David Lester

Your LN is looking pretty good! Here are a couple of things about rigging that help me - In my experience it isn't very hard to do, but I always find it can be confusing. Even with several builds under my belt, I still find it's imperative that I write out my own rigging instructions every time. As everyone does, I break it down into individual steps, but I actually write it out for each build - ie. fore shrouds, main shrouds, stays, back stays, lifts etc. etc. I include lots of details, what size block, what size and colour of line etc. etc.I write two separate sets of instructions - one for everything that can be added to the mast and yards before they are installed and a second set for everything that can only be added after the masts and yards are in place. It helps to add as much as is possible before the masts and yards are installed on the model. Some elements are so self-evident that it might seem crazy to be writing it out, but I find it really helps; I just work through my list and it helps keep me sane. The running rigging can be finicky, but it's not particularly difficult and the shrouds usually don't cause any trouble, but I always find the stays to be the hardest. It seems that as you pull one taut, another one goes slack, or you pull the top end of the mast too far out of whack. Once the bowsprit is rigged and the shrouds are in place, it's time to do the says and after much trial and error, I've found what works for me is to attach the uppermost stays on all masts first. Then they can be adjusted so that they have the right amount of tension and the tops of the masts are in line and not pulled forward or aft. It may seem more intuitive to start with the lower stays and work up, but I find working from the top down works better for me. After the uppermost stays are in place, then I fill in the others and make them just taut enough, without too much tension. Only after all the stays are in place and adjusted, do I add a drop of glue to all the seizings. Anyway, there are a couple of thoughts for your consideration. David

Hi Shane, I can't comment on the Stefano. I know others have had good luck with it, but after my expensive nightmare with the Ontario, I would never choose it for myself. Also, it does look like a pretty big project. Vanguard would be an excellent choice - any of Alert, Flirt and Speedy. My experience with Speedy, which I'm working on right now, has been excellent. It offers enough challenge, but you don't have to "fight the kit" to get a good result, meaning it's well engineered. And both the plans and instructions are excellent. I'm also a fan of Model Shipways kits. They have great plans. The instructions are a little weak, but the plans are very comprehensive and the models go together well. They offer many good options. Anyway, have fun making your choice. David

Hi Dave, I would definitely buy the Model Shipways version. I built the Mamoli several years ago and it was fine. I didn't really have any issues with it, but I didn't like the metal "frames" for the gun ports and if I had it to do over again, I would have reduced the size of all the blocks. They look much too large on the finished model when used according to the plans. I have built many MS kits and I think they're really great and I think their plans are excellent. While I haven't build their Rattlesnake, I have had a peek at its plans. One order I received from MS was packed not with newsprint, but oddly, with crumpled up Rattlesnake plans. I took a good look at them and they appeared to be in line with the usual standard. Here's my Mamoli one - I have always had a special feeling towards the Rattlesnake, because it's really the reason for my interest in model ships. When I was a kid in the late 50's and early 60's my friend's dad built models ships and I was mesmerized by them and I wanted to build them too. He had many of them, but the only one I really remembered well was the Rattlesnake, because of its name. My friend still has his dad's old Rattlesnake model. Here's a picture of it - I don't know if this is a kit or from scratch. I can tell it's not either the MS kit nor the Mamoli kit, but it's definitely the Rattlesnake. It's about 60 years old now. The MS and Mamoli versions look very much alike when finished, and I think you'll have a good experience with either one, but my vote would go for the MS version. David

Hi Dave, I have quite a few of the admiralty paints and I think they're great. I was also a bit surprised by the yellow ochre at first, but I think when you see it on the hull and contrasting only with the black it will look quite yellow and more like you expected. As to the black, I'm pretty sure "dull black" doesn't refer to the finish, as in matte or flat, but rather to the colour, meaning it is just slightly off a true deep black. One frustration I've had is that so many model paints are only available in two finishes - either flat or glossy and for many purposes, especially the hull, neither seems right. These admiralty paints have a very nice soft satin finish that I like quite a bit. David

