schnu

Cheerio mates and friends and modellers
 
today it is time for a update with some pics. At least I have finished the hull right now. I have to spray some colorless semigloss varnish onto the surface, but this is a work to be done soon. You will probably miss the anchors and the lamps - but both are to be installed to the very end of the build - before the flags
 
The boat and the masts are now to be done.
 
I started this log almost six month ago - and I really spent a lot of time in my shipyard (you can ask the Admiral ). But there was not one single minute of boredom around. I love the ship and I love to improve my techniques and to increase my expierence.
 
So please enjoy the pics and dont hesitate to comment what you see.
 
 
Cheerio
 
Max
 

Thanks for the feedback!
 
Once most of the exterior work is finished, it's time to work on the deck.  Like the rest of the ship, the deck furniture is very interesting and presents some interesting but not impossible challenges.  
 
First you finish off planking any exposed bulkheads.  
 

 
Here is an overview of the deck--you work from the stern towards the bow.
 

 
I enjoy this kind of work because there is lots of variety--here is a shot of the stern flag and lantern supports, the main mast bits and fife rails and the architrave above the poop deck.
 

 
The next step is to form the railing around the deck balcony.  You use strips to make the frame and the kit includes very nicely precut balusters.
 

 
The railings have a nice circular return at the top of the stairs.  You make it by cutting an L-shaped piece and sanding it to the correct size and shape,  In addition to these railings at the stern you have to make two more--one in the waist and another up to the focsle which means twelve rail ends altogether (top and bottom).  It's a good idea to make them all at the same time so you can ensure they all the same size and shape. 
 

 
And here they are installed.  There are round metal balls in the centre of the returns and the instructions call for drilling holes and inserting a wire peg in the end balusters and the two in the corners to provide stability to the structure.  Be careful when you do your drilling because the balusters are thin and can chip if you're not careful.  I did just that with the first one and afterward drilled them by hand with a pin vise.  Unlike just about everything else, the kit did not provide a lot of extra balusters and I didn't want to have to make a whole set because I was short one or two!
 

 
Here are the completed railings.  
 

 

Thanks Magee. The progress I made is small, (vacations and I had to order some things). Anyway I have fixed the errors that I found with the stern and fitted the window frames. (I still need to do some sanding)
 

 
 
I have made some small progress with the cabin too. When the things arrive I can continue to work on the stern window.
 

Thank you Jan-Willem, I hope to get some - one - electric tool for Christmas, this will allow me to get the correct angle at my first try (at least I hope). My current method of cutting several pieces of wood and the one with the correct angle gets glued on is quite time consuming. Fortunately the rest of the wood can be reused for smaller parts or sand down to make filler   
 
 
 
I think you and Vivian are right. But seeing all those wonderful builds on this website I am trying to get the best possible result, although I often fail ^^ (It sometimes takes the fun away). 
 
 
 
- Yes I am doing it for the fun, although sometimes I get frustrated when working on this kit (an example would be the small doors, unfortunately I can`t check the whole scale like you did, because I don`t know the original length of the ship).
 
 
The things that annoy me most with this Kit (I just found out that I did not mention it before) are the plans. They are not helpful at all. The two main issues with the plans are the lack of hull planks (the hull is plain white) and the lack of stern and bow plans. I do not know if it is just my kit that lacks those plans or if they just forgot to draw these, but due to these things I have done some errors in the planking (mainly at the stern.) Anyway I hope that the scale of my next build (in distant future) will have better plans and a correct scale. 
 

 
By the way it is nice to see another person that lives in Switzerland on the forum.
 

Hi there,
 
 
Here are the results of the tests with oil and varnish.
Only oil:
 

 
 
Varnish applied over the oil:
 

 
 
Here I need to say that the deck is divided in 4 parts again. On the outer left part I applied 3 layers of varnish without sanding. The mid left part I sanded after the oil and before the varnish. The mid right part I sanded after the oil and before the 1st and 2nd coat of varnish. The outer right part I sanded before every coat of varnish (3 times).
 
I like the unsanded but varnished part (outer left part) best. It seems that sanding counteracts the effect of the oil and the trenails are almost not visible anymore. Varnish has, to some extent, the same effect unfortunately. But, on the left most part trenails can still be seen and I think they should, realistically, probably not be more visible than that.

