Badger by Landlubber Mike - FINISHED - Caldercraft - 1:64 - Brig

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks very much Kester - I'll have to remember that for next time.  I think that makes sense on the coils.  I forget where I saw this technique, as I'm not smart enough to have thought about it on my own

 

For the furled sails, there is a little more bulk in the center of the yard, but perhaps I could have added a little more.  Thanks for looking in and the advice, I really appreciate it!

Edited February 3, 2014 by Landlubber Mike

[Blue Ensign]

Nice shots of your Badger Mike those furled sails are looking very good, a very attractive model.

 

B.E.

[ZyXuz]

Nice update, Mike.

really like the way you finish the coil. Thanks for sharing it 

 

Anyway, plan changes.. always. I also thought I can finish the all the deck fittings before Chinese New Year when I first started at the end of September..   it's now after CNY, but I haven't complete the stern gallery LOL It's good to hear that you're not rushing on this, and enjoy every progress. Cheers!

[Landlubber Mike]

After 5 years, 3 months and 2 weeks, the Badger is finally finished!  

I just want to say thank you to all my MSW friends here for all the advice and patience with all my questions, and especially for all the inspiration that your build logs have given me to help push me to do a little better job than I might have otherwise done  This has been a very rewarding hobby for me, but even more rewarding are the many friends across the globe that I have met and exchanged ideas with.  So thank you all, and thank you MSW for providing such an amazing forum, without which I probably would be still on the hull planking

 

A few words on the Caldercraft kit.  I think it's a fantastic "beginners plus" kit that provides a lot of challenge, interesting detail, and options to add personal touches to.  I would give it an A for the instructions, and an A+ for the detail parts.  I give the pre-cut wood parts a B+, but the wood strips a B-.  Unfortunately, the walnut strips were very prone to splintering, and the strips were not very straight in many cases.  I have kits from other manufacturers that don't seem to have this problem, but this is of course a beginners kit so maybe I shouldn't expect very much.  

 

I actually added a lot of touches beyond just building the kit out of the box - deck was treenailed, and I added furled sails, anchor non-buoys, rudder pendants, and the ensign.  The furled sails took a lot of research and delayed the build quite a bit, but I think they came out halfway decent, and so I'm glad I went that route.  I have a great appreciation for people that do rigging very well - I feel like that's one aspect of my next builds that I in particular need to improve on.

 

Speaking of my next builds, they will be the Corel Unicorn and the Model Shipways Charles Morgan.  I have good friends in Ian and ZyXuz to help me along with the Unicorn, and John has a great Morgan build going that I will be borrowing a lot of ideas from.  For these builds I'm going to try to avoid paint as much as possible, but build using pear, boxwood, holly, etc. and stains/dyes and scratching a lot of details (including, perhaps, full sails this go around).  Should be a fun ride.  

 

So thanks again to all my friends here.  If anyone building the Badger has any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.  I'm going to take a couple of months away from the hobby to research my next builds and take a mental break.  I'll be checking in on the build logs of course for inspiration and to learn ways to better improve my skills.

 

Thanks again!  I'll post pictures in the next post.

[Landlubber Mike]

Here are the pictures - sorry they are a little dark, but the lighting in my living room (the only neutral background I could find) is not the best.  Thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 28, 2014 by Landlubber Mike

[riverboat]

Beautiful !! Mike  just beautiful...... a job well done , don't stay away too long..... will be looking forward to your next build

Frank

[egkb]

Well Done Mike..

I think yours is the first build I have been following since I joined that has been completed !

 

I'll echo Frank above and say I will look forward to your next one.

 

All The Best Mike.

 

Eamonn

[Beef Wellington]

She looks fantastic Mike, congratulations!

[ZyXuz]

Congratulation on your build, Mike! you made her a beautiful art piece, and you'll make better ones in your future builds

 

Looking forward your Unicorn! 

[Blue Ensign]

A fine looking model Mike, great job on the sails, I'd be proud to display her in my home, very well done indeed.

 

B.E.

[aliluke]

A wonderful model Mike. Congratulations - I've just been back through your log - fantastic all the way. Have a glass of the bubbly and celebrate. I wish you were doing Pegasus next but Unicorn or Morgan are going to be damn fine too! I look forward to your next log which ever one it is!!!!

