Ready to set sail!

It took about 7 years longer than I had hoped, but the model is finally finished. Here are some quick pictures. I hope to get some better pictures once I get my photo gear set up.

The last parts to go on were the two masts and the rigging.  I'm pretty happy with the finished results.  Of course there are a few things I would do differently if I had to do it again.

So this is the RMS Queen Mary as she appeared earlier in her career. Now I will start on building a display case for the model and I'll try to post that as well.

A Tale of Two Bridges

I just wanted to get this post in for this month to show I am still working on this.

The rear docking bridge is finished.  The entire docking bridge was scratchbuilt, It was a fun little sub assembly to build and turned out pretty good.

The main bridge is nearly finished. Some of the instruments need to be installed on top and I can move on to the next area.

The railings on the rest of the ship are about 95 percent finished and the next and final part to finish will be the masts and the associated rigging. 

There will of course be paint and glue touchups and a nameplate has been ordered.  Still a few more weeks of work at least to come as I'm lucky to find a half hour a day to work on it.

I Can See Clearly Now

I just wanted to do a quick entry show you a product I have been using for quite a while now.  The Optivisor magnifier fits over your head and the lens flips down when needed.  I have two pairs with different magnifications.  I wear eyeglasses and it doesn't interfere with them at all.

There is no way I would be able to work on a 1/600 scale model without a visual aid like this.

They cost about $50 each or so and are widely available. Get yours today!

Boats Away

The lifeboat davits have all been installed as have the lifeboats. The davits are thicker than I would have liked, but they were too fragile to thin down.

The davits were resin copies of a modified davit from the Airfix 1/600 Queen Elizabeth ocean liner.  The arms are photoetched pieces.  The complete photoetch davit was too spindly to use, so I used just the curved arm section glued to the resin copies.

The lifeboats are from the original Queen Mary kit.  I had planned on making resin copies of the Queen Elizabeth lifeboats, but changed my mind as I wanted the boats covered as is normally seen.  The kit lifeboats were too wide so I filed the sides and changed the shape to more closely match the original lifeboat.

This picture also shows that I have started to add the railings to the sides.

Funnels Finished

The funnels are finally finished.  I drilled holes into the deck and glued in eyebolts.  The eyebolts are normally used by model railroaders as lift rings on the top of locomotives.

Here is a finished funnel.Next up will be the lifeboats and davits.

Funnel Rigging

This is just a look at my process for rigging the lines from the funnels.  Attaching the funnel lines to the deck will be a whole different story.

I have painted the funnels and all of the holes for the lines have been drilled out with a fine bit. (maybe #78 or so)  I ran a short length of the EZ Line through the hole from the outside and pulled it through.  Since the line is so fine, even a knot tied in the line might get pulled through the hole so I tied it around a piece of styrene. I add a drop of CA glue and trim off excess line and styrene and pull it tight inside the funnel and secure it with another drop of glue.

This process takes some time as I can only do one line on a funnel until the glue dries.  If I can do two short sessions per day, I can do maybe 6 or 9 lines. Exciting stuff I know, but if a line pulls out of a funnel it will be bad.

Finishing Funnels

I have taken a short break from the Queen to work on a couple of other projects, but I am back at it again.  Next up are the funnels and rigging lines.

The funnels used are from the kit, but I had scraped off all of the molded on detail and recreated the joints with thin styrene strips wrapped around it.  I have drilled holes for the rigging lines.  The funnels are painted my version of Cunard Red.  To get the color for the funnels, I mixed a little yellow into bright red and it resulted in a Vermilion shade which I think is pretty accurate.

I will be using EZ Line for the rigging. I had originally planned on using fly tying thread, but this seems to be better.  It is a hobby product and is slightly stretchy so it should not sag.

More bitts

This may look like the same picture from a previous post, but it is the revised forecastle.  I wasn't happy that the bollards (small posts in pairs) looked oversized so I replaced them with smaller versions.  I think it looks much better.

Much of the detail work is a compromise as I am limited to the sizes of the styrene shapes available from the company.  I have been using Evergreen styrene rods, tubes and sheets as this is all I can get locally.

The stern is nearly finished.  Still need to do the stairs and a few really tiny vents.  I put a penny on the deck to show the scale.  All of the little deck hardware that I made for the stern can easily fit on a penny. 

Punch and Bend

I want to show a couple of the latest tools I've picked up for my workbench that I am using to build the Queen.

The first tool is a Hold and Fold photo etched bending tool.  You would simply loosen the two black knobs and the silver plate raises up and you put your photo etched piece under the silver top where you want it bent.  Tighten the knobs and using a straight edge bend the piece.  All the little fingers accommodate different shapes of photo etched parts.

The second tool is a punch set which will make small round discs out of styrene in 8 different sizes. You slide your sheet of plastic into a groove on the side and choose the right size punch and hit the end of the punch with a small hammer.   This set will create small discs from 0.6mm to 3.0mm in diameter.  The discs can be used as rivets, tiny wheels or in my case bollard and capstan tops.

Bollards, Capstans and Fairleads

Just a single picture update to show that I have still been working on the Queen. I've been working on all the small deck details and in the process learning about the little things on the deck of a ship. 

The objects with the gold tops are capstans which mooring lines go around and I think are motorized. The small black mushroom objects are bollards.  They are fixed metal posts that lines are wrapped around.  The small rows of posts along the edge of the deck in sets of 3 or 4 are rolling fairleads and mooring ropes are fed through them to guide them.  They are simply horizontal rollers.  All of the parts on deck have been scratchbuilt with styrene. 

The deck looks really busy and I think a couple things may be a tad out of scale. (bollards and anchor captsans)

I will continue to work my way down the ship adding vents, captstans, bollards, bitts and widgets.