Time for a coppering update. I've spent the past two weeks coppering the starboard side, and here is my take on the experience. I had so much trouble getting a decent job using copper plates on my Speedy, that I abandoned them and resorted to using copper tape, which I had used successfully a few times before. So I wasn't sure if wanted to use the copper plates again this time, or just go immediately to copper tape. In the end I opted to try the copper plates first, with the idea of falling back on the tape if I ran into serious trouble. As it turns out, I managed to get an acceptable job using the copper plates. I think part of the reason that I had an easier time here than with Speedy is the fact that the hull is so much larger but the plates are the same size. Overall, though, I think I now have a decided preference for using the tape. It's much more forgiving and to my eye gives a very nice result. That being said, I'm pretty happy with this result too. Since the plates can only be applied perfectly if they're in a dead flat, straight line, I wasn't sure how to accommodate the curve of the hull. It seemed I would have to leave gaps in certain places or overlap them. These Caldercraft plates don't lend themselves to overlapping very well, because there is a row of pretty big bumps right at the edges. I thought an overlap would be too pronounced, so I settled on small gaps, but how to minimize them? Just about everything I read suggested to just start laying them in rows from the bottom to the top, with no mention of belts or gores etc. However, on the other hand almost every build log I could see showed signs of partial in-fill rows being necessary. So, with trepidation, I decided to just start in, play it by ear and see what happened. When I got to the 8th row, I started to find a problem at the stern. In order to keep going, I would have to leave very big gaps to continue, as the hull curved. So I decided to let the 9th row take its natural path and do some in-filling. I did the same thing at the bow, and had to do it one more time further up at the stern. This seemed to be a good approach. Because I didn't overlap the plates, I found it best to start laying them in the centre and working in two directions. This helped minimize any accumulating error in aligning each plate over the one below it. I found if I worked in one direction only, despite taking care there would be a noticeable shift in the plates and by the time I got to the other end, they would be poorly centred over the one below. I'm sorry that I can't recall what build log I found it in (I think it was a Victory build log, but I'm not sure and apologies to that builder), but it contained two really great tips. The first was how to cut the plates. They tend to curl if cut with scissors, but if you use a Stanley utility knife blade and a hammer, you can get a beautiful cut. I did find however, that the two pieces would tend to fly off in all directions, so I found that if I taped them to the cutting board with Scotch tape, it held them in place, and I could still see exactly where to place the blade. A really nice thing about this method is if you cut the piece a little bit too big, you can still trim a really small sliver off with no trouble at all. The second great tip I found from that build log is the idea of placing a strip of copper tape along the the waterline and gluing the last row of plates over it. The cutting at the waterline is especially tricky and this really helps hide any minor imperfections. One other thing that helped me get a smooth waterline turned out to be the particular masking tape I used. I know Tamiya tape is great, but for this job I used narrow Probrand Fine Line tape. It sticks incredibly well and takes the curve of the hull beautifully. It's a little thicker than Tamiya and I was able to butt my row of copper tape up against it easily and accurately. (It's the narrow orange tape between the copper and the green masking tape.) So that's my experience with coppering using plates! I think I'll put Agamemnon aside for a little bit and return my attention to Speedy. I never thought I would like working on two models at the same time, but I'm finding I really like being able to change gears completely. Thanks for looking in, likes, etc. David

Hello All, I'm taking a little break from Speedy and doing some more work on Agamemnon. I've now finished the second planking on both sides and I'm currently installing the wales. The second planking is filled and sanded and is pretty good shape for painting. There is a main wales and an upper wales and getting them located properly is fairly important and it takes a bit of care. The two wales run parallel the whole length of the ship. I started by marking the water line with masking tape (I realize this will need re-marking when I do the painting and coppering, but I want it in place now to ensure that the main wales ends about where it's supposed to. I then marked the position of the top of the upper wales with masking tape - I installed the upper wales first. I then set a compass to the distance between the wales and ran it along the lower board of the upper wales to mark the top location of the main wales. Before adding the main wales, I glued up a short "panel" of the same width and noted its location with respect to the waterline. It's just fraction higher than shown on the plans, but I think it's perfectly acceptable. I have a bit of filling and more sanding to do. It's always a nightmare painting the upper edge of the wales when it's a contrasting colour from the hull and I never know the best way to tackle it. In the past I have tried painting that area of the hull first (in this case that would be the yellow) and then painting the edge of the top board black before applying it. It looks great initially, but when I paint this soon, despite my best efforts, I always seem to mess up the finish somehow (drops of glue, holes drilled in the wrong spot etc.) and much touch up is needed. Sometimes the touch up is so much that I am essentially repainting anyway and the whole advantage of having painted first is lost. So this time, I'm adding the wales before painting and we'll see how that goes. It looks like I'm getting quite close to coppering time and I am of two minds on this. On the one hand I would like to use the kit supplied plates. On the other hand, I had so much trouble with them on Speedy, that I think I might be better off just using copper tape, with which I have had good success in the past. I'm still thinking about this one. David David

