mikiek

Hey Darrell - I'm wondering - with all the rigging tools available out there - what have you found useful? What did you buy? What did you make?

I'm putting together the Panart Gun Station kit and got to wondering. Most of the tools used to load a gun are something on a stick and maybe about 4'-5' long. Gun crews were counting on the recoil to get the gun into loading position, and the breech rope to stop it at some point. So how far back would a gun be when the reloading begins? Obviously the answer is however long the breech rope is. It seems like it would have to be pretty far in order to be able to use the tools. I've been trying to find a video or Youtube showing the entire process from loading to firing. And I don't mean the little pop-gun loads - those don't even move the gun half the time. Not as easy as it sounds. Thanks for any feedback you can provide.

Tamiya has an acrylic color called Dark Iron. I use that a lot instead of blackening.

Ya know it's funny (or sad) but I wouldn't trade any of them. They're "The Stuff" - to quote an old favorite flic. However, if I don't get over the rigging thing quite a few may never get built. I will say that the rigging plans in most of the kits are better than Niagara. Model Expo just crammed too much on one page. Several of the other kits - the ones from Victory models for instance - have 7-8 pages of rigging. All shown in manageable chunks. 3-4 pages for running and 3-4 pages for standing.

It's all downhill from there Mike

The thing you have to watch is some of those finishes will yellow over time.

Don't get like me. My shelf has more kits than I will complete in a lifetime.

Didn't realize until just now you were doing the Mamoli kit. It all makes more sense now. I have the Model Expo version. Some of what you have been describing was throwing me because my kit didn't have it.

Darrell - Thank you for all you have put into this!

Have you contacted Model Expo about the defective parts?

I used Titebond Moulding & Trim glue. It has more tack than regular Titebond. It's thicker so it doesn't run. In most cases it sets very quickly. One good thing about the PVA glues, if you do get some on whatever you are gluing, a damp rag will get it up. You get CA where you don't want it and good luck getting it off. That said, there certainly is a place for CA. I use it like "nails" for decking and hull planking. CA in a few spots to quickly hold the plank, PVA to glue the long edge of a plank to the adjacent plank. As I mentioned if the PVA squirts out between the long edges, just wipe it down with a damp rag or paper towel. One note: do not let the CA and PVA mix. I've found that neither will set well if that happens. Cog may have been referring to the fact that glue doesn't hold as well if the parts have been lacquered, painted, etc.

Darrell - are you happy with the order that you chose for the spars? Bowsprit, fore, main. Knowing what you do now, would you do it again?

Don't know how you do it - pics usually make things look bad, not good.

Brian - I believe Rattlesnake is all basswood. Marks-a-lot? You know, magic marker, felt tip pen. You'll hear some argue against them, but with boxwood it worked very well for me. This is marked on all edges for all planks. If you want less do like you did one long edge and one short edge.

It's beautiful Darrell. Well done.

Satin or matte for your finish Brian. Something to think about for your next kit. I've done this for Niagara, Rattlesnake and a few others. Get one of the custom wood guys to replace the basswood with something like boxwood, pear or holly. The wood is a lot harder. Your edges will be much cleaner. It cuts and shapes much better. If not the whole kit then at least the deck and hull planks. I don't remember exactly, but I think the Rattlesnake replacement for everything was about $100. With boxwood, I was able to use a Marks-a-lot on the plank edges. The wood is not porous so it doesn't run or sink in like basswood. Just beware, if you do the replacement for one kit you may never want to go back to basswood.

Onwards thru the fog. Still haven't figured out all the mis-numbering of the bucket disks. Thanks to Paul's log I did see that a bucket bottom has 2 disks. One is solid. The other has a square cutout in the center for the support beam. Both are the same size. I assume that is the same pattern for the upper disks, although I see no need for the solid disk. The upper disk will be painted black and that provides enough cover for the support beam. The first bucket I made is stained rather than painted red. I think I prefer that look. Finished a few of the gun tools. I've hung the table and glued down the benches. However after seeing the pic, I will have to shorten the loop a little. Thanks to Joel's notes, I decided to go back and add the lining to the gun ports. I was going to just paint it all red, now I will probably stain it some dirty wood color. I do like the lining - it adds a bit of detail.

Thanks Pete - always looking to add to the library. I'll take a look at it.

OK - I'm stumped. I was going to start making the buckets in between other things. There's a wood sheet with a bunch of disks on it - the tops & bottoms. The sheet parts are not numbered, but there is a page in the back of the instructions that shows the sheet with disks numbered. One big problem - the disk numbers called for in the plans do not match the numbers in the instructions.

Here's another thought. Cannons will be behind bulwarks right? Not completely in plain view? What if you shimmed any cannons that you think point too low?

Haven't heard of the Goodwin book. Wonder why Panart made the lids so thick?

Brian - I have this one on the shelf. Going from 2 masts to 3? Easier? I wasn't clear on your deck issue. Is the false deck still glued down or did you tear it out? If it's just a dip in one place you could smooth out some filler over it? I had an issue with my Enterprise build - the bulkheads had a slope from the center outwards as would be expected. The false deck had none so it didn't sit flush. I ended up gluing the deck down - with CA - bulkhead by bulkhead and holding in place until the CA set. My point is you can use the CA almost like nails. Eventually any 2 pieces will stick together. Then reinforce with PVA along the joints.

Time to resurrect this project!!! While I am debating with myself over rigging Niagara, I hate losing build time. No rigging here so no excuses. It's been so long I forgot where I was. In our last episode, I was building a gun so that I could get the ports positioned properly. Finished one gun, I think it came out pretty nice although the quion looks a little big. I've also finished the ports and doors. As Bob said, when made per the instructions those doors are quite thick. I went ahead and did them that way. The problem becomes how they fit into the port when they are hinged. I ended up sanding a lot off the bottom of the doors and angled that surface a bit as well. They look a little funky when closed, but I plan to leave them open for display. The overall color scheme appears uncertain in the kit. Different pics show different colors for the same items. I needed to paint the supports so I made an executive decision to go with what Tamiya calls Wooden Deck Tan. Here's the first pass, it'll need a second coat. Ever since the start of this build I've been paranoid about trying to get big fat hands inside and under the support pieces. And now that is coming into play. The instructions seem rather hodge-podge in the order of things - placing some items near the outside and then telling you to do something inside of that.. Instead, I've taken the approach of working from the inside out. So dead center inside is the hanging table and benches. I put those together this evening. Instructions call for 2mm x 8mm walnut planks for this. I couldn't find any in the kit but there were some limewood of that size. I believe those will be used for the upper deck but I used a few for the table and benches. Then stained them a dirty brown. I'll need to finish painting the supports before installing them. I made one mistake and glued the support knees in place before drilling a hole in the center knee. The hole is for a pin that is inserted into the back edge of the table and on into the knee. Trying to get a pin vise with bit in there now will be a challenge and the hole will not be square to the knee but no one but me and you will ever know It was really fun getting back to this kit. Working with the wood and solving those type of problems is what I enjoy most in this hobby!

Well I have a start on Constructo Enterprise but I expect the same rigging issues there. I am also building a PanArt Gunnery Station Cross Section (no rigging required). But for a serious build I have 2 kits that have the lateen sails. The triangular fore to aft type. The rigging is very simple - Amati Galley Arrow or Occre Cazador. Both are interesting departures from the square rigged builds. Ya know some times I feel like I'm wimping out by not rigging Niagara. Other times I really like the look with no strings on it. I've been trying to figure out how to turn it into the Admiralty style look.

Don't blame you regarding the rigging Brian. I'm probably going to do the same thing.