The 1:180 Great Western build

[Ratch]

I'm no expert on ships, so if I use incorrect terminology, do not hesitate to set me straight. 

[Ratch]

I washed the parts in warm, soapy water and left them to air dry. I noted that the stand has Airfix Products Ltd © 1957 engraved in the under-side. This must be the copyright for the stand only. Step 1 sees the assembly of the stand, hull, and deck. The locating holes in the stand required a little fettling for the pegs to sit in them. I used masking tape to hold the glue together while the glue did its work. Placement of the deck into the hull revealed areas of concern. It was obvious that there would be a gap at the bow. I left this assembly overnight.

The following morning, I noticed that a long strip of the deck had not fixed to the port side of the hull and the aft portion of the keel had a gap. Precision Poly was run along the gaps and clamps drew the parts together. I also filled the gap at the bow with plastic putty.

The side supporting struts do not meet the hull.

I then painted the stand and nameplate with Humbrol Acrylic 21 Gloss Black and gave the hull a first coat of Humbrol Acrylic 12 Metallic Copper, both brushed on.

[Ratch]

A second coat of copper followed. I masked the lower part of the hull and airbrushed black on the upper portion. 

The nameplate lettering was brushed by hand.

I compare this stand with one from Golden Hinde to show the differences between the two stands. 

The bases are identical, the side supporting struts must be tooled for each ship individually.

[Ratch]

I fitted the bits on the deck that I assume are lanterns. I believe that is the term for the overhead windows that allow light into the cabins below. I know that HMS Warrior (built only 23 years later) had these. I then brush painted the decks.

The instructions have all the vertical surfaces in sky blue. I wonder whether this is supposed to represent glass. If so, I shall tackle them on my second build a little differently.

[john redman]

Skylights?

I guess if any colour call out is not clear or absent you could always go with how it's been done on the SS Great Britain - same designer...

[Ratch]

I decided that I couldn’t leave the lanterns as blue blobs and set about trying to detail them with a paint brush.

I then moved on to the paddle wheels, assembling the port side wheel first. The three circular mouldings were quite clean and fitted together well. The paddles were a mixed bag. Some were clean while others were flashy and had ejector pin marks and flash. 

I cleaned up as best I could before assembly.

[Ratch]

I have assembled the paddle wheels.

They were later airbrushed with VMA 71077 Wood. The gallery windows were painted.

I brush painted the pinrail and fixed the two halves to the deck. 

I then painted the insides of the topgallant bulwark sky blue. 

Painting then moved on to the covering board and the rough-tree rail.

[Ratch]

I am constantly retouching paintwork; touching in areas I missed or expected to be mating surfaces and trying to keep lines straight. 

I have got the paddle wheels fitted inside their housings.

[john redman]

What an utterly beautiful ship

[Ratch]

She was, John.

I painted the internal surfaces of the funnel before joining the two halves. The port lids (I think that’s their name – if she were a warship they’d be gun port lids or covers), anyway, they were fixed to the bulwark.

[Ratch]

The funnel was painted, not exactly following the guide, which have the bracing loops as wooden. I chose to paint them and their associated rods, copper. Maybe not correct, but who knows? 

I then fitted the figurehead, catheads, and capstan. I painted the rigging screws or turnbuckles with anthracite. The figurehead was painted too.

The lower mast slots through the crosstree, the topmast slots through a cap, and these upper and lower masts are joined at the crosstree, with the cap ensuring correct spacing. 

I could then fix the fore yard, the topsail yard, and the gaff. 

This process was repeated with the mainmast, mizzen, and jigger, except those masts carried no yards.

[Ratch]

I had written a long piece describing each part and its proper name, but the word censor on this site won't allow me to post that, so just pictures and no narrative as I cant be bothered to try and work out which word(s) it doesn't like.

[Ratch]

It was now time for the rigging. Gone are the days when Airfix provided readymade rigging and shrouds. I don’t claim that this is the best way, many folks do much better rigging than me, but this is a mix of what has worked for me previously along with different methods I’ve heard of and am trying out on this build. I also had a long conversation with an accomplished shipbuilder about rigging and I’m trying out some of their advice, with adaptations. Airfix currently supply a rigging machine consisting of two interlocking injection moulded frames. Two reels of cotton thread are also provided. These are a bit of a mystery. Nothing is marked on the reels, so we don’t know what thickness(es) they are. However, plenty is supplied, and I have several reels from previously built kits and some of these are marked as 0.60-20m and 0.30-20m. I have soaked these in tea to stain them brown and use them as running rigging, lifts, and halliards. When I built H.M.S. Victory a few years ago, I purchased some thicker, black threads for standing rigging and shrouds. These are 1Z-50m~55yds 100% linen, Ravon 10-200m~200yds 100% Viscose, and M782 100m~110yds 100% Polyester. I bought these from a haberdasher’s, on sight, because they looked about right. I read recently that someone had used elasticated thread but warned that it led to bending of the uppermost topgallants. This gave me an idea and I guessed that the other modeller had glued these lines too taut, and if they were fixed only just tight enough to keep the thread straight then not too much tension would be exacted upon the masts. For this I will try black, heavy, E Z Line (100 feet ~ 30.5m).

 

The E Z Lines was utilised for the Main stay and rigging.

I used the Guttermann Polyester thread for the Mizzen and Jigger stays. This was also used, in the rigging machine, to make the shrouds for the fore mast. The instructions will have you set the machine at C and run the shrouds from Z to 16 in the bottom of the frame, then progress along to 21. The rigging runs parallel from right to left and back from 0 down to notch 31. I used PVA to fix the rigging to the shrouds. 

