UpstateNY

whoa.........74 inches!!!  must be the Warrior that's 51 inches.  one of these days Gary......I hope to attempt a build that size.  glad to hear you have that site to work from 
 
 
I hope to do something like that with the handrails.......they are like that throughout the entire ship.   there's quite a bit too!   I like the color of the decks.  the sand that is still on there does give it some different hues.   I did the fore deck and the stern.......came out pretty good.  these two deck should be slightly darker due to the different woods used.   spotty progress today,  but I did get something done.   I'll post the progress soon.
 
at the moment,  everyone's clammering for food...........better go man the grill 

thank you gentlemen.......I thought it was better to try working with the supplied parts,  rather than try and order the P.E.  {would be interesting to see how that would go over with them}       I felt like I was spinning my wheels there for a moment......nice to be moving in a positive direction.  I had to make a couple repairs on the railings,  so I'll let them set for the time being and allow the cement to fully cure,  before I attempt to clean them up the rest of the way.
 
thanks Gary.......actually,  I'd rather be building the Billing's kit along side you.....I am sooooo jealous!       this is only 26 1/2 inches........compared to your whopping 51 inch build.  I hope you can find a remedy for your problem with the kit.   if you haven't seen the TRMA site,  have a gander.  they don't have all the answers,  but they cover quite a bit and the articles are pretty good 
 
thanks also to all who hit the like button 

Ahoy mates!
 
I know it's difficult to believe, but I really didn't fall off the face of the earth, rather life just sometimes gets in the way of hobbies, and I had a stretch of work where I was working 70+ hours per week (went 6 weeks straight without even a day off), and then I went on a short vacation/road trip to a track event at Miller Motorsports Park.
 
I thought the work stuff was behind me for a while, but then my manager announced that I was in charge of the June release and oh, by the way, she was off to India for a month+ so not only was I in charge, but surprise, she wasn't going to be here to show me all the stuff I needed to do (none of which she has documented of course), so I was sort of muddling through on my own.  Then, her boss says "Oh, by the way, I'm on vacation for the next two weeks".  
 
Cool.  So the person who normally does it is in India, and the person who used to do it is gone on vacation.  Wee..  
 
In any case, I've actually gotten back to a little bit of ship-work in the last couple weeks, but it's been rather slow going.  Slow as in I've been working on gun carriages, and getting one of them done every few days.  So really really slow.
 
First I assembled one to make sure that the slightly larger than the kit carriages from Syren would work ok.

 
Looks fine to me!  Of course after this it occurred to me that a smart person would have painted the parts before assembly.
 
I finally got an air compressor, so I laid out the rest of the parts and primed them.

 
I then painted them all, but didn't take any photo's, and began assembly.  Late in the assembly process I did snap a couple pictures, but they are mostly pretty boring.

 
Tonight I got carriage #6 done finally, so I figured I'd stick them on deck and see how they look.  No quoins, so the barrels are a bit high in the gun ports.

 
Lots of work still to do on these, I have to respray them to get the parts without paint covered, make the quoins, add all the eye-bolts, then make the caps to hold the guns on, glue all the various bits in place and do paint touch-ups, etc.
 
Oh, and I also need to complete the finish on the hull & deck, right now there is only a single coat of poly on everything, and I need to buff that and add another couple of coats before I start putting stuff on the deck that will make it difficult/impossible to do later on.
 
But, it's good to see at least a tiny bit of progress after the almost 2 months since I finished the poop deck.

Thanks Russell.
 
First job is to get the Plug ready. This comes in 3 pieces, two hull halves and a removable piece in the middle to enable it to be removed from the framing later on. I drilled two 1.2mm holes through all three pieces whilst holding the whole thing together in the vise. Then I inserted two lengths of brass wire to keep everything in line :
 

 

 
I gave the plug a light sand to remove any lumps and bumps. Due no doubt to some limitations in the casting process the grooves for the frames weren't perfect, so I used a narrow chisel blade to scrape them out :
 

 
 Danny

Hi all,
 
I have started work on the Cutter for my model of HMS Vulture (link in my signature below for those who haven't seen her) and decided to make a separate Build Log of the project.
 
