Morrigans Bismarck

Hi Rem. If you pop down to your car spares shop or halfords and ask them for an aerosol of etch primer, that should do the job. ;D

You're doing a brilliant job Morrigan. Glad she floats - I'm a good way off that test yet ! (I KNOW I've still got the bow to glue on thanks Eric )

My wrist has been struck down with carpal tunnel, second time I've had it.
My right hands not completely useless, but with no feeling in my fingers, random twitches and dodgy co-ordination its been relegated to bit part player. So my left hands does what the right used to do and vice versa
Its surprising how quick you can learn to use your lefty (for fun change your mouse settings to left handed and see how quickly you get used to it, its also good for a giggle when someone uses the somputer after you! ;D) the hardest thing to learn of all things is how to brush your teeth with your left hand. Toothbrush up nose anyone?
I was also inspired to pick up tools and resume modeling after reading this on the model Boats website: www.modelboats.co.uk/news/article.asp?a=569.

Using a couple of cunning tricks, and having the right tools makes the fiddly stuff easier.
To make it easy when cutting fiddly bits from the brass frets and to stop the dreaded 'ping!' , I lay the fret on a piece of masking tape sticky side up.
I've also found using small blobs of blu tack are great for holding parts in place while applying glue.

Essential tools:

My beloved Dremel, tucked into a mini vise currently set up for grinding the fret nubs of the etched brass bits. With a cutting disk in, I use it to cut tubing and dowels and its also good for cutting the plastic parts free from the sprue (especially the sprue ffrom issue 83).



Reverse action tweezers for the tiny bits:


Hemostat for the not so tiny bits:


Helping hand stand:


The magnifying glass is mighty handy to:


And with a nifty combo of helping hand and cunningly placed reverse action tweezers, I set the parts in place, apply a nano drop of CA, leave for a few moments, then release the tweezers, presto! one part firmly glued in place:


It does take me longer to complete each stage, but slow and careful does the trick.

On a side note I scored a handy container (4 of them in fact!) for holding Bismarck bits, which were going to be thrown away by my husbands work as 'empties'.
For a throwaway item they're well made & sturdy and even have a layer of foam padding on the bottom.



Pushing the handle down unlocks the lid:

Excellent stuff. Thanks for showing the secrets behind the scenes of your Bissy build.

This is the 'workshop', eked out of out space in the spare room which is shared by my computer, a server, chest freezer, hubbies fishing gear and our assorted RC toys. ;D
I keep all my frequently used tools, glues and materials on top on an old dresser ( before you ask they can't go in the drawers as they're full of computer bits )

Workspace in 'waiting for action' mode, the top of the freezer(out of sight to the left) also gets used as a bench ;D:


Tinkering in full swing:





I've just ticked off issue 85 & 86 as done ;D

I'll think I'll call this stage the 101 uses of blu tack. ;D
I always keep a blob handy in the lid of my toolbox:



I use a few blobs to help hold the walls in place while the glue sets, as usual I'm not following Hatchettes build sequence:


After folding part 821 for the winch box,I put a small piece of blu tack on the left side:


Then part 823 was 'tacked' in place:


After a few gentle nudges with a probe to get everything lined up nicely, I applied a couple of minute dabs of CA:


After removing the blu tack. I ran CA down the seam between 821 & 823:


A large blob of Blu tack was place under where the winch box goes:


Then the winch box was put in placeand CA applied:


A small blob on the end of a probe, aids picking upthose tiny doors, ladders etc and putting them in thier place! ;D



Rather than trying to cut a neat chunk out the ends of the bridge, I cut top ends off completlly with the Dremel as I felt I would make a neater job with some peices of wood strip:


I then glued part 833 and 834 in place, then 2 pieces of wood strip, I then ran a bead of thick CA down the join between 2 strips:


I used the Dremel to sand it all flush:


Then I glued part 836 in place:


The hoist parts were a bit too delicate for me to use the Helping hand, So I improvised with a ....you guessed it ....... a blob of blu tack !


Again I used small blobs to help hold each part in place:



A blob of blu tack on a piece of wood is also good for holding small parts for painting, especially if using an airbrush or spraycan as it stops 'that gone with the wind' feeling.

Have a K Morrigan , Your doing a fine job building the Bismarck
mike

Hello Morrigan,

Well done

Nice preparation for great turrets