GuntherMT

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.

The handrails look ok from the front (i.e. from the water) but not from the back.  I noticed from the illustration on the kit box that the rail had been painted in on the back side of the balustrade.  It took a lot of talking to myself to decide to paint the rail in, as it was going to be a fiddly operation with the masking tape.  However it looked pretty lousy as it was so I decided to go ahead.  Looking at the end result it was worth the effort.  Perhaps the rail could have been painted in before fixing each section of balustrade in place but after bending it etc I suspect there would be a lot of touch-up required. 
 

 
At the same time I have been progressing on a number of fronts, erecting the stacks, making the numerous masts and flagpoles etc. and a couple of photos follow just to show I have been doing something!
 

 

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.

We've just returned to Seattle after a few months.
It has been six months since the kind posts of Daniel (Sailor1234567890), Scott Larkin and Jason (Beef Wellington) to this site.  While taking the "Victory" out of mothballs, I've replied by PM.
Peter, many thanks for your remarks.  I'll look for photos on rope coils, or make them, however it may take a bit of time to get organized.
And Jack, thanks for your kind comments, however you are far more experienced than I in model ship building.
There is still work to be done in preparing our real boat for the winter, but I look forward to bringing the Victory back to life.
Cheers, Gil
 
 
The "Victory" mothballed.

Edwin - the red paint is from a line called Citadel, by Games Workshop.  This specific color is called "Mephiston Red" (lots of odd fantasy role playing-inspired paint names in this line).  It's a good paint line - matte acrylic, very finely ground, evenly dispersed pigment, dries quickly, mixes well, etc.  Your local gaming/hobby shop should have it, or you can order online from www.games-workshop.com.
 
Some more photos of the finished beak area...
 

 
The economy class toilets...
 

 
And a less blurry photo of the side panel, with the notches cut out for the Roman emperor sculptures.
 

 

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.

I'm also building the MS whaleboat. Altho' I normally do only scratch building I thought this would be an interesting change. Also,  I had no interest in learning the art of photoetching the 2000 or so fastenings and other brass fittings that are needed to build as Ronnberg describes in his book "To Build a Whaleboat."
Like Ronnberg, I will only apply a coat of clear varnish rather than painting; this means all the copper fastenings will be visible and must be present if the model is to be accurate..
 
However, only 100 photoetched nails were included with the kit.  I assumed this was an error, but on calling MS I was told that this was all that was provided as few people construct the model as Ronnberg did; i.e. with 2000 nails and a varnish finish.
 
The price of additional etched nails was $10.00 per hundred., or about $190.00 to complete the model. This was of course out of the question.
 
How to produce the fastenings without etching was my problem.
 
I obtained a spool of 20 gauge soft copper wire (.032" dia.). I then used a nail clipper to incise notches every 1/64 inch or so. (This was to give the glue a  solid hold on each nail.)  The process was speeded up by folding the wire so that three lenghts were notched with each squeeze of the clipper.
To put the nails in place  I pre-drilled each nail hole with a .036 inch bit.  I inserted a lenght of my notched wire in a pin vise,  used a silk pin to press glue into about six holes at a time and the;n inserted the wire and clipped the end with the nail clipper.
 
The nails provided by MS, are quite well done and would produce the appearence of square cut nails in the finished model.  But in e xamining the Mystic Seaport book on whaleboat construction it's clear that, whether square cut  or round nails were used in the Mystic produced full sized boat, the appearance after being clinched was not visibly different than if round nails were used. Thus, the appearance of my model is very satisfactory.
 
Even tho the MS supplied laser cut wood parts are remarkably accurate,having found that I would have to put that much time into the model I decided to turn it into a scratchbuild model by making all the wood parts from pearwood (to represent cedar) , holly )for oak), and bass (for pine). I'm also fabricating the metal tools.
 
I hope this is a help to those of you who wish to use Ronnberg's construction method but cannot afford to purchase a full supply of nails.
With or without the all the nails the MS kit is an excellent one and produces a beautiful model. Ronnberg's book describing construction is, of course, his usual superb clarity..

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...
 

So I've begun the very first bits of this build, and have already run into one problem, and a question.
 
The false keel appears to be very good.  There is an almost imperceptible lift when it's laid on a flat surface, as can be seen here where the bow has a tiny gap under it.  All of the bulkheads and the false keel are cut from basswood, not plywood as some people have reported in their MS kits.

