Australian coaster Blythe Star - 1973 - 3D print - 1/100

[Iceman 29]

I couldn't find the right size Australian Merchant Navy flag in decal, which is red, as opposed to the national flag, which is blue.





So I'm going to do it myself, as well as the red flag indicating that the ship is carrying dangerous goods. There is also a fixed or flashing red light indicating this type of transport on the aft mast above the bridge. It is already there.

[DrPR]

The red flag is the "Bravo" flag. It is a universal symbol for handling explosives.

Phil

[Iceman 29]

Making a 200-litre drum.

The one on the left will be used as a dustbin at the stern of the coaster.

These old oil drums were often used in this way until the 80's, either emptied directly at sea, or dockside when there was a suitable receptacle on the quayside. Another era I've known.

Nowadays, nothing is normally discharged into the sea, not even food scraps. Some is incinerated in the on-board incinerator (at sea only) when the ship is big enough to have one. There are also several large obligatory sorting garbage cans on board.










Drawing a barrel takes 10 minutes maximum on Fusion360. These generic barrels will be used for other ships.

Description

200-LITER BUNG DRUMS

Dimensions

Overall diameter: 610 +/- 10 mm
Overall height: 860 +/- 10 mm
Volume: 217 liters
Empty bung barrel weight: 15 kg.



In 3 images.

The drawing of the necessary sketches (with experience, it's fun to reduce the sketches to a minimum), then apply a few functions:



We apply a few colors and decals for fun, from PNG image files of SHELL logos of the time and more recent ones with transparent backgrounds, retrieved online free of charge.



Fusion rendering, just for fun:



I've made good progress on the second copy, a version with no aging, no sailors, no cargo masts at sea station.

[Iceman 29]

Some progress on assembly and painting since the 17th.

The rigging will be the next difficulty, for the second time.

[wefalck]

BTW, that weathering came out really realistic ... with a bit of Photoshop-fiddling you could present a picture of as 'a previously unknown' picture

[Iceman 29]

Thanks!

Roland's version is well on the way to completion.

I'm working on the rigging, I've got one or two more details to add and that'll be it for the ship, with just the two displays to be done.

[wefalck]

Very realistic sag (catena) of the rigging

[Iceman 29]

Thanks, yes, sometimes you have to reassemble each "cable" several times to be sure you've got the right "movement" "shape". The raw material is inexhaustible, that's the advantage.


But by the time you've built the second piece of the ship, you're more relaxed.

[wefalck]

Why is the raw material for the rigging 'inexhaustible', what do you use?

[Iceman 29]

Jim Baumann trick : Making stretched sprue and Rigging with stretched sprue:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=37536

[wefalck]

Ah, ok. Never used this before. Also, I don't have sprues anymore, after having sold off the last remaining unbuilt plastic kits from my youth some 15 years ago.

[Iceman 29]

Easy to find..

I haven't been able to find the Australian Merchant Navy flag, which is red, as opposed to the national flag which is blue.





So I'm going to do it myself, as well as the red flag indicating that the ship is carrying dangerous goods.

It's in progress, it's small but it's acceptable. It's rolled cigarette paper covering a sheet of chocolate bar aluminium (thin aluminium).

Everything will be covered with a matt varnish later.

I continue to fit the rigging.

I still have to make the hoists for the cargo masts.

[wefalck]

This means that you print the flag(s) onto cigarette-paper (recto/verso) and then laminate this onto the aluminium foil?

[Iceman 29]

So, I glued cigarette paper to both sides of the aluminium sheet using wood glue, then airbrushed the flag in red, the background colour, then painted the rest of the colours with a brush.

A method usually used with decals.

[wefalck]

Ah, it's painted not printed

Some of my fellow-modellers in Germany paint their flags directly onto household aluminium foil. I also have a textbook on figure modelling from the early 1970s suggested to use tin-foil, which now is diificult to find.

I have been contemplating using thermo-transfer printing: you laser-print the image onto a an overhead-foil or special transfer-paper and then iron-on the image onto the chosen (heat-resistant) substrate.

[Iceman 29]

A good idea, this transfer.

I'm going to try painting the aluminium to see if the paint clings well enough and doesn't flake off when I bend it.

But the cigarette paper gives the pavilion a fabric texture.

[wefalck]

[Iceman 29]

The 200-litre drum used as a rubbish bin at the time.







Fitting of the home-made national flag on copy No. 2.







Jim Baumann had advised me to approach the wires with a lit incense stick or a soldering iron, I chose the iron, I have an adjustable one more.

It works pretty well, but you have to be careful. I heated it directly on site, once it was glued to the model, that worked too, because here I really wanted the strands stretched identically without sagging.

I'll have to try for the other type ("saggy"), but I'm afraid that my resin template isn't strong enough, it might bend...

[BB62vet]

Pascal,

Your progress is quite excellent - lots of detail! You seem to have a knack for getting the hull work done and quickly. I do realize, however, that you've spent quite a bit of time developing the entire project - nice progress!!!

Hank

[DrPR]

Pascal,

Is the 200 liter drum open at both ends? It was common practice in the US Navy to put one (or two welded end to end) on the fantail with both ends of the tube open to serve as a trash chute. It defined a place for the crew to dump garbage and directed the garbage away from the hull.