Landlubber Mike

That's what I did - placed the plank on the ship, then traced the line directly to the plank. You can use tape or card stock, but then you have to transfer the template separately to the plank. The method I used avoided that step, and was surprisingly accurate. At first I cut just outside the lines to give myself extra material to work with and sand back, but over time, it was better to just cut on the line. There is always a little sanding you have to do, but I found that if you get the line marked correctly, you should be good to go. Sometimes it was a little tricky holding the plank down to the bend in the hull while tracing the spile line, which is probably why using card or tape can be easier in those situations.

I recently used spiling for the planking on my Pegasus. To answer your questions: 1. I don't see why that ruler can't work. I bought a set of ship curves and used two of them. In most cases, I was able to use a ships curve for the full plank. 2. I didn't use a scroll saw. I used strips 50% or so wider than the standard plank length, and used X-actos, chisels and sandpaper to cut and finish the planks. Those planks are pretty thin, and shouldn't be much of a problem. I'm not an expert on my scroll saw, but I wonder if the saw is too much power on such thin pieces of wood? Walnut is prone to splinter in my limited experience, so I'd worry that the scroll saw might cause more problems than its worth. 3. I can't help you on the tape method. I tried it and it didn't really work for me (probably because of the tape I used). I went with the compass method, where you trace the line against the edge of the plank above. It worked pretty easily for me, and you didn't need to worry about tape and transferring lines. Good luck!

Amazing work Chris. One of the things that I think detracts from models is the contrast between finished wood and painted areas (especially, where photo etched or cast metal parts are used). You did a really great job tying all those areas together. Can I ask what you use for the white areas? I find that most white paints are still too bright, and I would like to find a way to dull it either with a wash or something similar. I've toyed with the idea of using a light diluted stain, and other options would be to try an off-white paint like ivory or cream.

You'll definitely need wider planks from the kit planks if you go with spiled planking. For some of the planks on my Pegasus, I found I needed to work with planks at least 50% thicker than the standard plank width. For example, take a look at the plank at this post on my log http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/7267-hms-pegasus-by-landlubber-mike-amativictory-models-scale-164/?p=365802

Frank, really well done! I can't believe I missed it! You're a master at the weathering techniques - she looks like a worn, beat-up old thing, and I mean that in a good way! Congratulations, look forward to seeing your next masterpiece!

That settles it then

Wow, amazing work Igor! Very impressive, as is your collection of ships in bottles. Congratulations on a fantastic model!

Very nice. Does the paper hold up very well after staining, etc.?

Hi Ian, I agree on the circular port rings. Pretty odd, but unique looking I suppose. On the rail for the quarterdeck, in the first option, does the rail extend to the fore end of the quarterdeck or nearabouts? If it came up short, I wonder if it would have been a safety hazard. Otherwise, aesthetically, I still say option 1 looks better.

Looking really great Ian. You're pretty handy for a Luddite For what it's worth, I like the first rail also. Either is nice, but it might be worth seeing if that rail would give enough protection for folks on the quarterdeck? Those portholes are interesting, particularly where they bulk of them extends above the bulwarks. I'm wondering why they were like that? Functionally they don't seem to have much value, but maybe it was for aesthetics?

Igor, thanks very much for the pictures. I had a feeling you were using the mast recess. Your drawing is really helpful to envision how the mast can lay flat on the deck and not be constrained by the standing rigging. I'm also building a schooner, and am thinking about how to fold the masts down. I wanted to avoid the look of using a hinge. Also, the masts are so tall on my ship that I will have a hard time getting the ship in my bottle - the bottle is an upright bottle, and the overall length of the ship if I folded the masts towards the stern would be too long to turn the ship in the bottle (if that makes sense). One more question if you do not mind - do you ever fold the masts forward towards the bow? Or do you always fold them back towards the stern? For the deadeyes, yes, those are the items I was referring to. They look really nice, and structurally strong to keep the standing rigging taut. Thanks so much! Sorry for asking questions on your build log, I should start my own

Igor, amazing work as always. So inspirational! Can I ask a couple of questions? Are you hinging the masts or leaving them free? Also, how are you constructing your deadeyes? I'm almost finished with the hull on my current SIB build, but have been struggling with how to approach the standing rigging on my ship. Thanks in advance!

