Ryland Craze

To Richard:  I used the casting material from Micro Mark as seen in the pictures.  The mold was made from their 1 to 1 Rapid Silicone Rubber and I used the CR-600 to make the swivel guns.  Both of these are a one to one mixture and Micro Mark has pretty straight forward instructions on mold making and casting.  I went to my parts boxes and used old belaying pins for the tampons and inserted those in the mold before pouring in the resin so that the barrels are cast with the tampons in place.  Painting dresses them up nicely.  I tried to cast the trunions as seen in the picture, but broke off several in building, so finally went to brass rod stock cut and placed in the mold also before pouring.  To Chuck:  Yes, you called my thing-a-ma-jig correctly.  I used it to bend the wire eye bolts and then used wooden bulls-eyes as the collars.  I will get back to you on your request.    Sam   

Now starts the planking. Cutting & filing out around the gun & sweep ports. Glued on some of the first few planks. Here is where you find out if you got the spacing on both sides right on the previous steps. Looking at the sliver of planking under the gun port on each side looks like I am very slightly off by a millimeter or less. Think I can live with that!
 

I made the keel boxwood.

The hull is then filled with balsa finished with coarse sandpaper, and then finer
after the surface is grouted, and then again sanded, and then stuccoed Finishing

I preferred to use a construction technique different from that indicated in the instructions.
Typically use this technique for years for the hulls filled.
The technique is to glue the frames and then fill balsa spaces then fill with synthetic filler to have a uniform surface.
in this way laying the boards is very easy, it does not require nailing.
For gluing use then a cyanoacrylate glue

Hello everyone
I decided to begin construction of Cherful

Some more...

GRANADO IS FINISHED !!!!! 
 
After 13 months and two days, she is complete. I do still have to make a permanent mounting and case at some point. It is a bit of a bittersweet moment, with things wrapping up, but I am very pleased with how she looks. A big thank you to Timmo for the inspiration and ideas I "borrowed" from his Granando build log, as well as everyone else who looked in, "liked" commented or made a suggestion along the way. Thank you!
 
On to the pictures. I'll put them in the gallery soon. 
 
 

FYI:  ME currently has this kit on sale for $249.99 and no shipping.
Talked to John and he "assured" me that most of the issues have been resolved.
For that price I figured with the help of the modelers on this site I can handle any challenges that may arise. So I bought it.
 
Mercdaddy
Past builds: Corel's Victory, Mamoli's Friesland., Model Shipways USS Constitution, Mantua's San Felipe
Current Project:  USS Syren 

After sanding and fairing the inside I moved on to the cap rail. This caused me to hit an unexpected issue in that I appeared to have lost all the kits wood. Not one to let life's little challenges get in the way I instead used a spare piece of yellowheart (lovely wood...yellow) which I had left over from the Triton (it does a good impression of buff paint should you not want to erm paint). Anyway I thinned it down to the correct size and then glued my template to it using the always amazing Fixogum which was still working well 5 years after I bought the tube.
 

 
I initially showed high stupidity levels by deciding to cut out my shape with the scroll saw. After the wood was banged furiously up and down and cracked due to its thin size I then resolved to use the instructions and use a scalpel instead.
 
Once installed the longboat was doing a sterling impression of a ship with elephant ears so I then trimmed initially with a scapel and then with a dremel sander to something approximating the correct size. I think I should have faired the inside frames a little more aggressively as it comes out at around 4/32nds and should be more like 3/32nds. 
 
Before painting I applied some oil to the wood (see above posts) and then added the white paint to the side of the cap rail (pictured below) before attaching the stencil thingies.
 

 
Finally I have just painted red section and also done the 1/32*1.32 strips white having found the kit wood behind the tool box. I prefer to paint then attach as I dont have the skill to paint something that thin in situ without painting everything else around it as well....
 