Over the past weeks I have been busy with two things: creating the fake stanchions (three between each pair of bulkhead stanchions) and sanding the deck.
With the stanchions I am around 2/3 done. The smaller they get the more often little edges of the wood splinter off (the wood is very dry and not so dense) which I then have to glue back on to get the right shape. This is a lot of work all in all.
 

 
 
I have started to sand the deck next to creating the fake stanchions because I think I would damage the fake stanchions when hitting these with a sanding block, so the deck must be done before gluing the fake stanchions in place.
I wanted to sand the deck not only as a preparation for varnishing, but also because the strips of wood where the deck is made of are not all of the same thickness. I discovered that some are (almost) twice as thick as others. Now first it looks better when the deck is (more or less) even, second I found out that the waterways (which are made of the same wood) are to be around twice as thick as the deck. This gave me the idea to sand down the deck to the thinnest planks and use the thickest deck planks I can find in the kit to make the waterways.
The pictures show some of the sanding progress and the difference in thickness of the planks which shows through the sanding. The pictures are made between sanding when I was changing the sanding paper on my sanding blocks.
 

 

 
 
While working on the deck, I also took some time to do some experimenting: I am thinking of shortening the deck planks to a more realistic length using a chisel, I need to cut out the places for the structures, I need to select a varnish (gloss or semi-gloss) and I am thinking of drilling holes for the trenails.
First test I did was to cut a few planks with a chisel. For this I took an X-acto chisel and cut it back to 3 mm. with a Dremel. Then I cut a few planks with the chisel and a small hammer. The chisel however is so sharp that it goes through the deck like through butter and when I pull it out I can hardly see the cut. These are the two cuts on one plank in just below the middle of the picture. For the second try I cut twice right next to each other. This is the cut just left and above the other cuts. It shows light on the picture, filled with dust from sanding.
To be honest, I do not yet know what to do with the results of this experiment…
 

 
The last picture shows my sanding blocks in need of fresh sanding paper and the modified chisel. especially the small triangle shaped sanding blocks are very handy as these can be held very well in different ways and are small enough to be able to maneuver on the deck. I cut the triangles from a 30x30 mm. construction profile and glued the sanding paper on it with white wood glue like I do with all my sanding blocks.
 

Thanks Magee. The progress I made is small, (vacations and I had to order some things). Anyway I have fixed the errors that I found with the stern and fitted the window frames. (I still need to do some sanding)
 

 
 
I have made some small progress with the cabin too. When the things arrive I can continue to work on the stern window.
 

Hi Schnu:
 
Well, as you know, part of the hobby has to do with: carpentry, painting, tailoring, soldering ....... and everything is fun!!
 
Saludos, Karl

Hi guys:
 
These past two weeks I finished fixing the sails to the spars corresponding to the main and mizzen masts.  Also adding more details to the sails and spars:
 

 
Thanks for your likes.
 
Saludos, Karl

Thanks Magee. The progress I made is small, (vacations and I had to order some things). Anyway I have fixed the errors that I found with the stern and fitted the window frames. (I still need to do some sanding)
 

 
 
I have made some small progress with the cabin too. When the things arrive I can continue to work on the stern window.
 

Thank you all for the kind words :-)
 
By now, this build was incorporated into my big Victory build as it developed into a test for several features over there.
 
Please refer to this link to see the whole documentation full of drama, blood and gore :-)
 
                                          #634                         
 
Here some teasers:
 

 

 

 

 

 
Cheers, DAniel

I saw this in an exposition few years ago

Greetings to all,
 
Back working on the Unicorn and I have just about finished the stern. I ended up rejecting the strange white metal blobs  topped with melted crowns that came with the kit as the gallery roofs.There was no way I could see how they could be made to work....The opposite sides were even different shapes and sizes. I made new ones as best I could........
 




 
The bottom of the galleries were then fitted,completing the gallery/transom area of the stern. ...
 

 
 
Also thanks to viewing Ian's latest fine metal working skills I made a spectacle plate for the rudder. I don't have Ian's patience,so luckily I found some 1mm link chain on ebay.
 

