aliluke

Great stuff Jay. The rigging never seems to end on USS Constitution - it makes me dizzy just thinking about that complexity and sails to boot.

Cheers

Alistair

Beautiful work Ollie - the planking is outstanding and getting that stern post fit so tight - better than I'm doing with mine at the mo' that's for sure.

Cheers

Alistair

Hi Rod

All your work so far looks really great.

Just to offer a different opinion on glues...I use medium CA for the second layer but apply it in small increments. So do about 20 to 30mm of plank length at a time usually starting from the bow and working aft. White glues are too slow for my taste and if carefully used the speed of CA plus the bond strength = no downsides in my opinion. Biggest advantage is no clamps or rubber bands etc are required. Whichever glue you use the best trick is to make each plank tapered, curved, bevelled and dry fit to the hull so that it sits there, almost, without glue. This is impossible to do totally but the closer you get to a dry fit without glue the better the end result. Based on your first layer you should have no problems with the next.

Look forward to your updates.

Cheers

Alistair

Hi Andy

You are doing an amazing job on this intriguing build. I've been looking in for a while but I miss your Pegasus . Guess this is now in the front row for the time being so I'll keep up with it instead. Great work!

Cheers

Alistair

Welcome back Hamilton

I remember when we had our second girl, 2 years apart, someone said 1+1=4. If you can work on the Blandford at all you are doing very well! I look forward to whatever your bleary eyes can send by way of updates.

Cheers

Alistair

Oops  that makes me a dummy!

Murphys77 - we like your ship please reload your log of it.

Cheers

Alistair

Hi Nigel

I just found his pictures on the Euromodel website in the customers build section. He used the member name "murphys77" on MSW V1. Indeed a fine model and a fine ship.

Cheers

Alistair

Hi Nigel

I'll be keeping up with this log. I like this ship and your enhancements sound like they'll be a treat to watch. I'm sure there was a log for Mordaunt on the old MSW site by a Swedish builder - a very nice build - but it doesn't seem to have been reloaded.

Cheers

Alistair

Hi Brett

Getting the main mast in is a difficult thing but the deck isn't the issue. Brace the mast slots below the deck as Ken suggested and carry on. There is no need to cut out anything else below the sub-deck. You can even plank over all of those holes without fear. That said, I see them as useful guides rather than structural needs.There is certainly no need to cut away the lower bulkheads.

For the sub-deck my only advise is to make sure it is properly cambered. Make sure you sand down the tops of the bulkheads to get that camber right and even. My laziness about this on my build really caused me pain later on.

Cheers

Alistair

Hi Vitus

Your quarter badges look good but I think compared to the rest of your build they will annoy you later on. As per earlier posts, I reckon you'd still be well served with the Pegasus PE set to lift the detail - window frames, pillars, window head/sill and decorations. However you do get a bit of hybrid ship and that might not suit you. I guess my thought is that the badge needs to be as sharp as everything else and (more an observation than a criticism) at the moment it isn't to my eye.

The cabin looks really great. Not quite a Doris job but who, aside from her, does a Doris job? My cabin is a black hole but it is too late now to retreat from that.

Cheers

Alistair

I'm no expert on ratlines...but I used self-closing tweezers to keep the shrouds aligned and stop any hourglass effects - and then used a backing template with the distances marked. I didn't do clove hitches, just really simple overhand knots with a dab of PVA to thicken the knot a little and a dab of CA at the outer shrouds to totally secure. At any scale an overhand knot with a bit of glue to thicken does the part I reckon. Don't let the rats get you down!

Cheers

Alistair

Hi Denis

Only just came upon your log. Great work and amazing - amazing! - rigging. Ratlines aside the rigging between the sprit and foremast does my head in just looking at it...Incredible.

Cheers

Alistair

Hi Mihai

It is a very nice ship and a great model. I look forward to your progress. I'm a slow builder of the same kit in the HMS Fly version and I'm sure we can share tips as all builders here do.

Cheers

Alistair

Brett

I think Ken is referring to fillers that you need to support the ends of the inner bulwark planking where it meets the bulkhead wall between the quarter and poop/cabin deck. There is no support there and these fillers will become an obvious need when you get to that point. They are referred to in Part 2 of John Earls free AVS practicum on his modelboatyard site. While John's mini practicum has a few "reading between the lines" tips do not follow it over and above Mr Hunt's or you will get confused...

