Princess Elizabeth build...

[mjt60a]

I noticed the portholes on the 'sides' have a sort of 'rain gutter' around them forming an eyebrow-like shape so decided to represent it using a short length of wire bent around the tube used to cut the discs and with the ends bent to 90 degrees and stuck into holes either side of the porthole flange. The inside then has araldite wiped round it to blend into the wall. When painted it looks OK... Also, pictures show some type of extractor vents which I tried to make using some styrene tube and styrene rod that fits inside it. The tube is cut to length and the ends countersunk with a large drill (held and turned by hand) to make the visible end look thinner. A hole is drilled in the side to take the rod. The end of the rod is then made pointed with a pencil sharpener (and perfected with sandpaper as the pencil sharpener didn't work all that well!) and a cone cut off leaving part of the un-tapered rod to centralise it in the tube. Two of these are needed for each vent. Then the end of the remaining piece of rod is filed so it fits into the hole and against the wide ends of the cones and about a quarter-inch cut off and glued into the hole. The vents are glued into holes drilled in appropriate places in the sponson house. Once it's painted it looks pretty good - although, I now know the real vents are much 'shorter' than the ones I made - but I'm still happy with them  

[mjt60a]

A last minute change....
I saw on this video that the black area on the sponson appears to be 'thicker' than the white...so I glued another layer of 1mm styrene sheet on before painting. This stiffened it up quite a bit so was a good idea in the end...
The vents not quite right... found this picture after I'd fitted them, they are indeed much shorter than I've made them - but I'm not going to try to alter them now 

[mjt60a]

...Just one thing slightly bothers me..... unfortunately, and I don't know how I did it, on the 'rear' sponson houses I put the ventilator where the porthole should have been and then the porthole behind it....so the porthole is further back than it should be  
Still, too late to do anything about it now (and it's not that bad, I mean, who's gonna know....)

[mjt60a]

So....with the hull painted and the sponsons painted, I stuck them in place using araldite and clamps, pairs of magnets and a couple of magnetic algae scrapers from the aquarium to hold them in place, it all looks OK so far.
I also added some lettering at the bows and the thin white line all round the ship, lettraset for the lettering and Model Technic 'Trim Line' for the line...

[mjt60a]

In the second picture, part of the superstructure can be seen still under construction, I'll cover that in more detail next but here's the 'plan' for how it can be done (well, hopefully it can)...

[mjt60a]

..I cut the parts out before painting and assembled some of them as it involved clamping them in place - and I thought it would most likely damage the paintwork if I did it later... the superstructure is built inside the hull starting with the base and working upward, to ensure everything fits reasonably well. Cling film is laid around the inside of the hull to prevent the walls sticking to the hull, then the parts are glued in place and clamped to the bulwarks and if necessary, braced with lengths of balsa. Because the sides are slightly curved and the walls are flat styrene sheet, they tended to try to straighten out - so bracing was necessary in this case! The outsides were painted before windows and portholes are fitted, I didn't fancy trying to mask them out later!

[mjt60a]

Next I fit the window glass (cut from spare CD cases) and the inner frames (0.25mm styrene sheet) The inner frames are built up from strips as with my level of accuracy The windows probably wouldn't line up if I tried to make one piece! At this time I've fitted about half of the 'ribs' which will (I hope) hold the wall in it's curved shape and also support the promenade deck. 

[mjt60a]

Now....couple of questions!
How does everyone make the railings? I've only seen stanchions that take 3 rails - and one of those is the top so would be hidden or left out when the wooden rail capping is fitted - the models I've seen have 3 rails plus the wooden capping rail. Can you buy stanchions like that (maybe 4 rail ones) or do they come supplied with the kit? Any advice would be most welcome as I don't look forward to making my own!
Also, anyone know what goes on here* and where abouts? I've only seen the ship in a static role and this area was altered completely, the only things left being two fairleads. No pictures I have in books ever seem to show a good view and neither do the films in 'Paddle Parade' In the video on youtube, there's a very brief shot showing the capstan (presumably all the mechanical parts are below the deck) similar to the one on Queen Mary but with a rectangular base**, but really little else. so I'm wondering is there a ladder from the promenade deck? (pictures of the ship on google earth show one in the centre - but several other things look changed so no idea if it was there originally) was there a steering wheel on there? any other fittings?
(*small semi-circular deck at the stern)
(**Queen Mary may also have a rectangular base but looking at the picture again, the deck has been covered with some bitumen type substance so they might have put it over the baseplate. The eliptical cover I'm guessing, opens to reveal the steam controls...)

[Eddy Matthews]

Mick,

Stuart gave a good method of making capped railings in the following thread.... The posting you want is about halfway down the page. http://www.paddleducks.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=4223.60

Regards
Eddy

[mjt60a]

Yes I read that with interest, it's a good idea for fitting a wooden (or metal, or styrene painted to look like wood) rail capping on stanchions designed for another wire rail at the top...the problem I'm having is finding stanchions with four holes - so they still have three wire rails when you replace the top one... The ones in the shops have only two or three...
One idea would be to build a tool myself, a fixed platform with some kind of clamp to hold several very small dia brass tubes and a sliding one to hold the 'expo' drill with a cut-off disc in it, the drill on a hinged adjustable thingy to set the height and cut half way through the tubes, then solder the wires into the slots, still a bit labour intensive though even making ten at a time but it's a thought...

[Stuart Badger]

What's the total height of the stanchions required Mick?

Stuart

[mjt60a]

23mm is the height of the 2 hole 'billing boats' ones I got for the landing platforms, they look about right for the human figures I intend to use, so yes, 23mm.

[Eddy Matthews]

James Lane can probably help with stanchions Mick - He can do special orders at very good prices, so if what you want isn't listed in his catalogue just give him a ring...

Regards
Eddy

[chipmonk]

Hi all just to say that I used James Lane stanchions on my1:48 version of "Princess" and they worked pretty well. They are a modified split pin type thing and have the correct number of railings. See photo.
Cheers Chris M

[Stuart Badger]

Ah! that's a pity Mick - I found a source for 15mm 4 hole ones but that's the largest I could find.
I did once make some 4 hole 30mm ones (but only 10 of them) for what it's worth here's how I did it. I used the brass beads that fisherman use for tying flies. They come in diameters of 1.5mm upwards - but only have one hole. I made a wood jig to hold the beads at the right distance apart, threaded some 1mm rod through them then soldered the whole thing (only a thin film of solder and they were being painted so the brass being 'covered up' didn't matter). I then made another jig consisting of a block of wood with a horizontal hole into which the stanchions fitted, through this block vertically I drilled 4 x 0.8mm dia holes in the positions that the beads were when the stanchion was in the horizontal hole (hope that makes sense). Then using a miniature pillar drill I drilled the holes for the rails. The results were very good - but by strewth they took a long time to make!

Stuart