Ryland Craze

I think you're right Bill. There's a certain integrity in its imperfection that would be lost if I re-did it. My grandfather was a Toronto firefighter and after he retired, my dad got possession of his leather fireman's hat. Its condition was a bit beaten up and my dad thought it was a good idea to freshen it up with a coat of shiny black paint! My brother has the hat now and while it's still a wonderful keepsake, to a large extent its beauty, meaning and value have been largely compromised by its shiny black surface. I think maybe I'll leave well enough alone.
David

I'll be closing down my shipyard tomorrow AM and heading for cooler climates. This "closed" picture is old 'cause I'm too lazy to take a new pic. See you all in 16 days.

Thank you for all the likes and comments. The port side plank has been shaped and installed. I spent a lot of time trying to get these two planks symmetrical. After installation, I removed the braces at the transom. Additional fairing in this area will be next along with lining off the hull. 
 
Shims were created and faired with the bulkheads to repair a piece that broke earlier in the build.
Steve

Gun rigging continued . . . 11 down and 7 to go.
A little sign of life . . . with more guns being rigged additional deck furniture could be permanently mounted: the ladders, five rail, and pump. The deck starts to get a ‘finished’ look (images 1 - 4) .
 
Thomas
 

Image 1
 
 

Image 2
 

Image 3
 

Image 4
 
 
 

 

I received the Hagasawa 1/16th scale plastic Sopwith Camel kit, Saturday. A quick reveiw of it compared to the Model Airways kit follows.

 
I bought the Hagasawa kit because it had more detail parts than the Model Airways kit. Engine cowl, front fuselage panels, etc. The Hagasawa kit is all plastic, and the MA kit has wood parts where the original does, though.

 
The Hagasawa kit has many better details than the MA kit, but also lacks several. A major problem is that the wing ribs, for instance are supposed to be shaped like an “I” beam. A central web, with a horizontal web on the top and bottom. The Hagasawa ribs are flat.

 
On the other hand the original plane had metal brackets at all the wood to wood joints in the fuselage. The Hagasawa kit has them molded onto the fuselage sections,  the MA kit does not have them. The MA kit has turnbuckles, the Hagasawa kit does not.

 
The Clerget engine had 22 cooling ribs on each cylinder. The 1/8th scale Hagasawa engine kit has the correct amount. The 1/16th kit only has 18, I guess that there is only so much you can do with even a plastic casting. The MA metal casting for the cylinders has only 11 fins. The bolt detail on the Hagasawa kit is finer and close to scale, the MA kit is OK, but the details are a bit larger than scale.

 
Some of the parts in the Hagasawa kit are also finer, like the wicker seat casting.

 
I have not yet decided on whether to build the Hagasawa kit, and ignore the wing rib problem, add the webs at the top and bottom, or use the wing assemblies from the MA kit, on the Hagasawa. Using both very expensive kits to make one model is not appealing, though.

 
I will build the Hagaswawa kit, and probably do the painful process of adding the rib webs.

 
Selling the MA kit and using the money for other goodies, is probably smarter, but more thought has to go on before a final decision.

 
The kit box


 
The box contents, and the plastic parts spread out some.
 

 

A close up of one half of the engine on the Hagasawa kit.
 

Thank you very much for the likes and comment.
 
The panels were completed and glued into position.  You could leave them like that with just the empty panels which has been seen on many contemporary models.  In this case I chose to insert printed friezes into them like the contemporary model shown above.
 
I actually patterned the same same frieze design from that contemporary model and used it on my prototype.  What do you guys think.   I will be working on the step into the stern sheets next and then started on the outboard details again shortly after.
 

 

 

 

 
 
Chuck

Good evening everyone
 
Here is something you don't hear often form me
 
The Bismarck is finished 
 

GUN DECK CANNONS - UPDATE....
After 150 hours (logged build time), I am happy to report "completion" for the installation of all 30 of the gun deck cannons.
Although still slightly over sized, the smaller rigging blocks turned out noticeably closer to scale on the port side guns.  "Close enough for horse shoes." as the old saying goes.



Haven't decided where I will now begin building out all the gun deck details.  Either have some fun with the little furnishings within the captain's study, or go for the bowsprit instillation.
Just happy to finally be at this stage of moving forward.

Cheers Martin, you're my sort of guy. 
 
Thank you Alistair, you're welcome to visit any time you're in the UK.
Your Fly is too good to languish in 'ordinary' I look forward to a re-start of work.
Good to hear from you again,
 
Regards,
 
M.

Hi Maurice
I have been so long and so far away from this forum and I decided to come back for a look. 
 
First - congratulations on your wonderful rendition of this elegant sloop. You are the master of this kit and your work always inspired me to keep going when I was going (and not going very well). Your end result is as remarkable as your journey - surely one of the most informative logs - it is the "how to" for all who tackle this beautiful ship in kit form. The brilliant outcome speaks for itself. I doff my cap to your skills and patience. One day I'd like to bother you for a visit to admire the outcome in reality - I'd need an invite of course!!!
 
