NMBROOK

Thanks for the comments Michael  I must admit I was a bit unsure about doing the furled sails but really happy and it will show the deck of nicely as the ships boats are yet to be fitted. 
Martyn
 

Martyn,
 
Nice update. Agreed furled lower sails are also my preference. Especially on ships that have so much visual detail to be added on to weather decks
All looks quite right indeed.
 

Thanks for the likes .
Cheers for looking in Michael and the brilliant comments 
A bit more done on the SR . To break up the ratlines I have made up some of the upper masts and fitted some of the braces fore and aft as I needed a break from tying nearly 3000 half hitch,s and still quite a few to go.
Thanks for following I am off to do some more ratlines 
Martyn

Cheers for the comments EJ I think everyone has one of these but hayho 
Still fitting the ratlines but have broken them up by fitting the mane stay and crowfoot, but it's on with the ratlines 
Martyn

Thanks for the brilliant comments Michael she is slowly coming together and here's a few pics of the Vasa for you. 
Not quite up to yours but after the problems I had with it but not to bad 
Martyn 

Thanks for the comments guys and the likes 
A little bit more work done on the SR . I have finished fitting the shrouds to the lower formast and have completed the fun job of the ratlines. Now moving on to the mainmast . Once all the lower masts have been completed its on to the next level.
Thanks for following 
Martyn 

Excellent work Michael
If I may interject,rather than painting your metalwork plain black,try Tamiya XF-84 dark iron acrylic.This is a matt paint that trust me looks so much more appealing than plain black.A light dusting of their aerosol fine surface primer is adviseable though to prevent paint lifting in the future.Not so much of a chore if you hold several parts down to a board with double sided tape and spray a few at once.Just a thought
 
Kind Regards
Nigel

Excellent work Michael
If I may interject,rather than painting your metalwork plain black,try Tamiya XF-84 dark iron acrylic.This is a matt paint that trust me looks so much more appealing than plain black.A light dusting of their aerosol fine surface primer is adviseable though to prevent paint lifting in the future.Not so much of a chore if you hold several parts down to a board with double sided tape and spray a few at once.Just a thought
 
Kind Regards
Nigel

Excellent work Michael
If I may interject,rather than painting your metalwork plain black,try Tamiya XF-84 dark iron acrylic.This is a matt paint that trust me looks so much more appealing than plain black.A light dusting of their aerosol fine surface primer is adviseable though to prevent paint lifting in the future.Not so much of a chore if you hold several parts down to a board with double sided tape and spray a few at once.Just a thought
 
Kind Regards
Nigel

Excellent work Michael
If I may interject,rather than painting your metalwork plain black,try Tamiya XF-84 dark iron acrylic.This is a matt paint that trust me looks so much more appealing than plain black.A light dusting of their aerosol fine surface primer is adviseable though to prevent paint lifting in the future.Not so much of a chore if you hold several parts down to a board with double sided tape and spray a few at once.Just a thought
 
Kind Regards
Nigel

Hi mates
 
Thanks for the likes and comments. I pulled four brass out - added black nylon fishing line, but preferred the brass pins.
I agree Jim love these as well.
 

 
Now started working on the inner planks. Longridge, again my guide.
 

Hi Mates,
 
Finishing up the front face of the frames. Pics speak for themselves. so again brief here.
 
PS: I really liked working with the veneers - for this bit - much easier than actually building all of the frames segments. Glad that its only the first one 
 
 
Oops sorry about the last pic, the text was to say; need to think about deck hight, gun carriage or not, and how to incorporate the false vertical frames and how many?
What kind of wood (they should be oak -hhmmm) 
 

Hi Mates,
 Vivian, welcome aboard as well – so nice of you to want to follow along.
 Got the veneer from eBay so first steps have started. Self-explanatory – so will keep it brief.
 Added notations within –  A good start –
 
PS: The veneer is really working out. It is, however, very fragile – hates, scissors, razor blades and my fingers. But once I got the hang of it we got along well, so far haha
 
Cheers,
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Welcome aboard mates,
 
Martyn: nice - you will prob. finish your superb ship build before I finish this little cross section. This cross section will be an excellent follow up for you indeed.
Capt. Steve: Oh yes! those are very nice. Started looking around and discovered that they come with the kit. Tried to find some as Corel fittings, but no luck. They’re on my mind – thanks for the idea and link.
I’ll ask Cristikc for the part number and see if Corel would send me some. They, Corel, have been so kind sending me extra metal parts for the Vasa. Though I did indicate that I had purchased it from Model Expo.
 
