Roger Pellett

Thanks Roger, glad you think so.
 
General rules of thumb:
- The effect is a bit unorthodox since it will be black upon white upon more black, but it still works if you use your eyes keenly
- I applied white on the black primed hull, spraying a mottling/stippling effect, which in reality is just random ways to fill the space without completely painting it over
- For the effect to really work, focus the white on the middle of the raised details, so that the outer edges are still dark (that’s what makes the light/shadow effect). 
Below is a picture of my BF110 of which this strategy is applied on a far larger subject scale:

In this case I would be more subtle than the plane, but I hope you’ve gained the understanding 
- The fan is a result of nothing but a lack of money to buy some more ventilation systems
 
Please ask if you have any more questions, hope this helps, and good luck!

Waited to respond until I had something to show. 
 
Sorry for trying to put years of operations and many courses and manuals in a single post... I guess that was a bit much. 
 
In any case, as mentioned before, the first liquid line was the hardest as I had to line it out, get a good length etc. Once this one was done (and for those paying attention, in the last picture it had already its end flanges and orange painted extremities in place), I could continue with the others. 
I was very reluctant to glue it in place, due to so many things that need to line up at one time, that I didn't glue it in place for a long time. Although I wanted to continue aft with the vapor line next to my finished liquid line, I decided not to do that. 
Although everything is far from perfect, I had a feeling that the longitudinal distance between the manifold flanges would be very important for the overall view of the model. I therefore went ahead with the aft liquid line. Once that was done, I could go towards the center and make sure those distances were at least symmetrical. 
Again everything was laying dry fitted for a very long time, until I was sure that I had at least the space to cram in the other lines. 
I then glued the two liquid (orange tipped) lines in place and continued inward with the vapor lines etc. 
 
Here you see how I lined up all manifold flanges to be at a straight line transversally. Because I had the two liquid lines fixed, I could use a straight piece of styrene touching the flanges. I then marked the edge of the "new" pipes and cut them off at that mark. 

 

 
Once I had the flanges on on one side, I then used that piece of styrene against all flanges (with the white pipes still dry fitted) and used the same trick to mark out the other side. Then I cut that side and glued the flange. Up till that moment I had the "flanges", small rings, that I needed for valves, loose on the pipes. Once the flanges were in place, I could measure and glue the first flange for the first valve and so on. 

 
And a bit of extra. As you can see on the liquid manifold ends, there are two valves. 1 is manual, with a wheel (inboard), the other is hydraulic (outboard), with a big actuator. The manual valve is called a double shut valve and is installed because a single valve can leak, chances of having two valves leaking at the same time are much smaller. Since the liquid lines can go quite high in pressure, this is a requirement for liquid lines only. On the vapour line you can see there is no more manual valve behind the hydraulic actuator. 
The high pressure line also has a double valve (more work for me again). 
 
I've been thinking of making the manifold flanges bolted, in a similar way as the strainer lids. But eventually I decided against it. It would probably be out of scale, take a long time to make and I had already used blank discs as end flanges on other parts of the vessel, so it would be out of the normal to have them with bolts here. 
 
And last but not least I tested with a paper template, the walkway that's supposed to come on top. To my greater surprise (I had to make some things slightly out of scale and expected the accumulated error to be quite large), it fitted quite well. 
I will make a cardboard adapted version of this catwalk before I make the final one in the same way as I made the driptray gratings. 

 
 

Channels…

Drilling for the Masts and Bow Sprit… No glue at this time. 

Ready to seal and paint the hull and bulwarks. 
 
Cheers 🍻 
 

Thanks to all for your comments, feedback and "likes".  It is so appreciated.
 
 
I do apply it to raw wood and yes it can get blotchy if I try to add too much color in one wash, especially on soft wood such as basswood.  Typically, I lay down one or two very diluted washes rather than one heavy wash and I don't mix the chalk/alcohol to a gain a paint-like solution.  It's mostly alcohol with a tad of chalk added in.  I dip my brush into clean alcohol and then pick up some of the powder that I scraped off the side of a chalk stick and brush it on.  If it's too much color, I wash on more clean alcohol to dilute and blend it.  When I'm doing a quantity of wood at once, I'll scrape the sides of the chalk directly on to the wood and then with a sopping 1/2" brush of straight alcohol, slop it all around.  But that is an on-bench process only - never on the model itself.  Play around with some scrap wood and you'll quickly see how easy, forgiving, controllable and versatile it is.  For deeper richer colors, the same process can be used with pigment powders but that is not as forgiving.  Thanks Paul.
 
 
Thanks for the tip on the ground glass.  I found a vendor that sells several grits in small quantities so I'm going to order some to take a look at it.  I'll report my findings.  I've only ever seen crushed/flaked ice used.  Thanks, Wefalck.
 