Some time ago I purchased the Timbering Set for this model from Admiralty Models. Timber in the set was cut by HobbyMill who are no longer in production, so I don't know if the Set is still available. EDIT - It's not.
 
The "kit" includes a resin plug to which the frames are temporarily fixed until the boat takes shape. There are NO plans or instructions included - this "kit" is even more in the way of Scratchbuilding than the ship itself is. Here's a pic of the "kit" :
 

 
There are 5 packs of timber (not sure of the type) ranging in thickness from 0.031" to 0.1" for things like the Keel, Transom, Gunwale and Thwarts. There are also 2 packs of Holly - one is 0.031" x 0.031" for the Frames, the other is a sheet of 0.015" thick for the Planking. All the timber has been milled to HobbyMill's exacting standards and looks to be of excellent quality. There also seems to be a lot more timber than I'll need - probably enough to make TWO Cutters if I don't waste any .
 
 Danny

Hi Ken,
 
Been enjoying following all your beautiful work.  
 
Amazingly fast as well. It is only just over two months since you started and you are already stepping the masts!  
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.

more of the structures were cemented on the bridge deck
 

 
there are a few small features that still need to be added.  I saw this picture and had to take a second look......the center portion looks to be unpainted.   it has been painted with the A&M sand......it's just the angle.
 

 
I kept thinking about those railings.......how was I going to make them look better?
 

 
these seem to be the only real problem with the kit.   it's a mixture of flash and mal-tooling of the molds.
 

 
I decided that I would try and save the frame work and go from there.
 

 
the bow railings came out pretty good........some fine tuning will be needed.
 

 
the stern railings gave me some fits though.......I will need to do a bit more to make them right.
 

 
the stanchions are very small......too small to drill.   I may try to use thread of thin wire to restring them.  I need to do four rows.......but if I get three,  it may just pass muster........depending how much grief they give me.
 
 

Hi Ken,
 
Been enjoying following all your beautiful work.  
 
Amazingly fast as well. It is only just over two months since you started and you are already stepping the masts!  
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.

I was able to get a little accomplished over the holiday weekend despite being grunt labor for my wife selling her wares at a local art show.
 
I built both of the lower masts by turning the ends to the needed size as a target to cut the taper towards.

Carving the oak dowels was a bit of a challenge due to the course grain that required being smoothed with putty.

The tops were then cut using the caps as a guide to carve towards and fit.

Both tops were then built and fitted to the masts, then painted satin black which I think I will respray with flat black.

The main mast needed a two part clamp for the spanker boom rest which I made using 1/16" wide brass strip. Here is a series showing the fabrication of it.



Here is a closeup showing it painted satin black in place.

Here is a standoff picture showing the main mast in place on the deck.

 
Ken
 

Hi Buck,
Is there any another minuscule piece inside the red circle?!

Thanks George. Maybe it's because they are among the last bits of rigging you fit? . I still have a few more to go, as I've found it easier to start at the stern and work forward.
 
Braces
 
I've fitted most of the Braces, which control the fore-aft swing of the yards. I've come to a slight stand-still as I've run out of 0.3mm line (I'm less than 1 metre short, but have to wait a week or so to get some more from Chuck).
 
The first ones to fit are the Topgallant Yard Braces, starting with the Mizzen mast. These are seized around the yard without a Pendant (all topgallant braces are similar). The brace runs through a double block fitted near the peak of the Gaff, through a lead block hooked to the taffrail, and belays to the quarterdeck rail :
 

 

 
Next come the Mizzen Topsail Braces. The halyards are attached to the strop of a block each side of the peak of the gaff, reeve through the blocks in the pendants, back through the first blocks, and belay off in similar fashion to the topgallant braces.
 
