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[poulw]

Since I already see a couple of threads covering the Richelieu (scales 1/96 and 1/100), I'll give my two pennies worth as well (in yet another scale).
That is, if I can figure out how to post the pics 

The hull is plank on frame with only one layer of planking - I didn't know better at the time - with bow and stern in hardwood.







The three decks are all planked and waiting to be mounted when the hull is painted.





Chers .... Poul

[poulw]

Looks like I managed to post the pictures, so here are shots of some of the armament. 
In some of the pics especially the gun barrels look a bit "woollen" but that is due to the resolution of my camera.

First the main guns:







A prototype of the secondary 152mm guns (some modifications has been made later to avoid the 0.5mm sheets to show):



And finally two prototypes of the 20mm Oerlikon AA:



I am still trying to figure out a good way to construct the quad 40mm Bofors AA

Cheers .... Poul

[poulw]

This post shows some shots of the superstructure.

First the base for turret I



Top of the front superstructure



The boat deck with the current state of the superstructure (dryfittet only)





I am keeping logbook on all parts and subparts, and the current status is:

533 Parts made from
3787 Subparts

Still a long way to go.

Cheers .... Poul

[ian kennedy]

Hi Poul,

That is an impresive looking model, you are making an very good job of her and i look forward to seeing your progress.

Ian

[herrmill]

Excellent job, Poul!    How long have you been working on Richelieu? 

Side note to Martin: you need a add kowtow smilie to the message posts?  Poul's excellent ability to work in this scale is certainly worthy of one. 

Chuck

[kiwi96]

Wow. Excellent job. Will keep close eye on this build to help me with my 1/96 version. Great too see her being built in many scales.
So far makes mine look like by a novis, your scratch modelling skills are way better than mine.
Keep up the good work and keep posting the great pic's.
Cheers, Adrian.

[poulw]

Thanks for the nice comments.

I started the build March 2006, so I have been working on it for about 18 months. Still a long way to go

To Kiwi96:
I have tried to send you a PM without luck (I think). Please send me an email to poulw@bigpond.com.au So I can email you some stuff.

[poulw]

In case anybody should be interested, here is an example of how I built the superstructure (in this case the funnel):

First I made the skeleton - the support structure - in two parts as the bottom part flares out towards the bottom



Then I wrapped plastic cladding around the structure (using contact glue)



Trimmed the edges



Left some excess clading on the top part since so many curves met there



Fixed the two parts together with sticky tape, turned the part upside down, and filled the cavity with urethane resin



I could then file/curve the top part to fit the bottom part exactly



and the final result looked like this



The reason for the four square openings in the funnel is that the four exhaust pipes (one from each boiler) end up there.
The cover plate on the funnel therefore has four circular holes (not shown here though).

[gary r uk]

hi
watching this build with keen interest .
what thickness is the plastic cladding.
did you lay the deck staight on the hul or on a template first
gary

[poulw]

Hi Gary r uk,

The cladding is 0.38mm Isogenopak (manufactured in UK). It is very strong, and it has a natural tendency to curve.

I used templates for the decks (1.5mm ply).
To get a perfect fit, I first teemporarily fitted the deck template and then glued on the margin planks, sqeezing them hard towards the waterways to follow the ship's contour. I used Glad Wrap as a membrane to avoid the margin planks being glued onto the sides - as I have a natural tendency to over-glue.



The deck template was then removed, and the marginplanks now made a good frame for the deck planks.
So, fitting the deck planks was done wiith the template on the work bench - not on the model (makes deck planking a lot easier ).

The decks now have one coat of varnish and are just waiting to be fitted later when the hull has been painted.

[gary r uk]

hi
thanks for thegood replye by glad rap you mean cling film
isogenopak where from,the locl model shop,and how big o they make
gary

[poulw]

Hi Gary,

Glad wrap, cling wrap, cling film. Yes, same thing.

I don't think you can get Isogenopak from a hobby shop. It is used by plumbers.

If you buy Isogenopak wholesale, it is a roll of 10m (cannot remember the width, but probably about 2m).
I remember now that you can get it in two different thicknesses, and I went for the thinner one.

I would suggest you visit a plumber, preferably one who specialises in insulated heat pipes (that is what the Isogenopak cladding is for) and ask to buy eg. a piece 1x1m for I guess around £5 cash. 
This is anyway what I did, and I haven't even used 1/10th of it yet.

I have to say that Isogenopak doesn't exist in Australia (climate is not for heavy insulation), so fortunately I got some help from a friend in Europe.

[gary r uk]

hi
thats good there a plummer across the road
cheers
gary

[andrewh]

Poul,

Lovely work
It is very instructive to see how you build up complex shapes using combinations of materials, thanks for keeping us in the picture.

I googled this stuff Isogenopak, and found its made in Melton, about 20 miles away, and its essentially PVC sheet, with good thermal and extinguishing properties.  I was given hundreds of feet of a pvc material many years ago - with a foam core and smooth skins, and have used it ever since for boat-making.  The only thing I find is that I have not (yet) fond a solvent sdhesive.

