Deans Marine
General Discussion => Customers Builds => Topic started by: karlgalster on 01 February 2009, 16:23:03
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Hi out there. I have been building the Deans Marine Z37 for some three months now so thought I had better show what progress is being made. I am approaching the Z37 build in much the same manner as my fellow forum member Belgium Crazy Team who stated in a recent posting in the "chit chat" topic in General Discussion -
"I always say that when I buy a kit, I buy time (the time that is needed to make a hull, fittings, ....)
I always refer to Ron's kits as scratchbuilding because I normally don't use the plan he provides but get more detailed drawings of John Lambert. Sometimes I don't use the fittings in the kit but I scratchbuild them."
I am actually using the kit drawing as a basis but using several books/DVDs I have obtained for further information.
I attach three photos. One shows what is in the box, the other two show the model after the control system had been installed and tested. I am using a Futaba 2.4Ghz radio - no more frequency channel pegs for me! I have advanced the model much further than this and will add more progress reports in time.
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When I look at your pictures, everything is nicely put in place...
Why did you put the 2 battery packs not in front of each other? That keeps the center of gravity low.
In destroyer type boats I always try to keep the center of gravity as low as possible.
These photo's are bringing back memories from the time I build my Z...
I had a motor problem with my Z after she was finished and had to install water-cooling with an installed deck...
When I tested her with an open deck the motor could "breath and no excessive heat was reduced, but with an installed deck and no room for extra ventilation, the motors heated up.
So the only solution was install water cooling.
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I wanted the destroyer to run for a long period so installed two batteries each 3300mAH NiMH 8.4volts. There is not enough room to place these in line so they are side by side. Actually they are reasonably low in the hull so centre of gravity will be low. Side by side they form a shallow "vee" shape (see below). I am surprised you had motor cooling problems. I have the Deans Marine Kondor motors the same as I used in HMS Kelly which are excellent and run at reasonable temperature - overheating not an issue.
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I did not use Ron's motors... I "found" some small industry 12V motors.
That's probably the reason off the heating...
Now with the additional cooling they work perfectly.
Nicely done with the 2 battery packs. You also added some wood to prevent that they can move.
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The wood to stop the batteries moving. In HMS Kelly I have a similar arrangement of two batteries side by side but I did not add the wood strips thinking the batteries would stay put by themselves - WRONG. The batteries tend to move during transport by car and on launching I tend to get a list one way or the other - I have to poke around with a long screwdriver to shift the batteries about by guesswork. This is not very a precise activity and is irritating but only myself to blame. In the Kelly the space for the batteries was such that once the rest of the electrical system was installed the batteries are more or less sealed in and cannot be removed so adding the strips would be impossible without major work.
Robin
Just got our first real snow here in SE England for 18 years - 4inches, absolute chaos!
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I saw the snow troubles on TV.
I'm glad we have escaped the snow in Belgium.
On the bright side: when you can't get out it's building time ;D
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You are right, I am spending a lot of time building at the moment - want to get this ready for the next sailing season.
The authorities here who are responsible for keeping our roads safe and usable are now telling us they are running out of salt so heaven help us if it keeps on snowing!
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A further progress report on the Z37. Attached photos show the decks fitted. The full hull shot illustrates the elegant shape of the "Narvick" type. The propeller shot shows the laminated design of the rudders which works quite well. Unfortunately the marks on the glass fibre hull for the A-frames were too close to the stern which I did not notice until too late (moral here is to measure and check before drilling or cutting). Probably will affect the model in the water but a true "rivet counter" will notice this mistake! I have departed from the kit stuff for the anchor ways in the forecastle. The complex carved shape where the anchors will rest may require some extra work to get a smooth finish. Will only discover this when I get round to priming. The view of the centre hatch shows a departure from the kit design. The kit originally had a very narrow hatch with a combing. Unfortunately I have largish hands so access to the electrical installation below would have been impossible so I have enlarged the hatch. The hatch is now flush fitting so water ingress may be an issue but with a sealing layer of vaseline all should be OK. At this stage all electrical items have been removed except for the Futaba 2.4Ghz receiver which is attached to the hull side using Velcro.
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Nice progress...
The anchor ways are a nice addition to the hull. If my memory is correct, this is something that isn't described in the kit.
She is one of the longest destroyers of that era, I think the ratio (length/with) creates her elegant shape.
On the deck of several narvicks there were small railroad track.
