GuntherMT

General view of established deadeye and chains of a foremast, mainmast and mizzen-mast (the left board).
 

During September 26-28, 2014 in Kiev the All-Ukrainian competitions "Cup of Kiev — 2014" in bench models of a class C were held (on classification of Naviga). Except the classes C1 - C7 (on the classification of Naviga existing now) held the second year competitions in the class C8 "Models from kits ". The class C8 consists of three subclasses:
C-8-1 – sailing vessels and similar to them, without the main mechanical engine;
C-8-2 – vessels with the mechanical engine;
C-8-3 – models of ship installations or parts of the ship, stages of construction of models.
The Montanes model participated in these competitions and received the first place in the class C8-3, a silver medal (gold in this class nobody was awarded) and the Cup of Kiev.

Looking great, I like yoyr clamping and bonding ideas and plan to use them myself.
Don't forget to bond a block on each side of the mast step bulkhead before planking, they enclose the mast footing.
 
Ken

Hi Clare, thanks for kind comments.  I have been following your Alert and its coming along nicely.  Very clean, the printed deck also looks great.  Personally I think the Bismarck deck is too dark compared to other ships.  I think card models lend themselves to steel ships very well.
 
Hi Grant, plenty of swearing, followed by gnashing of teeth, wailing and weeping and finally slumped down dejectedly.    To add insult to injury, I dropped the 3 piece decks and put a couple of dents in one of them  . Although not to bad and won't really be noticable once all the other bits and bobs are on.
 
 Funny, but after I submitted my last post I thought “<beep> it!” and went back and smashed in the remaining panels.  Funny but knowing I had a lot of fixing work ahead of me took the pressure off and knocked them out easier than the previous ones. I even went back to the front and folded in the petals perfectly closing the bulge at the bow.
 
 
I tried a glue stick previously away back without success but who knows, I thought that about watercolours for the edge colouring and that worked out well so might revisit that.  I was going to wait for Chris, MSW’s resident card guru, to drop by with some advice on hull skin fixing in general as must be an easier way.  The PVA usually works great but the large panels were drying out to quickly before fixing and then of course you use more to keep one side ‘wet’ whilst applying the other side and then start rushing 
 
Okay here is the latest photo.  I have already started to varnish the first 7 panels.  I know, from the photo it doesn’t look to bad but there are a few issues which doesn’t really show on the pic below…plus I was being selective on the angle 
 

 
There are a few lessons learned here.  Primarily I think I may have wasted my time with all the balsa in-fills which I believe caused more problems than I expected them to prevent.  I think either leave them off altogether or fully fill in between the bulkheads.
 
One thing I did notice was the designer got the forms and skins spot on and if it wasn’t for my lack of skill would have went together seamlessly. Kudos.
 
I might work on some of the other parts for a break.
 
Cheers
Slog

...feel comfortable and please take a seat.
 
Yours,
Small Stuff
 
P.S.: It's till now her personal cup. 

Hi,
 
after about 4 moths of silence there is an update of my build log of the RC.
I had quite a lot of changes in my personal life - wedding, flat moving,.. so not much time was left for ship modeling. I needed also to set up a workbench for the modeling work. Now I am mostly done. So hopefully updates to the build will come on regular basis.
 
So what has changed on the build during the long period? Just updates to the bow - including production of the ship figurehead... Again from Sculpey. Here are just a few pictures. I will try to make some more soon and post them.
 
Best regards,
Jan

Hi all
 
Sorry I am back again but I just love this forum on MSW.
 
I have just put the Union Jack on.
 
3 more flags to go.
 
Denis.

Thank you Slog.
 
I've finished the reinforcement blocks finally, although I chose to completely fill the final two gaps at the bow rather than use the blocks, in order to help me see the 'flow' of the hull up there when I get to fairing.
 
While doing the reinforcement blocks, I used the opportunity to correct any minor out of square issues with the bulkheads.  I did this by measuring at multiple points along the top of each bulkhead, always taking my measurements off of bulkhead 'O' which I took great care to square up with all the stern bulkheads and the keel.
 

 
After measuring to determine if I needed any adjustments to the bulkheads, I would cut individual blocks and then fine tune them until they caused the measurements from bulkhead 'O' to be right where I wanted them, and equal on both sides.  I was having some issues where the addition of the glue prior to final fitting would actually change my measurements slightly, so I devised a technique to apply the glue after fitting the blocks in place, so that I did not need to compensate for the glue thickness on the ends of the blocks.
 
After my final measurements and test fitting was complete, I cut a 'cross' into both ends of the block with a razor saw.
 

