jwvolz

Well, it's only my second update on this, but it's my last! She's all done. As it's for the instructions, I've had to work very quickly. 
 
The pear wood keel is now added to the hull. The things you see attached to it are some little MDF clamps that help keep everything in alignment whilst the parts set. 

 
The whole keel is then faced with more pear. This creates a rabbet into which you can lay the plank ends. 

 
Planking this hull in pear is very straightforward. I managed to lay 5 planks before any taper. With everything in situ, the rudder cable holes were opened up again and the hull sanded smooth.


 
 
A sanding stick was used to level the top of the bulwarks prior to me adding the rubbing strakes. The top strake site at bulwark height.


 
 
Onwards with the rudder! The wooden part has laser holes for the nails, and they fit perfectly with no need for drilling out. 

 
 
Amati's waterline tool is used to mark the model prior to the red oxide primer being applied. I've used Plastikote for this, with some filling prep work beforehand and rubbing down between coats. 


 
 
With the MDF bulkhead ears removed, the laser engraved deck is now installed and the pre-shaped timberheads fitted in place, followed by the bulwark rails. This is also supplied laser cut. This is a very prefabricated model, hence the reason I can build it in 2 weeks for the instruction manual (which will be far more descriptive than this!), plus edit the photos and write the thing!



 
 
Now I can build the deck fittings, such as the wheel unit, fish hatches, steam winch, companionway etc. 








 
 
The Fifie has two masts, and the foremast is supplied as square section rod which needs rounding and tapering. The mast ring is used to make sure the top is the correct diameter. 

 
 
Rigging blocks and rig anchor points fitted the hull and bulwarks.

 
 
And the model is finally completed with her sails.




 
 
This is a very simple kit that still looks beautiful when finished. The rigging is dead simple and there's nothing in construction that anyone should find hard. In all, I think it's perfect for a newcomer, but if you just like fishing boats, then you'll like this!
 
Hope you like it as much as I enjoyed building it. Right....on with HMS Flirt!

Okay, I know you guys have all been waiting with baited breathe for the next installment of the Sherman tank model <he says laughingly>, so here's the completed model sans, extra figures and accessories, which still have to be assembled, painted and attached to the model.  And yes, EG, I did take some model's license here too.  The tank commander is 1st LT Elwood "Red" Wolfe and he does like to decorate his tank.   Still haven't decided on how I will display it tho.
 

 
 
 
 

Wow, amazing detail, just fantastic. 

Well, it looks like today was staining day! It was kind of on a whim, but I think it went pretty well. The only other structural wood components that will have to be stained after this are the sweeps and supports for the awning structure. I'm not sure I have quite enough stain to do that, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Until then, I've got plenty to do. Here are the many different wooden parts that were stained today. 

Hello all! Thank you Bob and Dave for the kind words. This has obviously been a very strange year. Earlier, I was hard pressed to find much time for building, but with the current lockdown I have gotten the shipyard running yet again. Most recently I have just finished cleaning up the cap rails. From here, I'm not entirely sure what I will do next. I think it may finally be time to confront what I have been avoiding for a long time......... staining day . Wish me luck. I've got an airbrush to apply it with, so we'll see how it goes. In any case, I'm glad to be back and I look forward to building the rest of this ship alongside your much appreciated guidance! Here are a couple photos of the cap rail dry fit. It's going to be a challenge to glue it on while keeping the run looking right. Also, I've noticed that some of the holes for components above the cap rail overlap with some of the bulkheads. I hope that doesn't become a problem....

Thanks Bob. It's a great kit, that has room for all kinds of detail work. Quality is good, and nice clear plans (other than the rigging). You don't see a ton of them built, which makes it a bit unique as well. 

Thank you, Joe! I've been following your Benjamin Latham build and it's wonderful. Now I might have to put that model on my tick list...as if I need another model on the shelf!

Silly mistakes, Part 2
 
I said in an earlier post that no kit is idiot proof, and I've demonstrated it again with two more elementary and entirely avoidable mistakes. 
 
First, I ignored the instructions and forgot to sand the inner bulwarks before I fitted the cap rails. As a result the bulwarks were too thick in places, with the cap rail flush with the inner bulwark rather than slightly overlapping it. This would look wrong, especially with the pin racks in place, so I had to fix it. I considered removing the cap rails but didn't think I could do so without damaging them. I could have made new ones, but in the end I decided to sand the offending planks with the cap rail in place. I managed the best I could with various scrapers and a small contour sanding tool. 

