The Ship Model Forum

Keep the photos coming , an excellent project
Dave Wooley

An update on what I've added over the last week or so:


Various fittings added to the turtleback including bollards, fairleads and chain ports. The small squares are the bases for the railing stanchions (which will be added later in the build, using brass rod)


Running lights have been added to the bridge platform, along with the fore and aft access ladders, the housing for the speaking tubes/voice pipes, and the supporting struts/girders for the platform.


The mast + yard (not finished yet) are made from parts left over from a Heller sailing ship kit, cut down to size and reshaped.

The searchlight, capstan and bridge speaking tubes are also in progress. I haven't decided how to make the ship's wheel yet (two are needed, on the bridge platform and at the aft steering position). I've also more or less finished the torpedo tubes, I'll post some photos of these in a day or so - I have a few questions about these, particularly the lack of any rotation or firing mechanism depicted on the plans.

Sorry for the lack of updates recently - I've been very busy lately and haven't found much time for modelling - and my modelling time has also been taken up with another scratchbuild project, which I'll post later! - but I've still managed to get some work done on Velox, mostly building + painting the bridge fittings and other small details.


Storage locker added to the aft platform, along with the Thomson sounding machine. This device basically consisted of a reel of piano wire with a weight on the end, which was lowered over the side using a pulley. (Here's a diagram of a similar device fitted to USS Tuscarora) I made this from styrene stock with a washer (spare kit part) for the reel, wound in tinned copper wire, which was also used for the bracing wires on the stand.


Details added to the bridge including voice pipes, engine telegraphs, and the chart table. All of these have been partly or completely painted before gluing them in place (the binnacle has also been painted) as it would be difficult to paint everything neatly "in situ". A second pair of telegraphs (along with more voice pipes, a binnacle, and a wheel when I get round to making one!) will be fitted at the aft steering position.
The voice pipes are made from thin aluminium tube, bent into shape using round-nosed pliers, and the end flared out using the end of a round needle file. The other parts are assembled from styrene stock, and brass wire for the chart table legs.


Amidships storage lockers and chart table. The table should have a glass top - as should the smaller one on the bridge - but I left this out due to the difficulty of avoiding paint + glue damage to the clear plastic. Also partly visible on this photo is the boat boom/crane on the mast.


More details added to the turtleback including the capstan and photo-etched handwheels for the chain pipes.


The aft cable reel is made from styrene rod and spare 1/35 tank wheels, the cable itself is fine tinned copper wire wound around a styrene core. You can also see the two single torpedo tubes in this photo, more on these later!

Next are the boat davits and the railings on the bridge and turtleback (main deck railings will be added last) there are many other fittings to be done as well, including the searchlight and ship's wheels.

great udpate EP

The searchlight (only one is carried - on the circular platform behind the bridge) is made from a large cylindrical styrene washer (possibly from a 1/350 battleship turret mount) with detailing from Evergreen + scrap styrene. The inside is painted with reflective silver. A clear lens (and etched handwheel) will be added later.


The ship's wheels (one on the bridge platform, the other at the aft steering position) are made from small plastic railway wagon wheels (N gauge), the flanges are cut + sanded off and spokes glued around the outside from thin styrene rod. I was intending to buy commercial fittings for the wheels, but couldn't find any small enough, so I made my own. Unfortunately I haven't had much success casting parts this small + complicated, or I'd make some resin copies to go on my other scratchbuilds.


The anchors are cast metal commercial fittings, which I bought at the Leamington model boat show - they were very cheap at �1 for 4, and are exactly the right size for Velox although the pattern is slightly different to the ones depicted on the plans. Also visible in this photo are the anchor davits on either side of the conning tower, and the bulwarks/splash shields for the forward 6pdr guns.

Once again a super presentation for an excellent scratch built model .
Dave Wooley

Once again a super presentation for an excellent scratch built model .


I have to agree with Dave, keep up the good work,

Looks great EP!!!

Very nice built.
Clean work





Jef

Marvelous work! I am very impressed with all the fittings & the craftmanship of the hull, especially the turtledeck.

Cool work!

Thanks for the kind words - however progress has been very slow on this build lately, mostly due to other (non-scratchbuild) projects taking up my modelling spare time - but I've managed to paint + install the ship's wheels and searchlight, also the 12pdr and 6pdr guns are now painted. Next are the bridge railings and the lifeboat davits. (The boats will be modified commercial items, other than the collapsible Berthon boats which I'll scratchbuild - in collapsed form of course!)

Apologies for the lack of updates recently, most of my modelling time lately has been occupied building this (it's for a Christmas present):



At least it's steam-powered and contemporary with many of the ships I build The traction engine is now finished, but I'm now concentrating what spare modelling time I have on finishing my 1/400 HMS Hood.

Anyway, I hope to have HMS Velox finished for the Milton Keynes model show in early February. Here's a photo of the bridge area in its current state:


Railings are the next major step along with the boat davits and a few other details such as the Downton pump and torpedo tube fittings. The bridge railings (which are solid, not chains) will be assembled from brass + copper wire, but for the main deck railings I'm intending to buy some Deans Marine photo-etched stanchions. These are good value at �7.50 for enough stanchions to make about 48" of railing.

Very nice and contemporary to the Vlox

Is that the Bandai kit?--I have the showmans engine in my stash....

Cheers

JIM B

Yes, it's the Bandai 1/18 (or 1/16? can't remember) showman's engine kit, converted to a standard agricultural traction engine by leaving off the dynamo, canopy, rubber tyres + some of the decoration, and giving it a plainer and more grimy/weathered paint scheme. The only actual modification to the kit parts was to cut down the safety valves, which are taller on the showman's engine to raise them above the canopy roof.
It's a present for my father who has a 16mm narrow gauge (about 1/18 scale) live steam railway in his garden - surprisingly, there aren't any ready-made die-cast traction engines in this scale (that I know of), other than live steam ones.

Did Bandai produce any other kits of old vehicles in this scale? I seem to remember that they produced this particular showman's engine as a kit because they actually own the real-life prototype.

Great job as always EP

Looks fantastic EP

Bravo, EP!

Amazing work EP!!!

Thanks for the kind words - I have to say though that I haven't done any work at all on Velox for over a month, the only scratchbuilding I've done is on the 1/48 steam tug (which is progressing very well). I hope to re-start work on Velox in a few days, currently I'm trying to finish USS Delong (Rudderow-class DE) for the escort group build (just needs final painting, railings, rigging + weathering)
I got the Dean's Marine brass railing stanchions in the mail today (these should look a lot better than the brass wire I used for the stanchions on Cerberus), so have no excuse to delay resuming this build! There is not too much left to do, so it should hopefully be finished in time for the Milton Keynes model show in early February.