Grimber

i know what you mean on cheap airbrush . My first one was cheap and I payed for that. but you should look into CO2 or an O2 tank vs a compressor when planning on buying one. cheap to refill and don't have the moisture issues a compressor has. 5lb tank use to last me a couple years.

I may order an airbrush myself probably from http://www.tcpglobal.com/ Harbor freight does carry a couple also

It's defiantly coming along, every update it gets sharper. I only have one question... Where are you going to display it once it's done? btw that site for Mike Ashey, hes' got other books too on airplanes, armor and dioramas http://mikeashey.com/ home page so you can find the rest.

those tiny holes, air bubbles in the lower paint coats that eventually pop as the paint dries I get my brushs from McGills Warehouse allot less money than retail for professional paint brushs

Thanks for the link, his ship looks VERY nice. I thought about distressing but I figured for my first build I'll skip it. I been out of doing finish work and models for a long time and I have to re-learn things I once knew, but I will do distressing on a future build. May even order a cheap plastic kit or 2 to just practice on. You should look at Mike Ashey's web site. Professional modeler for years and hes made most of his published books available for free on his site. http://mikeashey.com/ Never met him but I've seen his work several times and it was really something to look at every time. I'm still considering a pin strip. probably do it with auto detailing tape as its the easiest to work with and can give sharp crisp lines without it being thick and standing out. Picking the right color will be the hardest part of doing that Of course another possibly is a thin plank on the waterline which isn't uncommon. still looking and researching rigging. May want to look at this site. http://bcpcoa.com/cutters.html not much info but lots of good reference pictures.

just a couple pictures, first one of the ship in direct sunlight ( sun was in the window when I took that picture so was allot of light) , the last 2 under normal 60 watt lightbulb light. had to keep messing with my camera settings as it kept wanting to add more contrast and brightness to the pictures in auto mode, finally had to take it off auto and set all the settings manually,

is a book called Building & Detailing Scale Model Ships by Mike Ashey does allot on modern and war ships and water dioramas. You can get it in print and the Author offers it in PDF files here: http://mikeashey.com/BOOK-FIRST-SHIP.htm

Thanks the photos under the florecent lights make it brighter than it really is. I'll have to try to get a natural light photo of it. Actually red and copper hulls had been used this early, and red earlier. Dividing the hull waterline by paint/color sets the 'Plimsoll Line' or load limit line and that practice is known to go back to at least 2500 ish BC. Black, red and white are common colors for paint as they are the cheapest to produce. The blue would have been a luxury. So it wasn't used for the anti fungal protection, as you pointed out that didn't come around till 1900s Popjack found a photo of a pilot ship that had a copper hull done around early 1800. Popjacks Swift build so he copper plated his Swifts hull

Time to remove the tape mask. couple of very minor touch up spots. Mostly in those inside corner of the bow stem where I expected trouble at, but it didn't get bad. Also a few tiny ones here and there but hard to see without a close look. Tape did take a few tiny spots of blue off around the fenders but that will all be a work in progress with the work on the bulwork cream anyways. Overall I'm pleased with the results. Especially being done with old paint brushs and old latex interior house paint.

Clean brush and remix paint between every coat. Don't want to get that dried paint flakes in the paint job 4th Coat 5th Coat The different woods making it harder to cover, especially the keel, bow stem and rudder post all of which don't match shade wise. The keel being the worst being so dark. But it is getting there. 6th Coat 7th Coat Didn't see much difference on the covering between 6th and 7th. Looks like It's there but I'll put one more on to be sure and for S&G. 8th Coat Nope no noticeable covering improvement, so it's there and the basic wood work is still visible enough under the paint to show its a wood ship hull. With the coats very thin, and I let each dry about hour to an hour and half between coats the paint is very well set up. NOT completely dry but its now stable and not tacky. Paint can take 24-48 hours to dry properly and some oil paints can take as long as a week to fully dry. I'll give it a few hours to fully set up that last coat before removing the tape masking. I don't want 100% dry when removing latex/acrylic paint masking as you can end up pealing large sections of your paint off. Want to remove it while it has a LITTLE wetness/pliability to it.

Looks good. I'm painting my first build hull too so planking is more about practice and getting a smooth end result for that paint.

