An American Spy Ship?

[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

[minitnkr]

Silkpursery at this level always draws a crowd. PaulE

[Mini Me]

You are right there Paul............just waiting to see how Richard gets it into the bottle!! :thinking: HMMMmmmmmm........

[Si Benson]

:surprised:.... stunning!!

[rtfoe]

Thanks Paul, Rick and Si, :smiling6: :tears-of-joy: ...once the Genie is out of the bottle it's hard to squeeze back in.
I like a crowd but preparing for food is hard...my Chinese cook is already threatening me with his cleaver.:smiling6: Seats are also a bit of a problem...its standing room from now on. Matron has however seeked help from a few cute nurses but they know how to put out a fire when they see one.
Stairs done...getting pictures ready.

Cheers,
Richard

[scottie3158]

Richard,
outstanding work mate.

[rtfoe]

Thanks Scottie, when's your ship coming?

Continuation of today's progress report...I've made all the stairs and lined them up for painting.



Surfacer 1000 on and left to dry. The little doughnuts are going to be lifesavers. I drilled out a plastic rod and sliced the pieces. I will be using the more flatter ones.



Painting the lifesavers was a hit and miss going over the colours everytime I make a mistake...



Attached all the stairs and even added the clandestine chimney from two different sized plastic rods...one sharpened at the tip and sliced off for the smoke stack cover. See if you can spot it. It took me a while to find its location and only one profile image gave me the position...it's still a guess.



You can see where I have attached the lifesavers in this image.



With this I think there aren't anymore equipment to add on except the rigging and flags for the ships mast. I'm going to enjoy the weathering process. I'll just give her a coat of Future first. I will also work a bit more on the seascape. Thanks for keeping me company since July.

Cheers,
Richard

[Neil Merryweather]

Super Smashing Great!

[rtfoe]

Thanks Neil, I've put it away under the acrylic casing I got made in case it gets smashed by the cats. So far it has had a few close calls with antennas flying all over the place. Have to buy another packet of No.2 steel guitar strings to replace ones lost to the elements.

Cheers,
Richard

[JR]

Richard, how did you know about blowing out the candle ! I'll have another go as seriously impressed with your results.
Could you ask Cook for one portion of Oyster Omelette with shrimp and rice please.

[rtfoe]

John, aren't you in bed? How did I know?...I figured the only way your stretching turned into a blob is that you let the melted sprue cool and that could take just seconds in the climate you have there just by blowing out the candle then only stretching. Also with your close connection with fire I thought you might take the safety route and diffuse any fire before proceeding to anything else. You have to stretch immediately and with a quick pull if you want very thin sprue...a slow pull if you want something thicker.

Ok, would you like dried scallop and water crest soup double boiled to go with your order? I can get him to throw in some cordiseps and slivers of ginseng for a healthy herbal broth if you like the slight bitter after taste.

Cheers,
Richard