Hopefully I can get that done along with the waterline and white layer at the weekend. I have decided to paint the lower section white mainly because I did so much sanding it is almost translucent in places which is not a good look. Especially when the crew put their feet through the bottom so in the best traditions of a dodgy English yard I will hide that fact with paint and blame 'aggressive Scottish sea worm' for any damage when it is in use.

Still using my phone for documentation.
The stem platform is re-done and I am much happier with the outcome than the first one. I would recommend everyone to add support underneath to avoid breakage.

An update on speakers. 
Michel Mantin, former Editor of Neptunia, and NRG member from France, will speak on a WWII Japanese Battleship project he is working on.
Kurt

Hello All,  I took a little different approach with the swivel guns.  Shipways supplied 2, the records call for 8.  I decided to do 6 as the ones mounted in the bow made that area way to cluttered besides the thought of having to do that forestay configuration.  Back to the swivels.  I decided to use the supplied barrels to make a mold, the cast the guns in resin.  I then threw the white metal brackets into my parts box and bent some real metal wire to do the job.  Once painted, you really don't see a difference.  Good luck................  Sam   

I think you're right - the barrel tapers to a cone outboard of the square section. However, I have a hunch that the cone flattens out to a cylindrical cross section that is slightly smaller than the slot it rides in - small enough to fit through the vertical opening. I will probably model it that way.
 
BTH, I bought four kits. Will be building three as gifts for family members. I should finally know what I'm doing by the time #4 is done.
 
Vince

I would agree with you on most of those points...  But yes they were brought down to a small cone shape but as you can see by these photos it wouldnt stay in place unless there was a peg or iron pin as an axis.  The sides were made into a cone I suspect because the sides of the hull inboard curve drastically below the windlass and unless they thinned it down it wouldnt turn unless it was much shorter.  But I suppose they could have worked without a pin.....but wouldnt it be too lo ose?  They dont look very secure this way for and aft.  I wonder how much of it is a model convention rather than an actual representation.   I do know that I simplified this for my kit design.... one could follow these images if they wanted to.
 

 

This wooden boat hobby has changed my definitions of what is a 'productive day', as the time frame for finishing a project is so long.  I consider today to be a productive day, and I may actually go back and do more before it's over.
 
First I finished up the rest of the guns, and did some touch up painting on all of them.

 
Next I tackled the rudder.  I completely forgot to take any pictures of this in progress, but it starts out as a laser cut walnut piece with no taper.  To make it into a proper rudder, first it has to be tapered front to rear (it's about 1/2 the thickness along the back edge as it is at the front), and rounded at the front.  Then the lines have to be measured out and etched.  This is to simulate the fact that a real rudder wasn't a single piece of wood, it's built up out of multiple timbers.  In this case 4 pieces.   Next I have to cut recesses for the pintles.  This was accomplished with a very sharp, small chisel.

 
Next up, I got to learn something new!  Soldering.  I've soldered a lot of electronics before, but by before I mean 30+ years ago.  Soldering brass using flux, silver solder, and a torch is all new, but for my first effort I think it came out ok. 
 
I made the pintle - brass pin soldered to the strap that will go into that recess I cut into the rudder.

 
The plans make the gudgeon (the strap that the pintles drop into on the ship side) by simply using the brass strap, and letting the pintle drop into it.  I decided to solder a tiny brass tube onto the gudgeon to make them work like a real one would. 

 
Tthe pintle is too long currently, it will be trimmed later.

 
Now i just need to make two more sets of pintles and gudgeons, but my eyes are bugging me so not sure I'll get back to it today or not.

Greetings,
 
Once again, I've stent too much time away from the bench so last week I decided to get back to it during a rainy weekend.  I got tired of looking at the hull one color so I decided it was time to add the waterline.
 
 

 
Cheers,
Tim

Finally I've got this sanded, at least to where I think it should be. I also put a coat of poly on the inside of the boat

The aft platform in place. Trickier than I anticipated.

