Boats & Water crafts

[cteno4]

ken,

 

how about carving in an inlet and then you can have the foot bridge and the boat at dock?! or have it half coming out from under a bridge so you only see part of the ship and thus not too much bulk?

 

yeah im hoping that the clear areas are a bit raised so i can perhaps put the mask over and then carefully cut around them. definitely going to be a challenge, but it just pushed my strange button too many times! im starting to think even a little diorama of the inlet with the bridge and dock would e fun.

 

i had wanted to go on it on our last trip to japan, but too many things to do on our few days in tokyo. next time hopefully.

 

jeff 

[cteno4]

the himiko water bus just shipped so should be here in a couple of weeks.

 

on another note for those of you that want a real water harbor you could have a nice little RC sub that could be n scale tourist sub here

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10195048

 

seems to work quite well! would be fun to heard the fish in a little pond or fish tank. seems to have a little bladder that you expand/contract in order to ballast it. very cool.

 

 

about 38' long would be about right for those 20 passenger or so tourist subs. not any in japan i think but for your fantasy layout!

 

jeff

[macdon]

Jeff,

 

If I decide on a city harbor for my shinkansen dio project, the himiko water bus might just do the trick. What are the corresponding structures to support this water bus?  

 

Lastly, HS is including a temple set if you buy the water bus?

 

Mardon

[cteno4]

Mardon,

you can see in this video at one dock there is a neat pedestrian drawbridge at Toyosu. simple dockside roofs. also very cool large gantry crane dockside which i asuume is for placing boats in the water.<br />

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XxBkTOAX0MA

http://goo.gl/maps/EaNMy

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5212/5384536826_918d57da24_o.jpg

 

http://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/jpsmohc/Webpage/Photos_Optimized&Copyrighted/Chapt%206_Optimized&Copyrighted/4_Shopping%20Centres%20Controlled%20Spaces%20of%20Consumption_Optimized&Copyrighted/Tokyo%20Toyosu%20Mall_P1280089.jpg

really is a stunning ship

route seems to be asakusa to odaiba seaside park via toyosu. (red line on the map)

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3042.html

odaiba seaside park also has a statue of liberty, ferris wheel and 1:1 gundam was there for a time.

http://goo.gl/maps/XanbC

at Asakusa there some great temples

 

http://goo.gl/maps/A12xD

cheers

jeff

Edited June 7, 2013 by cteno4

[macdon]

Thanks Jeff!

 

Would you happen to know the dimensions of the Fujimi model?

 

Mardon

[cteno4]

Mardon,

 

It's 33.3m x8m so n scale would be 22.2cm x 5.33cm or 8.75" X 2.1"

 

Bill I see what you meant about the temple it's included it looks like! Fun!

 

Jeff

[macdon]

Mardon, It's 33.3m x8m so n scale would be 22.2cm x 5.33cm or 8.75" X 2.1" Bill I see what you meant about the temple it's included it looks like! Fun! Jeff

 

Hmmm..........I never expected it to be almost 9" long. I will have to make a template of it and check how it affects the proposed dio. You think it can fit under a viaduct (2" clearance)?

 

Mardon

[cteno4]

sure no problem, i think its only like maybe 8-10' high off the water line. built specifically very low in the water to go under the low bridges up the river. the model appears to be a waterline model, but hull looks to be only as high as what you see exposed above water. lots of interesting river craft if you look up google satellite there. barges, some pleasure craft, etc. river scenes can be quite dense in japan like this. lots of times they are solid banks and boats just moored to the bank or pilings and little ladders to get up the cement or rock embankment. 

 

boats are pretty easy to scratch build and detail.

 

jeff

[cteno4]

the water bus showed up today! no surprises, simple model, but it is going to be a $^%# to paint! they give you a template sheet and a frosted sticker sheet to cut out the 165 individual window ports (yes 165!) on this sucker to stick on i assume to mask them off for painting!

 

the template is paper so i guess it could be lightly adhered to the back of the mask sheet so that you cut them out directly. the window pattern is symmetrical on each side so will work reversing it.

 

but there is a nice little raised lip around each window, so im thinking of either just carefully painting around the outside and then carefully along the top. but doing a spray coat would be much better with individual window masking, but that is going to be a challenge! one last option would be to use a liquid masking film on the windows and carefully trim around the inner edges and then paint and pull off the mask paint. 

