Keith Black

Steve, sorry to hear you have to give up modeling. I hope you can find that what makes you smile.

Peachy, Chris.

Coming along nicely, Bob.

The highlighting makes em pop, Chris. Much better than a flat ho hum surface lacking detail.

Thank you, Gary.

Outstanding detail work, LJP. Very very nice.

It was worth all the trouble, Chris. The hull is beautiful.

A soon as I show up you break the bowsprit, what am I going to do with you, Bob?......... wait a stinkin' minute, is Pyle back in town?!

Ah, got it. Have you managed to acquire all the line you'll need? Cotton, poly? Lacing 2mm deadeyes and tying to shrouds is a challenge everyone should accept at least one in their life.

Thank you, John. Regarding your Redjacket build, 2 mm deadeyes and single blocks and 3mm double blocks are available. I know they are available from Cornwall Model Boats but I would think they are also available here in the States. The below shows they would work and from experience they can be rigged but you either need great eyesight or a good magnifier. 2mm at 1:192 = 15.12 inches. 3mm at 1:192 = 22.67 inches.

Thank you, J. Unfortunately at 1:120 a lot of what I do is merely a suggestion and not replication. I learned long ago that leaving a tiny item to the viewer's imagination was far more affective than trying to actually make something.

Derek, it might be easier giving it to some youngster in your neighborhood/area who has a interest in modeling. You could contact middle schools and see if they know a young boy or girl with interest in ship modeling. Just a thought.

Tom, thank you suggestions and I did note the file name. At some point I need to mess around with India ink. In this case of the roofing, I'm trying to represent tar paper not wood but I do like the wall. The roof is painted with very thin black acrylic paint wash repeated till I was happy with the results. I intentionally left areas without the third and fourth washes. When the roof had dried I thumb rubbed the surface pretty good. I think that did more for me mentally than what it did for the roof. Thank you, Ken. As I said to Tom above, I do need to get myself to the hobby store and pick up some India ink. I think India ink would have highlighted the individual vertical boards much better than black pastel. I'm still an infant when it comes to weathering techniques.

Thank you, Keith and Eric. I'll remember your suggestions for the "next" time when I have a black surface. For this roof I made a very thin black wash and applied till I was happy with the look knowing a dark black would be problematic. Thank you both again.

Thank you, John. Thank you, John. Pretty hard to mess up the planking on this shoebox.

Those ship's boats are absolutely beautiful, Ilhan. Amazing work!

Thank you to everyone for the comments and likes. Well, finally something that resembles a build log. Research is a necessity but there comes a point when ya just gotta make something! I've completed the pilothouse. Who say's you can't start at the top and work your way down? The vertical siding is 1/32" x 1/32" basswood glued together using CA. I believe this was only a two man crew, the pilot would have been responsible for making forward and reverse changes requiring him to race up and down the stairs to the twin cylinder vertical steam engine which leads me to believe there wasn't a PH door. I also think the boiler had an automatic coal feeder, more about that later. The sternwheeler I'm trying to replicate is so rough that I didn't do any sanding and I didn't try to correct the basswood pieces if they didn't line up exactly. This is going to be pretty much the theme of this build though it's hard to not try and make things all nicely aligned and ship shape. There didn't appear to be any glazing in the PH windows, these are open window frames from Itchy Train. I don't know how one weathers the color black so I tried to show wear by not making the roofing a deep black and leaving light patches here and there. The PH is 0.8" W x 0.9" L x 0.8" H. The roof is 0.11" x 0.12". A penny is 0.7" D. Next up is the what I'm call the engine room which isn't exactly what that room is but.. I wanted to get the ER and PH done where I'd have a better idea on how long and wide I need to make the hull. Thank you to everyone for the support and following along and being part of the journey. Keith

Enjoy the summer, Mark. Life is way too short not to do that what makes you smile.

That's some nice work, Keith.

Simply amazing, Roel. Incredible work.

That's way cool, Bryan.

He was looking for SIB bottles or A bottle?

Congratulations on completing your beautiful Hind, Bob. I agree with Mrs Knocklouder as far as what's up next, I think you should finish the Astrolabe as you're doing a bang up job on her.

Those look super nice, John.

Glen, I agree but have you noticed that Bob has gotten better since Pile has been away?