Perfect planking!

Thanks for the comment, guys. Dave - those rubber tips on the alligator clips came with the tool. This is a tool from a company called quadhands (www.quadhands.com) I've had a couple of different sets of "helping hands" before this one, but quadhands is the best by far. I can't recommend it highly enough. They come in different sizes. Mine is the smallest with two arms and a small base and I find it to be ideal. Others have four arms and there are different styles of bases as well. The arm attaches to the base with a magnet, which means they can be repositioned easily and they can be removed which makes it great for storing when not in use. David

Hi Greg, There are a couple of Civil War models by Model Shipways at Model Expo - Harriet Lane and USN Picket Boat, but as others have mentioned, they aren't the scale that you indicated you prefer. Davdi

Good Morning Everyone, So here's an update on my progress - I have pretty much finished the hull. The last things I added are the deck furnishings, the lower deadeyes and chainplates and I've located all of the eyebolts on the hull. Depending on how they will be used some are installed now and others just have their holes drilled at this point. The eyebolts on the deck are not glued in yet; it's often best to wait until their lines have been attached. I have also been working on the masts and yards. I don't have any machine tools, so I rely on an xacto blade, sandpaper and calipers to taper the yards and I square up the ends of the masts freehand by eye. I know my results are never perfect, but I always enjoy this part of the build and I find the results are acceptable (to my eye, at least.) One detail that I almost always omit is shaping the yards to an octagon at the centre. I have never been happy with my results and by the time I sand out the imperfections, it pretty much ends up round anyway. So I save myself a lot of aggravation and just skip it. (I haven't heard any complaints yet.)😄 I love using this cartridge paper for the iron bands on the mast. I always think it looks very realistic and the scale always seems better to me than using a brass strip. In the past I have used black construction paper, but this time I used the supplied cartridge paper. I often have a bit of trouble getting the bands to wrap and stay level and if they are glued on, it's a bit messy relocating them. This time I first wrapped the mast with masking tape immediately below where I wanted the band to be and made any necessary adjustments with it. Then I glued the band on right next to the masking tape. This worked quite well. Here's my "cheat" for attaching the line around the ends of the stunsail booms in a tidy way. I drilled two holes in the bottom of the yard. The first one just went part way in and the second one right next to it went right through to the top. I inserted the line into the first hole, wrapped it around the yard a couple of times, then pulled it taut from the top through the second hole. A dab of glue holds it in place and I snipped it off. There is a tricky bit of rigging on the bowsprit. It's this loop with four deadeyes. I thought about how to do this quite a bit and studied how others approached this. In the end here is what I did - I wrapped a piece of masking tape around the bowsprit and marked the locations of the four deadeyes - Then I placed the masking tape on a piece of paper and extended the four location marks - I seized the top deadeye in the centre of a line - I then located the location of the other three deadeyes relative to the first one - two to one side of it and one to the other side - Then I wrapped the whole thing loosely around the bowsprit and simply seized the two loose ends together. Once the seizing was tight, I just pulled on the two ends, snugging it up to the bowsprit. A dab of glue holds the seizing in place. It took me two attempts to get it right. The first time my spacing was off a little bit, but I could tell that the system was working, so a second attempt with a little bit of tweaking did the trick. Many thanks for looking in, "likes" etc. We're all shovelled out now here in southern Ontario; I hope you guys in the eastern US are managing ok after your heavy snowfall. David