 
 
 
As I said in a previous post I intend to use a raised false deck from the lockers to just about where #15 bulkhead is,to a height of where the cabin ceiling would be in relation to the the windows (about 4mm). Ian discussed this earlier and thought it would interfere with the deck furniture,I have thought about it and think I can make it work . I will place the skylight on the false deck and move the ships wheel rearward to just in front of the false deck,where the pump is in the plans. The pump and shot holder can be placed on another part of the deck. There would still be room to work the rear quarter deck guns and their tackle. I will have to do a mock-up with the deck temporarily in place to see how it looks. I could even go a little higher with the deck to near the height of the bulwarks and incorporate a covered tiller........ Failing this I will have to raise the whole quarter deck which seems to open up another massive sized can of worms..........I want to send this ship down river to the Ordnance Dock.
 
John

I had a busy time at work. But found some time to build on this model.
 
Started the first planking, always a fun part to do. Keeping it really rough right now as the plank thickness gives me a lot of breathing room to sand it to a smooth surface. I expect this to finish soon, then i will start to work more delicately.

Thanks Magee. The progress I made is small, (vacations and I had to order some things). Anyway I have fixed the errors that I found with the stern and fitted the window frames. (I still need to do some sanding)
 

 
 
I have made some small progress with the cabin too. When the things arrive I can continue to work on the stern window.
 

Finally got some time to work on this between work and travel for work.  I was able to get the second set of guns in and plank both the internal and external hull all the way to the top.  I had a ton of problems with it, the planks on the sides not being even, being short 1mm on one side and high by 2mm on the other when I finally reached the top.  After some filing, adding extra planks and some artistic carving I the end result is decent if I do say so myself.  Next steps will be to place the last set of guns, WOOO, the first set I can do without a deck overhead, and to build up the last deck.
 
I also purchased some new buckets as the ones they gave me were totally out of scale.  Those will be added later.

Hi.
 A update.. and the finish.
A few photos of the finished Ship.
The hardest part for me was the rigging as my hands are not very nimble.
The painting was OK and we did this without struggling.
 I enjoyed building the Black Queen.
 

 

 

 

 
Well thanks for all the very supportive messages and the likes
The base board is cherry with a huge knot in. Not usable by Antony my carer.
But I like the pattern.
 
Alex.

Hi.
 
I am 14 and I am a electric wheelchair user and I am not very strong.
My carer will be doing all the physical work like lifting the glue and cutting the timbers.
I wanted to build a wooden model ship like my carer Antony UK.
We started the black pearl but the magazines arrived for the first few weeks then nothing so I cancelled the subscription.
I have just bought this from Cornwall Model Boats.
The Black Queen.  http://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/mamoli_MM60.html

It's the Mini Mamoli series and it's a beginners model.
Solid hull is a nice way for me to start.
My carer said that I should do a build log so it might help other people to build this model.
That's enough about me
 
 
 
Opening the box

The contents.

The small bits.

And the timber.

The Hull.
 
The instructions are quite poor considering that they need to be interpreted by beginners model..
Trying to read through the instructions.

 
 
Starting the build.
I sanded the hull being careful not to sand the edges that are deck level as I wanted these square.

I then added a strip of 3X3 on the stern to give the correct angle. No 3X 3 supplied.

Next I have cut the planks to length. The instructions ask for 15 mm long planks for the decks. I made them 25mm long.

Planks that are 15mm long and 3mm wide don't look right.
Next I added the deck edges. Only 2 as seen on the photo.

This allows me to overlap the edge of the deck with the planks.
I will trim this later after the planking is complete.
Then add the other edge strip.
 
The Planks were glued to paper in the correct pattern with PVA glue.

 

I will be doing a little bit each day during the holiday.
 
Alex S
 

Thanks Magee. The progress I made is small, (vacations and I had to order some things). Anyway I have fixed the errors that I found with the stern and fitted the window frames. (I still need to do some sanding)
 

 
 
I have made some small progress with the cabin too. When the things arrive I can continue to work on the stern window.
 

Hi, I haven`t done much on the ship lately, the school started again, so I am sitting all day long at the desk wondering what job would suit me... After some long vacations I find it always difficult to get back to the "normal life". Yes Vivian, the Vasa was amazing, she was huge. I imagined her to be smaller. I decided to use some "satin finish" (Seidenmatt in German), not sure if it is the right name. I might still change the lack, if I am not convinced with the test result.
 
