I was going to wait until I was a little further along with this procedure, but I found the there was enough pictures to put one together. the subject of the net bars and net construction could be better illustrated in this way. besides, I still need to finish the seizing pho-par I did earlier, before I can continue on the ship itself.
The net bars had to be painted, as well a the flotation buoys associated with the nets. still being a newbie to airbrushing, I can let you folks in on one important aspect of it......do not use old paint! I have been buying a new paint....Model master, a very nice paint. although it's sold by Testor's, it's consistency and texture, beats their "brand" paints hands down......I didn't even see the need to thin it! I was using some of my Testor's paints to do the bars and buoys......even thinned down, I still ran into troubles! I had divided the buoys into two, one half was to be painted white, and the other half, to be painted yellow.....to keep with the identification colors of the ship.
I did the yellow in a flat....that went well.....it wasn't until I opened the flat white, that I saw the problem. the base solvents in the paint had solidified into a lump in the middle of the pigments.....rendering it unusable! I tried to revive it, using the base solvents from a paint that had separated, but it was of no use.....it was inundated with tiny clumps that kept clogging the airbrush. I ended up using a gloss white {model master}that I had bought for the Cux. this meant that I had to redo the yellow in a gloss as well.....luckily, I had a bottle of gloss yellow. it was a Testor's paint, and it had to thin it down in order to use it. I only had to give them one coat, so it wasn't that bad.
What these "beads" is setting on, is the template for the nets....we will get to that.....but now I will show you how the net bars got their coat of paint. I wanted to paint the nets in their natural state.....hanging. to do this, I had to make a frame to suspend them in, so that I could paint them. metal coat hangers came to mind, and with a few adjustments, made for the perfect frames. hung by the center with a bit of hemp thread, I was able to hang them within the frame....very thin copper wire steadied them at the bottom corners.....like a fly in a spider's web.
I was a bit worried about the netting material......I had cut out some to do the rack and the separator, and may have ruined my chances of getting the net cutouts I needed. when I set up the material on the template, I saw that I had nothing to worry about.
The nets are 290mm X 290mm {11 3/8 X11 3/8}. you can see how much of a piece I cut out. the material is folded over, enabling me to cut a set of nets {two sides} at a time. the second set will be cut inverted from what you see here, in the above picture. I got a piece of plywood to put under the template so I wouldn't hack up the build table......like I've done to my desk....LOL! as you can also see, the cut will miss the section I cut out {I breathed another sigh of relief}. here goes nothing!
The cuts were made....and here they are! I have them....and with enough {some are quite large} pieces to do anything that might come to mind, as well as anything I might want to do on the Nordkap! I am so pleased! next came the sewing of the halves.....my wife took pleasure in watching me do this. my basic sewing is a bit rusty.....hampered also by the "hairs" along the edges, making it harder to get good looping patterns going. of course, it wouldn't be a "beginner's task", without jabbing myself with the needle a few times. despite all the little problems encountered, the first net was assembled.
After trimming some of the more prominent "hairs", I turned it inside-out, which made it look even better along the edges. I started to sew the second one together.
upon closer inspection of the second net, I noticed an area at the tip of the cone that I should flip back over and repair....I would hate to see it open up once it is assembled on the ship!
I was kind of hoping that my wife would offer to do the sails for the Gothenborg, when I get to do that build, perhaps some gentle hinting along the way might help. the assembly of the nets will have to wait for the moment.....I want to stow the lines that are weighted with clothespins, coiling the ropes as they finish. I also began the re-do on the back stays/shrouds.....with the nets in place, this would be very hard to do. it's bad enough that some of the existing ropes are in the way as it is.
The next build log will pick up with the other side being re-done......then we can go from there.
AHOY!!!