Looking amazing, Derek. I think I'd like to tackle this one next myself. David

Just came in from snow shoveling; we got about 18" last night. Not unprecedented, but close to it. It's going to be a long process getting the driveway open. So while I'm drying off from the last stab at it, I'll do a little update on my Speedy. I've been working on the cannons. I simplified it slightly. They size of these one is very small and there isn't much room between the blocks. I knew I couldn't fashion an acceptable hook small enough, connecting the blocks to the eyebolts, so I simply omitted this detail and seized the blocks directly to the eyebolts. I used contrasting seizing, so I could better see what I was doing and then coloured it black later. The sets ready to be assembled: In the past I've usually terminated the tackle line in a coil on the deck, but this time I wanted to try my hand at frapping. I wasn't sure how to do it, so I just gathered the line and then seized it using a separate seizing line of the same size and it worked really well. .75mm line for the breach lines: All 14 are done: Well, it's back out to my temperamental snow blower! David

You're off to a really great start, Tom. I built this model from the MS kit and it is one of my favourite builds. if your experience is anything like mine, you should find the plans to be very accurate. I found plenty of pictures on line that helped me confirm many details. With your easy access to the ship and the ability to photograph exactly what you need, you'll be in great shape! David

Good Morning, I've been working away at some of the hull details. The hair bracket decorations caused my quite a bit of grief. I'm normally not too bad with a paint brush, but the details on these brass pieces pretty much defeated me. After many, many attempts to paint the centre section blue and the edges yellow ochre, I finally gave up. I simply could not get a sharp enough result, despite trying several different techniques. In the end I settled for blue in the centre and I simply left the edges as brass. (I could just scrape the blue of the raised edges, leaving it in the centre.) The brass colour is only slightly different than the yellow ochre and I can live with it. I decided to use the same technique on the decorations on the ends of the catheads, only this time I used yellow ochre paint, scraping it off the raised sections. It works quite well here, highlighting the detail, but in a subtle way. I've added the pin rails and cleats and catheads to the bulwarks, as well as the steps and the swivel gun post patterns on the hull. I'm now working on the channels and lower deadeye assemblies and then I think the next thing on the agenda will be rigging the cannons. Thanks everyone for your comments and likes! David

Good Morning, Lately, I've been working on the cannons and other deck furniture. The items have not been installed yet, they're just sitting in place for the pictures. It will be very easy to locate them accurately and securely, as the deck is cut out to accommodate them and they go all the way down to the "deck" below. This is quite different than my Model Shipways experience where the fife rails in particular always cause me a lot of grief. Just gluing them to the surface is never quite secure enough. Drilling them and adding pins helps, (in fact, it's essential) but locating those holes in the deck in order to get them to sit square and accurately is always a challenge. Definitely not the case here. I used Tamiya Deck Tan on the trucks and the grates. I thinned it down on the trucks to get a natural wood look. I'm pleased at how well the etched details show through. I'm taking a short break from Speedy for now, as I continue with the second planking on Agamemnon. Thanks for checking in. David

It's all looking pretty good to my eye. D

I don't think they presented this as a workshop for making models. By "model shop" they mean it's an example of a woodworking shop on which to model your own. Interesting that they included a Shopsmith. David

That's looking great, Andy. What a beautiful ship. David

Hello Yves, This product is called Venture Tape MasterFoil Plus Copper Foil by 3M. It comes in several widths. This one is 1/4". I'm not sure how thick it is, but it's pretty thin. It's self-adhesive and comes with a paper backing that you peel off. I use one of those cutting tools, like Chop-It from MicroMark, to cut it into lengths of about 3/4". This tape is sometimes hard to find. I have only ever found it at stained glass suppliers but they don't all seem to carry it. There is a similar one called Edco which some suppliers carry. I have some of it as well. It's virtually identical to the Venture Tape, but is perhaps just a bit thinner. It isn't too difficult to work with, because it's quite forgiving. You can vary the overlap just slightly to account for the curves in the hull. Also if you ruin one, you can easily scrap it without worrying about running out. You can get about 1700 of them from one roll. I don't think you have to do anything special to the hull, but you want it to be as smooth as possible because imperfections will show through the tape. I just put a coat of matte varnish on the hull before applying the tape. It sticks really well. The tape is a bit shiny, so I'm going to experiment with coating it with a matte finish to quiet it down. The individual plates that many kits provide give great looking results if they're skillfully applied, but I found it really hard to do. I think it's a little easier to get an acceptable result with the tape approach. Thanks, David