On these tracks the mines were stored before dropping them of the back.
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You mention the narrowness of the hull. I am slightly apprehensive that this destroyer will be a real roller! The actual Narvicks were notoriously top heavy. How did you get on with your Z26?
I am going to represent the mine rail track with Evergreen styrene strip 0.75mmx2mm bonded on its thin end. I think this will be close to scale. The kit instructions suggest 1mmx1mm but this may look OK but not scale.
By the way your Narvick has bilge keels. I am considering adding these but would be interested in hearing how you went about it. I am not sure how to make these strong enough to withstand the knocks it is likely to receive at the lake side.
Regards
Robin
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The whole upperstructure is made with 0.75 and 0.5mm plastic card (not the default 1mm that Ron provides...)
The rails are simulated in a small brass T I found Dortmund.
She can roll a lot. But when I sail in heavy weather I give her 2 12V battery packs. She sits deeper in the water but is more stable.
The 2 keels are made to fit perfectly. I first designed them in cardboard. This I modified until it had a perfect fit (no gaps, smooth line,....). Then I used the cardboard to cut out the plastic bilge keel. I glued them on with a normal cyno glue.
After all the years they haven't come off.
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Thanks for the information on your bilge keels. I will do the same. I have also used some 0.75mm and 0.5mm plastic in place of the 1mm kit material. I would like to use aluminum tube instead of brass tube for the mast to lessen the top weight but I cannot solder it - any ideas?
Robin
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Robin,
I made a mast in brass tubes.
For smaller boats, I often make a mast in carbon. You can buy this: the first part of a fishing line. It's cone shaped and it has a small diameter.
Kurt
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Thanks Kurt,
I think I will stick with brass tube. I use solder with its own flux as used for electrical component assembly on a printed circuit board with the addition of a brush on flux. I have found that the flux tends to react with paint (I got a green reaction with Humbrol enamel on one of my earlier models). I try to remove the flux after soldering with methylated spirit but I am not sure this is ideal - anybody got a better remover?
Robin
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after i have soldered something, i then file the joint, by the time i am finished filing or sanding theres not really any flux left on the joint!!
i might have to much solder on the joint at the start of things, but i have never had the Problem with paint having a reaction with my brass, i also uses Humbrol enamel.
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Yesterday I had to solder a mast for a LST. I did this with liquid solder.
It was fast and nicely done. I already gave it a primer and no reaction appeared.
When I'm done with soldering and cleaning the mast, I always spray it with a primer (grey for priming a car).
I never had a reaction of the primer with the flux.
Every fitting I make (mast/upperstructure, lockers,...) I spray with the primer. This gives me a uniform base coat for the end color.
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I have had this problem once before, but it was due to some porosity in my solder joint, I now wash the joints under a very hot tap, then thoroughly dry with a hot air gun, before giving a coat of metal primer.
Mark
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Thanks for the advice chaps
Robin
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A bit more progress on the Z37. Deckhouses completed and ready for priming. I have replaced the kit's ventilation panels which are in pretty heavy white metal. The louvres on the rear of the forward deckhouse look a bit too open so may modify these. The brass wire box at the rear of the forward deckhouse is for a stack of life rafts. I will need to make morelife rafts as the kit supplies about 10 but I think I need at least 24. Photos show the bridges covered in life rafts and are quite a distinctive feature of the wartime vessels. I have used where possible 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75mm plastic in place of the kit's 1.0mm plastic to reduce top weight and be more scale.
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A few more...
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Well done, you certainly add more detail then described in Ron's manual...
Can you post some more pitctures of the air intake under the chimney?
Kurt
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Can do. Also scan of the very useful photos of Z37 being completed in Koop and Schmolke's book. I am trying to fit bilge keels now as you suggested - very difficult to get the bilge keel shape accurate!!!
Robin
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Hi Robin,
Oh my! I'm so happy that you put up detailed pics of your superstructure. Built like an architect! You said earlier that you replaced most of the styrene from the kit. How do you determine which size of styrene to substitute for? Was it based on plans?
Thank you and have a great day!
Oliver
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Nice,
How did you make sure everything gets aligned so good?
