bdgiantman2

Progress has been really slow lately. I did manage to get the so called newel posts and fancy rails completed. I re-installed the QD rail, but this time I pinned all six posts. All that's left to do in chapter eleven are the swivel gun supports. Hopefully, I will get an adrenaline rush and finish those up soon.

Mike

Chuck, your demo looks great to me, and thank you so much for sharing and starting this blog. Are you just using exacto blades carved to the proper curve shape? If so, how do you go about doing that?
 
You can try adding minuscule amounts of putty and fine it down with a file or dremel. I think that at the scale you are working with that such details would be nearly impossible to see despite our desire to be as close to perfection as humanly possible.

Bob is dead accurate with his statement.... 

Ben, a lot of us can't do a final as good as your "practice".
 
Bob

The amount of detail is incredible.  They look like they are ready to fire!

Very impressive model. I have been fascinated with Ketch rigs for a long time, they have a uniqueness about them as there never seemed very many throughout nautical history. Most seem to have been private fishing or small cargo vessels. Enjoying your blog and looking forward to more.
 
Brian D.

Very impressive model. I have been fascinated with Ketch rigs for a long time, they have a uniqueness about them as there never seemed very many throughout nautical history. Most seem to have been private fishing or small cargo vessels. Enjoying your blog and looking forward to more.
 
Brian D.

They have made excellent use of drones against tanks, trucks, etc.  The drones have been a "game changer" as they say.

When Zelenskyy was first asking America and the NATO forces about supplying his country with additional aircraft, and the first pictures afterwards starting coming out of destroyed lines of Russian ground vehicles,  I thought someone had sent over some A-10s to Ukraine.  The miles long line of Russian tanks and attack vehicles looked like Swiss Cheese with all the bullet holes in the vehicles. 

Hello friends, I have been making some progress on this model aircraft.  Having to use superglue to apply photo-etch brass to plastic is always interesting, and yes, I have come close a few times to gluing fingers together or even to the plane.  Even the weapons are getting pieces of brass installed. I am at the stage now where I will have to make the cockpits in order to proceed further with the construction of this plane.  Yay me, I get to learn how to do weathering and applying color washes!!  😃

I apologize in advance that didn't start this blog sooner of this project. 
 
While I continue doing research around my work schedule as well as cutting pieces at a pace slower than evolution to make the laminate frames for Brig Eagle,  I am undertaking a fighter-jet kit of interest I found online. This jet is the N/AW A-10B Warthog by Trumpeter, the experimental two-seat model that enabled the warthog to excel in night aviation attacks as well as adverse weather. This plane was launched in 1979, the same year that I was born. I have largely found in my personal opinions that the two-seat models of many American fighters are way more attractive than the single-seat usually in service in the military. Unfortunately only one model of this aircraft ever came off of the assembly line and never saw squadron service.
 
Overall, my opinion of this kit is good quality of parts except for cockpit details considering that this kit was made in China. There are these lame decals suggested that don't even resemble the real planes cockpits at all. For a kit of this scale I have come to expect better details especially of cockpits. Thankfully, after conducting research, I was able to come across quality photo-etch brass detailing of front cockpit and will kit-bash the back-seat. Also purchasable are fuselage detail pieces as well as a kit for detailing the weapons. Included are two pictures that someone took of the back-seat of real jet when it got downgraded from test aircraft at Edwards Airforce Base to museum exhibit status. The instruction manual has good illustrations of the construction and even included a short history of real plane with some pictures.  Also of interest with this kit are metal landing gears  as well as two high-detail resin engines.
 
Again, even though the real jet never saw active service in any squadrons,  I plan to take artistic license and display her with a squadron. The chosen group is Eielson's Ice Hawgs stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska. Fully armed, this plane is definitely a bad-*** bird wouldn't want to mess around with. 
 
The wing, tail assembly, and engine casings are not currently glued to the fuselage, I just have them placed to show how big this kit is.

starboard side inner wall:

 

 

 

 

Brian, fantastic and I do mean fantastic work! The bell and flag locker are super nice and the padlocks are ingenious. 

Very impressive model. I have been fascinated with Ketch rigs for a long time, they have a uniqueness about them as there never seemed very many throughout nautical history. Most seem to have been private fishing or small cargo vessels. Enjoying your blog and looking forward to more.
 
Brian D.

Very impressive model. I have been fascinated with Ketch rigs for a long time, they have a uniqueness about them as there never seemed very many throughout nautical history. Most seem to have been private fishing or small cargo vessels. Enjoying your blog and looking forward to more.
 
Brian D.

some special, non-quality photos....

Superb pictures: it is like being on board of the real ship.
 
Yves

The next items were the pumps.  The band on the top of the pump is self-adhesive copper foil, typically used in making stain glass windows.  Looks like I need to clean out the inside of the pump!


The original model of Swallow shows a carved swallow on the stern.  The carving looks better in person than it appears in these pictures.  Making the masts is next.

Hallo Greg wirklich tolle Arbeit und ich war so beeindruckt von deinem Bautagebuch, dass ich mir die Bücher gekauft habe, aber es wird wohl noch etwas dauern, da ich gerade erst mit La Palme angefangen habe.
Gruß Tobias
 

Finally I have a little update about Eagle.  Feels good to be making sawdust again. I have had to remake part of the stem of Eagle. Should have left the original alone, sigh. Also am starting to tackle making some of the bow and hawse timers for Eagle, been doing a lot of research on here about how you guys make these pieces.  I didn't take any new pictures of this part but am also making some more stern timbers. 

First it was Mr. Passaro, now there's at least three others since who have had mini's of themselves inspecting the ship models.

The mini-me imitators are hilarious and thriving well. 

Mini-me makes his first appearance on Winchelsea after supervising Cheerful’s build.  His first reaction:

”These facilities are pretty tight, but it’s better than the open air head on Cheerful.”
 
I’m plugging away on the galleries (and beating up the wales while I’m at it), a better post when I finish them. Lots of family distractions at the moment. 

So here’s a few shots in very dim light. I need to start using a real camera, this iPhone just doesn’t capture what it really looks like, they are much warmer and not nearly as bright as the camera shows. Very happy with the LED’s that I went with, this will display very well and lifelike when complete.

Hi Tony I’ve not actually used this line at all during my construction so far. I have always rightly or wrongly assumed that it is the ships waterline.  If you drop Gerard a message who is on this forum I’m sure that he will be able to answer your question. I will have an update on my build pretty soon too.  Mark