Louie da fly

Woo hoo! I'm on MSW's facebook page! 
 
 
Apparently because I've been silly enough to carve all those oarsmen. But it's a real privelege to be up there with all those amazing examples of the shipmodeller's art.
 
Speaking of oarsmen, I've completed another two and put them in place, and got a further two under way (the ones nearest the camera).
 
    
 
Which means that once those are complete there'll only be one pair of oarsmen left to do! I won't know what to do with myself . . .

Woo hoo! I'm on MSW's facebook page! 
 
 
Apparently because I've been silly enough to carve all those oarsmen. But it's a real privelege to be up there with all those amazing examples of the shipmodeller's art.
 
Speaking of oarsmen, I've completed another two and put them in place, and got a further two under way (the ones nearest the camera).
 
    
 
Which means that once those are complete there'll only be one pair of oarsmen left to do! I won't know what to do with myself . . .

Aaaaargh!

Woo hoo! I'm on MSW's facebook page! 
 
 
Apparently because I've been silly enough to carve all those oarsmen. But it's a real privelege to be up there with all those amazing examples of the shipmodeller's art.
 
Speaking of oarsmen, I've completed another two and put them in place, and got a further two under way (the ones nearest the camera).
 
    
 
Which means that once those are complete there'll only be one pair of oarsmen left to do! I won't know what to do with myself . . .

More work on the oarsmen. Two new guys added (figures I and J),
 

 
and figures G and H have had their hands carved to shape to fit the oar handles and arms glued in place.
 

 
Here's the process I use to get the hand to fit the handle (Figure I - left hand - the right is already done).
 
Rough cut: the hand is just a squarish block of wood - at this stage I work out where I have to carve the hollow the oar handle will fit into. Note the arm is pivoted on a friction-fitted bamboo pin at the shoulder, which allows me to remove the arm to work on it and also to swivel it down into its final place when I've finished shaping it.
 
  
 
Next, after taking the arm off, carving the hollow and replacing the arm. Then doing it again to get it closer still to the the shape I need:
 
 
 
A bit of shaping of the hand itself:
 
  
 
More shaping of both hand and arm, and cutting a demarkation line at the cuff between sleeve and hand 
 
    
 
And adding grooves to show the fingers.
 

  
Not a perfect work of art I'm afraid, but they do the job well enough (and I'm making a ship model - the figures are just for atmosphere).
 
And here are Figures G and H with their arms swivelled into place and glued in position. I've put wood filler in the gaps between arm and body. Note the enormous shoulders (and upper arms) which are then trimmed to shape once the glue and filler have dried properly.
 
    
 
And here they are sanded and ready for painting.
 

OC, I'm gobsmacked by the quality of the paintwork on your figures. My dromon oarsmen are pretty much the same scale as yours, but the paintwork on mine is much more basic and plain - I haven't the skill to do the kind of shading you've done.
 
(OTOH you didn't have to carve all yours! )
 
BTW, I don't know if anybody's mentioned it before, and at the risk of sending you off on another tangent, have you read "Death to the French" by C. S. Forester? It's a novel about a rifleman who gets separated from his unit during the British withdrawal to the Torres Vedras in the Spanish campaign, and lives off the land fighting the French until their retreat as the British advance, and he is able to rejoin his unit. Fictional (apparently) but with fascinating period detail of what it must have been like to serve as a rifleman at the time.

Woo hoo! I'm on MSW's facebook page! 
 
 
Apparently because I've been silly enough to carve all those oarsmen. But it's a real privelege to be up there with all those amazing examples of the shipmodeller's art.
 
Speaking of oarsmen, I've completed another two and put them in place, and got a further two under way (the ones nearest the camera).
 
    
 
Which means that once those are complete there'll only be one pair of oarsmen left to do! I won't know what to do with myself . . .

Woo hoo! I'm on MSW's facebook page! 
 
 
Apparently because I've been silly enough to carve all those oarsmen. But it's a real privelege to be up there with all those amazing examples of the shipmodeller's art.
 
Speaking of oarsmen, I've completed another two and put them in place, and got a further two under way (the ones nearest the camera).
 