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How do you determine which size of styrene to substitute for?
i was not to sure weather i read the question correctly, but this is the only answer i can come up with:
there is a thing called Scale; as far as i can recall, this model, is at a Scale of 1:96, so that would mean i would use this to determine which size of styrene to use!!!
if your trying to build something to scale then of course the 1mm thick styrene that comes with the Kit is a little to thick, but can be used, not forgetting, these Kits are meant for all modelers alike, the beginner will build it as it comes out of the Box, the experienced Modeler will cop and change things to suit the Builder, or the Original that he is trying to replicate.
i think it would be safe to say, that if your Building the Bridge (or anything else) and you want to make it lighter or rather scale thickness of the Walls, then a thinner styrene would be used, you would lose the stability a little, but it would be lighter, and to scale.
in Robins case, i guess looking at the last Photo's he is going for Scale.
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Oliver,
In choosing what thickness to use I think Colin has said it all in his input. Even if weight reduction is not a factor somethings especially those where the edge and hence thickness are exposed, will look better in as thin a plastic as is mechanically practical. After all the Z27 kit has a sheet of 0.5mm plastic for use on ships boats etc where the kit designer has made this decision for you.
Kurt,
To get alignment as good as I could the vertical strips are positioned top and bottom up against a supporting surface. Actually the photo angle shows alignment quit good - another angle from astern does not look so good but once I have painted things it will not be so bad especially as when completed the louvres will be partly concealed by ships boats and davits both sides!
Robin
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On the photo it look perfect :) , I'm sure on the model also.
It's true, the air intake is "hidden" behind the ships boats.
In most cases the modeller adds a lot of detail that disappears behind other items...
But when your boats are on display you can inform people to look at some smaller details.
I'm building an LST (landing ship tank) for the moment, and there a part of the interior tank deck has to be build because the bow doors can open and a ramp can be lowered...
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Hi Colin,
Yes, in hindsight, my question was silly! Robin is definitely going for scale! :)
Thanks for the information,
Oliver
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Hi Kurt
You said
"I'm building an LST (landing ship tank) for the moment, and there a part of the interior tank deck has to be build because the bow doors can open and a ramp can be lowered..."
Is that the Deans Marine LSM? One of my fellow club members has built it and it makes a very nice model but as he says - sailing only for calm days!
Robin
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No, but last year we gave Ron a copy of the hull....
It's something we (several members in the club) are building or have already built.
The hull we moulded ourselves and a lot of the fittings are from Ron.
I think with an LST it will be the same, the bow door can open so if you don't pay attention the hull fills with water.
I don't think we will build an LSM because we can't use that one in an european WWII diorama.
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A bit more progress on the Z37. All three single 15cm gun shields and the dual 15cm turret were scratch built ( kit vacuum moulded version is OK but I wanted something closer to the actual design). All built from drawings and photos. 0.25mm, 0.5mm and 0.75mm styrene used. The gun barrels are the kit items with a "bellows" added as this is what most photos show. I say "bellows" but I am sure this is not the correct term - perhaps someone knows? I used super fine Milliput for the bellows. This is excellent once hard as it can be carved, filed and sanded to the shape required - whilst wet I found it was impossible to shape as required so a large blob was applied where the bellows was needed for shaping later. Photos below show the gun shields warts and all - they will look better once painted, trust me.
Robin
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and some more...
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Very nice....
That gives indeed a nice addition to the kit...
Kurt
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Hi Robin,
Wow! Those turrets look perfect! I love zooming in and seeing all your details! Thank you for sharing.
I know it takes considerable time to build, take photos and write.
Oliver
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Hi Oliver, the writing and photos don't take up much time compared to the building. Sometimes I end a three to four hour session and am amazed how little I have to show for it. Those turrets took an awful long time. I have finished the two funnels now - they took even longer - but more on that later.
Robin
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Hi all,
A bit more progress on the Z37. Both funnels have been made and the torpedo tubes. The funnels use the kit vacuum moulded funnel halves but with styrene plates added top and bottom to provide firm bases and a flat support for the funnel caps. The funnel caps are scratch built. The kit caps are OK but there is a problem. The Z37 is a 1936A (mob) destroyer which I believe are the most elegant of the German destroyer types. The kit forward funnel cap is most definately not representative of the 1936A (mod) design. The kit cap is much more like the earlier 1936A type (e.g Z25, Z26) which are lower and more angular. I suspect I am in danger of coming across as a bit of a rivet counting anourack - but never mind. My funnel caps are made of multiple layers of 2mm stryrene carved and sanded and hollowed out on the inside. The rails around the funnels are made up of 29 swg tinned copper wire (0.035mm) and built up on the funnel. This wire is excellent and has remarkable flexibility qualities after soldering without breaking the joint.
