Landlubber Mike

Nice job Ras!! Way to stick with it and fix that late game issue.

I built a few 1/700 and one 1/350 kit. As much as I've wanted to be able to put the railings on first and then paint the full model, I've always ended up adding the railings after first painting and taping the deck (wooden or linoleum), and then painting the hull and superstructures. Part of it was I was worried about getting the CA glue on the masking tape and causing a big mess. I haven't used a wooden deck before, but I probably would do something similar. Does your kit include a deck masking set, or will you have to create the painting mask yourself? If the former, you could always see where the edges of the mask are and if you have enough room to safely glue the rails on. I'd prefer to add the rails and then prime/paint the full ship because I've found that some paint flecks off when handling the pre-painted rails which then require touch ups. And it seems like I'm going back a dozen times because I happen to find another dot or two where the bright brass is shining through.

Following along on this one for sure! Looks like Amati still has the oversized cannons. You might want to look into replacements from RB Models or Syren. I believe I bought the ones from RB.

Bob, that's really well done. Congratulations on a beautiful model! I like the oyster shell/pearl for the display - very cool touch. Hope you build the Pegasus next. That might encourage me to step away from plastic and resin and get me to dust mine off and get back to wooden ship building.

Thanks for the decal supplier name. I'll look into it if mine don't end up working. I'm hoping that's not the case! Nice job on the inner planking. It's a little trickier than external planking for sure. If I remember correctly, this kit doesn't include a piece of plywood as a base for the deck planking that you plank over. Are you thinking of adding a type of sub-floor to plank over? Another thing I was noodling over before I put this on the shelf of doom was adding a type of sub-floor so that I could sink the deck houses and other deck items onto the sub-floor and then add planking around those items -- as opposed to planking the deck and then dropping the deck items onto the deck if that makes sense. It seems that the former approach gives a much cleaner look than the latter, at least from my efforts on my Badger (where I did the latter) and my subsequent Pegasus build (where I did the former approach).

Hey Steve, glad the pictures helped. Building that stern counter block gave me a lot of angst for sure. If I remember correctly, I made multiple photocopies of the block on the plans and cut them out to test fit things with all the compound curves. Was hours of work! I'm not looking forward to building the special pieces to fit along the transom/counter sides. Have you figured out what you are doing to do with the lettering? That had me mothball the build as I couldn't find a good solution. The easiest is probably to reverse print the lettering so it comes up as white against the black ink background, but I didn't want to go that way given that I was using ebony and was worried the blacks wouldn't match up. I ultimately found someone who created custom decals for me of the white lettering and cold lettering on the sides. I didn't realize this, but you need an Alps printer or other special printer to be able to print white colors for decals. I haven't tried the decals out yet, but fingers crossed that it will work. There was some back and forth as the nameplate on the stern actually has a slight curvature to it, but the vendor was cool in sending me proofs as we slowly worked out the spacing and curves. Seemed a lot easier than trying to use dry transfer letters given how long the name of the ship was. Wow, just realized I built the counter block almost seven years ago. Time flies 😳 Maybe I should finish the build sometime this decade.

Oh cool, that's good to know thanks! I'll have to look into these Montex combo decals/masks then. I've been mostly busy with kid stuff this summer, but have been working on finishing up some of the models on my bench. Not much to report - doing the NeOmega catapult for my Walrus has monopolized a good week plus, but I'm finally on the home stretch 👍 Thanks for asking!

Fantastic work Chris! I'm getting PTSD from seeing pictures of your landing gear - it was a pain, to say the least, on my Tamiya build!

Wow, that looks amazing. Even more impressive that you're building it yourself. Add a big screen TV and a kegerator and I don't think my family would see me ever again.

That's looking really great Kevin. I used the Montex masks for the insignia/numbering on my Buffalo and was really happy with how things came out. A lot of stress in making sure that the mask went on in the right place - decals in this regard are a lot easier of course - but no potential issue of silvering, etc. that you get with decals. Did the Sigma Nu Girl decal have the brown background behind the lettering, or was it clear? If it was brown, you did a fantastic job matching the colors together.

Another beauty Kevin! Great job!

Wow that's beautiful! Nicely done!

This engine detailing looks amazing Rob. I'm usually not as much a fan of open engine car models as the kit engines generally look soft or not very detailed to me. This one, especially with your upgrades, looks amazing. Great job!

Looks great Alan. Way to stick with it! 5500 blocks! 😳

Looking really good Scott! You're moving quickly!

Really nice job on the yellow paint job. Looks amazing Rob!

Nice job Craig. Do you think you need to use all the screws in the kit? Can't some pieces be glued together? I have a few Pocher kits in the stash and heard about the fit problems, especially with the screws, but had always wondered whether you can bypass screws with glue.

It was a nice tour. Interesting seeing and learning about lightships. It was there that I learned about the terrible accident of LV117 with the RMS Olympic, sister ship of the Titanic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_lightship_LV-117

Hey Steve, just found your Morgan log. You're doing a great job! I'm not too much further than you, but can say doing all the planksheer, stanchions, log and top rails, etc. is pretty complicated work. I got some PTSD flashbacks seeing your pictures with the spacers, tons of clamps, etc. Hang in there - I think you're past probably the trickiest part of the build. I've been thinking about dusting off my wooden ship builds, and your Morgan is giving me inspiration to turn back to mine.

Very cool project Jon! I took a morning to visit the Lightship Overfalls in Lewes Delaware on a beach trip with my family a few years ago. Those ships were very interesting with some neat history. I always thought they would make for a fun build. Good luck with the build!

Awesome! More aftermarket the better in my book

Hey Alan, hope you have enough blocks! Nice haul on the new kits by the way. I've always loved the looks of the Ryuho.

Wow, so well done Grant!! Congratulations on a wonderful diorama.

Great start Kevin! Looks fantastic!

Great start Craig. I have a couple of these in the stash - you're right that you can really pimp these old Pocher kits with sweet aftermarket, but at a very steep cost. Looking forward to seeing this come along.