Princess Elizabeth build...

[mjt60a]

a problem made itself apparent!  as I was moving the model, the 'belting' across the starb'd paddledrum fell off! The brass strip behind it which supports the feathering centre stayed in place so wouldn't have been too bad had it happened while sailing. Looks like the epoxy resin didn't really take to the brass strip, I sanded it all off and re-attached it taking care to roughen the surface of the brass a bit better but I'll most likely add 2 or 3 self-tapping screws at the ends and middle on both these parts to prevent it happening again.
Unfortunately, while removing the feathering gear, I managed to knock off 3 of the fake nuts that hold the pivot pins in the star centre - seems they're not styrene as I'd thought (ABS?) so I need to remove all the rest and either replace with styrene ones or re attach with araldite.... then repaint it   

[mjt60a]

as I now have a picture of what's behind the funnel I decided to change that part of the model to more accurately represent it.... and besides, the main mast forward stays have to attach there (didn't notice that when I built the railing!)
another thing I forgot to do that should've been done before painting, putting the still incomplete anchor winch in place - I didn't make the chain holes in the bow... 

[mjt60a]

I built a few more bits for this, cylinder assemblies and the valve eccentrics...

[mjt60a]

a little bit more on this piece, also painted some of it that would be hard to get at when complete, the large gear and shaft are removed at the moment to allow painting on the inside of the frames and I need to make the chain pulleys and levers before it will be refitted..

[mjt60a]

(from an older post about the boiler room vents -
These vents are a little larger than they should be - they're the closest thing I could find to correct size (and better I think, than the largest styrene 'ready made' ones which were too small) but still a little bit bigger than would be ideal, particularly the down tubes but they too were the nearest thing the shop had. I had some I'd bought years ago that was perfect but not enough left to make two vents and couldn't find that exact size.....
also, I noticed the boiler casing (fiddely?) was shorter front to rear than the real thing and the result of both these is the front funnel stays wrap around the vents just a little. 
(1) I could leave it like that (they're elastic so it doesn't affect anything) and with the bridge in place it won't really show...
(2) I could move the attachment points inboard a couple of millimeters...
(3) I could fit attachment points on the bottom edge of the wheelhouse...
Or (4) make more vents the correct size - if I ever find more suitable parts to use.
Having had all night to think it over I decided to do number (1) and as they are removeable, do number (4) at a later time if I really can't live with them )
...while looking for some P38, humbrol model filler or milliput for the chain pulleys I found a couple of pieces of styrene tube of a more suitable size for the boiler vents (knew I had some somewhere) so decided to try making two more... but couldn't find anything for the tops so tried making my own by holding sheet styrene over a candle to soften it then pressing it down over a large bead. Tried heating the styrene for different lengths of time, using different thicknesses, heating larger or smaller areas and indenting it to different depths. It took ten attempts to get two suitable 'domes' to fit on the tubes
(settled on 1.5mm thickness which is about .5mm after stretching)
They need more work but look about the correct size for the model, I think...

[mjt60a]

just to compare the real ship with the first vents I built, thought they looked too close together but soon realised they were just too big...

[mjt60a]

haven't achieved much since last time    but...
funnel base is pretty much complete now, painted and glued together, 90 degree fittings on the ends of the pipes under the water tank had to be made separately then fitted as I couldn't seem to get them exactly the right length just by bending tube...
the boiler room vents are complete and painted too but are bolted on as they are supposed to be removable and will secure the superstructure so it can't work loose and fall overboard!
wheelhouse is just resting in place at the moment as there is more detail to be added (railing and gates like waverley has over the sponsons) and while I figure out just how best to get wiring to the P&S nevigation lights (maybe the mooring telegraph casings which go from deck to under the bridge and across the bottom of the bridge - that could work...)
pictures 