The TTs are scratch built apart from the tubes themselves and the tube doors. Had to guess at the components on the tubes as my photos/drawings are not detailed enough.
Once again items will look a whole lot better when painted.
Robin
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And torpedo tubes....
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Excellent Robin!
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superb...
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Getting near the end of construction of Z37 but have a question that perhaps can be answered. The Z37 has many of the standard German WWII square life rafts attached in places where they could easily be released or float free in the event of a sinking. What colour should they be painted? The information I have is conflicting. Yellow would be a logical choice and I have seen a model by Markus van Beek with yellowish rafts. Photos I have are in black and white so not very helpful except where the ship is in dazzle paint the rafts are painted in the same pattern/colour. Any ideas? I attach a photo showing roughly where I am - the clipper "Atlantic" bow looks a bit exaggerated but I bottled out of carving up Deans Marine's hull to alter it!!!
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Well done!
If you're going to apply dazzle paint, then the life rafts and auxilary boats often follow the pattern.
On allied ships the life rafts don't have a specific color, most of the time the color of the superstructure is used (light or dark grey)
Kurt
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I'll ask my German friend who is Building the Z6 scratch, he might know, and then I'll get back to you.. Hopfully tonight..
your Z37 is coming on nicely, hope to see it at the Openday in September..
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I think that sounds like an order from the Admiral! ;D
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There is a book called Paintwork of German Warships
ISBN 3-7637-5964-6
Anstriche der Deutsche Kriegsmarine
the colour stated for the liferafts is : RAL 1003 which is a yellowy colour
hope that helps
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Robin,
Very nice! You're building really quick!
Oliver
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Oliver,
Actually the actual building pace is somewhat slower than updates on this forum. I am not a very quick builder as I tend to fiddle around a lot. So far I have spent 580 hours and I reckon on another 100hours or so before it will be ready for a trial sail but before that a suitable method of transportation will need to be made. I generally make a totally enclosing box for each model but Z37 is a bit long for the rear of my hatchback so I may have to compromise on the "box". Next job on the Z37 is a coat of varnish. I have successfully used on other boats Ronseal ultra tough polyurethane satin varnish diluted with white spirit 2 varnish to 1 white spirit applied using an airbrush. The Humbrol varnish aerosol is Ok but can react with enamel paint and the appearance is more gloss than satin. All very tricky with much potential to spoil the model so trials on test pieces required.
Robin
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Hi Robin,
Yes, I noticed that in your photo of the HMS Kelly ( http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/robinlee/kelly7.html ) you have a crate for the ship. It's very nice. When you have time, maybe you can tell us a little about that and the Z37.
You are spending your hours wisely!
Oliver
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Thanks for the colour of the life rafts colin - I will get onto that.
Robin
Can't make the open day as I am on holiday in the lakes but may be able to drop in on my way "up north" but alas without a boat. It will have to be next year.
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Update on progress. Getting near to completion now. Remaining tasks are the railings, rigging the mast, ensign, general fitting of miscellaneous bits and pieces and painting and fitting numerous life rafts. In addition reassembling the drive train and of course ballast tests.
I stuck (literally) with the epoxy glazing of port holes - two photos of the result attached. Effect is quite good but of course Mark's suggestion would be better, even better if a metal surround was included but that will have to be left to next time. Also attached is the complete bridge assembly. Complete apart from mast rigging, railings around the vierling (quad 20mm AA), and the life rafts, and perhaps spare paravanes hung on the lower house side. The numbers 37 are BECC 8mm self adhesives. These numbers are only scale at sea. In harbour in occupied territory they were covered up to hide the identity of the ship.
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dual 3.7 cm and Torpedo tubes. The barrels of the 3.7cm are from the kit, the mount is scratch built using photos from the web pointed out by a forum member and drawings from Kurt. The Torpedo tubes use the kit tubes the rest scratch built.
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Hi Robin,
Thanks for sharing. I especially appreciated the photos of the portholes.
Oliver
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The dual 3.7 look very good!
Nice work.
We (the entire Belgium crazy team) will be at the open days with some boats.
