Piet

@ Marcus: Your quite welcome, glad I've been of some help @ Jud: Thank you very much for your comment and photos. I have not yet fastened the gunsmoke permanently and was hoping you would comment and add your insight. I shall add some more color but not make it too overdone. As mentioned yesterday the plexiglass for the cover case will be shipped tomorrow and expected sometime next week so I have plenty of time to doctor up the smoke. Your input is highly appreciated. Cheers,

Hi Marcus, yeah, I did mentioned it sometime ago but here are the products I used. However, in retrospect I will use another material for the water. For the sea water I used "Clear Polyester Casting Resin" by Castin' Ceaft, Environmental Technology Inc., 300 South Depot Rd. Fields Landing, CA. 95537. 1-800-368-9323. mail@eti-usa.com and www.eti-usa.com I think this is a great product when used by itself without the "water waves" stuff I used on top of it. I also bough the blue coloring to go with it by the same company. Unfortunately HobbyLobby only had one kind of blue, which was a little too dark or perhaps I put too much into the batches. It's also possible that I painted the "floor" of the sea with a blue acrylic artist paint. The reason for mentioning about the wave making product is that it did not really wont to adhere well to the polyester sea material. It's okay as long you don't mess with it after it has cured. I also needed a rather thick layer of the sea material and had to use two layers. As I explained before, I cemented the bottom half of the ship model to the top, which increased the depth of the sea. The wave making material is from "Woodland Scenics," which is used for model rapids, waves, and splashes. It dries clear but tints can be added for the desired effects. This company also makes clear water material with tints available. Both products are compatible and you can get the instructions by going to their website: woodlandscenics.com You can simulate water falling off water wheels and make some really realistic water scenes. I'll be looking into doing the same for my planned wipwatermolen. I think that for thin layers of water this would be my choice. If you have a HobbyLobby in your area check the modeler section for railroads and dioramas. I hope this helps. Now back to my diorama, I have ordered the plexiglass sheet and cement this morning and should get it in the house next week. Shipping cost about the same as the glass. It sets me back $74. Now I have to by a fine tooth saw for my 10 inch table saw to cut it. I can't afford paying $20. per cut. So, wish me well with this project. I feel rather nervous doing it because I feel my father is looking over my shoulder No, kidding of course, I have cut plenty of plexiglass when repairing small airplanes. It's the cementing all the pieces together into a box that gives me some anxiety but with building a jig to keep all panels square it should work. Cheers,

Version 2.0 is looking good Marcus. Filling it with balsa makes a bit lighter too. Cheers,

Thanks Marcus for the links, I have downloaded them and will study the mills at my pleasure when I have the time. Your "klinker" build wall panels came out really nice. Leave it up to Carl to come up with an astute idea, very clever. Would that be lapstrake in English by chance? The longer I don't speak or read Dutch the more I have trouble remembering words Sad, but true. Cheers,

Great progress Patrick, she's coming along splendidly. Cheers,

Magnificent work Doris. Cheers,

Nice work on the "carving" Mark. I like your idea on the boat jig. I also really don't like ti make couple of plugs for my VOC shop boats and will most likely do it the old fashioned way, plank in frame. Cheers,

Thanks OC for the reminder. I never think about ebay even though I subscribe and get their daily mailings. Will take a gander tomorrow, if I find a moment of nothing else worthwhile to do Cheers,

Great progress Kevin, looking good. Cheers,

Nice work on the anti-skid OC. Rather ambitious replicating the tiles. Do you plan to also show her with a few missing tiles ????? Cheers,

Super nice work Carl, she looks splendid indeed. Cheers,

A lot of thought you are putting into this project Marcus and sifting through all the helpful hints. So far your plan makes a lot of sense. I'm sure that your windmill will come very close to the real thing, in miniature. I hope I can do as well with my planned wipwatermolen. Cheers,

Hi Lawrence, Yep, tempered glass is heavy and pricey but any clear plastic will do okay. For that large Victory model you'd need at least 1/4 inch. Looking at your previous work on the display case you should have no problem making one with acrylic. This year I'm rather strapped financially with a few very expensive bills, so for now I'll have to go the cheap way out. Next week I'll order a 24 X 48 sheet of 1/8 inch acrylic with the cement for it. I was hoping to be able to order the acrylic for the O19 at the same time but that'll run me over $150 and will have to hold off till hopefully next year. Hallo Patrick uit Verrebroek, hartelijk dank voor de complimenten! Thanks so much for your compliments. Thanks for dropping in, your doing rather well with your GH build yourself. Cheers,

Ah, a no-see'm boat, I'll join the crowd OC. Looking good! Cheers,

Caught up with all youn's work. Really terrific job on your model Greg. Denis also, nice work on the cammo and superstructure. Not many added pics from Carl to admire since my last visit but I'm sure she's looking real nice Oh yeah, congrets on the new job Carl. Cheers,

Just caught up with your beautiful Chebec Nils. She is an inspiration to all of us who have followed your build. Many lessons learned and very much enjoyment on the journey to completion. Congratulations Nils. Cheers,

