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Phill Elston

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About Phill Elston

  • Birthday 12/25/1959

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Pewsey, Wiltshire, UK

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  1. No word from Caldercraft/Jotika yet, but to be honest, I think I'll be lucky to get anything from them at all, let alone on a Saturday, having only emailed them at 16.45 Friday. So today, I didn't have a huge amount of time... But I progressed the galleries a little
  2. Thanks Boyd, Though I fear that construction like that far exceeds my capability... And equipment. I'm more of a wood butcher that a joiner.
  3. Thanks Brian. Where I'm going is trying to get away from the "flat and inorganic" cast metal. I was going to try and drill out the glass areas on the metal castings and rework those. But then I noticed that they weren't actually the same - or even close to the same - as the actual ship. If what I'm aiming at misses the mark, I can always go flat and inorganic LOL
  4. Well, good and bad today... The galleries are progressing well but I noticed something that I had otherwise either not seen, or at least failed to register on the 23' launch. When I looked at the galleries as I had left them last evening, I decided that I didn't like the 1mm x 1mm uprights that I'd set in place. So out they came, and I started to frame up the windows. I'll go back to the 1 x 1 for the glazing cross bars but for now... I'd forgotten quite what a gooey medium Milliput is to work with! I tried to do as I said I was going to with the cling film... It didn't work. So I had to apply it direct to the pieces. hopefully it'll carve/sand/file OK in place. The round blobs of setting milliput, I envisage carving into the rosettes that can be seen above and below the galleries in the pictures from the book above. Then I went back to the launch... I was quite pleased wit the progress I'd made. And then, as I say, somehow, I hadn't noticed the buckle in the hull overall. I did write to Jotika/Caldercraft. I have had no reply in a week, so I have just written again. To say that I am unimpressed would be an understatement. I sincerely hope that this doesn't reflect the quality of the larger, more complex Caldercraft kits? Has anyone else experienced such difficulties?
  5. So the kit bashing of the 23' Launch is progressing... But I forgot to take photos before i set it aside to dry earlier, so I will post more photos another time. But otherwise, I've been bashing the main build a bit too... The Quarter Galleries supplied are not as authentic as I'd prefer and so I set out to make my own. I only had a couple of hours to work on them today but I got enough done to post here... There are a fair few differences between the supplied galleries and the ones shown in "The Anatomy Of The Ship". So, using the supplied cast metal ones, I mapped out the shape onto some 1/16" basswood sheet and then cut the tops/bottoms of the bays from some scrap 1mm Ply. These were glued to the bases and then I fitted the first two uprights. I will form the rest of the framing from 1mm x 1mm walnut stock. The domed uppers and lowers to the bays, I intend to shape from milliput. I hope to mould it into place using some scraps of cling film to stop it from adhering to the wood. Once set and dry, I'll free them from place, file and sand to shape, add detail and then glue them into place. The filigree type adornments on the base will be added using relief medium - a kind of putty like paint often used for glass painting. The frames for the windows in the bays will be made from 1mm walnut. And then I'll glaze the bays! As I've said before... watch this space!
  6. What... Not stuffing them for the authentic amount of bounce?? Call yourself a model maker??? :-p
  7. So having had several days doing the secondary planking on one side of the build, I kind of find myself "planked out"... Needing some sort of break. As it happens, a packet arrived this morning from Cornwall model boats. One of the things in there was the 23' Launch I ordered. There's my diversion. Nice, easy & relatively quick. So I pull the bits out of the bag and have a good look at them. Not a lot for what you pay, but scratch building such a hull would, I believe, be beyond my current level of expertise... Thankfully, there wasn't any moulding "flash" and little or no unwanted marks on the resin. But, when I take my time to inspect the parts, I am disappointed to realise that the hull of the launch is bloody awful! The transom is SO Far out of whack, it's going to take fairly substantial surgery to put it right. (Picture 1) Luckily, the work required to rectify the fault is fairly straightforward... Mark, cut, trim, cement, fill & fair. The resin hull glued fairly easily with CA and, realising that I didn't have any filler, I used walnut wood sanding dust sprinkled into a film of CA. It seems to have worked quite well and I'm quite chuffed with myself!
  8. So you're not going to bother putting much detail in then ;-) ?? I just sit and gawp as this build progresses. Awesome!
  9. Evening Hof I too am building in 1:60 at the moment. In my case, Bounty. I am far from being an expert, though I was in the RN, I have served in ships with wooden decks (both warships and sailing vessels) and I have spent FAR too much time scrubbing them! My build is the first that I have undertaken, but I have received compliments on some of my work thus far. I cannot remember whereabouts on the net I found the lengths to cut my deck planking but I do remember it scaled (give or take) at 8cm. I used a three butt shift pattern because it was a pattern that I had learned about during my time in the mob. In my case, for symmetry, I drew a centre line on the supplied plywood deck base and worked either side of that. I've attached a couple of photos of my deck piece once I had cut around the edge of the deck and cut out the various hatches etc. in the ply template. I hope this is of some use to you. Regards Phill PS, I tried to simulate the caulking by running a 4B pencil along one edge/end of each plank, but it didn't really show as well as I would have preferred, so I stepped the lines in with a 4Hpencil after laying the planks. I used the same pencil to step in the treenails.
  10. Does anyone have drawings (preferably 1/60 scale - but I guess beggars can't be choosers) for 4 pounder guns as carried on the bounty? I am building the Amati model and I'm not overly impressed with the supplied cast metal carriages so I want to build some "more correct" ones. Searching the net brings up loads of 18, 24 & 32 pounders but none of the little ones! Looking forward to your help...
  11. Well today was working on the bulwarks, gunports and construction of various upper deck fittings (gratings, bell gallery, ladder etc.) and, of course, more filling. The keel was set yesterday, along with the stern post and the cutwater. At least it will now sit in the keel clamp (for what that's worth - another LONG story) The frame points are pencilled in ready for second planking, though I haven't had time to think about marking the waterline yet. Knowing I have more filling and sanding to do, I have held off doing that. I'm planning on "copper plating" the hull (using tape) so I want the get the hull - especially the lower hull - as smooth as possible with no dips or bumps in relief as these will show up glaringly. The gun ports I have cut are higher than the pre-cut ones on the plywood bulwarks as they were not authentic. For some reason, no "eyebolts" were supplied with the kit (just bent wire as far as I can ascertain) so I have ordered some better looking etched brass ones. They haven't arrived yet, so I can't do too much more to the gun-sites until they do. The supplied (cast metal) gun carriages look - in my opinion - pretty crap, so next week will involve some of my first proper scratch building in wood... Watch this space.
  12. http://www.shipmatesreunited.com/german-wwi-warships-rediscovered-in-portsmouth-harbour-after-lying-forgotten-for-decades/
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