 
When it is flipped to the other side there is no gap anywhere, it lays perfectly.  When I sight down it I can't detect any deflection at all.

 
First problem.  Bulkhead F is not cut correctly.

 
I don't understand how this could happen, as I would hope that the laser cutting is a computer controlled process, and it shouldn't be able to cut incorrectly.  I would think that every single kit would come out like this if it's a flaw in the computer control plan.  When I lay this bulkhead on the plans, it's clear that the 'high' side is correct, so I will likely have to add some material to the 'low' side to correct this, but I'm not sure how I'll approach this as the height difference isn't very large.  I may try to use some of the veneer from the Carmen kit here, or else I'll cut the thinnest piece of basswood I can, and just sand it down.
 
All of the bulkheads and the false keel.

 
So far none of the bulkheads fit into the false keel after cleaning up the burns.  Either the keel or the bulkhead, or both need to have the slot opened up more in order for them to fit.  Is this typical?

 
And now to my question.  I'm working on cleaning up the lasercut burns, and leveling out the surface where it's left an angle, but I can't find a good reference for 'how much' of the burn needs to be cleaned up.  Does it need to be taken down to where there is no 'brown' at all, or is what I've been doing as seen in this picture good?

 

Hi Gunther,
 
I like your thinking about how to get the bulkheads down to the bearding line.  I didn't think of cutting the grooves deeper, and shimming the deck surface, but it makes so much sense!
 
Couple of traps I wish I had known:
It's easier to cut the rabbet before gluing the keel.  I did it the other way round, thinking the rabbeted centre keel would not glue well to the keel, stem etc. Unlike my first model attempt ( an Artesania Latina) this model comes with plenty of spare timber for remakes. There are no plans for the slipway that is shown on the box. I've just reached the stage involving "chainplates".  I searched for a long while before I noted the tiny note saying they were not available, so make your own! Getting there is half the fun!
 
Cheers,
 
Brett

Hi Brian
The kit itself is less than half the total material cost if you want to do it justice. Welcome to our madness!
 
That said there are a lot of "out of the box" AVS's that look perfectly fine. It is about how much you feel you need to improve it and which improvements really count. Ropes and blocks get a big tick as does the decking. Aside from that the kit serves very well in all its bits.
 
With your after market parts you'll make a great model. I enjoy looking at mine every day! And I'll enjoy seeing yours come about.

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...
 

Hello Everyone,
The latest update to my whaleboat is the addition of the whale gun box which was optional but decided to add it on. Also, I added the rudder and the tabernacle which was not part of the original plans. Lester, who has actually worked on the Charles W Morgan, was kind enough to send me lots of information on whaleboats. One such detail that I enjoyed was the tabernacle which seemed an ideal concept in aiding whalers to safely seat the mast into its step without getting their fingers crushed. I also went ahead and painted the gunwales and rubbing pieces black. I originally planned on painting the hull white but decided to leave it unpainted because I actually like the bare wood. If you’ve seen my previous builds, you can tell I fancy this aspect. Attached you will see photos showing you how she looks and I’ve also added the variations of tabernacles in the event someone would like to add it to their whaleboat.

Congratulations and well done!

Knowing that the bowsprit and the jib boom had yards slung from them and therefore need slings made, the spritsail yard and the spritsail topsail yard were constructed. Again this is following the philosophy of making everything I can off-ship before stuff is nailed down, as it were.

Something wasn’t right – it was too cluttered. I didn’t like the two hearts which were on either side of the bowsprit. I had made them separately. Looking closely at the drawings and books again, it appears the hearts were both on one same sling. The hearts were removed and a new double heart sling was fashioned.

It was again time to dry fit all the components so far. But before I did that I added some eyelets, made holes for additional future eyelets and added blocks to the installed eyelets on the bowsprit cap. Then I assembled them all together.

you must reconsider Denis........your build is much more worthy than you realize!  all those in favor......hit the like button 

Thanks for the likes everyone.
 
Got an update of the last few days work. I have now finished the bowspirit and the two masts. Used a davids plane to taper the bowspirit and the sanded extensively with multiple grades to give a nice smooth tapered finish. The two masts were carved using a sharp scalpel to shape the top section and then careful planning to taper the main section towards the top, finishing with sandpaper again.
 