 

it does come with a little Sensō-ji temple buildings that look to be about 1/10th scale in n scale! will be perfect as i have a collection of small castles and a few other buildings along with tokyo tower and skytree that are 1/10-1/25 scale in n scale and always wanted to have a park scene with scale models of famous structures sometime like the one at Tobu world square.

 

Anyhow ive always wanted to do the Asukusa temples and the Hanayashiki amusement park right next to it, so river scene with the water bus is perfect!

 

jeff

[cteno4]

in looking at the glass parts i think the liquid mask is going to work a lot better. have to go up to the hobby shop and get a new bottle, mine is way too gummy now to use on this small of stuff. i think i can cut in at the bottom of the frame at the glass easily. trying to cut and place all those masks and hope they are in there good along the edge is just sounding too much potential for issues. that kind fo masking is just rife to get a bit seeping into the corner and under the edge a tad...

 

i can experiment on the sprews.

[macdon]

Is it about the same measurement as you gave awhile back?

 

Mardon

[cteno4]

yep 

 

measured

 

223mm long

57mm wide

20mm high w/o antennae (these are probably like 10mm high at most assembled.)

 

jeff

[macdon]

yep 

 

measured

 

223mm long

57mm wide

20mm high w/o antennae (these are probably like 10mm high at most assembled.)

 

jeff

 

Thanks bud! I would love to see your progress on the model when you start on it. 

 

Mardon

[KenS]

So I broke down and ordered one of these as well.  I'm not sure when I'd get around to making it, but given those dimensions it probably won't look out of place even on my relatively narrow river. In the end, it was just too obviously a "Sumida River" model not to have it on my layout.

 

And you can bet I'll be following your progress closely.

[cteno4]

Ha ken, temptation gotcha!

 

Does look look it will be an interesting boat. The more I think about it the more I think the liquid mask will do the trick well.

 

Ill keep you posted as I want to get on this one even though I don't have a river for it right now! I just love ships too much!

 

Jeff

[Martijn Meerts]

The windows come pre-installed? Otherwise I'd say just paint the shell before adding the windows ;)

[cteno4]

the top shell is mostly one big piece of translucent plastic with like 60 little panes in it. frames are moulded into this and you have to basically paint the frame area and structure around the windows for the top shell. then there are several little domes that pop into holes in that as well, each with a half dozen to a dozen panes in each...

 

jeff

 

 

 

[macdon]

Jeff - how about scanning that masking pattern and having it reprinted in sticker/decal paper? 

 

Mardon

[cteno4]

Was going to scan in any case if I use them. Easy to just tack down and cut.

 

But the big problem I think is herring all these cut really cleanly and well applied. I think the liquid mask will be a lit cleaner, just run the knife around the bottom corner.

 

I'm really dubious how well their sticker will mask the corner edges. Fit has to be really perfect and cuttin 165 of them and getting mounted just seems too easy to fail. Liquid mask seems perfect for this with the little frame edge around each pane.

 

Jeff

Edited June 22, 2013 by cteno4

[macdon]

There's a small kiosk located in our mall that does custom vinyl decals - not printed but rather cutting the vinyl in whatever size and shape via a computer. Lots of folks go to this kiosk to have their favorite logos made for car windows, bikes, boats, etc. 

 

They will scan the masking file and will give you those file in a decal form - each window mask would be individually cut already so just peel those when applying. Water with a bit of soap in a sprayer bottle will help you to move the decal around and when you're satisfied, just squeeze out any water residue under the decal with a small sponge or flat card.

 

Im about to pull the trigger on this water bus as well - I figured a water scene will probably save me some money than filling a city block with buildings....Lol!

 

Mardon

[cteno4]

Mardon,

 

The problem is getting the cut out bits perfectly into inside the frames around the the panes and pressed nice and tight so paint does not seep under them. Also getting the cut size just right will be tricky. Liquid mask gets this done easily and just trim off the excess.

