DCooper

Quick Progress; No mistakes today so good headway made. I've just noted that Jay added backstays to his build very much like those on the longboat builds… Interesting. On to the main mast. Dan

Thanks for all the great comments gentlemen. I find all your information and encouragement inspiring. I though a lot about Alistair's suggestion of mounting on brass rods and the did some snooping as Jay had advised. This is what I ended up with. Progress; Still very rough and I have to finish the base but nice and simple which is what I was going for. I could have made better use of proportions and centered better.( I think it looks a little odd that the base is centred on the hull and not the overall length of the boat.) But for a first try acceptable. On reflection I have given up on the kit sails for two reasons. One they don't look all that good up close and two it will simplify the build and thus help to make sure I finish. I would like to make my own but I know that will end up in disaster and much frustration. Better to keep having fun! Started work on the masts and rigging. I used flatted solder for the bands rather than the very thin brass strip provided. Ideally I'd like something about halfway between the two. Used some chemical blackening on the brass bits I did use and that worked much better than I had hoped. So far so good. The tapering went better than i had hoped but still need to tackle the main mast and the yards. I need to get some turned belaying pins the next time I'm at the shops and some other little bits but I think I can get most done with what I have now. As Michael points out I have been looking about for a next kit and Jay pointed out the neato MS Jongboat.... Hmmm very tempted what do you guys think of that kit? As always thanks for dropping in to have a look at my efforts and a million thanks for the support and guidance. Dan

Progress; Some minor touch ups to do but the base is solid. I'm going to do the cutouts next and start adding some bits for the rigging. The masts are still a way off. Jay, you were spot on about the sails, the kit ones are bigger than the plans and have some funky curves in them as well. A big thanks to you for pointing that out. I'm in two minds about using them now… Might just leave them off our stow them in the hull? Need to work out how I'm going to base this model. I might see if I can get some of those brass pedestals. Thanks for looking in. Dan

Progress; Rudder is on. Miss measured a bit in the lower pivot but it's not too noticeable. Need to get my act together and paint the lower hull then on to the masts, Yeah! Jay- Thanks for the intel and the link. I've spent a fair while looking about. Some very interesting material Dan

Progress; So far so good. Had to use a bit of brown two part epoxy putty to fill some bits at the bow and stern where parts just don't meet up properly. Most of what I'm not happy with is my own sloppy assembly. Not enough dry fitting and thinking ahead. I had to use some extra material to make the foot boards work because I didn't take the time to lay them out properly. Learning all the time and that's a good thing. Next on the list is to get the rudder fitted and make a start on the masts. I'm really unsure of all this but will forge ahead. I want to do more like what Jay has in his build rather than what the instructions show. I'll need to look over his posts a bit more before I commit to brass and wood. Still having fun, so much so that I'm thinking about a suitable next kit. Must be small because I need to push though and get it finished. Lots more to do on this one so plenty of time. Jay - Thanks for the kind words and wonderfully complete build posts. I'm going over them again and again for guidance. Amfibius - If you find a use for my photos I'd be honoured to be included in any posts you have planned. Ps. There are only little cut outs on the side of the hull for the oars to sit in. Shouldn't there be some kind of oarlock or at least an edge piece to support the top edge of the hull? Any suggestions or am I just over thinking this. Thanks for dropping by for a look.

Pretty simple setup Amfibus. Ixus 65 point and shoot on a very stable Manfrotto tripod. Camera set for Macro, ISO 80 and under exposed -2/3 plus timed delay to avoid shake. Two white foam core bounce cards to get some light into the shadows under the hull. Then a few post corrections in iPhoto to crop, resize, correct for colour and sharpen the image a touch. I find that iPhoto is a simple way to fix some of the limitations of my simple camera. Would love to upgrade to a DSLR... Maybe someday. Glad you like the hull so far. I do like taking nice clear photos. IHTH Dan

Progress; A bit of colour and some more parts. i had used all of the 1.5mm x 5mm Material so had to go to three hobby shops before I could find anything useful. Done for the day but hope to get some more internals done tomorrow. I have to work out exactly what I'm going to do with the paint scheme on the outside but that can wait for a little while yet. Thanks for dropping by for a look. Dan

