Elijah

Did a bit of laminating the past few days. Ready for some sanding. Not sure if I should treat the wood now or wait till the end?

Thanks Pierre    , she looks like a fine looking kit that should make into a great model, I see a few cannons and a couple of ships boats to be built. Going to be fun, I'll be watching for your log.

Great looking shop Pierre, I am feeling like a slob after seeing this   . Hope you had a great holiday season and I'll be watching for more.

Nice set-Up Pierre!!
(Puts my Plastic boxes to shame....)
 
Cheers....HOF.

Holidays kept us busy... Got some new stuff... Had to do some changes to the shop...


 
New Tool Box and some new Special tools just for ship building....

 
Now maybe I can return to building.....

And.....you have the coolest workstation!

Excellent keel clamp; simple, cheap, effective. Model is going to be great!

Fairing the hull. Making sure the hull frame is as smooth as a baby's bottom. 

Well done, Mike.  Setting those rails in, keeping them steady and even has to be great for developing skills in measuring and setting in.  Plus, it's surely just plain gratifying to see what a a great job you've done!
 
Cheers,
 
Martin

I completed the transom side of the main rail with respect to the yellowheart and ebony sections.  It's a tricky piece to fit in that it there is not only a curve fore to aft, but also longitudinally (not sure if that's a word, but the main rail has a slow curve going up from the bulwarks to an apex at the midline of the stern and back down to the other side).  This took a little planning, but what I did was to cut a wider piece of yellowheart and sand it to get the fore to aft curve.  Then, I soaked it and put this plank forming jig I bought a while back from Micromark:
 
http://www.micromark.com/plank-forming-jig,7164.html
 
 
Once that was all done, it was a few hours of work to fit it against the main rail sections running along the sides of the ship.  Lots of measurements to make sure that the curve at the transom worked and was uniform (thankfully, somehow the transom framing pieces were pretty spot on).  Then it was on to gluing it to the hull - not easy with the various curves and lack of anchor points!  Eventually after some pins and clamping, I glued it and let it sit overnight.  Then this morning I laminated the ebony strip to it which wasn't too bad, and squared everything up.
 
Some artifacts from the camera, but the lines are very smooth and continuous.  A ton of time, planning and stress, but the main rail came together pretty nicely.  Eventually I'll finish it by laminating holly to it to represent the white pinstripe that runs the hull, but I think next I'm going to start planking the bulwarks and preparing the deck area by adding support pieces for the various deck items.  It's a relief to, for the most part, get the basic framing done so that now I can start adding things that will be seen on the model!
 

 

 

 

Thanks very much for the suggestion Al.  The kit has you build the whaleboats in a bread and butter fashion.  That approach seems to work very nicely and easily, but I don't know if I can use that method and "paint with wood."  Seems like I would have to do the framing approach like you are thinking about.  I've barely started thinking about it, but have looked at logs with much interest where people are scratch building small boats around plugs or temporary bulkheads.

Thanks Doc!  This framing thing is taking a while to get done right, but it looks like it might work out nicely after all.  Holly seems much easier to bend, but I think I'm going to wait until I add the cheeks to the stem as the white strip extends from the main rail onto the cheeks.
 
The nice thing about painting with wood in this way is that you avoid having to paint straight lines on things like the pinstripes.  You can use your trusty table saw to essentially cut out the lines you need.

Mike, I know you are a ways away from building the whaleboats. The Morgan is on my bucket list and my goal (or dream) is to build framed whaleboats on a form. I plan to learn small boat building before I get to the Morgan. My point is that I just got a copy of The Greenwich Hospital Barge and methods of building open boats by David Antscherl from Seawatch Books. It looks to me that this book makes it very doable to build the whaleboats. I have not used the information to build a boat yet as I just got the book but it's well written and layer out with good illustrations. I hope to start a build log for a small boat based on the information in the book in the next couple of months.

That turned out really well, Mike!

Elijah, thanks for looking in.  Thankfully the Morgan has pretty distinct areas where there are color changes, so for the most part you don't need to change colors mid-strake or mid-piece.  The trickiest part will be on the bowsprit I think, which changes from black to white so that will require two separate dowels attached together.
 
One tricky area I'm working through at the moment is the main rail.  The main rail is ochre inboard, black outboard, with a white stripe at the outer edge for one of the Morgan's pinstripes.  So, what I am attempting to do is laminate three pieces of wood - yellowheart, ebony, and holly - to form the main rail.  So far so good - I was worried about bending a thin strip of ebony around the yellowheart, but after a few failed attempts at bending ebony, I finally came upon a way to do it.  The best success I had was to soak the piece, put it against a former with the curve I wanted, then use a hot iron plank bender that I got from Model Expo against piece to get the bend I wanted.  After a few rounds of this, I was able to rubber band the piece along the former to help keep the bend.  One thing to bear in mind is that the hot iron can burn the wood and even cause tiny divots, so it's best to use the iron against the opposite side of the visible piece of the wood - essentially, if the curve is concave, you use a former that is convex, and vice versa.
 
Here are some pictures of the main rail after laminating a 1.5mm x 1.5mm ebony strip to the earlier installed yellowheart:
 

 

 

Mike:  Bloodwood does seem to darken with age, but overall it stays a deep red.  I've not seen it turn "black"  I think it's a nice choice for inner bulwarks, but pear or cherry are good also (and MUCH easier to work!).