 

Cheers

Alistair

[Stockholm tar]

Mike,

 

I can only add my congratulations for your wonderful Badger. Well done indeed! Looking forward to your next build, be it Unicorn or CM.

 

Btw, will there be a case? I'd hate for all that nice work to get dusty.

 

[flyer]

Hi Mike

 

That’s a very nice Badger! Congratulations. I wonder if you shouldn’t change your tag at least to ‘ordinary seaman mike’??

 

I’m presently working on the ensign2.0 for my Pegasus. How did you fabricate that fine ensign for Badger?

 

Keep up the good work

Peter

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks very much everyone, I really appreciate the kind words.  It means a lot coming from you guys, as your builds have been a great inspiration to me.

 

Kester, I have a case that I got from Model Expo a couple of years ago when I thought I was close to the finish line - that was before my twins arrived    I need to stain and finish the wood framing, and locate a good source for glass or plexiglass (probably the latter).  It's in a cabinet at the moment so it won't get too dusty in the meantime

[Landlubber Mike]

Hi Mike

 

That’s a very nice Badger! Congratulations. I wonder if you shouldn’t change your tag at least to ‘ordinary seaman mike’??

 

I’m presently working on the ensign2.0 for my Pegasus. How did you fabricate that fine ensign for Badger?

 

Keep up the good work

Peter

Hi Peter, thanks very much.  I think I'm still very much a landlubber, but I appreciate the vote of confidence

 

I am almost ashamed to say that I didn't actually fabricate the ensign, but these are from BECC Scale Model Miniature Flags, whose website is:  http://www.modelflags.com/.  They are cloth, and look pretty good in my opinion, or at least better than I could have hoped to make.  Model Expo sells flags but they are on the small side and more of a vinyl type of material, unlike the cloth used by BECC which is very easy to work with and manipulate to add folds and creases.  They have a very wide selection of flags and sizes, and I would highly recommend them.

 

I happened to come across them when placing an order with Cornwall Model Boats.  I think you can buy them directly from BECC, but I bought them from CMB.

[ianmajor]

Mike,

 

Well done. You have produced a lovely model. When you begin applying this standard of work to the Unicorn I think I will have to hide mine away!  

[Landlubber Mike]

A wonderful model Mike. Congratulations - I've just been back through your log - fantastic all the way. Have a glass of the bubbly and celebrate. I wish you were doing Pegasus next but Unicorn or Morgan are going to be damn fine too! I look forward to your next log which ever one it is!!!!

 

Cheers

Alistair

Thanks very much Alistair  I bought the Pegasus from a MSW member a couple of years ago and intended it to be my next build, but I thought that maybe starting with a kit that is a little more basic would help me build up my skills a bit more to do the kit justice.  So, I ended up getting the Unicorn off of eBay for a very low amount ($130 or so) and figured I would start with that kit.  Of course, now that I have been researching the Unicorn kit and seeing the great builds from Ian and ZyXuz, I am planning a lot of changes to the kit -- to the point that maybe I would just be better off going with the Pegasus which is more of a "complete" kit in my opinion    All kidding aside, I have the TFFM series, and I think the Unicorn and Morgan will help me advance my skills to build a detailed Swan class per those books.

 

I'm planning on doing the Charles Morgan alongside the Unicorn build.  I found with the Badger that there were times I felt stuck or burned out and stepped away from the build for months at a time, so I think having a second build alongside the Unicorn might help me avoid that.  The nice thing about the Morgan is that I won't have to rig cannons with 2mm blocks -- bad thing is that there are 7 whaleboats

[texxn5]

Hi Mike, great finish...now for the encore! Glad to hear you will be joining the Morgan club, yes no cannons, but lots of deck details that are quite fun to build. The seven boats is going to be a challenge. Two of them mount upside down on deck structures, so other than shaping and few small details, they won't be too bad. I hope to do them gradually inbetween other rigging to break up the monotany. I do plan to detail them quite like Salty Sea Dog dig his larger scale ones. They are like a build in their own. When do you plan to start? It will be nice to have someone to go through the misery..I mean fun with and bounce ideas off of...Job well done on the Badger...you're more than ready to tackle the Morgan

[Landlubber Mike]

Mike,

 

Well done. You have produced a lovely model. When you begin applying this standard of work to the Unicorn I think I will have to hide mine away!

