petervisser

She's a beauty!
Looking back on some of the posts of your build log I saw some discussion about a display case. I have built display cases for all my models and it's not as difficult as it might seem at first. Take it from somebody who is not particularly talented with adult tools as opposed to modelling tools. (Me)  I have discovered a site of building a display case whilst seaching for an improved method over mine and found it on modelshipcases.com by Wes Marden. It's a detailed build log of building a display case and except for a table saw, all the other tools used in its construction are pretty basic. It costs just $12US to download the instructions and I plan on using his method in building my next case.
For me, it's cringeworthy that a piece of finely constructed ship model be subjected to the elements such as years of dust accumulation and cats.... Especially cats.
Peter

A stunning piece of work Patrick. Well done!
Peter

Thanks.   I never intended to put sails on her.  It would be an enormous challenge at this small scale.

A quick progress report.  As of today all main mast yards together with their lifts and hoists have been fabricated and mounted on my model.  This required a lot of time and patience.  Rigging the main topsail yard hoist was probably the most difficult part of the build so far, especially the weaving of the fine chain through the gin blocks and getting the parts to stick properly to the model.  Next week I will take on the foremast yards!

So, accepted delivery of the brass rods I ordered and promptly spent an entire day working on the poop railings.  The success of my plan was absolutely not guaranteed.  Decided to post the results as I'm pretty happy that I have a method that worked, if not a bit tedious to execute.  But that is all part of the challenge and satisfaction of modeling.
 
I decided on 0.8mm rod for the stanchions and 0.5mm rod for the railing.  That gets it pretty close to scale, but scale would be smaller sized.  My eyes and hands would have trouble if much smaller.  The process was to squeeze flat (~2mm) the end of a 0.8mm rod with smooth-faced pliers, then drill a 0.5mm hole through the flat.  After that I filed excess brass from around the hole to make a tight ring.  Once the hole is made, I then cut the stanchion to length measuring from the hole.  The problem with my method is that the hole is never exactly where I want it as this is done free-hand and the drill tends to skate around.
 
I learned something new about the CS after trying to verify the number of stanchions to make.  The Underhill plans which I often reference (which are supposed to be based on Longridges Falmouth observations) show 7 stanchions on each side, while the Campbell (as built) plans show 5.  After studying my Falmouth images, I counted 6!  Most of my Falmouth images of the poop are taken from the port side.  I haven't looked into it, but the CS was fixed in place, and I believe the port side was generally the side that received the best sunlight.  I did however find a couple pictures where I could count the starboard side... and there were 5!  This was a surprise and no idea why the difference.  In the end I decided to go with 5 on each side despite the historical inaccuracy.
 
I located and drilled holes along each side of the poop and pressed the stanchions into place.  I then ran the railings.  I did this as the stanchions are held in place while I soldered the intersections.  After soldering I pulled the assemblies out to paint.  I use a solder that is 96% Sn and 4% Ag.  I have my soldering iron set for 740C as the Ag requires more heat to flow well.  I dabbed on some flux, applied a small amount of solder to the iron tip, and then applied to the joint.  This makes it less likely to over-apply solder.  It is totally a matter of feel as to how much solder to use.  The goal is to fill the joint to make a somewhat spherical look.
 
I had to paint the railings twice as in my zeal to finish I forgot to wash the flux off with EtOH.  Paint doesn't stick to flux.
 
My next step is to try and do the outer railings, which feature two rail runs.  the lower rail is smaller than the top rail, so will use 0.45mm rod.  These stanchions will likely be much harder to make but doable.
 
 


 
A soldering test.  Needed a little more solder.




 
A late Falmouth image of the poop.  Note the uneven stanchion counts!

Have been inching along on the poop deck cabin.  Far from finished and not glued into place yet but far enough along to show some measurable progress.
 
In an earlier post I showed where I stopped work on the re-do some 40 years ago.  I was in the process of reshaping it.  I removed the old skylight, finished shaping the sides and then put down a new deck over the old one.  As with the other houses, I used 0.5mm thick cherry veneer to layer up the vertical faces of the cabin itself and entry ways.  The caps and entry tops were done with 1mm stock.  Didn't turn out too bad but man was it a lot of tedious work.
 
