signal lamps

They just look great when illuminated !!

Mast

I installed the mast today, the mast itself  is pretty much as suggested by the kit, the only thing I added was a "parallel pipe" which also can be seen on the original ship.
Additionally I use this pipe to hide the wires connected to the 3 signal lamps in the mast, and I used the brass pipe itself for the ground wiring of the lamps.
I found a cheap (Christmas) light chain with 10 small Ø 3 mm white LED's but unfortunately they were too big to fit inside the original kit's signal lamps so I had to make my own.
I used a Ø4mm brass pipe, created an oval hole, shortened it, fitted the LED and glued a slice of Ø3mm wood on top of the LED inside the pipe.

Another thing what can be seen on the mast of the original ship is a long ladder, I tried to create one in the right scale for the model, but my talents (and/or used materials) where not perfect.. so I gave up this idea for now..



Weathered cranes

I found some time to finish the cranes.

For the yellow color (on the entire ship) I use "pale yellow" (no.81) as the base color and "dry brush" it with "trainer yellow" (no.24) to create a more brighter yellow without overdoing it. After this I give it "rust" (no.113), "dark gray" (no.32) and "aluminum" (no.56) to create the weathered look.

I also "weather" the wires/ropes by soaking them in a thinned mixture of "dark grey" (no.32), wipe them clean and give the same treatment again but now with a thinned mixture of "rust" (no.113).

Afterwards I slightly dry brush it with "aluminum" (no.56) and this gives an realistic impression of a "steal wire"..

The mentioned numbers are refering to "Humbrol" enamel colors.

 

Crane No.1

Finally I can present a preview of one of the 3 cranes.

I used the kit version as a guideline and I tried to copy the original cranes as much as possible by adding more details with common materials like wood, nails, brass and electrical wire.
It took longer time as expected but i think it was worth the efforts..

Life Boats in place



And here's the result after painting and weathering the lifeboats..

Life Boats

Also the lifeboats supplied by the kit, is a bit too simple compared to the real thing, so also here I added more detail.
Again I used the nails and copper wire to simulate the knobs and ropes on the side of the boat, and I added stabilizer bars and a rain cover.
The rain cover is cut out of  a (black) "report cover".

Lower decks

I continued with the fine details on the lower decks and besides the cranes and the life boats I’m just about finished on these decks.
I'm not sure how to bend the railing in shape in one piece without losing the "straight lines" and the sharp edges, so I cheated by "cutting" them in the 90 degree corners and soldier them together afterwards

"rusty look"

After the "shiny" look, here's the "rusty" look.

I might have overdone it a bit, but after having looked at it for a while it actually starts to appeal to me..



In theory she’s ready to sail now..

At this stage the rudders and the engines, propellers and shafts are in place.
I added some visual details on the rudders and the only thing left on the hull is to get rid of the "shiny surface"..

Bow with details

I continued with some fine detailing on the upper deck and finished it, only thing remaining is the mast and crane.
I'm really satisfied with the result so far..

Lower deck complete

I completed the lower deck and finished it with an more "used and natural" look.
For achieving this look I painted the parts in their normal base color, for example "mat black" (Humbrol No.33).
After this layer I "drybrush" it (not to heavily) with "dark Grey" (Humbrol no.32) to achieve a more dirty look, on top of this I "drybrush" "rust" (Humbrol no.113)
Sometimes as the final touch and to achieve a metallic look I “drybrush” it with "aluminum" (Humbrol no.56) on strategic places.

Life Boat

My version of the life boat, I added a few more details.
The rope on the sides is copper wire (as this stays in the shape you bend it), and the "knobs" are shortened nails which were included in the kit.
As you might have notiched, I also added some more details to the middle deck..

Equipped Lower deck preview part2

the still shining towing winches and the "rusty" towing bars..

Equipped Lower deck preview

I spend some time on the lower deck details and try to give it an worn out / used rusty look by using a technique (found on the internet) called "drybrushing", I spend some money on dedicated “drybrushes” and I’m very positive about the results.

It is an simple and efficient technique and creates the look I was looking for, the only worry now is not to overdo it.. 

Colorful and shiny

Here she is with all her colors except the white stripes..
The colors I used are humbrol enamel paint no.48 "Mediterranean Blue" and No. 69 "Yellow" together with No. 21 "Black" and  No. 19 "Bright Red"

Black..

At this stage the shiny black is airbrushed in place..
I find it very easy to cover the parts with aluminum foil, it's very easy to shape and always stays in the shape you want it.
…I haven’t found the perfect tape yet, I’m open for any suggestion…

The Ferrari look

Finally !! I can paint the hull..
I started with painting it with 5 layers of the same acrylic polyurethane based lacquer as I did on the inside, after this i primed the hull for finding any imperfect spots on it, and sanded/filled and primed several times until I was satisfied with the result..
At this stage I already airbrushed the "Ferrari red" humbrol color no.19 underwater line on the hull..

Middle deck preview

Not really finished yet, but you can already get a feeling how it will look.

Note: I also added more detail to the "boxes" on deck, not exactly as they are shaped originally but that's more because of the limitations of wood, lack of other materials and my skills and creativity in general..

