MO 65 from the old BTCAD site

[sjsquirrel]

More progress

SJ
I've always wondered what that boat looked like built-up. Thanks for sharing.
BTW weren't the MOs sort of gunboats on the Black Sea harassing the German supply routes?

David

You're welcome. I hadn't bothered to find out anything about these ships yet, so I finally took a few minutes and did so. A quick search turned up a couple references like this (http://warsailors.com/forum/read.php?1,2793) which indicates that a number were used (and lost) in the Baltic Sea, and this site, which refers to several MO ships used in the Black Sea fleet as you say. So far I've found no reference to the MO-65, although the latter site references MO-66. The model pattern indicates this is one of the MO-4 variants.

Anyway, I've made some progress. It amazes me how many little tiny parts are in this model. The pictures below show the progression of one of the larger gun mounts, and the beginning of the gun itself.

As I've noted on the first image, the designer though to provide a large chunk of "spare" gray that can be used to trim pieces, add a back to pieces, etc. This has come in quite handy on a number of occasions. I used it here to add color to the back of parts 46h (second picture).

The fourth picture shows the gun barrel rolled. Since this piece is on regular paper it's not real strong, so I trimmed and sanded a round toothpick to fit inside the tube to reinforce it.

More in next post....

 

[sjsquirrel]

Why do I do this?

Because I LOVE IT!

Sometimes working with all these little fiddly parts, dropping them, crawling around on my hands and knees with a magnifying glass and flashlight, finding them, dropping them again... I wonder why I keep at it. Then, it all comes together and I look at the finished piece and go, YEAH! That's why I keep at it!

The first pic here shows the gun barrel and shell handling mechanisms ready for assembly. The two pieces at the bottom of that picture use .3 mm wire, with a small tube of paper wrapped around them.
The second pic shows the gun assembled, and finally the third pic shows the finished gun on it's mount. The whole thing is about an inch long. Base and gun total 27 pieces, plus two pieces of wire.

All in all I'm very satisfied with how that little puppy turned out. Now I've got one more to finish, then I can move on to the small guns wall1.

Note to builders: Parts 47j and 47k only appear once on the pattern, but you need two of each. I used them as patterns to cut out two more from the extra gray material supplied (see previous post).



Bye for now,

SJ

 

[Fishcarver]

Love it and You have got this ACED!! Good Work!!

Squirrel Meister:

EXACTLY!! Do each piece simply because you love it!! Then, do another one. They will only get better!!
Jim

PS: Check your PMs .
JR

 

[sjsquirrel]

More progress

Well, the "big" deck guns are finished and installed. I'm fixing up some pictures of the process of building the smaller machine guns, but for now, here's a pic with the big guns installed.

Steve

 

[sjsquirrel]

Machine Guns - Base

I'm now working on the two machine guns that sit on opposite sides of the deck, behind the wheelhouse. I'm too tired to work with tiny pieces like this tonight, so I thought I'd post an update instead. These puppies have some really tiny pieces, and a picture being worth a thousand words, I've compiled a few pictures.
The base of the gun is fairly simple, consisting of four parts. In the second picture I show the punch I used to make the little circles. These are popular with scrapbookers and card-makers for embellishing things with little holes. I wanted the pieces they throw away though. The 1/16" size was perfect for this piece. I've seen the same brand in 1/8" and 1/4" sizes in Wal-Mart, but not the 1/16". These were ordered from Stampin-Up.

 

[sjsquirrel]

Machine Guns - barrel

Now, on to the barrel of the gun. This is where things get really tiny. In the first image I've included a picture from the assembly manual that shows the finished product and the part numbers. You can see the parts on the part sheet at the end of my knife. My skill level is definitely improving though - those cones (48g) went together far easier than I expected, and after that the other parts (48h,i, and j) seemed easy.

The design here is rather brilliant. The barrel itself is a piece of .5mm wire (the plan calls for .3mm). A small piece of paper is wrapped around the wire, then some .3mm wire (plan calls for .1mm) is tightly coiled around the larger wire to simulate the cooling ribs on the barrel. I started that last night but didn't get it finished. I needed some finer needle nose pliers.

