Splendid work with your rigging - that's one of my achilles heels, I remember redoing it at my last project a couple of times to be at least halfway satisfied. By now I managed to get some EZ-line (but no rigging done jet, some time to go...) and I really hope it will help.
Yours looks awesome!!!

Jan

Thanks Jan! One of the things I found that made life simpler with the EZ Line was to use a CA accelerator. When attaching the first end, I would dip the end of the line into the CA accelerator and then touch it to the contact point or drilled out hole and let the interaction 'grab' it. Then for the 2nd connection point, I would do the same thing but use a paint brush to apply the accelerator to the 2nd end and then use tweezers to guide it into place. Made it a lot easier to control that way. The key is not to introduce too much tension at the 2nd end of the line as that can put stress on the CA joint and/or make it harder to get a clean connection. I used a combination of sharp pointed Tamiya sprue cutters and/or a small pair of curved surgical scissors to cut the line after a test 'stretch' to help avoid that issue to. I was very impressed with this particular product...it's also very forgiving once attached if you need to maneuver around it for whatever reason.

This is my first time ever applying rigging on a ship so I was a little nervous but after a quick trial and error process, it went very smoothly.

Ahoy Bill

Nice advice and tips on using EZ-line.

Your rigging is looking pretty good thus far for your first attempt. Certainly far better than mine!

I have had a look at EZ-line previously.

I am battling away with stretched sprue (aka the Jim Bannermann method)and I am not totally convinced at this point that its the best method and I keep saying to myself "there must be an easy way?".

I will see how your experience goes and look at revisiting EZ-line.


Cheers


Sean

My jaw drops in appreciation of your attention to detail and I ask myself the question "why do we put ourselves through this madness?" and I look at your posts and realise why!! Bit silly really!

Sean, thanks as always for the kind words! One key advantage that the EZ line has over stretched sprue is its flexibility after installation. It can stretch up to 700% (per the mfrs claim) and still revert back to its tensioned state which is very helpful if you bump a line or need to work near one for whatever reason. Plus you don't have to worry about burning your finger tips in the process!





Andrew, well they say the devil's always in the details so I suppose a mix of madnesst and fun is unavoidable! Thanks for following along as well.

Fantastic work Bill!

The EZ line rigging looks great!

How good is EZ line?

After a brief dabble with stretched sprue I found EZ line and haven't looked back since! I use it for everything from aircraft to ships.

Russ

Thanks Russ!

Last couple of rounds have focused on the ship's compliment of various boats. This is a little trickier than it might be otherwise because you have to kind of puzzle piece things together between what's in the instructions and what you actually install and where...but more on that in a moment.

First order of business was improving some of the details on the three different steam-powered barge and pinnace craft. Trumpeter provides them as two part assemblies with the cabins molded solid (but hollow on the inside) as part of the upper deck portion. The Eduard set really improves the detail here by providing actual wheel-house/cabins with open windows, but that means surgically removing/cutting-down the molded on item so it can take its place.



After careful surgery and some sanding, you can get a pretty good result between the two. I also improved the detail level by drilling out the air funnels and the smokestacks on each of the three boats along with the main cabin port holes.



Now where life gets interesting is figuring out which of the kit-supplied oar-powered boats to use and where they will ultimately go. After studying the Kagero 3D reference photos, I figured out the following:

1) D43 are the 30 ft. gigs, and you need 2 of them, one on either side of the first funnel on the boat deck...but for them to fit, you need to not install the rudders and instead place them inside the boat itself as a stored item.

2) J1 isn't actually used anywhere even though the instructions have you assemble it...it's close in size to D43 but slightly longer...so it doesn't fit anywhere regardless.

3) D35 is the 16 ft. dinghy, you only need one of these and not the two that the instructions would have you build. The one you need will stack inside the port side suspended whaleboat.

4) J3 are the 32 ft. cutter life boats...you need 3 of these (one in the middle of the boat deck and 2 for the davits at the front of the boat deck). Unfortunately, the kit only provides one for the middle...so I've asked my good friend Steve Reid at Celtic Werks to cast some resin copies from the kit part to fill this gap, as a result they are 'MIA' from the group photo below until the casting is done.

5) D3 are the 27 ft. whaleboats, the instructions want you to build 5 but only 4 are needed (one in the middle of the boat deck, the other two hang from supports at the rear of the boat deck, one nests in the three-stack of boats on the port side). Ignore the weird directions that would have you stack a whaleboat and dinghy on top of the port side steam pinnace, that's a Trumpeter invention as far as I can tell.

While the instruction steps never show them actually installed, the 2 whaleboats and the dinghy that suspend from the rear portion of the boat deck do show up on the finishing guide as does the pair of 30 ft. gigs, so if you're paying attention you can catch that at least. All of the boats received their PE rudders in anticipation of some airbrush attention to lay down a base/primer coat of hull gray before they get further hand detailed.



Tomorrow will see the boats get further detailing so they can be ready for installation.

More progress in the boat department, we have paint! I airbrushed the hull gray color so that it could do double duty as both a primer for the detail areas and PE parts and provide the main external color for the boats. The detail work was all done with the aid of an Optivisor and a 10/0 pointed brush. Flat White for the trim, a mix of 50-50 Dunkelgelb/Light Gray for the wood areas, and Italian Dark Brown for the steam boat wheel houses. To add a little variety, I applied some non-buffing Metalizer Brass to the smokestacks to round things out. Not a lot in terms of number of pics but a full day's effort to get the detail painting done.



Next up will be placing some of the boats and continuing to work on the remaining main deck details.

