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I have managed to get a little more work done on Swallow. The rest of the fittings for the gun carriages have been made and the cannon have been installed on to the carriages. The swivel guns have been installed onto their mounts. I discovered that I did not fit the latches on the bitts, so they were removed and the latches were installed. The hooks are made from sheet brass which was shaped with an A/O thin disc. The tackle for the cannon was installed, as well as miscellaneous ring bolts on the deck. The swivel guns and cannon were temporarily installed and the paint has been touched up.

Thank you to everyone who attended the 2021 NRG Annual Meeting on Saturday, the 20th. The meeting was recorded but I cannot tell you exactly when it will be available for viewing. As mentioned during the meeting, whether we have an in-person 2022 Conference is dependent on the COVID-19 situation in the Spring. As soon as we have made a decision, we will notify the membership via email.

The cannon and swivel guns have all been cast and blackened. The casting process went surprisingly well. I bought a pewter bar and casting spoon from my local jeweler's supply house (Amazon). Using a jeweler's saw, I cut off teaspoon-sized pieces from the pewter and melted them in the spoon over the flame on my cooktop. The guns were cast using the setup shown a few weeks ago without any difficulty. I waited a few minutes between each pour to allow the mold to cool down. Unfortunately, the royal casting mark did not come up as sharply as I had hoped. Most likely this occurred because it is made of paper. Everything was blackened in pewter blackening solution from Blue Jacket. Finally, they were clear-coated with a matte finish. I also noticed that I had neglected to mold the trunnions on the swivel guns. This was corrected by boring through the gun and inserting a brass wire. The cannon barrels needed carriages to rest on. The first two pictures show the numerous parts necessary to construct the carriage. I will not be making the capsquare until the guns are ready to be mounted. The last photo shows the cannon resting on the carriage before the capsquare is installed.

Druxey, thank you for your concern. These clamps held very securely and were not removed until the mold had cooled to room temperature. Pictures soon.

There are 22 swivel gun mounts, even though there are only twelve swivel guns. These were made by photo-etching brass. Photo-etch is another one of those techniques I rarely use but when you are making several copies of the same piece, it comes in handy. These pieces were made with the ProEtch system sold by MicroMark. I designed the pieces in CAD and then laid them out, adding register marks and sprue lines. As the metal is placed between two pieces of photo-resist, a mirror image of the design is also made. The next slide shows the photo-resist sandwich prior to light exposure. The second one shows the metal after light exposure. I redid the artwork on the gun mounts after seeing how it came out but did not take additional pictures. Finally I have a picture of the empty etching tank. An aerator allows more uniform etching. And here are the results before blackening.

Work has been progressing slowly on Swallow. The next item to work on is the armament. Swallow carried fourteen 4-pound cannon and twelve 1-pound swivel guns. There are no commercially available guns that are the correct size so it was necessary to make them. I intend to make one of each gun and then cast them in pewter. I have never done any metal casting before, so this could be interesting. The basic shape of the guns was made on the lathe. Then, using thin strips of tape, I made the reinforcing rings. The monograms are from Syren. I made a simple casting box from scrap basswood. I glued a piece of paper on the bottom to keep the clay from sticking to the table. The next step was to embed the cannon half-way in clay (I used Sculpy). Once the piece was secure, I transferred it to the casting box, added air vent sprues and made depressions in the clay with a square rod to facilitate registering the mold halves. There is also a spout at the barrel muzzle for pouring the molten metal into the mold. Unlike casting plastic or resin pieces, a high-temperature silicone rubber mold is required. I used Mold Max 60 by Smooth-On. The instructions recommended using a vacuum to remove air bubbles but I had no access to one and compensated by constantly tapping the mold box until the rubber had set. The picture shows the cannon attached to the rubber and freed from the clay. The next day, I liberally coated the mold and gun with Vaseline to prevent sticking and poured the other half of the mold. I waited another day to unmold. For a first attempt, I am pleased. Even the monogram is visible in the rubber. One of the problems with a flexible mold it that it can be easily distorted. I used four parallel jaw clamps to gently hold the two mold halves together.

The reason to cover the top of the hull is to keep people from looking in and seeing the bulkheads and any other messiness.