Kurt
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Here are a couple of pictures showing the two types of porthole. The black boat is HMS Amazon and has been sailing for 12 years now (including one sinking for 3 days after ramming a submarine!) the portholes are the milled, painted and then glazed type. The Navy Grey ship is the Dreadnought with the wooden backed, drilled and Perspex rod glazing.
Mark
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Mark,
Thanks for the photos! They're great!
Have a good one!
Oliver
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I have another question about the Z37. On HMS Kelly I made three code flags for the ship's pennant number hoisted from the bridge deck. These were in the code as supplied in the kit info.
For Z37 I do not know if it was the practice of the Kriegsmarine to fly the ship's pennant number. The info in the kit has a 3 flag hoist for "Z","3" and "7". I am puzzled as the kit flags are not those of the web site I have looked at which shows a different set of flags. Can anybody confirm the pennant numbers were flown and is the set of flags shown in the web siet below authentic?
(http://www.kbismarck.com/flags.html)
Robin
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those defiantly look like the real (Authentic) pennants..
not forgetting that the Z37 was also under the British Flag...
i guess there would be a little difference according to the period that your building your modell, is it during its service in the German Navy or the British Navy.??
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Hi Colin, I think you are confusing Z37 with Z38. Z37 was damaged beyond repair whilst on excercise January 1944. A flottilla mate Z32 rammed Z37 due to steering failure!. Z37 subsequently spent the rest of the war in dry dock in Bordeaux and was scrapped by the French in 1949. Z38 was part of Britain's booty after the war and was commissioned as HMS Nonsuch and used in weapons trials with a pretty short career! I think you are right about the web site's flags - just a query about Kriegsmarine flag flying practice.
Robin
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ooooppps, I'm getting me Z's mixed up.. sorry..
i knew one of them served in the British Navy for a while..
can you specify exactly what you would like to know and I'll get back to you with the correct answer.
10 Min's down the road, is an expert on the Z series..
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Hi Colin, thanks for the offer of getting on your bike off down the road. What I want to know is did the Kriegsmarine actually fly the ship's number as was common on Royal Navy ships? For the Z37 would they fly "Z" "3" and "7" flags or maybe only the numbers? Before WWII started the German destroyers had white hull numbers which identified the division number and the destroyer's position in it. After breakout of war these numbers were removed but each destroyer had a number on the front and side of the bridge but no "Z". That is for Z37 there is "37" on the bridge. All very confusing. Hence my uncertainty of what identification if anything was flown using signal flags.
Thanks Colin
Robin
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we are not quite 100% sure but it will be found out by the weekend but;
during the War there were no Hull markings, just the numbers only some were on or around the Bridge.
the pennants that were shown, we are not to sure, on the Z6 the pennant "PI" and the numbers "109" were shown, now wether the 109 was the identification in the Division were not to sure
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Thanks Colin. Look forward to the update.
Robin
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here we go then....
the long and waited for Information....
i have a few Din A3 pieces of paper, with information and Plans of differences that were on the Z37
and then penants there were flown were;
Greek Pi (Yellow and Blue) the number 1 (red and white vertical strips) / 2 (Blue white red) / 7 (red and Yellow)
i can send this Info in a letter, but i would need your address, or i can Scan it , and try and add it here
i have scanned the pennants...
there was absolutly no markings what so ever on the Bridge or on the Hull
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Thank you very much Colin for the information. I shall get busy making the pennants. I am getting very near completion on the Z37. Just fitting of railings and a lot of attaching the rest of the parts. After that its just the rigging of the masts and then ballast tests etc. I attach a photo of the rear of the forward stucture showing the boatsand those yellowish life rafts.
An odd thing - last November at the Warwick International Boat Show I bought a pack of twelve 1/96 marine figures for the Z37 crew from Ron. I have now looked at these and found that I have got three extra people two of which I show below: any suggestions as to how they are to be used on my destroyer!
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well robin, i don't think i could answer that one with out being sarcastic.!!
i allways knew the Navy were a little different, perhaps those two figures are for this perpose. ;)
the rest of the information will be in the post tomorrow, so you should have it by the end of the week..
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If you ever build a hospital ship those figures will come in handy...
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Thanks for sending the information Colin, I await it with interest. I shall have to take a file to the two wrong gender figures - I don't want to distract the rest of the crew!
Robin
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Can you not make one of the figures into a kriegsmarine version of Helga from "Allo Allo" ;D
Mark
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Not a bad idea Mark - If I placed Helga on the bridge I wonder if anyone would notice! Hope to display Z37 at a local show here in Essex end of June - Wings and Wheels at North Weald.