 
   
Jerome and Keith, thanks for your input and I agree - crushed ice and I think mostly flaked.  Especially today - what they used in 1943, not sure.
 
 
Good suggestion Jerome.  Thanks.  As mentioned above, I'll be looking at some ground glass and see how sparkly (or not) that is first.
 
@Keith Black  Thanks for the link on the snow/ice modeling, Keith.  I don't know if those products will work for me here, but I'll keep them in mind and add them into my info folder.  Night Shift is an amazing modeler!
 
@Paul Le Wol @Keith Black @Jim Lad @FlyingFish @TOM G @Glen McGuire  Thank you for your kind words on the work in progress. 
 
Stay well,  Gary

Good to hear about the files.
 
I have a habit to pursue  a hobby when started.  I started out bookbinding in the late eighties.  Ended selling when COVID closed the farmers market closed.  During that time woodcarving ten years were spent.  Only quit that when the cerebral palsy made my hand cramp too much.  In for the long run with model ship building.
 
Too ambitious, no.  The models are selected in degrees of learning curve.  Driven, yes.  Reading history for a hobby leads to one book another!  Seeing a jumble of parts become a work of art thrills me!  Craftsmanship will keep me young.
 
My downfall is buying books and tools.  You can not create well with a poor tool and little knowledge.

Indeed....clewed to the mast simply meant you furled the sails up close to the mast and when they unfurled the clews would fall and be pulled outward.  this tended to make the sails bunch up at the parrel point.
However commercial ships generally used the other furling method which furled the sail directly up, leaving the clew as presented in this image.   the sail would fall and the clews would be in place outboard.  I suspected that if you were an ole Navy man...you'd furl clews  to the mast......
 
From my research it appears that clewing to the mast on commercial ships was done mostly before the double topsail was introduced...as depicted in the image you presented.
 
Rob 

Johnny...it has to do if the sail is rigged military style...with the clews to the mast or commercial with them rigged as you see on the Glory of the Seas.  There is a name for both, but I can't recall them off the top of my head at this time.
 
It is true that the rigging on commercial vessels as a matter of the captains, or owner's preference.
 
Rob

Paul,  My thoughts exactly.  I believe that Peking was not scrapped but was sent to Hamburg, Germany and restored.
 
Roger

A nice project, well executed!
 
Determining the correct scale is of course important as it will determine sizes of all of the fittings that you intend to scratch build.  As an ex Coast Guard Officer, you obviously know that the “length” of a vessel has several definitions; length overall, register length, etc.  Before getting too far down the road, you might want to double check scale by using a dimension less subject to interpretation.  I would suggest that you compare the beam of your model with the published beam.
 
You are fortunate to live in my favorite small town.  Mystic has it all; a great museum, beautiful architecture, and good restaurants.  I grew up in Northeastern Ohio which was ounce the state of Connecticut’s Western Reserve.  Many of the small towns  in that part of Ohio share Mystic’s timeless quality with their white Federal Style homes and Churches.  The row of houses  just across the river, from the Seaport is particularly impressive. 
 
Roger.

Hi Roel,
 
Thank you for taking part....& I agree they are a funny hull shape. A design that is definitely trying to get the most boat from the least timber - noting that the original was designed in 1933 & I think that's the depression or soon after. I think people then also just tried harder to get more from less - 7.3m wasn't a small boat in those days, but it certainly is now.

Lower Deadeyes…

…and so it begins, the “smallest” deadeyes. 

Pin Rails are going to be so much fun. 😜

So this is a pretty complicated question. It sort of depends what you are looking to achieve. However here are a few things that might help you:
As others have suggested there are lots of youtube videos aimed at all skill levels. I would suggest searching for "intro to miniature painting" or something similar. Airbrushing is its own thing, with its own set of challenges and skills to learn. You can get smooth transition with no brush strokes with a brush. They are just different tools and mostly airbrushing allows you to save a bit of time if you are trying to do a whole bunch of stuff at once, but there is a significant investment both in money and time to learn how to use them properly. I did a presentations at MSON and MSWWNY talking about how painting can be used to enhance ship models earlier this year, if you are interested send me a PM and I can send you a copy of it. It is aimed at trying to broadly introduce painting to those not so familiar with it. If you are interested in the detailed application of painting to ships there are a lot of logs (particularly in the modern section of the build logs) where people are painting plastic ships. Alternatively if you want to see some up close pictures of painting applied to an 18th century vessel, I cover a bunch of my work and painting philosophy in my Alert log.

Greetings Fellow Modelers
 
Thanks to all for your fine comments, for the "likes" and to those watching quietly.
 
