ccoyle

Hi all. I've done a little bit more work on Mystic's tiny hull. The work includes adding the internal ribs. On the outside of the hull, I've added additional planks at the bow and shaped them into the a nice flare. The hull's certainly a lot more shapely now. Lastly, I've added the rubbing strakes onto the external hull above the waterline and a bilge stringer under the waterline.
 
Still a lot more work to go, but, it should be lots of fun.
 
All the best.

Wow, you really went through the wringer!  I'm glad to hear you are recovering.  Any time a model gets damaged, or parts get lost, or whatever the nature of the mishap, it is a good idea to sit back and take stock.  Soon enough you'll know for yourself whether the project can move forward.  I recently started a card airplane model - got as far as completing the left wing.  The wing did not turn out well enough for my personal standards.  After staring at it for about two weeks, I realized I would never be happy with the wing in its current state, and I didn't have the will to re-do it, especially since I wasn't super-enthused about the model in the first place.  So, that model's off to the side and my work space is awaiting the next project.  All that to say, go for the continued build if you like, but don't feel compelled to finish it just for the sake of finishing.  It's a hobby - build what moves you!

Congratulations on finishing your project!  She is a real looker, and I love the side-by-side photos with Badger.
 
Cheers!

OK, now for the main event
 
. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
So there we go, all done. I hope those who followed enjoyed the journey and I thank you again for your help and support.
 
See you all in the next log I hope, that will be opened on Saturday. For those that don't already know it's the 1/48 scale Bomb Vessel Granado cross section. This is a scratch build so I'm venturing into dark and unknown side of this hobby, not on my own I might add, Grant and Jack Panzeca will be taking the journey with me, should be fun.
 
So for now I'll say adios amigo's, see you soon.
 
Be Good
 
mobbsie

As promised gents here is my latest update.
 
SHE IS FINISHED, well to be truthful she has been for the last two weeks but I have been waiting for the display case to arrive, no luck yet so I'll post without the case and base.
 
I want to thank everybody who has followed this build and those who pressed the like button, to get 75,500+ hits has really taken me back and I thank you all for the support, help comments and advice, there has been plenty along the way and it's all been good.
 
This will be last big build for a couple of reasons, the first being space, I don't have enough space at home to display them properly, the museum has taken the smaller ships but it still leaves me with a problem, secondly is the repetitive work that these big ships require, there's a huge amount of planking, plating, gun making and gun rigging and so it goes on, so from now on it's only small stuff.
 
Hopefully this will be a one time only event, but I have a few shots of my first build, HM Brig Badger alongside Agamemnon, both are 1/64 scale and the difference is really surprising. Badger took me 4 months from start to finish and the Aggy has taken 19 1/2 months.
 
Anyway enough talk, lets see the pics, first up the two together.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I'm going to close this post and I'll open another with just the Agamemnon, I hope you enjoy these shots.
 
mobbsie
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

C.S.S. Richmond was one of the earliest Confederate ironclads, having been laid down at the Gosport Navy Yard at Norfolk, Virginia, in March 1862, immediately after the completion of the famous C.S.S. Virginia (ex-Merrimack). Richmond was designed by John Luke Porter, who would go on to serve as the Chief Naval Constructor for the Confederacy, but completed under supervision of Chief Carpenter James Meads. Richmond embodied many of the basic design elements that be used, again and again, in other casemate ironclads built across the South in the following three years.

When Union forces were on the verge of taking the Gosport Navy Yard, Richmond was hurriedly launched and towed up the James River, where she was completed at Richmond. Finally commissioned in July 1862, the ironclad served as a core element of the Confederate capital’s James River Squadron for the remainder of the war. Richmond, along with the other ironclads in the James, was destroyed to prevent her capture with the fall of her namesake city at the beginning of April 1865.

This model is based on plans of the ironclad by David Meagher, published in John M. Coski’s book, Capital Navy: The Men, Ships and Operations of the James River Squadron, with modifications based on a profile of the ship by John W. Wallis, particularly regarding the position of the ship’s funnel and pilot house. Hull lines are adapted from William E. Geoghagen’s plans for a later Porter design for an ironclad at Wilmington, that seems to have had an identical midship cross-section.