Yesterday I placed a large order of various fittings with Cornwall in the UK. I will start in earnest when the shipment, and my veneers arrive. Oh they carry Oak strips of various sizes !!
 
Cheers,
 

Hi Mates,
Having learned so much about rigging, gun carriages and so on with the Vasa – this one seemed like a better next fit.
 
Intend to bash this one as well.
1) Show lower, upper and weather deck framing details by leaving out some of the deck planks from each deck.
2) Will try my hand at coppering the hull
3) Scratch build much of what the kit provided.
 ===================
 Kit seems to be well thought out. I would consider this one (to me) as a basic to intermediate skill level kit. Included carriages and gun port frames and doors are pre-made of metal. The subject is certainly interesting. And its just a bit of the ship haha
 
I like the included dark timbers, not so liking the white woods, - prob. won’t use in any case.
Instructions are simple, and the mast and rigging sheets are excellent. I have no intentions of adding running rigging with sails (well for now anyway) haha
So: first steps are to add a face to the front facing frames.  So a first thank you;
 
Denis (Popeye the Sailor) – I saw you write  the word Veneer on your current Mississippi boat build - that  struck me as a perfectly simple way  to add details to the front facing frames. So ordered some veneer woods (without glue backing) from eBay.  Had NEVER thought of this as a perfect addition for detailing certain areas.  Will be perfect for the face of the front frame
 
Will also use Longridge as a reference – close enough I would think. That said, oak timbers seem hard to find. I don’t have a belt sander planking type machine. No big deal it will only be for the keel – Veneers are coming for the side framing work.
 
Welcome aboard mates, thanks to those of you already on-board – sweet indeed.
 
OK Now I need to catch up to all of your builds…..Have fallen behind
 
Cheers,
 

 
 
 

Hi mates,
 
Couple of minor updates
===============================
 
Made a shot locker, as well as a box for blocks.
Some thoughts;
•Shot locker is intended as an example of where they were probably placed. It should be taller and extend through and above
    the lower floor (if I understand this correctly) 
• Block box was just to fill a space.
• Will fill the other side with barrels.
• need to add many treenails and pins where floor and walls are visible
• will also add a lot of ballast rocks 
 
Neither the shot locker or the block box have yet been glued to the floor
 
work in progress....
 

Hi Mates,
 Anthony: thanks for your comments and suggestions. BTW – your 1/36th Victory cross-section is amazing. Will be borrowing some of your details from that one – well try to anyway!
 
=====================
 
Plan B update. Those framing inserts that I had made, and then added oak stain to the basswood– were too dark. And the basswood in-and-of itself was too plain, nor did it look like the first frame that is in profile.
 
Rebuilt them. Again using basswood, but added oak veneer to the frame faces. And did not stain the basswood – which almost disappears visually with the addition of the oak veneer faces. Much better – I’m good here – moving forward.  Photos go through the process.
 
As alway mates thanks for dropping by, likes and comments.
 

Hi Mates,
Needed to start this section over – just not “working”. As I had noted in previous update.
Patrick: thanks, yes that would make sense that caulking would not be really needed in a closed section of the ship. I have seen cross section builders have mixed builds in this regard. So I did not know either-way. But your thoughts made the do-over much easier. Thanks for your illustrations as well.
Paul: thanks for you nice comment. And thanks all for dropping by as well.
 
A couple of thoughts – Have not yet determined how many more treenails and or pins to add to the installed lumber.
Once I get the other side installed I will determine how much of the sides will be visible once the rocks, barrels and a side shelf with lumber and ropes are added. Then will add tree….and pins as needed. The floor part will be all covered up with rocks.
 