Mine lays over on it's side - I ran out of puff but the wind will lift it off again one day...I can't resist modelling though - WW1 planes at the moment. And then I'll return here to finish my HMS Fly.
 
Brilliant man. Keep building!!!
 
Best regards,
Alistair

When I started this topic the other day I had no idea that it would end up going in this direction. Proof once more of the value of this forum when it comes to sharing ideas and techniques.
Thank you to all those who have contributed to and followed the discussion.
 
With the resources now in place I managed to find time do a trial run :-

- before and after ....
 
After brushing and de-greasing, two 30 second immersions in the Birchwood Casey 'Brass Black', with a rinse and dry in between, I ended up with the finish shown above. This was followed by a coat of matt lacquer. I am delighted with the result to put it mildly!
 
Cheers,
 
Graham.
 

Rich you can do it, just take your time and think through it and remember that "God is in the details!"
 
After a few days off hosting an out of town guest I am back at the fore mast rigging. I had to resolve conflicts between pictures of the real ship, the plans and AOTS book on various rigging details. I went with my best guess.
 
One thing I learned was to work from the top down adding the yards and pinning them with 1/32" rod which really helped in rigging. The upper yards were easy but the course yard was a real challenge especially rigging the truss once the yard was in place. I also was making the ropes needed and sanding the kit blocks as needed. The other challenge was routing the lines without interfering with others already in place and look real straight. I also used the plan map for the belaying pin locations versus other sources. 
 
Here are some pictures of the fore mast so far, once all masts are rigged to this point then I will add the brace lines.
 

Here is a close up showing the cleaned up kit blocks.

Here is a view of the biggest challenge rigging the truss with the yard in place.

Starting to get a mess of ropes.

Now on to the main mast now that I know what to watch out for. I am also glad that most of the deck furniture is removable which really helped in tying off the belaying pins.

Thank You Gentlemen....
 
I installed the thwarts and painted them.    Then I began planking the area above them.   I glued one laser cut, pre-spiled plank above the thwarts.  The interesting thing about this plank is the fact that it doesnt extend up to the shear.  It in fact is only wide enough to just touch the bottom edge of the caprail.   This leaves a consistent rabbet or ledge all around the caprail.   Then smaller lengths of laser cut wood the same thickness of the planking are strategically placed on top of this plank.  These small strips do extend to the sheer and are sanded flush with the top of the cap rail.   These pieces are ONLY placed where an oarlock (tholes) will be located.   And they alternate port to starbord as is typical with single banked barges.  This can be seen clearly in the photograph supplied of a typical contemporary model of a barge.
 

 

 
Once Painted I couldnt wait to try out my laser cut panels.  I didnt even wait until all of the interior planking was completed.  This was a real pain to do on the pinnace model and those of you who have built that kit can probably agree.   For the pinnace kit, in order to create the panels you had to first scrape some molding strips to create the fancy profile while keeping the strips very thin.   Then each panel was made by hand where you had to miter each corner of every square panel.  It took dozens of hours over several days.   To alleviate this pain I tried to design laser cut panels with a fancy molded edge. It was of huge importance that this work and look good, in addition to the time savings I was planning on including the friezes in this kit.  If they were laser cut and a consistent size I could include them no problems....
 
I was pleasantly surprised at how well they turned out.  What took dozens of hours over several days on the Pinnace took only a half hour to do on this barge.
 
I have just tested these in position and they are not glued into place yet.  That will be done later after I finish the inboard planking.  The panels are very delicate at only 1/32" thick.  So I sanded the top surface to clean it up and make it bright.  I used a light touch with 320 grit paper.  Then I lightly sanded the outside edges only.  I didnt bother with the inside edges because the panels are too fragile.   I also didnt bother trying to remove the laser char from the etched fancy profile.   After sanding the edges lightly the darker char actually emphasizes the profile and looks rather good.   I would hope you all agree.  They are made from boxwood and once finished with wipe-on-poly they look quite nice.  Friezes printed on paper will be inserted into each panel much like the contemporary model shown above.
 

 
 
 
 

Renamed mine the Boston in honor of my lovely spouse. I was going to do a Diorama with it but chickened out. 

With the Charles W Morgan safely in her case awaiting only a brass engraved nameplate before moving upstairs, it's time to start a new project (projects?).
Going to start with the gunboat Philadelphia which I've had on the shelf for some time. I need a break from 1/64 fully rigged ship so the Granado will wait for this project to be completed.  [note: Granado will wait a while longer]
I'm looking forward to (super)detailing a 1/24 build with minimal straight-forward rigging (at least compared to the Morgan).
I've ordered replacement blocks and line from Chuck, and gathered materials including the 6 part series on this build from Ships in Scale.
I'm not detailing in photos the box contents as they have been covered in a current build log and several fairly recent finished ones.
Will start construction next week. I've been at loose ends in the mornings as that has been my shipyard time through the (long) end of the Morgan build. There is a nice case awaiting this rather wide model (nearly 14 inches) that I had bought years ago for a Victory model I bought but did not build. As my house started to fill with MY completed models I decided to give that ship away to a friend who had admired it. I was tired of explaining to people that I had built the New Bedford Whaleboat, Picket Boat #1, and now the Charles W Morgan but NOT that one.
At the same time (now that I'm fully retired) I'm going to practice Byrnes saw, scroll saw, and mill skills to begin the Echo cross section on some ordered boxwood before I break into the wood included in the Admiralty Models package. These are things I've not done so need the practice for this entry into the shallow end of the scratch build pool.

