Landlubber Mike

Happy belated birthday Eamonn! Really nice work on the Ballahoo and other model!

Looking really great Al. Love your guitar too by the way, it's a real beauty. You're very talented!

That came out really nicely Martin. Very nice touch! I might have to shamelessly steal that from you when I turn back to my Pegasus...

Very nice Russ! So cool that you are making models of ships local to your area.

Looking great Vince! Are you using the kit wood, or are you using other woods? I have a couple of Euromodel kits and just wondering what Euromodel builders are doing on their builds, as the wood in my kits looks pretty good.

Beautiful work Bob!

Beautiful, the profile moulding is a really nice touch.

Great job BE. Ditto on what all the guys above me said. Subtle treenails add nice character and detail to the model without overwhelming it.

Thanks David, I've been considering that option as well. I have a lot of letters to get right, and I can just see getting to the last one and having to start over. I think the Morgan is a great subject to model. It's a nice break from all the warship kits that are out there, and there's lots of interesting details you can add to the ship if you choose. Plus, the actual ship is still around which you can visit or at least see lots of pictures out there. As for the kit, the plans are very well done (at least I think so far) and the instruction manual is good. I've compared the plans to pictures of the ship, and the plans appear to be very spot on, even down to the planking. I'm not a fan of MS' use of basswood for the keel and bulkheads, as I think MDF provides a much better structure. But, taking the time to put bracing blocks between the bulkheads, everything has remained square and without any flex. The cast pieces generally aren't bad, but when you see how people here on MSW improve detail pieces like those, they seem a bit lacking (but how much can one expect from white metal castings). So all in all, I'd definitely recommend the kit. Even though I'm replacing all the visible wood, I don't hold that against the kit.

Thanks Timmo. I'll try some experiments. The copper plates in the Pegasus kit seem to do well with the personal fluids method based on a Fly kit on here. The Model Expo tape less so. Maybe the latter has a coating of some sort. Sorry for the interruption Joe!

Thanks Joe, that's really helpful. I'll have to experiment a bit and see if I can replicate the green oxidized look.

Joe, was fun going through your build log again. Really nice work you're doing there, and I love how you're personalizing and customizing the kit in enhancing it. Really nice job! Just out of curiousity, when working with the tape, are you applying it in strips and marking the tape to give the appearance of separate plates? Or are you cutting the tape into separate plates and applying them individually? One other question if you don't mind - I'm planning to try to personal fluid method for my Pegasus (won't eat asparagus that day). Have you ever tried weathering the tape to get an oxidized green appearance? I'm hoping to get that look for my Morgan, but am new to coppering. Thanks in advance!

Thanks Alde. Looks like we have unanimity here Joe, thanks very much. The nameplate came out fantastic! I actually ordered dry transfer letters from Woodland Scenics which arrived yesterday. I not only have to do the nameplate, but also there is small lettering of the ship's name on the log rail near the stem. In both cases, I was planning to add the lettering to the wood pieces before installing them on the ship - would seem to be impossible to do it otherwise.

Martin and Jason, thanks so much for weighing in. I really appreciate the thoughts! That was my thinking, but being less experienced in this area, I wasn't sure if I was off base or not. Even better that I won't have to spend more money for ebony sheets since I think I should hopefully have just enough to plank to the higher water line and to the stern (which uses curved planks, and therefore uses up more wood). Also simplifies the second planking since, as I mentioned, I think I can get away with feathering the first planking into the second planking, rather than fully adding a second planking, and I don't need to spile as many planks.

It's been a little slow going, but I've planked the next section of the hull (the area between the plankshear and the wale) with ebony. So far, so good, no issues really. I decided to complete the second planking at this stage, because the wale on this ship isn't a separately defined row of planks - instead it's just thicker planks from the top of the wale down. For the next section, I'll be using a thicker first planking, which I'll sand back to the thickness of the planking above, and then add the ebony second planking so that there is a clear definition. I won't be planking the rest of the hull in ebony because I'll be coppering the hull. So, at some point below the copper line, I'll probably just feather the ebony planks into the first planking rather than add a second planking to the entire hull. We'll see how it looks, as I can always throw on a second planking, not caring what it looks like since it will be covered anyway. Speaking of the copper line, the plans how two levels for the copper line. A higher line which seems to be the historical line, and a lower line from the 1983 restoration (which appears to still be the copper line for the ship currently): Most models of the Morgan that I've seen go with the lower line. A benefit of the higher line is that the hull would need a lot less ebony for the planking - I think midships there are only three or four strakes above the copper line. On the other hand, I wonder if the higher copper line would overwhelm the ship. I think I have enough ebony sheets for the higher line, but not the lower line, so I might just go with the higher line. I'm curious what others think. The first picture is of a model with the lower line. The next few are with the higher line. I really like the oxidized green copper look of the second model below - I'm wondering if i can achieve that with the copper tape that came with the kit.