But I will - I will have a word with the makers and see what they use - since they advertise a solvent

best regards,
andrew
aka liteflight

[poulw]

Hi Andrew,

I am not sure that I would need to use a solvent cement for the Isogenopak PVC cladding as I never overlap it and I always adhere it non-PVC materials, mainly wood and styrene.

On the note of styrene, I found out yesterday that you can buy a large styrene sheet 76x137cm from a plastic sheet dealer at half the price you pay for the small packs from Evergreen, eg. a 0.5mm styrene sheet AU$4.50 vs. Evergreen's 3 small sheets of 15x30cm at AU$8.50 from the hobby shop. I am sure it must be proportionally the same in other countries.

[grzegorz75]

Hello 
Richelieu on the polish forum   KLIK

[poulw]

Thanks for the link, grzegorz75.

A beautiful model.

That makes me wish I could read Polish.

[poulw]

Time for an update on my ongoing battle to build the Richelieu, and after 4 weeks of struggle, I have finally finished my small (the tinyest fiddly bits I have ever made) lookouts.

Just to give you an idea of the size, the binoculars are made from 0.5mm and 0.7mm round styrene rods, and the seats are only 1.5mm wide.



A close up of the two different binocular stands



and the aerial lookouts



I have also finished most of the 20mm AA stations.

Here you see  the front stations behind the front breakwater



and here is the rear station with armament



The small towers in the background are for the M51 rangefinders for the 40mm quad Bofors armament, and in the front is one of the two 120cm searcdhlights.

For the 120cm searchlights  I have used acrylic rod (to give the impression of glass) with PVC cladding wrapped around. Only dryfitted on the pic as I have to paint them later as 4 individual parts each:



For the 60cm searchlights I have used acrylic rod inside a brass tube. The one on the right is already masked, and ready to be primed:



Everybody have a nice Christmas and a happy New Year.

[nhp651]

Amazing, Poul.
I couldn't even see that small without a mag glass, never mind construct them. Superb.

[kiwi96]

Excellent work. Great detail. Hope mine comes up as good. Any chance of the pics by email. Thanks. Adrian.

[Martin13]

G'Day poulw,

Your ability to build in such a small scale is absolutely amazing

How you managed to build such small fittings is way beyond my capabilities - I would need more than one magnifying lens - incredible
Anybody would be proud to own your model.

Keep up the great work and especially the pic's and how you built various parts.

What part of Australia do you live in?

Martin down under in Victoria....

[Edward Pinniger]

Extremely nice work!  It's always interesting to see the materials + techniques other scratchbuilders use.

Did you build the 20mm Oerlikon guns entirely from scratch, or use commercial castings? The need to build dozens of identical AA guns is the main thing that'd put me off scratchbuilding a WW2 battleship!

[poulw]

Thanks guys for your nice comments.

Good to hear that I seem to be doing something right.
Afterall, it is my very first attempt on a model (haven't even built a plastic kit before).

I'll try to answer your comments:

nhp651 and Edward, I do have a 5x mag lense with build-in circular light, but I prefer to use a pair of +3.00 spectables (bought cheaply at the chemist). Without those, I wouldn't be able to work at this scale either.

Adrian, it is a lot easier if you just right click on any of the pictures and select "Save Picture As". Then it can be downloaded directly to your PC.

Martin13, I am a fellow Victorian and live in Warrandyte, 25km NE of Melbourne. Here in my retirement, with the kids married and well under way, I have turned my home into a shipyard with loose parts all over the house waiting to be painted.

Edward, regarding the 20mm Oerlikon, I originally purchased 50 casts (white metal) in scale 1:192, but was about to throw them out as I didn't find them very presentable in quality. However, I thought of cutting of the shield and barrel and replace them with a 0.5mm styrene sheet as shield and a 0.5mm brass wire as barrel. I could also have built them totally from scratch; the main work would then have been to make the conical base, but this could be solved in just the same way as I made the base for the 60cm searchlights - putting a piece of 3mm acrylic rod in my drill press and shaping it with a file.
I too thought it would be a never ending story to build the 48 Oerlikon AA guns needed for the Richelieu, but it actually turned out to be one of the easiest parts to build - and very easy to set up as a "series production". It only took me one day to make the first 24 guns (still need to make the remaining 24 though, but I have already cut all the parts so they are ready when I get "itchy fingers" again).

An interesting thought I have had:

The small boats to me look like a nightmare to construct, so after Christmas I am going to try vacuum forming the hulls, using my vacuum cleaner and styrene sheet heated in the oven. Don't know how it will pan out, but I'll post pics of the jig, the process, and the (hopefully positive) result early in the new year.

All the best

[poulw]

A happy modelling year 2009 to all.

Over the holydays I finished the boat rack, located between the front and rear superstructure, and one of the two cranes.

[dan]

outstanding