Cheers

Alistair

Stunning work Mike, a master class! I would have called those "skids" "chines" but I maybe wrong...Whatever they are called they are a little detail that adds to your model in the best way.

Cheers

Alistair

Amazing work Danny. I like your approach of fitting the detail to the level of the previous attempt rather than to your own exacting standards. That makes perfect sense to me in terms of the commitment on your part and the expectations at the other end. Man, I would have given up before I'd even started. Your devotion to a promise is to be admired. Well done and hats off to you.

Cheers

Alistair

Looks good mate. A fine looking ship! Tell those little buggers - Hands Off! . Well I guess they can touch in the meantime, well made hulls are strong enough and inspiring a new generation of modellers is what MSW is all about. Keep it up. It looks great.

Cheers

Alistair

Hi Brett

I'd use a 1mm thick plank x 4 or 5mm wide. I use a sanding block and hand held sanding, the latter particularly at the bow and stern. Although it is tedious don't go so fast and hard that you fair too much otherwise you end up chasing your tail. I also found that I'd add shims and sometimes end up sanding them off. The stern fillers are often under sanded. The planks need to turn up to the counter in such a way that they don't snap and this needs more sanding than you'd expect - I think there is a reasonable shot of this in my log.

Cheers

Alistair

Hi Brett

I may have been a little bit alarmist and misread your photo - I was seeing something different. Do not worry about the stern frames yet. Loose laid is good. You need those fragile little window frames to position them. The stern fillers leading up to the counter need to be heavily sanded and his needs to be coordinated with the pain of shimming and sanding all the misaligned bulkheads along the entire hull. This is the nature of this kit - the bulkheads are never right and the misalignment is a kit problem not yours. The shimming and sanding takes a bit of time and is back and forth but should be done before you go any further and should be combined with bow and stern fillers. Leave off the stern frames until you have sorted this. These in turn need a lot of shaping but once you are past this it really starts to work out. You need a lot of shims by the look of your kit. If you take the time to get the planking flow right you'll be away.

If you have Bob Hunt's practicum follow it to the letter, it will get you there in all aspects of the build and any other guide is redundant and dangerous. Bob's way of sequencing things and getting the relationships right is the best part of his practicum and will stand you in good stead for future builds.

I'll keep following and if I can assist, I will.

Cheers

Alistair

Brett

Stop! You are going in the wrong direction. It is an easy save - I'll send you a PM shortly.

Cheers

Alistair

Your rigging is looking superb Jason. Serving seems well worth the effort and I will attempt it when I get there - a while away. What machine do you use or did you make your own?

Cheers

Alistair

It all looks fantastic Jay. You are nearing the finish line I feel. It must be a strange place to be in some ways on such an epic and challenging build. I love the sails but I'm not ready to go there yet on my current ship even if it makes more sense of it as a sailing ship. Great work and I hope you have the champagne ready for that last tweak when it comes.

Cheers

Alistair

Great work Len. I like seeing your own notes in the background of the photos as you figure through the complexity of all of the parts. I can not imagine tackling a ship of this size but it is clearly well within your grasp.

Cheers

Alistair

Great work Vitus. Your carriage romps all over the kit supplied ones and is easily equal to those after market ones you can buy. Although I still have doubts about the kit barrel in terms of scale, your treatment of it makes it look the part well. Superb photos too by the way.

Cheers

Alistair

Hi

Although I have only skip read your log it is amazing and this build is one I'll follow. Your research is incredible and I'll re-read all in time.

I guess you have read "Barrow's Boys" by Fergus Fleming? It is no doubt fluff compared to your references but a great read telling the story of the post Napoleonic period at the Admiralty when Barrow commissioned a programme of massive exploration - the NW passage, the North Pole, the source of the Niger River and Antarctica. So it picks up on the voyage of Erebus and Terror in its text. Some of the plates in your log are included. Both the madness and sheer courage of these explorations is well painted in Flemings text. Anyway if you haven't read it, which I doubt, do so. Would also recommend to other followers here too. (Please excuse me if I didn't find a reference to it in your log).

Cheers

Alistair