markjay

Yes  We shall sort something out once I have your details via email.

Good luck and

I guarantee if you have not seen this, it will be the best thing you've ever watched on YouTube. https://youtu.be/ZLzBDhilDL0

Good luck and

Good luck and

Good luck and

Just found this awesome build, words escape me. Recover soon. 

It looks Australian.
 
   

Check out this U tube video. 
 

I have had the opportunity to order rope from Ben (RoS) as well as from Chuck (Syren). Both outstanding quality and quick delivery. Syren has limited the amount of rope per placed order and I needed much more for my ship, so I found RoS and ordered the rest of what I needed. I am pretty overwhelmed by Ben's service and the quality is phenomenal. I mean really really good! 
 
I am not in the position to make my own quality rope and I was looking for an upgrade for my current project 
 
Let me explain a bit further, from Syren the rope I've ordered is a cotton / polyester blend or mix and so I've ordered at RoS cotton ropes (took a leap of fate because I didn't know Ben or RoS) to have sort of the same. However, Ben contacted me by pm and asked me if I would upgrade the ropes from cotton to 100% Gutermann polyester rope for free. To me poly rope has some benefits over cotton, like no fussiness, better resistance with climate changes and humidity and long lasting. So, I opted for the upgrade! Well, when received my package of ropes, I couldn't be more pleased. You should have seen the smile on my face when opening and layed out all the ropes and cable. Boy, the quality, tightness is fantastic. 
 
But, this is not the end of the story. Ben again contacted me short after sending out the package and apologized for the color of the "dark brown" batch. To him, the color was a bit too dark like almost black. He knew I didn't want black but more like a chocolate brown and so he told me that he's sending me a new batch with a lighter color for free!  This is absolutely top service I didn't expected and when I received the second package and compared both colors, he was right down to the money! The replacement batch of the lighter dark brown color was just perfect and exactly what I wanted. I know this is a personal preference, but the service and the way Ben wanted me to get the right color and not disappoint me is a service which becomes rare in this world. For me this was a done deal, and I will order again! What a more than outstanding service! 
 
I have no ties with RoS nor with Ben personally, but RoS deserves a good review so, I give one! 
 
The batch of ropes I've ordered and a comparison of the dark brown color and a comparison of cable. 
 

 

 

 
So the picture below shows cable from Ropes of Scale and Syren. This is not a comparison which one is best, because to me both are excellent quality and I love both of them and I think the best out there on the market you can buy. I only want to show you the difference between left 100% polyester and on the right a mix of cotton / polyester. (I don't know the percentage but I think it's more cotton than poly)
It's more a personal preference I'll guess.
 

 

 
 
So, for my project Cazador I will use Ben's ropes and I'm looking forward how they will look on the ship. I'll have to wait though, because I'm very busy with carving at the moment and not gotten to the rigging part of the ship.
 
I would like to thank Ben for his service and if you guys have any questions about Ben's ropes or service I'm happy to answer them. Just send me a pm!
 
regards,
Peter

Hey folks, Dion Dunn here.  I’m a mid-50’s builder of. Pretty much anything and everything,  and have recently turned my attention back to model ships.  Over the past 40 years, I’ve built or restored everything from a 1952 Ford Custom (first car) to a Formula Vee race car, to a vintage Italian  bicycle….Lots of RC airplanes and sailboats, RC cars, an HO scale model railroad (in progress), and now back to boats.  I’m also the ex-Commodore of our local Sailing club and actively race a Sunfish and a Capris 14.2 fullsize sailboats.
 
In the past I’ve built the Model Expo Phantom pilot boat, the Amati 1934 J class Rainbow, and the Model Expo Taurus tugboat (for my Father’s train layout).  A few years ago I purchased one of the older Artesania Latina 1:50 Swift kits at a garage sale, and have just started it.  It’s not the best kit in the world, but it’s scratching the itch for now.  Looking forward to a larger build and learning lots from the folks on this site!
 
Dion

The castle structure is now done, except for the decorative fish fittings that adorn the corners of the castle towers. These fish figures are called shachihoko, and are found on many castles, gates, and the homes of some nobles. I'll save these for later, as it's easy to knock them off during construction – Something I know from first-hand experience. 
 
Anyway, here's where we are as of now...

 
Next, I'll need to get back to finishing the lower hull modifications. But, before I get to that, I thought I'd start taking care of the many sculling oars I'll need. These are partial oars, so I don't have to make the whole oar, just the lower part that sticks out of the ship. This ship is represented as having 36 pairs of oars. 
 
Below, at the bottom, you can see the pieces as provided on the laser-cut sheets. Immediately above those is an example of one oar that's been cleaned up. At the top is a sculling oar from another model, so you can see what the whole thing should look like. I might have to make some full-length oars from scratch if I display any of the doors open. But, I don't know if I'll do that, as that leads to so many other details that aren't provided in the kit, like the internal deck, walls, and structural members, etc.
 

 
Cleaning up all these oars is slow going. Below are 12 cleaned-up sculling oars. Only 60 more to go.
 
Now, another modification I'm considering, though perhaps this one will be fairly minor. The kit includes a forward leaning mast, equipped with a yard and sail. Only a mast is depicted on the museum model, as that's all that's shown in the original painting. But, the kit looks like this:
 

 
Now, I think whole idea that the mast wasn't in the center of the ship is somewhat controversial. But, that it leans out in front of the shipmay be even more controversial. To my knowledge, this arrangement isn't seen on any other Japanese ship in history.
 
Now, I have noticed that the museum ship has a feature on deck that leads me to think that the forward leaning position might be just to drop it out of the way from the castle structure, and that it might be pulled upright when actually sailing. This would pivot the mast at its base, deep inside the hull, and cause it to come up through the deck, a bit further aft.
 
Unfortunately, the best museum photo I have that shows any of the deck in front of the castle structure is the on below. But, in it, you can see a few features that I've marked out with color arrows.
 

 
The red arrow points to what look like mast supports. To me, these are familiar as the tops of supports that stand to either side of the mast. The mast would usually be lashed to these supports. 
 
The green arrow points to what look like deck panels. Removable panels that stick up from the main deck would cover a long, narrow opening, through which the mast could be raised to a vertical position. Similar panels are seen on coastal transports. And, similar slots for the raising of masts are seen on  other types of Japanese sailing craft.
 
Now, this could simply be a museum invention to try to explain how this forward leaning mast might work. But, it makes sense to me. I can't see the whole features, but I can speculate. And, it would be easy enough to add this to the deck. Plus, it would give me a reason not to add the sail provided in the kit, which looks a bit odd to me anyway.
 
I suppose the yard arm could also easily be stored below deck and brought up through that slot when they decide to raise the mast and sail.
 
I'm going to try running this by a couple people who are familiar with atakebune before I make modifications there.