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I almost bought the Val that was available from the recent estate sale at Paper Modelers, but it's a bit large for my display options.

And off we go again! I still have USS England on hold for the moment while I look into to getting some after-market parts, so for now I have decided to go with the hot hand and take on another airplane project. This time I will be tackling Halinski's Messerschmitt Bf-109E-4, a 2007 issue depicting the mount of Walter Oesau of JG 51 in 1940. I chose this kit for several reasons:
I feel like I need a contemporary for my recent Spitfire Mk Vb. The Emils had largely been replaced by the Bf-109F in Luftwaffe service by the time the Mk V came into service, but close enough. Believe it or not, I don't have a single Luftwaffe plane in my finished collection as of yet, nor even a Luftstreitskraefte mount. It shouldn't take too long to build. It's a Halinski -- 'nuff said. But it's also not hugely complex by Halinski standards. It's small, so unlike the Hellcat, it will fit on one of my shelves.  
Okay, on to the kit! Halinski kit covers always feature artwork of the kit subject in action. Sometimes the subject is shown in an interesting flight attitude. This is one such kit.
 

 
The kit features Halinski's usual high-quality graphics, including realistic weathering.
 

 

 
An unusual feature of some Halinski kits is that some parts are printed on the inside back cover.
 

 
Plenty of CAD diagrams are included.
 

 
And to round things out, I have the laser-cut frames (two frets) and molded canopy (but not the resin wheels).
 

 
So, first thing to do will be to seal the parts sheets and rummage through my paints to see if I can find some edge colors, otherwise it'll be off to Hobby Lobby tomorrow. Look for first cuts soon!

And off we go again! I still have USS England on hold for the moment while I look into to getting some after-market parts, so for now I have decided to go with the hot hand and take on another airplane project. This time I will be tackling Halinski's Messerschmitt Bf-109E-4, a 2007 issue depicting the mount of Walter Oesau of JG 51 in 1940. I chose this kit for several reasons:
I feel like I need a contemporary for my recent Spitfire Mk Vb. The Emils had largely been replaced by the Bf-109F in Luftwaffe service by the time the Mk V came into service, but close enough. Believe it or not, I don't have a single Luftwaffe plane in my finished collection as of yet, nor even a Luftstreitskraefte mount. It shouldn't take too long to build. It's a Halinski -- 'nuff said. But it's also not hugely complex by Halinski standards. It's small, so unlike the Hellcat, it will fit on one of my shelves.  
Okay, on to the kit! Halinski kit covers always feature artwork of the kit subject in action. Sometimes the subject is shown in an interesting flight attitude. This is one such kit.
 

 
The kit features Halinski's usual high-quality graphics, including realistic weathering.
 

 

 
An unusual feature of some Halinski kits is that some parts are printed on the inside back cover.
 

 
Plenty of CAD diagrams are included.
 

 
And to round things out, I have the laser-cut frames (two frets) and molded canopy (but not the resin wheels).
 

 
So, first thing to do will be to seal the parts sheets and rummage through my paints to see if I can find some edge colors, otherwise it'll be off to Hobby Lobby tomorrow. Look for first cuts soon!

And off we go again! I still have USS England on hold for the moment while I look into to getting some after-market parts, so for now I have decided to go with the hot hand and take on another airplane project. This time I will be tackling Halinski's Messerschmitt Bf-109E-4, a 2007 issue depicting the mount of Walter Oesau of JG 51 in 1940. I chose this kit for several reasons:
I feel like I need a contemporary for my recent Spitfire Mk Vb. The Emils had largely been replaced by the Bf-109F in Luftwaffe service by the time the Mk V came into service, but close enough. Believe it or not, I don't have a single Luftwaffe plane in my finished collection as of yet, nor even a Luftstreitskraefte mount. It shouldn't take too long to build. It's a Halinski -- 'nuff said. But it's also not hugely complex by Halinski standards. It's small, so unlike the Hellcat, it will fit on one of my shelves.  
Okay, on to the kit! Halinski kit covers always feature artwork of the kit subject in action. Sometimes the subject is shown in an interesting flight attitude. This is one such kit.
 

 
The kit features Halinski's usual high-quality graphics, including realistic weathering.
 

 

 
An unusual feature of some Halinski kits is that some parts are printed on the inside back cover.
 

 
Plenty of CAD diagrams are included.
 

 
And to round things out, I have the laser-cut frames (two frets) and molded canopy (but not the resin wheels).
 

 
So, first thing to do will be to seal the parts sheets and rummage through my paints to see if I can find some edge colors, otherwise it'll be off to Hobby Lobby tomorrow. Look for first cuts soon!

Aww, what an adorable helper!

I almost bought the Val that was available from the recent estate sale at Paper Modelers, but it's a bit large for my display options.

