danwind

Thanks for your comments, Ronald. I hope you continue to follow this interesting build. My time is limited, but I try to keep up fairly often. Dan

Thanks to everyone who replied to my first post. I'm still learning how to navigate this site but am slowly learning. I may do a log of my Sergal President build, but in the meantime, I'm currently doing sort of a condensed log of my Black Falcon by Mantua. Take a look and see what you think. Dan

After I do my limit of 4 planks, I work on other parts of the model. I decided to work on the cannons because they looked so nice. The barrels are very nice, very small brass turnings. As a former self-taught tabletop amateur machinist, I'm always impressed by this kind of work. The cannons went together with no problems, even as small as they are. Later in the build I kept looking at the solid pieces of wood that were supposed to represent the windows in the stern galleries and finally decided I had to do something different. I pieced them together from small strips of basswood. This took a while but was made easier by using a tool I saved from my years modeling in O scale. It's made by North West Short Line and called The Chopper. It's one of those tools that you don't use all that often but is a terrific time saver when you need it. Cutting multiple pieces to the exact same length is easy using it. Mine is pretty old, and is an earlier version. I checked eBay and found slightly updated versions, along with the very first version, which I also have. It's rather pricey, though, and probably not a necessary tool for most ship modeling. At this point I had finished the hull and was ready to start on the masts and work on assembling deadeyes. That will be next.

Once I actually started to attach the bulkheads to the keel everything went smoothly. I had to do a little filing and sanding in spots for a good fit, even though everything was laser cut. I used a small machinist's square to make sure the bulkheads were square to the keel before gluing and followed the plans with no problems. I installed the decks next, again with minor sanding in a few places. Now it was time to plank the hull. I've used a simple plank bender for a few years that works very well for me. It was listed as an Amati when I bought it, but I just checked eBay to see the current price and availability and was surprised to find only a couple of listings for it, neither of them Amati. There were a lot of various plank benders listed, most of which were the electric bender. Evidently the one I use is rather hard to find, and is kind of expensive, with shipping fees. A pack of dye powder is included in the kit for staining the wood, but I stain everything with Minwax Golden Oak. I like the color, and it stains each board with just enough difference in color to give a nice sort of texture to the hull, while also showing that it really is individual planks. I tried Minwax Walnut but thought it was a little too dark. I've found that my limit for planking is two planks on each side of the hull. After I do the four planks I work on some other part, like cannons or deadeyes, just to break the monotony. The plans are very nice and were an absolute necessity in constructing the model. The instructions manage to take essential information that should probably be spread out over a couple of pages for clarity and readability and cram them into a tightly spaced paragraph. This is definitely the weak point of the kit.

I bought the Mantua Black Falcon on eBay, mostly because the price was reasonable. I also liked that it was laser cut, figuring that the bulkheads should be fairly accurate, especially since I don't have the facilities to cut out the bulkheads and keel from the thicker wood. And last...the 12 year old boy in me loved the idea of building a pirate ship. I had just finished building a Chinese kit for the HMS Victory in 1:200 scale and was ready for something different. The small Victory kit turned out to be much more involved than I anticipated, so the Black Falcon looked like a good follow up. This won't be a true build log, as I've already built the model and just have a very few small details to finish. I took a few photos during construction, and will take some of the finished model to illustrate a few things. The kit is my first Mantua kit and looked pretty interesting until I started looking a little closer. It was unstarted, so I hoped all the parts and pieces were there. The packaging was nice, and the plans looked very nice. I didn't look closely at the instructions except to see they were in 5 different languages. I'd seen this sort of thing before, so went through and crossed out all the other languages to prevent confusion. The really interesting part was when I started to assemble the bulkheads onto the frame and noticed that the instructions at the back of the book showed bulkheads that didn't match the bulkheads in the kit. It had drawings and instructions on how to cut off the little ears on top of the bulkheads and prepare for a 2nd planking. I finally realized that these were obviously for a different kit, so I just ignored them and just followed the plans. I later learned these instructions were for Sergal kits, which I found out when I started to later build the Sergal President. After this kind of start I was a little concerned about what I might find in the rest of the kit, but it turned out that for the most part, I enjoyed building it. I made a few changes and additions, but nothing very drastic. I'm attaching just a couple of photos to start, to see if there's any interest in this build. I'm showing my high-tech workbench, which is a glass top dining room table from Ikea, because when I worked in hobby shops, a common complaint was that they didn't have a workbench to work on. I had no sympathy for this argument. Last...I know this certainly isn't an accurate model, but that doesn't concern me. I have neither the time nor the desire to do research. I enjoyed the build process and like the finished model.