Progress; Banished to the shed again so made good use of my time. Much scraping and sanding and a touch of filler. Still a bit rougher than I would like but better than I had originally thought possible. Should have sanded the inside face of the planks before I attached them as they are very rough but can't do much about it now. ( Next time...) Jay - Thanks for the support! Amfibius - Like what you are doing with the Launch and excited to see how it goes together. Hope you like my little efforts. I'll let this harden off overnight and see what I can get up too tomorrow. Much fun sanding away while listening to the Boxing Day Test. More adventures to come but this part was the one that had me most worried. So it is nice to have it in the bag. Thanks for stopping by to have a look. Dan

Great start and some interesting pointers on how to build this kit. Looking forward to your progress and wondering if this might be a a good second kit for me. I will be watching intently to see how you go. Thanks for taking the time to ducument your build. Dan

Progress; Not great and certainly not correct practice but less one little fill plank, done. Learned a lot by doing. Funny how actually working with the materials makes such a difference to understanding what people are saying when the write tutorials. If only I had correctly set out the top two planks I would have had room to use all full planks. But that's what happens when you are learning. Lot of sanding and a bit of filler and I think the hull will look okay. A coat of paint should help hide some sins too. I would do much differently next time but such is life. Off to bed soon so Santa can come. Thanks for looking in. Dan

Progress; Lots and lots of sanding, good thing for the cordless Dremel. About ready for my first go at planking. I'm going to try to put into use the planking articles from this site and some bits I've seen on other sites rather than the way it's shown on the plans. According to Jay if I do it this way I won't have enough materials so I'll have to wait until after Christmas to get some more to finish but there is no rush. All nice and smooth right now but I'm not sure I have got all the angles quite right. The great experiment begins! Just have to figure out what I'm doing by doing it. Jay and Captain Steve- I hope this meets with approval. Happy Christmas to all! Dan

Progress; All the frames cut out, sanded off the charred bits and fitted to the keel. A enjoyable few hours work but the boat is taking shape. I was surprised at the amount of charred bits to sand away. Even so the laser cutting is much nicer to deal with then the old die cut Gullows kits from my dark dimly remembered boyhood ; . I will glue the frame together tonight and let it dry overnight. Next comes the shaping of the frames for the planking. Jay - Thank you for your encouraging reply. Yours was one of the first build logs I read this morning. I really liked how your Jolly Boat came out and will shamelessly pinch ideas, and colour scheme, from you, I hope you don't mind. Thanks for the links and advise on planking. I have spent a bit of time this afternoon looking into techniques of planking. More informed but also more confused. I will need to get some materials in my hands before it all clicks together. Mostly I'm just having fun! Sailor1234567890 - Well it's only one picture but it's a start. I hope you like it. Dan

Well, my lovely wife surprised me this morning with a gift of my first wooden ship model. She chose the Artesania Latina HMS Bounty Jolly Boat on the recommendation of the local hobby shop. Her stated aim was to keep me from underfoot during the Christmas Holiday and to bring a smile to my face. I have dutifully retired to the shed and spent the morning reading all I can on this kit, fondling the contents of the box and grinning like a fool. Wonderful woman my wife. I hope to be able to finish this little gem of a kit to an acceptable standard. My skills with wood are very low but I have built many different kinds of kits in the past. My plan is to not try and get too fancy but stick pretty much to what's in the box and to apply a nice painted finish. The size of the kit looks manageable and not to intimidating to a newbie like myself both in sense of size and time required to complete. From what I can see I have all I need to finish the build in the box so it is just up to me now. I am a little concerned in the planking of the hull as most builds I have seen suggest to not follow the plans and plank in a different way. To be honest the ways suggested in the build logs look a bit more logical than what is proposed in the instructions. I will wait to cross that river once I have the frame built so I have something tangible to play with. I'm off to begin preparing the parts to build the frame. Really looking forward to experimenting with something new. I'll post a few photos once some bits are stuck together. So happy to start on a new journey. Dan