Video 3 Installing the cockpit
 

TO Eddie:
I will do a wood one some day, it doesn't scare me at all.
Cant wait to be honest but this one first as I promised that to my partner.
 
TO KeitnAug :
I did go to the races on an invite from one of our clients, I did win... put a 2 pound bet on and came home with £36 so not bad considering it was my first time and I still to this day dont have a clue how those odds things work! I just bet on the horse with the name that sounded the sweetest (as in sugar sweet as I love sugar).
Think the handyman bit was a bonus for him, but do think that I got stamped a keeper when I was here for 3 months and decided to put a floor in his loft
 
To Cog:
Welcome to my universe Cog! lol
Husband does like silence lol... but he wishes to be a builder to but he is so swamped with work he doesn't have the time to... some day I will make him.
So am I getting this right... I made my build even harder by getting the photo etched parts!? eek!
 
To Eddie:
No planking just yet for me, it is the plastic Heller kit I am doing... for now.
Working my way up to some day make a wooden build.

Hello there!
As the title suggests I am new to all that is... model making... ship building...
My partner has had the Heller model for the HMS Victory 1:100 for ages and told me I could build it if I wanted to, I was over the moon!
Until.... I looked at the manual (read: those few pages I thought was going to be a manual of about 200 pages)!!!!!
I am a girl that likes to build stuff and loves a challenge so hey... why not!
I have floored up my own loft, fitted a new kitchen, tiled a floor and fitted a new bathroom without any former knowledge of any of it and it looks great (my future husbands words and he is very picky), so why not have a go at the Victory!
Pretty sure I can do it (if I can figure out which side is witch on a boat lol.
And to be sure I don't have a easy trip on this I have bought an upgrade with etched parts and resin parts like the steps and parts to put in a side entry door.
So peeps... get ready to be amazed by really stupid questions from me!
 

Work on the interior of the stern cabin is now essentially complete. All of the work was done with boxwood strip and sheet and was finished with Wipe-on Poly. In order, the work done was as follows:
 
1) Planking of the interior of the stern frames;
 
2) Fitting and mounting of the facing of the bench;
 
3) Making up and mounting the cabinetry described in the plans as "lockers with bed places";
 
4) Making and mounting the bench top;
 
5) Making and mounting the forward partition for the cabin, and the upper deck beam to which it is attached (the doors are made, but not yet mounted);
 
6) fitting and mounting the interior wall planking to the level of the upper deck beams.
 
The work entailed a great deal of fitting and adjusting to get a proper fit of the various interconnected pieces, but was really an enjoyable and fun part of the build -- probably my favorite part to date.
 
Bob 
 
 

Nice jig!  Much better than the "Fair-a-Frame".

To create the curve and shape of the starboard sheer plank, I created a slight edge-bend for the part of the plank that wraps around the bow. It really is counter-intuative how this plank must bend towards the keel. The plank is then bent and twisted around the bow. 
 
The tip of the plank is cut at a slight angle and sanded on one side for a tight fit into the rabbet. After a satisfactory fit at the bow, the remaining curve of the sheer is created. Some additional fairing was needed at the bow and the rabbet scraped a bit deeper.
 
Several rounds of dry heat were applied for bending and shaping. Hard Maple is nice to work with. It's very rigid and doesn't dent when clamped like basswood.
 
A photo is shown of the second dry fit before the plank was glued. During the dry fit stage, I also add heat to "relax" the plank into shape.
Steve

Shaping the sheer planks is providing a large challenge. In the meantime, I've included a photo of the transom installation, which took place after the hull was faired. The extra strips will be removed after the first planks are installed. Additional fairing will be needed at that point. 
Steve

I got the stern wheel in place and am working on the rigging.  She is very close to being finished.  As careful as I was on the paddle wheel, it is a bit skewed.  I think I should have added the planks alternating on opposite sides to relieve stress. Anyway, it isn't noticeable. I was very unhappy with the look of the laser cut anchor decoration on the smoke stacks and ended up making one out of styrene and leaving it unpainted.
 
Ron

I received the needed strip wood from Model Expo.  They are really great at supplying missing or broken parts.  Now waiting for the red paint to dry so that I can finish the paddle wheel. In the meantime I've started rigging the front boom.  The lines are very fine and don't show up well in the photo.

Pulling up a seat to follow along, Mike