Decided today to work on the red below the waterline instead of the cream of the bulworks. Buworks will take allot longer and I want to get this hull covered. Took the painters tape off, only had a couple small bleeds so overall it went well. Going to be using a red geranium latex for the below waterline hull. Its got a nice earthy red to it which goes in line with the normal red shades used on ships. Start by putting some painters tape around the hull about 1/4" to 1/2" from the water line. Now I'm going to use electrical tape to follow the water line made by the bluegreen paint. I will use a single piece down each side as using multiple pieces will leave more gaps that can cause paint bleeding. I'd rather use auto detailing tape here but I'll go cheap with the electrical. The painters tape will help give it something to stick to but not leave so much sticky residue to the model. The electrical tape is very flexible so can bend it easy around curves and has a sharper edge then the painters tape. Filed and sanded the bluegreen bleeds then wiped the hull down with a damp rag to get any sanding dust off it. You will notice when you put 5-6-8 coats of paint on something it will have a thickness. IF I had painted all the hull blue then masked to do the red, the red paint layers would create a lip or raised edge above the blue paint. by doing it this way I 'should' be able to get 'most' of the red and blue paint to be flush to each other along the seam of the 2 colors. Won't be exact or perfect but should eliminate most of that paint lip. Mixed the paint the same here 1 to 1 and painted the same way. Away from the tape, thin not letting paint to pool up or get runnies. 1st Coat As you can see red does not 'cover' well. Light colors like white, red, yellow, pink, light green and so on don't cover well. Meaning any colors ( even wood) shows through coats. So it generally takes more coats. You can reduce the number of coats by starting with an intermediary color, grey or medium green shade. I have a green but it's too light a shade, would not have helped. 2nd Coat One problem with masking is tape on inside corners... Masking tends to peel away. So you have to stay on it pushing it back down, Paint away from the tape, don't let paint pool along the tape edge hold the model so paint doesn't flow towards the tape edge while you are painting, and then set the model so when the coat dries no paint will flow towards the tape masking. I still expect a little bleed along that inside corner, but I'll do what I can to keep it to a minimum. 3rd Coat Starting to get coverage now. Don't get tempted to work thicker on the paint if its slow to cover. It will eventualy. Watch the coverage rate between coats. When you see less coverage effect on a coat then you know your about done. Another tip. when you brush paint, keep the same length of strokes on every stroke. Along the edges you may make short strokes but then you get on them long 'straight away' areas so you tend to want to take long strokes, but don't. You make the paint coats in those areas thinner then the rest making an uneven coat.

Looking very good. I will give you a heads up ( well ahead of time ) that when you get to sanding and shaping you will need to thin down the 1st planking around the stern end where the keel and stern post will later attach as it will all be too wide and won't sit flush with those parts. I'd take those 2 parts out and measure them and keep it in the back of your mind when your shaping. And you will have to also compensate for the 2nd planking thickness when thinning as well. I didn't do this on mine and when sanding it to get it close I got the the 2nd planking so thin I could see through it in spots to the 1st planking.

4th coat 5th coat. work on the cream color next.

Painting continues. Paint is the same ratio mix of 1 to 1. Same as before a fast thin coat on all the surfaces I want bluegreen but don't want any runnys or pooling. 2nd coat. 3rd coat. I'll let that sit and dry before a 4th coat and mabey a 5th. Should get results that give a nice covering but yet let the wood come through. So it was important to get all that sanding and filling done. ( curve on the transom will be cream, so only needed the 1st coat on there for now to prime it) shouldn't need any sanding since working thin, unless you didn't get the surfaces clean of dust ( damp rag), your not cleaning your brush as you paint ( keep water and a wet rag handy), your over working the paint causing the surface to shred, paint on the surface of your paint bottle/can/tray or in your brush is starting to dry and then it shreds to tiny bits all over your pant job, or your paint is old and will no longer mix properly. (mine is old so I get tiny artifacts in the paint. wipe off right then and there and clean the brush then continue on.

A.18 Channel Supports Be sure to get these lined up on your masts. If your mast holes are in the right location and your stanchions are too, your fore Channel supports should line up on the aft direction side 4th stanchion making a line across the deck which should cross the top of the mast hole. The aft Channel Supports should end up flush to the opening of the last scupper, also forming a line across the deck meeting at the front of the mast hole. File the back sides of these to fit the curvature of the bulwork and they should butt up against the bottom edge of the top fender. End A.18 Sand sand sand till smooth. Clean off with a brush, can of air then wipe down with a lightly damp rag to take remaining dust off the hull. Marking the water line. Since how I'll be painting the hull with thin coats I will need the waterline marked now as below the waterline will be painted red and above will be the bluegreen, I can't let too much of the bluegreen on the lower half. Red washes does not cover well. I use my ship in a bottle stand to clamp a pencil, measure the hight needed off the plans and compair that to marks I'll put on the bow and stern for the waterline. Set my ship level and run my pencil marker along the hull. Take time at this as the pencil can get out of line and the curvature of the hull can make marking some spots more difficult. mark both sides and check for symmetry. Adjust the lines as needed. I'll tape off below the waterline first to paint the top half bluegreen. Then mix up some paint 1 to 1 paint water. It will be runny. Brushing AWAY from the tape I just want to get some on the surfaces, not worried about coverage or the surface showing through. Think of like putting on a stain. Don't want it to run or pool up, just enough to get on all the surfaces. This will soak into the wood to give me a base coat and also basicly prime it for painting. Also not worried about my cream color as I sanded that too and will get repainted, just don't want any runny or pooling paint. Keep it light.