The Main Topgallant Yard Braces run through Pendants hitched around the Mizzen Topgallant Mast. The brace goes straight down to deck to belay to the quarterdeck rails :
 

 
The Fore Topgallant Yard Braces run through the pendants attached to the Main Topmast Stay, forward through two blocks hooked to the aft end of the fore top, and go to deck to belay at the cleats either side of the Belfry :
 

 

 

 
The Main Topsail Yard Braces make use of a Pendant clove hitched around the mizzen mast just above the Crossjack. The standing ends of the halyards are hitched to the strops of the pendants, reeve through the blocks in the pendants on the yard, back through the first block, and belay to cleats at the foot of the mizzen mast :
 

 

 
I can fit the Main Braces, but the other two Fore Braces will have to wait until my rigging thread arrives.
 
 Danny

Thanks guys. I'd keep the door shut if I HAD one - no such luck . Pud stays outside while I'm working on the ship, but we have to let him in overnight (winter and all that ).
 
Vangs
 
The Vangs control the swing of the Gaff. They are clove-hitched around the end of the gaff, and the falls reeve through a lead block hooked to the taffrail and belay to the quarterdeck rail. In these pics the Mizzen Topsail and Mizzen Topgallant Yard Braces have also been fitted :
 

 

 

 
 Danny

Thanks guys, but the pics above only show the damage, not the repairs (there was damage on TWO masts). Here are the repairs :
 

 

 
 Danny

Although Woodie and his rabble have been hard at work, a large number from boot camp have been dismissed due to lack of respect and nefarious activities. This has resulted in the Nuts Bros to seek out new, skilled labor and they've found a clan from Northern Ireland that are of the sort that the Nutz Bros have been searching for.

The Bawlz Clan are a rough group and hard to understand, but their work ethics are great. Woodie has teamed up with the leader of the Bawlz Clan, who simply goes be the name Red, to ensure that all the men get along.
 
They have made progress on the exterior planking of the bulwarks. They are now at the proper height so the frames have been trimmed down, next to be fitted with clamp and rail cap. A smaller group headed to the stern deck to begin building as was done on the main deck.
 

I'm hoping to be back home by the end of the week as I've been working out of town the last two weeks. Then I'll be able to meet with the Bawlz and see how they're working out.

Introduction
 
 
"SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse"  (120 year old passenger expressliner)
  Fascinated by this beautiful  22,5 knots, 197,7 m long Atlantic runner, built by Vulcan shipyard Stettin, and launched in year 1897, 120 years ago, I started exploring if there would be any build plans available for building a model of this super liner. The “Kaiser Wilhem der Grosse”, short KWdG was the first luxurious German twin screw fourstacker of the North German Lloyd for the Bremerhaven-New York route and became awarded with the blue ribband for fastest Atlantic crossings at turn of the century.   The ship was initialy equipped with two 3-blade counter rotating screws and later on with two 4-blade screws with blades seperately bolted to the hubs. The ship has a streamlined hull (stern underwater shape) with underwater rudder system, as we also  know from Cunard`s “greyhounds” twins (Mauretania and Lusitania) later on, built in 1906.   Due to the size, the models length should not exceed 1500 mm and so I chose the scale 1:144, resulting in 1380 mm overall length. Knowing that it’s a tough and ambitious scale to tackle, at least there may be some few photo-etched general parts available in 1:144, for use, if my house made build capability can not deal with.   Unfortunately I could not find any plan, but found some for modelists valuable historic detail information on the web. With a portion of luck I also found and bought an odd set of the card build KWdG, which is out of production at the moment, totally sold out, and perhaps may find a revival by end of this year, acc. to the editoring and Publishing company. The card version may give important (when enlarged) rating for my model and it`s fitting out at a very much later time.   To get along now, I am designing my own frame-plan after the gathered information, for keellaying  and kicking off the build this summer, as my “HMS Pegasus”, Swan Class is in the completion phase at the moment. This project shall probably be my greatest challenge since I started building model ships, and I estimate that it may take between 2,5-3 years to complete as a static POF /POB scratch built model   Nils     Preparation phase.......     Build log part 1       The four funnels are situated in two groups       here still the originaly equipped 3-blade screws with bolted on blades. The center window outcut is not for a third propellor (like Titanic), but for preventation of fouling  the slightly overlapping prop-circles, stagered in propshaft lengths       this dry dock pic shows the four-blade screws (note the seperate bolted prop-blades to the hubs)       The card model in scale 1:250       This is a mini cast-model in scale 1:1250       starting with the frames design       note the different propshaft lengths, the prop circles are a bit overlapping within the centre window outcut area at the stern heel     further with frames / bulkheads plan.....       here a little mock up for the width of deck planking (2mm) versa figurines of only 12 mm hight in scale 1:144       this plastic box already contains the raw ply-wooden frame outlines (26 frames), ready for cutting out the contours. For the frames / bulkheads I am using up all my "left over" plywood      Nils