Decided to follow the paint scheme of my Snake build and paint the masts and bowspirit in yellow ochre. Then spent a while drilling a variety of holes to fit the mast cleats and also to allow eyepins and blocks.
 
For the eyepins with blocks I followed the same methodology I used for my carronade rigging and again was pleased with the results. The blocks on the bowspirit were attached in much the same way to simulate a strop.
 
The bowspirit has been pinned into place, whilst the two masts have been inserted into the deck but not fixed or glued at all.
 
Onto standing rigging....!
 
 

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.

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.

Finishing up the beak - the cap molding is done as well as the two transverse pin rails.
 

 
The remaining pin rails and the stairs.  The stairs were tricky for two reasons.  First, each step is differently shaped and the instructions didn't say which went where.  Fortunately test-fitting them made it pretty clear for me.  Second, the lower stairs are hard to access, even with tweezers.  But I attached them eventually and they look pretty good.
 
I also installed the two heads, which are basically small angled boxes that sit almost under the side pin rails.  It must have been pretty uncomfortable for the sailors...
 

 
Close-up of the stairs and the side of the beak.  The curve of the side pieces didn't match the curve of the large sculptures that attach to them, so I needed to reshape the wood.  That was not difficult - just lay the large sculpture on the wood piece and figure out where to cut.  A small piece added in the middle and it matched quite well.
 
 
And a sadly blurry picture of the beak sides.  The lower side was a single pre-cut piece that fit surprisingly well.  Only a little fettling was required where the piece meets the wales on the hull.  I added some scratched molding detail that matches the 1:10 model pretty well.  The gaps in the molding match where the Roman emperor sculptures will go, so they can sit flush with the sides.  The ten emperors come in three sizes - small, medium, and large - and they line up pretty well with the changing height of the beak sides.
 
 
Now a few more hull details, and I started painting sculptures.  The beak was surprisingly straightforward after all the challenges with the quarter galleries, and I like the way it looks.
 

Thanks Russ,
 
Things are moving quicker now.  Stropping blocks is a lot easier and I’m getting pretty efficient at tying knots with a tweezers.  Not quite ready for surgery but I could probably play a mean game of OPERATION now.  And where have angled tweezers been all my life, those things are great!
 
 
I finished the Gaff for the foremast and rigged it to the mast.  The rigging was very similar to the Main Gaff.  I tried to set the gaffs at the same distance below the mastheads and at the same angle.
 



 
 
I am in a bit of a quandary.    I'm at a point with this kit where I don’t have much more to do and there is a strong temptation to power through all the remaining tasks for the satisfaction of completing it.  But then there is another feeling of dismay that this build will soon be over and I’ll have nothing to do but annoy the Admiral.  I could never understand why some people had two or three unopened kits on their shelves, I’m starting to now.  I’ll just need to approach the Admiral diplomatically about buying a new kit; “What will it be, a new model or more sex?” ...... I’ll let you know what kit I get.

Now it's time to start my favourite part of any build--mast and rigging.  The rigging was an easy and enjoyable task, mainly because the instructions are very good.  But there are some interesting challenges.  The rigging on the Victory is probably more complex and ambitious but the SF has some unusual items such as crow's feet and a sprit topmast on the bowsprit.
 
I know that there is a running debate on whether to build up the mast structures independently and then install them on the ship or to build them on the ship.  I've always been more comfortable building them up on the ship and that's what I did this time.  
 

 
Then the wooldings and the bumpers go on.
 

 
And then you build up the tops
 

 
At that point I took a break to tackle a job that I'd been worrying about from the very beginning.  I don't know if you have a specific aspect of building that you think you can never get just right but for me it's building boats.  Doing the four boats on the Victory was a major mission for me and I just couldn't get them to where I was happy with them. The SF has two boats and I'd been putting it off long enough and decided it was time to get them out of the way.
 
As I've mentioned, this version of the kit was pre-laser cutting so I'd cut all the frames and false keels out earlier.  They were white plywood so I experimented with different stains until I found the right colour.  
 

 

 
You plank the boats similarly to the ship.  It's theoretically easier because the curves are more limited but (1) you are doing a single planking job and (2) there are so few planks, any imperfection gets greatly magnified.  So I took extra care and was pretty happy with the results.  The other challenge is that you can't glue the planks to the frames because the frames are a temporary structure to create the shape around which the planks are formed.
 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

That looks great Joe.  Great detail touch.