One thing I'm having trouble with, and would appreciate any advice. What kind of glue do you use to glue the paper bits to the wire bits? I have some BOND 527 that's supposed to work on metal and paper, but I'm getting poor results. It sticks to the paper okay, but not the metal.

Till next time,

SJ

 

[Fishcarver]

MO 4 Looking Good!!

SJS:

There is a Learning curve and you are climbing the top!!
Carry on!
Yer BC Bud
JR

 

[ekuth]

You... are... fracking... crazy!!!!

Good gods, man! That's tiny!

 

[sjsquirrel]

Machine guns and stuff

Well, as I've mentioned in a few recent posts I'm getting back to card modeling after a time dabbling in other things like 3D graphics programming, Origami, and building with cardboard (see below). So, I've been working on the MO 65 again. I'm actually getting down to the wire. I have some depth charges to complete, a rack to store them in, then the mast and rigging, and finally the railings to finish it all off.

In this installment, the first picture below shows a cardboard shield I made during my 'break'. I've since made a cardboard sword to go with it, but I don't have a picture of that yet. They're both made of two layers of cardboard, glued with the corrugations running perpendicular to each other (for strength), then covered and trimmed with colored poster board. The result is surprisingly strong.

The second picture shows the completed machine guns in place on deck. I got wrapped up in the building and forgot to take enough pictures during the build process. Sorry about that.

With the machine guns finished I moved on to the depth charge racks at the rear of the ship. The third picture shows the completed life boat (?), and one of the rack pieces in the process of being cut out, and several of the completed depth charges. There are two sizes of depth charges. The fourth picture shows the larger ones, while the ones in the third picture are smaller and go in another rack which will appear in the next installment. All in all there are 40 depth charges.

By the way, also appearing in the third picture is my new favourite knife. Along with the usual #11 blade I used for scale you can see a small black utility knife. I was having trouble finding #11 blades in town for a while and bought one of these little utility knives for $2 or $3 at Canadian Tire, and a pack of 10 replacement blades for another $3. I am still using the blade that came with the knife, and I've used it a lot since I got it.

This knife has quickly become my number one cutting tool. It stays sharper longer, when it gets dull you snap off a little piece and it's good as new, it get's in to tight corners more easily, and is less expensive. For the price of five #11 blades I get about a hundred blades for this thing. I couldn't be happier.

So that's about where she sits. I should have the last of the depth charges done soon and then I can install the remaining racks and the little boat, then move on to the mast and rigging. The end is in sight, and I'm quite excited about it, because I've got lots of other stuff already printed and waiting to be built.

Till next time,

Steve

 

[Elliott]

Smart man, to take a break and do other things from time to time. It is good to see you back on the ship though. Man those depth charges are small! :thumb:Good looking work as always.

You might want to take a look at the Valley Forge thread. Uhu02 has posted a screen shot indicating he's working on developing the Valley Forge. If I'm not mistaken. someone (ekuth?) said that the Valley Forge could be a stand-in for the BSG Agro ship?

Of course I could just be imagining things. Wouldn't be the first time....

 

[barry]

Looks good overall details look very good

 

[ekuth]

Looks good, sj!

And yup, Elliot, that was me. The VF and the agro ship are virtually (if not actually) the same model/design.

 

[sjsquirrel]

Not the one. Not the one.

Looks good, sj!

And yup, Elliot, that was me. The VF and the agro ship are virtually (if not actually) the same model/design.

One free internet to the first one who recognizes the quote in the subject line.

The Agro ship model in the BSG ship pack I've been converting is actually quite different from the Valley Forge in structure. If UHU is working on the VF I will be watching that development with keen interest.

I finished the first rack of small depth charges last night and glued it in place along with the lifeboat. The second rack of DC's is underway. I was reading back through the thread and had forgotten about the "thread" railings from papershipwright. I've been pondering the various options for railings trying to decide what I want to do. I think I'll have to experiment with a couple techniques and see which I like best.

