Rudolf

Thanks dogface. 
Still a few more steps before painting anything. I need to finish the decking and install the ceiling planks. Looking back I should have put the deck planks down before the waterways. Now I have to fit the deck planks to the edge of the waterways which is harder than just putting the ways on top of the planks.  Oh well, next time. 
 
 Also have to figure out how I am going to approach the removable section of the bulwark. If I leave it “in place” I don’t really have to cut it out. I can just put the frame around it and make it look like it is removable. Problem with that is then it doesn’t really make sense to have the cutting stage shown in the down position. I am not sure if I want it down or up🤨🤔. 
 
almost there with the deck planks.
 

 
Tom

Post One Hundred and Twenty-one
 Quarterdeck fittings
 
I start with the ships wheel
I quite like the look of the wheel, even given its flat etched profile.

6928
 I was torn between a white or Red colour scheme, I liked both, but settled on Red in the end because that is the colour indicated on the Marshall painting, and there is no other white paint on the model.
 
To prepare the Brass etched wheel I chemically blackened it to provide some bite for the paint.

6926
After initial thinned coats were applied, undiluted paint was used  to beef up the spoke profile. The spokes outside of the rim were painted using Ochre Brown.
 
Standards

6916
I did note a slight misalignment of the engraved panel work on the standards, seemed to be off centre. I don’t know if this a poor example on my kit, but hopefully it won’t be too obvious with the Binnacle afore it and the Mizen behind.
 
Before securing the forward standard  I added a thin sleeve between the standard and the wheel, otherwise the wheel would bind against the standard.
 
At the point the Upper deck was fitted, way back, I had secured the tiller rope so that they may be rigged should I decide to do so.
Two separate lines were placed below the Upper deck, one fixed on the Port side, the other running on the Starboard side, and temporarily tied off.
 
With the Wheel assembly in place rigging the tiller lines can be done.

6919
Starting on the forward Port side an odd number of turns were taken around the  drum  I chose five as being appropriate, a nail being secured thro’ the centre turn into the top of the drum.
It is a fallacy that  the rope runs were fully expended along the length of the drum.
With the turns completed the Port line is spliced to the Starboard line and gently teased thro’ the  deck slots.

6915
The running end of the Starboard line  which emerges thro’ the aft ladderway of the Upper deck is then used to pull the now joined lines taut.
This is the tricky part hoping that the spliced line doesn’t part below decks.
A spot of glue is applied to the line where it passes thro’ the deck in the Coach.

6911
Before passing thro’ the Quarterdeck the lines pass thro’ a device called a Sliding foot which for model purposes was fitted on the lines before they passed around the drum. There is some work left do on these but they needed to be fitted at this point.

6924

6925
Adding the wheel makes a big difference to the look of the model, and I am pleased that this is a good match to the Marshall painting.

6931(2)

6935(2)

6936(2)
These photos mark the tenth month of this build, and there’s a fair way to go yet.
 
I will next look at the Binnacle.
 
B.E.
20/05/2022
 
 
 
 

Hello and many thanks for your nice comments and likes.
the last days I finished the drift rail here at the fore castel. I took her out of the basement, so that the paint could dry better. Since I changed there my light system to LED, is that a problem.
The next days I would first build the rest of the head rails and then the cat head supporter. So it may take some time before you hear again from me.

Thanks to all for your kind words and the 'tumbs up' !
 
*********************************************
 
Beginning putting everything together
 
Over the years many parts have been produced and more recently painted. It slowly time to put everything together.
 

 
The first step was to semi-permanently install the boat in the seascape. I do not expect to have to remove it again, but one never knows, so I am leaving filling the gaps around with acrylic gel to the very end. The model was screwed to the base from the bottom using a single wood-screw in the middle.
 

 
At this point also the deckhouse could be permanently installed. Which in turn allowed to install the various ladders. These had been fitted with ‘brass’ anti-slip pads and shoes to keep them in place.
 

 
The various skylights also have been installed and the steering-wheels together with the associated binnacles.
 

 
The seams between the deckhouse, the skylights and the decks were touched with paint and some light ‘weathering’ with pastels applied with the idea to ‘pull together’ all parts visually. Thus, corners were touched up in dark grey pastel and typically more worn areas in front of ladders etc. were given a light rub with white pastel. This has to be with restraint, as the boat is meant to be depicted in a relatively new and well-maintained state, around 1878, so not much rust etc.
 