Making a mess of things and drilling holes today. Really banging up the bulwork and gunwail finish but that's ok, going to strip them now anyways. First I mounted the bottom bumpers. Needed to superglue them in as nothing to get a clamp on to hold them down, so just had to glue a bit and hold and then progress down each piece that way. I had already bent them so it made it easier. They had to follow the seam between the bulworks and the 2nd planking. They were suppose to fit up along the bottom edge of the cut water reinforcements but that didn't work out so well, guess you are suppose to install the bottom fender and the reinforcements at the same time so you can adjust for proper fit without gaps but since I bounced around I had a big gap that I'll have to fill. End Section A.17 Section A.15 Bowsprit hole Marked the drill spot and dug out a notch in the bow so the drill bit doesn't slip out of place. Wrapped the drill bit in tape so it won't dig into the bow stem as I drill. (can see how much I had to fill with wood filler between the bottom fender and cut water reinforcement) Drilled a pilot hole then followed that up with a 5mm diameter drill bit. Finished the hole with a round mini file, kept test fitting the bowsprit till i got it to fit. The bow sprite should sit flush along the top of the bow stem. Didn't want to make too big of a hole but enough it could go in straight and have a little wiggle room for adjustments when put in place later on. Trimmed the excess around the hole inside and out with a hobby knife. End Section A.15 Section A.14 Rudder Hole Marked the center point to drill the rudder hole. Important point is you have to compensate for the gap that will be made by the rudder hinges so the rudder hole cannot be flush to the rudder post when you are done. Pre started the hole with my hobby knife then using a small drill bit for a pilot hole. Needed to use a drill bit extension else the rudder post gets in the way of drill and you can't maintain being parallel to it. Before you widen the hole I recommend you check the diameter of the brass ferrule that goes in the hole. Mine was only 6mm diameter so an 8mm hole as the instructions say to make would be too big. I used a mini round file, keeping parallel to the rudder post and filed the hole bigger until the ferrule fit. should end up with a gap of 1mm to 1.5 mm between the rudder post and ferrule. (but with the way this has been going probably still won't fit) Not going to glue the ferrule in until after I do the finish work. End Section A.14 Jump to C.1.4 Anchor eye hole protectors. The directions and illustrations aren't very clear on measurements to where these get placed. So with a little extrapolating from the illustrations and the box cover I mark some guide lines on the cut water reinforcement. From these it 'looks' to me like they fall along the line from the top fender to the top of the bow stem and the outside of the hole lines up with the beginning of the curvature in the cut water reinforcement. They look about right to me, so I drill pilot holes, making sure I stay perpendicular to the surface of the reinforcement. Then I file them out and keep test fitting the eye-hole piece. ( not pushed all the way in, don't want to fight getting it back out) All this drilling and filing in the bow even when careful has cause the brittle plywood of the bulworks to come apart on the inside, so that will have to be fixed as well. This should leave me at installing the channel supports. Then work on sanding and all the finishing/refinish then the rudder.

masts rat lines and even yards should be fine while you also tackle the hull parts. I'd be more worried with the standing and running rigging getting in the way of deck work. model expo should have deck parts your missing like cannon balls http://www.modelexpo-online.com/page.asp?lp=8008 and rigging parts http://www.modelexpo-online.com/page.asp?lp=8010 as for the hatch cover, since not sure of the ship "I" would maybe make one to match the other covers, but a grating would not be out of place either and might be easier. I was thinking about your restoration and what it means. Looking at the work that was done on the ship it showed how much your husband loved to do the hobby, and allot of him is in that ship. His time, thoughts, patience and skill. Every part and line was a part of him. Now your working on it, sharing a part of him but at the same time putting a part of yourself into every part of the ship. So by the time you are finished restoring it both of you will be together in that ship, and it can be passed on. Very cool

Nice build so far, I like the chest. Have to remember to do rope handles if I ever do a ship with a chest. fairing, as I've read in different books, should follow the natural lay of the planking. It's part of the use of placing batons, to get a 'feel' for the planking lay.

