Alas!....Nemesis no more...Panther instead

   

      As I applied the rivets to the model I was busy thinking about just how I wanted this model armed. The size and number of the torpedo tubes seemed to overwhelm the tiny hull, and the hull seemed to lack the sleek lines of a fast torpedo craft so I decided to re-direct the construction toward a colonial gunboat. This seemed much more in keeping with both the size and hull-form that I had made.



     In looking at the funnel that I had be using I decided it was too heavy for this small hull. Not having any plastic tubing large enough to do the job I decided to fabricate a pair. I grabbed a couple of spent .38cal revolver cartridges, they were just the right diameter would ensure that the tube was round. I then cut some typing paper into a likely sized height and made two narrow tubes of paper.

card is too heavy and would crease if rolled so I used typing paper

the revolver brass was just the right size 

apply a coat of glue to the casing and allow it to dry

roll the paper tubes very tightly before gluing to the casings

I stuck a spare case into the open end to keep from crushing the funnel when rolling the paper

with the spare case in place I glued the tube

then I applied another thin coat of glue to the case

 that would form the base of the funnel and slid it into place

don't forget to pull the spare case out of the other end

ta-da! two narrow funnels that wouldn't make the model look top-heavy

     I still wanted the boat to have a torpedo capability so I added a bow-tube;

another pistol case, this time a .22cal formed the end of the tube

the port-hole cutter was pressed (sorry for the pun) into use to cut the hole for the bow-tube

checking the fit I noticed that the case had been struck twice

the hole was liberally doused with glue and the case inserted

after the glue has dried I will add a hinge to the top

     This vessel will have a very sparse superstructure with just a con, a brace each of funnels and ventilators and a pair of guns so again I spent some time fiddling with the set-up so that it "looked right". I had grabbed some smaller guns from another project to free up deck space and give the whole model a lighter look. They were already painted gray, this took a bit of painting to cover!

     I decided that the hull looked too plain so I added some portholes, just to provide some interest.

the holes were cut along the hull using my home-made cutter

 (which is nothing more that a bit of brass tube that has been sharpened)

and the portholes (courtesy of Reverisco) were popped into place

 
     At this point the model needed a quick splash of paint so that I could get a feel for how it would look when finished, just in case there was some fine-tuning  called for. This is when I remembered just how poorly yellow paint covers other colors.

starting to come together rather nicely

the funnels looked a little shabby at the top 

so I added funnel caps from cut-down super glue caps

one of the beauties of a blue-board deck is that you can just pin the guns in place

railings were a pain until I made this little item,

 behold the magnificent Railing Widget

it spaces, 

you can use any of the various parts of the shape to get even spacing of your stanchions

it presses, this ensures that the railings stanchions are all the same height

ready for the railing lines

but first, one final check for "the Look"

with the superstructure glued in place and a crew she is ready for action

come to think of it the torps would have badly overcrowded this one

bow-on she looks like she means business

with two six-inch guns it is heavily-armed for a small ship

a teaser, this is the new Nemesis, she will be next