Ryland Craze

Yes, by all means remake these hideous trial versions Michael. They'll look exactly the same to the rest of us but you'll feel better!

Well, let us be the judges ! I trust your skills and capabilities to turn that monster into a master piece.
 
Yves

Hello everyone, 
 
So I spent several hours today fairing the hull, chucks method of using sand paper with rolled edges worked really well! 
 
First I glued the forward half to the keel, this went ok. Later there were two or three frames the moved a little bit while fairing and I had a lot of work to do afterwards. I must not have had enough glue in joint. That’s ok though, I think it looks pretty good! 
 
Here it is fully assembled:

 
afterwards I started fairing the frames, these frames are super fragile so I made sure to take my time with this process. The cherry wood supplied with the kit is very nice, so it held a super crisp edge while fairing. This was probably my best job yet at fairing the hull of a kit, once everything was sanded I cleaned it up with a coat of WOP. 
 




 
that’s it for today, hopefully tomorrow or Friday I can start looking at the planking. Thanks again everyone!
 
Bradley
 

Thanks Vladimir and thanks for the likes as well.
I ended up deciding to add the gun tackles as well. So the break in working on the guns and doing some deck fittings must have helped...lol.
I have started working from the aft and doing them in sets of 4 or 5 so I can continue building up the gun deck following the instructions.
As this point 4 sets of guns are done and I have added the aft bulkhead.
Here are a few photo's.

The bowsprit is fitted in place and gammoning done.  Passing the line in between the bow rails was not that straight forward.  When doing the gammoning saddles I had calculated  that the distance between them will accommodate exactly the nine turns of gammoning.  While doing the gammoning I managed to knock down one of the cat heads, but already fitted back. 

 
Then fitted the knights heads, with the boomkins already attached to them.  I seized the boomkin shrouds and the block beforehand.  When possible, seizing is much easier done when items are still in your hands. I worked two saddle bars to hold the boomkin in place on the main rail.  Figurehead fitted in place as well.
 
    
 
 Net railing also fitted, but for the moment it is only dry fitted to be able to remove if needed to the bowsprit rigging.  The marines' walk is only dry fitted as well.
 

 

 

 
Robert

So 4 years later after completition she looks better as the wood finish has deepend and aged.  I know I should put her in a case - but she looks great as is.  

I'll join the rest of us in amazement, but also I notice the Goupilles (pins) box that wasn't bought just yesterday. Together with all the brass and wood you seem to have stored around, your inventory must be enormous!
Tom

Welcome Robert. nice job on your Constellation
 
Well, I finally got all the lower gun ports cut out and lined. Don't think I messed it up too badly.  Did have to do some sanding of the upper sills in order to get the cannons to protrude through the gun ports.  Now I have to layout and cut out the upper gun ports. And the instructions call for the installation of the "clear" (manila colored) and dark (walnut colored) 0.5 mm thick second planking - more like a veneer than planks but it does improve the overall appearance.
 

 

Jack,
This looks like a professional workshop to me, how well organized. I just found out that I'm not the only one who has suffered "the twill I restart" I bought the same kit some 3 years ago and now I'm steady working on it, when work and space allow. I'm happy to have found this website and just scribed in, I will start learning and make my own posting too this weekend.
 
For now happy building and thank you for sharing your project, we'll speak again.
 
Regards
 
Robert

Some progress.  Much time waiting for stain to dry and I went to the beach.  Isn't it 75 degrees everywhere?
 
    I finished decking 6 of the 7 main deck panels.  According to the plans, at this point I should have completed the bow, stern and furthest outboard port and starboard panel.  Not sure why interior panels are not completed.  I wanted to stain and preserve the deck before I continued with hull planking and so to ensure consistent color, I decked all but center panel.  I was going to do all, but for some reason I remembered I should keep the center unplanked.

 
    Oh!  Now I remember why I wanted to leave the center unplanked.   My effort to be consistent went for naught.  Despite being stained at the same time, the two inner panels are slightly different...no doubt due to difference in wood.  NATURAL stain used.
 
    Hull planking continues. 

Fantastic job! This ship is special to me, because my paternal grandmother came to the US from Greece, third class, on the Normandie in late '35. She was a subsistence farmer on Rhodes, who in the space of a couple of weeks went from a part of the island with no electricity or running water to Piraeus in Athens and thence to La Havre and New York City to be met by my grandfather, a man she had not seen for several years while he saved up the money to bring her to the states. The culture shock must have been unbelievable.

