petervisser

Congratulations on your very fine looking Bellona. I was following along and you had a very interesting build log. I like the fact that you kept with the all natural wood finish. it really shows off your craftsmanship. Cheers, Peter

I'd like to plug Oxford Companion to the Seas. Lots of wonderfull info in alphabetical order no less! It covers a broad range of topics and should answer all your queries. The book is widely available on the internet at a very respectable price. Cheers, Peter

Well, the railings are completed. It was a bit of a slog. The first coat of primer took 2 hours to apply to all the railings. Phew. That was a bit much, my neck and back told me. Thereafter I painted them in sections as they still wanted two coats of white. But now they're finished and I am pleased woth the results. Modelling will now take a back seat for a few months as summer is arriving and the outdoors and the yard call for some attention instead. I hope to putter with the ships boats during rainy days, whenever they happen. Cheers guys!

Thanks for the tip guys. I'll try that in the future. I have an ancient Danmark kit that has a ton of railings as well. And thanks for looking in too! Peter

Hi All, I have been busy in the shop of late due to the self isolation and making some progress. But boy, there is no rushing with a model ship so things are going slowly. I have been detailing some more of the main deck and added some fairleads and mooring bits here and there. I have also tackled the railings on the foc'sle and aft deck which went rather well considering. I tried my hand a soldering and it went so-so. In the end, I found that they didn't need it, and all is well seated without. I had intended to solder them so I could paint the railings off the model. But they looked so good without solder that I decided to paint them in situ. Therefore I had to tape off the stanchions at the base. Now the tedious painting begins. One coat of primer and two top coats. It took 2 hours for the first coat. Yikes. As mentioned earlier, model ship building is not done at lighning speed...

Thanks for the spreadsheet Allan. When it becomes the Danmark's turn to appear on my bench, your rigging plan will come to good use! Cheers, Peter

Hi Keith, Your model is looking fantastic! Have you been able to use all the Billing fittings or have you had to resort to buying third party fittings? Having built a few of their kits myself, I have made due with what they supply but sometimes resort to poaching bits and pieces from other kits I have that are still in the box. I am tempted to purchase the Billing Victory myself. Your model makes it very tempting... Cheers, Peter

I just finished up the labour intensive work on the deadeyes on the main deck. It was a multi-step process that invoved some "metalwork". Billing supplies the chain plates and a bunch of plastic deadeyes. I opted to poach a bunch of deadeyes from another kit so as to use the chainpates that were provided. It would not have been easy to use them together. Once the chainplates and deadeyes were married, I used a drop of glue to make them rigid so as to paint them easier. Here's a bunch of pictures showing the process...

Have to say I have always put black thread between the seams of the planks on the decks of my models. I realize that others do it differently and I really admire some of their techniques, but to each their own. As for the procedure, I now have a method that works for me. First I give all the planks a preliminary sanding before I glue them to the false deck. Then I lay down a plank to glue it. Before the next plank is put down I wax and lay down a black thread adjacent the plank. The wax helps somewhat in keeping the thread in place. Then the next plank is glued down adjacent to the thread, which provides the space between planks. Once the planking is completed, the threads are removed. The planking can now be sanded again to remove any glue and smooth out rough spots. I also take a #19 exacto blade and run it dwon the seams to remove any glue that might have got left behind. Then the thread is laid down again between the planks. I like my decks lacquered so I apply a coat as the threads are laid down. It takes a couple coats of matt lacquer to finish off the decks for me. I realize it's a bit of a process but I like the results, so I keep doing it. Not for everybody I know, but hey, we're snowflakes, we're all different. Here are a few pic's...

After just about snapping off the bowsprit (several times) and the dolphin striker (once), it was time to take some preventative measures. I decided to "splint" the offending spar so as to avoid some dfficult repairs later on. Here is my solution. Once the bowsprit has some standing rigging in place, I can dispense with the milk carton.

Finally, here are some photos of the gunwale stanchions and trim along with the attachment of the foc'sle deck. I didn't think I would bother with the trim and stanchions but other builders of this model added them so I had to try and keep up. I have finally found a re-purpose for the styrofoam trays our meat gets packaged in. They are perfect for holding tiny fittings while they get painted! What with the foc'sle deck being added, I had to afix the bowsprit in place. This made the model instantly longer by 8.5" so it is alot more susceptible to damage. Yikes!

The hull trim has also been added. The strips were pre-bent and prepped with paint or stain before they were nailed/glued to the hull. This whole process was pretty tricky and it did not turn out perfectly, but it will have to do. Next time around I think I will glue them on while the hull is bare wood and paint or finish them in place with masking tape. I did however rough up the paint with sandpaper so that the glue had a better chance of holding.

Well, work has been progressing albeit slowly. The decks are finally all caulked and several layers of varathane applied. This is what they look like now...

Your ship must be getting to be a challenge to lift and move. She looks amazing! Peter