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  2. Introduction Welcome to yet another build log for a non-wooden, non-ship model! This build is inspired by a discussion that was had in my A6M5a build log. Fellow MSW member Craig (CDW) shared that his only attempt at card modeling was "a disaster," in his words, so I suggested he take a look at WAK's skill level 2 kits and offered to build one along with him, whichever one he wanted. He took me up on the offer and chose the SBLim-2A, so that's how the subject of the build was selected. Richard (Richard44) has also expressed an interest in building this kit -- let's see if we can get any others on board, maybe? BTW, except for a very simple, free, downloadable, flyable MiG-15 glider I built many years ago, this will be only the second jet I have ever built in card. 😮 The Subject The SBLim-2A is a Polish, license built, two-seat reconnaissance variant of the MiG-15, built by WSK-Mielic in the 1950s. It's actually a conversion of a conversion. Originally, 227 Lim-1 (Licencyjny myśliwiec - licensed fighter aircraft) were built; some of these were later converted to SBLim-1 two-seat trainers (equivalent to the MiG-15 UTI), and some of those were later converted to the SBLim-2A. Confusing, right? The Kit The kit, representing an aircraft wearing the 1993 livery of the 7th Naval Special Aviation Regiment, is designed by Lech Kołodziejski, a respected designer who has published his own designs under the brand name CardPlane. I have built five of Lech's CardPlane kits (see the finished non-ship models section). Lech's CardPlane offerings were all models of either prototype aircraft or planes that entered into very limited service. His designs published by WAK have been more widely recognizable aircraft. Some of his recent efforts, including this one, have been collaborations with graphic artist Marcin Dworzecki, whose work is second to none in the hobby. As you can see, I purchased the available molded canopy and laser-cut frames. A quick pitch here for WAK. They have become one of my favorite publishers and a first-choice vendor. They offer a large selection of kits and always process orders promptly, package them securely, and offer very reasonable shipping rates compared to other vendors. If you shop there, tell them I sent you! The kit is designed with amateur builders in mind, and it shows. In this next image you can see, for instance, that only very rudimentary cockpit elements are included. Stuff on the side walls is printed rather than being separate parts. There are likewise no separate control surfaces nor landing gear bays. Lech draws pretty easy to follow diagrams. Horrible white balance in this shot -- sorry! There's a lovely three-view. Finally, as a huge bonus, but not shown here, the kit includes instructions in English. The Purpose and Guiding Philosophy of This Build We all know that when it comes to wooden ship models, there is such a thing as "too much model." This is certainly true for card models as well. If you have never built a card model before and decide to start with Halinski's Bf-110G-4/R8, you will fail miserably (heck, even I'm not ready for that one). The WAK Skill Level 2 kits are a good compromise between detail and ease of construction. At least I hope that will prove to be the case, because I haven't built one yet -- but I trust Lech. I have titled this as a semi-tutorial, because it is not my intention here to describe every necessary tool and basic technique for building a card model; if you need that kind of help, you can find it in our Torpedoboat V-108 tutorial. So I will not, for example, demonstrate how to fold a part or roll a tube, but I will try to include as much detail as is necessary to get a novice builder through this project. And speaking of 'novice,' I will also try to make this build as much as possible an "out-of-box" project -- except there is no box, of course. So, join us on this adventure, won't you? And if you're feeling particularly bold, get the kit from WAK and jump in! Come over to the Dark Side --er, I mean, the "wonderful world of card models"! Cheers!
  3. Finished Stern Fix Thanks @schoonerfor the encouragement. Little did I realize the bugaboos that come with a solid hull. It appears I have worked out my stern problem. I kept the stern lower counter so it matched the hull profile and made the stern post longer at the keel end It’s about 3/16” longer than the keel rabbet. I shaved the keel about 1/16” to match. I deliberately made the rudder a bit longer, so when it comes time to install it, I can trim it and still have room for the hardware. Hopefully none of this will come back to bite me down the road. Ever onward Jim
  4. Today
  5. Firstly, welcome to MSW, DS. Secondly, IMHO, Vallejo plastic putty is dang near useless on wood models. I wouldn't use it as planking filler.
  6. The Tally Ho journey has been an important part of my life from the first episode. I've followed a couple of MSW Tally Ho builds that have come to naught. I hope you're more successful, Anthony.
