markjay

OK, the boats are now on the website.
 
The small 16 footer designed for the fishers:
 
Clinker-hull boats (full kit) – VANGUARD MODELS
 
The clinker cutter hulls:
Clinker-hull boats (3D-printed) – VANGUARD MODELS
 
And three new sizes of detailed lanterns with 5 sizes now to choose from:
Lanterns – High Detail (sold individually) – VANGUARD MODELS
 
And finally, I have ordered the pearwood dowel. Once I receive (told 6-8 weeks), I will make up upgrade sets for Sphinx and perhaps others, to replace  the masts and yards walnut dowel.

As this is a VM-product topic, you'll now be able to check out the link for the new, more refined 22ft cutter hull. On the site right now! 😉😚

Oh, I  wish I had known these were coming as I only last week got a 14ft. one from a company you know well where you need to use black card for ribs...  yours look beautiful! 

I guess I have to respectfully disagree with the statement above that if you get the Sphinx you should have the skills to build the kit boats.     The following may sound a bit weird but part of the "fault" is that you have made such a wonderfully, buildable kit that the skills required for those small kit boats may often be beyond the skills of many modelers.
I for one really had little problem with the main ship, but I failed miserably with the small boats.   My failure was to the extent that I actually quit the build at that point and have put the hull on display without the boats.  (Note I never intended to rig the model as I don't have room for any more fully rigged model ships).     I have followed most (if not all) of the build logs for the Sphinx and I have yet to see any results for the small boats other than by Jim (whose skill level I will never attain).
I do have Caldercraft kit small boats and am not totally pleased with the result.   It looks like your new small boats may be a partial answer to my lack of skills.

I think Caldercraft sells a 1/64 scale copper plate that is etched (no dimples) in sheet form. You may also want to check out Bluejacket.

I think Caldercraft sells a 1/64 scale copper plate that is etched (no dimples) in sheet form. You may also want to check out Bluejacket.

Wow and welcome.

Wow and welcome.

Wow and welcome.

Wow and welcome.

Welcome to MSW.

Welcome to MSW.

Welcome to MSW.

My rendition of Fifie ….finished! And on my birthday.
A colourful and happy fisher boat as I’ve done her, with lots of detail. This is a faultless kit that results in a substantial model, bigger than it looks. Lots of scope for adding your own custom bits. Don’t really like sails up on my models for some reason so set mine down, despite doing all the detail on it. At least I know it’s there I suppose. It’s rigged properly so can be pulled up.
Those in the know history wise on this craft may recognize the name and number.
Best wishes of the season to everyone!

Next, the oars were prepared. The blanks from Corel had to be sanded and adjusted quite intensively. It might have been easier to make the oars from a strip with a square cross-section. Since later the ship will be visible mainly from the starboard side, I assigned the slightly worse oars to the port side. Also between port and starboard was later differentiated in the simulated attachment of the protective boards (knots/gluing on the keel side of the oars). To fix the rudders better, small pieces of wire (diameter 0.2 mm) were first sunk into the shaft. However, it turned out that these wire pins made adjusting the oars rather difficult. They were therefore subsequently ground off.

To adjust the oars on the ship, I made a template that imitated the bend of the ship's side. The distance between the oars was marked. On the outside, the oars were brought to the same distance by a spacer bar.   



For the showcase I used acrylic glass. The showcase was mounted under a sloping roof. The easier sawing of acrylic glass proved to be advantageous here. Now in the showcase it becomes especially clear what dimensions the ship has. In retrospect, building the ship was a lot of fun even if the material from Corel sometimes left something to be desired. 
 


 
 

Hi Harvey, I'm not sure when the museum model was made. But, to be clear, it's in the Saga Cultural Nagoya Castle Museum on Kyushu and not at the Nagoya Castle in Nagoya(!). I didn't even know about the first one until a few months ago.
 
As for my Atakebune model, I'm making small amounts of progress on it, specifically with the gluing down of the deck of the box structure. But, I haven't worked on the much in the past several days, while I've been dealing with work and life issues.
 
Meanwhile, I'm studying the stern area of the model and I keep thinking of ways to complicate the model in the name of making it look more accurate. There are a couple issues I'm seeing that I'd like to fix. One of them is the piece that fits into the stern area, where I've outlined in red below.
 

 
Below on the right, is the piece which was provided, which is fine. On the left is my idea of what this area should look more like. It's something of a compromise, since it needs to fit the other parts in the kit. This whole thing would be planked over on top.
 

 
Test fitting this piece into place, you can also see below, the new, larger beam I made. Again, this is a bit of a compromise. And, there's a lot to explain here...
 

 
First off, that "plaform" should really be resting on top of this heavy beam. Woody Joe moved these aft beams up so they directly support the box structure. But, if you look at the museum model, you can see a kind of riser on top of the beams and under the box structure, designated by the green arrow.
 