Hey Carl, thanks for dropping in. Glass, plexiglass, perspex, lexan, all the same to me - when I can see through it - it is glass Yeah, it's going to be plexiglass. It's lighter then silica kind of glass and easier too for a DIY. I also want to stay with the "as simple as possible" kinda case. If I had the space in my house I would probably make a big case with real glass, tempered too. But alas, I'll have to go the cheap and simple route. Hi Lawrence, my pick for that large model would be tempered glass, provided you have the budget and room for it. Bernadette is right, plexiglass may discolor in time if you don't protect it from UV light. Lexan could be good alternative though. Cheers,

Thank you all dropping in and your very kind comments. I'll be calling the plexiglass place next week to find out what the cost will be for them to cut the pieces I need and the cement. While I'm at it I'll also ask for the glass for the O19. I hope it's not going to break the bank. Gwen still not asking for Musi? No Jan, Gwen says whenever you get around to it. Cheers,

Just check'n in with you Lou. Great news on that ship's boat, saves you some time. Cheers,

Awesome work you guys. Just caught up with youns, been busy around the homestead and various doctors. Fortunately everything is A okay. Oh yah, I cooked chicken Pad Thai for Gwen and me, awesome. Gwen liked it! Cheers,

Hello everyone and wow, I'm overwhelmed by all your kind words, thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I am very happy to hear your endorsement for me to go ahead and permanently secure the smoke. I still need to slant them athwart a little to indicate her 29 knot speed. No Jan, there will be no more tweaking, I'm tweaked out Even though my father hated this tired old rust bucket, this project is not only for him but for all who lost their lives in this struggle. Thanks to one survivor I now I also know how my father died and I have a grave marker too. Now I'll have to contact the plastic place and see what they can do for me and at what cost. I'll make a place for the diorama above my drawing table, next to the O19. When its all done I'll report back with all of you with my final words and pictures. So, don't go too far away now and forget me, I'll be back. It's not finished till it's finished. My next project is getting back to the VOC ship Surabaya and my attempt to the 1:3,000 scale Young America. But first I have to complete two or three paintings to submit to the International Colored Pencil Society of America. Gwen has also been asking for me to cook dinner more often, so that'll be coming up soon. She has been very patient and encouraging, knowing how much this model means to me. I also want to start baking sour dough bread for health reasons and then there is always the outside work to be done. Cheers,

That hull shape looks rather nice Lou. I'm surprised at the sharp entrance though, not expected to see for a ship of the mid 18th century. Planking hull first or deck first is a toss up. Some do deck first others do hull first. I planked my VOC ship "Surabaya" hull first op to deck level. I needed many false frames above deck level because it is a frame on bulkhead model and the hull planking gave me the extra support. Good to see you making progress. Cheers,

Hello Everyone, and thanks for visiting Carl and Greg and your very kind comments. Also my thanks to all who clicked the like button. I know, it's kinda late for me to be posting a progress report but I just showed Gwen the pics I made this morning. I tweaked some more and mixed some red and yellow paint to put inside the smoke clouds - thanks to Jud's comment. Gwen really liked the results, even when looking at the model from all angles. Her reaction was "life like, like it's real." Coming from her, Mrs. critical observer, is a real compliment. I haven't glued the smoke to their supports yet so pending on a thumbs up from all of youns I can finally proceed in gluing then down so I can complete with sculpting the smoke a little better. Right now that's practically impossible because they rotate and tend to droop. This sure was a long and trying process I must say but in the end it didn't come out too shabby. I also added a few more vertical water spouts on the missed 8 inch shell bursts and the dye. The sea was an experiment for me, never done one before. I read a lot about the how to's but in the end I went with what was available in the local HobbyLoggy. The material for the waves didn't really satisfy my that much. I didn't do what the instructions promised it is expected to do but in the end, only thanks to a rater calm sea, it worked out okay. In retrospect, I should have used some very thin plastic, like the stuff used in packaging LED lamps, for the bow wave as support. This would have saved me a lot of trouble in trying to make them thin enough and not to droop. However, they came out okay in the long run. I may do some more tweaking here and there like adding some more very light green in areas where the sea becomes transparent, but that'll be for later, if at all. This coming week I plan to call a plastics place, www.eplastics.com for material to build the enclosure. I may also ask them for a price for the O19 enclosure. I may have mentioned on my O19 build log that I planned to make it with a rounded top rather then square. Okay, here is "Jave" as of this morning. Cheers,

Good to see you easing back into your build Lou, I have been missing your progress reports. Cheers,

Thanks again for the input gents, VERY much appreciated. I like your suggestions Jud. I'll give it a bloody go tomorrow. Don't know if I can come close to what I think you have seen in real life. The only smoke I have seen is when a R-2800 fires up Hmmm, orange glow inside, light grey and whitish things, sounds really nice but executing it is a whole other thing. Handsome young man you were, um - - - sorry - are, with a very handsome ship. Between some other chores I have been fiddling with the funnel smoke and getting somewhere with it. A few more tweaks I think. Well, back to the workbench with some more tweaking on the gunsmoke. Cheers,