Hi betty glad to see you got a log started. For replacement parts I'd take some measurements of what you do have ( cannon balls, belaying pins and so on) in millimeters as then forum members can then point you in a direction where to find matching replacements. May need a caliper for the small parts if you don't have one. The measurements will also help the forum members help you determine the ships scale for any future things you may need to replace or make. personally I'd wait on re installing masts until you have finished anything on the hull needing your attention, ( fixes repairs cleaning finish touch ups so on ). Once you start on that rigging you won't want to be reaching in to do repairs on the deck and hull. There are far better qualified people on this forum to give you such advice though with many years experience both building and repairing/restoring (I'm also new to this ) but I can tell you this, it takes time, lots of it. Reading, study and then thinking things through before you work on each and every piece. One bit of advice that is told to everyone that starts here 'treat every part as its own separate model'.

This morning I shaped and put in the stern post. With all the planking on the transom area had to cut a notch in it to fit vs trying to sand down all them thick planks and making the transom weak. you can see I marked the keel where I would cut it off to make it flush with the stern post. You can also see that it's just this stern corner of the keel and stern post where the planking doesn't fit right to the keel. The rest of the keel it fits rather nicely. Is a small gap at the top of the stern post which I will fix with a little filler. This work has been doing a number on the finish and paint of the bulworks and gunwails, again, even with some varnish on it. So while I'm sanding the planking and keel, the gunwails and bulworks will get sanded for refinishing again as well. The bow is another matter, looks like over the night the rubber band tension must have been enough to make it 'slide' just enough to leave a small gap in between the bow stem and keel. Also made the distance from the gunwail down to the bow stem less that I need ( to have room for the bowsprit), so I'll have to fill the gap and trim the top of the bow stem. Also will have to do some trimming and shaping of the bottom of the bow stem to fall in line with the rest of the keel line. After filing and sanding I take some angle measurements off the plans for the bowsprit and compare that to the top of the bow stem so I don't get too much of an angle on the bowsprit when it gets installed later. Just ended up needing some minor filing to get it to a good angle. Also started on pre-bending the bottom fenders. Like the hull planking, I think for the most part the keel is done except more refinement on filing and sanding and then fixing where the planking meets the corner of the keel and stern post, so I'm calling this section done. End Section A.11 Only have a few construction parts left for Section A. Drill out holes for the Rudder, Bowsprit put in channel supports and bottom bumper and then install the rudder. The rest should be sanding filing and then finish work. May be a good idea to drill out the holes for the for the anchor ropes ( C.1.4) while I'm drilling other holes to get them out of the way as well.

If in doubt, make a test piece out of some scrap planking, finish it how you are planning lacquer sanding and so on, then test different glues on other scrap pieces of the same material as the parts you will glue on later. I did this with several different glues so I could find the ones that would work for me. Ships is looking sharp too

Some more work done today. I know I didn't follow any planking method on this, I'm painting the hull and I'd rather spend the focused hull work time on a hull that I will just stain or varnish when all the wood work will be visible. So with this one its more about getting a smooth hull. Basically the work was the same as the first planking except I tried to get less pieces and more full strakes in. That and these planks were much nicer to work with as they didn't need any pre-bending. Surprised that being nearly 30 years old they were very flexible. Did one sanding and some filing around the stern to get the transom planking to start blending to the hull planks. Except for more sanding ( which will be an on going part) that should end section A.10 Afraid the planks were more flexible than me. The accident that everyone usually has once every model, where you catch your breath for that split second and... ....hope it didn't cut anything off on its way down. Section A.11 After picking the knife back up, getting a soda and a smoke ( or two) continued on by sanding down the planks along the bottom edge of the false keel. Instructions say to plane towards the point but that would put an edge on it like the bow and a big stick for the keel won't fit on the keel right. instead I planed, filed and sanded it flush. Then took the bow stem, sized it which mine didn't need any cutting shorter, just notch out for the Cut water reinforcements then V channeled the inner surface and a few filing and sanding tweaks to get it to fit. I decided to V notch it instead of planing the bow. I sand down the Keel piece file the surface that will butt up against the Bow Stem, then glue and clamp/rubber band it all down. I'll put in the stern post after this has thoroughly dried. (want that bow stem to fit on good) Also did a little more on the cabins. While the side walls and the roof top will be planked, the side and bottom surfaces of the roof are bare. So decided to paint them the cream color. With just varnishing the planking, that should help the wood finish stand out more. Also started on the door planking.

As Keith said so far its looks like your doing well at it. Way better than my planking job.

More work on the planking today. Did another strake on the upper hull and the first on the lower hull in the first picture. Alternating overlap of the planks at the bow instead of trying to miter them in. by now my fingers are getting sore from handling the bent pin clamps. Also added in the cabin frame supports then marked the center lines for the supports and the cabin roofs so I could center them correctly as the roofs have an overhang. Tacked them with super glue down the center line then clamped them along the outside corners and sides and glued the seams with thinned wood glue. Made a blueberry pie, so good time for a pie break.