FriedClams

Just lovely to look at, Roel!
 
John

Roel, I love the way you've kept everything to the same scale. It keeps everything realistic and believable. Always a pleasure seeing each new post. 

I'm really short of time nowadays, so not much progress. Also wanted to add pics of the real ship, but having some hardware issues, so I'll just show some progress pics. 
Started by painting (and currently mounting) the forward catwalk. 

 

 
During the painting process I decided to finally continue that forecastle. 
First was the Chafing Chain. It's part of the obligatory Emergency Towing System of tankers. Small tankers only have one forward, larger ones also have a system aft. 
The forward system consists of a Smit Bracket (yellow thing in the pictures), with a chain connected. In an emergency, the chain is led overboard through the Panama fairlead by either the tanker's winches or the assisting tug's winch and then connected to the tug for emergency towing. Due to a chain's strength it survives the chafing of towing in heavy swell etc. Steel wires aren't so good for that and wires deteriorate much faster than chains. 

 
The heavy chain was connected to the bracket and stowed in a small coaming. On most ships it's also covered with canvas, but invariably it ends up as a pile of rust...
 

 
I also still had the chain stoppers to do. They transfer the forces of the anchor and chain to the vessel structure rather than keeping it on the winch brake and/or gearbox. 
 
I've seen about as many versions as I've seen windlasses, so no real standard there. Generally it's a big block that's hinged between two shackles of the anchor chain with a counterweight to aid in removing it when the anchor is hoisted again. Once it's in place, the chain is lowered so that the next shackle rests on the stopper block (transfer of forces, windlass loses tension). 
 

 

 

 
I also finished the stairs to the forecastle, first stairs to be finished in over 5 years! 
 

Fun news! I'm a member of the Katy Railroad Historical Society, which publishes a quarterly newsletter covering the railroad's history and various modeling projects related to it. The September 2025 issue publishes an article I wrote about the Peerless modeling project and its connection to the railroad. The newsletter is print-only, but they graciously sent me a PDF copy of the article with permission to distribute to people I know who aren't KRHS members (specifically including MSW members).
 
If you're interested in reading the article, send me a private message through MSW with your email address, and I'll send you the PDF. Here's a screenshot of the first page to whet your appetite. Also cross-posting this on my build log for the MK&T model railroad layout.
 
To send a private message on MSW, click a user's name to go to their profile, then look for the "message" button to the right of their username on the banner of that profile page.

BONDO is just common auto-body filler.   The vinyl paste is so fine that it fills-into small details really well.  It’s very sticky stuff, though.  

I’ve spent the better part of the week fretting out these panels.  They are pretty small, at 3/8” x 7/16”+:

As such, I was having a lot of trouble NOT breaking off the ears of my fleurs.  I set them aside, to glue them back-on once the fretting was done.  Despite that precaution, I still managed to break one off again.
 
I realized I would never be able to model the shells and fleurs unless they were secured to a backing, so I glued the .032 fretted panel to a .020 backer.
 
In order to preserve some sense of lightness, I filed out the scalloped recesses around the perimeter.  When I get to painting these, I will use flat black for the ground behind the fleurs and shells - a nod to theater carpentry.  The fret-work will be red ocher, and the ornaments will be yellow ocher.
 
I’m going to experiment with Bondo to see whether I can cast extras of the small squiggles that ornament all the corners of the frieze.  These might be nice accents for the corners of each panel:

I ran out of viable resin and don’t feel like buying more because it has a shelf-life, and I won’t use it enough to justify the cost.
 
As long as the vinyl Bondo releases from the rubber moulds I made, we’re in business.  We shall see.

My plan for the poop deck is to make this kind if bridge gangway, over a cannon, and down to the QD:

For the poop royal deck, I have not yet decided whether to do this kind of simplified Dutch bulkhead with simple treads attached to the bulkhead, directly, or to do another bridge gangway to a ladder between the 4-pounder guns:

In other developments, the capstan mod is complete:


 

Off topic, I know, but I couldn't help noticing that you said that you'd amke a 'dog's lunch' of it. Over here we use the expression 'dog's breakfast'. Is 'lunch' the common idiom in the U.S., or is that a local/family thing?
 