I had the honour and the pleasure to see Piet's model in real life. All the pictures on MSW don't do her justice, she is stunning. The hull looks very realistic from all angles and the texture matches the steel plates the original was made from. All the details actually work, Piet had me try them out all. From hoisting the anker, the torpedo deck launcher is out of this world, the AA guns that can lower into the bins, the pulley's, even the break on the pulley works, etc etc. The colours are vivid and really do the model just. 
 
Piet if you still wonder if your Dad is proud of the model you made of the ship he loved most? He should!
 
My wife also had the pleasure of meeting the builder and his charming wife, we enjoyed every single minute of it. 
 
Remco

For those who have not had the pleasure of seeing O19 up close and personal, let me say, you have missed something extremely rare in life.... and I am not speaking so much of the amazing model we have seen come together before our eyes right here on MSW. 
 
The man who crafted this extreme labor of love is a true marvel of a very special class by himself. 
Within minutes after shaking his hand, one realizes this diminutive gentleman, so full of live, is the embodiment of what our unique art represents. 
Mr. Piet...."Pete".... is the real deal! 

Thanks all for your kind words. And yes Mark it's relaxing. 
David B, 99% is Castello Boxwood and deck planking is Holly
 
Just a minor update, the mast step finished with lots of bolts and 4 shaves.
 

 
Remco

For those of you not recognizing the items, these are the risers. Both were scribed and varnished to get the detail to stand out. Then I have drilled small holes that I enhanced with regular 6H pencil. Sanding is next and another layer of varnish.

The anchors have been made and mounted. That leaves only the lantern  ( I've pretty much decided not to do another boat).
 
The anchors and their stocks were all made from boxwood strip, with the anchors painted black and the stocks finished with Wipe-on Poly. The bands on the stocks are black painted paper. The bouys were shaped  from walnut dowel. 
 
I found a Caldercraft lantern that hopefully will be suitable, and I am awaiting it's arrival from Cornwall Model Boats. 
 
Bob

Thanks for the comments and likes!  SalD - I will be taking most of my vacation this year by going to the conference at Mystic.  Really looking forward to that.  In the mean time, I'll take a few days off here and there.
 
The learning trials of ship-building continue.  Each little gun carriage gets 5 eye-bolts, which means I have to drill 5 little tiny holes (#78 drill).  I started with a pin-vise and I discovered rapidly that the boxwood which these carriages are made out of is a LOT harder than the basswood I've been drilling before, and it took 10 minutes to drill one hole through the side of a carriage, and I had 29 more holes to drill.  Ugh.  Then a lightbulb went off and I remembered that Mahuna had gotten me this really awesome collection of little drill-bits that were very sharp but needed to be used in a press, since they are very hard/brittle.  Well, I don't have a drill press yet, but I did just recently get a little Proxxon mill, so I chucked up the #78 bit, and then clamped the first carriage in the tool-bed vise.   So awesome, got the 29 holes done in less time than the first one, and they are much more precisely located than they would have been.

 
Next up, I cut down the eye-bolts and glued 3 of them into each carriage.  The other two for each carriage get a ring that the breech line will go through later on when they are rigged to the deck.  These eye-bolts and rings are tiny and I ended up doing all this work wearing an optivisor magnifier thing.

 
I assembled all of the rings to their eye-bolts and used a tiny drop of CA glue to join the ends of the ring.  Probably didn't need to do that.  Then I decided to just finish one gun assembly because I wanted to see it done.  I used very small strips of manila folder to form the trunion caps.  These were supposed to be made out of brass, but I made both brass and the paper ones, and the paper look better as I can't seem to get a nice smooth curve out of brass at this small scale.  I put in the eye-bolt / rings on each side, added a handle to the quoin, and painted the rims of the wheels black to simulate iron bands.  I was planning to add some more bolts and other details, like the retaining pins on each axle, but these things are so small that I decided I wasn't up to the task, so I think this is how the guns will all be completed, other than some clean up and touch up painting later on.  

 
The paint looks really rough zoomed in this close, but even 6" away with my naked eye it looks smooth.  Macro photography is both a blessing and a curse.