nickedw

Fun with mice today. I'm trying to produce a decent looking mouse for the next stage of my build, so I turned a wooden former on the lathe from scrap dowel I then modified my server that I built a few weeks ago, by adding a couple of nylon gears I had in the parts bin, and then threading them with .25mm thread I then carefully pulled them in to the base of the mouse taper, ensuring they were evenly distributed After that it was just a question of darning a covering for the wooden mouse formed, here's how it turned out

Took some outdoor photos of my baby-steps rigging progress as the sun is shining today.

Hi everyone, I’ve been doing a bit more work on my Victory. I was never very happy with my mast-making set up, I have a model engineers metal working lathe, and a little ‘toy’ mantua lathe I’ve never really used. So I thought I would put some effort into getting a better setup. The main issue with the mantua lathe, is it’s all made out of polycarbonate so the Chuck is a bit rubbish and doesn’t tighten properly, so long thin pieces slip, whip and destroy themselves. To cut a long story short, I decided to start drilling some holes in it... So one in the tightening ring to get some leverage, with a steel rod inserted, which transformed it into a useful bit of kit from someting I was about to abandon, so while I was drill-happy, I also drilled 8 indexing holes and added a ply strip as you can see, that gave me the ability to cut squares and octangons easily as well as turning. This works really well I think:

Been cracking on with the much-dreaded hammock-crane netting today. Turns out it wasn't too bad. I developed a technique that uses a paper pattern cut and then folded to the shape the net needs to be. I then cut my tulle slightly larger than this, drop the both into the opening and weight down with a scalpel which is heavy enough and just the right shape to make the net conform. I then stitch one vertical end as below Once a vertical end is stitched, I then fold the top edge of the tulle down and stitch the rest as below:- Finally seal everything with watered down PVA and trim the edges. I haven't trimmed the one in the photo yet in case you're wondering) The paper makes it conform to shape, gives a high contrast (and isolation of the work) and acts as a guide for the needle. So it turns out a job I've been dreading wasn't that bad in the end. I've also discovered how useful draping a tissue over sticky-out stuff is to prevent snags when sewing stuff like this is!

Made a start on the rigging now (Eeek!) so took a few shots of general progress today. Also cracking on with the hammock netting which I have really been putting off.

After a very long lay-off, I'm back on the horse now and enjoying my build. I've never been happy with the turned brass buckets provided in the kit and the real items are very distinctive with the GR coat of arms. Nobody I can find seems to make a decent after market replacement for these, which is surprising as I think they are very noticeable and unrealistic if left plain. So I've been considering 3D printing or making some Photo Etch, both of which I've done in the past for other projects, so I have some experience in this area In the end, I've gone for the simplest solution of ink-jet printed cartridge paper, and I think, they look OK:- I've attached the illustrator file I created in pdf format, if you want to use it - PRINT AT 10% OF FULL SIZE, max dpi your printer is capable of and use good quality matt cartridge paper, not gloss photopaper. buckets.pdf When you have everything cut out, paint the back and all edges matt black first, leave a tab on one end to make the joint, like this:- Form the curve, by rolling around a metal rod about 60% of the diameter of the finished bucket. For the bottoms, I used the smallest size on my rotary punch tool to punch out cartridge paper disks, paint the paper black first as it's difficult to paint the inside of the bucket bottom! The handles are just thin strips of cartridge paper, again painted black. on all edges. This is easiest to do when attached at both ends it turns out.

Robert & Nick, I use enamelled wire for jobs like this (the stuff of transformers and other wound components) which is as thin as you like. If you're really struggling, you only actually need one wire if you use the brass tube itself as the other conductor. Nick

although I'm very much a dog person, I must admit I did enjoy building the catheads:- Here's a few general views of progress - A long way to go! Thanks for looking, Nick

Been doing some work on detailing the poop deck ladders - it's looking very dusty now I look at the shots! Added some plastic sheet profiles to the cheeks of the ladders and frames, chamfered the edges and dry-brushed (a bit too much looking at it) to pop the detail. Nick

Whilst I'm at it, here's how I make rings for the many eyes on the vessel. I use black coated florists wire and form around the shank of a drill bit for varous sizes as appropriate I find cutters fail using the extreme tip all the time, so I have ground down the top jaw of some cheap flush cutters designed for printed circuit boards (the bottom jaw is still full length to locate it the wire) This gives me rings (more or less) with a handy gap the right size to insert into kit eyelets Just flatten them when inserted, and close up the gap with pliers. I then re-spray with matt black to remove any scratches and marks caused by assembly.. Here they are in use Regards, Nick

Hi folks, bit more activity and I thought I would show how I made the scrolls, as I have more to make for the second side of the ship. I had considered making resin casts but as 6 of the 8 required are unique I decided it wasn't worth it. Anyhow, here' what I do:- Firstly I use an excellent rolling tool designed for forming cylinders from photo etch material. This is one of those expensive modelling tools that you agonise over buying but then proves invaluable on the times you need it so never regret purchasing. It's a nicely machined alloy base with a set of rollers that match each half cylinder cut-out, I formed a couple of test pieces to show what's it's really designed for. So what I'm doing is using some lead wire (solder actually in this case) dropping it into the smallest C channel, then using the largest roller to compress it into the form like this and ending up with a nice D section There is excess material, flash, on either side, just scrape off with a scalpel I use the wooden kit item as a template for plastic sheet and carefully form the D section onto the plastic template with the flat to the back of course I then use plastic rod as the centre piece and form the second rail in the same way, hot CA when happy with the curves and intersections. Finally I heat form some plastic strip (chamfering the end) to fill the void and with a sanding board, reduce the height of all the plastic to match the lead work. Tamiya thin cement takes all the 'noise' out of the plastic - scratches, nicks etc. Lastly, Mr surfacer is your friend to ensure everything is smooth and blemish free And that's it. MAtches the prfolie of the brass section fairly well I think and an improvement over the kit item Here's the real thing and the model Hope this may be of use to someone! thanks for all your support with the build, Regards, Nick

Got a little more work done this weekend, planked and capped the poop deck, installed the flag lockers and knees,built the two platforms and ladders, although not fitted yet.

Amazing build, very impressive, although a slightly depressing reality check on how much is left to do on my own build!

AS I had already prepared the planks, the deck went on fairly quickly:- I had already built the skylight and flaglockers. The skylight is glazed with glue'n glaze for that hand blown glass look. Nick

So I just went for the main rigging on the 'hidden' guns in the end. I think this is a reasonable compromise The deck is fitted now anyhoo. A little bit more deck to do then the fun with string really begins. Nick