Clearwater Models: September 2020

Wednesday, 30 September 2020

FOKKER Dr.1-5 FUNFDECKER (Revell)

This is the very strange 1971 kit from Revell (USA) of the cartoon Fokker Funfdecker as used by "The Baron" in his quest to shoot down "ZE ENEMY ACE K-9, GECOMIN’ OBER DAS ENGLISHER CHANNEL", re-issued in 2016. To avoid copyright infringement the box art does not show Snoopy's face, and Snoopy is only referred to as "ze enemy ace K-9". Note the doghouse kill markings on the fuselage.

It is a quick and easy one week build and is remarkably well engineered. However, Revell needs to stop ever using that brittle red plastic. I discarded the Hemi engine and went with the radial engine only. I added spark plug wiring. I also wrapped actual fabric bandage material around the tyre and painted on the Luftwaffel name. Paint is Tamiya basic acrylic red. Decals needed a lot of solvent to sit on the compound curved upper wing. It was a fun Covid-19 project and gave me a lot of practice painting flesh tones on a large face.

Fokker Dr.1-5 Funfdecker

In the Fokker Factory, which just so happens to be in my spare bathroom.

... searching for the infamous Red Baron - I must bring him down...

Friday, 18 September 2020

MAUDSLAY OSCILLATING ENGINE (Airfix)

This is the bizarre Airfix 1:45 scale model of the 1827 OSCILLATING STEAM ENGINE for a ship as designed and built by Henry Maudslay. The kit was released in 1968 and re-released in 2012. The master for the model is a brass and steel model on display at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (please see last photo). The original releases came with a motor and a drive system allowing the whole engine to move.

Maudslay is considered to be the inventor of the first industrial screw cutting lathe, and of several other machines and technologies essential to the start of the industrial revolution in the early 1800s. This engine was used for twelve years to drive two side paddlewheels on the Thames transport ship "Endeavour" starting in 1828. In an oscillating engine the piston rods are connected directly to the crankshaft, and the engine cylinders are secured by trunnions in the centre, allowing the cylinders to pivot back and forth with the rotation of the crankshaft. This means it only operates at a low pressure. The real one is quite large, with the height of the cylinder and extended piston rod about the size of a person.

The model comes with a paddlewheel, but it looks awful in comparison with the engine, so I discarded it. All paints are acrylics by Vallejo and Tamiya. The Tamiya silver was the worst silver metal paint it has ever been my misfortune to use, and it was scrapped and washed off using GreenWorks cleaner in a few seconds. The metal was then painted using Vallejo burned iron, and the piston rods rubbed with a silver powder. All brass parts are done with Vallejo 998 Bronze. It was a fun Covid-19 project. I thank Fearless Leader for the kit.

Maudslay oscillating steam engine (Airfix)

Airfix kit of Maudslay's oscillating steam engine

Maudslay oscillating steam engine for a paddlewheel ship in the factory,
which just so happens to be in my spare bathroom!

Maudslay oscillating steam engine metal model in V&A Museum

Monday, 7 September 2020

KV-85 TANK (Ogonek)

This is the giant 1:30 scale model of the Kliment Voroshilov KV-85 tank from the Московский Завод Пластмассовых игрушек "Огонек" Moscow Plastic Toy Factory "Spark" in the USSR, circa 1975. It was purchased from the John Gil memorial sale 22 August 2020.

Although the kit is 45 years old, and a somewhat rough production from a Soviet toy factory, it is well designed and made. After 45 years the rubber tracks are still in perfect condition. The only annoying aspect was that the sole alignment pin (on the nose glacis plate) is off by about 1 mm, and had to be removed after an ill-timed gluing. The giant beast is just over a quarter metre long. I added a hand-made real wound steel tow cable, and fuel lines to the four external fuel tanks. I also replaced the machine gun barrels with better rod. One of the railings around the turret was broken and missing half, so a new one was built as were all the attachment points. A log and chains were added to the rear, as were fabric packs and a duffel roll.

Wiki says: "The KV tanks is a series of Soviet heavy tanks named after the Soviet defence commissar and politician Kliment Voroshilov The German Wehrmacht at that time (early in the war) rarely deployed its tanks against KVs, as their own armament was too poor to deal with the "Russischer Koloss" – "Russian Colossus". A stopgap upgrade to the KV series was the short-lived KV-85 or Objekt 239. This was a KV-1S with the new turret from the Object 237 (IS-85) still in development, mounting the same 85 mm D-5T gun as the SU-85 and early versions of the T-34-85 (not yet in production at the time). The 85 mm proved capable of penetrating the Tiger I from 1000 m and the demand for it slowed production of the KV-85 tremendously (only 148 were built in the end). The KV-85 appeared on the front beginning in September 1943 and its production ended by December 1943. Soviet industry was therefore able to produce a heavy tank as well armed as the Tiger I before the end of 1943. Although the KV-85 was an excellent opponent to the Tigers and Panthers, it was a stopgap and thus was built in small numbers. The complete Object 237 was accepted into service as the IS-85 and was produced in the autumn and winter of 1943-44; they were sent to the front as of October 1943 and production of the IS-85/IS-1 was stopped by the spring of 1944 once the IS-122/IS-2 entered full-scale production. A few KV-85s were used in Crimea in the summer of 1944."

The Online Tank Museum says "The KV-85 had the same engine as its predecessors and weighed 46 tons, with armour thickness of 60 mm in (hull), 75 mm in (frontal glacis), to 100-110 mm in (turret front, sides and rear). Top speed was around 40 km/h and range 250 km. The D-5T gun was a shorter derivative of the original 85 mm AA gun (792 m/s muzzle velocity) and was considered an absolute killer. However, it was much cheaper to make, and a lot less technically impressive."

Overall this was a fun build in a rather large scale. There is so much room for you to do anything you want to customize it. I suspect tens of thousands of children had a blast with this model during the last 15 years of the USSR. For me this was a fun Covid-19 project.

Paints are all Vallejo acrylics along with Vallejo powders and washes.

KB-85, Московский Завод Пластмассовых игрушек "Огонек" 1:30
KV-85 tank, Moscow Plastic Toy Factory "Spark" 1:30 scale

KB-85 (KV-85), Московский Завод Пластмассовых игрушек "Огонек" 1:30

KV-85 model plans from the Московский Завод Пластмассовых игрушек "Огонек"
Moscow Plastic Toy Factory "Spark"

For scale the item beside the 1:30 scale KV-85 is an Airfix 1:72 scale IS-3

Wednesday, 2 September 2020

WOODEN GEARED PENDULUM CLOCK (ROKR)

This is a full scale working model of a anchor escapement pendulum clock with two time faces having gears made totally from wood. It was a birthday gift kit from my lovely wife, and it took over nine months to arrive. The Covid-19 period was a great time to work on it together. We built it over three days. The longest it has run is about 15 minutes. The average run time is about 1.5 minutes. There is beeswax on the anchor escapement system only. The wood is plywood which has been laser-cut very well and precisely. It is about 35 cm tall. The 3D wood kit (LK501) is from ROKR and costs about $50.