Hi Chris,
 
Funny you should mention David Okamura's models. Two modeler's I know both bought card models at the SMA's Queen Mary event way back after seeing his models on display. I've never seen his models myself, but I understand they are really nicely done.
 
Well, on the Alert, things slow down a bit as I work more on cutting small parts. The cheeks of the gun carriages take a lot of cuts to make. There are only 12 guns on this model – not so bad. I also cut the timberheads. These are really small, but I think I shaped them okay.
 
 
All these parts are listed as 1mm thick. I've found that I don't really like using 0.5mm or 1mm cardboard as it's kind of soft, so I like to use 3M spray adhesive to laminate sheets of printer paper. This seems to cut cleaner than cardboard. The paper I use is pretty thick, so two sheets of printer paper, plus the kit part sheet comes out to 0.5mm.

 
 
 
The kit parts for the gun carriage cheeks are lined up on the kit sheets very nicely, allowing me to glue up several parts at one time.

 
 
 
The parts show cut, yet to be cleaned up.

 
 
 
The cleaned up, painted parts. 

 
 
Clare

Classic motor yachts and cruisers are very classy vessels.  There should be more models of them!

Hi everyone. I've decided to build a micro-scale motor cruiser at 1:278 scale because these ships ooze olde- world charm. Just looking at these types of ships evoke images of wealthy folks cruising in luxury from a bygone era. My ship will be loosely based on the ship pictured in the plans below. I'll make my own version using my own ideas.
 
The hull consists of wooden planks formed over a waxed wooden plug. The interior will be fully detailed, as is the norm in all my models, eg Ingomar ( see my other build log).
 
Anyhow, hope you enjoy the photos and will join me on this boat's journey.

Most paper modelers are converts from some other medium, I find.  I was wooed to the Dark Side by David Okamura's models shown at meetings of the Ship Modeler's Association down in SoCal.  There are some world-class wood scratch-builders in that club, but there is something just so darn intriguing about seeing those paper wonders in the mix.  I still have HMS Fly waiting for my attention, but paper projects seem to be taking up all my modeling time these days.  I think you'll be proven not far wrong about some more card kits hitting the ways based on your NRG exhibit - a good thing, in my view!
 
Cheers!

Most paper modelers are converts from some other medium, I find.  I was wooed to the Dark Side by David Okamura's models shown at meetings of the Ship Modeler's Association down in SoCal.  There are some world-class wood scratch-builders in that club, but there is something just so darn intriguing about seeing those paper wonders in the mix.  I still have HMS Fly waiting for my attention, but paper projects seem to be taking up all my modeling time these days.  I think you'll be proven not far wrong about some more card kits hitting the ways based on your NRG exhibit - a good thing, in my view!
 
Cheers!

Using off-the-shelf fittings is, of course, a cost saving measure for the manufacturer.  I know this has been a particular point of contention between Chris Watton an Amati; Chris usually pushes for as much vessel-specific fidelity as he can for his designs, but Amati hold the purse strings, so there are limits.  Perhaps it was stated earlier, but kit builders are actually living in a Golden Era of kit manufacturing - there's a new crop of designers (Chris, Chuck, et al) with a passion for historically accurate, true-to-scale products, and Internet resources (like this forum) make it relatively easy to weed out bad designs for those interested in avoiding them.
 
Cheers!

Using off-the-shelf fittings is, of course, a cost saving measure for the manufacturer.  I know this has been a particular point of contention between Chris Watton an Amati; Chris usually pushes for as much vessel-specific fidelity as he can for his designs, but Amati hold the purse strings, so there are limits.  Perhaps it was stated earlier, but kit builders are actually living in a Golden Era of kit manufacturing - there's a new crop of designers (Chris, Chuck, et al) with a passion for historically accurate, true-to-scale products, and Internet resources (like this forum) make it relatively easy to weed out bad designs for those interested in avoiding them.
 
Cheers!

I'm afraid that if i don't correct the counter, i'll always will look at the model for the place where i went wrong.
 