 

 
BTW, the model is 286 mm long or 11 1/4 " ...
 
To be continued ....

Keith, it seems to have been very common (still) in the 1860s and 70s to have the steering and commanding position(s) rather exposed. It's the same for e.g. the preserved Dutch amoured battleships BUFFLE and SCHORPIOEN (see e.g. http://www.arbeitskreis-historischer-schiffbau.de/mitglieder/ontour/buffel/). Perhaps this has something to do with the fact commando transmission was largely orally and in those years before smoke-less powder it was rather difficult to keep a good overview over the situation.
 
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Further Assembly
Since the last post, turning handles made from 0.1 mm wire shaped in a die on the jeweller press that also flattened the end uniformly were glue onto the various ventilators. This operation was left to the last moment, as these handles are extremely flimsy and easily damaged or broken off. The ventilators now were ready to be spray-painted.

There is some uncertainty around the interior colour of the ventilators. The interior appears very dark on the earliest photograph, suggesting that they have been either black or red. On later photographs with the black-white-yellow colour-scheme according the 1878 ordinance in some cases the interior seems to be the same colour as the exterior, namely white or yellow. There is no written evidence of a red interior, so I went for black to keep within the somewhat more sombre colour-scheme of the 1874 ordinance.

Given the flimsy nature of all those parts that come on board now, I am working ‘inside-out’, so that I do not need to reach over already installed parts with the risk of breaking or bending something. This requires some strategic thinking.

Now the lower carriage of the gun was finally assembled with the platform for the gun-captain, the shell-crane including its hand-cranks, and one training-shell in its wheeled loading-tray.

The carriage was glued in place on its pivot. Unfortunately, once installed in the barbette many of the little details that took a lot of time to make are not visible anymore. However, I did make the effort, because there may be certain angles of view, where they may be in part visible at least.

Next thing up will be the chain-rail around the deck-house. I think I found a way to simulate the chain, but I am waiting for some speciality wire (0.05 mm Konstantan wire, which is a copper-nickel alloy, which is somewhat tougher than pure copper).

 
To be continued ....

Hello !
Hello Vic, the guns are juste laid on the sill of the gunports, in place just for the picture, I have since removed them
Concerning the guns, I thought it might interest some of you to know how I painted them. I was inspired by the guns in front of the Strasbourg mess, as well as those that can be seen in museums. I found their patina was very elegant, not too marked, and highlighting the decorations. The difficulty is mainly related to the scale; at 1/72 the painting, even well diluted, does not behave as at 1/48 or larger scales, especially on reliefs as small as the ones on the bronze guns. So I included a picture of the guns as received, already passed through the burnisher by Alexey. Pretty but a little flashy and not homogeneous from one to the other, going from very dark to quite light. After going through the burnisher to have a very dark working base, I apply a coat of green (house mix) with an airbrush to give the dark bronze color. The airbrush makes it possible to have a very fine layer of paint which does not thicken the reliefs of the decorations. We get a very matte result. I then apply a thin coat of protective oil for metals which will protect the base during subsequent operations. The verdigris patina is then done with Citadel's "nihilakh oxide" paint. It has the consistency of a wash, and after passing it sparingly I wipe it away, leaving it only in the hollows. The final step is to rub the barrels with the shine brush of a Dremel, which will smooth the paint a little and restore the metallic aspect to the tube. It's quite difficult to take a picture of this. I tried with different lights. the last picture  is "burnt" but the color of green is the closest to what we see in real life.
That's all !

 

Many thanks Mark, Keith and all others for there likes
today I have build the sheaves and finished the cat blocks I started yesterday. So I think, tomorrow I must paint again scrolls 😒

Hello,
only a short update. I carved and painted a little over the weekend. 

Thank you, Michael and Gray, and also all the others for your likes.
The next thing to do should had be, painting the bulwark. But then arose the question, where are the other seats of ease? So I decided first to build the main-headrail. With build in the rail I could see where to build the seats of ease. At least not at the side of the round houses. There is not enough space for them. So I think in front of them.

 

 
That is the stand of work yesterday, and I'm not ready with them. Today I cleaned up my winter garden, and tomorrow the windows in the house are my goal. So, at the moment there is not very much activity at the shipyard 😉

.

Updating with a few rigging details..  Here are the shrouds tied off.
 

 
The backstays.

