Louie da fly

Going west at the moment, mate. Away from Ballarat. 14 degrees at the moment and they've predicted 24 degrees today.

Steven

Absolutely amazing - and incredibly beautiful.

Steven

Mark, thanks for the concern. No, the fires are around Beaufort, about half an hour's drive away - in fact people from there have been evacuated to Ballarat. And though the fire's still going strong, the weather's cooled down (it was 36 degrees here yesterday - about 100 degrees F - but today was only 18 (64 F).

Tony, thanks for the suggestion - I'd heard that, but so far haven't come across any at a decent price - or at all, to be honest.

Steven 

This is such a beautiful build and very inspiring. Magnificent work, Patrick!

Steven

Wonderful stuff, Greg! I'd always been disappointed that the previous screen versions of Dune wimped out on the ornithopters - no movable wings in any of them. And though this isn't how I'd imagined them (I was thinking  they'd be more like the ones in Sky Captain) - 

- these ones are beyond brilliant. Really looking forward to seeing your completed model.

Steven

Thanks, Druxey. I'd thought it needed to be full strength. So you've saved me from making a ghastly mistake.🙂

Steven

Question re painting the silkspan - am I right in thinking the acrylic paint is to be used full strength, not diluted with water?

Thanks.

Steven

Thanks everybody for the likes and thanks particularly to Liteflight, Glen, Banyan and Roger for the replies.

I got hold of an old picture frame from an op shop - 3 bucks - much easier than making my own and it still had the glass in it, which I expect to have a future use for.

Liteflight, I echo your hope that I'll find a source of boxwood.  Looking forward to seeing if it's as good for carving as people keep saying.

Regarding kick-back on the tiller, I expect that's a factor, and also the bracing of the feet. Normally I have them fairly well spread apart anyway (it helps them stand up on their own without a stand), but I'll certainly take this on board (sorry!) when carving them. Legs and feet are usually the last things I finalise.

I don't have any information regarding whether there were one or two steermen - I expect it would depend on the width of the ship  at that point. I do know that when Tim Severin re-enacted Jason's voyage, his 'Argo' had only a single steersman working two rudders simultaneously, but that was a fairly small narrow vessel.

14 hours ago, Glen McGuire said:

I think the crewman bears an uncanny resemblance to the helmsman model.

 

Dammit, Glen! So I'm immortalising myself? I know some artists did that kind of thing, inserting themselves into their paintings, and Alfred Hitchcock used to appear in cameos in his movies . . .

4 hours ago, BANYAN said:

And note the warm clothing in the MIDDLE of SUMMER - yikes.  It has been one of those seasons down this a-way.

Yep, trakkie daks and a flannie and a sloppy joe and a koala jacket*. Can't be too warm. but this is Ballarat. And I really hate the cold. I usually rug up more than other people anyway.

3 hours ago, Roger Pellett said:

I just used ordinary hardware store masking tape and taped it all around.

Thanks, mate. I think I'll use masking tape to hold the silkspan in as well - less likely to tear it.

Steven

*Gym pants, flannelette shirt, loose jumper, fleece-lined zip-up jacket.

Druxey and Roger - how do you hold the silkspan to the frame? Staples? Tape? 

Steven

I've been a bit distracted by my other build, the Golden City paddlewheeler, but I've also been working on crewmen for the San Marco ship. Here are a bunch I've already finished and have now painted,

and two of them I've also shaded. I've exaggerated the light and shade as otherwise they look bland.

And two new crewmen letting go and hauling on the shrouds as the ship tacks. (Big lateeners had to move the yard to the other side of the mast every time they tacked, and to do this the shrouds had to be loosened off - after tacking the lee shrouds would be somewhat loose and the weather shrouds tight.)

Crewman hauling down on (new) weather shroud.

And opening up the gap between his arms

And the legs . . .

Normally I'd do his face early in the process, as if I got that wrong there'd be no point in continuing - but in this case I couldn't get at it until I'd opened up the arms

And the hands and fingers . . . (I'm getting better at fingers).

And another crewman, belaying a shroud.

Looks a bit like Sir Ralph Richardson at the moment, but that will change. Now more like Noel Fielding . . .

Or perhaps Richard Harris?

Yep, Richard Harris . . . 

I've decided to discard the two helmsmen (in the top picture - one in yellow and one in green) in light of the Black Sea discoveries about tiller location on quarter rudders, and I'll be making new ones. So I had to get some photos taken to base their arm positions on.

And here are the two helmsmen just started:

Steven

That's just amazing, Glen! You always come up with the most imaginative ideas, and the execution is always superb - that cliff-face, that water! Your work is inspirational - gets me thinking I ought to do some dioramas or introduce more interesting details into my own builds. Congratulations on another magnificent build.

Steven

Welcome to MSW! I think you'll find a lot of us are "returnees" - getting back into ship modelling after having done it as kids. But the hobby has certainly moved on - better kits, better instructions (usually!) and much more information available out there, as well as wonderful resources like MSW, where there are many people with years of experience ready and willing to give help and guidance, answer questions - and a wonderful audience to admire your modelling efforts. And there's such a wide range of skill levels here, and acceptance and encouragement, whether you're highly skilled or a total newbie.