 
I would then slightly widen the leg of the cross that would be 'outboard', and then place the block without glue, and hold it in place (if needed) with needle nose pliers, while I used a syringe to inject the glue into the cross via the slightly wider leg.
 

 
As can be seen here, the glue would flow through the cross, and would almost always bubble out of each of the other three points almost equally. 
 

 
This method seemed to work quite well, and I had no measurement changes between the final test fit, and the glued in blocks after starting this system.  After the glue had set for a couple minutes I would then use the syringe to lay a 'bead' of glue around all four edges of the block where it laid against the bulkheads.  Testing several blocks that were completely dried shows that they have plenty of strength with this system.
 
After inserting the last two spaces with filler blocks, this is where I'm currently at. 
 

 
Every bulkhead is even with bulkhead 'O'  along at least 3 points on each side, to less than 0.5mm now with all reinforcements in place.
 
Next I'll begin to work on the sub-decks braces and sub-decks for fitment, and the bow fillers I think.

Made some more progress today.  Weekends with no plans are pretty good for getting stuff done if I actually work on stuff!
 
Began by fairing the poop deck, which was pretty easy, just a sanding block needed here.
 

 
The notches were not correct in the sub-deck, so I had to adjust them.  The deck was too short as well, but looking ahead to the deck finishing, you end up cutting the leading edge of the sub deck off later to place a trim piece there, so I just shifted the sub-deck rearward and adjusted the notches accordingly, rather than having to trim it off later.
 
Used more pieces of the basswood deck planking material that I won't use for the build to 'clamp' the sub deck rather than using nails or pins.
 


 
Then installed the support beams for the quarter deck and the rear of the main deck.  Used a little collar pin that I think I got from Micro-Mark to hold the forward quarter deck beam in place while the glue dried.  Got them sometime after I could have used them on the Carmen because they looked like they might be pretty useful, and this is the first time I've used one.
 




 
After this, the fun part began.  Fairing the main deck.  This was quite a challenge, as the bulkhead extensions really get in the way of doing much work with a reasonable sized sanding block, and I was quite worried I'd break one off.  I ended up putting a fine grinding stone on the Dremel tool, and held it vertically using the 'flat' face of the stone (cylindrical shaped stone) to grind away on each bulkwark top, and measuring with a plank that extended most of the length of the deck.
 
The bulkhead F that I had shimmed up, I ended up completely sanding down the shim back to the bulkhead material, and then ended up shimming the other side of that bulkhead.  The best laid plans and all.  At the end I had added full shims to the top of 4 bulkheads, and half-shims to another couple before I was happy with how the plank laid from the center line out to each set of extensions.
 

 
After a lot of notch trimming, and breaking off a few pieces of the edge of the very fragile sub deck, I got it glued on, and clamped with the same 'plank & rubber band' system I used on the other sub-decks.
 

 
The odd streak near the center line of the main deck is just a dark spot in the wood.  When I first saw that on the pictures, I do admit to having a bit of a panic moment, wondering how I had a big split in the deck without noticing it.
 

 
Next I'll begin fairing work on the hull, and working on the stern transom.

Thanks Alistair,
 
And thanks for the likes everyone.
 
I do plan on stern fillers, but not until after I've done the rest of the work on the stern, just to make sure I don't put anything in my own way back there.
 
I realize that I could have gotten the steel blocks (or something else similar) cheaper, but at the time I was looking for an add-on to an order to qualify for a coupon code I had, so I just threw them on.  I'm kind of spoiled in our current 'Amazon' world where I can look at stuff online, click buttons, and then one day after work come home and find a boxy of goodies on my doorstep. 

You certainly can't tell those difficulties by your final results Alistair!
 
I have the advantage of seeing so many other builds, not only of the AVS, but all the other kits on here, and getting ideas from various places that I can incorporate into my construction.
 
The Hunt practicum says to use epoxy, but it's a wood-wood connection so I just used wood glue like I've done for most things other than those bottom bulkhead shims (used CA for that as I was hand-holding them until they were dry enough to hold the shape).  Given my tendency towards screwing things up, it's always good for me to be able to apply water and 'unglue' stuff.  I've done that a number of times already in this build, so whenever possible I'm going to stick to normal wood glue so I can deconstruct as needed without dealing with those other glue types.
 
Thanks for the 'likes' everyone.

