Ryland Craze

Step 1 - 4 (Bow and Stern Transoms) Complete.
 

Step 4
 
On the part where is says to use a razor saw to make angled cuts was hard to make out. So after zooming in on the online PDF, I realized what they want you to do is to create cuts at the same angle as the bevel you will put on it. This gives you a nice clean edge on the notch.
 
Also, it says to bevel all edges except the outer most. Then realized it is so you can bevel the outer edge of both upper and lowers together.
 

 

Step 3
 
Straight forward enough. However when drilling the #55 hole through the transom knee a little splintering happened. If doing it again, I might have put some masking tape on the backside (on the knee) or started with a smaller bit. I'll see how obvious it is later and add some wood filler if I feel it's noticeable.
 

The instruction for step 2 were a little confusing. 
 
I misunderstood on the first paragraph of page 8 and beveled the edge of the bow transom. There is another bow transom in the kit but I know it will eventually get cut off so I just went with it.  I was also confused about how you're supposed to turn the transom so that the bevel marks are facing away from you but the image shows the opposite. After reviewing the plans for the pram and looking at it closely, I realized that the photo was correct and proceeded. 
 

On to the build. 
 
Step 1 is pretty straight forward. Remove the char, keep the edge straight. Instruction recommend using a set square to help with this. I thought I'd try using rubber cement to add a piece of sandpaper to the set square.
 

 
This however did not work very well. So I pulled out my Sand-It from MicroMark that I purchased for the 18th Century Longboat build.
https://www.micromark.com/Sand-It?gclid=CjwKCAiAtdGNBhAmEiwAWxGcUipEc9eXAmECR2RgDjJczoF0_eh6jYF80BKRO4qAEeyQbXio-2BY8xoCUmIQAvD_BwE
 

 
Worked much better.

Pram laser cut sheets.
 

 

 
Based on other forum posts, I decided to upgrade my X-Acto to Swann Morton Scalpels
 
100 Blades: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083BQLFB8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Handle: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0056ZX1R8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Blade Remover (Safety First): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0082CW90M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 

 
I also decided to go with white glue per the recommendations in the instructions. I found at the hardware store that Titebond makes a white wood glue.
 

After opening the kit, here is what was received. Kit also included a sheet of 150 and 220 grit sandpaper (no photo).
 

 

 

 

I have the deck all planked and now it's on to sanding and sealing. 

I experimented with sanding block and with rotary tool to remove the burrs left on each of the plates. Both worked  well but the rotary was much faster. After a bit of tedium, the plates could abut cleanly and longer look like I used toe-nail clippers blindfolded. Now you can see my weathering of the plates was too successful. 
 
 

I experimented with sanding block and with rotary tool to remove the burrs left on each of the plates. Both worked  well but the rotary was much faster. After a bit of tedium, the plates could abut cleanly and longer look like I used toe-nail clippers blindfolded. Now you can see my weathering of the plates was too successful. 

Coppering the hull! Well, not just yet; more like just coppering! First look at this image of the Cutty Sark https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutty_Sark#/media/File%3ACutty_Sark_stern.jpg (CC, Wikipedia)


One does see much texture on the copper plates on that hull! I’ll return to the issue of texture in a bit.

 
I wanted to removed some of the shine and give some variation in color to the copper plates. I heated them on the stove, which worked too well! I used the open flame of my stove. I then cooled them in a pan of water and used a toothbrush to remove the soot.
I have liberated the 280+ copper plates in purchased from the two sheets they were attached to. I first used an #11 x-acto blade cutting the copper sheet on a wooden cutting board, which worked just fine but was slow. I then used a small sheer I bought last year for my I’ll-fated Dapper Tom project. That also worked and much faster. 
 
 

Hi Greg,
 
As others have said, welcome to MSW.
 
I'll be watching your build of the Pevensey with great interest as I have just ordered a 1:100 card model of it from World of Paperships.
 
