Ryland Craze

Testor’s  Dulcote!
 
I have been recently been painting cast metal model soldiers.  As painted with acrylic paints the surface is dead flat and the paint is easily rubbed off.  Dulcote is a matte spray lacquer.  A quick shot of Dulcote makes a remarkable difference.  I also spray it over blackened brass.  The finish is also much more durable.  I like Dulcote much better than the hardware store clear matte spray.  
 
Roger

OK, I needed this earlier this evening. 

When l lived in St. Louis back in the 70's and early 80's, I used to the same thing... wander around downtown and "visit" the old abandoned buildings.  The old train station was wonderful even after they decided to sink money into it and renovate it.
 
It sad to see the decay and abandonment.  There is a sense of what was and the people who used to work and live there.

It really is remarkable. I know that most folks would probably think this is ugly but the realism of the decay and the rust build up is incredible and has a beauty of its own. 
 
My wife and I took a guided, small group, urban decay, photography tour of abandoned factories and buildings in Detroit a couple of years ago. I found out later that it was actually illegal to enter these ruins but the guide had been doing it for years without a problem. Detroit was one of the world's great cities in the 1930's to 50's before it fell apart and its citizens fled.
 
Exploring these decaying structures filled us with a range of competing emotions. The apocalyptic scenes were both haunting  and beautiful at the same time and it was heartbreaking to see how quickly everything had been abandoned as Detroit fell into despair. Companies just shut their doors and walked away essentially leaving everything in place for the scavengers pick over and eventually for nature to reclaim...a modern apocalypse of a once magnificent city.
 
 
 

A model of a barn find in situ.   Amazing work to turn a beautiful model into this.

...and now for an entirely different style of building a Pocher model! You can buy this one on the French eBay site for 3500 Euros.
 

 

 

 
 

And now the Yankee Hero is finished.  Some details I'd do differently, but it's done.

Using some skills from placing model railroad ballast, I soaked the anchor rode in a 1/3 rubbing alcohol - 2/3 water solution.  That made the line very pliable.  I then used the handle of an Xacto knife to prepare the coil - it was the right size.  I carefully looped the line into a normal looking rope pile.  I then used very dilute white glue with a dropper to soak the line with white glue.  Let dry overnight.  I then seized a loop for the anchor shackle.  To make it easier to tie off the rode on the Samson post, I used a dropper and re-wetted the line with the alcohol/water solution.  Done.
 

I've used up all the copper plates (to my surprise) and have spent my dollars so some more will find its way from Maine to my secret lair.
(ok, it isn't a lair nor secret...)

Okay, back to ships! I'm really biting off a lot on this project, but it's such a nice model that I just had to take a crack at it. Hopefully I will be up to the challenge. I wrote a review of this kit, which you can read HERE, so I won't go into great detail about it here. I will, though, repeat that if you like this model and would like to get your hands on a copy, or perhaps try a different card kit, be sure to check out all the HMV kits available from Fentens Papermodels. Unlike my recent aircraft builds, I expect this project to take longer than a month. How long, I can't say. We'll see how it goes and maybe take a break or two if necessary.
 
One nice thing about this project is that I will need only a very small number of edge colors -- the ship is depicted entirely in Measure 21 dark blue-gray.

 
But . . . it has a considerable number of parts -- close to 2000 in total. Ten pages -- wowzers!

 
Happily, I have the laser-cut detail set to replace many of those parts. It consists of six frets.

 
And now I can share what Santa brought me this past Christmas.

This lovely 3D-printed hull, available from Shapeways, will replace ALL of the usual egg-crate construction. Only the external skins need to be applied. This will be the most stable card ship hull I have ever worked on.
 
So, that will serve for an introduction. The first thing I will need to do is the usual spraying of the parts sheets. Hopefully tomorrow it will be warm enough in the garage to move forward with that task.
 
Cheers!
 
 

Hey Grant,
The photography trick gave me grass stains, but it was worth it to blow my good friend's mind with my texted photos of my birthday present. The car, the angle, the other car in the background- all are so distracting most people never notice how out of scale the asphalt bumps are!
 