Thanks all! been on a rampage these past few days on Bismarck... got the flak guns installed, railings up on level 2 of the superstructure and marathoned 6 more tiny Veteran Models AA guns. Damn those things are a nightmare. Also got some Veteran Models ammo boxes cleaned up, painted and ready to go.  

The deck is Finished! I airbrushed some matte topcoat on. Love that airbrush. The hobby shop guy talked me into trying a new product. Testors Aztek clear matte. I don't have anything to compare with but it did a great job. It went on a bit dry but I think that was due to my airbrushing. I used a soft pad to buff it out. Looks great!

 
I added the inside plates for the "mooring chocks" and touched up the paint'. Here's a picture showing the plate and a hawse pipe.

For the lock I have decided on a variation of the crash bar type rodding.
First a handle spindle was turned up from some 1/4 inch brass rod and stepped down to 1/16 at the handle end then 3/32 for the section that coes through the door frame and finally 3/16 for the cam section.
A separate door knob was bored out to slide over the 1/16 end. The spindle was then pushed into place and transferred to the mill for drilling the hole for the taper pin to hold the handle on.
 

 
Then using the taper reamer for the third smallest pin
 

 
the pin will get cut to length later.
 

 
A .020 plate was cut and drilled for the door plate
 

 
and the cam side was set into the door frame .030"
 

 
The pins in the cam disk are taper pins that have been driven home with the tiny hammer and cleaned off.
 

 
some bars of 1/32 x 1/16 were drilled out to fit over the .023" pins
 
 
 

 
Next some capture plates were folded up out of some .010" using the vice as a press
 


 
after punching some .020 holes and a little rough shaping it looks like it will work.
 

 

 
I might make some cleaner ones tomorrow. and figure out the handle for the inside  which will also capture the bars
 
Ah yes then some more hinges.
 
Michael
 
 
 
 

Looking really good!
 
Here are some pictures from the Mary plans, showing how the bowsprit is set up..
 
  
 
The end is stepped under the fife rail in front of the windless..
 

 
 
Might give you some ideas for setting yours up..

Small update have picked out some old glue from the stem there does appear to a small hole poss a screw so i  stand corrected.  Painted bottom of hull with acrylic but not really very nice will treat myself to some enamel.
Henry x

Hello everyone,
 
I got my COVID vaccine yesterday (the first shot) and I finished my kitchen this weekend so talk about sore! 
 
I’m very happy with the progress I have made over the last two days. I have all the frames assembled and half of them glued to the keel, I thought these would take longer but once I got the hang of their construction the frames were pretty easy to get together. There are 1 piece and 2 piece frames on this model, the one piece frames are really easy to install I just cleaned up the part that will glue to the keel and the build board where the tabs sit. 
 

 
the two piece frames were more complicated than the 1 piece but were not very difficult to get right as long as I took my time. I started by sanding both sides of the laser cut sheets with 220 just as before, the wood tabs that held all the frame pieces were very small so I didn’t have to do a ton of sanding to remove those marks. First I sanded the build board to ensure a proper fit of the frame. Both the futtocks and floors have a rounded tip? I’m not sure how better to explain them or the name but they look very nice when all the frames are done, these rounded tips have to be sanded now as this is the only time I can do so. I got those parts sanded and once I was happy with the futtocks I cut out the floor for that frame and after sanding glued them together. These are really easy to align because chuck has provided a laser etched reference line that you align a metal straight edge with and there you go it’s pretty much aligned, from there I made sure to fine tune any alignments and make sure everything was ready to go. I did this for every frame 0-10 and again A-J. There are two 0 frames and two A frames, the frames changes direction though between the two 0 frames. 
 
I only used yellow wood glue for this btw, after the glue was applied in a thin layer I clamped them with those weak red tipped metal clamps everyone has. I used the admirals hair dryer to quickly dry the joint, and moved onto the next one. 
 





