FriedClams

Nice model you have going here, Dan. Terrific drawings! Gary

Wonderful mechanical art, Michael. Love it. Gary

Nice process for identical boats, Nils. I didn't expect the detail in the rope to reproduce as well as it did - it came out fantastic! Gary

Excellent, Paul. Graceful sweep around the stern with a nice even reveal. And how was the tuna salad sandwich? Gary

Thoughtful process for identical copies. Your carronades are coming along nicely, Alexander! Gary

Fantastic work on the ratlines, Keith! Your usual meticulous attention to the task. I've never built a full masted ship, but I can imagine the difficulties in placing the figures after-the-fact. Gary

Such beautiful work as we have all come to expect, Valeriy. The precision of those ladder/steps is remarkable. Excellent! Gary

More beautiful and clean work, Gary! Nice! Gary

What Adam said above, Johann. Simply wonderful and inspirational work. Gary

Time consuming and repetitive, but a very nice result, Eric. Gary

It is good to hear from you, Michael. And yes, please do.

Clever solution to cut the subassembly in half and then adding the tapered locating pins to each. Sometimes it seems we modelers spend more time mitigating problems than moving forward. But that's part of the fun, right? Glen? Anyway, she's looking great, and I very much enjoy watching your process in this subatomic scale. You're inspiring me to try a SIB myself someday, but I'll start out with a mason jar. Gary

Gary, Jack, Glen, Keith B, Paul, John, Andy, Druxey, Keith A, Vaddoc, Tom, Eberhard and Eric - Thank you for your comments and kind words and thanks to all for the "thumbs up". As always, I so appreciate it. Thanks, somehow my junk box keeps offering up just what I'm looking for. HA! - It would look even more fishy with scale cod and haddock laying on top - but I'm not going there. Thanks, the ice turned out better than I thought it would. Sometimes you just get lucky, and everything falls together. It might be worth considering Andy, although I'm sure there are other good approaches. This holds together really well. I flipped the boat over and slapped the bottom repeatedly and only the scattered stray shards fell out, as desired. Everything else is now a single solid mass. I forgot to mention that the solution was applied with a syringe style dropper. Be aware that the solution is thin enough that it can run and soak areas where you don't want it. Needless to say, get a feel for it off-model first. It's easy Tom, the model railroaders have been doing this for ages to set gravel, dirt, mounds of coal, etc. But a wetting agent of some kind is key. There are two good sized hatches that will be open as well as one or several deck bunker plates. And it will be lit with LEDs. It's one of those situations where it's difficult to predict what will be visible through any one opening and view angle. But once the deck goes on, I'll have no opportunity to fix what I don't like or wish I had done better. Gary

Hello Vaddoc and congratulations on starting a new project. This is a vessel I once considered scratching myself, so I will certainly be following your progress with interest. The Hercules is a great choice and as you probably know, she is a US National Landmark and part of the San Francisco National Maritime Historical Park. Consequently, much is known about her. The vessel is part of HAER (Historic American Engineering Record) National Park Service. The drawings you have are public domain and the originals are available for download at various resolutions from the Library of Congress website. Also available at the site are photos, photo caption document, and a data document containing interesting stats and brief history. Steam Tug HERCULES, Hyde Street Pier, San Francisco, San Francisco County, CA (loc.gov) San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov) The historic park also has a research center that may be of help to you. Maritime Research Center - San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov) Best of luck on your new project. Gary

Glen, I agree with Rick and Keith - you do continue to amaze and your boats look sharp. But, I’m not sold on the idea of being able to fit 3 wee ants in a single boat - 2 maybe. Gary

Very nice work, Andy. Thanks for the explanation of hawse and knighthead timbers, and the photos of the 1:1. Yes, they are indeed - big lumps of oak! Gary

Fantastic work painting those figures, Eberhard. I noticed that even the officers’ buttons were painted! Really nice. Time to open another bottle of port. Gary

Greetings Fellow Modelers Thanks to all for the comments, "likes" and for taking a look. Completed Fish Hold I've been working on this model sporadically and at long last the fish hold is now done. Crushed/flaked ice has been added to the hold. The ice is ground glass and thanks go out to @wefalck and @FlyingFish for bringing this product to my attention. And I thank everyone who took the time to offer the helpful suggestions on this matter. I purchased 1oz. sample packs of different grits and the best match for the scale was 80 grit shown in the following two images. The paper rule is imperial in 1:48. This is what 70 grit looks like, although I suspect the package was mislabeled and is actually 60 grit. And 50 grit. This would make great looking broken glass for smaller scales. This material has an insistent angle of repose, so in order to help define how it piles and slopes, I predefined the spaces with torn pieces of open-cell foam pushed into the bunkers. This also lessened the amount of material used. In fact, the 1oz. sample packet was more than I needed. I ended up using half of the 80 grit and just a portion (for size variation) of the 70 grit. A small paper funnel with an attached styrene tube makes placement easy and accurate. This particular ground glass can be found online marketed as “German Glitter Glass”. It is used by crafters to make things – glitter. And it certainly does do that. The material is fixed into place using a method I learned from model railroaders. I mixed up a solution of 50/50 water/PVA with a couple of drops of surfactant to break surface tension. I use a dishwasher rinse agent for this, but windshield washer fluid works great also – or even liquid soap. I also added a few drops of white acrylic paint and an ever so small amount of phthalo blue to keep it from leaning toward yellow. The image below is the result. The ground glass actually appears finer, but that is only because the solution is sort of milky and has taken much of the contrast out and the “in your face” sparkles. Granted, the photo below is darker than the one above, but that is the only difference. The close up below shows the floorboards have been darkened with India ink/alcohol to suggest wet wood. On top of that a light layer of a craft store product called Gallery Glass (crystal clear) was brushed on for a watery look. Finally, a little ink/alcohol in the bunkers above the ice (again as wet staining) and also here and there to add definition to areas of wood. The LED lighting I had previously placed will be reattached when the deck beams go on next. I'm glad to be climbing out of this smelly fish hold. Thanks for looking. Stay well. Gary

Such nice work, Paul. I'm really enjoying this log! Gary

Excellent progress, Glen! Great work on the masts and stacks. For what it's worth, so do I. When I first saw your ship's boats on the toothpicks, I thought - OMG, he's hollowing out short grain rice for the boats. I do believe those are the smallest basswood boats I've ever seen. Nicely done! Gary

This is a decision many of us will face as time passes and life takes an unwelcome turn. Perhaps after a pause to catch her breath, Maggie will dig down and find an extra surge of strength to progress further. She must be exhausted - you also. My thoughts are with you both. Stay strong my friend. Gary

Nice progress on this model, Gary. Such clean work in the tub and I really like the added/upgraded detail - battery cables and braided hoses. etc. Very cool. Nice work! @CDW great tip on mitigating paint runs/sags - would never have thought of that. Gary

Once again, beautiful job painting those figures, OC. Nice perspective with the photography and shadows on the wall - really brings the scene to life. Gary

Read through your log in a couple of sessions, Glen and I'm really enjoying this build very much. But, then again, I enjoy all your builds. Excellent work on those wheels and covers. I agree version, 2.0 wheel covers are a nice upgrade! I mentally gasped when I saw the image of the wheel inside the throat of the bottle and thinking one false move and the wheel drops into the bottle and you would have to break it to recover the wheel. The problem being that you would have to drink yet another bottle of O'l Sailer Jerry, This is going to be another great SIB model! Gary

Nice progress on this launch, Vaddoc - she's looking great! Beautiful fish well - it has an unmistakable Arts and Crafts/Mission furniture vibe. Gary