Hey Don, like Doc said, yellowheart does seem to keep its color which is nice.  I did put tung oil on a test piece, and it turned a nice vibrant yellow.  If it changes, I blame Doc who recommended yellowheart to me    All kidding aside, this is a good resource for thinking about what woods change colors and how much.  Interestingly, Bloodwood is listed as a wood that experiences pretty strong color changes:
 
http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/preventing-color-changes-in-exotic-woods/
 
 
From my limited understanding, applying a finish isn't a foolproof method of avoiding these changes.  I even asked the guy at Woodcraft whether their UV-resistant finishes would help, but he said that the UV-resistance of those finishes breaks down over time, so you end up just delaying the inevitable.

I completely forgot to mention I have done another video presentation of this model, c/w the sounds of crashing waves, seagulls and ominous wood creaks. My children say there should be a piratical voice going "Arghhhh", but I don't think they are taking this seriously enough ;-)
 
The video is here

For Christmas my children bought me two of the Mantua “Battle Station” carronade kits (both the French and English versions thereof). They are to a scale of 1:17, so more than fulfil my desire for large scale kits. However it’s difficult to take them as serious “kits”, so I won’t be doing any build logs, I didn’t take any photos whilst constructing the first (here presented, the French one), but think I might do whilst doing the English one, just in case.
 

However it is worth pointing out that the kits are extremely well produced with the parts as good as any I have come across in any ship kit. Even the manual is well presented, although one gets the feeling it’s not taking itself too seriously as some required dimensions are not listed and one has to make several “best guesses”.
 

I think the fact the very first item one builds, the decking, gives the user the (completely wrong) impression this kit is not going to be too demanding. The deck comes complete as one piece, with planking joints and treenails already etched into the surface. In a sneering way I found this completely off-putting, but as the kit developed, I quickly realised it wasn’t a complete walk in the park, but some elements were in fact a tad demanding. There is some scope for bashing, but I limited myself to two additional cannon "tools" ; the wormer and rammer. The "sponger" was part of the kit. I should also point out the original cannon was a superb brass one - of considerable weight! However I demand realism (to a point), so the brass had to be rendered gunmetal.
 

The finished model is actually quite pleasing, and well worth a place amongst the more finished, more self-important, model ships previously built.
 

Hi Ginger! I would recommend reading Chuck's practicum very carefully. There are a few places where he gets some of the measurements wrong. Always double check his measurements with the plans. One example is when he tells you to make the copper plates 1/4" long instead of the real measurement being 1/2" long. Also, take your time and be careful. Make sure you are using the right sized wood. For the keel, I took the stem post measurements from the plans, printed them out, and then glued them to some of the wood to cut out. The stem post is the curved piece connected to the keel at the front of the ship. For the little nib at the end of the keel, I just filed the end of it before cutting the keel to length, ensuring a good fit. I personally just glued the keel on without pins. It has held up so far. Just make sure it is straight. Have fun with the boat, she turns out very nice in my opinion. Also, words work, but as the saying goes "a picture is worth a thousand words". I look forward to more updates! If you have any questions, just ask . That's what MSW is for! Good luck!

Hello all,
 
Last year, after much debate, I bought the Phantom to start me on my way in Model Shipbuilding.  I don't have any experience at all in modeling, and it is my first venture.  I was very pensive about taking on a solid hull, as I am really quite terrible at wood carving, but my dad, who does do Norwegian wood carving agreed to shape the hull for me.  He did the Amati Drakkar, which I did the sails on for him as his one and only model ship, and it turned out great.  I sent it off with him for the hull molding and now its back, so I've been reading Chuck's practicum and the logs of others. 
 
I should start out by saying that the size of this model is extremely small, so I'm nervous about how tiny its pieces are, and I have pretty low expectations for the final result but I would at least like to give it a try, and maybe learn some things along the way.  My goal as a complete beginner with no background knowledge in modeling is merely to finish.  Eventually, I'd like to do the Pride of Baltimore II as I both got to see her in the Philadelphia harbor and she looks much like a schooner I sailed on in college (the S/V Westward) and/or the Bluenose, both of which have a letter better scale for me.
 
So, anyway, I've ordered a cutting mat, and I'm waiting on it.  I only have the tools from the deluxe kit from Model Shipways, and its going to take a little bit to get organized.
 
In the meantime, it looks like my Dad may have taken a bit too much off the depth of the forward area, as it is 1/8" below the -R mark but the aft deck matches perfectly.  So, I guess that might impact the waterline a little, but I don't think there is much to be done at this point.  The length of the hull is 9 1/2" but the plans show 9 1/4" so I'm also unsure if the plans are meant to be drawn exactly to scale, but the length does match the size of the hull template. 
 
It looks like the first thing I need to do is install the keel, stem & sternpost, and I've looked through all the other logs and Chuck's practicum.  I know I'm meant to glue some pieces together before cutting out the keel, but I haven't found much else about how to do it. It seems like once it is glued on, it would be very easy to break off, and I understand people use pins and such but I don't know a resource to help a total newbie to figure this stuff out. I sort of feel like I wish I had a video of someone putting together a solid hull to help me out, but I guess I'll just do my best, right!
 
It'll be awhile until I post any substantive work until I receive my cutting mat (which apparently won't ship until next month), but thought I would at least get my log set up!
 
- Ginger

Thanks Pete - always looking to add to the library. I'll take a look at it.

Mike,
That Goodwin text is one of my essential books when referencing. An excellent guide.
 
Pete

OK - I'm stumped. I was going to start making the buckets in between other things. There's a wood sheet with a bunch of disks on it - the tops & bottoms. The sheet parts are not numbered, but there is a page in the back of the instructions that shows the sheet with disks numbered. One big problem - the disk numbers called for in the plans do not match the numbers in the instructions.

Haven't heard of the Goodwin book.
 
Wonder why Panart made the lids so thick?