Keith Black

Thank you, Eberhard. Absolutely agree with you about the shingle lapping. I tried doing that by half lapping the shingle strips but the shingle length was too short for scale plus it was way to busy looking, that's why I went with three quarter lapping. It lengthened the shingles and it's less busy looking, IMHO. The die cuts are not based in reality, the die cuts are random and there's no way to align them where cuts fall in the center of the shingles below. The half lap exaggerates that discrepancy, another reason for the three quarter lapping. I still need to install the waste steam exhaust pipe through the roof and once the flashing is added then I can add pastels. Now knowing I can add a light wash of color and not destroy the print below, if I were brave, I'd add a repair patch of seven or so shingles with a tan wash. I'm going to play with that idea on a test piece, we'll see. Thank you, Ken.

Thank you to everyone for all the kind comments, the likes, and for following along. I was able to salvage the existing shake roof. I had a bottle of craft acrylic gray paint that's a close match to the Wild West shingles color. With a thin gray wash I gently added a bit of gray to those shingles that were a tad too white thus reducing the pop effect of the original. It's subtle, very subtle and many may think I've lost my sweet ever lovin' but now I'm not being visually hit between the eyes as I was before. I can live with this, now I can weather for effect. I did more research on corrugated roofing last night mostly trying to determine the lengths corrugated roofing came in. A vague "5 to 10 feet" was the only answer I could find but once again I kept getting the same answer regarding usage in the early 1880's. By all accounts usage was sparse till about 1910 so I shelved the thought of going with corrugated roofing. Before tinting individual shingles with a gray wash. After Before After Before After Thank you so much to everyone for the support. Keith

It's so good to see you back at work on the Blairstown, mcb. Your work is an inspiration.

Thank you, Glen. My difficulty is trying to make the pastels show up at 1:120 scale. The pastels show up much better in a close up photo than in normal viewing.

Glen, your solution is way way much better than paint ever would have been. I've painted line before to eliminate the shine of CA or to change color but have used very thin paint. No Paintin' Manning me backside. Some of the painting you've done on your SIB builds has been absolutely remarkable.

Thank you to everyone for the kind comments, the likes, and for following along. This post contains a lot of photos but very little cast in stone work. I received my Wild West order a week after placing. I jumped all over the shingles as I was positive that was the look I wanted. But now there's something I don't quite like about the shingles and I'm be danged if I can put my finger on it. One maybe, instead of a half lap of the strips as recommended I went with a three quarter lap because the half lap looked too busy. Now, looking at the completed roof, the three quarter lap doesn't look right. Before ripping roofing 1.0 off I'm going to paint the shingles to eliminate one possible reason I'm having doubts about the shingles. I'll take photos of the painted shingles when done. Once the roof is cleared and cleaned up I'm going to put on the metal roofing to see if that satisfies my inner WA. . I finally got a chance to use the pastels. It's safe to say I'm a convert in learning. It's so easy to get heavy handed with pastels, a little goes a long way. Black is such a light sucking color. Even a single object like a cleat with out highlighting appears as a lump. A little gray sure makes black objects pop. In the case of the Donkey engine, detail was pretty lost but once a little gray was added..........I've added too much and need to remove some of the gray. Rust on the water tank looks pretty spot on. I also worked the barge deck with pastels but the engine shed needs to get permanently attached before the barge deck can be tackled properly. Too much! I'm real happy with the the ash around the firebox. Some pastels added to the pile driver. An overview of the project. A lot of fine and not so fine tuning required but I think I'm making progress. Thank you everyone for your support. Keith

Nick, welcome to MSW. Glad to have you aboard.

Following along as I enjoy viewing your work, Roel.

That's really slick, Paul.

What a fantastic looking system, Tom. Will it cook frog legs?

Glen, I just had a moment of brilliance. i often have these, just ask my wife. On a test piece of line, coat it with black acrylic paint and see if it thickens the line noticeably. By enlarging your photos and getting a close look at the line, I don't think you'll lose any twist definition.

A coat of varnish is gonna light that baby up! A thousand wows, Keith.

None of the photos of the Tennessee show netting. A lot of period ship images show no netting.

Glen, this is the netting I was referring to. I left out that key word "bowsprit". If the instructions don't call for it I certainly understand leaving it off. I've seen discussions on trying to locate netting at scale and it seems to be a pretty hard item to locate. If I remember correctly Keith Aug's wife had to weave his netting.

Glen, that looks great! Are you going to go ahead and add the netting now?

Alistair, please let us know how you like Polycrylic. Did you get satin or flat?