The second mistake was even sillier. In order to protect the boxwood I'd applied a couple of coats of matt polyurethane on top of two coats of rubbed-down shellac. Forgetting of course that I had to stick the upper rails and swivel plates to the hull. Needless to say they wouldn't stick,  so I had to rub down my carefully applied poly. 
 
If the only thing this log's good for is to help others avoid similar silly mistakes (whilst laughing at me for making them!) then it'll be worth it.
 
Painting the rails before fixing them to the hull saves grief later on.
 

Like everything else in the kit these are cleverly designed, made so that the rails run in a continuous line  across gun and sweep ports. When stuck firm, you remove the sections crossing the ports with the result that the remaining sections follow the line of the sheer perfectly. The next job was to fit the swivel gun posts and bases - more sanding back of painted surfaces!

Finally, after a fair amount of fettling and titivating I reapplied the matt poly.
 

The boxwood is really starting to look the part.
 
Before I go much further I need to decide what to do about the stern counter side timber. But that can wait 'til tomorrow.
 
Derek
 
 
 

Wow, amazing detail, just fantastic. 

Post 83

 
All but done

Still a base to make but for all practical purposes the model is complete.

So here are the final shots of the completed model, I will add my thoughts on the kit and build experience in a separate post.


First the close-ups


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The next post will show the upper rigging shots and full model shots.


 
B.E.

25/03/2020

 
 

It's been a few days, but time for a small update.
 
The plastic and paint I ordered has arrived... or, more accurately, I went to pick it up, as the paint (rattle cans) could not be shipped via the mail. (An hour and ten minute drive to the hobby shop, 30 seconds to pick up my order then another hour and ten minute drive home.... Isn't curbside wonderful!). I'm still waiting on the seating, but who knows when that will ever arrive.
 
I've  added the wind deflectors to the clerestory this morning, so that largely completes the car roof. Hooray!
 
As for the window mullions.... where to even begin.... I think I scared the dog... she's not used to hearing anyone curse in full sentences. Suffice it to say that it was an exceedingly frustrating endeavour. 0.010" x 0.030" styrene was needed to make the mullions (any thicker and they would have looked clunky).  Unfortunately any time I applied glue (styrene cement), the little fleck of plastic decided it preferred to stick to the metal tweezers and not the adjacent plastic (or, conversely, go flying into the great beyond)... grrr.... After a few attempts I tried a slightly different approach by taking some 0.020" x 0.030" strip to use as a base and glueing the mullions to that first. The plan being to then cut out the division between the main and transom windows and inserting the entire construction into place... That strategy was binned quickly, when the styrene decided to glue itself to the cutting mat... and the metal tweezers.. and whatever it is in the great beyond that was far more attractive (What. The. Ahem!). So I've decided that for the sake of my sanity, I will forego the mullions. Not my preferred outcome, but...

The first coat of primer has been applied now, so no more pictures of blinding white plastic, although some of the details still struggle to be seen....

And the opposite side of the car... looks like I need a bit of filler on the eave of the roof over the lavatory windows. No big deal, at least things have resumed their forward movement!
 
Andy

White respray, looks good enough, pitty I can't use the chipping fluid's capacity anymore. Back to manually inflicting damage. Few more bottles on order. Forgot to order three for this model. Added the missing colours for the next at the same time, saves postal charges. Won't be long before I'll start that one.. Planning a scratch build too. I found an interesting 109 the BF 109Z. Requires two kits, and a lot of scratch building ... model bucket list + 1
 

Great little kits, I've built two of them.
 
Good luck with the build. 

Limited progress this week as I've been taking advantage of the fine weather to get jobs done in the garden (that's manspeak for trying to cross off a few of my chores from my wife's lengthy list). 
 
First job was painting the wales and prow. I started by masking off the unpainted areas but made a mess of it. Paint seeped through in some places, and in other the tape pulled bits of paint off the top edge of the wales. I used good quality tamiya tape so I don't believe that was the problem. Rather, I think my mistake was applying several coats of matt polyurethane to the unpainted areas before painting the wales. Some of the varnish got onto the wales and prevented the acrylic adhering properly. So, after much sanding, cleaning and swearing I went back to basics and repainted the wales with as steady a hand as possible. The result is certainly better than my original attempt (which I was too disappointed to photograph ☹️). 

