aferox
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The passing of Jim Byrnes
aferox replied to Kevin Kenny's topic in NAUTICAL RESEARCH GUILD - News & Information
His machines were amazing. A sad day indeed. -
Received the Sphinx kit today, and it looks amazing! After years of kit bashing some... sometimes interesting... models, this will be a new experience. Many thanks!
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Congratulations, and more best wishes for you and your wife! Looking forward to Sphinx.
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Fantastic work Jim. I greatly admire your use of light and color. My uncle served in the Royal Canadian Navy and did Murmansk runs, though he would never talk about them.
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Hi Chris! You're full of interesting news. I'll definitely be looking for your kits to appear! I would buy a Nonsuch kit in a heart beat. If Prince is Amati's, I'd also like to eventually see another ship from the period. I've always loved van de Velde's "Resolution in a gale" painting. Brian Lavery put out a book, "Deane's Doctrine of Naval Architecture, 1670" with some interesting drawings of Resolution based on the available information and his best guesses. Glad to hear that the sausage dogs are well. Best of luck!
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Thanks Nigel. I pulled out the kit yesterday. Going to be a lot of carving, but I'm looking forward to it. Unfortunately I seem to have inherited my mom's inflammatory arthritis, and I'm anticipating only being able to do a few more builds. So... got to get to it! I'll move a camera to my workshop; might help with remembering to take pictures. Thankfully my youngest son is showing signs of catching the modeling bug. I've collected a large number of kits over the years, including some very rare ones, and I'd hate to see them wasted. Ah, the safe place! Starting to replace it should work, rather like me getting a call from my wife as soon as I get into some... dang, there goes the phone. Tim
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Magnificent work Nigel! I have a time-consuming job and a couple of sons to raise, and I completely understand your challenges. You're accomplishing a lot more model building than I am! I have Mordaunt on the shelf, and I'm thinking of starting her as my next build.
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I'm doing a weird bash together (with some scratch building) of the materials from the Amati and Mantua kits right now, following the Anatomy book and personal observations from visits to the Nina and Pinta replicas. I started with just the Amati kit, and I liked it. However, I found my Amati kit had very soft and flexible plywood, and great care had to be taken to keep the decks and frames aligned properly. I would recommend it though.
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That is indeed one awesome build! I can hardly wait for the new Prince by Chris. Looks like it will be fantastic.
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Agree with the epoxy and pinning. I also usually add some stripes of CA to help hold things in place while the epoxy dries.
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I agree with Brian. In my case, I'm primarily interested in the ship. I'll add what I need to the kit. If I want to build a kit model of Mordaunt or Falmouth or Royal William, then I know where I'll be getting it. If I want to build the Victory, then I can choose the best kit from the many offerings. Tim
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Aeropiccola used to make a rather nice HMS Prince kit. You sometimes see one come up on eBay. The Mamoli kit is very similar in size (I think the stated scales are 1/140 and 1/144). Aeropiccola used a kind of wood casting, whereas Mamoli uses metal. I have both kits, and prefer the Aeropiccola castings. Euro Model makes a monstrous Royal William kit. I mean really big. It is on my build list, though I might need one of my boys to go off to college first. That way I can take over his room to display the finished model!
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Frame shape transition-Problems with Model Shipways kit frames.
aferox replied to bear's topic in Wood ship model kits
My personal experience is that every kit I've made required some adjustments to the bulkheads/frames. I always now check for symmetry and clean flow. -
Hi Graham. I ordered some UNI Caenis thread from Amazon. It is the finest I have ever seen, and works very well for modern ship rigging. Warspite is sitting on my shelf... just need to wrap up a couple of wooden models on my desk first.
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I have built the Wappen, and I also have the Sovereign of the Seas on the shelf. The Wappen was a very large, high quality, and complex kit. And heavy; just about gave me a hernia moving it around when completed. The lower deck was complete, and that made for a more impressive model. For some reason one of the first things people do when they see one of my models is peer into the gun ports to check if they can see through to the other side. She built up into an impressive model, and (I think) she looks lovely. I would definitely place her on at least a par with the Sovereign of the Seas in terms of quality and complexity. Although she did not correspond exactly to reference materials, I think she was closer than most other model kits I have seen. Many years ago Smaug posted some old woodcuts of the Wappen on DDM, and I tried to finish mine to be consistent with those pictures.
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This is an amazing model; I am in awe! I think the "special edition" kit might be an interesting option, since it helps differentiate this Victory from all others. If I were to buy the kit, then adding some extra money to get the ultimate would make sense to me. Alas, I'm unlikely to get another Victory, since I already have one partially completed. I know my admiral, and if I were to suggest getting another Victory, then she would be asking what I'm going to do with the first... Somehow, justifying a new, different ship is a lot easier! Still, there is tremendous pleasure in just watching this come together. I would love to see this treatment given to something new, like Lenox or Suffolk or Resolution or Zeven Provincien. Perhaps someday?
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She reminds me a lot of the old Aeropiccola kit (which is not a bad thing). I have both... which probably says I need to get some help! The scale is definitely different, but the smaller product is an advantage for me, since space is getting to a premium. My kit came with totally unsatisfactory castings - somewhat crude and badly warped. I should probably see about getting them replaced, though I might just combine my two kits and do some bashing instead. I have it on the shelf, and can look at it again if you wish.
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I'm not familiar with the Swift, though I have built a range of kits, some of which were new, and some old eBay purchases. My experience with old kits has generally been quite positive. I haven't had any more problems with old kits than new ones, provided they were well cared for. Some old kits are great quality, some new kits... not. As far as accuracy, I've found that all kits have issues. That is, new laser cut kits still need to be checked and adjusted. I always check my bulkheads for symmetry and agreement with the plans, and every kit has needed work there. I guess my advice would be to find a ship which interests you, and which will teach you new skills without overwhelming you. Old kits can require more cutting and shaping, so take that into account. This site is a great place to learn about different possibilities. Happy modeling!
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