 
More Fish Hold Stuff
 
Continuing on with the fish hold, the next step was to build the back walls of the bunker partitioning.  In the drawing below, the hold is defined by the yellow cross-hatching and the back wall partitioning by the green lines.  The back walls are individual bunker partitions, but for this model I've simplified it as a single one-piece wall.  The blue dots are the vertical posts used to segment the hold into individual bunkers/pens.
 

 
 
To begin, I created a paper template of the area to be walled.
 

 
 
Planking was glued directly to the paper template.
 

 

 
 
Styrene channel was glued on at each post base location. The proper depth channel needed for this is not manufactured, but I found an “H” column that was close enough once modified.
 

 

 
 
The back wall pieces were then glued on.  A corner torn from a Post-it note makes a hands-free right-angle square.
 

 
 
At this point, I became aware of two errors that needed to be addressed.  First, the height of the perimeter partition walls, and the bulkhead end walls were too short.  This would allow a view through an open hatch to see above the walls.  It would be an extreme angle view to be certain, but a deck mock-up proved to me it was possible.  The second error is that the forward bulkhead end wall was placed 12 scale inches forward of where it should be. That's a problem because it interferes with the proper placement of the mast, which is unacceptable.  So, a second end wall was installed 12” aft of the first one.
 
In the image below the new (taller) end wall is on the right.  One would now expect that the two forward bunkers are 12” narrower than the other bunkers, but they are not.  The post spacing is correct from the aft bulkhead forward and only the forward wall was misplaced.  Indeed, I caught this error because the forward bunkers appeared to me a tad wider than the others.
 
Extra work caused by working carelessly.
 

 
 
Next, the four-sided posts for the bunker partitioning were made.  They are a five-piece styrene construction.
 

 
 
 
A construction jig is assembled. The styrene is modified “H” columns and strips from Evergreen.  Solvent cement keeps the posts from being inadvertently glued to the jig.
 

 
 
A channel is placed into the jig.
 

 
 
A flat strip is cemented on top of that. Two of these channel/flat piece assemblies are made for each post.
 

 
 
The center rectangular strip is added to one of the above assemblies.
 

 
 
Then both assemblies are cemented together.
 

 

 
 
The posts are glued onto the post bases.
 

 
 
One of the back walls is heightened, a channel extension is glued on, and a partition is installed.
 

 
 
The partitions are cut from blanks of edge-glued wood strips. A paper template of the partition is placed on the blank and the shape is cut free. They are stained with chalk and alcohol. I use alcohol to liquefy and apply the chalk because it penetrates the wood and evaporates off quickly leaving no time for the thin wood strips to warp.
 

 
 
I used “super thin” CA to glue these partitions in.  With the partition already in place, a drop of the CA at the top of the post races down the channel and glues most of the plank ends.  I have an extension tip on my bottle to help control the flow and I use the watery glue infrequently and cautiously.  When I do, I keep a can of fresh acetone at the ready.  A mishap will glue your fingers together instantly.
 

 
 
The partitions are all in.  I'm considering partially filling a few of the bunkers with ice.  What do you folks think and what would make a convincing 1:48 ice?  It would have to be a non-soluble material.
 

 

 
 
I've installed 8 surface mount LEDs (one over each bunker) to light up the hold.  That seems like a lot, but they are small and their output will be adjustable.  Two wood strips holding four diodes each are assembled.  These LEDs are SMD 805 warm white and are attached to the strips with a clear (when dry) version of Gallery Glass.  For scale, the grid on the mat 1/2” (12.7mm)
 

 
 
Both strips attached over the bunkers.
 

 
 
Thanks for stopping by.
 
Be safe and stay well,
 
Gary
 
 

Oh, I don't know. If Woolies was gone, Coles would effectively have a monopoly. But I'm sure they wouldn't take advantage if that to hike the prices up . . . (irony).
 
Back to the subject at hand. A-a-a-and - IT WORKED!

In the event, I used a coping saw to cut it off instead of a fretsaw. It seemed like a better tool for the job. Very much heart in mouth, with the lathe at the slowest speed and gently pressing with the saw as the work rotated.
 
But - voila! Success! (very pleased - I'd been very worried that sawing the wheel off the base would destroy it, but it's turned out just as I'd hoped.)
 
Steven
 

Hi all, work continues. Now prototyping the davits. Most parts davit head, cleat,…not glued yet. Experimenting with best way to make them. Davits themselves still need cleaning and a bit more tapering towards the head.
cheers sascha
 

Micha, et all:
 
Some thoughts from a modeler who doesn’t use CAD.  CAD is not necessary for building ship models.  There are 1000’s of lovely accurate ship models built before CAD.  
 