This worked well, except the lower ends did not line up with the rigging screws, 

so I decided to alter the method somewhat. The C setting looks good, but only four shrouds run up to the tree. I set these at notches 10, 13, 16 & 19 on the bottom. This time I used the Guttermann Sulky Viscose thread for the rigging, and I went a few notches lower with them.

For the stays I devised this method of working. The E Z Line was cut over length and one end was superglued to each of the rigging screw or turnbuckle. 

Once the line was secured to all the attachment points, one side was gathered together and run through the tree for that mast. The line was tensioned just enough to make it taut and superglued to the tree. The excess line was cut as closely as possible to the tree. 

This process was repeated for the other side of the mast, and I then moved on to the next mast.

[Ratch]

My new shrouds/rigging have not turned out too badly. 

I cut them to the correct length and had to cut a few lines of rigging off, 

then secured them with cyanoacrylate superglue. 

Having adjusted the shrouds and rigging on the machine, I have just noticed that the correct settings are in step 12. I don’t know how I missed this because its on the page where the stays and halliards are illustrated. Maybe I was concentrating on that area too closely and missed the box in the top left corner of the sheet.

[Hurricane Boy]

Nice work Ratch.

Your a brave man tackling that rigging but it looks to be going very well!

Thanks for sharing your build of the Great Western; a ship and its builder with important history.

Tim

[null_null981707818191]

Very impressive work on the rigging Ratch - and I thought biplane rigging was complicated! Enjoying the build as always.

[Ratch]

Thanks for your interest guys. I added the Martingale guys, and outer Martingale stay along with the Fore topgallant stay. 

I then set about making a third set of shrouds and rigging in the same way but to the advised settings. 

These replaced the previous incarnation.

[Ratch]

I’m finding that, when using elasticated thread (E Z Line), that it’s best to fix the lower end firstly and run the line up the mast. 

Only use enough tension the straighten the line and then fix. 

Nothing I have done so far has distorted the masts. 

My only addition to the illustrated rigging was to run the lifts from the braces.

With the halliards complete I could finally move on to Step 12. The anchor has a stock. The chain that suspends it from the cathead is the Cathead Stopper and the main chain is called the cable. I painted the hoops on the anchor stock. The chains described are illustrated as ropes on the instructions, and I utilised thick thread as the anchor cable and the cathead stopper. 

The tilting rope was added (from the same thickness thread) to the ship’s wheel.

Step 13 addresses the fitting of sails. For the record, the vacuum formed sails provided are as follows:

Sail A is the flying jib.

Sail B is the fore topmast staysail.

Sail C is the fore topsail.

Sail D is the square foresail.

Sail E is the fore schooner sail, or gaff.

Sail F is the main sail.

Sail G is the mizzen sail.

Sail H is the jigger or spanker.

I remember reading somewhere (probably in AIRFIX magazine guide 7 Warship Modelling ISBN 0 85059 210 0) that ships should be modelled with sails, flags, and pennants only when set in a seascape and that full hull models should only be rigged. This seemed like a good rule to me and consequently I’ve tried (or intend) to build two of each kit, one full hull and the other water-lined in a seascape. It is my intention that the second kit I have of this ship will be set in a seascape, under sail. I am already conjugating ideas of how to portray the paddles working in the sea. I am currently thinking along the lines of mounting the full hull into a suitably thick block of expanded polystyrene. The displacement will be cut out of the block and the hull will sit there with clear, silicone bathroom sealant holding it in place, suitably sculpted over the painted/airbrushed sea, to represent waves caused naturally and by the paddle wheels. All that for some point in the future.

In conclusion, I have found this build stimulating, educational, and testing of my skill set (or lack thereof). I did find the Rigging Machine guide misleading because the specific instruction for this ship is printed on a different page (and got overlooked). I’m no expert shipbuilder, so have tried different techniques on this build, from basic construction and painting to the rigging of the ship. Never have I fitted so many threads. This was also the first time I used E Z Line in earnest. What I have done is not perfect; there are far better specialist shipbuilders in the modelling world, but I hope that my build will encourage others to have a go at this type of subject. Thanks to Airfix for supplying this kit for review. What I have learned should stand me in good stead for my second build.

[Ratch]

[DoubleD]

Very impressive - I'd love to make one of these - but the riggingscream

[Ratch]

Thank you Dale, that's most kind of you. Don't be put off by the rigging. You don't have to do any of it. I've only done a small proportion of the rigging that would have been on the real ship. It's just about giving an impression (for me). if you've not done rigging before, just take things slowly. Don't apply too much tension - be as light as possible. Don't rush - take your time. Just a little will make a difference, and you have to start somewhere. I think you can get various thicknesses and colours of E Z Line, which would help differentiate between standing and running rigging - but that's a whole subject on it's own. It all depends on how far you want to take things.

[DoubleD]

Thanks for the advice Ratchthumbsup

[paul71]

that's a good looking build ratch well done with the rigging that must have taken some time

[Ratch]

Thanks Paul. The posts in this thread are real time, so it was an hour or so on each of the five day's of updates. The shrouds were glued overnight and the single lines were done in bite-size chunks.

[Ian-372840]

Can you advise on which paints are required for this model?

I know there are different colour-guides, but can’t find any of them online, and amazed the Airfix online shop doesn’t list them alongside the kit.

Found a list of six paints elsewhere, but I don’t know if that’s to cover ALL of the painting options, or just one of them. (It listed Humbrol 12, 16, 33, 62, 65 and 103.)