RdK

Hi there, Ab, If you are notoriously lazy, what am I? ...Considering it takes me 10 years to finish a small vessel like the Mayflower... 😄 And the oversized stitches made me laugh heartily, because it is so true, Ab! I just imagined a sailmaker handling an oversized needle..!😂 But I am glad you like it, and I agree, they add something authentic to it. I also like the idea of drawing the seam stitches and will try that in my next model. Thank you for the information druxey. I was not thinking about that. But in the case of this painting, the patches are really darker than the sail cloth. The light seems to come rather from high up and almost straight above the ship from the left. And look at the main topsail patches: Maybe, they were made from cloth during the voyage and it got dirty while it was stored? Or it was simply a slightly darker cloth... As for the silk span in Europe, I've found only that brodak.com seller, which apparently sells his product also in some selected european hobby shops. Ab, I've sent you an email. But I am not sure if that is the same stuff. -Radek

Hi, My method of sails is quite 'amateur' by stitching them, simply for the relaxing joy of stitching and I like the structure of the wrinkled cloth in the end. But apart from that, tea for dyeing - the more tea the darker - and I use Lord Nelson's black tea... Then I shape them with the clear varnish as described here. Then I use diluted oil paint (diluted with turpentine) to alter - the less the better - and the thinner the better. I guess acrylic paint is good too and you can use some alcohol, if it does not dilute the starch as much as water..? I also noticed that just a bit of some dirty water does the trick also. After all, the sail cloth for our models is just like a piece of fabric so why not behave like little children again and get a little bit messy? Druxey, I alter my sails after shaping...😊 On a bit more professional note: Patches do not necessarily have to be brighter than the rest of the sail. Look what detail I've found on a Willem van de Velde II painting (you know it probably already): Maybe just paint/draw some different color patches on the sail? Maybe that can be accomplished with white paint, too? Here's an example of my first try to imitate some patches on the foresail of my Mayflower model (I might try some other color next time) 😅: Just some suggestions. Working on finishing my sails right now and hope to posting some progress on my own build soon. Thanks Ab! -Radek

Hi Ab! Nice pictures again from your son! I just changed the desktop background today at work to another one of your splendid masterpieces ("Pinas in de mist")! Van de Velde himself and his son would get jealous! ;) The models look very real on the pictures. One word of constructive criticism if you allow me: Make the sails more dirty...maybe not as dirty as I exaggerated in my Mayflower model, but they seem (to me) too clean on the pictures...Maybe that can be done in photoshop as well? That way you keep the real models clean... :) Great job on the Speel-jacht! Seeing your projects piling up inspires me to continue with my own ones.Thanks! Looking forward to seeing more! -Radek

Hi there! Thank you for the informative lessons (of the Dutch as well as your ship building career)! The model comes along nicely! A very interesting design, too. Reminds me of an oversized rowing boat. Looking forward to see more. But until then stay save with that heat scorching the lands in Europe! Here in Helsinki we have enjoyable "Finnish summer temperatures" of around 20 degrees which feel even colder due to the sea wind - just ideal to work on my thesis (and unfortunately not on my Mayflower...). Rgds, Radek

Hi Tony sorry for not posting in a while. Yes I have a little break as life is catching up. I have to finish my PhD study this year and you can imagine things always get a bit stressed in the end. The Mayflower is almost finished and as soon as I have a bit time spare I will continue the story here. But don’t worry, my Mayflower should be ready for her 400 year voyage anniversary! -Radek

Hi, Regarding the transom: Here are some pictures how I built the stern in my Mayflower, which is of course different than your ship, because it is a galeon. Nevertheless, some of my techniques how to tackle this problem in paper/card modeling. And here’s a link to how Shipyard models are dealing with the problem, as demonstrated by DORIS and her HMS VICTORY: http://www.papirove-modely.cz/velkynahled/52372 Here’s still a link to a great paper modeler community: http://www.papermodelers.com/ Grüssle ausm Allgäu! Radek

Hi, I would say it depends on the transom itself. In my Mayflower I used the transom piece itself and attached/glued it to the main frame like the other frames. It was hold in place with the horizontal frame parts and the hull sides itself. If the part is small like in your model, maybe you can scratch build some additional frame parts in the back, similar to the shipyard paper models? I will post some pictures tomorrow. Your approach regarding the bulwarks sounds quite right to me. Paper and card are always so much softer than wood and plastic, but your model comes along nicely! Looking forward to seeing more! Rgds, Radek