Different kit philosophies appeal to different modelers. I admire those who enjoy spiling and are good at it. I have accomplished the feat myself, but I don't particularly enjoy it. I have built a kit from Master Korabel that had pre-spiled planking, and I enjoyed that build very much. As I always say, some people just enjoy putting things together (without having to manufacture all of the parts in addition). I like to build card models; it involves not only assembling, but also cutting out and shaping hundreds, sometimes thousands, of printed parts. It's not a process that appeals to everyone. Fortunately, our hobby has plenty of room for modelers of all types.

Aww, what an adorable helper!

Tornado GR.1 and the D3A1 Val.  I’m partial to prop planes, but the Tornado lends itself to card modeling nicely.

Nice! She looks very stately out on the water.

Different kit philosophies appeal to different modelers. I admire those who enjoy spiling and are good at it. I have accomplished the feat myself, but I don't particularly enjoy it. I have built a kit from Master Korabel that had pre-spiled planking, and I enjoyed that build very much. As I always say, some people just enjoy putting things together (without having to manufacture all of the parts in addition). I like to build card models; it involves not only assembling, but also cutting out and shaping hundreds, sometimes thousands, of printed parts. It's not a process that appeals to everyone. Fortunately, our hobby has plenty of room for modelers of all types.

Aww, what an adorable helper!

Aww, what an adorable helper!

Today I had a big productive workshop plan. Then this arrived and insisted on helping.

She said that she needed to do her work so we did a bit of nailing practice (see hammer and wood block). Then we learned masking taping before progressing on to drawing boats. I have high hopes that she is destined to become a ship modeller. Needless to say I didn't get much done.

Beautiful model without reservations.
Cheers,
Dan

The Big Reveal!
 
The Lewis gun took about three hours to build, but now she is all done. I really enjoyed this build -- quite refreshing after the struggles with the GPM Hellcat. I can't recommend the Kartonowa Kolekcja kits highly enough -- try one! Now, enjoy the pictures!
 
First, the Lewis gun. The Allies didn't have synchronization gear at this point in the war, so the Lewis gun was mounted to fire above the propeller arc.
 

 
And now for the glamour shots!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 
 

 

 
And lastly, a family photo of the two KK kits together, the Nieuport and the DH.82A.
 

 
Thanks for looking in!

Welcome aboard!
 
Cutters make excellent first kits, and many kit manufacturers offer one. You can use our search feature to find these at MSW to get lots of visual hints. Besides Lady Nelson, look for Alert (Vanguard Models), Sherbourne (Caldercraft), Hunter (Mamoli), and Le Cerf (Dusek). As for second kits, assuming you complete Lady Nelson you will have acquired the skills needed to tackle a wide variety of available kits. You could shoot for something a step up in complexity, such as an armed schooner or brig. Mainly you'll need to watch out for something that will keep you engaged during a lengthy building process.
 
Cheers!

Well, I corrected the mast, more or less, by using a cut-off disc in a moto tool just below the crows nest and rotating 180 deg.  A short piece of the 3mm brass tube was just right as a splint inside the 4mm mast.
 
Everything is now done, except for the railings and the fore and aft flag stanchions.  Pictures attached.  I experimented with some green EZ line for one section of the antennas.  I liked how the stretchiness made the lines tight, but not so powerful a pull as to risk pulling something out they were attached to.  I was reluctant to use the EZ line throughout because the instructions state it's subject to degradation from UV light.  Time will tell.  I had some of the fine "green" line (which is advertised to be "corroded copper").  If I had been buying it, I would have used the black.  I'd prefer a thickness between the "fine" and "thick", but I suspect that the fine is actually "to scale".  Also, I tried using 30 ga brass wire for the four sets of horizontal antennas and soldered the ends to the brass spreaders.  I like the look of them.

Hey guys. Bet you had thought I had disappeared. Nope ... I did have some trouble with my motivation for quite some time because that coppering was very difficult for me. Then I fund soimething even more frustrating with the rudder. I am NOT a fan of CA glue because it dries white. Last time I posted I mentioned I had lost the brass for the pintles and gudgeons. Model Shipways was kind enough to send me 2 more pieces at no charge so I finally got to move on. The first pintle was easy. I bent the brass around a drill shank and shaped it with pliers. Then I soldered a steel length of wire into the hole. The second one was a bit worse and the third was horrendous. Most people get better with practice ... I guess I forgot to read that memo. Attaching them to the rudder was OK but I should have used something other than CA. The gudgeons were another story. Getting the round receptacles for the shaft/pins in the right place was very difficult. And the rudder was only tenuously in place so I tried more CA to firm it up. It doesn't need to rotate anyway. More globs of residue. Overall it took me several weeks. I did the best I could but the CA left a lot of residue and that ruined the copper and the brass. I tried to paint them with approximate colors but it looks horrible. However after spending so much time on it and not really wanting to tear everything apart down to the bare hull again, I decided to leave it. This is, after all my first try at a wooden ship so I can't expect it to be all that great anyway. I can cover the white CA with paint which will help some but it's a pretty poor job overall. The copper is going to be a bit tricky.
 

