Landlubber Mike

Thanks for all the information guys. Just out of curiosity, if I have the Byrnes disc sander already, would the belt sander on the Rigid model come in handy at all?

Thanks Spy - RWS' and Alistair's quarter badges were two models that I had saved. I might have to play around with it a bit. I think in both RWS' and Alistair's quarter badges, the upper finishing extends past the dolphins (kinda like how the lower finishing is more of the classic tear drop), while the NMM plans suggest that the boundary of the upper finishing ends at the dolphins. I'm also trying to think ahead and plan for the sequencing of when the rails, headworks, and quarter badge should be installed. Ideally, I'd like to run the rails as a single piece the full line of the hull in order the get the proper line between segments that might be broken up by the gunports, headworks, quarter badge, etc. So, do I install the rails now, and either cut slots into the the quarter badge, etc. to sit on top of the rails? Or so I install the rails now and cut them off to fit the quarter badge, etc. flush to the hull? Or, I suppose I could take the alternative approach of doing the headworks and quarter badge now, and then install the rails in segments.

Thanks SpyGlass. I'm actually thinking of building the quarter badges to project from the side of the hull, and not be flat as per the kit pieces and instructions. The approach I'm taking is similar to what Alistair did on his Fly (picture of which is above). My posts above are probably not very clear, but I guess I was wondering if I take Alistair's approach, should the outer boundary of the upper finishing end at the dolphins, or be a bit wider as per Alistair's approach. The NMM plans suggest the former.

Thanks BE and Spyglass for looking in and your thoughts. I tend to agree with your assessment on how the upper finishing would be vulnerable if there was space. Here's another picture to show folks what I'm trying to figure out: The area of the red arrow I think needs to come out from the hull at least to where the top of the rounded window is (i.e., it couldn't be a blank space between the two dolphins). Otherwise, the top of the window would be exposed and likely subject to damage I would think. As you go up the hull towards the dolphin tails, that area likely slopes towards the hull giving more of the plan view D on p. 297 look. For the green area in between the dolphin's tail and its head, I think this area also shouldn't be a "blank space" but should come off the hull planking a bit, with the dolphin essentially raised a little off of it. The yellow area, which is the area just outside of the dolphin, is the trickiest. The kit's quarter badge piece is slightly bigger than the PE dolphin pieces, so you have sort of a quarter badge border around the dolphins. You can see this in Alistair's approach where his upper finishing extends outside of the dolphins. If you look at the NMM plans however, you can see the rails going right to the dolphins (particularly on the left side), which almost suggests that the outer edge of the dolphins marked the outer boundary of the upper finishing. Not saying that Alistair's approach was incorrect, just that there might be different interpretations on the quarter badges given the lack of clarity on the plans. I'm going to have to sleep on it a bit, but I think what I'm going to do is attempt to have the boundary of the upper finishing marked by the outer edge of the dolphins. I'll start by roughing out the upper finishing as per the TFFM instructions on p. 297, and essentially carve the dolphins in relief on that piece.

Hey Martin, really nice work. Not sure what I would do. Once you get a lot of the deck structures in place, would you notice this and would it be an issue? If it would continue to bother you, I'd say go ahead and do it over. Otherwise, if you can move on, then leave it in place. I know for me that if things are going to remain an eyesore for me in the future, it's just better for me to redo things.

Hey Mark, thanks for looking in. The drops below the windows definitely appear to be the typical, full drops with decorations carved in relief. Unfortunately, the stern view of the plans isn't much help as you can see below:

Unfortunately I haven't had much time lately with work being busy to go into the shipyard. I have been reading and planning for my quarter badges though. I'm planning to make them more three dimensional than flat badges as in the kit, but I'm a bit stuck on how to do the upper finishing. Here is a good picture from the NMM plans: The upper finishing is the part above the windows that consists of the two dolphins or dragons (hard for me to tell what they are). TFFM notes that the decorations are in relief, and that in some ships, the upper finishing design shows high relief figures with deep undercuts, and suggests that it's easier to carve the figures separately and then attach them to the upper finishing. What I can't figure out is whether the upper finishing is solely comprised of the two figures (and other decoration between their tails), or whether I should construct the upper finishing as a relatedly solid roof-like structure, with the figures on top. Alistair took the latter option as shown in the picture borrowed from his log below: Anyone have any idea what is more accurate? I'm thinking Alistair's approach makes more sense, even though the plans suggest that the figures themselves are all that make up the upper finishing. Thanks in advance!