The most difficult part of the skylight was cutting the rods out of soft Fe wire.  The real skylight features more guard rods but at this scale I had to reduce the number.  As it was, I ended up gluing each rod into place freehand.  Your eye can pick up the uneven spacing but not too much to spoil the effect.
 
Next, I'll figure out a way to make the railings.  Have been giving that a lot of thought.  I don't have the brass rod sizes to do this so needed to order a selection.  Looking forward to the railings and will at the same time probably work on all the other railings for efficiency's sake.  Doesn't appear the poop railings are included on the current CS restoration, or maybe my pictures are too old.  I will also be making a binnacle, stern lamp, and a couple other deck features found during the early Falmouth days.
 
 

Work continues albeit at a slower pace now that spring has arrived. Between the installation of the running rigging, I have added the running lights which the Cutty Sark would have shown in her early days. The kit did provide 2 lanterns and sidelight screens, but they were not of the correct scale. This became evident when dry fitted onto the shrouds. Thankfully, I had some brass lanterns which were scavenged at some point and they seemed to be the perfect size. The screens were therefore modified and reduced in size accordingly. The kit did not provide a sternlight which to me seems a major oversight. Here are some photos of the results.
 

As I get close to retirement I am shifting my business plan a bit.   I am not retiring yet,  but I am starting to create the end game plan.     My business is currently really two sep. divisions or production flows.      Production of kits and then Production of after market parts, blocks and rope and fittings etc.   Both take a huge amount of time and effort.  I have mentioned before that I am currently working 7 days a week and 12 hours a day easily.  Now that I have moved and enjoy the leisure living in the back country of NJ, my wife has started to use the word "leisure" as a verb.   Chuck we need to "leisure" more.  You work to much.  I want to travel more.  You are going to have a heart attack...yada yada yada.    Sooo,  the Speedwell will be my last physically produced kit.  In addition,  I have stopped production of all of my kits...Kind-of.   I AM NOT GOING OUT OF BUSINESS.  Let me make that perfectly clear.  In fact my business and sales is now greater than at the height of the pandemic.  Lots of rope and blocks being sold.  LOL  I have many many years left in me.    BUT moving forward, I will now be focusing on just fittings and related ship model items...No kit model production.      I am retiring all of my kits.  This includes Speedwell.   I sold the last of 50 Speedwell chapter 1 and 2 sets recently.   I will only be selling the remaining chapters to those who bought those 50 chapter one and two sets.   So that will be easy enough for me to handle and administer.     Its just getting tougher and tougher to source enough wood to make this stuff in the USA and remain profitable.   I also dont want keep buying and storing a mountain of wood in my garage.  Literally a mountain of it as you can imagine.  In addition I just dont have the time or desire to do this in 60's.   The good news is that I will be introducing a ton of new fittings.  Stuff for French ships too!!  I am slowly revamping my website...and you might experience disruptions as I make it easier to find all of the fittings I offer.  I have hundreds and hundres already  and many more on the drawing board.    This is mindless repetitive work and will help pay the bills into retirement and beyond.  So no plans to stop making that stuff anytime soon.   In fact my wife wont let me fully retire until Im 67 so there is that.  God bless her.   Now the fun part...just because I am not producing these current kits any longer doesnt mean that someone else wont be MFGing them.   All of my kits already available will not just go away...you do know him and love him.   I have reached an agreement with Chris at Vanguard who will be taking over the reigns and manufacturing my kits.   This will take some time as Chris is finishing up his Surprise model kit.      The Winnie group is fine...just not selling any more starter bulkhead sets or chapter one sets.   I will continue making later chapter sets available for the group in perpetuity.  Its not a big deal until Chris can take over.      The longboat group build will also remain because that will probably be the first kit being produced by Chris followed by the barge.   So stay tuned and please dont bother Chris about getting any of this stuff.  It will be made available as soon as he can get to it.  He is busy like me...so keep that in mind.   All Winnie parts, and Speedwell Chapter sets and Cheerful parts will continue being sold on MY site for folks currently building them until the hand-off is eventually made.   So fear not!!!   NOW...this frees me up to build and design Newer projects.  These however will be made with the idea that the models will be built using plansets and thus not dependent on kit production.  Those will be released here as open source plans or at Seawatch as a new book.  Or if Chris wants,  he can take them and run with them too.  That is my retirement plan.   Keep making parts for sale for all of your projects while still building models that interest me and passing those designs on.   Now back to making rope!!!  Blocks!!! and other stuff....   Lantern mini kits both English and French are next on deck.  Then ship's wheels and a whole host of other good stuff for you folks!!!       Chuck

