When I found myself studying the historical documentation of the model under consideration ” RNPola ” I studied how I could be able to realize the wooden parts of the bridge in a realistic way.
Staining with various effects , glazes wear shingles etc. …. But nothing really responded in full to my original idea .
Finally I decided to realize the wooden bridge in authentic wood .
After a long research I managed to find the slats of the right size, we are talking about the of 1:400 scale. Originally the decks of the ships were in Italian Tek but then also for economic hardship is also made extensive use of the “National Walnut”. At this point the road was still a long one: I had to “recover” the plastic parts of the original bridge: winches, fairleads, accommodation etc. of the main towers.
Before doing so I recreated the surface to be coated using a thin sheet of birch 0.5 mm. This is not easy but can be achieved only with great calm and attention, exactly the same way how the recovery of plastic parts from the original surface.
After 5 days of work I had a new surface to be coated and a myriad of plastic pieces to insert on the brand new bridge.
First of all I put in place the sections that would host the ordered structure of reinforcement made of plywood.
The same can also be made in plasticard.
My plywood sheet had a thickness of 1.5 mm.
Laid it all on the ship I started to work with the deck boards cut to size ( following the directions of the plastic model ) using white glue.
After 24 hours I started to treat the surface with sandpaper to smooth it all and eliminate any defects .
At this point, I have treated the area with a wash of oil paint ” Black”, ” Bruno Van Dick ,” ” Burnt Sienna ” and “Raw Umber “ . Mixed in a ratio of : 20 % of color and 80 % of diluent.
Let dry everything I rehearsed the surface with very fine sandpaper removing color excess
So I finished all with a polished by hand and with the thixotropic wood wax type that melts stirring .
After 24 hours I repositioned plastic parts taken from the bridge of the original box and this is the result.
Alessandro Artico