 

Jeff

Edited June 22, 2013 by cteno4

[Martijn Meerts]

Never used liquid mask myself, but I've seen it used a lot on canopies for aircraft and such, so I'm guessing it'd work for the boat as well. Another option would be clear film used for airbrushing. It's not very sticky and quite flexible as well as easy to cut. There are also specific tools to make cutting strange shapes and small detail bits easier, such as: 

http://www.airbrush-services-almere.nl/shop9/contents/media/HANSA_Mask_Master.jpg

[cteno4]

yeah the reason i thought of the liquid mask was aircraft canopies which are exactly what this is! i used liquid mask years ago on a detailed b25 model i did that had a lot of fine detail on the canopy frames. it was very easy to trim along the frame edges right at where the glass should start.

 

the making material they provided is basically the masking film you mentioned. low tack matte film.

 

i have a couple of swivel knives with regular handles that are great for doing curves like this. hopefully our hobby shop has some liquid mask in stock as ill be up that way today! want to start testing this out. ive been looking for clear plastic bits i can test this out on some...

 

the more i look at the windows and trying to get the tiny cut out bits of mask into the little spots the more i think that way is just trouble in a number of ways. ill probably try and cut out a few smaller ones and see how well they cut out and go in.

 

im also wondering what paint to use. im now thinking an acrylic and not prime so i might be able to strip or at least spot clean up some goobers. again ill test on the sprues and see what i can get away with. one nice thing is all the painted areas of the clear blue plastic is textured so that acrylic should adhere better.

 

im tempted to lay with putting some leds inside at very low power to see if you see in at all and then putting in people! in the videos you can see people, but the thick blue plastic on the model i think wont show them unless there is a little internal light.

 

jeff

[cteno4]

ok liquid mask is a failure! turns out that it sticks better to the frosted frame material than the clear, smooth window bits so when you got to cut it out the frame pieces want to stay more than the glass pieces (the ones you want sticking)!

 

so i started fiddling with the masking material they provide. its basically just a big sheet of tamiya masking tape. i did one of the smaller windows with it by just putting approximite sized pieces on the window sections 1 at a time (it was one of the oval bubbles so too curved to do all in one shot). You cant see the frames when you burnish down the tape well, but if you back light the piece well (new ikea led lamp is perfect) you can then see the frame thru the masking tape and thus do your cut lines along the window frame. you will probably need magnification for the smaller windows. the little bubble windows are going to be fun as they are like 5mm round and have 6 mask sections each (8 of these suckers!) works well and the tape is pretty forgiving. actually the liquid mask will be handy to do tiny spot repairs in the masking tape later. going to try painting some sprue pieces with water based acrylic to see if i can strip it with isopropanol w/o fogging the clear plastic just in case there is an issue!

 

but it looks like using their tape is the solution (and tamiya if you need more) as there is no way you could hope to cut the masks out first and then try to apply them to fit. the tape actually is a bit stretchy so it will warp enough trying to stick it down that you could never line it up. i think they gave the diagram to just let you cut out approx bits from the mask to use then trim all the edges at the frame lines once down and burnished.

 

you do need to do a lot of burnishing in the window edges first. toothpick or a small nail paint dotting tool works well. also super sharp xacto blades and keep sharpening them on a stone or emery board. after a bit you get the feel for cutting just thru the tape. lots of isometrics so you dont slip and slice! also need to wash the parts well before applying the masks. also wondering if gloves might be good as holding the small parts is going to be a lot of finger grease! im going to see how the mask holds up to isopropanol as maybe a qtip wipe of the frame just before painting will help clean off gunk before painting.

 

going to take a while to do all of these!

 

jeff

[KenS]

That's a daunting prospect.

 

However, I must say that I'm now motivated. Mine arrived today (rather a surprise, HS boxed it up with a reservation that came in, and I thought only the reservation had shipped; imagine my surprise when I opened the box!).

 

So I just had to put the body shell on my river and see how it looked.  Scale-wise, my river is about 2/3 size for the lower Sumida.  At the place where the Chuo-Sobu line crosses, Google Earth reports the river as 132m bank-to-bank, so 88 cm (34.6") would be full scale.  My river is about 24" wide.

 

And in fact, if you look at this google map, you'll see something that looks a lot like the Himiko (although the windows don't look right), which gives a good idea of the scale relative to the river.

 

So I took the window part and the bottom, and set them on the layout to see how they looked.  Now I want to build this model!