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Model Forum / General / Models / December 2005Trumpeter O'Brien suggestions
I recently started the Jeremiah O'Brian. I got the recent FSM after buying the kit but before starting construction. That article starts with painting after the hull is glued together. There are some major issues with gluing the hull/deck assemblies. The casting is very nice and sharp and delicate. BUT, the hull and deck pieces are VERY thin and do not hold their shape well. I glued strip styrene under the main deck that is attached to the hull top, to provide a shelf for the fore and aft decks. I wish I had also glued some support for attaching the lower hull to the upper hull. The following does not apply if you are building waterline, but if you are building full hull, I suggest you reinforce a bit before gluing, providing a better edge, to prevent what happened to me. The problem is that the hull is so thin the edges do not stay aligned. The little groove/rabbet is not sufficient. Even though I used slow drying cement (testors solvent cement) I could not keep things aligned well enough. The result is that the bottom hull is a bit less in width than the upper, leaving a ledge of at least 1/32 inch along most of the seam. The groove/rabbet prevents the assembly from going the OTHER way, but not for the bottom piece moving inward slightly. If I were doing it over, I'd put strips on the hull top to prevent this. As it is, I am using LOTS of putty to get rid of this ledge. One other thing. The winches are very nice, fine castings in several parts. The casting is fine enough that they are almost like photo-etch. However, the sprues and gates are VERY large right up to these dainty spools and shafts. It is VERY hard to seperate them from the sprue without breaking or bending the shafts. Use one of the fancy sprue cutters but even then be VERY careful- those little shafts bend and break SO easily :-( Don, thanks for the heads-up. My wife's parents worked on the real thing during WWII. I plan to make the O'Brian in their honor. It's next on my list. Question: What paint do you plan to use? Colors and brand? Dick... >I recently started the Jeremiah O'Brian. I got the recent FSM after buying >the kit but before starting construction. That article starts with [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > but even then be VERY careful- those little shafts bend and break SO > easily :-( > Don, thanks for the heads-up. My wife's parents worked on the real thing > during WWII. I plan to make the O'Brian in their honor. It's next on my > list. > Question: What paint do you plan to use? Colors and brand? If you're doing a civil registered ship vs. one of the USN commissioned ships the paint is easy, antifouling red and 5-O Ocean Grey, NO boot stripe. Decks, hull and superstructure were all the same grey usually. Model Master makes an acrylic marine line with the correct colors and WEM makes an enamel line. GMM makes the best PE for the kit. Be warned, rigging the booms is a royal bitch and you should consider them either up and stowed with no boom rigging or down and stowed with minimal boom rigging. > Don, thanks for the heads-up. My wife's parents worked on the real thing > during WWII. I plan to make the O'Brian in their honor. It's next on my [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > >. I will be using Testors Model Master enamels. I intend to use Neutral grey over the upper sides, British Crimson below waterline, and .... Whoops- the label came off the blue-can't find it, and don't remember the exact name of the color. This darker blue-grey is for the decks. > I will be using Testors Model Master enamels. I intend to use Neutral > grey over the upper sides, British Crimson below waterline, and .... > Whoops- the label came off the blue-can't find it, and don't remember > the exact name of the color. This darker blue-grey is for the decks. Get the White Ensign Models enamels. The neutral grey is too neutral, the british crimson is off and the decks should be the same color as the hull and superstructure. > The problem is that the hull is so thin the edges do not stay aligned. > The little groove/rabbet is not sufficient. Even though I used slow [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > over, I'd put strips on the hull top to prevent this. As it is, I am > using LOTS of putty to get rid of this ledge. Grasshopper, you should have glued the hull parts first, glue one side and let dry then using spacers inside to force the hull out glue the other and let dry. > One other thing. The winches are very nice, fine castings in several > parts. The casting is fine enough that they are almost like photo-etch. