Thank you everyone for your support and interest during this build, it is really appreciated. I now have all the parts on this and all it needs now is a good clean up before posting on the completed section.
The antenna was a lot harder than I anticipated and it is the reason it has taken me so long to get to this point. I initially tried wire, then PE turnbuckles with EZ line, then PE turnbuckles with EZ line / wire combo, then stretched sprue heat moulded around a former and finally back to wire for another two attempts. I built a card guide between the masts and it fixed itself to two turnbuckles nicely. Although I think this is the most accurate looking way it is the most fragile and one touch will bend it beyond repair, I just hope that doesn't happen.
I carefully cut out some 1/144 3d printed rope posts and cleaned them up only to find they were too big for a MTB. I made new ones using paper hardened with varnish, small cuts of .25mm plastic card and on top slightly thicker paper. For their size I am pleased with the outcome.
Flag is made using a photocopier to shrink two images and stick them back to back. Post is copper wire with a small cross section of fuse wire sleeving at the base.
Spot lights are a biro refill heat stretched into shape. I then painted them silver and filled the cavity with resin. They were finished off with a coat of grey. Although this worked I think it was wasted on 1/144 scale, still, I think it looks better than one with the front just painted silver to represent glass.
The torpedo was a piece of sprue put in a drill chuck and spun like a lathe so I could sand it both round and the correct diameter using a homemade 'L' shape sanding tool. The bull nose and tapered tail were done a similar way. The whiskers on the nose are four pieces of bent wire. The fins are plastic card and the rest of the details are just painted on. Smoke from the launch charge is cotton wool as is the froth from the wake of the boat. A peculiar thing happened to the cotton wool. The CW in the sea turned a grey yellow for some unknown reason while the CW around the torpedo stayed brilliant white despite them both being secured with white glue. I ended up painting most of the CW in the sea white. The CW around the torpedo still looked silly being brilliant white compared to the sea foam. I have coloured this before using black felt tip pen then leaving it on the window sill for the sun to fade to the right colour but I don't have time or the weather to do this now. The solution was to grind some pastels, the correct colours, into powder and rub the CW into it.
There is a peculiar shape object on the port bow with an eyelet at it's rear end. I was not sure what this was and even thought it might just be unique to that particular boat. The penny finally dropped Monday, it secures the mast when it's dropped. I am guessing there is only one and not two side by side by the picture. I first made it out of paper (pictured) but then re made it with .25mm plastic card because the paper one wouldn't stick to the deck unless it was on its side or bent.
Although I was pleased with the railings when initially made for some reason the top rail has buckled. This is made out of mono so I heat shrunk it with a punk. A few days ago I noticed that it buckled again. I have come to the decision to leave it as it is for now because if I try to heat shrink it again and instead melt it (and I have done that in the past) I will not have time to repair it before the deadline. I am in fact terrified that at this stage I will drop it or drop something on it. I will repair the railings but later in my own time.
A few notes on accuracy. Although I think I have most of it right and have included more bits than the two other builds I have seen of this there are a couple of errors. There is a band going around the top of the hull just below the deck line. Due to stupidity this band is way too deep. The deck, though curved, is too curved on the edges. This is down to how I made it and to rectify this I would have had to build the whole thing again. The two parallel lines on the antenna could possibly have been further apart. There may be rigging lines attaching the masts to the deck although not permanent as they are designed to fold / come out. The interior is entirely made up except for the compass visible in front of the wheel and the hatch opening mechanism which comes down from the torpedo tube. The magazine on the MG08 is from an Army MG08, although this may be correct for all I know, looking back it probably would have been better to just leave it off. If anyone else sees anything missing or wrong please say, I won't be insulted. If someone looks at this for reference I wouldn't like them to include one of my misdemeanours.
Once again thank you all for following this build.
Alan.
Edit: better pictures now in the completed models section
https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=14647.0