Your cannon look great and show a lot of effort and love spent on them. The gun deck is coming along fantastically. I very much like the overhead picture as is shows you deck to full advantage. A joy to follow along with your build. Thanks for sharing. Dan

Love watching what you are doing Verne. It takes a lot of heart to tear out work you aren't happy with and redoing it until it is just right. Great to see your progress and the vigour with which you work. Dan

Thanks Dave I took you advise and had a go tonight at replacing the windows with some 2.5mm thick clear plastic. I had to do each window a few times to get them to fit as well as they do. I think I could have done this better if I had tackled it before joining the hull halves as it is hard to get to the back side of the windows now. The bars are just painted on but look okay in this scale. I'll have to see how well they hold up to handling but worst case I just repaint them at the end. Think they look better now and I'm not going to keep beating myself up about them. Model building is supposed to be fun, not drudgery Thanks for looking in. DAn

I can't wait to see what's coming next. Great craftsmanship, thanks for sharing. Dan

Great to see your progress Verne. You have a wonderful mindset in that if you aren't happy with your first result you will pull it out and try again. An excellent way to model. Have fun and try new things but don't rush and except second best. Just don't get discouraged if you can't always match your expectations. I'm finding building a ship model is at a much slower pace that other model build I've done in the past. Ship building is very rewarding though. Looking forward to more progress from your build. Dan

Progress; (Sort of...) You know when you keep trying to get a certain look to something and it just doesn't work out no matter what you try? Well that's what's happening with me and these darn rear windows. I've tried a bunch of different ideas and in desperation I thought I would just paint the inside of my frosty Micro Crystal Clear hatchet job and be done with it. It looks like kack. I am contemplating my next move which is to rip this all out and use some clear plastic from a CD case and some tiny Evergreen styrene strips to make clear replacement windows. Sigh, such is modelling. On a happier note I have been going around the hull and painting bits with some success. Some work done on some more cannon and bits and bobs but nothing too much as the windows are giving me fits right now. Dave, Daniel and Texxn-- Thanks for the support and encouragement. There are times I want to just smack the hull with a large hammer. Evan-- Thanks for the research and photos you have been providing. They have been invaluable in getting a handle on what I would like to build. I'm trying to make something pleasing to the eye and accurate to 1812. I'm pleased you think my work is a long the right path. Thanks for stopping by for a look. Dan

Your jig looks like a winner. I like how you have slightly dished the wheel positions for better grip. May I suggest adding a small square of black painted plastic card to the underside of the carriage to add surface area for glueing? That's what I did and you can't see them once in position. The last thing we need is loose cannon. That cutter of yours looks wicked Great to see your progress. Dan

Steve, I build large scale yes, flying no. Here's my 1/24 Airfix Hurricane. Good luck on your Constitution. Oh and if you really want to blow you mind at what you can do with a plastic model ship check out Dafi's Victory! Dan

Hello and welcome Steve. What good fortune to score a big scale Constitution for only $20! Your best bet is to use the search function in the upper right of the screen to search for Revell Constitution. There are many of us building this beautiful old kit to different levels and all are sharing ideas and experiences. Everyone is super helpful and it matters very little what skill level you are at. I've learned so much about ship building ( I'm primarily a large scale aircraft modeller) from the kind and learned folks of this forum. So jump in and start reading! I would urge you to read as many posts of all kinds, both WIP and the separate how to sections as you can. There is always something interesting and helpful in all the posts on this site. If you can start your own WIP post and add to the fun. You'll get great feedback and advise if you get stuck, besides you add to the grand sum of the fun. Great to see you start posting and I'll be sure to look out for your WIP Dan

Marvellous! The best kind of post; inventive, informative and artistic. Thanks. Dan

little by little.... Good to see progress. Dan

progress; Mr Color copper with multiple washes of Flory weathering wash and watercolours. I've started to work on more of the trim and I have a question. If the broad stripe was repainted in yellow to confuse the British would the other trim remain white? Or was it yellow as well? My first thought was that it would remain white but I keep seeing it in different combinations. Thanks for any light you might shine on this. Dan