ChrisLBren

Hey Group Doing more research on her this week - both my secondary plans show her to be between 24 and 25 inches long at a scale of 1/75. The Corel model is 36 inches long - so the scale is actually 1/50 after all that is stated on the plans. For some reason on the box and the Corel site its states 1/40.

Thanks Joe, Mike and Geoff. Good hearing from you Mike ! Congrats on the twins - mine just turned 6 mos and are sleeping thru the night - I never thought this day would come.... Pear is a great wood to work with - if you want any tips as to how to work with pure tung oil - let me know. Its actually fairly easy once you get the hang of it.

Thanks John - the wood is Swiss Pear purchased from Jeff Hayes at Hobbymill. The "glow" is from the finish. The wood was sanded to 600 then three coats pure tung oil was applied. Chris

Ok i did find some info from the Ships of Abel Tasman - heres what he states "Poor stuff was mixed with sulfur, tallow or whale-oil, which produced a whitish or grimy-yellow substance with which the hull below the waterline was treated. So it seems ill just experiment a bit with an off-white/slightly yellowish mix. Since im going to tung oil the wood and then finish with a diluted coat of bitumen to age the wood - a pure white will be out of the question.

Here are the pics

Good Morning Group, I thought I'd attach these photos - another member of the forum was asking about them. They are pics of the Quarter Galleries and Stern. I scratch built the lights and carved all of the filagree and scroll work out of costello boxwood. The humanity sculptures on the stern as well as the drops were resin copies of Chuck Passaros painted to match costello boxwood. These days it seems Id rather complete/tinker with existing builds (Confederacy and Wappen Von Hamburg) than start a new one - so you never know - i may revisit this area and replace the resin carvings with my own. I plan on doing some carving on the WVH so i may get the itch. Chris

Really appreciate the kind words everyone ! Hopefully will have an update soon, Chris

Thanks for the site Wefalck - really helpful ! Chris

Looking really good Ferit ! Chris

Great photos - and beautiful build Matti ! Chris

Thanks for the pic! The "white stuff" will have a Matt finish on my Wappen Von Hamburg. I already looked at the Wasa site and the site of the Batavia replica. Hoping to find some hard historical evidence. No luck so far.

Thanks Rusty - im enjoying your progress on the Cross Sections ! As far as WVH - I'm excited to be starting her again. The thought of starting a new build from scratch is really daunting right now with the twins. Much of the heavy lifting has been done on the WVH and Im getting closer to my game plan. I want her to look as close to her actual appearance as possible which will involve a lot of painting/weathering. Im going to experiment with Bitiumen (some of the Russian Modelers use this) to age wood and rigging and paint all of the sculptures in life like colors as well as paint the bottom of the hull with the "white stuff" Im also going to use wire to simulate nailing on the wales that are pronounced on Dutch/German ships. Theres a lot to be "bashed" including scratching the head rails, carving of sculptures Corel omitted from the ship as well as some of Corels sculptures which dont fit my model. I also need to figure out a way to simulate the windows that will look real (which by design are dummys in this model) Im also going to carve the figurehead. And lastly she will be fully rigged - maybe even with sails. Its large scale lends itself to a lot of detailing. I still havent decided what to do about the opening in the deck - thinking its probably best just to plank over it. But before starting, I do want to reinstall my ships wheel on the Confederacy and finish those pesky binnacles. Also id like to finish the head rails - which should help me when Im ready to build them on the WVH.

Hi Group, Doing some research on what exactly the color of this stuff would be on a 17th Century Ship. I know its off white/beige ish but Id rather get a bit more concrete evidence if its exists out there. If anyone has any useful websites - please let me know. Chris

Hi Ferit, No i posted that message yesterday morning before i had a chance to remove her from storage. Now I'm revisiting all of the research I did on her 10 years ago and formulating an approach to restart this build Chris

HI Ponto, I actually have three sets of plans (the ones by Corel), Quingers from his book (it is in German) and Rolf Hoeckels which I believe came with his book Modellbau Von Schiffen des 16 ind 17 Jahrhunderts. Corels most closely resemble Hoeckels plans. I can tell you Corel simplified based on these other sets of plans both in the hull and the rig. If you can pick up either of these books cheaply - Id do it.

