Don Quixote

I'll try another brand, thanks

Brian

How did you get the pins to bend without snapping? Did you heat them up or something?

Brian

Ya know, I KNEW I saw a tool forum, and it was pretty easy to find, but when I looked for it again, I couldn’t find it.

Brian

I recently bought model expo's fair-a-frame and regret the waste of money. It's unstable, week, and the parts that's supposed to do the actual work of squaring bulkheads can't be clamped in place, nor does it have the weight or anything to push against the bulkheads. It moves, wobbles from side to side and simply does not stay in place, thus cannot hold anything square.

Much appreciated!

Brian

To me it looks like you put the pins in After gluing. What am I missing? Were the pins installed while the glue was still wet? What is the purpose of the pins if everything is flat and weighed down?

Brian

Could you explain your serving machine in more detail?

Brian

I traced the bearding line, and when I went to lay down the trace, I see the plan is not the same as the part. See picture. The back half is perfect. At Bulkhead slot "L" toward bulkhead slot "A" they progressively get worse.

The stem can be lined up perfectly, but it leaves me with this gap at the stern. I assume I can simply trim the keel and that'll be fine, but I'm concerned with the placement of cannon and companionway...etc.

Is this going to cause me a problem?

Two questions. The style of the bearding line changes from stem/stern posts and mid-ship. How do you define where it should change, and at what rate should it change?

Why not use balsa wood for the filler blocks? It's so much easier to manipulate.

Do you know of any legitimate scenarios where the topsails might be set and the rest furled? I don't know squate about sailing.

greatgalleons: The deck om Niagara is beautiful. I'm trying to find a legitimate scenario in which some topsails might be set with the lowers furled.

MTaylor, that whole document is fascinating! I'm going for it. If I'm successful I'll post my plans. I gotta warn ya' This will only be my third build, and I tend to bite off more than I can chew. Must be 'cuz I'm a chef.

Are you going to make any sails? I'm starting this one next week and would love a few set sails and furled sails. I bought my wife a nice sewing machine for Christmas and would love to put her to work on some sails.

Also I contacted model-expo to see if they have plans and was told their support person retired and they won't be replacing him

I was surprised too! I'll have to measure the spars from my constitution from constructo. I wonder if I can come up with something close from those.

Unless anyone else has made sales for this ship and would care to share:)

Thanks much

Hmmmm... Nothing to lose but my dignity. Haven't had that since the divorce.

I have the U.S. Niagara from Model Shipways and the instructions mention making my own sails, but they don't provide the dimmensions. I'd like to make some furled, and some set. Anyone know the dimmensions or where to get them?

See painting pattern first. The deck house image is from the cover picture on the box.

The instructions say that since the house is already white, to white glue the patters on, then cover them with a flat clear coat, then paint in the windows between the lines. The lines in the tiny windows are already black so the windows would be larger black windows. I can see painting them a light blue, but I cannot for the life of me see how to paint tiny white lines where the black lines are now. The only thing I can come up with would be to paint each set of 6 windows in completely, then find a sharp white artist pencil (of some sort) and use a ruler to replace the lines again. Gads I hope that made sense. 

Question one: Any idea what to use for that pencil?

Question two: A better way altogether?

Being brand new to the hobby, I guess I wasn't aware of those statistics. Thanks for making me feel "silly". I was going to post another "silly" question but...

I love the cut-outs! I'm going to make that my 4th build. I think I'm going to go with Anja's suggestion for my next, it fits my current display case perfectly.

Question: My first ship, the U.S.S. Constitution from Constructo seemed to me to have excellent instructions and plans. Maybe I need directions that specific, but like I've said, I'm not impressed with the Harriet Lane by Model Shipways. The instructions I see with the model you propose seem solid, but I don't see that it comes with plans. Probably didn't read well enough?

I read that European models are better over-all. Is that an opinion you hold to be true? I'm impressed with what I see of your builds and respect your opinion. I'm not afraid to spend some money on this hobby, but I'm not interested in wasting it:/

I like the looks of that ship, but I thought all modelexpo sold was model shipways. The Harriet Lane my wife got me comes with a whopping 14 page instruction booklet. What's more, the stand is sold separately!

Hello and thanks for taking the time to read my post! I just completed my first build, the wife got me the U.S.S Constitution from Constructo. I found the directions and plans to be solid, and for my first build I think I did a fair job and I certainly learned a lot. She just got me the Harriet Lane from Model Shipways and I found the instructions to be terrible and – I have to buy the stand separately!

I'm comfortable doing another of the same difficulty and size as the Constitution and I'm looking for a recommendation not only for a manufacturer (instructions and plans) but a model as well. I like the looks of a galleon, but as long as it has a fair amount of cannons I could get happy.

Brian