  7. And "the snail" continues along. Next up was the 3 decks (trestle trees) for each mast, Fore, Main and Mizzen. Once I figured out the drawing "codes", i.e., 219-220-221, 245-246-247, 269-270-271, on the same picture really meant, Fore, Main, Mizzen, I was able to cut all the parts to length, glue the subassembles together, square the ends of each subassembly with my Veritas Miniature Shooting Plan and Shooting board, and finally glue all the subassemblies together. After insuring everything was square I photocopied the deck templates to use to scribe the curvature and mask the holes for the upper rigging. Then I installed the balusters and railings. I also added the ring and supports to the lower part of the foremast, still have to construct the Main and Mizzen. Photos below: Squaring the subassemblies, assembling deck and squaring the ends Completed decks for Fore, Main and Mizzen Masts with railings The Veritas miniature work surface and Shooting Plane and Shooting Board (right hand plane) To be continued (with interruptions for yard work, raised bed vegetable planting, et al )
  8. The drawing shows how large to make the rabbet for the bulwark so I made all four. Here is one - I might add that basswood is not very good at holding a sharp edge. There appears to be some confusion (at least I am confused) about how large the bulwark should be and when it is installed. By my measurement it should be 7/16" but the drawing shows 9/16. That is the total height of the bulwark on the original hull but now there is a 1/16" piece on the hull which will be deck level and a 1/16" gap for the scupper slot soooo. I appears that the inner bulwark (that is what the instructions call this but as far as I can tell it is the only bulwark) cannot be installed until the timberheads are there to give it the proper shape and those come after the decking is installed. At this point I am ready to put the sanding sealer on the hull and see what "issues" remain before installing the keel, stem and stern post which are the next steps in the instructions.
  9. The usual robust framing in a Halinski kit, this time for the aft fuselage. The tail wheel well includes a piece with the interior color. And now for a bit of news: This build will be going on a temporary hiatus. I know I already have another kit on hiatus for this build, so I guess that makes this a hiatus²? 🤔 Anyways, I will be building WAK's SBLim-2A, which shouldn't take too long to build (hopefully). A build log will be created for that shortly. Cheers!
  10. Reinforcement complete, and I painted the hull black down to the waterline. The reinforcement is a matt black, while the rest is satin. Not as much difference as I would have liked, and you can't really tell from the photo. Still - time to move along.
  11. Euphroes and crows feet were a challenge. I followed Dave’s advice and used 6/0 thread from my fly tying bench. #26 drill with the milling machine. If the holes in the euphroe are too close together, the thread saws its way through from one hole to the next. Leave a distances about equal to a hole diameter between holes. The thread I tie flies with in brown is not mono thread, and it readily comes apart into many tiny filaments unless it’s treated with dilute PVA. After many painful hours of trying to thread that 6/0 thread through the holes in the euphroes, I got a sewing needle from my wife and a needle threader and that made a big difference, especially when trying to reverse thread the holes in the tops. I also learned the hard way to keep tension on the crows feet during threading. Otherwise the euphroe has a habit of rotating, which gets quite confusing as one progresses causing the lines to thread the wrong way at times and losing parallel alignment. I spent about 15 hours over 3 days doing this and must have started over on each mast several times.
  12. I am new to this hobby. I am building the Muscongus Bay lobster smack. The folks at Model Shipways recommend plastic wood to fill in the gaps in the hull planking. I tried that but I also found this Vallejo plastic putty. I found it works better in small spaces. Is there a reason I should not be using this on wood. It seems to be for plastic models
  13. Another update after making some good progress. I painted the fore and aft decks and bulwarks, just so I could get that taken care of when it was easier paint them. I've also installed the decks. As a little touch, I added two hatches into the aft storage compartment. I simulated the hatches as having hinges and swinging outward. After reading DeeDee's post on planking the hull, I decided to build up some blocks that will give me more surface area at the tricky spots. Since I have a TON of 2x5x300mm planks from other projects, I just cut pieces of those and stacked them forward of frame 1 and between frame 7 and the transom. It has taken a lot of sanding, but the port side is looking pretty good. Now, I just have to get to work on the starboard side. Next steps: sand down the filler blocks on the starboard side, plank the hull.