Slow and steady, but I have finally fitted the boat to the stern davits. The photos are a bit rough but show the work as it progressed. The gripes are made from an old handkerchief which the boss surrendered. It was stained in cold tea and rinsed in diluted PVA glue. After drying I cut some 2mm wide strips which were still reasonably flexible and added some brass rings to tie them to eye bolts in the stern rail. There is a gripe rail with padding between the boat and the transom but the photo of that was out of focus. The gripe rail is required to keep the boat off the rudder pendants and to pull the gripes against, same as for boats fitted to davits along the bulwarks.  

Thank you Slog.
 
I've finished the reinforcement blocks finally, although I chose to completely fill the final two gaps at the bow rather than use the blocks, in order to help me see the 'flow' of the hull up there when I get to fairing.
 
While doing the reinforcement blocks, I used the opportunity to correct any minor out of square issues with the bulkheads.  I did this by measuring at multiple points along the top of each bulkhead, always taking my measurements off of bulkhead 'O' which I took great care to square up with all the stern bulkheads and the keel.
 

 
After measuring to determine if I needed any adjustments to the bulkheads, I would cut individual blocks and then fine tune them until they caused the measurements from bulkhead 'O' to be right where I wanted them, and equal on both sides.  I was having some issues where the addition of the glue prior to final fitting would actually change my measurements slightly, so I devised a technique to apply the glue after fitting the blocks in place, so that I did not need to compensate for the glue thickness on the ends of the blocks.
 
After my final measurements and test fitting was complete, I cut a 'cross' into both ends of the block with a razor saw.
 

 
I would then slightly widen the leg of the cross that would be 'outboard', and then place the block without glue, and hold it in place (if needed) with needle nose pliers, while I used a syringe to inject the glue into the cross via the slightly wider leg.
 

 
As can be seen here, the glue would flow through the cross, and would almost always bubble out of each of the other three points almost equally. 
 

 
This method seemed to work quite well, and I had no measurement changes between the final test fit, and the glued in blocks after starting this system.  After the glue had set for a couple minutes I would then use the syringe to lay a 'bead' of glue around all four edges of the block where it laid against the bulkheads.  Testing several blocks that were completely dried shows that they have plenty of strength with this system.
 
After inserting the last two spaces with filler blocks, this is where I'm currently at. 
 

 
Every bulkhead is even with bulkhead 'O'  along at least 3 points on each side, to less than 0.5mm now with all reinforcements in place.
 
Next I'll begin to work on the sub-decks braces and sub-decks for fitment, and the bow fillers I think.

Made some more progress today.  Weekends with no plans are pretty good for getting stuff done if I actually work on stuff!
 
Began by fairing the poop deck, which was pretty easy, just a sanding block needed here.
 

 
The notches were not correct in the sub-deck, so I had to adjust them.  The deck was too short as well, but looking ahead to the deck finishing, you end up cutting the leading edge of the sub deck off later to place a trim piece there, so I just shifted the sub-deck rearward and adjusted the notches accordingly, rather than having to trim it off later.
 
Used more pieces of the basswood deck planking material that I won't use for the build to 'clamp' the sub deck rather than using nails or pins.
 


 
Then installed the support beams for the quarter deck and the rear of the main deck.  Used a little collar pin that I think I got from Micro-Mark to hold the forward quarter deck beam in place while the glue dried.  Got them sometime after I could have used them on the Carmen because they looked like they might be pretty useful, and this is the first time I've used one.
 




 
After this, the fun part began.  Fairing the main deck.  This was quite a challenge, as the bulkhead extensions really get in the way of doing much work with a reasonable sized sanding block, and I was quite worried I'd break one off.  I ended up putting a fine grinding stone on the Dremel tool, and held it vertically using the 'flat' face of the stone (cylindrical shaped stone) to grind away on each bulkwark top, and measuring with a plank that extended most of the length of the deck.
 
The bulkhead F that I had shimmed up, I ended up completely sanding down the shim back to the bulkhead material, and then ended up shimming the other side of that bulkhead.  The best laid plans and all.  At the end I had added full shims to the top of 4 bulkheads, and half-shims to another couple before I was happy with how the plank laid from the center line out to each set of extensions.
 

 
After a lot of notch trimming, and breaking off a few pieces of the edge of the very fragile sub deck, I got it glued on, and clamped with the same 'plank & rubber band' system I used on the other sub-decks.
 

 
The odd streak near the center line of the main deck is just a dark spot in the wood.  When I first saw that on the pictures, I do admit to having a bit of a panic moment, wondering how I had a big split in the deck without noticing it.
 

 
Next I'll begin fairing work on the hull, and working on the stern transom.

So I do believe that you lot of scallywags in this community have completely warped my concept of what exactly a "kit" for building a model is...
 

Thank you Slog.
 
