KingDavid

Patrick your work Looks just like a masterpiece ! i was amazed to watch the stages and progress of your work, can hardly wait for the next stages.. i am sure we could all learn from your skills, All the beat David

From what i know Amati kits are considered to be mostly good (really depends on the particular mode) as for the Amati-Victory Granado, this model belongs to a special line of models designed by Chris Watton, all of the models in this series are said to be of very high quality i.e.Lady Nelson, Pegasus, Mercury etc

welcome to MSW , good luck with your new build, and congrat for joining, its a great place to be !, David

Hello to all Not that topic again!! but yes unfortunately have you noticed the sharp raise in the kit prices of Caldercraft that happened in last week or so? (taking my information from http://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/ ) What do you make of that? what do you think? will the prices stay like that from now on? why all the price 'updating' are on the increase? what about other companies? Is there anyway to change this? this is a major block in buying new models.. David

Hoping and wishing a full recovery and good health for you Be well

Looking great, this sciabbaco model looks so realistic with so many fine details, very nice achivement !

Your models look just wonderful ! keep up the good work and next projects! and welcome to MSW best regards, David

Glad to see you here again...looking forward to see more of your stage couch blog here...looks like a great kit best regards David

Welcome to Model Ship World ! and the best of luck!

welcome to the MSN buddy ! wish you much successes with your 'Bounty' !, David

Thanks for your comments and contribution, at first i wanted to write down the process in full detail, but it seemed to lengthy for a first post...but what you say is true...and there is a lot more that can be added to this topic such as.. (i.e burnishing process , kind of gold that could be used, controlling the reflection...)

Hello all and how you doin? OK, so I've been reading many discussions here regarding the quality of the fittings provided in various kits, especially those relating to Baroque era ships, such as the Vasa, Sovereign of the seas, Soliel Royale Etc, made them look just wonderful (which probably didn't do any good for their stability on the high seas) as most of us know, the ships of that era were magnificently decorated and probably looked like a piece of art! done by first rate wood carvers and carpenters, the stern& bow sections were painted, decorated, and gilded. looking close on the stern&bow decorations of some of the models here, I came to think of a new approach to these fittings. imagine any model decorated with real gold leaf ! so i was thinking, why not following those masters by gilding your own model? The process of gilding is a complex one, and there are various methods existing. it is a process that i am a little familiar with, so i wanted to share it with you here. ok, so it should be as follows: 1. materials: some kind of hard wood to curve the decorations, (either pear, walnut, cherry etc), a finely ground gypsum called "Gesso", real gold leaves (thin sheets of gold) costs around 50$ (usually comes in very thin foils in a kind of a 'booklet'), rabbit skin glue, few fine brushes. 2. applying process: 2.1 first of all, it is best that the fittings are re-made of wood 2.2 the wood decorations must be well smoothed and polished. 2.3 then the Gesso powder must be mixed with water, in order to create a viscous paste/solution. 2.4 the Gesso, should be applied directly on each fitting, with a fine brush, applying it gently until each piece is totally covered, but still shows its original features. 2.5 let each part to dry COMPLETELY, and then smooth it with send paper until it's super smooth! 2.6 ok, we are now close to the actual gilding! it is better to dye each piece with either yellowish mixture ( in order to improve the gold reflection) 2.7 applying the rabbit skin glue and immediately afterwards applying the gold foil on the piece. this process if done correctly is promised to create a shiny and glossy outcome. this process was brought to you in a very shortened and summerised way, just for sake of introducing it. Now, i know this idea is extremely outlandish..but maybe someone would like to try it... David