And since there's not a lot of work, I'll be rebuilding the stern.
 
I put the saw into my counter and transom. 

 
I removed the excess of wood still glued on.

 
I decided to remodel the stern with the use of MDF.
 

 
I used the dremel to shape the stern according to plan. 
Checking with paper templates.
 

 
Then i glued a new transon out of ply.
 

 
And sanded flush.
 

 
Afterwards replanked the whole stern.
 

Hi all,

When I went looking for a new ship to build, I got a picture from my grandfather who looked through the window of a ship's bridge in his younger years. Unfortunately my grandfather deceased at a very young age. It seemed beautiful to build a ship where he sailed on. An uncle of mine then indicated they would like to have a model of the 49 KW, Antje in 1959. My grandfather has been a fisherman on this ship and my uncle went with him several times as a kid. I have nothing promised to him but I started to look for information.





First, I came across a book with the following information to

N.V. Viss. Me. Kennemerland
Dageraad Woubrugge Year 1959
43,96 x 7:34 x 3.54 Capacity 291 Brt

07.18.1959 trial and transfer
1969 made suitable for beam trawling
1972 TX 46 Antje eig. P v.d. Vis
Sold in 1974 to Argentina is San Lucas



Unfortunately, there was further found little information on hand to be so I'm on several facebook pages and forums calls going to do if someone had more information, pictures or drawings. Immediately there were people who wanted to help me. They often had not the requested information but they knew people who had sailed on the ship. Unfortunately, many people already deceased but I managed to find a few people out after a lot of phone calls and mail, and some also had pictures.
 


At the wharf The Dageraad


During the trial


I finally managed to get to 32 original photographs of the KW 49 and I am very happy with it. Luckily I met a man who had sailed on the VL 16, a ship that was similar to the KW 49 He had a lot of pictures for me and even in color.

The VL 16]

The TX46 (formerly KW 49)

 

If it was me, I'd go ahead and fix it, since it is a relatively small amount of wood to replace and, fortunately, easily accessible.  Annoying, yes, since you probably want to get on with things, but it boils down to whether or not you will always have some measure of regret about not fixing it if you choose to leave it as-is.
 
Regards,

I received the Micro-Mark Pro-Etch Kit and set out on the learning curve - which is rather steep to successfully make usable photo-etch parts on the first try. It took me three.

 

After ordering and waiting for delivery, I set about drawing in my drawing program the etched letters I wanted on two brass discs - one as a seal for the bottle and one on the display base. Keeping it simple, I planned to remove lettering on one side of the discs that I would later fill with paint, black letters on the brass discs. When the kit arrived I read the instruction book multiple times and identified all the tools and materials in the kit.

 

Following the instructions, I made the masks for both sides of a disc and printed them on the backside of the mask transparency film. Follow the instructions carefully. The black areas of the mask are the areas that need to be removed from the metal and this mask will be printed backwards (flipped horizontally) so that the print is on the backside of the film. After the ink is dry the two masks are perfectly aligned, print side to print side and taped together.

 



The print side of the mask transparency. The face side of the disc with reversed

lettering and the back side with interruptions in the circle so that the disc will stay

partially attached to the square of base metal. The black is what will be removed,

half-way through from both sides with most of the edge all the way through.

 

With directions in hand I cut two 2.5 inch / 64 mm squares of .005 inch /0.13 mm thick brass sheet. Before I opened the package of photo-resist film I set up a darkened work area lit by a single yellow "bug" bulb, then opened it, removed the resist and cut two squares, put them in an envelope lined with black paper, and returned the photo-resist film to its package and sealed it shut. This film hardens in UV light. I prepared a brass square by wet sanding each side of the square with a provided 3200 grit sanding pad until very shiny and so that the water sheeted across the square. I pulled one piece of the resist from the envelope, peeled off the inside cover film and, like applying a decal, attempted to lay the resist film on the wetted square, get it aligned to the edges of the square and adhered to the square without bubbles of air or water between the film and the brass. This turned out to be rather difficult and I had problems with it. On my second through fourth tries I submerged the brass square in just enough water to cover and applied the resist film through the water. (An old school decal application trick.) I did the same to the back side.

