ccoyle

Sadly, it doesn't take a whole lot of manhandling to make it quite a bit less rigid!

Hi, names John, I live in Colorado. Been into modeling most of my life. Plastic stuff. Found Slot Cars, now I have an 85 foot Digital track in the man cave. Always have loved the old wooden ships, and the models of them. Decided I might like to try my hand at building one or ten.
 
Im a total noob at wooden ship modeling and miniature woodworking 

Full set of various bitts and cleats added, as well as samson post, bowsprit, hawse rims, rudder.
 
The hull and the base were sprayed with matt Lord Nelson lacquer for wooden ship models. Via this I dimmed the glossy look of the danish oil that I have found somewhat disturbing. This shall be the final outer look of her.
 
Well, this is the current status of the project. Lot of work still to do. I still must recall, whether I did not omitted something, that would be problematic to add. Hopefully not  🤔 (yes, I had to make the completely new bowsprit. In the first version I forgot to keep the square profile at the samson post and later totally screwed the piece by foolish varnishing attempt - happens).
 
The project progress I have presented so far covers the whole year of activity. Not too much I know, and from now on the build log will be written in 'real-time' manner, thus even slower. Never mind, I believe it will eventually be finished also with the help from the community here. See you then.
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

Here you see I have also attached those noble trailboards. In the kit, they are provided as metal castings. I was planning to replace them with the wood pieces (In general, I am not so impressed with metal castings from the kit). Trailboards in my case were not of the same thickness, neither length - aft protruding parts on one of them looked like not casted fully. But I abandoned this plan - to replicate faithfully nicely done decoration would be above my skills. Here I came back to plastic modelling world, took some Tamiya spray cans and AK weathering pencils.
 

 

 
 

I got my sails back yesterday, so I was able to finish this project today.
 

 
I cut corners off a small piece of wood to make the cleats in the mast, stained them, then masked and painted the tops. Also masked and painted the rudder, and attached it to the transom.
 

 
Weaved the sails onto the yards and rigged them to the masts.
 

 
Used extra belaying pins as oar locks, and this model is complete!

Well, I believe that I have achieved a point in this build that I can declare the model "finished". I can now focus on the base/diorama/case. I am generally satisfied with it. As with all the previous models however, I tend to zoom in on the areas that make me wonder if I could have done better! Visitors to my workshop assure me that it is "perfect" and they are amazed that such a creation by the likes of me is just short of miraculous! (this doesn't always quell my doubts however). But all in all, the overall look of the Emma is pleasing. So since the last posting, I rigged all the blocks and belayed them. Added the shrouds, jib stay, topmast stay and back stays. Attached the sheer bars and running lights to the shrouds. Then I  added some rope coils here and  there. I'm sure I will add a few more "do-dads" to the deck for some interest before closing up the case. I apologize in advance for the poor quality of the photos. My phone camera is sub-par to say the least. 

Don't need building skills to become a "collector" Chris. In fact building it is the last thing you want to do normally. You do need the money, and the ability to wait for what could be a while though.

The hull fully treated with danish oil
 

 

 

Yikes. This is one reason why I stick to card models. 😬

Don't get me wrong -- if I had the skills and the $$$, I'd be all over it ... but I have neither. 😆

Don't get me wrong -- if I had the skills and the $$$, I'd be all over it ... but I have neither. 😆

I have a soft spot for the Tribals ever since I built Revell's old Ark Royal + Ashanti combo way, waaaaay back in the day!

I agree. Each method of construction has its own particular learning curve. I started with POB and have attempted two solid hulls, neither of which I was entirely happy with (never finished either model). One of our members, Chuck Passaro, has written a couple of practicums based on Model Shipways solid-hull kits -- here's a link to the one based on Sultana. You might find some useful tips in there.
 
Over the years, a couple of MSW members have finished Smuggler. It makes a very handsome finished model, so I hope you will press on through the difficult patches.
 
Cheers!

The only deck beams glued in are above the bulkheads all the rest are temporarily inserted. Still having photo rotation issues with various photos trying to figure it out.

Thanks, Tony and Pat. And thanks everybody for the likes.
 
Pat, I wouldn't be too worried about the speed with quality like yours. And the time you take to do the research to get it right. Amazing that such a (relatively) recent ship as Victoria, built in the days of photography and printed manuals should be so hard to get correct information on. But she was a bit of a trailblazer, and not enough people were taking photos or writing stuff down.
 