I've finished the reinforcement blocks finally, although I chose to completely fill the final two gaps at the bow rather than use the blocks, in order to help me see the 'flow' of the hull up there when I get to fairing.
 
While doing the reinforcement blocks, I used the opportunity to correct any minor out of square issues with the bulkheads.  I did this by measuring at multiple points along the top of each bulkhead, always taking my measurements off of bulkhead 'O' which I took great care to square up with all the stern bulkheads and the keel.
 

 
After measuring to determine if I needed any adjustments to the bulkheads, I would cut individual blocks and then fine tune them until they caused the measurements from bulkhead 'O' to be right where I wanted them, and equal on both sides.  I was having some issues where the addition of the glue prior to final fitting would actually change my measurements slightly, so I devised a technique to apply the glue after fitting the blocks in place, so that I did not need to compensate for the glue thickness on the ends of the blocks.
 
After my final measurements and test fitting was complete, I cut a 'cross' into both ends of the block with a razor saw.
 

 
I would then slightly widen the leg of the cross that would be 'outboard', and then place the block without glue, and hold it in place (if needed) with needle nose pliers, while I used a syringe to inject the glue into the cross via the slightly wider leg.
 

 
As can be seen here, the glue would flow through the cross, and would almost always bubble out of each of the other three points almost equally. 
 

 
This method seemed to work quite well, and I had no measurement changes between the final test fit, and the glued in blocks after starting this system.  After the glue had set for a couple minutes I would then use the syringe to lay a 'bead' of glue around all four edges of the block where it laid against the bulkheads.  Testing several blocks that were completely dried shows that they have plenty of strength with this system.
 
After inserting the last two spaces with filler blocks, this is where I'm currently at. 
 

 
Every bulkhead is even with bulkhead 'O'  along at least 3 points on each side, to less than 0.5mm now with all reinforcements in place.
 
Next I'll begin to work on the sub-decks braces and sub-decks for fitment, and the bow fillers I think.

So I do believe that you lot of scallywags in this community have completely warped my concept of what exactly a "kit" for building a model is...
 

If this one isn't "worthy" of going in the gallery, then I fear nothing I ever build will meet the criteria of being "worthy".  Your Sovereign of the Seas is incredible, and someday I hope to have put together a model that is even close to as nice looking.
 
So yea, you can put me in the 'You should put this in the gallery - with lots of photos' column.

Hello Everyone.  Just to prove I'm still working here some pictures of some more coils.  We're getting there.  Have a good night and take care,
Jerry

Hi Frank;  Thanks for dropping by and thank you for the kind words.
 
Moving along (slowly) I soaked 1/8" x 1/16" basswood strips in hot water for about an hour, and used the actual model to form the foremost sections of the topgallant rail, leaving to dry overnight.  Once the catheads are fixed in place, these will be mounted and blended in to the rest of the railing, finally completing this step.  It would have been much harder to install detailed catheads after installing the rail, so I'm happy with the progress.  I'm also adding two more frame extensions near the toilets that needed to be added to the inside of the bulwarks before the rail is in place.  I hope to have some meaningful pictures in the next couple of days, but I'm taking my time to hopefully prevent any major screw-ups.
 
Cheers,
 
~Bob

Continuing the boats. Gee whiz! you are thinking. How does he keep his ribs so gol' durned square on those boats? Well, attached is the secret. Put all of this under a magnifier & I can tell if it is a micron out of square. I know, it's this kind of tip that makes this forum worth the money you pay every month. I'm happy to help.

Thanks Dragzz and Steve,
 
 
Those are 'Angle Plates' from Micro Mark ( http://www.micromark.com/3-x-3-x-3-inch-angle-plate,7134.html ).  This is the first time I've used them, and I'm not sold on their value vs. the cost.  I did get them on sale so didn't spend full price, but they are still fairly pricey when I think that the Lego/Duplo block solutions I've seen would work just as well, at least for this part of the job.  I don't have kids, so didn't have any of those blocks around to steal.
 
On the other hand, they are heavy flat pieces of steel that can be used as weights and nice flat surfaces, and I didn't have anything like that before, so they will have other uses than just as a nice squaring tool.

Thank you Slog.
 
I've finished the reinforcement blocks finally, although I chose to completely fill the final two gaps at the bow rather than use the blocks, in order to help me see the 'flow' of the hull up there when I get to fairing.
 
While doing the reinforcement blocks, I used the opportunity to correct any minor out of square issues with the bulkheads.  I did this by measuring at multiple points along the top of each bulkhead, always taking my measurements off of bulkhead 'O' which I took great care to square up with all the stern bulkheads and the keel.
 