Very easy answer. Tom. Only half as many seeds as a two legged grasshopper.

Too funny, Tom. A question once asked on an applied mathematics test.........if it takes three thousand whacks with a ten pound sledge hammer to drive an inch thick banana through a two by four, how long will it take a frog jumping up and down in a cup of water to create enough steam to blow a factory whistle?

Madison, you're more than welcome, I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful. In all the years I've roamed these topics yours is a first for myself. We're primarily modelers but we all have other lives we lead outside of modeling and there maybe someone who's tickle me Elmo is ship movie props but I'm gonna climb out on that shaky limb and say I kinda doubt it because to my knowledge the issue has never come up before. Now, if you were asking us, do I restore or how do I restore, you'd be inundated with responses because now you're in our bailiwick. Please don't take a lack of responses as us not caring, it's a simple matter of us not knowing. Keith

Thank you to everyone for the likes and for following along. Richard, time makes those memories more romantic than they actually were. Heating with an alternate fuel source requires a commitment that only youth can sustain. Keith, the thing I disliked about using coal is not being able to bank a fire at night due to the possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning. The plan is to replicate that very thing for the boiler stack. Thank you, Ken. I plan on using a tiny strip of masking tape to replicate the boiler stack flashing. Eric, good thought. If and when I ever get the Wild West order I'll do test with both products and post for everyone's response. Thank you, Keith. It's amazing what we accepted in our youth as being normal that in todays world be regarded as being something only experienced in a third world country. The wealth of our nations has made us a very soft people. God forbid that overnight we would have to regress back 70 years in time. Can you imagine? It's been a lazy week for myself. I've played around with weathering a bit. For me the key is getting the feel for the right amount of pastel to add to a brush and apply the correct amount to an area before scrubbing it in. I'll not be using a fixing agent so I'll be scrubbing the pastels in with great vigor. I added the vertical trim to the shed's first floor but need to wait to have the roofing material added before I can add the tower trim. Thank you everyone for your support. Keith

http://www.modelshipsinthecinema.com/2016/02/ben-hur-1959.html

Keith, great to see you back home but I'm sorry to hear that your elder friends are succumbing to the ravages of time. Unfortunately diminishing mental acuity is a threat we all face.

Alistair, you can buy Minwax Polycrylic in New Zealand, see links below. https://www.mitre10.co.nz/shop/minwax-polycrylic-polycrylic-protective-finish-236ml-clear-satin/p/318305 https://www.u-buy.co.nz/brand/minwax?srsltid=AfmBOoraorDvQjTb5EMscBb3tECh6bf-MMWw8Ep7gWZQSt7kj6odJtiR https://www.etsy.com/nz/listing/1799879749/clear-matte-minwax-222224444wood-finish?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=polycrylic&ref=sr_gallery-1-2&sts=1&content_source=14320c38f9d29943bc1744200be76dce5dc3fde9%3A1799879749&organic_search_click=1 and maybe these folks? https://thepaintstore.com/collections/minwax?srsltid=AfmBOorxCcn0pQgf-TcmICHOAOoLYBkeeudxwwxRZFfRy9yVyYvndFlY

Alistair, I've used both polycrylic clear satin and flat and don't really care for the product because I don't think it protects as well as polyurethane. I buy both from Amazon. See links below, in the last link Amazon states they'll ship to New Zealand if the order is over $49.00 USD. A gallon of either is $69.98 USD. If for some reason using Amazon doesn't work for whatever reason, PM me. Keith Polycrylic flat. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=minwax+polycrylic+clear+flat&crid=19S6DMMBK2VSZ&sprefix=minwax+polycrylic+clear+flat%2Caps%2C103&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_5_28 Polycrylic satin. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=minwax+polycrylic+clear+satin&crid=21HS01LGXB38O&sprefix=polycrili%2Caps%2C92&ref=nb_sb_ss_sc_2_9 https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=23450861011#:~:text=Free International Shipping to New,qualify for Free International Shipping. Shipping to New Zealand. https://www.amazon.com/b/ref=s9_bw_cg_Jumpin_md8_w?node=117280817011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-8&pf_rd_r=0BKYZ140JXGWV6M8XGE3&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=3f13a174-41a1-4a81-a066-f15e469f3506&pf_rd_i=23450861011&discounts-widget=%22%7B%5C%22state%5C%22%3A%7B%5C%22refinementFilters%5C%22%3A%7B%7D%7D%2C%5C%22version%5C%22%3A1%7D%22

Ribbit needs to be taken to a French restaurant and shown the menu.