Hi Ian, thanks very much!  Your Unicorn was a big reason for why I decided to buy the kit for my next build, so please don't hide it

 

I have been doing a lot of pre-planning for the build, both in terms of colors and modifications.  For colors, I think I'm going to stick with three primary colors - pear for the hull, boxwood for the deck and accents, and black (stained/dyed pear and other woods) for the wales, mast tops, and spars.  My goal is to not use paint to the extent at all possible, but that means replacing a lot of the strip wood which seems to be of relatively good quality.  I'm also thinking about whether to color the bulwark planking, gun carriages, etc. a red color.  I found a couple of stains that look promising, but I want to stay as close to a minimum number of colors as possible.  This is the general approach taken by Bernard Frolich, echoed in Chris LeBren's build here which I think is absolutely beautiful:

 

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/2085-usf-confederacy-by-chris-b-316-scale-pob-scratch-build/page-2

 

I'm also thinking about doing a number of modifications.  In addition to opening up the waist like you did, I'm probably going to scratch build the stern and stern galleries, add a thicker wale, and angle the quarterdeck so that it matches up a little better with the Chapman plans (where the portholes gradually open up as you move towards the bow).  I might even be bold enough to put a mixture of full and furled sails on the build now that I have gone through the experience with the Badger.  

 

I don't think that I will attempt to add a stove like you did, because yours would surely put mine to shame

Edited March 10, 2014 by Landlubber Mike

[Landlubber Mike]

Hi Mike, great finish...now for the encore! Glad to hear you will be joining the Morgan club, yes no cannons, but lots of deck details that are quite fun to build. The seven boats is going to be a challenge. Two of them mount upside down on deck structures, so other than shaping and few small details, they won't be too bad. I hope to do them gradually inbetween other rigging to break up the monotany. I do plan to detail them quite like Salty Sea Dog dig his larger scale ones. They are like a build in their own. When do you plan to start? It will be nice to have someone to go through the misery..I mean fun with and bounce ideas off of...Job well done on the Badger...you're more than ready to tackle the Morgan

Hi John, thanks very much for the kind words.  I should be starting the Morgan alongside the Unicorn probably in another 6-8 weeks or so.  I'm taking my time right now to do a little research for the build, and wait for some upgraded lumber.  I love all the details and improvements that you can add to the whaler (and ones that you are adding in particular), so am really looking forward to it.  I'm thinking that I'll add full sails to the ship, and maybe move one of the whaleboats to the crane.  I even have been toying with the idea of a diorama, with a couple of whaleboats in the water and one on the crane, but that might be a little too ambitious.

 

My original goal was to avoid using paint at all on the build, and to stick with ebony/african blackwood for the black areas of the hull, holly for the masts and spars and detail pin striping, maple for the deck, and boxwood for the bulwark planking and deck houses and other items.  Going with ebony or african blackwood was going to be prohibitively expensive though (along with the practical difficulties of those woods being toxic and difficult to work with), so now I've decided to go with dyed pear instead.  I'm still trying to figure out if holly would work out for the white areas of the ship.

 

I might have asked you this before, but when I look at pictures of the Morgan, it looks like the deck is a natural oak-ish color, and the bulwarks, deck houses, etc. seem to be painted a yellow ochre color.  Was that your impression?  I'm thinking that I could use maple for the deck, and use boxwood to represent the areas painted yellow ochre.  Any thoughts on whether that would be roughly representative of the Morgan's color scheme? 

 

Thanks again!

Edited March 10, 2014 by Landlubber Mike

[texxn5]

That's an interesting concept as to colors and sails or a diorama. I have photos of a really great large scale diorama at the Mystic Research Center lobby. It is the sister ship to the Morgan, The Two Brothers and it is very similar in construction. It is in the water with a whale tied up along side, whaleboats in the davits. That would be a very ambitious project but really cool looking. I also have photos of another whaler model with a crew.

