Landlubber Mike

Thanks guys. Tom thanks for the tip - I forgot they carried other woods. Great news! Jaager, thanks for your thoughts. I used a General Finishes stain which goes on very nicely. I just took another look at the waterway and it actually looks pretty good. I thought it was uneven but it looks a little better than I remembered. Might have to think about things a bit. World of Hardwoods is about 45 minutes away - hmm, might need to take a little trip....

People knock AL kits, but this is working into a really nice model. Love the herringbone decking, really nice job!

Thanks Jim. My experience with Lumberyard wasn't very good either. I reached out to them for African Blackwood, and I felt like it was a huge runaround and not to mention, it almost seemed like when they did actually respond to me, they tried talking me out of it. I'll take look at Ocooch, they seem to have a bunch of nice wood there. If you're looking for holly and boxwood, try www.inlaybanding.com - very nice seller who was willing to take a custom order from me for ebony. and milled sheets of it in various specifications.

Hi everyone, After a summer off, I'm looking to get back into my Morgan build. For the waterway, I used pear stained with a dark brown stain. Looking at it now, I think it bothers me a little in that the color is not completely uniform (close, but not exactly). Since I'm building the model without paint, I'm regretting using pear here and want to replace it. It will be a bit tricky in that the plankshear sits on top of a portion of it, but I think I should be able to remove at least the part that sticks out from the planksheer and replace it with a thin band of a dark brown wood that will butt against the remaining pear/planksheer. For the waterway, I want to use a single piece that runs the full length of the hull. At least with the pear, I found it was easier to bend a longer piece, than break it up into smaller sections where you don't have the same leverage to get the smooth curve. I'd also use it elsewhere in the build in square type pieces, such as the base for the tryworks. So, two quick questions: 1. I am thinking about going with walnut, as I like the way the way it looks when oiled. Are there other woods with a similar uniform dark brown color that are machine workable and can be bent relatively easily (having worked with ebony, everything is pretty easy to me now )? 2. Also, any recommendations on sellers? I don't have a way to rip down thick pieces (only have a Byrnes thickness sander and table saw), so am looking for wood in the size we use in the hobby. Looks like Crown Timberyard and Wood Project Source are no longer operating? It looks like I could order a sheet from Ocooch in the size I would need, but just thought I'd see if there were any other recommendations out there. There is a Woodcraft about a half hour drive from me that I can try too. Thanks!

Gorgeous Don, really amazing work. The wood really came to life on it with your techniques. Let me add my congratulations to the chorus! By the way, that trip to the liqueur cabinet was very well deserved.

Looking great Don - very curvy lady!

Thanks Ken, really appreciate you sharing. Have a great Sunday!

Ken thanks so much for the explanation. I really love how the wood pops. I have two Euromodel kits on my shelf and seeing what you’ve done makes me excited to build them. Can I ask the brand name of the dyes you are using?

Thanks Gary - looking forward to the results!

Great work Don, I'm glad that you are adding sails to her. Sails take a lot of work though, don't they? I only added furled sails to my Badger, but it took me a lot of research and experimentation to get to where I was happy with them.

Really beautiful work Ken. Can I ask what, if any, stains, varnishes, oils, etc. you used for what I think are the walnut pieces? Whatever you are doing looks absolutely fantastic.

Thanks very much Igor for posting your sail technique - the pulled thread method is a very clever way of doing it. Really appreciate you sharing your various methods, I've learned a lot!

Beautiful John!

Beautiful work Mark. Your log, along with the other RW logs and Pete's very helpful notes, are wonderful marketing for what a great kit (and subject) this is.

I would have broken things out a little more. Some kits for example have good plans but poor materials. Some have poor plans but good materials. I’d also note the results may not be fair to certain kit manufacturers. For example, there aren’t many Billings or Bluejacket builds on here. And the Lumberyard kit is a whole different kind of kit from the more retail mass market kit.

Gary, thanks so much for passing along your test results. It sounds like a very effective method - very promising. One thing I'm curious about with all these methods is what does the oxidation do to the copper. Does the oxidation form at the surface, and go no further (which is what I think happens with aluminum, though I'm no expert), or does it continue all the way through the copper if left unchecked (sorta like what happens when iron starts rusting). Especially in the latter case, it would be great if there was a way to stop the chemical process once you get to a point that you are satisfied with. Mobbsie! It's been a long time my friend and fellow Badger Brother. Hope all is well with you. I'm looking forward to your Pickle build!

Looks great Jason - the bitts came out fantastic! I completely get where you're coming from on the rigging. Personally I think these models look a lot better fully rigged, but at the same time, the space they take up pretty much triples. I was surprised once I rigged my Badger how much more space it took - I can only imagine what things look like on a bigger model. Then of course there is the cost if you want to encase it, which goes up a lot if you need to account for a rigged model. Not sure that helps you, but I would certainly say that your Jason will looked fantastic rigged or not.

Beautiful Don! I was going to ask if you made your own rope too, as well as what machines you are using for creating the rope and the serving lines as I think your rigging looks very nice.

Beautiful work as always BE, very nice job! Thank you for sharing your build with us. I know I speak for many that we learn a ton from your modeling techniques and are always inspired by your work. I was going to ask what was next, but saw you already started the Longboat. I really need to log on here more often

That came out really well Martin, great job! I love the curves and colors which really go nicely with the rest of the model. I haven't had a chance to study the breast work and all the details that go into them, but are the sheaves actual working sheaves on the ship?

Sure is GMO2. Do you mind sharing the results of your tests? I will certainly do the same when I get to them. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts and research on this very interesting topic!

Thanks very much guys, really appreciate all the thoughts. GMO, I agree on the need to be carefully using a chemical solution that would eat through the thin tape. That would be a disaster for sure! Jason, in addition to jewelry applications, I've seen stuff used for copper work in other applications like lamps, figurines, etc. Like GMO, I plan to test out various products and approaches to see what works. I have a feeling though that a paint approach might be the best to achieve that look.

Thanks very much guys, really appreciate the kind words. Bruce, that's really helpful to figure out that character. BE, I think you were referring to Alistair's Fly build where he used the, uh, personal fluids method? On the Amati copper plates, it seemed to turn the copper a darker brown look - a look I'm planning to use for my Pegasus, but I'll just have to make sure that I don't eat asparagus before collecting the sample For the Morgan though, I love the green copper look against the black hull. I haven't gotten very far in my research on how to emulate the green coppering in the models above. It seems like paints might be the only way to accomplish an even tone across the plates. What complicates things is that some copper materials (such as the tape supplied in MS kits) may have some sort of coating which limits the effect of some of the patina liquids. Will need to do some experimentation. What I can assure you all is that in no way will I use the approach that GMO2 mentioned of burying the hull in poop to achieve that look

Thanks Martin, you should give ebony a shot. It really is a beautiful wood. I can always send you some if you want to try it out. I think I'm using Gabon Ebony, which is jet black throughout, uniform, dense, no grain wood. Thanks Bruce. I bought some dry transfer letters and will try them out first, as I think there will be a slight difference in hue between wood and the paper. The letters are going to be tricky though to get lined up right, particularly since the name plate on the transom has a slight curve. I was also wondering what to do with that divider character - no dry transfer letters available for that one A third option would be to see if I could order custom decals. That would probably be the easiest/safest approach, though it's finding a vendor and hopefully not ending up with a high bill.

Sailor, I definitely agree with your recommendation. A whaler with a full load will have sat very low on the water due to weight is my guess - the natural waterline would be much higher than where it is on the ship currently, which is quite lighter these days without the need for hauling cargo.