Ryland Craze

You’ll enjoy Cheerful. It’s a great model, i had a great time building mine. I recommend adding hyperlinks to your signature ,one so we can find your different logs. 

Alistair,
Thanks for posting this in this forum as well.  I think a lot more folks will see it and benefit.  Please take this as a compliment when I say for me this is by far the most interesting/unusual/bizarre/extraordinary subject I have seen here in a long time and happy that you posted it.   
Allan

Hi Bob
No smell afterwards at all. I think the key component of pee is uric acid and this is what reacts with copper. I wouldn't go near ammonia for this...that would be much more scary. No blood in my urine - just weird colours in the photo. I found the morning pee was better than the late afternoon's - much more concentrated in the am! 😁 That might be related to pm's beer. 🙃
 
A

Hi
Another member suggested I post this here. Like you - presumably - bright copper on hull plates doesn't sit well to my eyes. But there is a way to age copper very quickly - in three days - if you have the nerve to do so. I offer this technique at your own risk. When I used it on my model of HMS Fly I had no idea if it might destroy all of my work to date. I tested it on some spare copper plates before embarking on the main experiment but it still felt risky.
 
Very bright copper plating when the install is complete. By itself it might take a year or two to tarnish. Why wait?



My wife who is an architect used to work on high end resorts in Bali. Many had copper roofs but the developers hated the shine. Solution? Paint them with horse urine (whose job that was I have no idea). The copper tarnishes very quickly. I don't own a horse and even if I did I wouldn't want to collect its pee but...I make urine too so decided it was worth a try. Not a pleasant smelling chemical although it's a smell that I'm kind of used to until I flush.

To ensure it didn't soak into the upper boxwood woodwork, or anything else., at first I did a very intense job of masking (I don't have a picture of that) but I found out that I didn't need it and it actually wicked my pee up into the woodwork which caused a panic. So I took off the masking. Then I brushed my urine onto the copper plates with fingers crossed. The reaction is very fast, in some areas it was almost instant. Some verdigris happened and then some spots of bright copper remained. You can wipe back the verdigris and the bright copper bits turned out to be CA glue residue which is easy to scrape off. Early applications. It tends to bead (first photo) and I just carefully spread it ot with a brush.

Verdigris kicking in on first application. You can also see the little bright spots where glue is covering the copper.

Second application. the copper is turning brown but more bright spots appear. Get rid of the glue.
 
Applications continued - two per day which suited my bladder. Between coats I wiped it off with water before applying my urine. Still some bright spots to work on...

I was unsure if my urine would keep eating at the copper so I wiped all of it off with water and then sealed the copper with Testors Dullcote. End result after three days. Variable with some verdigris but I like the look. Eight years later it still looks the same.
 
Port:

Starboard:

 
Good luck if you want to try. It worked for me but no guarantees.
 
Cheers,
Alistair

Thanks everyone for your input.  I like Bob Cleeks idea of installing a disc on the Table saw and turning it into a disc sander,two tools in one.

I have the Byrnes "trifecta" which I acquired used for a good price. If it were me, I'd buy the table saw first. Even if you don't anticipate scratch-building, the saw will be useful and permit you to get out your own plank stock at a great savings when you are ready to step up to improving a kit model with higher quality planking wood or get sick of trying to plank everything with just a handful of quarter-inch wide strip wood. Besides, if you have the table saw, it's an easy thing to just take a thin saw-blade-sized disk of plywood, plastic, or metal, attach a piece of sandpaper to it with some disk adhesive, and mount it on the saw arbor instead of a blade. Crank it all the way up and you've got a disk sander with a very accurate miter gauge and flat table! Not a replacement for the real thing from Byrnes, but it comes close. A vacuum attached to the saw will take the misery of dust out of the sanding operations, too.

Chris, wise words from Jaaeger. As a test, try putting a credit card (or something similar) between the fence and the wood before the blade: this will eliminate any 'pinch' occurring as the workpiece is passing between the blade and the fence.
 

I know what you mean Andy.  When that has happened, I set up saved searches on eBay for the aftermarket I'm looking for.  I've really lucked out on some impossible to find items that end up turning up in my feed.  More recently, I set up an account on Scalemates and put missing aftermarket on my wishlist, which showed me if other members on the site were offering it for sale.  Managed to get a few aftermarket pieces that way - some of which had been discontinued for a decade or more.  Nice feature of the site.
 