Hi Bill,
The boats are looking great. That Eduard wheelhouse is a big improvement. As for placement of the boats I think it would have been very difficult without the Kagero book. I don't know Trumpeter used as reference for their instructuions on this part of the build.

cheers
Michael

Thanks Michael! Have to agree with you on the invaluable nature of the Kagero book. Maybe the gang at Trumpeter decided to keep things interesting in this department either that or that section of the design was finished late on a Friday?

Latest progress has lots to report on multiple fronts. First up were all the bow super-deck details. I used the Trumpeter-supplied copper anchor chain and painted it with Model Master non-buffing Metalizer Gunmetal applied by hand. For the two non-fitted 12 pdr mount plates, I cannibalized a couple of the spare guns on the sprue and clipped off their bases, gluing them in place with CA gel then sanding them smooth and painting them in place. Anchors were installed along with the stove pipes, small cranes, and the turret break water. Then the A turret was carefully placed as all the other small details now prevent it from being able to rotate, so it had to be dropped in place vertically at an angle so the rear of the turret would clear the connecting stand to the superstructure. Last but not least I added the jack staff and angled PE brace for it.





With that out of the way and time to install the boats, I added the last remaining piece of rigging by running aerial lines from the bow to each of the masts as well as connecting lines down into the boat deck roof of the wireless room.



Speaking of the boats, I started on the port side first since it has the most boats. The three-stack was assembled and installed in place followed by the suspended whaler and dinghy combo. For that combo, some EZ line was used to represent the suspended rail/rope combo that holds it up.



Rounding things out on this side, the steam pinnace was installed. The 30-ft gigs were added as well to both sides of the forward funnel and then the life boat davits added. Other small details like the wing turret break waters and the small mid-ship cranes were also installed.



Next up will be the starboard side boats before moving aft to continue with the remaining details there.

Brilliant stuff Bill,

Boats and rigging look excellent, really coming together.

Si

Thanks Si! Coming down to the final leg of the voyage now. Just have to be super careful not to snag things.

Work continued on the remaining details. As promised, first up were the starboard boats getting installed in place on the boat deck.



With that done, attention turned to the remaining details on the stern. One of those is the compass stand and I have to admit that the difference here between what Trumpeter provides and what should be there (which the Eduard set does cover) is miles apart. The Trumpeter part is on the right while the Eduard multi-part PE replacement is on the left. I'm sure it's no surprise which one I went with!



The Eduard set also provides caps for all the bollards, so those were installed and painted to match the posts. Small hoist cranes and stovepipes were added where needed and the X and Y turrets installed in place.



Last but not least, the stern received the previously mentioned compass stand, 2 of the 3 12 pdrs, and the flag pole with its PE brace and small extended access stand. The kit-supplied access stand was just a simple piece of straight PE, so I used the Eduard piece instead to replace it. The third and final 12 pdr gun was left off so I could install the railings without having to fight with it since the barrel extends out over the rail and will be added later.



Not a whole lot left to do. Essentially just the railings to add along with the retention arms for the torpedo nets that stick out under the railings, will add those after the railings of course.

OMG!! I in awe, and jealous at the same time and seriously considering paying you to be my new best friend!!

Fantastic work, Bill.

It's a beautiful build Bill, nary a spot or blemish
Just out of curiosity: what are you using to secure the PE? Super glue or Gator Grip?
Cheers,
Julian

Excellent so far, can't wait to see the finished ship...will
be AWESOME!

Cheers,
Joe

Thanks Andrew! Maybe we should negotiate some per-hour rates!

Russel appreciate the comments as well!




Appreciate the kind words Julian! As for the PE glue question, that depends. For some things I use Gator Grip (like the coal scuttles), others I use CA Gel, and still others I use a medium-viscosity standard CA that is both gap-filling and quick setting. It all depends on whether the PE is load-bearing and how much work-time I need for the placement, whether I'm gluing PE to PE, etc. Both the Gel and the medium CA are stuff my LHS carries and are pretty standard issue 'generic' brands.



Joe, thanks so much as well! I'm looking forward to the finish line as well, almost there!

Thanks Bill, thought was the game plan. You are using the thicker grade EZ-Line I think which would appear to be a better plan. The thin version tends to disappear in photo's

No problem Julian! I'm actually using the 'Fine' black EZ-Line on this build though and not the thicker variety as a clarification.

The black evidently shows up better than the rust color fine line.

That I can believe! They have white and green available as well...I suppose it's all down to the contrast and background of the different colors when it comes to photos. I will say this, it doesn't help that they provide the black thread on a black spool...I had to resort to using a small blob of poster blue-tack to secure the cut end of the thread to the white label on top otherwise it would go into full 'stealth' mode!

Between needing to do some yard work and Sunday football, not a lot of bench-time was available but still managed to get in a little more progress. One of the remaining details involved the stand's plaque and the 4 screw propellers. The props are handed, so I was careful in keeping them separate and marked their little toothpick painting handles accordingly. Some Model Master Non-Buffing Metalizer Brass sprayed through the airbrush did the trick.



Some Model Master Non-Buffing Metalizer Steel was applied by hand to the prop shafts and then the props themselves installed in place. Better to do it now vs. after the railings are in as it's one of those hard to handle spaces unless your a contortionist.





The plaque was added to the stand as well. I used a metal ruler to work out the spacing for it so it would sit evenly as Trumpeter doesn't provide any guide for that and the plaque is smaller than the molded in recess that's on the stand proper. The plaque will get some further attention to age/weather it a bit and give it a more 'brassy' feel as well.



If all goes to plan, tomorrow should see the railings added.