Meanwhile I've made some progress with the cannon, starting with a little jig to shape the cap squares. It's just a drill bit the same diameter as the trunnions, half-sunk into a groove in a piece of wood. Once in place I just use a thumbnail either side to press the little piece of photo-etch into shape. Just makes it a bit easier to fit to the carriage. As for that, I started using CA but found I couldn't always get the cap square sitting properly before the glue set, so now I use PVA. Not ideal but it's not load bearing so it shouldn't matter.

The cannon are coming along, but you'll see that the blackening process didn't work too well on the cap squares. I think it was because I tried to do too many small pieces all together, and I couldn't agitate them enough to get them all evenly treated. I'll touch up with Admiralty metal black when I've finished them all.
 

Back to the chores!
 
Derek

Wow, amazing detail, just fantastic. 

Wow, amazing detail, just fantastic. 

Wow, amazing detail, just fantastic. 

Hi,  I show you  my pictures of Notre-Dame under construction and my stained glass window,,,,,Notre-Dame is not an assemble kit ...I made my own pieces with the help from pictures in books and from the internet.  The scale will be 1/100.  I made some stained glass windows and this is my first one.....Tanks a lot.

Hi  Druxey......First of all I made enlarge a ground plan  of my cathedral , and with the drawing of Eugene Viollet Leduc (the man who renovate this cathedral from 1844 to 1864) plus a hundreds of photos in books plus pictures on the internet and finally the drawing at the University Laval  in the archives department   I have everything I need. This cathedral will be made entirely of  pine wood,,,,What you see in pictures  is only the beginning,,,First I start with the roof,,,now  I built the spire of the cathedral...........My techniques is easy...Once I know the width and the height of my spire,I go by section...Each section is drawn by myself..each piece is measured and noted....after and that's where the fun begins,I try to  do the piece in different ways...sometimes it's work sometimes not...it's by trial and error...For example..... if you take the fifth picture..I show you what is called a Balustrade,this balustrade are made of two section...the above section you have the   nnnnnnnnnn  and the under section you have the posts  IIIIIIIIIII.To built the posts it's easy but not for the nnnn above.To built the nnnnnnn,I take a piece of  plain wood approximately of 4 mm high by 30 mm long and if  I make 12 nnnnnnnnnnnn I drill 12 holes with my dremel in the plain wood   ,  after that  I use the saw blade to round off the top,,,  ET... VOILA....I used  and abused Dremel a lot.                            Tanks Druxey I hope it answers your question.

Great little kits, I've built two of them.
 
Good luck with the build. 

Well done Bob!

My Medway Longboat is finished and I finally got around to taking some final photos. I started my build back in November and it took me 6 months to complete...what can I say, I'm pretty slow. It certainly wasn't always smooth sailing for me but I managed to navigate my way through some of the rough spots and, in the end, I ended up with a model I quite proud of. It was essentially my third model and it was by far the the most complex of the three. I had never done any rigging before and was really apprehensive about that part. Curiously, it ended up being one of the most satisfying steps of the whole build for me. It was as if the model really came to life with the rigging since it gave the boat so much more interesting detail.
 
We've found a nice place for her to be displayed on top of a small bookcase next to my modeling desk. I find myself looking at it quite often and can barely believe that I actually made it. A great sense of satisfaction comes with the realization of all the hours and care that went into building it. It certainly was a labor of love and that love will be passed on to my son when he inherits it some day in future. He has followed along as I built her and I think it will mean a lot to him when it's his to keep. 
 
 I'm not sure I would have made it to the end without the support of those of you who took the time to follow my progress and give me advice and and offer kind words of encouragement along the way. Believe me, it helped me get to the finish line and I'm very much appreciative. So a big thank you to each and every one of you and I very much look forward to seeing each of you get to the finish line as well. Cheers!

Great little kits, I've built two of them.
 
Good luck with the build. 

Great little kits, I've built two of them.
 
Good luck with the build. 

Great little kits, I've built two of them.
 
Good luck with the build.