PS: for the treenails, so far I have found this to be a good substitute. Granted its not a bit darker wood, but it visually works. I drilled .5mm holes slid in a pencil lead and just snapped it off – leaving the lead to fill the hole. Made for very clean and precise holes. The weather and gun decks may not serve too well with this look - (to be determined)
 
And these mixed up lumbers are certainly period incorrect, but they look better IMO than those anemic basswood planks.
 
Cheers,
 

Minor update that includes some frustrations, using the kit supplied planks; I thought that I would try also using Pinstripe tape to simulate the caulking.
Initially I liked it. Labor intensive, because each strip needs to be located exactly at the upper edge of plank on both sides.
Then after a few of those realized that running tape all the way aft was a waste. This area will be filled with rocks, barrels, and poss. adding a shelf on the side to add spare timber and ropes.
Ok: then after installing a few basswood planks – did not like the look of the much too white wood. Yes I could stain it…
 
Then looking at the profile grrr –these kit supplied planks look way too thin – and out of scale?, especially with the weight of the ballast rocks that these planks need to support.
 
SO, looked through my wood supply, will pull these basswood planks off, and replace them with some hardwoods. I do believe, however that oak was probably the correct planks that should be installed – not these darker woods, hmmm
 
And I just drilled small holes for the treenail look – not happy with that either.
I have looked at other logs that do an excellent job with real treenails –need to improve my skills in this area – and for this area it only requires the first row to be done.
 
Lastly that pinstripe tape looks much too “perfect”.  Went to Blicks today and per Denis’ recommendation for his riverboat will use a Faber Castell artist pen. Tried it, looks much more "unevenly realistic". (Had used a Sharpie but too wet..)
Will update when this area is resolved. As always thanks for your support, suggestions, help, likes and just dropping by.
 

I am bit late to the party Michael,great startI look forward to following your progress including refinement and alteration to what is supplied in the standard kit.
Kind Regards
Nigel

Update - the second planking with cherry veneer is now done! Not perfect,but I am pleased with it. Now for a little sanding - not too much as it would be easy to sand clear through the veneer. No drop planks or stealers were necessary.
 

 

 

 
 
 
Mark

Laminating the stem & keel is still a possibility - I will have to see if the extra thickness will be a problem. On my Royal William the keel,stem,stern post,& rudder are darker than the hull planking - laminating them would have made them way too thick & cause other problems,so I left them as is.
 
It`s not really hard to cut,just hard to cut straight strips off of. I found a strip cutter at Micro Mark that worked pretty good once I got the hang of it. The tool instructions say to use a #2 or 11 blade,but I found that a curved blade worked much better - the straight blade wanted to follow the wood grain,but the curved blade didn`t. As far as cutting the spiled planks,I would cut templates from card stock to fit the curves & cut the veneer freehand with the curved blade in my exacto handle. After a bit of sanding on the edges,I got them to fit pretty good. Needless to say,I broke numerous pieces while cutting & sanding - I lost count of how many times I had a piece almost fitted & then -oops,I pressed a little too hard on the sandpaper & broke the piece! I don`t have a small table saw,so I don`t know if that would work any better or not - it might work if you had an extremely fine blade & zero clearance insert for the saw plus a way to keep the veneer very flat on the saw. My veneer had a curl in one area too,but I just worked around it Also,I cut the strips about 7mm wide which made them a little easier to work with.
 
Mark

I am bit late to the party Michael,great startI look forward to following your progress including refinement and alteration to what is supplied in the standard kit.
Kind Regards
Nigel

I am bit late to the party Michael,great startI look forward to following your progress including refinement and alteration to what is supplied in the standard kit.
Kind Regards
Nigel

Nigel,
 
Thanks, welcome aboard indeed. You have also, as you know, been one of my sage teachers 
 
This type of build is very new to me (interiors deck by deck) but having learned much from my last effort
I feel that learning will be much easier on this project.
 
So taken by Martyn's SR - Im sooo tempted to put one of those under my table for later.
As you noted in his excellent build log she certainly is one of those "special' ones...
 
Cheers