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You could always hide her in one of the cabins!!!
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Just received the information Colin. Very useful material on the pennants and differences between Z37 and near sisters. The outline drawings are very useful and it appears that my Narvick is more like Z38 than Z37. My flak deck midships is definately Z38 and my boat arrangement is also Z38. Never mind, I will continue to refer to it as Z37. I don't suppose many Brits will notice!
Thanks once again Colin. When I visit the Open Day in September I will have to repay you the postage cost.
Robin
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your more than welcome, any little bit helps, and thats what were here for.
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Hi Robin,
Great photo of your progress.
I've stopped building the HMS Kelly for now as I've moved and everything is in boxes.
Thanks for sharing,
Oliver
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Hi Oliver,
Hope to hear some progress report soon but if you are moving I guess that things will be held up for some time.
Good luck with the unpacking.
Robin
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Hi Robin,
I saw this on Ebay --
http://cgi.ebay.com/RARE-GERMAN-DESTROYERS-OF-WORLD-WAR-TWO-M-J-WHITLEY_W0QQitemZ160342384192QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Nonfiction_Book?hash=item2555269e40&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1262&_trkparms=|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A30
I don't know if you have this book or not, but FYI.
Have a nice day!
Oliver
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Just to let you all know that my friend that lives down the road, He also help supply this information for Robin.
He has finished his Torpedo Stands, these are at a scale of 1:100
the coin that can bee seen is a 1 cent (Euro) coin, that measures 16 mm in Diameter.
enjoy the photo's
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Fantastic details, how long were these pieces being built?
Mark
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Hi Guys,
Oliver - I bought this book some time back. It has quite a good account of the activities of the German destroyer force and torpedo boats as well. Photos are not bad particularly of the AA weapons and torpedo tubes but "German Destroyers of World War II" Gerhard Koop and Klaus-Peter Schmolke ISBN1-85367-540-7 is better with outline diagrams of each destroyer and its history and masses of photos.
On the torpedo tubes - they are excellent. I am a bit envious of tubes that accept actual model torpedos!!!!
Robin
PS Maiden voyage of my Z38 (nee Z37) yesterday. Absolutely brilliant. Once again Deans Marine demonstrate the excellence of their basic design in producing a practical model of a very tricky model type. If anything more stable than HMS Kelly - possibly due to my replacement of many heavy white metal fittings with styrene equivalents.
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Robin,
Congratulations on the maiden voyage! Look forward to pictures!
Oliver
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@ Mark,
with pauses the torpedo stands took about 6 months to build.
heres one of the main searchlights from Z6
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Hi Colin,
Thanks for the information, I have had to dig my spare euro's out to show the Belly dancer the true size, she is very impressed.
Mark
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Are there any pictures of the first sailing, or were the hands to shaky?
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the Z6 is still being built, will take about another couple of years befor she is finished, i must say the hole ship is being scratch built, so i should not realy post here..!!
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I have some photos but I am hoping for better ones tomorrow as I am taking Z38 to our club's larger lake which is better for photos although a bit exposed to wind. Took Z38 to the Wing's and Wheel's show last Saturday. Seemed to go down quite well. Had a lot of trouble getting both props to work at the same time. I have spring clip fuse holders and one had become faulty - took ages to sort it out. I changed long Futaba extension leads for two 150mm ones purchased at the show only to find one drive no longer worked - plug pin not not locked in! Then when finally we got onto the water one of the couplings become disconnected, much clunking from the boat and an emergency retrieval. Finally got it all together and it certainly goes well. In hindsight I should have used 7.2 volt batteries not the 8.4 volt fitted as the model is a bit too fast at full throttle - I must program my transmitter to limit the output. I suppose I will have to read the manual! Trouble is the Futaba 6EX 2.4Ghz system is primarily for aircraft/helicopters so the manual takes a bit of deciphering.
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Here are some photos. None are of Z37 at speed - the wife's camera work was not up to it, lots of bits of the model!
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Two more. Second was taken on the Wings and wheels artificial pond
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Two more - on our small lake at Mountnessing
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And a nice profile. Finished at last after 700 hours work. Thank you for all who gave help to me in this project. I hope to enjoy many hours charging around lakes with this and the Kelly.
Robin
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Hi Robin,
She looks wonderful on the water.