Then came the rest of the stern.  In gluing the top arch I managed to break it in several places and there were gaps after I glued it down. So I decided to fill the gaps with putty and sand them smooth. That didn't look too good as bare wood so I decided to paint it black. That let the ornaments stand out better anyway as they were painted yellow ochre. Oddly enough I didn't have much trouble getting the ship name on there but the CA again left all sorts of light residue.
 

So there is where I am. Yesterday I went in to start the two sheaves and rings behind he false estate sidings and managed to break every single drill bit I had that was close to the right size forcing me ot have to order more. So now I wait another day or two. Sigh. But on the bright side I am still making a little headway even though it is in fits and starts. I don't quit easily though so I am plugging onward.
 
Thanks for looking in spite of there being nothing of much worth in the build so far. However, I am going to try to get better with practice (at least that is the plan) so you should see some improvement over the next couple years.
 
Ken

Welcome aboard!
 
Cutters make excellent first kits, and many kit manufacturers offer one. You can use our search feature to find these at MSW to get lots of visual hints. Besides Lady Nelson, look for Alert (Vanguard Models), Sherbourne (Caldercraft), Hunter (Mamoli), and Le Cerf (Dusek). As for second kits, assuming you complete Lady Nelson you will have acquired the skills needed to tackle a wide variety of available kits. You could shoot for something a step up in complexity, such as an armed schooner or brig. Mainly you'll need to watch out for something that will keep you engaged during a lengthy building process.
 
Cheers!

Welcome aboard!
 
Cutters make excellent first kits, and many kit manufacturers offer one. You can use our search feature to find these at MSW to get lots of visual hints. Besides Lady Nelson, look for Alert (Vanguard Models), Sherbourne (Caldercraft), Hunter (Mamoli), and Le Cerf (Dusek). As for second kits, assuming you complete Lady Nelson you will have acquired the skills needed to tackle a wide variety of available kits. You could shoot for something a step up in complexity, such as an armed schooner or brig. Mainly you'll need to watch out for something that will keep you engaged during a lengthy building process.
 
Cheers!

Keel and stem post fitted and left to dry. 

During glue drying periods I’ve been busy with some of the deck furniture. 
 
Much easier to build companionway than on Nisha. Tiny but easy to build capstan. Plus the fish hatches and grating to go above the well. 

 
 

So things are coming along, but I have resigned myself to the fact that I will need to paint, putty, and touch up the hull as well as several other tiny spots.  One of the hull panels didn't fit so well and required trimming.  As I move forwards from the stern, however, the panels do fit better.  The one thing that makes me less hesitant this time to do touch up is if I match the colors well, my new airbrush should allow me to add very tiny streams with low flow and blend into the paper look.
 

In the continued fairing process and double checking with template cutouts prior to port hole structural member installation I find I have yet another self inflicted "wound"! I thought I heeded the warning regarding getting the transom postioned correctly as a major factor to get the quarter galleys to come out correctly. But I found the transom angle incorrect after building the simple angle guage. I judged it was not "tweakable".
 
In thinking back I had used my adjustable digital angle guage prior and I can only speculate that the set angle changed from  setup.  To my dismay I found the transom angle too far off when compaerd to the guage shown. I can trace back some of the creep to my early attempts of fiddling with bulkhead #27 slot depth. It was not much but just enough to give me a cant too sharp to the vertical.
 
Progress came to a scheering halt last eve.
 
This morning I realized there was no opportunity to finesse the error. So off came the transom framing againt bulkhead #29! Now I am faced with the task of how I am to fix this problem. So with Jimmy Buffet's lyric ringing in my head ("Some people claim it's a woman to blame. But I know it's my own damn fault") I have looked at alternatives. None seem to pop at the moment.
 
1. Start all over again from the skeleton forward. Problem I see is that the framing kit is not even offered on the Syren web site at this time
2. Hat in hand go back and buy Chapter #1 kit for the 3rd time (I just sent it back and got a refund). It includes all the transom parts. How can I do that????
3. Remake bulkhead #27 through #29 and transom components by hand. Cut out those bulkheads and start again. All need to be cut extremely accurately and identically, especially  in the slot areas.
 
So I will let this "cook" for a day or two and proceed.
 
Maybe after sipping a couple of those margaritas it will come to me.
 
Joe