Ron

I have quite a few of the miniatures, I use the shoulder plane and block plane constantly.

My favorite vice is one of these https://www.cousinsuk.com/sku/details/vices-bench-vice-jaws/v9692
 
 

When cutting something with a knife, a chisel, or something like that, while holding the piece in my hand, I always visualise first the possible trajectory of the tool, should it slip ... it may then not always the most convenient and strongest holding position, but the blade certainly will not end up in some valued body part 
 
The relative resistance of your two hands, the material, and the blade may not be easy to judge. Also the trajectory of the blade in the material may be controlled by a varying strength of the wood (man-made materials normally have a homogeneous distribution of strength).

thanks for the kind comments everyone

Left the black card behind a long time ago. The shrink wrap tubing works well, I have a selection of sizes but it can be challenging to heat it just the right amount, clearly BE has that down. These days I prefer black masking tape, more of an iron look that artist tape and easy to fit and then paint to complete the look. 

Heat-shrink tubing over the tip of the rudder to simulate the iron banding. Clever. Would never have thought about that as a solution. Black card and even ChartPak artist's tape, but not rubber tubes! I'm assuming you have a selection of tubing sizes to draw from.
Your work is really informative, clever. I like it!
 
For your stern columns will you paint these in a white or off-white color? I also decided to color my window sashes in a natural wood color rather than stark white. Restrained, sophisticated are a couple words that come to mind when it comes to these embellishments. The gold Vallejo painting overall - as indicated in the Vanguard build manual - is OTT (especially on the stern) IMHO and although I retained some of this color, I've reduced it significantly in the interest of visual moderation. Ditto the figurehead. I'll be anxious to see what solutions you come to for her presentation. I also like your decision to 'reduce the red' and extend your blue field shade to match the painted paper stern applique.´ I trust the Right Honourable Captain Grim is good with all this too.
 
Sphinx's stern is looking great. It's going to be superb when it's completed.
 
Ron  

Yep, Glenn. I agree with your last words: if druxey doesn't know...
 
At the end of the day (and this thread) I hope Goodshipvenus is enlightened and has enough info to decide what to do.
 
Ron

I think Chris’ point was the doors are a precise rendering of the actual plans, even though he’s not sure what they’re for. And if Druxey doesn’t know….
 

I'll go with your hunch, druxey.
 
and...
 
or ...perhaps nothing more than "breaking wind." 🤣 This unexplained anachronism persists even with the kit's designer.  I had no reservations about deleting this door/screen arrangement on my build. Ironically, most everything else about this kit is very precise. The oven screen definitely obscures, especially when you're not opting to build an open reveal, quasi-Dockyard model.
 
Perhaps in 1775 there was still a Ministry of Silly Doors at the Admiralty?
 
Ron
 
 

My hunch is that the bulkhead and doors were there for foul weather protection and to retain heat in the space, and the doors were only partially opened to provide some ventilation.

These are a nightmare for me. Even following original drawings precisely, the doors would not open due to the bitts. So I had to move things slightly so they could open a little more, and it's still very tight!

This has also puzzled me as well, between the Riding Bitts and the Galley stove there is barely room for doors to open. On my Pegasus build which has the same situation I fitted the cants on the deck into which the  Forecastle bulkhead fitted (Including the Galley Doors) but left off the  bulkhead as it obscured the view beneath the Foc’sle.
 
None of my reference books indicate why the doors were there only that they were a feature.
The bulkhead obviously provided weather protection/security but why not place the doors either side of the stove in the bulkhead.
 
There are many such questions that bedevil  us of the 21st century, but those of the 18th century no doubt had their reasons.
I am prepared to leave it at that and get on with the model building.
 
B.E.

Precisely. I get that they could be moved or opened. You and I still want to know WHY not HOW...
Ron

I had thought of posting yesterday a link to one of @LFNokia's videos.  He uses this same technique as @Thanasis showed with 2 loops in a figure 8 and mid seizing.  It works well for a lot of variants on stropping a block, whether to an eye, a hook, to a yard, etc.
 
Here's one of his videos where he goes over the approach...
 
 

This is my tip, as an example of what you can do following:  "My way of seizing"     
Thx