I like doing ship models, but I've always thought this model would be a fun one to do. Your work is absolutely fantastic John - definitely a good marketing piece for this kit!

Wow, this is really beautiful work. Very impressive!

Really nice work Ken. Amazing you can work so quickly yet with pristine results. Beautiful!

Wow really great stuff there Don. Are you using paints? If so, mind me asking what kind/brand?

BE, I can't believe I've missed your log. Really great work so far, and I know I'll enjoy watching where you take this one. Your planking looks great as usual. I'm not a big fan of MS' use of basswood for the keel and bulkheads, as I've said on my Morgan log. It's an easy wood to use as the first planking if you're double planking, but the softness, fuzzies, etc. make it not a great wood in my opinion for outer planking. Good move on your part to go with boxwood.

Really nice work Daniel!

The Morgan has lettering on both the upper hull near the stem in gold and on the transom in white. The printer option is a bit awkward in that white doesn't print on paper, and either way, you are adding a strip of paper to the hull (and the blacks might not much up). I certainly can't paint the letters either. I've been thinking about these dry transfer letters from Woodland Scenics. Has anyone used them? They have Roman font in gold and white, which I think could work nicely. I'm considering applying the decals prior to installing the various wood pieces to the model which should make things easier, though I'd have to be very careful not to accidentally rub them off while continuing work on the model. DecalsGraphics

I've completed the outer hull first planking to the edge of the wale. Nothing too difficult, but I did use a little filler here and there to address any low spots. The one thing to note is that the plans, as well as the actual ship, show the area between the plankshear and wale as seven rows of planks. This comes out around 14mm of space to plank, or 2mm per plank. The planks given in the kit don't seem to match that width, so what I did was end up using five wider planks and one narrower plank for that section. Once I get to the second planking, I'll cut the ebony planks in the widths I need to get seven rows of fairly equal widths. This ship is different than a lot of ship kits you see out there as there is no independent row or rows of planking for the wales - instead, the wale line is demarked by a thicker line of planks that extend at the wale line and lower. I've been taking my time in trying to get the stern right, as I think the stern tends to make or break a lot of models. You can see from these pictures how curvy the stern is, and how the planks tuck around the transom and up into the counter. The European kits I've worked on tend to use stern extensions and a counter piece to frame this area. This kit (and it looks like other kits in the Model Shipways line), require you to create a framing block with a number of curves into it. The plans are good in this regard, but it still is a little complicated if you're a relative beginner like myself and are working through it the first time. To help others that are building the kit, here are top and bottom pictures of my block: Here is how my stern looks at the moment. I think I've managed to capture the curves pretty nicely, and the wale will run into the middle of the name board as you can see on the plans and on the pictures of the actual ship. I used filler to help get the lines right, but being able to sand down the first planking should help as well. Thanks for looking in!

Slightly different hull shape, and no pesky gunports or cannons. On the other hand, you've got 7 whaleboats on the Morgan and lots of different deck items relating to the whaling operations. Nice change of pace for sure. In particular, it's nice to not have to rig the cannons with 2mm blocks 😳

Hey Martin, thanks for looking in. We haven't hit 100 yet here in DC, but it's been close with lots of humidity. Not a good sign to wake up and see condensation on the windows. Not sure of the reason for the planking pattern. It does seem pretty unique as you say. I'm curious if others might know the reason. I've been spending the last few nights fairing the bulkheads to get a smooth run of planks. Even though I'm double planking the hull, spending the time now should make things easier down the road - particularly since the kit has you working with thinner planking than I've seen in other kits. It's taking some time too because I've found I've needed to add shims on some of the bulkheads to avoid low spots. Big temptation to throw on planks, but hopefully after the first planking goes on, I'll only have minor areas to correct.