Cheers

Best wishes for your op Mark and a good calm recovery!
Sphinx is coming on despite the small setback😉

Best wishes for next week and looking forward to seeing your finished Sphinx. I really like the colours and wood together, perhaps it is the lighting or maybe you are just good at this: either way it stands out among the logs. 
All the best,
Bruce 

Best wishes for your upcoming Op, Mark.
 
I agree with the others re the yellow ochre paint, but don’t rush it - just check under your signature again….the wood is patient…….

Best of luck next week Mark, hope all goes well for you.  Your lovely Sphinx will still be there for you when you are up to wrangling with it again. 👍

The 18 and 22 gauge copper wire that I got from Michael's did not have a plastic coating on it.  I did sand it with fine sand paper and soaked it in acetone prior to blackening it.  I had purchased some 28 gauge wire from Model Expo many years ago that was black in color.  I did a google search and found many places that sell the black annealed wire, but you would have to pay for shipping which adds to the cost.

Hi Mark,    I agree with all the rest  - Yellow Ocre  was the go to paint  back in the day, so I am sure it will look really nice  with that Blue and Black.
 
Same  message as the rest  with your valve  op  - all the very very best  to you mate.
 
OC.

Making progress, building the frame is a chore, a fun chore, but a chore. Going slow is easy, there is no fast. 
 

 

A number of finishing details in this update.

Boomkins shaped and mounted. They look huge and out-of-scale here. However, they are tapered and have a slight curvature per normal.
I've started serious considerations for Camilla's presentation in the water and what the sea conditions (and colors) will look like. If I decide she's headed into choppy waters and few big swells (the pervasive image throughout my build), I may need to add a few more planks to her bow (not the stern). I envision her cutwater smashing into a large wave, her stern escaping a deep trough and her sails showing a serious starboard list.
 

A set of belaying pins in the forward foc'sle bitts, ready to go! These are the turned pear ones from Russia. Click on MSW's homepage link of vendors for "CraftySailor" for the belaying pins as well as lots of other really nice kits n' bits. No business affiliation here, but definitely a strong endorsement!
 
 

The dual stern lanterns are superbly-designed, 3D-printed assemblies, the detail quite remarkable; for example, if one looks closely under the cap, there are tiny holes for the air and heat to escape! In addition, they are glazed with a single-piece, laser-etched clear acrylic that is fitted into the interior of the main, single-piece body. This requires a little trimming to fit properly but nothing too drastic or difficult to accomplish. The cap fits perfectly to the body of the lantern. There are lots of options on colors for these two lanterns; I chose to stay with basic black with a touch of gold. Lastly, they mount with a piece of thin brass rod supplied in the kit and fit into the holes that were previously drilled - from the interior transom - from an earlier build stage. I have pliers with stepped, graduated round sections that can precisely bend brass wire into smooth, curving shapes. The ensign pole is also a temporary placeholder. This view doesn't show the acetate glazing mounted inside the stern lights, but it's there!
 
Camilla's name is yet to be placed on the upper transom; this will be added as soon as I decide what color to paint the board where the letters will be added. Those building this kit know that the "SPHINX" name is etched into the pear transom pattern and is a guide for subsequent mounting of the P/E letters. Rather than replace this tricky piece with a scratched one, I decided to simply mount an appropriately-sized, thin section of .6mm pear (lots available from a kit sheet) over the etched name with an added signboard.
 
 

I'm testing the look and fit of two items here: the addition of a spare topmast to be made at the same time as the one that will be fastened to the lower mainmast. The dowel here is only a placeholder, but cut to the right length of a finished mast. I've placed the 24' launch's pear keel piece from the kit on top of three beams that fit across the width of the mid deck. I'll only need three beams here to carry the spare mast (the kit offers four) and launch when it's completed. The launch will be flipped "belly-up" and lashed to the beams, with no rigging or "boat bits" evident (see next photo). This decision means that I'll only be building one ship's boat purposefully. When completed and underway in the English Channel, my depiction of HMS Camilla places her in an action setting; she has left port on a war footing, with only one boat aboard, and a Captain itching to secure a French prize for himself and his loyal crew...
 