Looks great. The weathering is really nice. I'm going to have to try that on my Morgan.

Some of the kits have tanganyika, which looks nice but is a bit splintery. I used tanganyika on my Caldercraft Badger. I'm using maple on my Pegasus. It's a really nice wood to work with. There are some amber waves in the otherwise light color, but I actually like it.

I got an email that the Woodcraft spindle sander is on sale. Is it any good? There have been a few times where a spindle sander would have been really handy on my builds. Of course I'd prefer buying one from Jim Byrnes if he decides to make one... Here is the link to the item and sale price: http://www.woodcraft.com/product/157889/woodriver-benchtop-spindle-sander.aspx

Great work Daniel. Better not sneeze when those cannons are around

Beautifully done Don, very nice job!

Really great work Igor! Glad you're posting here as well as the SIB site. I wish I could build as cleanly at 1/64 as you build at 1/300!

It's been a while since I did the jib traveler for my Badger, but here is a link to my post on how I constructed it (using the Lennarth Peterson book and TFFM Vol. 4): http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/604-brig-badger-by-landlubber-mike-caldercraft-164/?p=130687

Hey Frank, nice unique model to work on. Can't wait to see you work your magic on this one. Nice start!

Very nice touch Mark, very thoughtful of you.

Looks great Mark. Sorry to sorta free ride off your efforts, but I'm looking into scratching my stern and quarterbadges on my Pegasus. Your log is very handy for giving my ideas on how to proceed. Thanks for sharing!

Hey Don, I just re-read your reply and saw you wanted a picture of the clamp in action. I took the wrong picture, ugh. Let's see if I can explain. The Zona clamp works like most C-type clamps, except both ends aren't fixed. You slide each arm along the rod to get the clamping gap you need. When you get the pieces clamped as you want them, you slightly pinch the top of the arms together where the bar is. That essentially locks the arms in place - kinda surprising, but it really works. The nice thing about these is that unlike C-clamps where the two arms are on the same plane, the arms on the Zona clamp actually swivel, which give you lots of options. There is also some other gizmos that came in the pack that help you turn this into more of a modular type of tool for even more purposes. Just found this link that describes these clamps much better than I can. To the right of the page are some illustrations on the multitude of uses you can have with these clamps. I highly recommend them. http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews/misc/tools/Berna/berna.html By the way, in my picture above, the Zona clamp is on top, the Irwin in the middle, and the Amati on the bottom (don't buy the Amati). You can see how much more clamping area you have with the Zona over the Irwin. Happy 4th of July to all my friends! Here's a slab of ribs I smoked earlier today to help get in the spirit

Happy Birthday Mark!

I agree with everyone above. Don, that planking looks fantastic - get a nice finish on it and it will be gorgeous. Put the paint brush down and slowly walk away

That dowel system is very clever. Probably a foolproof way to make sure the bulkheads are aligned and vertically and square to the keel. Very interesting! Great to see manufacturers thinking outside the box so to speak and coming up with better ways of doing things. A lot of thought seems to be going into the MarisStella kits to make them better for builders - novice and pro alike. It's a pain in the *posterior* to get everything square on some kits, when in today's world with laser cutting precision, you wouldn't think this would be an issue.

Looking really nice Jason - very crisp details! If you're still having labor issues, I know a few guys in NY who are pros at breaking up labor strikes...

Great start Don. The fit on the parts seems impeccable. Are the pieces plywood or MDF?

Thanks Martin I found the Zona Berna clamps on Amazon. Here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/Zona-38-725-Assortment-8-Inch-Connector/dp/B0006N734W It's amazing how one can use every possible clamp type in this hobby. By the way, I tried buying the Irwin "mini" bar clamps thinking they were a tad longer. Well, they are longer and much much bigger. Too big for modeling, but I'm sure I can find some other application for them in the future.

I'm going to smoke some ribs tomorrow Don - I'll bring some over with some good beer.