knightyo

I find the below to be the most enjoyable part of building a ship. Yes, I'm pretty sure I'm on the spectrum. These are pear, and from old pear blocks I had on hand. Rough-cut dowels were pulled through a standard progressive drawplate, and the ends sanded down to points allowing me to gently glue them into the predrilled holes. And then clipped/sanded down Just a photo of the topside of one of the pintles before the holes were drilled into the sides. And finally, the rudder assemblies are about complete. I'm not going to hang the rudder until the topside is complete and the model has been installed onto its base. The ends of the bolts were cut via a rolling motion under my X-acto blade which provided a tiny lip on the ends. They were then inserted into the pintles/gudgeons with a bit of superglue; overall, they hold the pintles/gudgeons more securely than I thought they would. I'm trying to decide whether or not they should be blackened or left bare. Each one of them reflects light at a different angle, so while it's fun to show that I created such small bolts, it's also frustrating, in that they don't look uniformly placed. I think I'll eventually prime/paint over them as they should be black in color anyway.

Ok, that's just shocking. I'd nervous to steer that ship on a lake. lol Alan

I see a recipe for kittens with a cat in both bow and stern; I see that one of them also knocked one of the checkers. down. I also like the tombstone cutaways. Everything looks fantastic. Alan

Hello, Gregory was exactly right. Below is a photo of my mini-Mamoli Nina. The keel parts are glued into the pre-drilled groove all the way along the keel. Since the keel will be painted below the waterline, it doesn't really matter what pattern of pieces you cobble together down there as long as they are all snug in the groove, and against each other. It also helps to install pieces which stick out too far as well, so the entire keel/stem can be sanded down as one unit after the glue dries. Alan

They were just experimenting with fiberglass cannons. Alan

I'd wager that your shipbuilding experience creating stealers had an influence on this solution. Alan

Hello Kai, Since you enjoyed the Hornblower books, I would like to recommend the series by Patrick O'Brien which covers the same era, if you haven't already read them. That series of books is so enjoyable to read that many people read the entire series annually. Alan

From one Oregon introvert to another, welcome aboard! Alan

There are also mini LED's that flicker, simulating fire, that one could install in the fireplace if one wished to go overboard (I couldn't help myself) with the build. Alan

I do it the same way as portrayed in the video, but the tool that works best for me is the edge of my steel ruler. It takes a little while to get the knack, but once you have it, you can create them very quickly Alan

Metalwork around the rudder has been slowly taking place, and the straps are loosely placed on the rudder. They will be further shaped to the rudder and blackened before being permanently affixed (no idea how I'm going to permanently affix these. The wire bolts won't really have any strength long-term, so am really pondering this one). I had quite a learning curve in learning how to uniformly fashion the straps; many, many scrap pieces throughout. The photo also shows the bits of 30 ga wire that will be made into bolts. I'm just laying them down on the strip in the middle to see how the thickness of the wire will look from a scale perspective. I'm thinking of having 2 bolts per plank. The rudder is basically made up of 3 planks. I've also been experimenting with the finish on the hull. Goal is to try and make the finish appear to be as "real/aged" as possible, so there are a lot of green/brown washes on there now in addition to other white washes. The plan is to have shellac on the model, and I'm thinking of extending that down all around the acrylic on the hull as well to give it a bit of a wet/shiny appearance. Still debating that one, however. The gouges in the hull are for the brass tubing in which the lighting will run through from the ship down into the stand where the power source will be. When the tubing has been installed, the keel will be replaced and everything tidied up.

That's actually perfect. If you decide that you've sanded too much off, it's easy to reapply. I applied/removed acrylic to the hull of my Nina for a long, long time until I finally ended up with the look that I liked (applied different wash "layers" with slightly different colors as well. You might be able to get a pretty nice effect by applying washes of greys/greens/browns, showing not only the standard wear of the black, but also the effects of a boat that has been in the water with sea life). As Baker mentioned, it would probably be best to practice on scraps first. It's all your personal choice, however. The model is looking great! Alan

Hi James, I would also fill the spaces between the bulkheads with blocks of wood (balsa would be easiest), and sand to shape. It would then be easier to see the curves with the eye, and also far easier to plank those areas. Alan

That must be the intro to the fight scene.