 

Here is a placeholder hull for Camilla's only boat. I'm not rigging the hammock cranes until much later in the rigging stage. They'll carry ropes as well as netting. By displaying only one boat (and not the three provided), there is lots of visual space so that the details of this exceptional kit will be clearly visible, even post-rigging.
 

Another gull's eye view of the midships arrangement of the spare mast and launch. A spare topmast was more important than another boat. I'm guessing a topmast weighed about the same as a boat.
 

I've put placeholder masts in position just for the fun of it (including the bowsprit). There are just a small handful of items left to do before masting and yards - like all the chains and deadeyes! Oh yeah, rudder chains and ropes, the balance of the tompions...and... as soon as the four Vanguard carronade kits arrive, they'll be assembled and mounted on her quarterdeck, the proper positions pre-determined.
 
Camilla has temporarily sculled into my dining room so the Admiral can help me decide where she is going to go after she departs her building slip in the basement...🤪
 
Ron

Thank you all for the warm welcome .

Work continues on chapter nine with some of the forecastle planking completed. W-O-P has not been applied which makes it harder to see the butt joints. Hopefully you will see enough to get the idea. That center piece behind the bollards was made that way which makes it easier to hold. The grain runs port and starboard. This makes it easier to slice off that long tab after the glue dries.
 

 

 
Mike

I didn't make as much progress as i hoped. I had to deal with the pre Christmas tradition of plugging in the tree lights and finding two strings didn't work. After trying to remember where the spare bulbs and mini-fuses were and it just seemed easier to go to Walmart.
I started building up the assemblies that I plan to paint before putting them together.
The wheels are a two part assembly which I was initially going to keep apart to paint but the inner includes some of the tyre so I put them together. The kit has six wheels, two spares which have different inners to mount on the car. 

The instructions need a little thought in places, the part numbering is off in several places but the shapes are hard to confuse.

The underside is quite nice and went together well although cleaning up of most pieces is necessary. The fit is then good. The building of the rear lockers is interesting. The flat square, lower centre is scored underneath and then folded over the U shape piece to create a box as seen lowest centre. I've not seen that before.
I have come across two curiosities so far. 

The running boards (the rectangles with brackets) if fitted where the instructions indicate will foul the rear wheels. They need to be installed to overlap the back of the front wheel arch and then they match the box art and old photos.
The four wheels are all the same but if you look at the rear hubs they are bigger than the front ones and the wheels do not fit. I haven't thought my way through a solution yet. If I had discovered the issue before installing the rear axle, I could have got a bit rough with a file around the hub diameter. I may see if I can remove it again without too much distress.
The SDF MMGB were at Kharkur Murr in 1934 as part of a British presence to stop the Italians from getting any ideas about encroaching into British controlled Egypt from Libya. Further down the wadi from the rock memorial are the remains of stone huts used by the troops. The MMGB were part of the force present during this period but mostly used Thorneycrofts

The SDF were responsible for a huge but largely unknown logistics operation supplying Khufra oasis after the Free French captured it from the Italians. The Khufra convoys drove 1200 kms from Wadi Halfa on the Nile across the desert to Khufra. The convoy tracks are still visible in the sand today and a few abandoned trucks are still there too. This is the background I will be modelling my car to. The Rolls and Ford patrol cars were used as escorts to the trucks

The single round petrol can provided by the kit will be discarded in favour of some home made square tins (flimsies) that were used extensively at that time and are still widely found in the area

 

Thanks for looking in
Alan
 

Thanks for the well wishes.
 
Rusty, that's what I've been hearing from others and it's good to hear it again.

I think that the yellow ochre will look really good but don't rush it.
Good luck on your surgery! You'll be as good as new afterwards. I got a new valve 6 years ago and all is good now.