  14. Now that I’ve added the outside frame piece on the transom, it seems I didn’t fair the back end like I should have. I’m thinking I should remove the glue from the bulwark at the rear and sand down and reattach after.
  15. Good evening. Greg. Im'e sure he would if he was still in his workshop. I liked the choice of timbers he selected for the rebuild. Keith. Pancho has been a part of Tally Ho from the beginning. along with the hens and the dog. Always nice to see. Jim, Jerome. I like the lines of the boat and its a easy to model as the drawing have all the information needed. Just sourcing the Polyisocyanurate boards. local supplier calls it Celotex. Must be this type of foam so it can be laminated with any resin without dissolving. Then on with the fill between the frames. Thanks for looking.
  16. 14 the masts are to be coming down….we hope. This post is just to explain what I am showing. I started off by completing all the rigging here for the topgallant mast and then taking it away as the mast comes down. The mast must fit through the topmast cap, so a little more sanding on the small built-up transition between top gallant and royal mast was needed. Then, the mast top has a ring to receive shackle equivalents for the top head stay and top shrouds. It had to be “flattened” a bit to fit through the mast cap hole. I had some fun making the following three sketches to show my logic as to how either the main or the fore topgallant masts come down. The following steps are my approach to how this mast was dropped whole at sea. View 1 • Rig a new line off the topmast cap through the fid to a block on the starboard side. [ a bigger mast like the topmast would need a block on both sides] This line drops the mast as long as part of it is guided by the upper mast cap. • The topgallant head stay and shrouds have loops that come off just as the top of the mast passes through the mast cap. These are tied off then lowered one at a time using the jib halyard or after the mast is down, the line that is currently dropping the mast • [ My idea to avoid rigging a second very long line] The one side of the royal shroud is pulled up and lashed to the ring at the top of the mast just after it go through the mast cap, but before it drops below the topmast top. Assume a similar snatch block on the side of the upper cap. This line will take the load and the “ new line “through the fid below will be released. View 2. • Two tag lines will be attached to the bottom of the mast as it passes the lower mast top. The fid hole line goes forward to a snatch block on either rail chosen by crew, just aft of the foremast shrouds to pull the bottom of the mast forward. The second tag line replaces the halyard currently going through the mast sheave, once the top of the mast is secured by the shroud. This line falls to the deck for the crew to manage the mast bottom. • Once the new line is free from the mast bottom sheave, it is available for lowering the head stays and shrouds. View 3 • The trysail gaff will be engaged to rerig and move the spar into its storage position. It is assumed these two masts will be suspended on either side to the fore and main masts to allow a tent structure over the main deck to last through the winter. • The main topgallant mast is almost perfectly located when it reached the deck. The fore topgallant mast must be rigged and hauled aft more than its full length for storage. On the model, • the main topgallant mast has just fallen below the mast cap. A tag line will be used to position the mast bottom for the exchange of lines as described above. • The fore top gallant mast is nearly down and the first of the shrouds is being lowered. On this mast there are two Jib halyard that could be used for part of the effort I assumed though one line at a time I have engaged one that is lowering the topgallant forestay. • I show two of the shrouds already coiled and ready to go into storage. Considering their large size, I image they might have stayed on deck. • I am not sure they will start both masts at the same time. I chose to show that process considering the huge size of the crew…64 men. The more critical fore mast is nearly down, po perhaps the topmast crew would shift to the main and the deck crew would complete the first mast. 4,5,6. The three Photos show the various connections for the fore topgallant mast as it is displayed. just a note; in view 2 the lower tag line was passed thru the fid hole. the upper hole is now empty that had the "new line from the ast cap to lower the mast for the first level. that tag line will be taken up by crew members when I add them later. the lighter weight royals shroud d coiled on deck and wrapped on the windless is feeing up and lowering the topgallant mast. If I am totally wrong this would be spare line. just a very long one.😄 so I am not an expert but I really enjoy trying to figure things like this process out. I am back working on the rigging adding line after line after line....... cheers
  17. Beautiful job. How are those rivets finished on the oustide of the hull? Or do they not go right through?
  18. I made some more progress this last week. I have all of the braces completed along with the remaining back stays. Most important I have the driver completed also I have also prepped the anchors and they already to add to the model.
  19. Thank you Bruce. I find the mention of those in 1790's and earlier quite interesting
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