UK Paper Models

And so it begins. My next project and my first watercraft paper model. I've always liked the German E-boats ever since I saw one in the movie, The eagle has landed", lol. A ferocious beast and good looking with it.

So... First step. laminating and cutting out the frame parts for the hull.


Then I assembled the frame. There were no probs with this whatsoever. The notches were all perfectly sized so all parts went together nicely with no trimming needed. I'll find out how accurate the fit is once I start skinning it.



Build time so far = 5 hrs, 35 mins.

Coming together nicely - are you going to be filling the gaps with foam?

I wonder if this is going to be a slow build of a fast boat or a fast build of a fast boat?

Tim

I won't be using foam this time, matey. This is my first ship/boat build so I'm gonna get to grips with the basics before I try anything fancy.

Given my rate of progress on the Scorpion, I'm guessing this will be a slooooow build of a fast boat.

Sweet mate Steve what kind of a glue are you using I`ve watched film couple days ago

ah but the boat in the eagle has landed was a converted british mtb captured making a drop off the dutch coast

dont use expanding foam! i did on this very same kit one small sqeeze on the nozzle and it turned into a deformed mass looking like something that had just crawled out of chernoble, the kit is quite small with thick formers and small spaces so it should work fine just skinning as normal its only the larger ships that need support or the panels tend to sink

Bleriot, for laminating I use 3M adhesive spray and for most other things I use UHU white pva. And ofcourse, a trusty bottle of super glue gel for those obnoxious little parts.

Ahh, that would explain why I was so puzzled when I discovered the other day that there is only one E-Boat in existance, DC and that's currently under renovation here in Britain... http://www.s130.co.uk/

Lol! Sorry to hear about your expanding foam explosion, matey. You're right about not needing it for this kit, though. I've just finished the bottom layer of hull skinning (pictures tomorrow) and it's quite sturdy with those small gaps.

i never realised so few survived us/uk mtbs are always comming up ive spotted them in boat mags for sale quite often,nothing quite touches the s-100,s lines though sleek,modern,powerfull

I'm guessing it's probably something to do with what happened at the end of the war. Many, if not most of the U-Boats were scuttled after they were surendered to the Brits. I'm assuming the same fate befell most other German vessels.

Skinned the underside of the hull. These fit well, although there is an overhang of about 1mm on the last part at the stern. I don't know yet if this is intentional or not so I'm leaving it as is for now.

I added some joining strips at the top and bottom of each skin panel. I wanted to use really thin paper so as not to cause a ridge. I found that cigarrette papers, the kind used for rolling your own, are perfect for the job.



Build time so far = 9 hrs, 50 mins

Seeing the boat go together like this reminds me that card models are mostly built up how the full size versions are built; ribs, stringers and then clad in sheet metal.

The last picture is almost a mini-diorama of a ship being built.

Tim

I'd like to be able to build dioramas but I have nowhere near the skill or patience for it.

Next thing to do was the gun nest on the foredeck.


But allready there's a problem. Either the gun nest is too deep or the cutout for it is too shallow.


This means the fordeck can't sit correctly on the frame.


I first thought maybe the nest has to sit inside the hole in the foredeck but as you can see, it's way too big.


So now I have to decide if I'm going to trim the top off the nest or deepen the slot in the frame. The problem is, if I deepen the slot in the frame, it means the nest may end up being too deep for the gun. On the other hand, If I trim the top off the nest, it may end up being too shallow. This section is not shown anywhere on the diagrams so I had to take a gamble. I decided to deepen the cut in the frame. The reason being, if it does end up being too deep, I can just drop a disc of card in the bottom to raise the floor.


Problem solved


Next, the foredeck is fixed in place. A minor problem here is that there are no markings to show exactly how far forward it has to be fixed on the frame and no obvious keying in points. The only reference point is the pivot pin in the center of the gun nest, so I went off that.


And right after that came the aft deck. This butted up against one of the cross-beams so locating it was straight forward.




Build time so far = 11Hrs, 13 mins

http://strangevehicles.greyfalcon.us/TR.htm planned replacement up for the s-100 boats shame theres no cardkit of this

looking good the rounded forward hull looks tricky would like to see how you tackle it

Niiiice! That's a heck of a step forward from the S-100 and mean looking, too. Maybe if we make enough noise about it, someone will design a kit.

As for the forward hull. I'm trying to keep it to the back of my mind until I have to tackle it, lol.

Nice straight deck. It's figuring out the 'mistakes' and problems I almost enjoy the most with card modelling.

Oh - and congrats on POTW on the 'other' forum

Tim