Hello Friends,
I regret not taking photos during the course of construction. Prehaps these pictures of the finished Mellum will be of use to future shipwrights (at least to not make the same mistakes I did!). Many thanks to Lars W and the other members who submitted most excellent build reports which greatly eased my construction.
This is my first HMV kit and my first model at 1:250. I was fortunate enough to pick this particular copy up directly from Benjamin and Ulrik at last year's Hobby-Model-Speil in Leipzig. They are extraordinarily nice people. I can only say buy more HMV kits!
I found the Mellum to be most rewarding to build with ample opportunities to add detail. Of course this leads to problems with my little fantasy scene below. Mainly, I've built a Mellum that combines features of the original commisioning, several refits, and some features (like the gangway) that may be entirely incorrect. I hope you will indulge me in these errors.
Additionally, I used the lasercut detail set which was very accurate with good fit. However, even disregarding my fat' clumsy fingers was VERY hard to work with. I can think of few things that have tried my patience as much as building the stairs. I am glad I was able to secure photoetch sets for my Bremen, Altmark and Cap Arcona. Still, the benefit of colored paper is hard to ignore.
The base is 2mm cardboard laminated with watercolor paper. The water was then painted on and clear aquarium sealant used to texture the water. The foam was added with flat white paint. If you add the foam, wakes etc. before the sealant dries it will give a nice effect.
