1/72 scale German light cruiser Munich. 1940

[Haratio Fales]

some heavy reading involved LOL/ gluing down the rear wheather deck.

[Haratio Fales]

I dont want to bore You, this is the same process I used on the bow, add Bondo grind, over till I get teh shape right and ajust then I can smooth sand it to a nice finish to go on to the next step.

[Haratio Fales]

The shape a bit closer to where I want it.

[Haratio Fales]

In the intrest of time and catching up I have skiped about 60 pictures but allot of that are just pictures of the same process. from start to end I have about 2 months time involved here with about 40 man hours or so. In this pic I cut off the center screw shaft skeg as I think I can make it easier with the shaping away from the ship and shape the stern easier with out it in the way.

[Haratio Fales]

This should be the last major body filler sesion. the hull weighs about 110 lbs which would make it hard to steal, LOL. anyway I plan on useing it to make a set of molds for the RC hull, and I can use this one for the static version.

[Haratio Fales]

after about 3 more shaping sesions, I tapered down the bottom of the hull to a more streamlined shape, that the Germans were known for. and shouldnt have to much more to do as far as smooth sanding now. Then I need to dig out the deck plans again and logic where the portholes will be placed, and the engine cooling vents in the Hull as they didn't get that far into the plans.

[Haratio Fales]

Here is a sneak peak at my next project that I am going to start shortley, in paralelle with the Munich. IJN Yahagi. She is a light cruiser that was the only other Capitol ship at Operation Tenichi Go besides Yamato. She was in charge of the destroyer group there, and was sunk along with Yamato by Navy aircraft. Pilots claimed that she was as hard to hit and sink as the Battleship. She was from a class of 4 ships of which 1 survived the war. She carried 6-6.1 inch guns in 3 turrets and 24 inch-long lance torpedoes in 2x4 tubelaunchers with refills. She was most likley at a disatvantage in a gun dual with light cruisers of other nations that carried 8 to 15-6 inch guns, however would have been a bad dream in a night fight at close range with her torpedo's.

Edited June 18, 2012 by Haratio Fales

[Laurence Strong]

You are going to have a busy schedule :)

[Haratio Fales]

I started masking the hull vertically. I messed up here as I didn't tape all the way to th keel center, but ill redo it before I go to far.

[Haratio Fales]

I can draw on the deck lines and vertical bulkheads for the spaces, so I can logic a porthole plan as they didnt get that far into the planing stages.

[Claudius]

Hello Haratio;

I am really enjoying watching this process. Amazing, and in 1/72! I used that scale for my models when I was a kid.

You know what other hobbyist would love a weekend with your completed piece. Model railroad diorama enthusiasts! I would imagine that they would love to put together some kind of ship-at-dock motif with the Munich harbored and their trains whizzing around on tracks nearby.

Great work.

[Haratio Fales]

TY, for the kind comments, I don't know if they have trains in 1/72 scale but that would be cool. I have a freind in Italy that is buildint teh Sharnhorst in this scale. and a man in North Carolina building a Japanese float plane carrier. I have a friiend here that builds ships for Rc from sheet metal in 1/87 which is HO train scale and he has about 20 or so, but he's computer illiterate and I dont think he would care to much for the blog things. I wish I had ome pics of his work though. the are a bit rough as he is not tring to make them for static display. Anyway I plan to make molds so I can copy the hull in fiberglass for an RC version, but this one will be a Mantle Queen for me. Keep waching and check out (The Joly Roger Shipyard) under scratch built. The Model Ship Forum, under scratch built, and IPMS Malta MMS under Marine. These are all the sights that Im posting on and that I have seen all the other ships in 72/96/100/200/ and 350 scale that are fenomenal projects. This is the one from Italy that is on the malta site.

Edited June 19, 2012 by Haratio Fales

[Haratio Fales]

This is the project from North Carolina, but I dont think he has it posted.

[Haratio Fales]

this is one of Bismark from (The Ship Model Forum). He has been building this one for over 2 years now and plans to have the main guns fire flash bang ammo, and RC traverse and elevate. there is a picture of the Mold for the hull that was in England and its about 13 foot long. as far as I know You can still buy one of these hulls. If not I'd like to purchase the mold and sell them. If i sold 3 a month I could pay my rent LOL.

Edited June 19, 2012 by Haratio Fales

[Haratio Fales]

The hull half way masked.

[Haratio Fales]

The whole Hull taped at about 6 man hours over 3 days.

[Haratio Fales]

I used a razor knife to shape the tape at the bow and stern where the contours get hard for straight lines.

Edited June 21, 2012 by Haratio Fales

[Haratio Fales]

At this point I am starting to tape simulater steel plates with Foil tape.

[Haratio Fales]

My centerline is a tad off to starboard from the masking cut, however I can fix this now on the overlay.

[Haratio Fales]

The pictures look worse than it looks in peron, but the pics let me see flaws that are hard to see just looking at teh hull.

[Haratio Fales]

I run plates along the hull curve line, mesured up from teh water line.

[Haratio Fales]

Then I run simulated plates from teh curve line to the waterline.

[Haratio Fales]

The more I add, the better its starting to look. We'll see after I work the foil over. I still need to look at teh second and third deck compartment plans to draw the vertical bulkheads onto the upper hull so I can logic out a port hole plan for her. The line drawings didnt show these as they didnt get that fo into the planing or construction application.

Edited June 23, 2012 by Haratio Fales

[Laurence Strong]

I like the effect of the foil

later

Larry

[TacHel]

Really looking forward to more pics of you progress!