[texxn5]

Oops, sorry forgot to comment on the yellow ochre color. When choosing how to do mine, I decided I wanted to duplicate the ship as near to real as possible, which involved paint. I wasn't sure of my skills enough to try natural or stained wood. I love stained wood, but I also like painted surfaces, which saved on wood costs and errors were easily concealed with the paint. One exception I wish I had made was on the deck. The color I used was a combination MinWax stain/satin finish acrylic varnish. It turned out a little darker than I expected or wanted. I should have tried the weathered or bleached teak finish so common on military decks of the 20th century, which is a grayish finish. The real deck of the Morgan is Oak left to weather. I do like the natural white effect that boxwood seems to finish off to. It again is a matter of choice and only you can make that decision as to how you want it to look. If you choose to go natural, I would vote against using the wood that comes in the kit....my basswood was not that satisfactory and quite irregular in both width and color as well as overall unsatisfactory, but I lived with it and covered it up with paint. The yellow ochre MS paint is an exact match for the real Morgan finish.

[Landlubber Mike]

Hi John, thanks very much for the replies and for the pictures.  Very cool stuff, gives me a lot to think about.  

 

On the kit wood and fittings, I noticed that they weren't of very good quality.  Disappointing, but since I got the kit for a good deal and am planning to scratch a lot of the items anyway, I'm not too bothered I guess.

 

Thanks again John - will start my build log in a few weeks

[texxn5]

Sounds great Mike, glad I could help a little. The model with the sails is of the Morgan, it is completely finished on the starboard side, and cut away on the port side, allowing the observer to see inside the hull and deck structures, it is an interesting approach also. Good luck with the decisions on finish and colors, they can be tricky...

[Landlubber Mike]

Well it's official -- finally got the Badger in a case.  It's interesting how having a model in a case really gives the model more of an aura.  Either that, or maybe the glass just helps obscure all the imperfections?  

 

The display case is from Model Expo (wait for them to go on sale).  The glass is acrylic/plexiglass.  I tried to save some money and cut the plexiglass panels myself, but I had problems with the plexiglass breaking cleanly, and the last straw was when a piece broke and gave me a nasty cut on my hand.  So, I decided to find someone else to cut the panels for me, and ended up going with Dulles Glass and Mirror (www.dullesglassandmirror.com).  Their website was very easy to use to place an online order for custom cut glass, and the package was sent quickly and was well packaged.  I highly recommend them.

 

A bit sad that the book is finally closed on this model, but it was a fun journey, in particular since I met a lot of friends through MSW, and now I'm looking forward to starting my next build(s).  Thanks again for all the help and advice and support over the years.

 

 

Edited July 28, 2014 by Landlubber Mike

[riverboat]

Nice Mike, really nice!!! What are the dimensions on that case?

Frank

[aliluke]

Looks amazing Mike! Congratulations! Pegasus next?

[Mirabell61]

Congrats Mike,

 

a very impressive looking brig...

Well Done !

 

Nils

[Stockholm tar]

Hi Mike,

 

Impressive indeed – a fitting display case for a great model.

 

Btw, I hope your hand is healing well.

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks very much guys, I appreciate the kind words!

 

Frank, the case is 30" x 27.5" x 12" (width/height/depth).  The posts can be cut down to size, but I was a bit nervous doing so.  I'm actually glad I left them as is as I like the extra space on top.  The width barely fit the model, with less than 1" clearance on both sides of the studdingsail booms.  It was a bit nerve-wracking because you need to lower the case (without the base) onto the base, and then use clips underneath to lock the base into the case.  Of course I kept finding specs of dust and other blemishes, and had to pull the case off three or four times.  Thankfully the ship modeling gods were with me, as I figured that with my luck, I would hit a studdingsail boom and pop off a bunch of lines of rigging 

 

Alistair, I'm going to do the Corel Unicorn as my next build.  The Unicorn is a bit simpler, but I'm planning to do a number of modifications in order to come up with a more accurate build.  The Pegasus is probably much more amenable to building straight from the box, but I figured I could use another kit under my belt in order to do that kit justice -- especially with all the gorgeous Pegasus, Fly and other Swan-class builds going on at the moment.  I'm strongly considering a second build alongside the Unicorn for those much needed breaks and to avoid burn-out.  I probably will do the Charles Morgan, mostly because the Pegasus would be very similar to the Unicorn.  But, it seems like the Morgan requires lots of scratching (in large part because the wood and fittings are not very good), so I'm still thinking about which to pursue.

 

Kester, thanks for well wishes.  The cut healed fine, and I now have a nice memento in the form of a scar on my palm.  The Admiral just shook her head when she saw me bleeding like a stuck pig, but thankfully I didn't need to ask her to take me to the hospital to get stitches