Le Courbet French battle cruiser from Modelik

[MikeBer]

Cladding the bottom of the hull.

Now comes the exciting part!
To start with, never having done a card model before, I am going to scan each part that I am not sure of and print out a draft copy. I am going to practice the assembly with these copies to get the hang of it and when I am familiar with the construction methods, I will assemble the real parts.

TIP:- A piece of upholstery foam is perfect for resting the model on when gluing on parts. It gives, without bending the hull.

Made my first mistake!
I glued the top tabs of the stern cladding pieces to the vertical centre keel. Later, I realised that these tabs stand off the keel and are glued to the inside of the keel covering piece shown resting on the clips. This was corrected and they were separated with the judicious use of a scalpel.



The bow section was straightforward.



Here is the centre cladding ready to be glued.

It was not shown what the shape of the propshaft mounting pillars looked like. At first, I assembled them flat but they didn’t look nice. I managed to get card of the exact colour in a craft shop and made duplicates which were glued with an oval profile. This looked much better. The prop shafts were made using the same card (which had the colour going right through it). I cut strips and rolled them up tightly, gluing lengthwise as I rolled them. When dry, they were sanded down to the correct diameter and I wet my fingers and rubbed a coating of PVA over them and left them to dry. As you can see, they kept their colour.

[MikeBer]

Sides and decks.

Before commencing with the sides and decks, the twenty two 138mm gun positions had to be made.
My first attempts were terrible, the gun mounts were too fragile. After some trial and error, I finally decided to clad the gun mountings with 0,5mm edging veneer (the kind you use to edge chipboard). Pay attention to the grain direction for trimming when dry. This allowed me to make the gun barrels elevate using 1mm brass rod as the pivot.



The barrels were also difficult to form. I eventually solved this by folding them flat, smearing PVA glue along the tab, gluing the overlap, wait about a minute for the glue to grab and then inserting a thick sewing needle and rolling the barrel around it to form the shape of the barrel. This came out well. When the barrel was dry, I shaved a thin sliver of wood from a toothpick, coated it with PVA and “screwed” it into the barrel from the rear, stopping short of the outer end so it looked hollow. The barrel was then “rolled” between a sanding block and sanding stick to give it it’s finished shape.



The breechblocks of the barrels were filled with PVA and the barrels inserted. When dry, these were drilled with 1mm holes to accept the brass rod pivots.

[rockpaperscissor]

Terrific looking build so far. The hull cladding stayed nice and tight. It often gets a bit "baggy" looking between the formers from handling. I have a couple of ship models in my to do pile, but I find them very intimidating, and have never gone further than opening the kit and admiring the artwork. I'll be watching your build with interest.
Regards,
Don

[MikeBer]

I also wanted the 138mm gun turrets to swivel.
The instructions say to put pins in the centres of the top and bottom of the turrets to enable them to swivel but this would have been a mission to align the deck when gluing it over the turrets. A far easier and simpler solution was to make a “cage” from thick card around the rear of the turret. This worked great and the turrets swivel perfectly.



I am also beginning to find that some parts need “tuning” to fit. The bands around the turrets nearest to the centre of the ship on both sides were not long enough and I had to make new ones from one of the spare pieces of coloured card supplied. Also, the frames under the rear deck came flush to the edge of the deck but the frames under the forward deck were not wide enough so the deck overhung the frames along each side. The hull sides were supposed to glue to the frame edges and the deck edge and finish level with the top surface of the deck. This was solved by gluing small squares of card against the frame edges to bring them flush with the edge of the deck. The hull sides were then glued to these packing pieces and the deck edge.
Here is the completed hull with first deck in place forward.



Normally, I assume the deck should go on first and then the sides are glued to it and the supporting frames. On this model however, because of the 138mm gun turrets recessed under the decks, the side pieces have to go on first and then the deck fitted afterwards.

Lower deck 138mm gun turret positions



Upper deck 138mm gun turret positions.



Upper deck gun cages.



The decks were such a tight fit that they had to be “sprung” into position. This was done by bending the card decks along the centre axis to give a serious camber to the decks. This meant that the deck width was then less than the distance between the sides. PVA was then applied to the deck supporting frames and hull side edges and the deck sprung into place. The deck was then weighted with food tins to flatten it so that it fitted against the sides and was in contact with the supporting frames underneath.



Here is the fore deck fitted.



And finally, the completed hull.



I have come to the conclusion that card modellers are masochists!

[lriera]

I can't agree more with you. We are a rare mutation of the apes. Not worst, not better, simply different, I think. But for sure, not dangerous and very creative and friendly.

[cdcoyle]

That, my friend, is a great use for canned peas...much better than eating them.

[MikeBer]

I am beginning to enjoy the build now. The hull was my baptism by fire. I made many mistakes but I also learnt a helluva lot! Compared to the hull, the superstructure looks as though it will be plain sailing (excuse the pun!).

So far, I have found a few errors in the part sizes but was able to rectify them without it showing. A few of the sub-assemblies have to be figured out as the instructions are not very explicit and the occasional part is not shown on the line drawings.

I have learnt to curb a tendency of mine to overglue! Paper just needs the slightest coating of glue to form an effective bond.

Here is the superstructure taking shape.

[MikeBer]

Here are the masts completed except for the rigging which will be done in the final stages.



I have designed the stand to fit onto the internal hull ribs. I will show details when I start to build them.

[logicman]

I have come to the conclusion that card modellers are masochists!

Well, yes - all those sharp knives - such a temptation ...


Great build!

[Beachead]

Lookin real good. I second the motion that you used your vegatibles well. I wouldn't want to be in the forward deckhouse when those mid ships main gun mounts shot forward.

[MikeBer]

Here is a picture of the searchlights and cranes.
The crane jibs were reinforced with some pieces of balsa inserted into the ends and superglue dripped onto the ends to make them rigid. when dry, the ends were sanded to shape.

[Corporal_Trim]

It's coming along just great, Mike.

[lriera]

I like your job. Very well done these miniature pieces.

[MikeBer]

Here is a picture of the cranes mounted. I just have to paint the copper stay wires grey.

[SEBRET]

did the main crane cables come with the model?

Great work by the way, very fast, keep it up.