 

While doing this I had the Pro-Etch laminater plugged in and warmed up. I cut two squares of carrier sheet (card stock with one side treated so that it is glossy and smooth) slightly larger than the brass squares. I made a sandwich of the photo-resist covered brass square with the two squares of carrier, glossy side to the photo-resist and ran it through the laminater twice, flipped over and turned 90 degrees for the second pass and let it cool in a black envelope.

 

Next the cooled, laminated brass square (carrier sheets set aside) is slipped between the two masks and centered, then placed in the center of one of the Plexiglas squares provided, the other Plexiglas square placed on top and clamps applied at the four sides. All of this has been done with minimal exposure to UV light, just the yellow "bug" bulb - a suggestion in the directions.

 

Again per the instructions I exposed each side of this sandwich to full sun at local noon for 20 seconds. The UV light hardened and turned the photo-resist in the areas not masked a deep blue from its original light blue. I disassembled the sandwich and returned the brass square to a black envelope while I set up for the next step and put away what I wouldn't need right away.

 

I prepared a solution of sodium hydroxide and water per the instructions, removed the outer protective layer of the photo-resist film from both sides and submerged the brass square in this solution. This chemical reacts with the masked and un-hardened photo-resist film, softening it so that it will brush away. This is the most important part of the process, if the film is not completely removed from the areas to be chemically etched it won't etch properly. This is where I messed up in my first two tries; for the third and fourth tries I used my 2.75X Opti-Visor and inspected and brushed with the solution and inspected and rinsed and brushed some more until I was certain that every bit of resist was removed from the areas that needed to be etched. I made use of a hand held magnifying glass with the Opti-Visor to make sure every bit of un-exposed resist film was gone. 

 



The second brass disc with blue photo-resist and bright brass showing through the

areas that will be etched. I thought this was good enough but it was not. Many areas

did not etch properly, especially from the backside, due to my lack of diligence.

 

Paying close attention to the instructions, I set up the equipment for the actual photo-etching. I had to supply a rinse bucket and a smaller rinse bowl, both filled with water. I warmed the bottle of ferric chloride in hot water running from the tap before filling the etching tank. I plugged in the aerator (to circulate the etching solution) and submerged the brass square. I set a 5 minute timer.

 



Etching in process. There's a clamp on the hose to prevent the etching solution from

flowing back into the pump plus the pump is placed on two pieces of foam packaging

to raise it above the solution level.

 

After five minutes, I removed the brass square from the etching tank (turned off the aerator and pinched shut the hose clamp - the fumes must be assumed to be nasty) rinsed and re-rinsed to inspect the progress. Most of the double side etching at the edge of the disc was cut through, so I turned the brass square 180 degrees in the clamp, returned it to the solution (turned on the aerator and released the clamp) and waited three minutes. Upon inspection, it was done and I rinsed it in hot tap water before setting it aside and cleaning up.

 

Now, to see the results. I poured out just enough of the sodium hydroxide (undiluted this time) into one of the trays provided to cover the brass square. Full strength this chemical removes the photo-resist from the brass with a little help with a brush. When cleaned of the resist the brass was rinsed in hot water from the tap and set aside.

 



Here's my first try with some practice with black enamel to fill in the letters. There are

several places where the photo-resist did not adhere and laminate properly as a result

of my difficulty with getting the resist in place as directed and etching solution got into

them from an edge exposed to etching solution. I had no more problem with this using

the submerged technique of applying the photo-resist film. Many places in the lettering

have incomplete depth because I didn't get all the masked film removed the way I should

have. Micro-Mark was right when they said this was the most important step.

 



Third and fourth tries, both appear perfect. The lettering has not been filled with enamel

yet, just the result of better photographic technique learned since the photo of the first

disc. I didn't even bother stripping the second attempt since I could see that I had not

removed all the masked and un-hardened photo-resist film. The discs are 1.73 inch / 44

mm in diameter.