Upper structure

I'm really getting the feeling for "small" details now, therefore I also made the louver windows on the upper structure a bit more realistic..
Also on the upper structure I will prepare several cabin windows with backlights, switchable in 2 different groups.

Preview..

Fitting everything in place, rudders, shafts and propellers..

Rudder shape

Neither the instructions or drawing show anything about the shape of the rudder.
As the original, I shaped the rudder with an sharp edge.
For fixing the rudder to the shaft I used an wire going through the rudder and soldiered it on both ends of the "brass holder", which again is soldiered to the shaft itself..

Keel extention

Again after studying pictures of the Smit Rotterdam, the keel shape towards the stern has an sharp edge, the model originally hasn't, so I added it by using an extra piece of balsa wood.
At this stage I also added the side and stabilizers strips on the Hull and started to position the propeller guards 

The "Engine room"

As for the motors i choose the Robbe "Power 755/40", an powerfull motor for a good price..
As the max. rotation speed at 12 V seems to be app. 5600/min it is possible to drive the shafts without any gear in between, I used the heavy-duty coupling from Robbe "no. 1446" and I expect quite some power..

Mighty bow..

Bow with the top list in place, a mighty sight when looking at it from this angle.

Impressive i must say..

Even the impossible is possible if the strips have been into water until they are completely soaking wet as you can see here..
To improve the stability of the hull I gave the inside of the hull app. 5 coats of an quick drying acrylic polyurethane based lacquer 
The hull seems to be pretty stable to me afterwards, additionally I will give the outside of the hull the same treatment..

The bow.. more or less in shape..

While trying to achieve the perfect shape, you also might notice that the hull is not very thick everywhere and needs extra care to get more stability 

Beautiful curves

After some effort, the smooth curves are finally showing up

Rough cut..

So here it is, ready for sanding it in it's final shape

Finishing loose ends before sanding

After having cutting the balsa wood roughly into shape, I finished planking on the lower deck.
Only the "top part" of the stern is left before I can sand it into its final shape..
  

Stern

For some reason the Balsa wood supplied for the stern was not "thick" enough so I used extra pieces of balsa wood to make it fit..

Bow

After planking I began to shape the front-end (bow) and back-end (stern) of the hull before I even considered to start sanding and filling the whole thing.

And the Back..

Front view after Planking

I can publish a lot more "planking" pictures as this part took quite some time.
Here a front view picture.. also at this stage I realize that I should have placed the water inlet for the water-cannons "out of sight" in the bow thruster pipe, unfortunately too late for me, so I will have to find an alternative place for it..

Finally

2,3 planks more to go..

Almost there..

a close up of the front planking and bow thruster hole..

An experienced model kit builder might be able to see here that I’m using "UHU Hart" as the glue compound, even dough it works fine, I’m not too convinced that this is the most suitable glue for wood..

I find it sometimes drying to quick and difficult to dose, maybe someone can tell me what other good alternatives there are ?

Practicing planking techniques

Using all the tricks in the book..

Strips Bathtub..

Probably nothing new for the "hardcore" model builder, but instead of occupying the family bathtub to soak the wooden strips in water before planking "I" got the brilliant idea to use an app. 0,75 meter long pvc-pipe with a bottom plug and filled it up with water, compact, simple and efficient..

Strips part2 continued

and here's the back ..

Strips part2

After reading through a guide "simple hul planking techniques for beginners" found on the internet "Guide link" i started to "calculate" and cut the planks into "shaped planks and sections" and I’m satisfied with the result so far..
I decided to "glue" the strips in place while keeping them in place with help of needles, instead of making use of the nails included in the kit.

Strips ..

Starting with the first strips...

Bow thruster position

Because of the design of the bow thruster (raboesch) , it didn't fitted in the correct position without removing some parts of the frames and the keel..

So after a few modifications and a bit of extra material everything fits but will most likely never be reachable again.

"Dirty look"

a major jump in the project, I added the middle deck and structure and tried to create a "worn out look" of the motor hatch by airbrushing humbrol "dark grey" (No. 32) on "strategic places".
At this stage I’m still not really satisfied with the results, but I think it looks much better than the "plain" humbrol "brown" (No.133) I decided to use..
The "old rope look" however meets my expatiations..

Middle Deck and Structure

Moving on to the Middle Deck.
I have the intention to build lights (switchable in 2 different groups) behind a few of the cabin windows

Lower Deck

I couldn't resist.. I have to paint the decks in the color i believe is better than the suggested "egg duck blue" no.23 from Humbrol paints (i used no.88 "Deck Green" as the basecoat and airbrushed it not to heavily with no.102 "Army Green")

Building the motor hatch ?

To get used to work with wood, and to find out how exactly the lines are marked on the wood, I made very sure not to cut the parts too small..
After consulting the web and looking at several pictures of the Smit Rotterdam, i noticed that the details of this kit are not too impressive so far, so I decided to go a bit more in detail on the motor hatch  

The Beginning...

This is where this build more or less got started..

It started "late december" in 2010 where I had the opportunity to take over this model of the Smit Rotterdam ..
After only having build a few "plastik" models in my younger years i can't really tell how this project will end.

My intensions are to have it RC controlled with different sorts of remote controlled surprises like watercanon, rotating radar, lights and I would like to create an overall realistic "worn out look" ..