OK, I'm hooked. You have another follower,Peter. You have done a fine job on her. I will enjoy this, even if I am very late to the party  

Work continues albeit at a slower pace now that spring has arrived. Between the installation of the running rigging, I have added the running lights which the Cutty Sark would have shown in her early days. The kit did provide 2 lanterns and sidelight screens, but they were not of the correct scale. This became evident when dry fitted onto the shrouds. Thankfully, I had some brass lanterns which were scavenged at some point and they seemed to be the perfect size. The screens were therefore modified and reduced in size accordingly. The kit did not provide a sternlight which to me seems a major oversight. Here are some photos of the results.
 

I finished the yacht last month. Here is the result:
 

The model is exhibited below the drawing hanging on the wall in my living room:

Emiel tried to match the pictures he took with the drawing. It looks as if I was not far off:

Once he is finished with his photoshop painting I will present the result.
 
 

Thanks Peter,
I'll have a look.
Many thanks.
 
Cheers and Regards,
 
Harry.

Hi HOF. Just saw your latest post and see that you're rigging anchors. You might want to take a look at Prince de Neufchatel by Coyote_6 – Constructo – 1/58 scale - American privateer. I ran across his build log and he has rigged his just recently. I will be following his procedure which appears to me as being the most accurate method. 
Cheers,
Peter

I learned long ago to rig the ropes with barely enough force to pull them straight, without bending anything. This will eliminate almost all slack lines.
 
You can permanently fix ropes in the straight shape by painting the rope with shellac or white glue (shellac for polyester and white glue for cotton and silk). This is also good for "training" lines to have a  smooth curve or sag where appropriate.
 
However, I do have this problem on my current build with lines to the fore course (spreader) yard because there are several lines lifting the yard and none pulling down. The yard rides up and the lifts and buntlines go slack. If I had rigged the course the lines to that sail would have pulled the yard down. I can probably solve this problem by weighting down the yard to stretch the lines tight and then fasten (glue) the trusses to the mast. Another option is to drill a small hole through the yard and into the mast, and push a wire or pin through to hold the yard in position.

Thanks Steve, for the mini tutorial on how to stow an anchor. I was pondering how I might mount the anchors on my own model, and presto, I ran across your build log.
Cheers, Peter

Heave a pawl an' heave away
Weigh hey, roll and go!
The anchor’s on board and the cable’s all stored 
Rollickin’ randy dandy-O!  
 
Only took two-ish weeks (!).

 
Starboard Bower.

 
And Larboard Bower.

 

 
Cathead line...

 
Captain Amati is pleased.

 
Cables.

 
And in her element while working on the starboard anchor.

 

 
Moving on to the bowsprit in accordance with Darcy Lever's Sheet Anchor.
 
 

Thanks for the kind words Mark.  I am no expert, but my first task was to get the lines hanging equal and straight and glue them to the cathead and block and dry.  Don't get your lines crossed up when rigging the block - inboard line to inboard holes, outboard to outboard.  Forward to forward holes, aft to aft holes.  Hope that makes sense?
 

 
The rope in this case is Syren Ultra .025 inch (synthetic).
 
But the key is to get the rope glued to the sides of the block so you don't have the line bulging out in all directions.  I used a little toothless alligator clamp to pinch the lines around the block while they were drying and that also left the nice inwards facing curves at the top of the block.
 

 

 
When you hook the block to the anchor, I used a light pressure on a pin vise handle to coax a gentle arc in the lines.
 

 
Finally, I feel there is a natural order to which lines are outboard and which are inboard.  You may have to change their order in the arc to get the best lay?
 

 
Hope that helps you somewhat.  If I couldn't get them straight dry I might try dampening the runs slightly.  But use care if you secured the block with diluted white glue as water will release that bond.  Definitely try dry first.