John

Never worry about being off topic around here, John.
 
 I've heard the dog's meal thing both ways, breakfast or lunch. Being the lazy person I am, I use dog's lunch as it's easier to say and type. 

Glen, I was indeed flattered by Roel's comment but I'd make a dog's lunch out of a tanker plus go mental in the process. 
 
 Thank you again for your comment, John. 

I agree Kieth, we here on MSW do inspire each other to do what’s right in our world of model ships. Thank you for your comment, as well.
 
John

When the master of oil tanker piping says you did a great job, Keith, you did a great job!  Maybe a tanker for your next project??

Thank you, Roel. Great ides for bending wire and fenders.
 
 It's countless, countless I tell ya, times when the plier jaws and wire have met that I haven't thought of you and wished you were sitting next to me to offer advice. 

That's a great job on that piping Keith. 
At such short distances, bending is indeed difficult. From time to time I use a piece of styrene with a hole of the same diameter as the wire near its edge instead of pliers. I then put the wire through the hole and bend by twisting the styrene piece or bend the wire while holding the styrene piece, depending on what I need. 
If the distance between bends is too small, you can still cut the styrene to remove the wire. It takes some practice, but once you get the hang of it...
 
In any case, astonishing results so far. 
As to protections etc. they may have used portable fenders made of pieces of wood, hung overboard with a rope or even fenders made of old mooring ropes. Even today these methods are used on small workboats, apart from of course more professionally made inflated fenders or car/truck tyres. 
 

Thank you for commenting, Keith. Making these small vessels is my passion and my joy. I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't model anymore?
 
 Thank you, Gary.  

Looking very smart, Keith.
 
Gary

Really nice progress, Phil.  The rack of instrumentation looks great and nice job on the itty-bitty drawer pulls.
 
Gary

Congratulations on completing your wonderful model, Siggi.  It is the work of a master builder.
 
Gary

Congratulations on completing your wonderful model, Siggi.  It is the work of a master builder.
 
Gary

Looking very smart, Keith.
 
Gary

Looking very smart, Keith.
 
Gary

Looking very smart, Keith.
 
Gary

Congratulations on completing your wonderful model, Siggi.  It is the work of a master builder.
 
Gary

Time to get 'er in gear and start work on another SIB.  I was tossing around a few different ideas and I just could not get rid of this one image that was floating around in what's left of my mind.  In the 4th installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie (On Stranger Tides), there is a scene where Blackbeard is captaining his Queen Anne's Revenge when a mutiny breaks out among Jack Sparrow and the crew.  Blackbeard appears on deck and raises his sword, bringing the rigging to life which begins roping and hanging crew members from the yards.  Blackbeard decides to spare the crew but make an example out of the cook.  He sets the cook adrift on a long boat, points the Revenge at it, then unleashes a ball of Greek Fire from the bow, engulfing the cook and long boat in flames.  Here's a 5 minute video of the scene from the movie:
 
https://youtu.be/fO4ZLQmcXMU

My idea is to capture the moment where the Revenge is spewing out the Greek Fire.   Here's a screenshot of the moment from the video.  The scene is so dark that you don't get a good view of the ship, but you get the idea.
 
  
 
 
And here's my crude artist's rendition of the SIB concept.


 
Now, to bring the SIB to life, I want to actually light up my fireball.  So I'm going to try and incorporate some flickering LED lights within the fireball and run the wiring thru the bottom of the bottle and into the base where it will lead to a battery and power switch.   I think I've been reading too many of @Ian_Grant's build logs, which is why I can't get this crazy idea out of my head.

Obviously, this is going to require doing some things that I haven't done before - making a fireball, drilling a hole in a glass bottle, rigging up some electrical stuff, etc.  So put your helmet on and buckle up.  This is probably gonna be a rough ride!

Eric,
 
Thanks for the very detailed explanations of the logistics behind the both the actual and model railways. I can see why it grabs folks as a hobby.
 
Richard