[mjt60a]

internet hasn't worked for 2 weeks! but the show so far....
repaired the damage to the strbd wheel (2-part epoxy - hope I don't need to dismantle it any time soon...) a bit more work on the detailed interior but not so you'd notice, funny how some things take hours to do but don't make very much visible difference...
attached the wood (with planks drawn on it) promenade deck to thin styrene sheet so it can be fitted using styrene cement ('repositionable for 20 mins' 2-part epoxy for fixing the two together - took nearly that long to spread it all over!)
then got to thinking about lighting, starting with the navigation lights...
Looking at Waverley, the mast lights don't actually look white in the daytime and I now think the white LEDs I used for Freshwater resemble spotlights so I was thinking about ways to tone them down a bit, first I sanded the dome off the front then roughened the whole surface with fine wet-or-dry, it makes the beam less directional and gives a more diffused light. they then looked less like spotlights but still a bit 'blue-ish'....
just out of curiosity I tried the same yellow laquer as on the brass fittings and it looked good so I tried it in a mastlight casing (piece of brass tube with a hole filed in it and piece of coke bottle plastic inside) and it looks as good as I can get so will make them all like that. Port and stbd lights didn't look right somehow with the red and green laquer and I thought of painting it on the clear coke bottle plastic instead but as luck would have it I had some coloured acetate (?) probably from old fashioned 3d glasses (when they used red and green not red and blue) and put pieces of it in the lamp housings, it works and I'll try to photograph them when they're fitted....

[mjt60a]

tried to photograph one of them, first with flash then without (and with the resulting longer exposure time) neither really show how it looks in reality....(here it is lit with a couple of aa batteries, will be run off 12v using the resistors supplied with the LEDs)
I quite liked the mesh gratings in the old boiler room vents (I made them to disguise the unrealistic shape inside the cowl, new ones didn't really need them) so I made some anyway and fitted them, also made two more telegraphs for the brigde wings but naturally they turned out a bit different to the existing ones, being made so much later and me forgetting what diameter tubes I used and how exactly I made them... 
other than that, been 'painting people' - anyone else seem to run out of colour choices to make them all look different?

[Tug--Kenny]

Yes, I agree about painting people. The colour schemes do run out so I tended to shades of grey. Amazing how many combinations there are. Bright vivid colours do catch the eye and are best not used. Mix them down with grey getting darker and darker.

Colouring them to show years ago scenes is even wore as there is no real choice at all. They're all Black and Grey shades.

ken
 

[mjt60a]

internet hasn't worked for about 3 weeks this time, found it needs the phone unplugged, not sure if it's the phone or the broadband filter.....
....anyway, haven't had as much time as I'd have liked for models what with christmas but started on the masts, they are pieces of old fishing rods I found discarded (both were damaged but had usable lengths for this) I've removed all the rings and binding thread and sanded the paint off, and cut them to length, made the navigation lights and started on the 'deck sockets' based on the ones on waverley (styrene tube of suitable size and styrene sheet). for some reason the camera just won't focus on them, I took several pictures but only one is in focus. if the weather brightens up a biy I can try with natural light....
pictures of the navigation lights (1st attempt anyhow but I'll probably use them) and areas of waverleys masts - I won't be making mine as detailed as that!

[andy]

Fine, but what about the wirings on the mast?
On my models I made bi- matal masts and only connected the lights under the deck. So no wiring can be seen.

Same I did with the RC antenna. Wooden flagstock with a brass wire inside, glued with epoxy and the outlet is a little ring on whch the original wiring of the mast ist fitted as antenna.

Andreas

[mjt60a]

Fine, but what about the wirings on the mast?

well, looking at how much there is on waverleys masts, I thought I'd just glue it on, through holes in the base and into a plug that will go right into the deck.... like I did on this one....

[mjt60a]

managed to get a reasonable picture of the mast base under construction and complete/painted. styrene tube is filed to the correct angle at one end (the masts lean back at the same angle as the funnel) cut to required length and glued onto the mast then a disk of styrene sheet fitted on the bottom, then pieces of styrene sheet attached fore and aft and either side to form the strengthening 'webs' (they are fitted oversize as they're too small for me to handle otherwise!). when set these are cut flush with the disk and tidied up with a small file as needed and the whole item painted

[mjt60a]

a little bit more on the masts, I made something to represent the 'belaying pins' near the base (more like what I've seen on washing lines!) but with the rigging thread attached it should be good enough....