Tony, I've seen your very informed comments on other people's builds, but haven't seen your own log. Am I missing something?
 
Anyhow, I do seem to be on a bit of a roll, which is nice. Earlier, particularly during the planking, it seemed as if I wasn't getting anywhere fast. So this makes a nice change.
 
I've added intermediate frames in line with the mast step, to make a pozzie for the knees. Eventually there will be intermediate frames between every pair of frames you see here.
 

 
 
 
And here are all the knees in position.
 

 

 

 
The only problem is that I was planning to have some of the removable planks above the hold removed, so some of the cargo would be visible, but the mast step assembly is so pretty I really don't want to cover it up as in the Ijsselcog's archaeological report (referenced above)
 
"In the area around the mast step the remains of a removable or false ceiling was found. It consisted of longitudinal timbers, placed on the first and second ceiling strakes and covered with loose planks and dunnage (Fig. 16). Salix twigs, branches, and straw were abundant across the whole width of the false ceiling.
This construction would have kept the cargo dry by separating it from accumulating bilge-water and, at the same time, covering the open space between the floortimbers. The false ceiling and the remains of what were probably shifting-boards in the rear of the ship are indicators for the internal layout of cargo space. It is plausible that the cog was able to carry a load of casks amidships for which a dry, horizontal, upper cargo deck was reserved. The shifting-boards in the rear could have contained sacks of merchandise, such as grain."
 
and the reconstruction drawing in my post #173. I'll have to think about it a bit and decide which way I want to go.
 
[Edit - But looking again at that drawing, are they perhaps showing that the layer of planking, branches etc isn't over the mast step assembly - at least not over the knees I took so much trouble about? Hard to be sure, but it would help a lot if that were so.[/Edit]
 
Starting on the frames for the pointy bit at the stern.
 

 
And here's where the wood with the forked grain from an earlier post comes in handy.
 
    
 
    
 
 
    
 

 
Now I need to make and put in the breast hook and the beam clamps and deck beams for the after deck.
 
Coming along . . .
 
To be honest it's been very hard resisting the temptation to make the castles, but I found out the hard way with my dromon that it's a bad idea to make something before you know the space it has to fit in and the other things it has to fit around. All in good time.
 
Steven
 
 

More framing - and the last through beam and beam clamps made.
 

 

 
Got the final through-beam in place and the beam clamps glued in.
 

 

 

 

 
Steven

Hull planking done. I have also simulated tree nailing with drilling the small holes and filling them with light wood filler. Next time I may try to use toothpick ends. Still acceptable, Tree nails are there, just barely visible as they should be in scale I hope.
 

 
The same approach applied for deck...
 

 
 
...and done!
 

Here the parts are already attached and I have started the deck planking job itself. According to plans and Chapelle, main deck has straight planks with nibbed ends, quarter deck featured planks following the bulwarks curvature.
 

 

 

I started to think about the deck planking. Following the plans but also Chapelle's "American fishing schooners" book I knew I would try to do deck plank nibbing  (I only hope I use correct English terms). Being warned by my disaster earlier, this time I tried totally different approach. Instead of cutting the already glued deck planks, I have prepared the considered deck part first. It looked quite good and actually, this is the first part of the model that has got its final outer appearance.
 

OK, let's go. Here I started the bulwarks attachment. All the time thinking: Would it hold? Would it be strong enough? The attachment surface is very narrow, only the edge of the plank actually, 1mm. Yet the curvature, at least fore, should help.
 

 

Thank you Chris. Indeed I pressed on and here is what I have done: 
After few days of pure depression from the project, I realized, that if restart should happen, something must be done with bulwarks. As said earlier, they went pretty bad. Also opening the scuppers as suggested by instructions had, well, raised my eyebrows. So, I have removed pre-carved bulwarks completely.
 

 

 
I made new inner bulwarks from planking strips (I really wonder what type of wood this is, has been in my stock for a long while). Also, before attaching them to the hull, the scuppers were made using a small square file. The only thing I was worried was how strong would such a structure be...
 

 
 

Don't get me wrong -- if I had the skills and the $$$, I'd be all over it ... but I have neither. 😆

It was definitely an off-white.....
 
Panzer I...

Panzer III...

Panther...

Tiger I....

Now some of those might be postwar interpretation, but they look pretty genuine, (read very close) They are all museum pieces so I would say fairly accurate for the most part....
 

Yikes. This is one reason why I stick to card models. 😬

Decking completed