It looks great, despite the transom problem. You used this project for what it was designed to be: a teaching aid on how to correctly plank a hull. All that's left it to mount it and be proud of what you made.

Glenn, I respectfully disagree. Read everything you can. The more you know, the better your model will be, whether it is the simplest kit on the market or a fully-framed ship of the line. The first time I read Underhill was when I was building a solid hull Bounty by Scientific. It encouraged me to learn more and improve/expand my skills and knowledge.

One of the best ways to get started in this hobby is to start developing your library. Charles Davis wrote The Build-Up Ship Model in 1933. It is available as an e-book on Amazon for $10. It takes you through the construction of a late 18th century brig but more importantly, it introduces you to a lot of the terms you see used here. There are more thorough and more expensive books out there but as a starting point you can't go wrong for the price.

Thanks, John. It's always more personal to talk to a name rather than a screen name.

Malazan, do you have a first name? For the central keel portion, a simple 90 degree scraper will suffice; think single edged razor. Remember, the idea is to give your planking a secure notch to fit into. Technically, the exact angle will change along the entire course of the keel but that isn't critical until you get to the deadwood area (aft) and the bow area. Once you do that area, go to the notched areas on the stem and deadwood. Use a French curve to guide your Exacto knife as you slowly cut into the wood. (Very inexpensive curves can be bought at craft stores or Amazon (https://amazon.com/Pacific-Arc-French-Curve-Set/dp/B073V4ZRJL/ref=sr_1_9?crid=1RYU13670RPMZ&dchild=1&keywords=french+curves&qid=1633618939&sprefix=french+%2Caps%2C256&sr=8-9). After you have those areas done, connect the V-shaped and notched areas by carefully removing small amounts of wood with your knife, finishing it with a sanding stick (a scrap of wood with sandpaper glued onto it). As I have said elsewhere, practice off the model. A sheet of basswood from Menard's is cheap.

Based on your post in the Half Hull Project sub-forum, let me add some comments. On that hull, I spaced the bulkheads close together to allow you to easily plank with prototypical planks of 15-25 feet. As this is a Continental ship, there was access to taller, wider, old-growth trees than in Britain at that time. The bulkheads are also thick enough to provide sufficient gluing surfaces. Also, I usually put a tiny bead of glue on the long edge of the plank to secure it to the adjoining plank. If you are spiling, it is very difficult to run an accurately cut plank the entire length of the hull. If you are building a kit with two layers of planking, it makes sense to run the first layer the full length of the hull and then "correctly" plank the second layer. Most importantly, practice off the model. Once you are comfortable, then go back to the model to cut the rabbet. I think you will discover that it is not as difficult as you fear.

Don't stress over it. May I suggest practicing with some scrap wood? Go to your local craft or home improvement store and buy a sheet of basswood. Draw the shape of the hull on the basswood and either with a coping saw or an Exacto blade, cut on that line. It does not need to be perfect as the two pieces will mate together. You now have two sides of wood to practice on.

Thanks for the information, Mark. Just pulled the trigger. For those of you on this side of the pond, you can buy it through Amazon.

If anyone has the original Sea Watch version and this new version from Pen and Sword, I would be interested in knowing the difference between the two. I already own the Sea Watch version.

And then there are aural and nasal speculae...

Folks, the bottom line is this, the NRG leadership investigated this last year. The Guild not interested in publishing this manuscript. Mr. Davis has not even been on MSW for ten months. There is no need for further discussion.

Beautiful as always, Karl. What is next?

If you are using silver solder, a soldering iron is of no use. You need the higher heat only attainable with a torch. Most silver solder paste has flux in the paste; actually, the flux is what makes it a paste.

Don, your work is great. I have a question about the paint scheme on the quarter galleries. You show ochre paint extending onto them. When I built her several years ago, my research showed that they were completely black, as seen in the attached photo. Is this an era-specific schema?

Welcome. Never be concerned about your skill with English. We are all here for the same reason... love of our hobby.

Welcome, Pete. If you are a member of the NRG, in addition to MSW, let one of the mods know so you can have the logo added to your name.

My suggestion is to follow the construction sequence as written in TFFM. That's what I did with Atalanta and never regretted it.

Love it!