Don't forget to start a build log for your Polaris - it's a great way to get help and encouragement. Instructions are here:

And check out the other Polaris build logs, which should give you pointers that will (hopefully) enable you to solve problems and avoid errors in advance.

Best wishes,

Steven 

Looks like I have a new skill to learn . . .

Steven

Oh, dear. I've just had to change my whole attitude to quarter rudders, now that I've seen this video from archaeologist Kroum Batchvarov, who's been working on the Black Sea finds:

I'll have to carve new steersmen to replace the ones I've done, with the tillers facing aft, not sideways! 

Steven

Yes, it's the translucency I don't like. I like your solution, and I'll give it a try. Thanks.

Steven

I'm starting on a model of the Golden City, a paddlewheeler which operates on Ballarat's Lake Wendouree, run by volunteers  and taking passengers for trips around the lake every summer Sunday (weather permitting). It is a replica of one of the paddlesteamers which did the same thing back around the turn of the 20th century (unfortunately destroyed by fire some years ago).

It will be a Solid model, and I'm first making one at 1:50 to iron out the bugs. After that I'll be making another at 1:25 to present to the people who run her, who also run a museum dedicated to the vessel itself and its history. 

I've spoken to one of the organisers who's very keen on the idea - apart from anything else, visitors to the museum get disappointed when they can't see the vessel if she's out on the lake, so a decent sized model (68 cm or 27 inches long) would be a great help.

I've actually started on both models already, and if it all works out I'll simplify the design and make multiple 1:50 models to sell to visitors, as a fund-raiser for both the museum and for the Men's Shed where I make stuff (and which has so many wonderful boys' toys, like bandsaws, lathes, bench saws etc etc).

Here are some photos of her

And some I took close up while she was in her boatshed.

Plus photos of the plans which the museum kindly got out for me, and which I then redrew to make the model.

And here are the smaller and larger models so far. As you can see in the first and second photos the deck overlaps the hull considerably.

Upside down, showing the overlap.

And with 'paddleboxes' - just cut from a bit of 20mm wood with a hole saw and cut in half.

Comparative sizes - 1:50 in front and 1:25 behind.

The two together with paddleboxes. The bit in front is the roof awning, which fortunately is flat. And another shot of the two together. (The phone camera reduces the size contrast in the first photo and exaggerates it in the second.)

I think the most difficult bit for me will be the posts that hold up the awning and the railings. I can't see any way to make them except out of wire, and I'm currently rubbish at soldering. Well, another skill I'll need to learn . . .

Steven

Thanks, Druxey, Pat, and those who've added likes. No problem with the corners. It's now encased in its acrylic box again, and the desk that was below it is back in position.

Steven

Just to alert anybody who was planning to make a display case like mine, I have just discovered (when I shifted the case to a new room and took the opportunity to do a minor repair, for which I had to buy glue) that what I'd thought was clear polycarbonate sheet was actually acryclic. I've edited the posts that describe the process (from #1608 onward) to get rid of the error.

And now she's in a new spot, here's a photo of her from two previously undiscovered angles.

Pretty cool IMHO.

Steven

Well, that's worth knowing. Thanks, Mark!

Steven

Well, the Silkspan I ordered arrived. Unfortunately it looks like I ordered the wrong thickness - I asked for the thinner version and it's see-through. Not much use for sails.

I can either order more, of the heavier grade (postage costs as much as the stuff itself!), or try gluing two layers together to see if that will work.

But I had an idea - there's a radio control aircraft club here in Ballarat. Maybe I can go along to them and try to arrange a swap - my Silkspan for heavier stuff. It - COULD - WORK! (shades of Gene Wilder as Young Frankenstein).

In the meantime, I've been carving the second steersman.

It didn't occur to me that in that stance he looks very much like a zombie . . .

In fact, it's starting to look a bit like a zombie apocalypse . . .

Steven

Yep. That's real estate agent abbreviations from the old ads in newspaper "For Sale" sections, where they were charged per letter. 

Steven 

Yes, my home is on a hill overlooking the Yarrowee River on which sits a wool scouring mill which closed in (I think) the 1970's. It wouldn't have been a very nice place to live at the time, what with the smells and whatever came out of that enormous brick chimney. And I can imagine the effluent was released into the river, though there are what were probably settling ponds. But it's a beautiful spot now, very des res.

The mill is a beautiful Victorian building with decorative brickwork, arched windows etc. It's been languishing since it closed down, but somebody is currently refurbishing it to become a "multi-function centre" (whatever that is).

We see it every morning from our bedroom window and it really is a beautiful addition to the scene, whatever it may have been back in the day.

Steven

And I've just discovered that February 3rd is the feast of St Blaise, patron saint of woodcarvers (and wool combers).

Steven

Just a matter of keeping one's eyes open - all from stuff on the internet.

Steven

Yes, those supports seem fairly common in contemporary pictures.

but they may not be able to support such a large cantilever, and as we have evidence of knees I'm quite happy to use them on my model.

Steven