I decided to add one final update to depict the Alert cased up. I didn't quite realize that it would take me three months to put together a case for the Alert, but time has a way of marching on. I first tracked down some acrylic sheets for the top of the case. Using a jig to keep the pieces in place I applied a liquid called Weld-on 4 to fuse the pieces of acrylic together. After the top had set for several day I removed the protective backing paper from the acrylic. During the backing removal I found out that I overdid the Weld-on in a two areas and the adhesive from the backing etched itself into the acrylic. I may try to polish it out, but I my not for fear of making things worse (and it is on the back and the side of the case so not terribly noticeable to anyone but me). After creating the covering I moved onto the base.
 
I will start this off by saying I used a method that I saw on MSW to build a base with a rebate (rabbit?) without a router. I bought two pieces of plywood and a strip of molding (the molding was the combined height of the two pieces of plywood). I cut down the plywood to the size of the top of the case. I don't have a large table saw, so I attempted to use my circular saw to cut the rectangles out of the plywood sheet. I quickly learned that I need a bit more practice with the saw as I failed to cut rectangular pieces. There were close enough though (and lumber prices have risen so much since I bought those sheets that I wasn't about to toss them) so I pressed on. I then trimmed off the edges of the top sheet to account for the width of the plexiglass and attached the sheets together. I then attached the molding around the edges, applied some protecting poly and was done. All said I'm pretty happy with a first attempt.
 

I have added Vanguard's 18 ft cutter to the display (the first edition) and I have also realized that I never added the Alert name plates anywhere - I suppose there's always one more thing 🙂 but this is the final "build" post of the log. Eventually, I'll start another log - I'm currently still hacking away at the NRG half hull but we are preparing for a local move this summer and I'll need to hold off on anything not currently started until after that.
 

A short break in construction. Czech Republic Championship competition and model exhibition in the beautiful surroundings of the Czech Doksy Castle..🔥

https://www.klom-admiral.cz//id:12346/micr-sekce-c-2025-zamek-doksy
 
I continue to produce other blocks of smaller dimensions. "Machine" production with shaped cutters..




waxed...

I'm gradually getting smaller and smaller.


There will still be a lot of manual labor here..😴

well indy is certainly back, and i hope to complete her by the end of this month May 2025. just completed the mizzen yard lifts
the stern copper plates, wore away from handling ( another tape error i have learnt, and will be replace before the rudder is fitted, the bow is not so bad
i certainly understand full fat rigging now, just how many more lines should i have hade to put on the Caldercraft HMS Victory
sorry about the pants photos the room is long enough but not the width, so hope to get her outside this week
and the bois say hello

 
 

FINISHED!
 
I completed the rigging, did a pit of paint touch up, secured lines on deck. All that's left is putting it in the glass case. Time to start thinking about the next kit..... I welcome all suggestions for another kit, plus you comments on this completed one.  
 
Happy sailing
 

Just a small update. I had hoped to cross the main yard while I was at the museum yesterday, but unfortunately when I secured the sail to the yard I found that the tablings had somehow ended up on the fore side of the sail instead of the after side (🤢🤢), so I had to cut it off and re-fix it, which slowed the whole process down - hopefully it will be crossed on Monday.
 
Meanwhile I got the mast ready for the yard and continued with the starboard lower ratlines.
 
John
 

all blocks and rope work now fitted to all the yards......

I was surprised to find this publication in a local bookstore in Sidney, B.C. What a treat as I wasn't willing to pay the delivery cost. Needless to say it is now in my workshop where it will be put to good use. Thanks to all the contributors for this collection of "how-to's". Very much appreciated!
Peter

Work continues albeit at a slower pace now that spring has arrived. Between the installation of the running rigging, I have added the running lights which the Cutty Sark would have shown in her early days. The kit did provide 2 lanterns and sidelight screens, but they were not of the correct scale. This became evident when dry fitted onto the shrouds. Thankfully, I had some brass lanterns which were scavenged at some point and they seemed to be the perfect size. The screens were therefore modified and reduced in size accordingly. The kit did not provide a sternlight which to me seems a major oversight. Here are some photos of the results.