Yes! With a flashlight whilst also swearing. Now THAT would be an authentic scene.

You will have to let us know when this moving comes out. It will really be fun to see the ship modeling part, knowing that you helped! It makes me wonder if any of the cast will be drawn to the hobby as a result of seeing your models, the process, etc. (Your Speedwell is looking absolutely stunning) Alan

Hi Loracs, I think your door frames are good as well! I was just thinking that the doors themselves might look better if you made them out of wood as well. Although then that would also require you to create hinges, etc. It never ends how much detail we can put into these projects. Alan

This gave me a good laugh. I guess the good part about it is that a guy would never keep bits and pieces and assorted sawdust on his is table; he'd clean everything up after each session, resulting in a nice and uncluttered work area. The only wood I'd never work with is ebony. I've used it once, and vowed never again. Your project looks fascinating, and I do hope you continue to post your progress. I think a lot of build logs eventually get a comment the builder isn't thrilled with; it's just a function of so many different people from so many different backgrounds/demographics, etc. I've noticed my own posts are different in tone depending upon the time of day and the amount of caffeine in my system. I think the pros of having so many positive and helpful posts however, outweighs the cons of occasional posts which come across as off key. Alan

I love the addition of the inlays! They look great. I'm wondering if you want to do the same type of thing with the doors? The inlays are so well done that the doors almost detract from them. I only offer this as an opinion that is probably not held in the majority. I am a master of going down rabbit holes and never finishing my projects. Alan

Same here. I think I've even asked about them before, and was told the reason as to why they were no longer available. Of course, I've forgotten the reason. Alan

I agree with this recommendation as well. Alan

Welcome from Oregon, land of eternal sunshine. What? Alan

Chuck, just brainstorming here, but I loved the look of the framing/shadowbox you had on the Confederacy. If you provided that as an option on the POB, that might appeal even more to builders, as it could still have the look of a fully framed model as well. Kind of the best of all worlds for a lot of modelers. Alan

It almost feels like someone who is confident enough to tackle a POF would also be the type of person who would loft and cut their own frames. I'm thinking you might have a larger pool of potential customers if you don't supply the wood, but do offer all of the templates needed for someone to cut their own frames, with very detailed instruction on how to cut/shape the difficult areas (full-color photos/instructions, sexy book cover, etc). I'll bet you could net out higher if you sold books at 300 bucks a pop (and low time investment in printing) instead of full kits at 2 grand (and a lot of time burned in creating material).. I could also see a lot of modeler's requesting a book (or set) as a Christmas gift from their spouse at 300 bucks a pop, but would not have success in asking said spouse to drop a couple grand for a kit. If you found the right publisher and right mailing list, you might hit the jackpot. I've got a number of expensive books in my collection, but have no intention on creating the models; I just love having the books, looking at the photos, and knowing I could build the model some day if I ended up with an unexpected bonanza of free time. If I were to tackle a POF, I could see myself paying for instructions/templates, but not the actual wood that I could cut/sand/shape myself. The wood type is a limiter as well. There would probably be people who might be interested in the kit, but only if it's in swiss-pear, etc. At this point in the game, if it were me, I'd create one or two kits and market them here and on your website, knowing that they would probably eventually sell, and then just replace them in stock one at a time as they do sell, so you could eventually recoup your investment, and also have a nice, random income source for as long as you want. I think that in theory, with the right marketing, you could go either way; it would just be far less time consuming to create books than kits. EDIT: I would also absolutely offer this as a POB kit. 2nd EDIT: Also as a miniature navy board project. lol Alan

I hear that. Over in Brownsville, the air has cleared considerably; it was absolutely disgusting for a while tho. I hope your other life things are able to resolve. It's frustrating when life mandates that no modelling can be done. Alan