Tim Curtis

Here is a photo of the windlass. It comes as a neat little kit of its own. I have stained the posts with permanent marker, which is quick and tidy. 

Here are some photos of the longboat. About 90mm long at 1:72. Its pretty teensy. But a good little kit with most of the wood being pear. Sadly the keel and prow are in very crumbly ply which is hard to work with, and has a poor finish.
Stained the wales, rail and top plank with permanent marker to get some tidy colour, without the difficulty of painting at this little scale.

Here is a photo of the scribed decking. It was pre-scribed by laser cutter. I deepened and darkened the scribing and the treenailing with a 0.3mm 2H pencil. I am pleased with results, especially at 1:72.

Welcome to my build log for the Master Korabel phoenix.

I  chose this kit for a number of reasons.
1. It is a high quality kit:
It makes use of some good quality wood including pear. Many of the detailed parts are of the highest quality, I note partic the blocks, the yawl/longboat included in the "plus" kit, the gratings, cannons, the many PE brass parts. See below for more info. The "shortcuts": the deck is provided as one sheet, with the planking and treenailing scribed in by laser. The result is a HUGE timesaver, and produces much better results than anything I could do at 1:72. All planking is also laser cut veneer hardwood, with planks already cut to the proper length, curvature and width etc (even the longboat). Again a huge timesaver. There are also about 20 very helpful online tutorials taking you through every step of the build on youtube. Here is the first one, which also is a wonderful intro to the contents of the kit.  
 
Finally the kit is very good value. I got the "plus" version which includes the longboat, higher quality blocks and wood for about $250 AUD. Online from a Russian supplier on ebay. This is about $200. For a time poor church minister, working six days a week, with three kids with a small craft desk in his study...this seemed to be a great value kit, that I will have a fighting chance of completing within 12 months or so.  

Some small progress and slightly better quality photos of my significantly adapted build. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

A few updates. Very poor quality photos.
 

Update on this little project. 
Reminder that I am building this as a British Brig of late 18th century, not as a Russian ship. (The Master Korabel design is not based on a real Russian ship. There are no historical drawings of the Russian ship Phoenix to base a model on, as far as I am aware). So I feel free to improvise!!
I have completed the coppering of the hull.
I have finished the treenailing on exposed timber.
Beginning to install some moulded rails.
Using a neat little scraper I purchased from Falconet's website to give the rails a profile. Note I am not using the material provided in the kit for these rails. 
Poor quality pictures taken on my phone...but give some idea of progress.
 

 

 

 

 

Here is a long delayed update on this build.
I have altered the kit significantly.
I added some of my own planking to create the wale.
Also added my own figurehead, see above for details.
Also my own planking above the wale.
Pictures pretty self explanatory.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few updates. Very poor quality photos.
 

Now that you mention it, I remember seeing that technique in Darch's book. At the time, I also winced at the use of lead shot, which could "bloom" and fall apart. While I haven't yet had occasion to try it, I'd do much the same with FIMO, but instead of placing the line inside a ball of soft FIMO, I'd use a piece of lost wax wire* which would melt away when the FIMO was baked in the oven, leaving a small hole for the line to be run through. If the hook or eye at one end of the block had a small hook in its mounting peg and the FIMO was formed around it, the wire hook or eye would be well held in the hardened FIMO after baking. As most know, FIMO plastic clay (which is sold by other manufacturers under different brand names) can be rolled very thin and block cheek shapes can easily be cut or stamped cookie cutter fashion from the thin sheet of FIMO.
 
*  "Wax wire" is used by dental labs and jewelry manufacturers in the lost wax casting process. They are sticks of uniformly sized casting wax in various diameters, usually expressed in wire gauges. See: https://contenti.com/jewelry-casting-supplies/carving-specialty-waxes/round-wax-wires

A few updates. Very poor quality photos.
 

A few updates. Very poor quality photos.
 

Update on this little project. 
Reminder that I am building this as a British Brig of late 18th century, not as a Russian ship. (The Master Korabel design is not based on a real Russian ship. There are no historical drawings of the Russian ship Phoenix to base a model on, as far as I am aware). So I feel free to improvise!!
I have completed the coppering of the hull.
I have finished the treenailing on exposed timber.
Beginning to install some moulded rails.
Using a neat little scraper I purchased from Falconet's website to give the rails a profile. Note I am not using the material provided in the kit for these rails. 
Poor quality pictures taken on my phone...but give some idea of progress.
 

 

 

 

 

I have made the decision that I am not going to build this model as the Phoenix, but instead I am going to build her as a typical late 18th century British brig of war.
The kit is brilliant, but its not, as far as I can tell, actually based on drawings of the real Russian Brigantine Phoenix.
 