 
The mast head

I'm using these hooks from Crafty Sailor.
 

 
The Main Stay.
 

 
The ensign.
 
Thanks for stopping by..

Thanks for dropping in.  Makes me feel amiss in not updating more often, but   work progresses slowly.
I have completed most of the standing rigging and the running rigging is coming along.
 
 
I used the laser to cut the spars.  I make them with two parts that I finish individually then join together.
For me it makes for easier handling than one long piece..
 

 
Ready to be hoisted.
 
\
 
A pennant that will fly from the top of the topmast that still needs to be completed.

 
Setting up the shrouds...
 
There is quite a bit of other rigging completed..   I just need to take the time to make some pictures that I am ready to share..
 

Been a while since an update, but I have been slowly going forward with rigging..
 
 

A lot of hooks blocks and tackles.  Not really tying anything off at this point.  Yards are made, but not ready for prime time yet.

Test fit on the boat..   My rope is more of a hemp color as seen in the pictures previously..   Phone camera wants to make it lighter..
I will be blackening the bolts on the tackle fittings..

Some progress on the rigging.
 

In this session I'm making some fiddle blocks. Here are the parts made with the laser from 1/32 cherry.
I borrowed the build method from Chuck..  I really like the blocks Chuck makes, but if I can make them myself, I can save a little expense, particularly when I mess up one or more trying to finish them.

Here are the pieces glued up.
 

 
The little tab is handy for holding it while finishing it up..  The cherry doesn't finish as fine as boxwood, but I like the color of the cherry and
it's really my go-to wood for this project.
 

 
Here is one of the backstays with the fiddle tackle.  Cheerful builders will find this familiar looking.
 

 
Close up of one of the fiddles..
 
Thanks for looking in..

Fiddle and Faddle..    Who are those guys, anyway?
 
Capstan revisited.
 

This is my earlier capstan which I think could have done well in this model, with the final effort in mind being a deco piece..
However, as I go along I'm finding this project to be so many mini-projects. 
Learning how to use my laser; 2d and 3d software, and making something I can feel satisfied with.
There is also the issue of so many challenging efforts here at MSW and all the " OMG! I wish I had thought of that ! " moments.
 

 
Anyway, I made a new capstan.  This is a modified capstan kit from the Winchelsea project..  
 
More fiddle and faddle coming up...

Guns all done.
 
I'm leaning toward not rigging the guns..  Still have time to decide..  I went ahead with the eyebolts.  I needed the practice.
 

Here are my boom jaws..  Fresh from the laser on the left, and finished up on the right..
 
 

 
I have the mast and topmast broken into smaller parts that make it easier to shape the pieces, rather than try to shape one long part. 
It also makes it easier to make a new part if something goes wrong.
 

 
it should look something like this eventually..
 

 

 
Still working on cannon.  This breaching rope looks frayed because  I did  a lot of twisting and untwisting.
I hope to come up with a cleaner look..
 
Stay tuned..

Been a while since my last update, but I have made a little progress.
 
 

 
One of my side projects has been to work on a display base and pedestals.  This picture is one of several veneered pieces I bought  on eBay a while back.
I used one of these for my Mary, which I think looks OK.
 

 
However, I wanted to make something a little more unique for Resolution, as well as practice my veneering skills ( or lack thereof.. )
I decided to try my hand at a bit of inlay work.
 

 
I glued strips of light and dark wood on top of veneer sheets.
 
 

 
Here is one of my little tool tips..  I use a plastic knife as a glue spreader.. Doesn't show that well in the picture, but it does a good job of making a thin layer of glue in little rows, that quickly even out..
 

Here is my wood sandwich, from which I cut thin strips with my table saw.
 

 
I used a piece of burl veneer from my stash, and this is what I ended up with.
I will update shortly with a little progress on the boat itself.

Starboard all done.
She stem and keel are showing lighter than they appear in person.  Perhaps future updates will show there is less contrast that this picture shows.

I raised the waterline at bow and stern  as indicated in the manual. Painted the hull by hand, as the boat is too big to fit into my paint booth. Wish I hadn't! I was worried about thinning the ME gloppy paint for the airbrush. . . Anyway, I think it is passable, but is not as smooth as it should have been considering that the hull was looking pretty sweet after priming with rattle can.  I did thin the paint some with water. Oh, well- I've given up on perfection, and really, I've seen and done worse. . . This model, for me is going to be all about the rigging!
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Added the second lower wheel assembly and the deck. There will be some re-work of the spirketting and infill of the deck at the stern, due to my earlier over-extending the stern knuckle. Then I think that issue will be behind me. I'm pretty satisfied so far. 
 