 
After measuring to determine if I needed any adjustments to the bulkheads, I would cut individual blocks and then fine tune them until they caused the measurements from bulkhead 'O' to be right where I wanted them, and equal on both sides.  I was having some issues where the addition of the glue prior to final fitting would actually change my measurements slightly, so I devised a technique to apply the glue after fitting the blocks in place, so that I did not need to compensate for the glue thickness on the ends of the blocks.
 
After my final measurements and test fitting was complete, I cut a 'cross' into both ends of the block with a razor saw.
 

 
I would then slightly widen the leg of the cross that would be 'outboard', and then place the block without glue, and hold it in place (if needed) with needle nose pliers, while I used a syringe to inject the glue into the cross via the slightly wider leg.
 

 
As can be seen here, the glue would flow through the cross, and would almost always bubble out of each of the other three points almost equally. 
 

 
This method seemed to work quite well, and I had no measurement changes between the final test fit, and the glued in blocks after starting this system.  After the glue had set for a couple minutes I would then use the syringe to lay a 'bead' of glue around all four edges of the block where it laid against the bulkheads.  Testing several blocks that were completely dried shows that they have plenty of strength with this system.
 
After inserting the last two spaces with filler blocks, this is where I'm currently at. 
 

 
Every bulkhead is even with bulkhead 'O'  along at least 3 points on each side, to less than 0.5mm now with all reinforcements in place.
 
Next I'll begin to work on the sub-decks braces and sub-decks for fitment, and the bow fillers I think.

Thanks Rich, and I got your message and sent him an email.
 
Alistair, thanks for the tip - I could probably use that same filler that messed up the Carmen hull so much, as it's very light colored (which was the problem with it in that scenario on walnut).  I'll do some testing with that.
 
Fairly brief update tonight, spent most of the day at a charity event so not much time on the ship.
 
I finished gluing in all the bulkheads, and I have started placing reinforcing blocks between the bulkheads.  I'm using 5/16" square basswood for the blocks.  I was going to use balsa, but it's just as expensive as basswood, so I just got basswood figuring it will always be useful to have extra basswood bits around.
 
After last nights update, I decided to do "one more bulkhead" before bed.  Yea, I'm dumb that way.  I managed to get distracted after gluing it in place and setting the blocks against it, and left it so long that the excess glue got onto the blocks and glued the bulkhead to both blocks.  I broke both sides of the bulkhead trying to get them apart.  Because the center slot was solid, and the breaks were both clean, I drilled a hole through the center of the now solid slot, drilled a hole into both sides and pinned the broken pieces all back together with a single long pin made from a toothpick.  After the glue dried, I think it's the strongest bulkhead I have now.
 

Hi Frank!  I guess that the MS kits have issues with bulkhead alignments.  Oh well, I guess they have to make it a challenge somehow, other than including the worst rigging line in the history of the universe. 
 
Some photos to catch up with my text.
 
Work on pre-cutting the rabbet prior to installing the keel.

 
Installed the keel, stem, and sternpost.  The stem had to be done twice since it shifted when I left it to dry overnight.  The sternpost required that the slot in the keel be re-made, as it was out of position.  I've read that this seems to be a common issue with the kit.  Took some sanding to get the sternpost to fit decently.
 

 
After the keel was dried for a while, I finished the rabbet.  I did this using a suggested method of using a piece of planking made up with both the basswood inner, and walnut outer plank stuck together for sizing.  Doing this I think I have a larger rabbet than is indicated anywhere in order to make it fit right.  Guess I'll find out later how it works out.
 

 
Jpett started a thread yesterday in Wood Tips reminding me that I needed to make a build board, so I chopped up a piece of MDF shelf, and made a thing.
 

 
Finished attaching all of the shims to the bottom of the bulkheads.  After some thought I decided not to extend the shims all the way up the extensions, as I think that will make fairing more difficult, as I won't have a baseline of the extensions to work from.
 

 
And then, I began fitting bulkheads.  Started at the rear, let each bulkhead dry for 30 minutes or so (using Titebond wood glue - it sets up pretty solid in 30 minutes).
 

 
While I was waiting on the bulkheads to dry, I chopped up a piece of maple strip and made a test decking bit to see how maple might look like if I can't get Holly in a timely manner.  I need to work on my planking techniques before I get to the real thing.  Not sure what to use for the nail holes (i.e. what to fill them with) at this point.
 

 
Apparently I also need to work on getting the subject matter into the focused area of the shot!
Plugging away at the bulkhead mounting, hope to have them all finished tomorrow.