Furthermore I am going to call her Rosalind, after my wife.
So, I found I found a little pear wood caryatid online from VHobby on ebay that I have adapted to be her figurehead. You can see the original here.
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F202325451573
 
I confess to being very pleased with the result. Way, way exceeded my expectations. The front of the body was already CNC carved as bought, but her sides and back I had to do with a tiny dremel carving attachment and a scalpel. Feel like I accidentally created a little 30mm high Rodin or Degas! Apologies for scrappy photos taken on my phone. 
 
 



 
 

Here is a photo of the scribed decking. It was pre-scribed by laser cutter. I deepened and darkened the scribing and the treenailing with a 0.3mm 2H pencil. I am pleased with results, especially at 1:72.

Welcome to my build log for the Master Korabel phoenix.

I  chose this kit for a number of reasons.
1. It is a high quality kit:
It makes use of some good quality wood including pear. Many of the detailed parts are of the highest quality, I note partic the blocks, the yawl/longboat included in the "plus" kit, the gratings, cannons, the many PE brass parts. See below for more info. The "shortcuts": the deck is provided as one sheet, with the planking and treenailing scribed in by laser. The result is a HUGE timesaver, and produces much better results than anything I could do at 1:72. All planking is also laser cut veneer hardwood, with planks already cut to the proper length, curvature and width etc (even the longboat). Again a huge timesaver. There are also about 20 very helpful online tutorials taking you through every step of the build on youtube. Here is the first one, which also is a wonderful intro to the contents of the kit.  
 
Finally the kit is very good value. I got the "plus" version which includes the longboat, higher quality blocks and wood for about $250 AUD. Online from a Russian supplier on ebay. This is about $200. For a time poor church minister, working six days a week, with three kids with a small craft desk in his study...this seemed to be a great value kit, that I will have a fighting chance of completing within 12 months or so.  

A few updates. Very poor quality photos.
 

The next step is to start cutting out the planks in swiss pear to match the precut planks in the kit. This is really easy and takes about 5 or 10 mins per plank.
I glued the kit plank to the strip of pear with UHU, so that they can be easily separated later. Then carefully cut around the plank with a sharp scalpel.

Finally I gently sanded around the edge of the two planks while they are still stuck together so that they are exactly the same shape. I used a nail file stick.
Then gently separate them, and hey presto, I have a plank in swiss pear that matches the Annegri kit plank exactly. Two finished examples set out below.

It still remains to see if the "iron on" glueing process will work. But preliminary tests have been encouraging.
 
Tim.
 

I have been making very slow progress.
Have added two furled sails. Flying jib, and fore gaff sail.
Made using tracing paper dyed with tea. Edges folded over and boltrope glued on. Furled when wet. Then allowed to dry.
Messy. And the rope tends to come off a little when you furl them. However, once furled - this is not very visible.
I think it gives a reasonable likeness of worn and slightly stained canvas. 

Quick update.
Removed the mainsail. It was too messy, and also the wrong colour. I obviously used a different type of tea to stain the vellum sheet. Oops.
Also the reefing did not really work very well. So I am going to leave the model half rigged!
Working on a white base. And need to finish a few other details....vangs, pumps etc.

I have completed the pumps, which are now installed.
Also mounted her on a proper base and pedestals.
I am going to leave her half rigged (foremast only) for the moment.
So a few repairs of chainplates and deadeyes to do, and pendant flag to be hung, and then I will be finished....definitely in the final furlong.

I am going to call this project finished now. It was always my plan to create a "half-rigged" model with sails only on the foremast. This give the model a sense of being a real, dynamic sailing machine....without obscuring all the details of the deck and rigging. 
There are a few tiny details to tidy up...but I am already caught up in my next two projects!!
So here are a few final photos. 






 

I am going to call this project finished now. It was always my plan to create a "half-rigged" model with sails only on the foremast. This give the model a sense of being a real, dynamic sailing machine....without obscuring all the details of the deck and rigging. 
There are a few tiny details to tidy up...but I am already caught up in my next two projects!!
So here are a few final photos. 






 

The rat lines have been completed. Interesting work, must say... It does really test your patience...

In the process at topgallant...
 

 


All completed...
 

 

 

 


During the work process, outer jib boom guy (hopefully have the term correctly) was slightly damaged, enough to bother me so i replace it with a new rope.. Here is process..
 

 

 

 

 

 

 


And completed..
 


Now it is time to do some touchups on the model and to start working on sails.... woohoo.

Happy modelling.

Really like what you are doing with this kit Moreplovac...
Keep up the good work!
 
I am currently building the same kit - but adapting it quite alot. 
 
Its helpful to have this build log as a reference. 
 
Tim