Start with decorations



 

Working to decks..
 

 
and some painting

Here they are

I though I had shown the stripped decks to you.....varying degrees of paint removal.  it might not be all bad......may tend to shadow here and there, when they are repainted.   I did show you these though
 

 
the paint that I decided on is called U.S. Army/Marines sand......it's lighter and has a bit of a yellow tint to it.
 

 
these are the parts you haven't seen.    these came out with varied success as well,  but I think it will cover nicely
 

 
I began to paint and  assemble the bridge deck.....hope to have more for tomorrow.
 

Hello all!
 
It seems I have been doing everything except boatbuilding lately, but the lantern keg is built now. It's a model of the one in Bob Hellman's collection that has the cleat on the big end:
 
 
Since both ends are closed, the keg was built using a dowel with the heads attached at the ends. Here the heads are still a bit oversized and they were fine tuned and tapered.

 
The cedar wood was stained using a Minwax Golden Oak stain pen.

 
A small parade. Here you can see the stained keg compared to the bare buckets which I figured would be a bit bleached from bailing salt water.

Greetings all
Well I have completed the butt planking ( I think that's they call it) on the port side, which will be all that is visible once the top deck is fitted. I was left with an infill of 12mm. I used 3 widths of 4mm strip which was adequate once the rough edge was sanded off each strip. I shall now complete the port side planking and then turn to the starboard side. Mort I only used a rule to make those planks. I simply followed Rays technique, but had quite a few rejects. Well I am happy with my progress, and thanks to you all for your comments and for viewing. Well done Mark and Mick explaining the guillotine was used in the printing trade. Here's a few photos. Thanks a lot DAVID

Not much to report on other than used a polycrylic sealer on the bottom part of the hull I think I'm going to start on the upper gun ports so I can say that's done instead of using the little undersized cabin extensions on the rear of the ship I'm going to fabricate some from wood we will see how that turns out

Ok this parr is done

Hi my friends
 
today something complete different...
 
I gladly announce that our 14.5 yrs old Mister Super-Macho Morando has become well again. He suffers of a chronic disease called Ehrlichiose that makes the blood ineffective for oxygen-transport. But you can treat this with antibiotics and hope and patience. So we did and he is well again (looking for all the doggy girls in the neighborhood ). The Admiral and me... we are glad that he will have some more months or even years with us and his three girls which he lives together with.
 
It was quite ardouos for him and us to get along - but we all did and are happy. So the build of the Endeavour can go on with full attention.
 
On the pic Morando says "hello" to all of you
 
Cheerio
 
Max

Great rescue job on the wheels Augie.   It is also wonderful to see those important smaller details starting to go in like the belaying pins, speaking tube and all those eyebolts! I like the black color on the pins...they stand out really well against the red bulwarks.
 
Your third photo also helps to show how long this lady is...she's a truly beautiful build.
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.