That stern looks amazing! David

Yeah, the copper looks bright, but I don't think I'm going to worry about it. It will dull down a bit over time. Here's a current picture of my Prince de Neufchatel, which I did a couple of years ago and its copper is dulling down as time goes on. On the other hand, I do have some matte varnish. I could do a test patch (somewhere other than on the model) and see what that looks like, and then I'll have to think about it before applying it, because I have a bad habit of "fixing" things, only to wake up in the middle of night with regret and having to resist not getting up and "re-fixing" it immediately. Thanks guys, David

Good Morning, I have been working away at the upper planking. This is a slow process, as the planks have to be fitted between the gun ports, allowing for a small rabbet. I made two plugs that fit into the ports and have an outer frame that accommodates the rabbet. This system seems to be working pretty well. I fit the plank against the first plug. With it cut to a rough oversized length, I then take tiny amounts off until it fits snugly against the second plug. Everything is moving along well; it's just slow going. I will need to make two more plugs for the next row of gun ports as they are a bit smaller than the lower ones. The ones at the top do not have the rabbet, so that will seem very easy. Thanks for checking in. David

Good Morning, I have had a bit of a coppering adventure. This is the first time I've used copper plates. In the past I've only used the self-adhesive copper tape, so this turned out to be a not very successful learning experience. I did the port side first. Things started out ok, but it was looking really bad at the bow. Where the plates lay in straight rows it went smoothly but I found the transition from the hull to the stem to be very difficult to do. I finished the port side, but was not very happy with how it was looking at the bow. I decided to leave it alone and consider it to be my learning side, ie. the "bad" side that would face the wall. I have no pictures of the port side. I moved on to the starboard side and like the port side, it started out ok. But even at the outset I wasn't very pleased. The plates are easy when it's straight and even, but as soon as there's a bit of a curve, I couldn't figure out how best to handle it smoothly. At the bow things really fell apart. I redid the bow area four separate times and each time my results seemed to get worse. My terrible port side was beginning to look like the good side. I couldn't bring myself to photograph any of this, so you'll just have to take my word for it. I also seemed to have a lot of trouble getting the corners of the plates to lay flat, and of course, when I dealt with that by placing glue right at the corners, I also got it on the surface as well. I knew that wasn't too big a problem, as it will clean off, but it wasn't helping my frustration level. I was a bit surprised by my problems, as I haven't read very much, if anything, on the forum of others having such an unhappy experience. In the end, I abandoned the plates altogether. In frustration, I ripped them all off, smoothed down the hull and started over with the self-adhesive tape. Perhaps it doesn't look as good as well applied individual plates, but believe me, it looks 10 times better than my previous best efforts, so this is what it's going to be. In the past, when I've used this method, I've simulated the nail heads with a ponce wheel, but always thought the effect was a bit over scale, so this time I eliminated that step and I think the result is at least as good, if not better. I think I'm still going to have a decent looking Speedy, so I'm not disappointed in that, but I am a little disappointed with myself that I was so easily defeated. I still have the hull of the Agamemnon ahead of me. I want to use the supplied plates for that if I can. They are the same size as the ones for Speedy, however the hull is about four times as big. I'm hoping that that will give me a slightly bigger margin of error. We shall see. Thanks again for comments and likes. David

1/16" x 1/2" basswood strips won't be too hard to find, they have them at MicroMark as well as at Model Expo for example. 3/64" stock can be harder to find, however I believe they have it (as well as 1/16" x 1/2") at minaturemarketplace.com which specializes in doll house supplies. Hopefully that's of some help. David

Thanks for the comments guys! Derek, I'm a big fan of shellac, especially orange (or amber.) On very pale wood like basswood or birch dowels it gives a really good even colour if I'm looking for a natural finish - a little richer than with just polyurethane, with none of the problems of trying to get an even colour with stain and it tones down to just the right degree of sheen. I always have a canister of compressed air handy. It's great for removing all dust and debris as I work. I don't think I have any little bits of steel wool hanging on. Thanks again, David