Dupuy De Lome Part V; Let The Rivets Begin!

Having completed the upper-works I was faced with the task of adding the rivets. Experience has taught me (the hard way, that is how I learn ALL my lessons) that it is much easier to apply the rivets to sub-assemblies rather than the completed model. So I got out my trusty bottle of T-Shirt puff-paint and started on the tedious task of riveting the daylights out of the thing. Behold my efforts below:

 

well, I wasn't quite done with the upperworks, I still needed ventilators, 

some very nice ones are available from outfits like TVAG and Reviresco,

 but being the stubborn type I made my own, a small wooden bowl and a peg are the starting place

 

the peg was wrapped in a strip of typing paper and the head cut flat on two opposite sides

 before being glued to the back of the bowl

 

the larger ones got simple paper tubes, flattened at one end by clamping with a binder clip

 and painted with wood glue to harden them

 

Elmer's is my go-to wood filler, I am sure there are others 

but I know the properties of this brand and can work with it easily

 

a larger wooden bowl and the paper-tube base

 

the wood filler the joint

 

a bit of sanding and the ventilator looks pretty good

 

the big ones took a lot more filler to hide the joint

 

spreading the water-soluble filler with a wet brush saves a lot of sanding later on

 

the biggest advantage of making my own is that they are very much lighter than cast metal ones

 

more sanding/filling is clearly in order

 

the conning tower, a simple foam block clad in card, the window framing was done by cutting another bit of index card to size and then cutting the windows out with a razor-knife, the resulting framing is then glued to the card-covered block

 

I traced the window openings with a pencil to make them a bit clearer for this shot

 

before rivets

 

covered in rivets!

 

rivety goodness all over the place, and I haven't even started on the hull!

 

a look at the model so far, 

I only wish that I had the storage space to make them closer to a proper scale length

 

another view

     Now all I have to do is figure out the life-boats arrangements and grind through six gun turrets and a hull's worth of rivets.

      As always comment/suggestions/jeers are more than welcome.