Posted by: swiftdoc« on: 30 November 2025, 20:33:36 »Thanks for your nice comment Colin, much appreciated! I have made some progress with the fittings. I have added a light at the stern and a searchlight. The 3d printed parts look very nice after the paint job. I am using Tamiya acrylics fir the job and an airbrush.
Next job will be soldering the leads and resistors to the LED wiring. Posted by: colin« on: 24 October 2025, 10:24:47 »coming along nicely
 Posted by: swiftdoc« on: 21 October 2025, 19:51:25 »After having finished the paint job successfully and having applied the veneer I decided to not only have navigation lights but a searchlight as well (I do not know if the original ship had a searchlight but I need one for our club sailing event at night). The lights can be switched on and off from the transmitter using P115 micro switches from Action Electronics/component shop. The searchlight will be made from a smd led glued into a styrene tube of 4 mm inner diameter. The navigation lights will be using the smallest smd leds available.
The main deck and the wheelhouse deck are held in place by small neodym magnets. The decks have been strengthened by glueing carbon profiles underneath. Posted by: colin« on: 01 October 2025, 09:53:21 »nice work Arno..
Posted by: swiftdoc« on: 16 September 2025, 19:29:35 »The paint job is nearly finished. The decals with the depth markings will be applied tomorrow and then a layer of satin varnish will follow.
Posted by: colin« on: 04 April 2025, 15:01:06 »looking good as usual..
 Posted by: swiftdoc« on: 02 April 2025, 18:26:04 »The bulwark supports have been added and everything is prepared for a first layer of etch primer. I have to wait though as we have a very strong and cold wind from the East, blowing directly into the workshop when I leave the door open which is a must when spraying....
Posted by: swiftdoc« on: 24 March 2025, 18:49:23 »Very many thanks for your nice comment, Colin.
I now have finished the navigation lights. I used Deluxe Glue 'n Glaze for fixing the lights to the boxes. The SMD LEDs are the smallest I could find, they measure only 1 mm. Resistors will be used to dim the lights as they surely were not very bright in those days of the SS Falcon.... Posted by: colin« on: 24 March 2025, 09:38:54 »coming along very nicely
Posted by: swiftdoc« on: 23 March 2025, 18:17:38 »I have painted the funnel (one coat of Tamiya fine primer, two coats of Tamiya TS 63 NATO black).
The cranes were made as a serial production  , using the white metal parts that come with the kit. With a little bit of patience they turn out fine as well.The photo etched portholes were bought from Modellbau-Kaufhaus in Germany. They will be filled with clear epoxy after the paint job. Posted by: colin« on: 10 March 2025, 16:17:12 »its nice to see the new 3D printed parts
and your coming along splendedly.. keep up the good work..  Posted by: swiftdoc« on: 26 February 2025, 20:01:17 »Before getting back to those wonderful 3D printed parts I did some traditional modelling. I hollowed out the fog horn using my Busch burrs (made in Germany, available from Cooksongold in the UK). They are good quality tools and very sharp. I use them in the handpiece of my Foredom pendant drill with the flexible shaft. The pipe of the horn was made from 0.5mm brass rod.
As I could not find any working navigation lights at that small scale, I decided to make my own. I started with 8mm Perspex (in Germany: Acrylglas) and drilled a 1.5 mm hole into it with my lathe. Then I machined the part down to an outer diameter of 2.5 mm and polished it with Tamiya polish. The lamps will accept 1 mm SMD LEDs later. The caps were made on my lathe as well, using aluminium machined to a diameter of 2.7 mm. For the boards I used 0.3 mm Tamiya pla-paper. The awning rails were made from 1 mm brass rod, soldered in four sections. Those sections were fixed together by horizontal parts with epoxy glue. Posted by: swiftdoc« on: 17 February 2025, 18:02:40 »Here comes the second batch of photos with some of the tools I used.
The more rigid parts can be cut with a fine razor saw (my one was a gift from Kim, which I am making good use of). The remaining supports the can be cut off with my Knipex cutter. For the more delicate parts I chose my Foredom pendant drill with a carbon fibre cutting disk. Any remaining traces of the supports can be sanded with 800 grit sanding pads. Posted by: swiftdoc« on: 17 February 2025, 17:59:11 »Ron Dean sent me some of the latest developments for his kits, 3D printed parts! I was really impressed when I received them, they are truly amazing! Apart from the details they can provide, they have the advantage of having less weight than the former resin and white metal ones. You can put more ballast in the hull instead which keeps the centre of gravity low.
On the other hand at scale 1/96th we seam to get to a point where some parts are so fragile and delicate that you have to be very cautious when cutting them from their supports without doing any damage. The first batch shows some parts and in a second one I will post some photos of the tools used to prepare them. A big thank you to Dean's Marine from my side for improving the kits considerably!!!! And look at the steerable vent at the last photo, isn't that amazing?! Posted by: swiftdoc« on: 06 February 2025, 20:14:04 »Hi Colin, how nice to hear from you!
Yes, I enjoy the build very much. I spend an hour or so nearly each evening in the workshop when the rest of the family are watching TV…. I just have finished the funnel |