JSGerson

Welcome aboard! Looks like you are off to a roaring start. I look forward to your future posts.

Jon

You did an excellent job and you should feel proud of your workmanship. Just so you don't feel too bad, Ken Forman (xKen) is a professional model maker so he sets a pretty high bar to match. He designed the Model Shipways cross section kit of the USS Constitution,  the Model Trailways Allerton Steam Fire Pumper, and written books on making brass models. So yeah, you did a fine job.

Jon

I am curious about your choice of color for the spar deck. Why did you use black when the actual ship's deck is natural wood color? BTW, very nice work.

Jon

It looks like you learned a bit from my mistakes. I just didn't understand how all of these three dimensional surfaces merged together and ended up having to use wood filler. Nice job!

Jon

The photos came from post 83. I basically followed the practicum for the basic skeleton of the quarter galleries, then added my own touches. Basically everything went smoothly until I attempted the windows as you will see when you read my log. 

Jon

Peter, you also need to look at post 199. Ken had to rip out the quarter gallery due to it being mis positioned.

Jon

I think you hit the color perfectly. Nice job!

Jon

Of the 100 or so completed models I have images of, only one was unpainted; a scratch built model by Peter Henrick Ness. Sorry, I did not record where I found them.

Thanks Geoff, a very informative log! For those who do not want to search for the site, here is the link.

Jon

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Geoff, although I have not got to the point of adding the futtocks and cartharpins I did find a good explanation of how to to them on Glenn-UK's build log for HMS Sphinx, starting at post # 281 for the lower ones and #367 for the upper ones.

You are doing a great job, keep up the good work.

Schooner, unfortunately you did not provide a link to the "Glenn-UK's build log for HMS Sphinx." I tried to locate it, but was unsuccessful. Would you be so kind as to indicate how to locate his build.

Thanks, Jon

I just found this "new" build log by Thrasher on Ships of Scale. He is dusting off a build that he's been working on and off for 10 years and is just starting the Bentinck shrouds. You might want to see what he is going to do.

Jon

Just remember, it's a model, not a miniature replicate. Do what you think works best for the look you want.  Good luck and have fun!

Jon

Here are some photos that may (or not) help you.

DAR - Because the hull is going to be painted, I think I have a simple solution. On the subsequent strakes, increase the width a bit of a couple of planks in that area until the 'waviness" disappears. Add a little wood filler if needed and the smooth it out so the wood strakes blend and you can't see any creases. The paint will cover any evidence of the unevenness and it will disappear. Hope this helps.

Jon

Wood filler was my best friend too!😁

Just so you know for comparison, The MS kit provides 37mm long guns and 23mm carronades. How accurate they are to the actual guns at scale, I don't know. Speaking of guns, the actual ship does not have her original guns but replicas mostly installed in 1927.  By 1897 on her 100th birthday, she no longer carried any guns. The carronades that most likely represented the ones used in the War of 1812 (an 1808 design) are the ones with a screw adjustment for raising and lowering the barrel. These replicas were installed in 1981. The ones using a wedge for that purpose are of the 1840 era and are more technically called gunnades. As I understand it, the idea is to eventually replace the gunnades with the more accurate carronades sometime in the future. 

Just thought you might want to know, Jon.

This is in essence how I planked my hull. A lot of “How to” articles and build logs use the tick mark method and proportional wheels or dividers. I just could not draw a pencil line on the hull that precise and get a strake to properly taper and fit. Like you I mathematically determined the width of the strake at every bulkhead point and sanded away, checking with the micrometer. I just didn’t do it with a nice spreadsheet. I worked each strake, one at a time, marked the determined widths on a piece of scrap paper. Once done, I discarded the paper. You did a fine job.

Jon

I did a similar method only I didn't have a mill cutter lying around, so I used my Byrnes Saw. You made that process look so easy. neat, and clean. Well done! Out of curiosity, where did you get your brass cannon barrels from and what size did you get?

Jon

g8rfan - Actually, I have looked at HO figures, but I've never transformed a human figure's clothing/look into something that reasonably looked like someone else. I don't have that artistic talent; but it's not out of the realm of possibilities yet. I've got a long way to go before I'll could use them, so I still have time to consider other possible solutions. Thanks though, for the suggestion.

DAR, we may be both correct. I checked the US Navy plans and the wale does exist but is not as pronounced on the surface of the hull as the MS plans make it out to be. At best, the wale bumps out at its thickest point about 3.5" from the hull or about 3/64 at scale." and even that change is not as abrupt  as the MS plans show. To see that fine detail in very old images is unlikely.

The simple reason is that it is thicker on the actual ship as well as it is on the plans. I'm no expert on ship design, but I assume the added thickness is for added strength when docking and bumping into things. These ships are often rolled on their sides for maintenance too. See foreshortened image below.

The transom like other parts of the ship changed over the years, so I hope these images help.  The close-up image is present day, The image with windows sashes was 1914. I believe the sashes were removed after the 1927 renovation as seen in the 1934 image with two guys in a row boat. I also gave you a historic montage as to some of the changes that took place.

Jon

I've always had a hard time bending wood without kinking, cracking, or breaking. It was for those reasons I used the very flexible Styrene plastic on my model for the curved modeling. However, I wasn't too pleased with the mediocre results. The CA glue made the plastic brittle.  What wood did you use and how did you soften it up to bend it?

BTW, wonderful job!

Jon

Now the fun part begins!🙃

A lot simpler method than I did and probably just as effective to the typical observer. Looks good so far.

Jon