 
Once all the frames were put together I took them out one at a time and fit them to the keel, the spot they glue to is a little too narrow so I used a small file to clean that up. I also removed any dried wood glue I might have missed earlier, on the keel I must have missed a spot because there is a small spot in the poly coat. After the frames were done with their final adjustment I glued wood blocks to the bottom of the build board, this should give me some clearance when sanding and planking. Once all the frames were back in the build board I did a dry fit with the keel and moved the frames to their correct locations, I probably spent an hour doing this for the aft half. Once I was sure everything was aligned properly I removed the keel put a little glue on frames 0-10 and glued the keel in place. Before the glue set I made sure to go through and get everything exactly where it needs to be. 
 
dry fit #1 


glued in place

 
This is where I stopped for now, I’ll finish fitting the remaining frames before glueing them in place later, than hopefully tomorrow I can start fairing the hull. Thanks again for following along!
 
Bradley

Spent most of the weekend on the main mast shrouds.. I had no idea how long it takes to make one. I fully served the foremost shroud, and the rest were partially served where they overlapped.. To get the right distance between the deadeyes I used a "claw" as shown below. Even with this there were some slight deviations in the lengths of the lanyards. I guess this makes it more authentic 😁

Here are some pics of the first few shrouds wrapped on the mast:


And here are a bunch of pics to mark this small milestone:








Shining some light to capture the served ropes (may try to retake these in the daylight). 


And of the overall ship:

My Arsenal is complete

 

Now which way do they point...
 

I've seen some highly skilled modelers who are distinguished by their careful research nevertheless make glaring errors in a model, particularly in things like rigging, because they obviously have no experience sailing vessels similar to the one they are modeling.*)
 
 
 
The glaring error referred to by Bob, is something that has been discussed a lot on MSW., primarily if I recall correctly on Chuck’s Medway Longboat build.
 
 
To the modern eye certainly having the iron horse below the tiller looks distinctly odd, but we can’t get away from the fact that contemporary models and plans show it this way.
 

Notably the Longboat on the Medway model in the NMM.(1742)
 
There is also an 18thc draught of the masting and rigging of a 32’ Longboat showing the same arrangement.
 
So, the modern model-maker has a decision to make, to ignore historical evidence on the basis that it must be wrong, or go with the best evidence we have.
 
When I built the Model shipways Longboat, after much thought I also placed the horse below the tiller, but not in ignorance as suggested by Bob, but rather on the basis that people of the time had shown it that way.
 
Of course naysayers will say it’s probably a modern restoration error, but in the case of the Longboat, there is also the contemporary  draught.
 
B.E.

Just joined today and read this thread first.  Was fascinated with the responses and will be using many of the tips and guidance therein going forward.  Thank you drjeckl for posing this question/discussion point!
Am building a Muscongus Bay Lobster Smack that I started 20 years ago and shelved until the COVID Era.

Thank you wemattson, Mike, and Yves. Yves, I have seen some spectacular builds of the 1/200 Titanic on some other forums. I'll get to mine eventually but I could only hope to do half as well as some of the builds I have seen. Some of these modelers working on that kit have amazing talent. The amount of aftermarket support for that kit is also unmatched. I'm kind of tired of seeing Titanic but that's one kit I look forward to building.

Thank you so much......I just wanted to reach out and let all of you know how grateful we are for every donation you folks have sent during the pandemic.   
 
Many of you have sent us donations large and small through the Donation box on the top right side of the forum.   I dont know the screen names of those who sent us a donation or I would thank all of you individually......but we appreciate the support.
 
It means a lot to us!!!  Thank You from all of us!!!
 
😍
 
 

Romero based his book on Portia’s plans. I knew him. He could sketch and build and carve, but he could not draft. Similarly his Warrior was based on Hahn’s Alfred plans.
 
Portia was a true artist 😍!

Started to dry fit some of the bulkheads on the false keel and noticed that almost every bulkhead (on both sides of the keel) extend beyond the flat bottom of the boat.    The bow/stern sections (after beveling) seem like they will be close, but most of the others seem about 2mm long.  From what I can tell they are supposed to line up with the edge of the bottom of the boat.   Not a big deal as I can easily shave off some of the center joint where it meets the keel, but the fact that almost every bulkhead is too long somewhat concerns me.  Like maybe I missed an earlier step an did not build the false keel correctly.
 
Looking at some of the other Philadelphia logs only Brucealanevans mentions adjusting the bulkheads,,, and that seemed only because he mentioned his  false keel was not square.   Anyway,,, I have gone back over the plans and instructions all seems to be correct.  I just I just need to adjust them where they meet the keel so that the outside of the bulkhead lines up with the bottom.    
 
Should not be a big deal, but I am concerned I may regret this later in the build....   But do not seem to have a choice.