The basic scratch ship modeling drafting task is to convert archival information into patterns that define the shape of the hull.  This information comes from a drawing, a half model, or a table of offsets.  For Nineteenth Century vessels and ships built to about 1970 hulls were not designed using simple geometric shapes.  Curves are the result of two different drafting techniques; ships curves, and splines.  Splines work by the rules for deflection of beams; a cubic equation.  Ships curves are standardized drafting tools created using different mathematical functions.  How well a particular CAD program mimics these manual drafting tools well determine the accuracy of the model.  As a Naval Architecture student a long time ago, I watched a visiting Professor from a Major Japanese university test several hull forms modeled from simple trigonometric shapes, sines, cosines, parabolas, etc. in our large towing tank.  They looked nothing like real ships.
 
All ship hull lines drawings are “faired” at one time or another.  In other words, plotted points often do not line up to allow a fair curve to be passed through.  Manual drafting requires the draftsman to use his judgement to correct this.  CAD requires either manual intervention or a mathematical algorithm.  There is therefore, no definitive example of an old ship’s hull, only different interpretations.
 
To me CAD is just another ship modeling tool.  If you enjoy working with computers and are willing to spend the $$$ and especially time to learn the program that’s fine.  On the other hand, beautiful models can be built using manual drafting techniques, or purchased plans.
 
Roger

The argument about whether this fighter or that fighter was the 'best' is fun for us to debate years later, but it was largely mooted by strategic considerations, though folks were less aware of it at the time. In order to have any real chance of winning, the Germans (and indeed all the Axis powers) needed to negate the combined industrial advantage of the Allies. German, Italian, and Japanese fighters didn't just need to be equal to their Allied counterparts -- they needed to shoot down their enemies in numbers that far exceeded their own losses. They never accomplished this, even during the Battle of Britain, when the Luftwaffe had a considerable numerical advantage. The fact that the P-40 gave at least as good as it got was seriously bad news for the Axis powers -- if both sides lost resources (planes, pilots) at an equal pace, there was never a question of who would run out of them first.

One wheel assembly completed with the 40 steel spokes…should add interest to the model. Replaced the inflation nipple with a bit of leftover brass from Mikasa, and painted the spoke nipples around the rim. They looked kind of cool left as brass but I think painted is a probably a little more realistic. Overall I’m quite happy with the outcome as opposed to the plastic version.

Wheel spoking in progress after finally getting my supplies. I’m using 0.5mm wire rods and short stubs of 0.8mm brass tube to create some sort of nipples at the rim. Remnants of the plastic spokes remain to hold the hub on centre and guide me on location and alignment, easy to screw this up otherwise I would think. 
I’m ignoring the assembly sequence of the model in the directions and have put together all the main components of the frame, so I can paint it distinctly from the body parts. Hopefully I can shoehorn everything on board later on. I’ve sprayed on a base coat of black to begin with. 
 

And here's her final resting place, in our gallery.

And with that, I declare her finished! 2 years, 2 months and 8 days. Of course, I took a couple of months to do a Fishing Trawler, and 4 months to do a whaleboat. But who's counting? I'll post some more photos soon.
 

 
 

Thank you for your interest and complements.
 
I enjoy studying these ships and in particular these examples of merchant sail from the mid 1800's.  It is also a joy to reproduce a likeness of these beautiful ships with my own hands.
 
Regards,
Pete

Welcome to the Topsail Schooner "Eagle" 1847 build log,
 
Finishing up the running rigging and final pick up, key points include:
>>> Final drops of thinned white glue to secure rigging lines
>>> Rigging coils installed
>>> Ship's boat secured
>>> Final paint touchup
>>> Model cased and mounted in brass pedestals
 
The model now rests in the home of a dear friends in the State of Maine.  They are Maine natives, which is appropriate for this ship is typical of Maine coastal traders of the mid 1800's.
 
Pete Jaquith
Shipbuilder

Welcome to Topsail Schooner "Eagle" 1847 build log,
 
The Topsail Schooner "Eagle" 1847 is a 3/16" scale plank on solid scratch build. The construction sequence is similar to my "Newsboy" 1854 build. The hull was carved from basswood laminations. Key Points include:
 
>>> Laminations were glued (dark wood glue) and doweled together
>>> Deck shear and camber was carved 1st
>>> Poop deck lifts were left loose until the fore deck was complete
>>> Inverted hull was attached to a building board giving a common base for hull templates
>>> Upper hull was recessed 3/64" for hull planking (lower hull will be coppered)
>>> Stem, keel, stern post, and rudder were fitted
>>> Mounting pedestals were fitted and mounting holes drilled
 
Pete Jaquith
Shipbuilder

Nothing special, just another part of decoration. Still the same since last october🙄
 
Jan