 
I also drew a red line following the heavy beam and note how the platform structure rests on it. 
 
Also, the rudder is aft of the heavy beam, not in front of it, as provided in the kit. The main purpose of that heavy beam is to hold the rudder in place, and the rudder kind of rides it. The heavy beam should also be notched to receive the rudder, which should be held against it with a heavy rope.
Below is another comparison of the two stern parts, along with the heavy beams. On the left is all scratch and on the right are the kit parts.
 

 
The kit (parts on the right) is supposed to have the rudder passing through that opening just above the heavy beam, but it should really be behind the beam (below, in the picture). So, my solution on the left, was to wide the main part of the beam to make room for the rounded notch.
 
Now, there are a lot of different options I could have taken, and my original thought was just to use the new beam with that old solid platform. Anyway, the platform should be planked over, and that would be very easy to do here, except that beams are made to ride directly on this platform, so the planking would have to allow for that. But, the same is true for my solution.
 
Still, my solution is a compromise, and I'm considering options. It's a compromise because that beam should really be underneath that platform. But, do to that, I'd need to remake at least a section of the hull planks. 
 
And so, I kind of sit and ponder... But, again, this is my first of two kits, and I might just save such a modification for the second kit. 
 
If I do make the modification, it basic means remaking the two pieces marked with arrow and cut about I marked the red line.
 

 
One benefit is that I could also get rid of that little assembly notch that I circled in red.
 
Back to pondering...
 
 
 

Hi, I think I want to copper the hull for the Prince De Neufchatel which comes without copper. How do you go about measuring the hull to determine how much is needed? I'm sure there is a formula for this. 
Thanks

Wow thanks fellows. In a way that was the way my thinking was going. I plan to using a cloth tape measure. Measure stem to stern at the waterline. Measure midship waterline to keel to stern and stem. Times two. That should give me a rough square inch amount to work with. Caldercraft sells a 1/64 scale copper plate that is etched (no dimples) in sheet form. I'll find out how many square inches a sheet covers and work from there. Probably not cheap but I do not like the look or working with foil.
As always thanks for the help timely response and knowledge sharing.

Wow thanks fellows. In a way that was the way my thinking was going. I plan to using a cloth tape measure. Measure stem to stern at the waterline. Measure midship waterline to keel to stern and stem. Times two. That should give me a rough square inch amount to work with. Caldercraft sells a 1/64 scale copper plate that is etched (no dimples) in sheet form. I'll find out how many square inches a sheet covers and work from there. Probably not cheap but I do not like the look or working with foil.
As always thanks for the help timely response and knowledge sharing.

That was my thought..  Just didn't elaborate..

I'd use one of those cloth sewing tape measures and not a metal or plastic one.  The cloth will follow the hull shape better.

If the masking tape sounds like too much work, you can use a tape measure flat on the hull and measure the distance at the waterline between stem and stern, then measure the distance from waterline to keel amidships, you would have a nice rectangular area that would include some extra room for waste factor.

Make a “Plating Expansion.”  BC, before CADD, Draftsmen In shipyards made these drawings for ordering plates from the steel mills.  While you don’t have to make an actual drawing you can use the same idea.
 
First, divide the hull into regularly spaced intervals, and mark each on your hull from keel up to the upper limit of your plating.  Also mark the upper limit of the plating.  You only need to do this on one side.  Think a half model.
 
Cut out a bunch of paper strips.
 
Wrap each paper strip around the half hull vertically from keel to the upper edge of the plating.  Mark the location of keel and upper edge on the paper.  Do this for each interval using a separate strip of paper each time.
 
Multiply each girth measured above, by the interval that you selected.  The first and last strips should be multiplied by the distance of that girth measured to the bow or stern as applicable.
 
Add the results obtained above together.
 
Multiply this x2.
 
Add a waste factor

Cover 1/2 the hull with a layer of masking tape.  Draw the water/copper line. Trace the stem, stern and keel..  Peel it off.  Lay it out flat and measure..
 
Multiply by 2 and add some wiggle room..

Mark,
Interesting question.    I don't know that there is a formula as all ships types have different shapes.  You could go on the safe side and take the length along the center station from port and starboard where the top of the coppering ends,  then multiply it by the length of the ship.   It will be more than you need, but a safe number.  Take a string from point A to B below and multiply that length  by the length of the model.  Keep in mind the plates overlap 1.5 inches but measuring at the largest part of the hull will compensate for the amount needed.  According to Goodwin in The Construction and Fitting of the Man of War on pages 225-227, the plates should be  4' 0" long X 1' 3" and nailed to the hull, not bolted with a 1/4"  nail every 1.25 inches or so.  He gives  very detailed drawings on page 225.   Depending on your scale, it may be best to leave out the impressions of nails.  Most kits plating is totally out of scale with dimples that are too large, too few, and protrude rather than indent.   You have a great opportunity to show them as they actually were.
Allan