 

I am very pleased with the Micro-Mark Pro-Etch Kit. It has everything needed except for a yellow "bug" bulb and the two rinse buckets I provided. I bought a better pair of rubber gloves than the single use, throw away gloves supplied in the kit for my second session when I made the last two discs. I also added a small in-line on/off switch to the aerator electric cord so I would not have to crawl under my work bench to unplug it when I needed to turn it off.

 

The process does have a steep learning curve, a mistake made anywhere in the process will affect the results. READ AND STUDY THE INSTRUCTIONS and MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND EACH STEP.

 

I hope my experience helps others learn from my mistakes.

 

Dave

.. Not really "as soon" as i hoped, but  ..
Today I completed planking of the ships boat.
 

 
The next challenge: Removing the template without destroying the boat.
 
After having removed the needles from the keel it turned out that the boat (even after having used tape) was glued/stuck to the template.
So instead of using “too much” force, I removed the template gently in small chunks with a pair of pliers.
 

 
Here’s the result right after removing the template/tape.
 

 
And here after having roughly removed all unnecessary wood.
 

Hull Painting
 
I will start this off with the first product I've found that I feel I need to recommend, Tamiya Masking Tape.  Found this in my local Hobby Lobby and decided to give it a try on the hull paint since I wanted stripes.  I found this product to be flexible enough to go around slight curves and imperfections and it gave me a perfect line.  It came off easily and didn't leave any residue.  This was really obvious compared to the other product I decided to use which was graphic line tape.  The reason I decided to use this was that it was exactly the right width for the lines I wanted to create on the ship so I decided to paint the yellow for the lines in a broad line across and then cover it up with the graphic tape and remove it to create the lines.  While this worked well in testing it didn't work as well on the ship, I believe this was due to it being on the ship longer and using more paint than I did on my test.  I still worked but I had places where it pulled up the original paint as I was removing it and the lines were't always as clean as what I got using the Tamiya Tape.  Here's a picture of the Tamiya Tape and the dispenser, I was not able to decipher the Japanese instructions so I just took it out of the dispenser and cut off what I needed.
 

 
My inspiration for the color scheme came from this picture of the Lady Washington.
 

 
The picture below doesn't really show the colors correctly, especially the blue, it's more of a uniform blue, but couldn't seem to find a color correction that matched the colors.  I took an ivory paint for the hull and added a couple drops of the yellow-orange paint to get it a little more off white.
 
I've got some touch up to do, I may try to use the Tamiya Tape to clean up the lines and the orange color is a bit splotchy but I think this is all fixable with some work.  All the hand rails will need to be painted the light yellow color as well but I"m leaving them for now as I have some more work to do on them to get them right.
 

 
 
 
 

Hi All
 
Ok this is a sad day for me as my girlfriend of 2 years + has just left me for a mahogany cabinet.
I don't know what I did to upset her, may be I pulled her ropes too tight or sanded her bottom to hard.
 
But the day did get better a new girl is in town.
 
ALL FINISHED.
 
Denis.

Started rigging the cannons this evening. Holy cow this is not easy. The breech line is difficult on the carronades since you kind of have to tie it off while it is run through the gun. Finished half of one this evening but I am sure it will move quicker as I go.

So, here's the model as it looks, planked, but no keel, stem or sternpost. The inner bulwarks is only test fit and not glued into place yet.
 

 
I've just installed the shear molding under the gunports, laminated many of the parts to give them thickness. I also made the mast coat, hawse pipes, prepped some of the mast top hardware, began shaping the wooden dowel mast, and glued up the anchor stocks, but haven't been added yet.
 
Parts are in the process of construction, so still look rough, particularly the round ones.

 
Some deck hatches. The only thing I'm not super happy with is the gratings since they're only printed. I know I could just make scratch gratings from wood, but it would be nice to see how the final ship looks as built from the kit.

 
View of the quarterdeck. I had a bit of a white gap at the bottom of the bulwarks and tried to even out the look with paint, but I got a little on the printed deck. After cleaning, I had to give the deck a wash of paint to even out the look.

 
 
A view of the bow showing the friezes, wales, stem and bow planking. Note the horseshoe. The one on the other side tore when I cut it and it doesn't look as sharp.