Thank you guys. Distance is forgiving. . .
 
Hand-painted one of the lower wheel assemblies and added to the hull. This would have been much easier to spray paint, but I have read that the Model Expo paint is not suitable for airbrushing. I do have some Badger airbrushing paint on order, but that will take a while to get to me- and I want to keep moving forward. I think it came out pretty good. A gap is visible underneath the sponson deck. I don't want to try and fill this right now, as this gap will probably be closed or obscured by the addition of the deck. I will probably paint the edge of the deck black and see how that looks. If it needs more work, at least the deck will provide a backing for filler.
 

Yesterday was a milestone day as I completed the main deck gallery of stern windows and finally completed the wrapping balcony.
 
Per usual, there was quite a lot of touch-up, but here is where we are after applying the walnut ink wash:

Somewhat remarkably, I managed to avoid breaking the aft bulwark supporting knees, the angle of which had to be faired a little to match the corresponding rake of the corner joint.
 
Because the nature of this reverse-engineering project precludes a comprehensive drawing, from the outset, the build is always evolving, in-process.  I realized, for example, that increasing the camber on this main-deck tier of windows ultimately necessitated adjusting the camber of the bulwark railing, if those two things were ever to agree with each other.  Even though I thought I had set the camber of the windows to match that of the bulwark, it didn’t quite pan out that way, in actuality.  Unfortunately, this only became manifestly evident to me AFTER I glued the bulwark in place.  For the sake of comparison, here is the relatively flatter camber of the bulwark, prior to alteration:
 

Fortunately, there was enough solid-bond glue surface to enable me to re-shape the bulwark, in place.
 
The bulwark cap-rail, itself, was determined by making graphite rubbings along the top edge with masking tape.  This gave me the precise shape, as well as the location and depth of all of the pilasters, so that I could arrive at a reasonable overhang, without making the railing appear too heavy.
 
The forward end of the side cap-rails required some allusion to timbering, considering the need to cover the relatively large-scale expanse of the wooden end-piece beneath it.

My big idea was to wrap the side railings over the corner join to the aft bulwark, thus re-enforcing the construction.


A few different perspective shots with all of the paint re-touched:
 





So, now the stage is set to make the pass-through archways that also serve as supports for the figures of Africa and the Americas.  My adaptation of the Berain design is as close as I can keep it, while still respecting the particular slope of tumblehome on this model.  Here, I’ve drawn my proposal directly to a cardboard pattern:
 

These will be fun to make, as I’ve made all other things like this, before; there will be a primary sandwich of three layers of styrene, with two thinner appliqués that make up the acanthus brackets, and applied mouldings that continue the lines of the upper stern balcony.  There will be pierced fretwork and applied ornaments and all kinds of fun that add up to about a week of effort to make each bracket.
 
I’ve extracted two of the Four Winds carvings from the stock QGs, that will be fitted to the outboard surfaces of these brackets.  I didn’t bother to draw them on the template, but here they are beside said template:
 

They will be reduced, accordingly, to fit between the upper and lower scrolled volutes.
 
As always, thank you for looking in, and for your kind comments and support of the project.
 
More to follow…
 

Hi All
Small update on progress over the last few months or so.  Forecastle is now complete and just a few points for those who may be planning on building this model.
The fore beak platform provided didn't really fit and so I had to fashion another out of scrap.  The photos below show the kit supplied  and my modified version
 


 
Next was an issue of my own making, when planking the main deck, I planked to the oval provided in the false deck for the bowsprit.  This is far too large and I only realised once the forecastle was pretty much complete and I was checking the fit of the bowsprit.
The following shows the repairs in a tight space (before and after)....not perfect....but lesson learned for future!!!
 

 

 
Cannons are now rigged on the main deck all rope was made on a home made vertical rope walk.  Gutermann Scala 200 and 240 thread colour 464 was used
 
 

 
Again for those considering the model the centre hatch coverings in the below need to be made narrower than the kit supplied otherwise the support columns for the waist gangway wont fit....don't ask me how I know

 
Some general photos of progress.....looks like one of the cannons has lifted from the deck, time to get the glue out 

 
Thanks for looking in
 
Mark