I have finally opened a hole at the back of the ship to fit the cabin in:

 
I started to work on the cabin floor, which still needs some sanding and size adjustments. It is made in two parts; this made it easier to get the right sizes.

 
I have also started to scratch build the stern. The original one is made of metal and the window are much too high, as shown on a previous post.

(Padauk wood was used to plank the stern.)
 

 
I would be really glad if someone (or many people) could point out errors at the stern, because later it will be difficult to repair or hide them. Two things that I have already noticed:  At the left of the stern I have done too much sanding.

It also seems that the left window end is higher than the right end.
I would also like to thank everyone for the likes and comments. 

Thanks Magee. The progress I made is small, (vacations and I had to order some things). Anyway I have fixed the errors that I found with the stern and fitted the window frames. (I still need to do some sanding)
 

 
 
I have made some small progress with the cabin too. When the things arrive I can continue to work on the stern window.
 

Tuesday, October 28, 2014
 
Last monday I did nothing but today I started with good will to finish the inside of the bulwarks, removing , as scheduled, the excess of plywood toptimbers. 
Initially I started using a method that produced few dust and which consisted of a blade of a small hacksaw for iron. I only used the blade, without the bow, and to use it I covered the ends with tape. Then, holding the blade folded properly, I started to cut the plywood in excess. 
The method worked adeguately but then I had to sand and trim the corners with the deck that was impossible to achieve well in any way except by using abrasive blocks and wood cutters. 
Then I wanted to try to use the belt sander BSL 220/E presented in one previous message and I immediately noticed a positive difference . . no effort and pace. 
Of course, the bad side was the dust, in fact produced in great quantity, so much that I finally decided to leave and to complete the last remaining toptimbers tomorrow. 
I spent the time I had left to suck the laboratory with a vacuum cleaner. 
Below two pictures of the front of the hull, showing the inner sides of both right and left bulwarks nearly finished . . 
 
01 Brick%20by%20JackAubrey/P1100050_zpsa78bcf51.jpg

 
02 Brick%20by%20JackAubrey/P1100047_zps6ba96ebd.jpg

 
Instead at the poop there are still five toprtimbers per side I have left for tomorrow, which, however, give an idea of the work that had to be put on the track to get rid of the excess wood. 
Finally, having already done much dust, I sanded adeguately the top of the bulwarks leveling the three layers of planks: this was a job that came with the belt sander incredibly ease: it is a tool that I highly recommend, of course for those who can afford it. .
 
03 Brick%20by%20JackAubrey/P1100048_zpsf1050203.jpg

 
04 Brick%20by%20JackAubrey/P1100049_zpsa806d014.jpg

 
All for now, until next time, Jack.Aubrey.

Hi all my mates and friends
 
Ist time for a update. I did the cannon rigging completely, but I think I will have to redo some of them guns. I am not satisfied with all rigging so perhaps two or three ropes well be renewed. But all in all I say - for the first time with no instructions within the instruction sheet in the kit it Looks quite good. Thew next time I have some expierence and can avoid mistakes that happend now.
 
Next will be to install the stairs to the foredeck, the pumps and to cover the hull with semi-gloss lacquer. With my first build, the Half Moon, I use ordinary stuff from the DIY-market and was very very satisfied. So I will not Change the procedure for the Caroline. This I will do agftere the Weekend ( I will spend my weekend with my father in Switzerland).
 
CU all - and as always: Comments are welcome.
 
Thx to all for all the fantastic "likes" I get :D
 
Cheerio
 
Max

Hi all
 
Just a little update .
 
I have put extra spacers in at the stern bulkhead frames as two of them looked a bit warped , I do hope they are OK now ??.
 
I have also dry fitted the other two decks just to make sure they fit Ok.
 
Will now take them off and fit the stringers and parts 18, 28 and 29.
 
Denis.

Hi all.
 
This is how the deck was fitted after cutting.
 
Push deck through stern bulkhead frame.
 
Move it along till you get to bulkhead frame 6 from the stern ( or bulkhead frame 2 in the kit ) , now drop it down , you will have to bend it a little to get the deck onto the frames.
Now fit the deck.
 
Denis.