Thanks Larry - just did a calculation to find out the true scale of this one - ive got a book by Wolfgang Quinger "Wappen Von Hamburg 1". It states the keel is approx. 36.27 meters. My hull is approx. 91 centimeters - so using a scale calculator - 1/40 scale not 1/50 that is stated on the Corel plans. Im not sure how to correct the title of this build log to reflect actual scale.

Hey Ponto - i admired you WVH - would be great to see her again. David - I actually should throw in my abandoned Bob Hunt Fair American for a shot of all three models i still have ! Brian - i absolutely will paint the clinker green. My approach on this one is to paint her as she appeared and possibly weathered. The sculptures beg for it. I unearthed an airbrush and compressor in my storage unit - so i will paint the white stuff on the bottom of the hull. The wales will also get nails (need to figure out the scale on those). At this scale - treenails could make sense on all visible planking as well. I'm going to upgrade the blocks and rigging line with Chucks gear. The wife doesn't know - but this one will get full rig and masting. Corel did a pretty good job with this one - its fairly accurate from the secondary sources i have. Some of the pot metal fittings will need to be replaced with some carving where they dont fit my model snuggly. Im just stuck as to what to do with the area in the waist where i left off planking to show off the lower deck - the amount of beams are not accurate to the secondary sources and I didnt rig the guns below deck. At the time it seemed like a good idea - but this model wasnt really designed for this approach. So if i leave as is - im going to need to fashion the upper decks like this. Its probably best to just plank over it - any input here is appreciated, Chris

Thanks Brian - it was a bear to single plank her with those strips supplied in kit. Working with Swiss Pear on my Confederacy was so much easier. I really do have some sentimental attachment to the WVH and unearthed a bunch of research i did back in early 2000s. Just wondering as to my approach moving forward.

Thanks Ferit - I almost visited your beautiful city on our honeymoon back in 2011. Scale is questionable - on the plans it says 1/50 but I believe it shares fittings and cannons with The Berlin which is listed as 1/40 as is the WVH on most sites.

Fun comparison between a sleek Confederacy in 3/16 vs big bathtub of the WVH in 1/50

Hi Group, I emptied out my storage unit today and found an old project - WPH - constructed between 2001-2005. I hadn't laid my eyes on her since 2007. On close inspection - she's not bad. I was thinking of giving her away but now Im considering revisiting this build. I've learned a ton since then - especially on my current scratch build of Confederacy. You can see i left planks off the deck to see below into the gun deck - the deck beams are simulated and not accurate - there would be at least 8 visible based on the actual plans. So I can plank this over - which sort of screws up the but joint lines or leave as is. This was my first crack at milling my own wood - I used holly here in place of the kit supplied wood. As far as the hull - thinking id sand off the wipe on poly on the lower hull (not my favorite finish) and either use tung oil or possibly paint the white stuff to the water line. This would hide the planking at the bow - which does not follow the wales (this is a kit - and one where i glued the wales on after planking - which is not correct - but common in kit builds). Inspired by some of the build logs of the Wasa Ive seen here - id love to possibly weather her (i believe ive seen some modelers use Bitumen with varnish to age wood) which could make the kit supplied walnut planking look pretty cool. Id paint her topsides olive/hunter green, the bulwarks continue to be painted in a dark red/wine and all sculptures would be painted in life like colors (similar to the Wasa). Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated - thanks for checking her out! Chris

I use standard Minwax sanding sealer avail at any Home Depot diluted with mineral spirits 50/50 and wiped off almost immediately. Greg (DVM) swears by the water based version - even flatter than the oil based (which is hard to believe my deck on Confederacy looks dead flat with no finish whatsoever other than the caulking lines being slightly more accentuated).

Looks really nice Toni ! Chris

Very nice Jeurgen! Look forward to watching her progress. Chris

Thanks guys ! Ben as far as the wheel is concerned - I cheated - its a fitting from Caldercraft (its comprised of several pieces) and painted to look like wood. I purchased it from Cornwall Model boats - not cheap - but was very impressed with the quality. Hey Dave - i will look at Eds build about those slots. John and Joe - always great hearing from you !