Good thing I'm not going to be buying any more kits so that should no longer be an issue...famous last words 🤥

It can also be a bit of a torment. On more than a couple of occasions I’ve had a great idea for a project based on a model kit, hopped on to Scalemates, checked out all the aftermarket stuff I would have needed for said project, only to find out I’m already too late for the party and all those aftermarket parts and decals are sold out, no longer in production, or otherwise completely unavailable. 🙄

That winter scheme looks intriguing. I wouldn’t be too worried about the white, I’m sure in real life those planes got so thoroughly grunged up you could easily pass on any paint flaws as pre-weathering!
 
Andy

Yes, those sites usually come up when I google the kit I'm interested in.  Scalemates is another amazing resource - going to a particular kit (or aftermarket) page brings up build logs, reviews, instructions, related aftermarket, past and future iterations of the kit, sellers of the kit (or aftermarket), etc.  Incredibly helpful site if you are building plastic models.

For 1:32 planes, a good source to check is Large Scale Planes. There are tons of build threads there that can help navigate our way through a difficult build. Hyper scale is good too. Those sites have been around a long time, decades.

Thanks Craig!  Glad to have you along keeping me honest.  I have a feeling that with a number of their kits, Special Hobby starts by taking old molds like from the Classic Airframes kits and then adds a bunch of resin and PE and new decals.  I could very well be wrong about this though.  The details on this and my last SH Buffalo in 1/48 are quite crisp and nicely done, which I'm not sure I'd expect from older molds, but maybe they clean them up or otherwise improve on older molds.
 
*EDIT* According to this site, the 1/48 kit was a limited release from SH originally back in 2005:
 
https://www.hyperscale.com/2017/reviews/kits/sh48180reviewbg_1.htm
 
What was interesting with this kit is that they give you a second set of fuselage halves, so you have to make sure you know which you need to use.  My guess is that they didn't want to create a new sprue of the fuselage and interior parts for this particular version of the Buffalo, but instead created a smaller sprue for the 239 Buffalo and you end up using the interior parts from the original sprue.  I was a bit confused at first, but at least now I have a good size paint mule to test paints and finishes on.
 
 
 

Definitely signing up for this ride. Great start Mike. Kinda like the old Classic Airframe kits but more detailed.

Thanks Andrew - I've always thought the Finnish scheme looked really cool.  Generally they are black and dark olive on the topside, but one of the three camo schemes includes white in it for a winter scheme, and I might try that one.  I've always liked winter schemes, though spraying that much white always scares me given how tough white can be to get the right coverage and opacity.
 



 

Here's where I am today.  Managed to get painted the interior of the fuselage halves and remaining interior items to install.  



I'm pretty happy with how things are looking.  I went ahead and used Vallejo's Metal Color Duraluminum.  It sprays very well.  After using mostly Mr. Color paints on my 1/48 Buffalo, it's been nice to go back to acrylics for ease of preparing the airbrush and cleaning.  I'll still use Mr. Surfacer for the exterior primer and either Mr. Color or Tamiya for some of the harder to paint colors like the yellow on the cowl and wing tips, but I might go back to using acrylic elsewhere.
Thanks for looking in!

With the fit issues on getting the fuselage closed up, I thought it would be better to add as much of the interior as possible to one of the fuselage halves, rather than trying to install what are three or four separate assemblies into the fuselage halves and then trying to get it closed up.  Taking this approach allows me to position the sub-assemblies on one half of the fuselage, and while the glue is drying, test the fit and get the final location by dry fitting the other fuselage half over it.  Takes quite a bit of time, but I think it will be less painful in the long run.
 
Instructions are ok I suppose - generally there are no locating marks, pins, etc., so you have to sorta guess where the instruction arrows point you.  Thankfully there are other builds out there on the web to doublecheck yourself.
 

While waiting on parts to dry on my Walrus for otherwise just needing a break from it, I started the Buffalo 239 Finnish version from Special Hobby in 1/32.  Since I just finished their 1/48 Buffalo kit, I figured I might as well tackle this one given I know what to look out for.  Unlike the 1/48 kit I just finished, this one I will be building mostly out of the box with considerably less aftermarket. 
 

The kit is like the 1/48 kit (and probably most SH kits) in that in addition to the plastic, you get resin and PE details in the box.  It's been interesting comparing this to the Airfix Walrus that I'm working on.  The Airfix kit has great fit but a lot of flash and injector marks and other cleanup that you need to do.  This Special Hobby kit needs much less cleanup, but the fit is not the greatest.  I can tell already that I'll have a big gap closing up the fuselage forward of the cockpit 🤬  But, so far this has been an enjoyable build over the last week or so.

Very nicely done!!  I will be jumping over to your Cheerful log , see you there , again nicely done. 

Yet more deck work at a grueling slow pace. I like it so far though. 