Thanks Mark and Keith, for the input on my idea of doing a build log on my President. However, after browsing through some of the other President builds, I think that another build on that model isn't really necessary. The ground seems to have been covered pretty thoroughly and doesn't need any more discussion on the many problems with the kit. I'm doing ok with mine, and I think I've fixed many of the problems. However, in my browsing, I found very little on the Mantua Black Falcon. It may just be that I don't know where to look, as I'm still getting used to navigating this site. My model of it is pretty much finished except for a few very minor details. I think it turned out ok and think I might do a condensed build log on it. I didn't photograph every step, but did take some photos during construction. I guess I start a new thread for this? I repeat, I'm not a computer guy and get easily confused.

Thanks to those who gave me info on getting my photos into my computer. I finally just emailed them to myself from my phone. Of course I had to then figure out how to get them onto my desktop. Obviously, I'm not much of a computer guy. I've attached 3 photos of my current build, the Sergal President, with the idea of possibly starting a build log. However, I don't want to re-invent the wheel by doing so. I've been building the kit on an IKEA glass-top dining room table using very basic tools, and wondered if this might be of any interest. I have issues with the kit that I've dealt with without going too far. I'll wait to get feedback on the idea of a build log.

Hi gsdpic, Thanks for the info on sending photos. Please understand that you are dealing with a particularly backward old guy who is almost totally a computer illiterate. You can imagine my surprise when I clicked on "Drag files here to attach or choose files" and up popped my computer files. Now all I have to do is figure out how to get photos from my old Android phone into my computer. This may take a while for me to figure out. My time isn't my own, as I'm the sole caregiver for my ill wife, but I hope to get some photos ready and attached fairly soon.

Hello from a first post. I blame Erroll Flynn and the movie Captain Blood for my interest in ships. I saw the movie when I was 10 years old and already building wood models from Strombecker kits, and yes, I am that old. I later built plastic kits from Monogram and Revell, then built railroad freight car kits in my teens. After a few years hiatus for college and starting a career, I discovered Colorado mountain railroads and modeled in 1/4 inch O Scale for more than 50 years. Over the years I built models in wood, styrene, and brass, with brass being my favorite. I wrote articles on my scratch built models for a railroad magazine specializing in my kind of railroads. At various times, I worked in hobby shops and also worked for a model railroad manufacturer that made craftsman kits, so I have experience on both sides of the fence. A few years ago, I realized I was in my 70s, and if I ever wanted to build sailing ships I had better start. I started out building Scientific ship kits. Yes, I can hear the laughs from here, but I learned the basics of ship modeling and terminology and had fun doing it. With some careful work and attention, the models came out very well and are still displayed in my living room. I moved on to plank on bulkhead kits and have really enjoyed building these models. I'm currently building the Sergal President and was curious to see what other modelers had done with it. I was surprised that no one seems to have built one, and was also surprised at the rather negative comments about Sergal and Mantua. I built the Mantua Black Falcon and it turned out decently, historical accuracy aside. I've just finished the President's hull and am working on the masts, and while I'm not thrilled with the kit, it's coming along ok. I'm thinking of posting a few photos of both models, and perhaps a build log for the President, but have no idea of how to do it. I looked at the Help page, but that didn't explain how to post photos. If someone can enlighten me, I'd really appreciate it. If you've actually read this far, thanks. Dan