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mtdoramike

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Everything posted by mtdoramike

  1. Are you referring to the plans or the instructions, Constructo plans are quite detailed and really leave very little to doubt if you have any experience building model ships. But the instructions are a whole other deal being hard to translate even when they are supposed to be in english. If you need further help, I would suggest the Anatomy of the Ship HMS Victory, which gives very detailed information about the ship as well as several plan views. I found the book quite helpful especially when rigging the Bow sprit. mike
  2. Then it would take all the fun out of it. I'm currently building the OcCre Montanes and both the instructions and the parts sheets are non-english. So I have to spend a little time on the computer to figure out what some of the more important parts are. mike
  3. Ooooooo, this is going to be interesting, popcorn check, soda pop check, chasie lounge chair check, enthusiasm check mike
  4. Absolutely beautiful planking job on the stern section especially at the rudder post. mike
  5. Thanks John for the kind words, the particular bottom hull color was a mixture I came up with to try and match a 1957 Chey that I saw painted those colors. I cheated a used a vinyl red pin stripe tape that I found at an auto parts store to separate the two colors. mike
  6. WOW what an absolutely beautiful model, what a great build. I think working on all those small parts would have had me pulling what little hair I have left out. mike
  7. I built the Danmark by Billings and what a magnificent model. Oil based paints tend to yellow much quicker than water based paints. I actually used a slightly thinned down white semi gloss house paint, which has chemicals in it to help from yellowing. I built this model about 15 years ago and sold it a few years ago to a west india shipping company based in Fort Lauderdale Florida and the white was a bright a white as the day I painted it. But it also helps to have it in a display case. If I were you, I would if possible put some paint stripper on the hull and take off the paint and start over, if not possible I would at the very least sand down as much of the paint as you can, put on a nice primer and then a coat of paint. I loved building the Danmark, what a fittings package it had and a real beauty. One of the few models that I regret selling, because it was a show stopper. I bought some 24kt gold leaf and covered quite a few parts with the gold leaf. I was my first time using gold leaf and was quite an experience that was well worth the effort. mike
  8. Thanks for the offer Bill, but no, I built this model years ago and thought I had kept the plans, but I must have thrown them away when I finished it. mike
  9. very nice setup, I have cut 1/4" thick cherry for planking on my full size table saw with the setup like you have there without any issues, just a little extra sanding needed in some places. mike
  10. Why would you want to substitute another wood for the Sapele? This is a beautiful wood when finished with a natural finish like clear satin poly. It's not a cheap wood either. I can see the deck wood maybe being replaced but not the Sapele. Now if this was a Model Shipways kit or one of those others that don't supply such an exotic wood I could understand it. mike
  11. Yep and turn that $300.00 worth of wood into $800.00 by the time you add the cost of the Byrnes Table saw. They are great saws no doubt about it, but they also ain't no $130.00 either. The only way I could see that kind of investment, I would have to be like 20 years younger and with the intent on scratch building several models. But that is me. Now, I have seen the Microlux mini table saw from Micromark in use and it's great on stock of 1/4 inch hard wood like black walnut and it's cost is a tad less than $200.00. If I were going to buy a mini table saw to scratch build one or two ship models, I would opt for the Microlux. Lastly, if you don't mind ordering from China, you can usually find milled planking strips on ebay from China sources relatively inexpensive in various woods. I have bought bulk strips this way in the past and have been happy with what I have received. Some strips only requiring only minor sanding on a few edges. But all in all very workable. It took about 3 weeks to get by way of the cheapest shipping I could get, but it was worth it in the end. mike http://www.micromark.com/microlux-mini-tilt-arbor-table-saw-for-benchtop-hobby-use,7500.html My mistake, they have went up a bit since my buddy bought his a couple of years ago, they are now $299.00, but still quite a bit cheaper than the Byrnes and in my opinion as close as you can come to it without biting the bullet and buying a Byrnes.
  12. Yeah, I figured before reading your post that the saw was better than 20 years old because they stopped making them some time ago. I've been looking for one myself, but can't find one any where. A friend of mine had one and loved it, ut again, he made mods to it to make it acceptable to what he was doing with it. mike
  13. Well I have been working on the side windows after a much needed break. But I have run into a snag. There seems to be too much space between the top side windows towards the stern plate. I added a small piece of white wood to the wood piece that the top windows fit into, But that isn't going to solve the problem. I will have to remove the metal rails, move them in with more of a tilt I think. I will have to play around with this a bit to see what I can come up with. mike
  14. Very nice work especially on those gun ports. How are you planning on finishing off the hull, double plank or painting it? mike
  15. I'm not bashing caldercraft for the pre-made sides. I'm sure some folks find them very helpful, but I don't. I prefer to make my own out of planking because of the few models that I have built with the pre-made sides just seemed to need too much tweaking and fillers to suit me. The good points of the pre-made sides are the gun ports are pre-cut and most of the time positioned properly. Then all you have to do on the second layer of planking of cutting out the second layer of planking out for the gun ports. That is my only personal issue with Caldercraft, well that and the price. I hope this clarifies my earlier post. mike
  16. All I can say is WOW, what a beauty and you sure are doing her justice. mike
  17. Beautiful, I love the cannon that Constructo uses in their kits. They really spare no expense on their fittings most of the time. You will have a tone of work installing them. mike
  18. I built the Artesania Latina Victory and if you can't afford the $1200.00 for the Caldercraft, then the Latina version In my opinion would be the next best thing. One thing I liked about the Artesania Latina was their wood choices so if you chose to build it natural, the wood included in the kit would turn out beautiful and the pre-made sides of the Caldercraft kit turned me off. The Latina kit you have to make your own with planking. Finally the big difference was the price which was about half the price at about $600.00. The price was a big factor for me since I built this model as a donation to my local library. So the less money I had into the kit the better for me. If I had it to do all over again, I would still build the Latina version, it was a beautiful model when finished. I also did a bit of bashing on her as well and used the "Anatomy of the Ship Victory" as a reference guide as well as other materials. I also was lucky enough to have found a source in England that had a certified piece of Victory wood that I got from them and used it to make several things on the Model such as anchor davits, anchor collars and numerous other items that was left unpainted in their natural wood form to show the beauty of the Victory wood. The Mantua Victory version was touted to be the best and most accurate of the Victory kits back in the late 70's and 80's if I remember right. But that was a lot of years ago and kits have come and gone since then. What is your skill level Chris, the Victory is one of the most challenging models on the market to build and the investment in time alone which is on average 2-10 years to finish her depending on time spent working on her. I finished mine in a year and a half. But I was really moving on it and would spend 40+ hours a week at times working on it. mike
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