Landlubber Mike

Doesn't look bad at all from what I can tell. Did you try it on the end grain of the carriage sides? The change seems very subtle, and not so drastic as with redheart. Looks nice to me. Redheart is an extreme case. It's a very interesting wood in a variety of ways besides the end grain turning black with oil products. It cuts and sands as if it is a hard wood, but inexplicably can get crumbly and not have much lateral strength. With UV light it turns a more orange-brown color over time. Has a little bit of a rubber-like smell when being worked too.

I'm not a super expert on finishes, but have tried a variety. All I can say is the best thing to do is test them out first! I really like tung oil for woods like pear and walnut. It brings out an incredible richness in the wood. I've used 100% tung oil - make sure that the bottle says it's 100% because most formulas out there are a blend. Wipe-on poly is another good one. Maybe slightly less vibrant than tung oil on certain woods, but really easy to apply and looks nice. The one reason I caution you to try out finishes ahead of time is that some woods look completely different if a finish is applied with the grain versus on the end grain. With planking for example, end-grain is not an issue. But with things like cannon carriages, deck items, etc., you might have visible end grain. This came up in my use of redheart on my Pegasus - take a look at the picture below. Tung oil with the grain is gorgeous - but when applied to the end grain, it turns the piece almost black in color! Would have been a disaster had I not known that. I tried some other finishes, and varnish was the only finish that kept the original color in both end grain and with the grain pieces. Some finishes also impart a slight yellow color to lighter colored woods. Danish oil definitely does. I also read that applying oils to holly could do the same things, ruining that pure white look that people go for. I haven't worked with holly yet, but will have to experiment because I'm building the Charles Morgan, a black and white ship, using ebony for the black and holly for the white. Some finishes also aren't able to penetrate woods. A family member put Brazilian cherry wood floors in his house, and the wood was so dense the first finish they applied beaded on the surface. Not sure if this would be the case with other woods we use in the hobby that are dense like ebony. You can always think about staining woods. Some take stain better than others. Pear is great, basswood not so much. Here is some experimentation I did with my Pegasus on staining pear a little darker:

That's looking really fantastic Glen. That wood you are using is beautiful. In earlier pictures it was like a golden brown, now it seems to have almost taken on a color like swiss pear. I bet when you get a finish on it it will really pop. I think the only problem is the stand will look so nice, you are now going to have to make a stunner of a SIB to match!

I'm away for a couple of weeks and Egilman turns out a stunner. Nice job!! Great work with that reflective finish, wow! If you don't mind, and forgive me if I missed it when reading your blog, but what paints did you use for the aluminum color? And for the aluminum fuselage versus aluminum painted bottom of the wings, did you use the same paint/color, and just buff out the one on the fuselage to make them different? Or did you use different colors? Alclad for example has a ton of aluminum finishes.

Very nice! Another beauty!

Nice job! Looks like you have a knack for planes as well as ships

Great job! Love Alfas!

The framing of the bulwarks is a big step, really nice job. The inside face of the bulwark planking becomes the bulwark planking seen from inboard, so make suer that you are happy with your planking. Not sure that you can use filler, etc. unless you are planning to paint it all.

Coming along really nicely. I like how the anchors are stored on this ship, cool look to it.

Hey Glen, I'm in for another great ride if you'll have me. I love your ingenuity and creativity when it comes to the stands for your SIB builds - this one looks great! That wood is gorgeous, a fitting complement to the SIB build

This is such an epic, incredible project. Really nice job!

Another beauty Greg, nice job!

Superb work Bob as always. Very nice!

Really nicely done BE. Your artistic touches make an already nice kit even nicer.

Just pulled up the instructions for the Hasegawa Mikasa deck. Doesn't seem to say anything, but I noticed it says the deck is 0.25mm. My guess is given how thin it it (seems as thin as a sheet of paper), you're probably ok putting it right on top of the existing plastic deck.

For the linoleum deck, there were raised lines for the brass deck hold downs. The Hasegawa instructions specifically said to scrape those off (translation in the instructions was a bit wonky), so I went ahead and did so. That seems to be a different situation than a scribed deck where for the most part, the deck is fairly smooth with just slight indents. I suppose if your instructions don't say anything, you can lay the wooden deck on top just to get a sense as to whether it would make the deck too high? Here are the instructions for the linoleum deck - maybe your deck instructions have something similar?

Congratulations!

Doesn't the Hasegawa deck instructions tell you whether you need to cut or sand away the plastic details? I had good instructions on sticking on the linoleum deck appliqué on my Hasegawa destroyer.

Looking great Tim! I've always loved the Mikasa. I have the 1/700 Hasegawa kit with the Infini upgrade which I'll tackle sometime down the road. On the PE guns, I think they are usually worth it as the barrels don't need to be drilled out unlike the kit plastic ones which need to be drilled out or thinned. That's where you get your bang for the buck.

Unless there is a PE upgrade set specifically made for this kit/scale, if it were me, I'd be inclined to just buy another kit in a more standard scale and/or that has a dedicated upgrade set for it.

Sorry, thanks Roger for the clarification. Sherline also make a follower rest which clamps on the saddle/cross-slide and does exactly what Roger says:

Would be a shame if those books are no longer published. I've been using the TFFM extensively on my Pegasus build, and have a few others on the shelf. Just glad I decided to buy the Sussex book a couple of months ago before things closed down.

That's really nicely done Mike. Love the colors you used. I'm sure the prior owner is looking down with a big smile of satisfaction.

All that girder and railing work is spectacular - fantastic job!

I used to have a Proxxon DB250, but sold it to buy a Sherline lathe to be able to turn metal and have more flexibility for turning projects in general (larger sized, etc.). The Proxxon was a really nice tool though. It made turning the masts and spars on my Badger a breeze. There is a hole that goes through the headstock so longer pieces are not necessarily a problem. I'm not sure of the diameter of that hole though. If that's what Proxxon refers to as the spindle bore, then that hole is 13/32" or 10mm. It might be too small if you are looking to turn a mast of a larger model (remember, it's a circle, so you won't be able to turn square stock that is 10mm x 10mm). It's been a while, but I think that may have been another reason I upgraded to a Sherline. You can deal with that potentially by buying the extended bed for the Proxxon so you are not relying on the hole in the headstock. The only thing I'm not sure about is whether there is a way to steady a longer piece on the extended bed so that it doesn't deflect out when you are applying tools. This is the steady rest Sherline sells for its lathe to give an idea of what I'm talking about. I haven't had the need to use it yet, but you see how the brass bars keep the stock from deflecting too much when applying cutting tools - particularly where the stock is very thin and has flex to it. Overall, I think for the vast majority of kits, the Proxxon is just fine. If you find the need to turn a larger diameter piece, you could always pre-shape the square stock into an octagon using a jig and small hand plane, and then use the Proxxon. Hope that helps.