Hi there! Thanks Steven. I am glad you enjoy the build. Backstays or Halliard? ....and the tricky deadeyes While rigging the ship this year I've noticed that the plans either lack the fore top yard halliard or the backstays. If I read the plan correctly, the red line in the next picture is identified as a "padun" or "pardun" (polish), which comes from the Dutch word "pardoen" and translate into english as the backstay. So when mounting the fore top yard, I've noticed that the halliard is missing in the plans. Either or... However, Anderson's book about rigging in the 17th century helps me to sort out the problem. More on this when I have done the top sail halliard. Back when the ship did not have masts yet, I tried to figure out, how to make deadeyes that look realistic (enough). I was not very satisfied with the result from paper/card. They were constantly too soft and too flat and broke apart between my clumsy fingers. I lack the tools to make them from wood, or it would have taken me forever to carve each and everyone by hand. So I decided to make them from the model clay (the one DORIS is using for sculpturing). First I made one template from wood. Then used the clay to form a negative casting mold... ...for both sides of the deadeye. One side had no marks for the holes so they would not misalign while glueing the two parts together. After baking for 30-40 minutes at 130 degree centigrade I cut the excess material off and glued them on a tiny card sheet. After cutting them out, the other half was glued, then I drilled the holes, painted black and a second layer with brown. And here's the result from drilling as seen on the other half that had no holes: So much for now. More on the masts next time. Rgds, Radek

Hi there! It is almost unbelievable that your Sovereign is in a scale 1:96! The details on her are just stunning! 👏👏👏 As regards the wiring for the light in your Katherine: Who is making your schematics? Are you doing it yourself or do you have some help? For my scratch build of "Neptune" from Roman Polanski's movie Pirates I plan to implement light as well. But all my components, i.e. resistors, potentiometers, capacitors, will be outside the ship, so in the ship itself there will be only the diodes in a parallel circuit connection. This will save a lot of space. A student at my workplace was friendly enough to help me with the schematics. I hope to post my progress soon on papermodelers "Spanish Galleon Neptune" 😊 and at some point I will start a progress report on her here, too. Kind regards, Radek

Hi! I think you made one half then the other, Doris, isn’t it so? ButI am also interested in the same questions regarding re-baking the clay. Dziękuje Dziadeczku! -Radek

Rudder, Channels, etc... Hi everyone! Thanks @ Steven and Patrick! It is nice to hear when a card model does not look like card at all. That is, I believe, the goal of any card modeller, regardless of the model, whether it depicts a metal or a wooden one. Thank you for the compliments. I wish I could make better pictures. The rudder was copied from the plans onto 2mm thick card board using either a sharp needle or my compass. I simply put the card underneath the plan and copy the part by piercing the outlines onto the underlying card. After shaping it, white glue was applied to harden and smoothen the card. Then I attached the self adhesive foil with wood pattern, which was later altered with black oil paint. The pintle and gudgeon were made from ~0.3mm wire and 0.3mm paper respectively, painted with a black marker and the rivets imitated with a needle that has no sharp end (was a defect production in the box, turning out useful). Attached to the ship it looks like this: The visible part of the tiller was painted with oil paints burned umber and burned sienna. The channels have been made from 2mm card and pierced with the circle. Then... a) self adhesive foil attached, b) marked from the other side, where the holes are, c) and d) holes pierced from the right side INTO the piece where the marks are to avoid a crater-like appearance on the surface. So that the final result looks like this prior to altering with black paint: Support beams were made from 1mm card with ready attached and altered foil on both sides. Attached to the ship it looks like this: The catheads were made from several pieces of 0.3mm card/paper and the pulley sheave was imitated with a 0.4mm wire painted black with a marker. The self adhesive foil was used all around the cathead. Later I decided to try out modelling a real cat head, but they look more like some dirty little 2-3mm sized bear heads... The chains underneath the chain plates were made from a tiny chain and paper, painted black. Right now I've finished the rigging on the stem, but had some problems with the top sail halliard. More on it in the next post as well as how I made the deadeyes... Kind regards, Radek

Thanks for describing your method. The pictures show clearly how you do this amazing details. "Pictures tell more than thousand words" The idea with the brush is excellent! I will try it out myself (and of course I do not expect to achieve even a fraction as splendid a result as yours!) once I've finished my Mayflower and continue on the Neptune. Thanks again! -Radek

Hi! Looking forward to seeing your first wooden build! I am still stuck with card and paper. Wood is scary... -Radek