If you can still alter the fusing use in line car style blade fuses, you will get a lot less hassle.
Keep on with the 6EX, it is a clever peice of kit and you can certainly cut the throttle channel back.
Mark
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Cheers Mark. On the 2.4Mhz sustem - Z38 seems fine but what is your opinion of the reliability? In particular resistance to interference or picking up stray transmissions? My other boats are all 40Mhz and one has a fault which might be down to receiver problems. Does not appear to be related to the aerial location. I am thinking of inserting a 2.4Mhz receiver.
Robin
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A "Z" always looks nice on the water.
Have fun with it.
Kurt
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Hi Robin,
I converted HMS Amazon to 2.4GHz while at Kingsbury Navy day and found the range at which she worked satisfactorily actually improved. The aerials were not very scientifically laid out inside.
I also had no interference problems while on convoy duty (15 Boats on the water in convoy).
Regards
Mark
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Hi Robin,
Wow!
Thanks for sharing!
Oliver
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there are loads of people over here that are using 2.4Ghz and they don't have any Problems at all...
wether the Radiowaves are a little different in the UK i am not to sure, but my Graupner 4014 has been to a fair few places in Europe (World Champs) over the past 16 years, i have never had any problems what so ever with my Graupner 4014 (40Mhz) radio set...
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Hi Colin,
I have a feeling my problems are down to a fault with either the transmitter, receiver or one of the electronic controllers. Without any test gear it is difficult to debug this fault in a deterministic way so I will have to resort to substituting items one by one from my other models.
Robin
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Mark I read your post right? convoy duty? 15 ships on the water at once (most frieghters?) :o do you have any pics of this? this sounds like great fun!! at the regatta here in Denver in June we may have five boats at once on the water.
Tom
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Hi Tom,
I don't have any pictures of that convoy at the moment, but here is a picture of the fleet review from a previous year.
Regards
Mark
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As any of you who have been reading this topic will know I completed my destroyer some months ago but I have just received my copy of the November Model Boats magazine which has a very interesting article for all Z37 builders. In the "Range Finder" section Dave Wooley has featured photos and description of the Z39. Z39 was a close sister of Z37 and was handed over to the USA after the war. The US have an archive of photos of the ship 20 of which are reproduced in the magazine. I would recommend getting this magazine for anybody wanting to add detail to their model.
Robin
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My friend that is building a Scratch Z Class has been busy.
at present he is Building the double 3,7 cm Flak C 30
one original Photo showing the base and seats
the two other photo's are from this mans workmanship, not forgetting this is at a scale of 1:100
the second photo shows the seat for the gunners, and the last photo show the arrangement as it is so far
enjoy
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I had a go at these guns using the same photos as your friend (link provided by a fellow forum member) but I would have to confess not to the same detail your friend has achieved - excellent work.
Robin
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someone has to much free time ;D
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Hi All, particularly Colin,
Following the excellent articles in Model Boats mag recently featuring US Navy photo archive of the Z39 I am adding to my Z37 model. I am puzzled by a feature on the photos which looks reasonable to model but if I had some idea of its function it would help. I attach a scan from the magazine (Shhhhh!) of the aft funnel of teh Z39. High on the side is an array formed from 6 identical units. Each unit comprises what looks like 3 bell shaped objects. These are mounted on each side of the aft funnel. Exactly the same array is mounted on the front of the bridge.
Robin
Colin could you please mention this to your friend - thanks.
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i'll see what i can find out for you.. ^^^
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::DD Thanks colin
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the information that i have so far;
no one is really to sure what these things were, but we are digging a little deeper.
some times there things were also around the bridge, and as far as the information goes, were never really used.
they might be lights, that were used for signaling insted of the flags..
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They do look a bit like lights its true. From my photo source these things were not fitted on destroyers prior to start of WWII. The things are found on destroyers of all types later on in the war on sides of aft funnel and front of the bridge so some type of retro-fit - bit of a mystery.
Robin
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I know that the allied ships carried infrared lights for communication between ships.
Maybe this is something similar?
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my friend has been working hard on his double 3,7 cm Flak C 30
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Excellent work. Two comments -
Looks as though he has not attempted to taper the barrels of the guns. Actual guns have a pronouced taper about 2 to 1 diameter difference between muzzle and where the barrels enter the breach block.