    
 
Which means that once those are complete there'll only be one pair of oarsmen left to do! I won't know what to do with myself . . .

Woo hoo! I'm on MSW's facebook page! 
 
 
Apparently because I've been silly enough to carve all those oarsmen. But it's a real privelege to be up there with all those amazing examples of the shipmodeller's art.
 
Speaking of oarsmen, I've completed another two and put them in place, and got a further two under way (the ones nearest the camera).
 
    
 
Which means that once those are complete there'll only be one pair of oarsmen left to do! I won't know what to do with myself . . .

OC, I'm gobsmacked by the quality of the paintwork on your figures. My dromon oarsmen are pretty much the same scale as yours, but the paintwork on mine is much more basic and plain - I haven't the skill to do the kind of shading you've done.
 
(OTOH you didn't have to carve all yours! )
 
BTW, I don't know if anybody's mentioned it before, and at the risk of sending you off on another tangent, have you read "Death to the French" by C. S. Forester? It's a novel about a rifleman who gets separated from his unit during the British withdrawal to the Torres Vedras in the Spanish campaign, and lives off the land fighting the French until their retreat as the British advance, and he is able to rejoin his unit. Fictional (apparently) but with fascinating period detail of what it must have been like to serve as a rifleman at the time.

Yes, each step completed is not only a step towards the completed model, but it's also an achievement in itself. You're doing well and one day you'll be able to look back on this and say "It was really worth putting in that effort." And you'll have a model to be proud of.

Woo hoo! I'm on MSW's facebook page! 
 
 
Apparently because I've been silly enough to carve all those oarsmen. But it's a real privelege to be up there with all those amazing examples of the shipmodeller's art.
 
Speaking of oarsmen, I've completed another two and put them in place, and got a further two under way (the ones nearest the camera).
 
    
 
Which means that once those are complete there'll only be one pair of oarsmen left to do! I won't know what to do with myself . . .

Yes, each step completed is not only a step towards the completed model, but it's also an achievement in itself. You're doing well and one day you'll be able to look back on this and say "It was really worth putting in that effort." And you'll have a model to be proud of.

Struggling a bit with the number off roof tiles on the church, estimate another 270 to go.  Used clay to form the pillars and will need a lot more for the cloisters, inserted a tooth pick to give it some strength and hoping when the varnish dries it is a lighter colour.

Thanks the main church roof has a lot of tiles and trying to get this down before I head off on holiday

Some merchants, soldiers and the last monk

Can you ever have too many Monks?  The latest batch of townspeople 

Scratch built the doors using scrap wood, card and bits of a matchstick 

Finished the back roof, happier with the results and spent a lot of time sanding the roof tiles to a point where I don’t have too much skin left on the fingers that were holding the tiles.  Will now move on to the doors and steps and will once again stalk Ekis’ build for ideas and tips.

Getting better and better all the time. 
 
So you have a carpet monster, too? Mine is very voracious, but it's not always the thing at fault. I dropped a piece off the workbench, looked and looked for it for a long time with no success. Swept the carpet and sorted through what I'd swept up. Looked under all the furniture - nothing. Went off and did something else to get my mind off it, hoping the aliens who'd pinched it would have returned it when I came back. Nope. Then it occurred to me - it's cold where I live and I usually wear ugg boots when I'm modelling. Yep - the piece had fallen down my boot. Fortunately it wasn't anything fragile, so it hadn't broken.

Yes, each step completed is not only a step towards the completed model, but it's also an achievement in itself. You're doing well and one day you'll be able to look back on this and say "It was really worth putting in that effort." And you'll have a model to be proud of.

I worries at all.  As a matter of fact you’ve helped a lot.  Since it’s all on building a clipper I don’t consider it hijacking.  Rather just sharing more info.  Good luck

So I’m continuing with the first planks.  It’s slow work so I’m also working on the deck houses.  The walnut decking is pretty rough around the edges so I bundled them and sanded them lightly.  I’m still working on the rear deck house but I finished the front and will paint and stain soon.  

You're making good progress.  Remember the old saying, 'slow and steady wins the race'.

Hi Louie, yes come on in and share the pain! I have another question regarding the rigging, but I need to take some pics first. Stand by,
 
PC