Maly Modelarz Ark Royal restoration project

cmdrted

Active Member
Hi All,
Currently taking a break from the Z-37 and working on a kit I got off Ebay the Maly Ark Royal. I knew this was going to be a total rework when the "kit" arrived in the mail. Printed @1990 the paper was more burlap and raw wood pulp than anything else. The colors were suspect, and a lot of fading took place. The first thing I did was scan the pages to be re-edited. As I was trying to follow some of the threads advice on this site it became overly tedious and frustrating. Then I had a thought that seemed simpler to me; I traced the parts on onion skin paper, which left a line drawing of the parts in black and white. Then it was simply a matter of cleaning up and painting the parts. I started test assembling the hull today, A new level of frustration and more work....
 

cmdrted

Active Member
To continue... The onion skinned traced parts were scanned and "bleached" in an Adobe photoeditor that came with the scanner. You can place and replace entire blocks of color with this program. I colored the parts and then ran them thru a bitmap editing program called MGI that came with an old dell coputer system. There I added and fine tuned some details and mass produced the repetitive things. Works well for me.
The scale of this thing is 1/300, after I test build it to see what needs fixed, I'll enlarge it to 1/250 scale and detail it some more. I lack alot of references however, I can't find any real detail anywhere just yet ( A blantant cry for help). Anyways more of the framing and basic hull plating
 

cmdrted

Active Member
Latest and 2nd attempt at righting the Ark. Readjusted the hull plating and bow and stern pieces. A bit better but far from being there, Very frustrating. Some things had to be redesigned completely....
 

Gil

Active Member
Good old "dogged determination"! Great thread and great workmanship. Hope the third time is the charm on the hull otherwise get out the lacquer and slather on the spackle!

Best regards, Gil
 

cmdrted

Active Member
Hey Huey, I shelved this for a while, my frustration meter was pegged after the 3rd "do-over", I re-did some of the smaller bits, the turrets, lites etc, most of those pieces I just built from scratch. The hull will have to be scrapped and completely scratch built at the bow and stern. I practiced up on the german destroyer and the DN freebies so I know all this misfit of parts can't be all me, but man the fit on this thing is baddd :!: I'm learning digital editing. Right now I have more software on my machine than Gates has but I can't get used to something without the old SOP book sittin' nearby to thumb thru when stuck. When I have it down I have a few ideas that might make this turkey float. It's a shame the Ark is my favourite British carrier.
 

murban

Member
Hi Ted,

this is a great project. I am planning something like that with another MM model myself.

Two obervations though, that may help you:

Before glueing the hull sides, the deck should be in place. It is nearly impossible to achieve the correct placement of the hull plating without having the rounded border of the deck as a guide. As you see, you get nearly straight segments between the formers which most probably won't correspond with the form of the deck.

Also, you shouldn't glue the hull plating to each former. The pieces should only be glued to the bottom plate and the deck wherever possible. Only at the ends of the pieces should you glue the plating to the formers.

I know this is only a test build, but without having the deck glued to the skeleton, you won't be able to test-fit the hull plating correctly and you will never know the correct form of the parts.

From my experience, the MM kits don't fit that bad - even the older ones. The paper and printing quality was bad in those days, but the model constructions weren't that bad...

regards,
Michael
 

cmdrted

Active Member
Michael, thankyou, I was kind of wondering if that's where some of the problem was. The other hull issue I had was the cutouts for the various boat decks were also misaligned by 1-2mm. This is a project none the less that needs a little" fire" that currently I'm lacking. When I tackle this in earnest I'll keep your suggestions in mind. Once again viele danke.
 

Leif Oh

Member
Michael

That was a very good tip, which goes also for large sheets of aircraft wing covering, I take it. Probably just what I needed to dare get on with my own project (the Airacobra) which has been at a standstill in awe of the huge sheets of covering that has to go on more or less at one go.

Thanks! Leif
 

Orion

New Member
I greet.....

I saw this plot..... "by case". I looked for materials (studies) about ORP "Burza" or "Wicher".

It`s persons which made this model very little
I`ve question:
What did it further become from this model of aircraft carrier?
How did fates of this model end?

I ask CMDRTED answer if you can!!!
And here my HMS " Ark Royal":
http://cardmodels.net/phpbb2/album_personal.php?user_id=1966

It will help "thingamabob" in completion model maybe?

I would like to help you, if you will be he wanted you this.
 

cmdrted

Active Member
Hi Orion, The "fate" of the Ark Royal as it stands now is "limbo". I have other projects on the list, thanks to Michael Urban and his suggestion and your excellant Ark Royal build I know where to fix up the ship when I enlarge it to 1/250 scale. I'd like to add a few more details when she does get enlarged but detail of your ship is amazing and in reality I'm not sure I can better your results. Thanks for asking, T
 
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