Joe, sorry to hear about all your frustrations with this kit and ME. This is not a good advertisement for the kit. I've similarly had concerns about the use of basswood on the kit, particularly on the framing materials. I could be wrong, and hopefully someone will correct me if I am, but the plankshear pieces I believe are covered up by other pieces/planking. They are critical from what I can tell to make sure that the stanchions, etc. are spaced correctly, so I'd rather be dealing with pieces that are whole than try to fix and use the broken pieces. Overall, I'd say that the kit is a nice one with good plans and on a subject that is not often seen in the kit world. One can make a nice model right from the kit as John has shown. I would have bought the plans and tried scratching it as I'm planning on replacing most of the kit (visible wood, cast pieces, etc.), but ME doesn't seem to offer the plans by themselves. I was able to get the kit for a steal on eBay, so it was a wash for me to source plans from elsewhere, buy plywood, etc. for the keel, etc., or buy the kit for the price I did and bash it pretty heavily. As an aside, I would highly recommend seeing the Morgan if you are in the area. I was with family so I couldn't spend as much time as I would have liked on the "pirate ship" as my girls called it, but it's cool to now have a connection with the actual ship that I'm now modeling. I have a ton of pictures I can share with you as well if you ever have questions on what something looked like. I also recent read the Leavitt book on the Morgan, the Yankee Whaler, and am currently reading a book on the whaler Essex, which was destroyed by a very large sperm whale who didn't take too kindly to whaling practices It's given me a little more insight into the ship which will give more context as I build the model. Anyway, just wanted to offer words of encouragement - hang in there my friend

Beautiful Jason! That's going to look fantastic. Are you planning on adding carvings, etc. to the stern?

Looks great to me Daniel, the painted thread technique looks to be a good one (I forget where I read about it). Did you cut a groove for the thread? Just curious as I have a red pinstripe to add to the side of the hull of my current SIB build. I'm going to try to cut some very thin redheart using my Byrnes table saw, but if that doesn't work, I've considered the thread technique.

New one (and old one actually) look very nice Daniel. Amazing how you are able to get such detail at such a small scale on a complicated ship. I've been working on a 1:250 double masted schooner for a SIB which is much simpler, yet still very hard. Big respect for your skills!

Very nice work Mark - the gold and black look really sharp together.

That's a beautiful rudder Mark. Very nice job. I'm about to take up silver soldering too - glad you are finding great results from it.

Very nice tutorial Ken!

Looks really great Martin. All coming together very nicely!

That's some really nice planking work Jason. This is turning out to be a real beauty.

Really nice work so far Elijah. The deck plan looks like a good one. Just remember that with the curved planks, you ended up using more wood than if you just used plain strips. With 1/4" planks, they might be wide enough to build in a curve, otherwise, it's a little harder to bend planks laterally with the decks, where the planking is essentially in a two-dimensional grid, than the hull, which is more three-dimensional.

Very nice work Ken! I'm glad the black stain worked out so well. I'm a big convert on using stain over paint for the very reason you described above. Have you thought about what you are going to do with the white and green areas? There are lots of green stains out there. I just bought this product from Minwax to use on a ship-in-bottle build that I will try out in the very near future: http://www.amazon.com/Minwax-30806-Express-Wiping-Emerald/dp/B004CFEBWM White can be a little tricky. To me, even if one uses a "dull white", it still looks a little too garish for my tastes. It's almost like one needs to use more of an ivory color. I saw one model using an ivory paint, but I forget which model and which paint was used You can try bleaching wood, but it's unclear whether the bleach will have long term effects on the wood. There are also pickling stains out there, most of which seem to lighten the wood and not necessarily give a more pure white appearance. One option that I've been very pleasantly surprised with is the "White Wash" stain from General Finishes. Like the other GF stains, it goes on like a stain, but has the coverage like a paint. It worked very well across different woods. Interestingly, it also worked well on metal. The lower portions of the masts on the Charles Morgan, both the mast itself and metal parts on the mast, are painted white. That gave me a little dilemma on "painting with wood" because I wasn't sure how to replicate the metal materials unless I rebuilt them in wood. Amazingly, the stain went on a piece of test brass like a paint. Aside from that, there are woods like holly and maple that seem to work nicely. I'm still undecided on what approach to take with my builds, but I have some time to experiment.

Really well done Mark! To me, wrongly proportioned or aligned windows can ruin what is otherwise a nice model. Yours look spot on, very nice job! I like the glazing you used. I bought that same stuff from Micromark a while back because I didn't want to fiddle with plastic film or glass and getting errand glue smudges. The effect is really nice.

J, this is the product I have been using: https://generalfinishes.com You can buy it from stores like Woodcraft, or online from Amazon from the Amazon stores like Woodcraft and maybe Rockler. If you flip through my Pegasus and Lyme, I did some tests using GF Black stain, GF Ebony Dye Stain, and Varathane Black or Ebony: -- In terms of coverage, the GF Black was almost like paint, without the bulkiness of paint. It comes out the same on different woods, which is why I used it on my Pegasus (for the same "black" pieces between the MDF, walnut and pear). No need for pre-stain conditioner or anything. -- The GF Ebony dye stain had very nice coverage, but showed the grain more. I'm likely going to use it on my Morgan since all the black areas will be in pear, and I want a more "grainy" look to the ship if that makes any sense. Like the GF black, I don't think you need pre-stain conditioner. -- The Varathane stain was very thin, and you didn't get the coverage and penetration like the GF stains. It operated like most stains where the stain is intended to highlight the grain.