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > cutters but even then be VERY careful- those little shafts bend and > break SO easily :-( Simple solution, first cut the sprue so it falls free with the part attached then use a razor saw to cut the gate. >> The problem is that the hull is so thin the edges do not stay aligned. >> The little groove/rabbet is not sufficient. Even though I used slow [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > and let dry then using spacers inside to force the hull out glue the > other and let dry. Ah, but this kit has a deck covering the hull amidships, and you do not have access to the sides. I DID do that fore and aft, but still left with ridges in amidship area. >> One other thing. The winches are very nice, fine castings in several >> parts. The casting is fine enough that they are almost like [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > Simple solution, first cut the sprue so it falls free with the part > attached then use a razor saw to cut the gate. Tried that. However, sprue cutters or dikes put compressional load on the small shaft, and it broke anyway. Any knife or cutter will push apart the sprue when cutting. There is NO way one can use a razor saw around these parts, but I thought maybe a very thin slitting saw in a dremel might work. >> Grasshopper, you should have glued the hull parts first, glue one side >> and let dry then using spacers inside to force the hull out glue the >> other and let dry. > Ah, but this kit has a deck covering the hull amidships, and you do not > have access to the sides. I DID do that fore and aft, but still left > with ridges in amidship area. You have to be more creative Don.....it can be done. >> Simple solution, first cut the sprue so it falls free with the part >> attached then use a razor saw to cut the gate. > Tried that. However, sprue cutters or dikes put compressional load on > the small shaft, and it broke anyway. Any knife or cutter will push > apart the sprue when cutting. There is NO way one can use a razor saw > around these parts, but I thought maybe a very thin slitting saw in a > dremel might work. Try a hot knife to cut the sprue. . >>> Simple solution, first cut the sprue so it falls free with the part >>> attached then use a razor saw to cut the gate. [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Try a hot knife to cut the sprue. Ah, that should work. I forgot to mention that the sprue has gates on BOTH sides of the shaft. That is why normal sprue cutter bends or breaks shaft when the cutter puts the shaft into compression. They should NOT have had sprue connections on each end. >> Try a hot knife to cut the sprue. > > Ah, that should work. I forgot to mention that the sprue has gates on > BOTH sides of the shaft. That is why normal sprue cutter bends or > breaks shaft when the cutter puts the shaft into compression. They > should NOT have had sprue connections on each end. Trumpeter has a habit of making interesting kits with crappy engineering. Remember to cut the spure so the part and some of the sprue falls away then razor saw the gate. >>> Try a hot knife to cut the sprue. >> [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > engineering. Remember to cut the spure so the part and some of the sprue > falls away then razor saw the gate. I agree- the molding on the kit is VERY nice. Maybe the nice molding requires multiple sprue gates on each part, even small parts. But they should have these points at right angles, or in some manner that the parts are not directly opposed to each other, which puts small part in compression when you cut sprue. In some cases I was able to cut sprue far enough from parts to avoid damage- in others the sprue was arranged so that it was impossible to cut sprue such that parts were not compressed. All that being said, I really like kit- as I say the small dainty parts are great, and molded detail is super. Just wanted to warn folks to take care when cutting parts- especially the winch parts. >> Trumpeter has a habit of making interesting kits with crappy >> engineering. Remember to cut the spure so the part and some of the >> sprue falls away then razor saw the gate. > I agree- the molding on the kit is VERY nice. Maybe the nice molding > requires multiple sprue gates on each part, even small parts. But they [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > far enough from parts to avoid damage- in others the sprue was arranged > so that it was impossible to cut sprue such that parts were not compressed. I didn't run into that myself but I'm used to dealing with it. > All that being said, I really like kit- as I say the small dainty parts > are great, and molded detail is super. Just wanted to warn folks to > take care when cutting parts- especially the winch parts. They took a few steaps backwards on the engineering of the North Carolina. Absolutely stupid engineering mistakes where the detailed sidewalls meet a deck, especially the main turrets and the secondary turrets flat out suck. |
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