 
 
Close up of the bow planking.

 
 
Everyone who’s seen this model is amazed at how sturdy a card hull can be, including me. The lapstraked planking really makes this model solid. I also get a lot of people asking me what kind of wood was used for the deck planking, right before they say “this is paper?”
 
 
This being my first card model, I’ve learned to cut carefully and to soak parts with CA to make them stiffer and to make it easier to shape them and so that the edges don’t “fuzz up”. Plus, it makes it easier to cut very delicate pieces without them tearing up. I’ve also learned to cut out the hollow portions of parts before cutting the parts from the sheet.
    Clare

Well after a summer of sailing the real boat I got around to start the finishing of the model. For me the sails are a real problem which gives an appreciation of the art on full size boat sails.  So far I made three main sails and two jibs. The jib shown on the model will be the final one but the present main sail has to go. In the process I learned a few things and for me sewing in a hem to scale is too difficult . So I got the idea why bother to do that.  For the jib  I came up with the idea of outlining the sail in pencil on a suitable piece of material ( in this case the lightest piece of material I could get at Jo Ann fabrics. I dyed it first in coffee ( no cream and sugar ) that took away the all white look. I then stretched the material out on a soft drawing board secured the material with pins again drew in the out line of the sail using a soft pencil. I then took a suitable string close to scale for the sail bolt rope and pinned this to the outline.  Using Elmers and glueing 1 " at a time I cemented the string to the sails outline. I used a needle stuck into in a 1/8" dowel as  an applicator for the glue to the sail attachment. After all this was dry I simply cut the sail material close to the now bolt rope. This for me solves the  fraying problem and the resulting sail looks better than a sewed hem.
 
In the images shown now, the rigging is not belayed or secured so I can take off the main sail and bend on the yet to be made new one. So all lines including the jib look quite slack.
 
In the proposed finished display, the model has little wind and I'm trying make it look like it's all ready for the skipper and crew to board, weigh anchor ( placed in the display up short and off the stb. chock),  back the jib and sail of on the stb tack.
 
I'm hoping the minimal pedestal will give the effect of a boat afloat
 

Thank you gentlemen...
 
I took a break from framing because I wanted to work on the windlass.  Its 3 1/2" long. I have had the design concept in my brain for over a year and I wanted to see if it would work.  I think it came out really well.  The design is much like the lantern.  You build the windlass drum in sections and slide them onto a 1/16" x 1/16" strip.  There are 65 pieces in this windlass.   All laser cut.  Its a perfect match to the plans.  The hardest part (which isnt very hard at all)  is to bevel the edges of each face of the drum.  This is so they fit tightly together.   Once you get the angle down,  it goes quickly and without incident.   You have to bevel the edges without over doing it because you will lose the original shape of each precision cut piece.  The laser char on the edge actually help out a lot.  You need to bevel the edge until the laser char is all gone and resist beveling further.  
 
 I was worried about this ever since I saw the model in the Rogers collection.  Yes, you could shape the windless drum from one piece and carve the sprockets by hand...but that is a real challenge.  I have seen what David Antscherl did for his Comet model and it scared me to death ever since.  Knowing that others will ultimately build this model I needed to put my kit designer hat on.  This windlass is a MAJOR deck fitting and can make or break a model of a cutter if it isnt done well enough.
 
Ultimately,  this windlass will be painted all red but I am not sure yet.  Its usually shown that way on contemporary models.  If I decide to leave it natural boxwood I will paint the ends of the drum so you cant see the construction method.  If its painted carefully to look like wood, it will look like a solid piece.  This is still not glued together.  The individual segments are just slid onto the stick.  I just have to snip the ends of teh stick off and sand them down after the segments are glued together. Silly me, I got so into making it, that I didnt take any construction photos.
 
That means I will have to build another one at some point.  Lucky me. 
 
Now to take my daughter to the movies and sit with her and about 7 other 14 year old noisy girls.  Lucky me again!!!
 

 

 

 

I'm with Jud.  If necessary, you can also slice through the offending tab.