

Any particular sub you will be basing it on?

Ian M

[Guest]

I'll write an update on the Ben Ain soon and include a couple of shots of the bike. Most of it has been fiddly detail which is very time consuming and doesn't seem to progress you very much but I did feel like I got quite a bit done during my last stay at home.

The type VII will be U-203, the same as the Revell one I built

[Guest]

A bit of life on the Quarterdeck

Having completed the structure and fittings of the quarterdeck accommodation it was time to add a bit of detail and life to the area and the best way to do that was to start with a couple of figures. I always think that figures in the process of moving can look odd and a bit frozen so I like to go for figures in a more relaxed pose, which would not look out of place as the model passes by again a few minutes after the first time. Consequently it was time to try to find some suitable figures and see what I could do with them.

There are quite literally hundreds of 1/35th scale plastic figures out there but 99% of them are of a military nature. There are very few civilians and even fewer that are specifically steam coaster crew so I had to search a lot and get creative in my thinking. Luckily we are one of the few towns left in the country with a well stocked model shop so I could spend an hour or so browsing through the available figures and decide on what possibilities were there. The first one that caught my eye was a Russian tank crew. One of the crew had his jacket off and was sewing some repairs to it so he was dressed in just combat trousers, boots and a vest, so could easily be painted to look like a ship’s crew. The second one was one of the figures in the old Tamiya Field Kitchen kit who again could easily be painted up to look like a civilian and I liked the idea of the two crewmembers having a chat on the top deck of the accommodation. Probably a favorite spot for a bit of easy going maintenance as it would be warm from the machinery space casing and out in the fresh air and sun, assuming they found some sun in the Irish Sea.

The Russian Tank crew figure with the jacket was supplied with the jacket as a separate piece so that was a simple enough job of leaving it off. I planned to have him repairing a sail or rope or something so I would add that later. The German cook was basically going to be built as supplied but his cap would be white with the insignia removed and his clothing would be more neutral civilian colouring. Both figures were prepared by first gluing together and then drilling holes in the bases to take a copper peg made from the core of domestic cable. The pegs were glued in and the figures mounted on wooden coffee stirrers for handling. After a coat of white acrylic primer the figures were painted up in civilian colours with Vallejo acrylics, their boots weathered and the details picked out. The figures were then fitted to drilled holes in the model and a coil of rope was made up with a loop for the Russian Tank man to be ‘repairing’. They were then positioned on the top of the quarterdeck casing in a relatively relaxed pose as though having a bit of a chat about the day’s events, life at sea, when they were going home etc..etc..

The other thing I picked up on my travels through the internet was a 1/35th bike. Bikes were actually quite common on this type of vessel as food was purchased locally, usually from farms, and had to be carried back to the ship. A bike was almost essential to enable this and the whole ship’s crew would use it to go and get the ‘groceries’. I had a look around for a bike but could only come up with the Tamiya ones, which I didn’t like because the spokes were quite over scale and unrealistic. I did however find a white metal kit from a manufacturer called Hornet and picked one up on eBay in the United States. The kit comprised of white metal parts and a PE fret, all of which was a bit on the fiddly side but after a degree of perseverance I managed to get it all glued together and not looking too bad. I left off the gun rack but kept the ammo box as I figured if this ever got into civilian hands the box would quite possibly be left in place and used. The bike was also put onto a coffee stirrer, primed with acrylic grey and then detail picked out. A bit of weathering and a dirty wash brought out the detail and it was ready to put in place.

A common storage place was also on top of the casing where it was out of the way but it could be quickly and easily passed down to the deck so simply tying it to a fixed item such as the galley vent seemed like an appropriate spot so I stuck it onto the casing and tied it to the galley vent with a suitable ‘rope’.

Apart from a bit more detail and some weathering, both of which I would complete after the model is finished, I decided it was time to move on from the quarterdeck casing.

[ATTACH]32282.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]32283.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]32284.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]32285.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]32286.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]32335.IPB[/ATTACH]