More later,

Steve

 

[ekuth]

That would be Zathrus, from Babylon 5. Too easy. :mrgreen:

And, to be honest... I never looked that closely at the agro ship/vf side by side, so I shall bow to your expertise!

 

[sjsquirrel]

Small update

Got some more done in the last few days. It's a little hard to see, but in the first picture I've added the support 'feet' or whatever they are called to the depth charge rack and lifeboat, and finished enough charges to fill the first rack.

The second picture shows the rack with all the charges glued in place, and the second rack in progress (without the feet). Also pictured is one of my new Prismacolor art markers. I bought a set called Warm Grey that contains markers for 10/20/30... and up to 100% gray. I've been using these for all the recent work on this model and absolutely love them. A member on the other forum recommended them, and I'll definitely be buying lot's more in other colors. Edge coloring made simple at last!

In the third picture the depth charge rack and lifeboat are installed on deck.

If you compare the last two pictures you can see that the white strip on the side of the hull has been colored. I used one of these new grey markers to match the color. The original strip fell prey to a slip of the knife and I had to replace it, but at the time I didn't feel like breaking out the watercolors. Then recently I got the new markers and the problem was solved. I'm pleased with the color match, but it would have been much better if I had had these on hand to color the strip before gluing it to the ship. C'est la vie.

That's all for now,

Steve

 

[sjsquirrel]

Slow progress

As usual I keep getting distracted with other things. I've been making a sword to go with the shield I posted a picture of earlier. The sword is the one from Sheila's Papermodels. I'm reinforcing all parts with extra card and/or cardboard since I want to be able to play with it. The stock build would be pretty much only good for display.

In the meantime I've been working on the mast and railings for the MO. The mast is quite small at this scale so I'm reinforcing the smaller bits with round toothpick trimmed down to size. As you can see in the pictures I trim (actually scrape) the toothpick down to about the right diameter, glue it to the back of the paper, let it dry a few minutes, then apply more glue and roll the toothpick onto the paper. Or is that rolling the paper on to the toothpick. Anyway, the finished product is nice and strong.

For the railings I decided to try the thread railings using the technique from Paper Shipwright. The second two pictures show the thread on the template before and after spraying with primer. In retrospect I should have brushed them with glue a couple more times to stiffen them. They don't seem to be stiff enough even after several more coats of primer. Definitely a method that needs some practicing, but I think they'll look pretty good when they're done.

I'm almost done the mast and similar pieces, then it's just railings and rigging.

TTFN

Steve

 

[sjsquirrel]

Mast etc.

Continuing at my usual snails' pace I have finally finished the mast, and the fore and aft thingies that the rigging connects to. I'm presently making railings. I wasn't happy with the way the thread railings were turning out, so I switched to paper railings using the technique presented by Lex. I'm much happier with these, but they are time consuming, and I'm not a fast builder.

Attached are pics of the finished mast and other things. The railings should be done soon, then it's railings and rigging. I moved recently and have misplaced the little chain I found for the anchor chain, but I'm pretty sure I know which box in storage it's in.

TTFN

 

[sjsquirrel]

Slowly but surely - Anchor chain

Just in case anyone is still listening.....

I've finally completed the rigging, and I've made the railings and now just need to install them. In the meantime I've built half a dozen other little things just because I felt like it.

Anyway, I finally found the chain I'd picked up for the anchor chain. I cut a section out and gave it a coat of gray paint (primer actually), then installed it.
See the pictures below.

 

[sjsquirrel]

Rigging

After the anchor chain I was ready to start the rigging, but first I decided to correct something that was bothering me. When I made the main guns one of them got glued with the gun tilted upwards forward gun in first pic below). At the time I told myself it wouldn't matter, but every time I saw it it bothered me, so I finally decided to fix it. Compare to the second pic.

The rigging was completed over several days, gluing some segments in place, then leaving it to set overnight, gluing some more, etc. Below are a couple shots of the product so far. Over the next week or so I'll be putting on the railings, and then she's done!

Cheers,

Steve

 

[Nowhere]

I hold this model for any time at my HD. Now I think I will build this ship. It looks very nice.