Did your friend deliberately omit the large exposed to view elevation sprocket wheel mounted between the guns concentric with the main elevation trunnion?
I guess a blank has been drawn on the light/bell objects on the. I will improvise something that looks similar.
Robin
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ref the lights, there still digging... but its looking as if the things that were on the funnels were some sort of lights...
the flak's are not finished yet... so i guess he might work on the barrels...
theses items and a lot of his work on the Z6 can be seen in Dortmund at the Intermodellbau..
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Hi All
Having completed some more details on Z37 I have attempted to do some water level shots using my digital camera with a mirror attached. Quite difficult to use due to the inverse image and no attempt to do a moving boat shot - will take some practice to get the model both focused and within frame.
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Hi Robin.
Looking good a bit more practice and you will soon be capturing her at speed.
Mark ^^^
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Robin those pics are great. :) that bow shot....... ^^^
Tom
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the 3.75's are finished, and i do believe Mark had a good look at them while attending the Intermodellbau this year.
by the way Robin the Barrels are tapered, probably not that noticeable in this photographed position.
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Colin - the 3.7cm AA looks very realistic congratulations to the builder.
Mark and Tommydean - Thanks guys. A photo low down with a nice bow wave would be a bit special but will take some doing. The mirror is OK for a static model but getting the focus right whilst panning after a moving object is going to take a lot of practice as you say Mark or a lot of luck!! I will have another go some time. Next I need a lot of thick black smoke out of at least one funnel..... ::DD
Robin
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Robin,
She's a beauty!
Oliver
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Yes I had a very good look at these absolutely perfect miniature replica's and I still cannot work out how he has managed such detail.
Robin - Black Smoke - Don't go there or you will have a very realistic Black sooty looking model, remember what goes up usually comes down all over your model. Try burning some cotton wool soaked in Baby Oil, great effect!
Mark
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Oliver - thanks for the comments. I have also discovered that Z37 is also a good regatta boat. A bit long so some obstacles can be a bit tricky, however it has two very good features: being narrow compared to a tug for instance it can get through narrow gaps and also being long it goes like an arrow - very true so no twitching about unlike my main steering regatta boat which has twin screws, a mixer and a bow thruster whcih can be a bit of a hand full at times.
Mark - thanks for the warning, I will probably leave the smoke alone as the hull has very little space for a smoke generator and I would need one with fan assistance as nothing worse than a few wisps of white smoke drifting from a warship's funnel although OK for a Clyde Puffer I suppose.
Robin
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so how does one get the smoke to look real when it comes out of the smoke stack? every time i have seen smoke done it looks like the "cigarette in the ashtray" look if you know what i mean. cotton wool soaked in baby oil??? interesting......any pics? is it black? i was thinking of doing smoke on my HMS Javalin but dont think i can get a realistic looking smoke screen. would a fan inside the ship drafting to baffels in the stack give a more realistic look?
Tom
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Here is one way of getting smoke;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAXpWRQQlCY (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAXpWRQQlCY)
This is the smoke unit for the G3 that I am building, it's the biggest of it's kind in the world, the only draw back with these units is that they need 24V to run. I have one in my Dreadnought and it looks very realistic.
If you are looking to produce smoke screens then you are into playing with fire!
Mark
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Mark, your smoke generator looks good (even if it white).The size and power requirements would not suit a 1/96 destroyer unfortunately. Nice little project for someone to produce a compact generator running on 7.2 volts producing a lot of smoke. ;D
Robin
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Hi All.
This model was completed some eight years ago and has seen a lot of service. It has sailed many times here in Essex at my club and other local clubs as well as MPBA events at Huddersfield, Burton on Trent and SWA events at Chartwell, Southern Air show and the International Model Boat Show Warwick.
It has now undergone change of identity from the German Kriegsmarine Z38 to the Royal Navy HMS Nonsuch. In 1945 Z38 was handed over to the UK and entered service with the RN as HMS Nonsuch pennant D107. She served about 5 years mainly as a trials vessel and ultimately wrecked in weapons trials and subsequently broken up in 1950.
The transformation into HMS Nonsuch has been straightforward. From photos I have seen the outward appearance was initially in any case, much as it was as Z38 apart from the funnel caps being black and the D107 identities on both bows and stern. I think also that the wartime life rafts were also ditched but I have retained them.
I am hoping to get many years more service out of her and it should be a talking point as is nothing like any other RN destroyer of the immediate post war period.