You can easily build a serving machine with spare legos or a similar interlocking system.

Welcome Joe!  You have found the best website on the entire interweb!!

Ron,
 I have used Petersson's book as well because of the excellent drawings that make the explanations in other books clearer.  That said, you need to use caution with this particular book for the simple reason that it is rigging for a first- or second-rate ship, English, post 1790.   For a general explanation of the run of a line, the book is excellent.  However, if you are building a smaller ship for a different period, and it is English, by far the best book to use is "The Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War" by James Lees.  It is a little tough to go through some of the word descriptions in Lees, but the diagrams help out and you can use Petersson to supplement.  The book fully describes how the lead and fixing points for the various lines changed for various establishments as well as where they belayed.  It also explains where single and double blocks were used.  For example, there are many instances where a double or triple block was used for third rate and above, but only a single block was used in the lower rates.  Topmast or Topgallant yards on large ships have double and tripled lifts while smaller ships used only single lift.  Also, take into account that belaying pins were generally not used prior to about 1790 depending on the size of the craft as well as nationality.  You could also use Lees for Colonial Ships and maybe for latter.  However, there are lists of Boatswains Stores of the Navy of the United States that was republished in the Nautical Research Journal.  There are also several books out there for other nations ships.  
 
So, Petersson's book is excellent in that it has very clear drawings.  However, if you aren't building and English SOL in about 1800 you need to use a supplement to make the rig accurate.
 
 
 
 

Here is a ‘go-to’ book I’ve used for years: Rigging Period Ship Models by Lennarth Petersson. Go to Amazon; Kindle edition:$12.; Hardcover: $35. & Softcover= $80!!
This book’s strength is in the myriad of detailed visuals and extensive treatment for typical era square-rigged ships, including sail plans. The Lees book is also helpful, and I do refer to it; however, it is not essential for most modelers.
Good Luck. You can do it!
 
https://www.amazon.com/Rigging-Period-Models-Step-Step/dp/1848321023/ref=sr_1_1?crid=32OZM53EG8N00&keywords=lennarth+petersson&qid=1678820704&sprefix=Lennarth%2Caps%2C142&sr=8-1
 
 

Wonderful model and I think you will enjoy Cheerful.  In many respects it is an easier build.  But just more stuff to do. I cant wait to followalong with your cheerful project.
 
 

Thank you guys for all of the compliments! They really mean a lot to me!
 
Here’s some thoughts about my experiences. First off, as someone who has built many r/c planes over 4 decades and having an aerospace background, I can say without hesitation that Chuck’s designs and methodology are superior. While I consider myself an accomplished builder, building Medway was a new challenge that I really enjoyed. Building ship models has a desire I’ve had for many years, and through Chuck and the many awesome builds here on MSW, I’m starting to realize that dream. 
 
As you guys know, Medway was my first attempt at this wonderful and sometimes frustrating hobby. After researching what to build first, Medway won out for many reasons. I found the build to be well thought out and in a logical sequence (not that I know what logical ship building is). One of the big lessons learned was patience! As Chuck and others preach, slow and steady is the path to success. The materials (AYC) supplied were great and produced beautiful results. The build pushed my skill base to learn more and develop skills that I didn’t know I had. This build was one of many firsts, and as expected, I made many mistakes, but that’s how we learn. Learning how to fair the hull, lining off the hull, shaping and bending planks with no more than heat was a real eye opening experience. Shaping square wood stock into parts that looked the part was very satisfying and rewarding. A new way of painting to produce brush stroke free results, making hooks and eyes and then blackening them was again, very satisfying. Making the mast, boom and other round parts was a process that I didn’t know about. While I made the mast too small in diameter and had to take a few steps backwards, in the end it worked out well. Making scrapers to shape moldings was fun and easy. But the most difficult part is the details needed for rigging. One of the reasons for choosing Medway was the limited rigging. There was just enough to learn some more skills and show me that I have a long way to go in this area. I’m glad that I choose the Medway for my first build and I’m impressed that I finished it. 
 
I’d like to thank Chuck for his efforts to help guys like me and for his input when needed. Rusty, Bobg, Ryland and a few others (whose names escape me), also provided help when needed, your build logs are very helpful (as all build logs are), amazing and inspiring!
 
If you couldn’t tell, I’m hooked on this aspect of modeling and in particular, Chuck’s offerings. To that end, Cheerful is now in the shipyard
and will be a slow build as I tend not to spend much time in the workshop during warm weather. I’ve started a build log for those interested, and as always, all comments and suggestions are very welcomed. Now to study those spectacular Cheerful logs!
 
Best Regards …. Rick