Keith Black

Willi, welcome to MSW. Those are beautiful models. Glad to have  you aboard.  

Welcome! Those are some very impressive builds!

A warm hello to everyone
I've been registered here for some time now, have even written a few comments, and haven't introduced myself yet. Please excuse this oversight. I wanted to familiarize myself with the forum structure first. I hope my introduction is in the right place.
My name is Willi and I'm from western Germany, not far from the Dutch border.
When it comes to model building, I used to build exclusively RC-controlled, historic sailing ships, which I did as part of my membership in mini-sail. I specialized in ships from Frederic af Chapman's Architectura Navalis Mercatoria (ANM), but the French naval cutter "Le Cerf" is also included in 1:25 scale.
Because the ships sail better then, they are built very large, which led to a lack of space in my house. So, some time ago, I started building static models. My first project was the French frigate "La Vénus" in 1:48 scale.
I'm currently working on the small French corvette "L'Anémone," based on the plans of Gérard Delacroix's "L'Amerante," also in 1:48 scale. It will certainly be interesting to put the two ships side by side and compare their sizes.
I'll try to post a few pictures of the different models and look forward to a lively exchange.
 
French cutter Le Cerf:


 
Swedish Scooner 1768 from Chapman (ANM Page 50 Pl. XLII No. 4)


 
Swedish Yacht 1768 from Chapman (ANM Page 52 Plate XLIV No. 3)


 
Swedish Fregate 1768 from Chapman (ANM Page 51 Plate XLIII No. 1)


 
La Vénus
 

 
L'Anémone

 
 
 

The build board is amazing! I need to up my bench and this is idea and inspiration central!

Glen, I’m all buckled up!

Glorious work! 

Keith, she looks great! So much to look at in such a small space.

I got a few items's checked off the list this past week.
 
 Added the stair railing. 

 
The stair railing was the moat time consuming as it was mostly trial and error
 
 Added control lever and steam pressure gauge in the pilothouse and it's now permanently attached. 
 
 Added the water tank, exhaust pipe, steam whistle, drive shaft (as much as can be seen) and step over

 
 
 Thank you to everyone for the likes and for your support, I appreciate it so very much. 
 
    Keith

Before fully committing to this project, I wanted to see if I could actually drill a clean hole in a glass bottle.  After watching several youtube videos, I found a technique I thought might work.  I bought these diamond coated, hollow drill bits off Amazon for $15.  

 
 
The suggested technique is to run cooling water over the bottle and start the drill at a 45-degree angle till you get a small notch cut into the glass.  Then slowly work the drill into a horizontal position.  Once the vertical orientation is established, you gently rock the bit back and forth while applying light pressure letting the bit do most of the work till the hole is fully bored.  It only took about 10 minutes.  Afterwards, I had a pretty clean hole with no cracks and just a very tiny amount of chipping.  The hole is 3/16 inches in diameter, so the chipping is only noticeable in these closeup pics.  

@Keith Black wants me to try and fit the ship thru this hole, but I’m not even going to try! 


 
 


 
 
I got some small, flickering LEDs from Amazon that run on a 9-volt battery.  One or maybe 2 of these will go inside the fireball to bring it to life.  

 
 
 
Here’s the LED wire extending thru the hole and out the bottom of the bottle.  When the time comes, I will be making the epoxy resin water a dark blue to hide the wire.

 
 
 
Now that I’ve got a good hole in the bottle, we are off and running.  Here we go!!
 

First to follow!  Standing by!!

'Guess a 3D fireball (actually, there were two - port and starboard) will have to be something filamentary ... so it can catch and reflect light along its length emitted from LEDs mounted in the bow.  There are also illuminating flames along the ship.  I suppose tiny 'grain of wheat' bulbs used in HO train layouts might work for them.  'Should be awesome in a darkened room !

Welcome home, John. I look forward to seeing more Cecilie updates.  

Time to get 'er in gear and start work on another SIB.  I was tossing around a few different ideas and I just could not get rid of this one image that was floating around in what's left of my mind.  In the 4th installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie (On Stranger Tides), there is a scene where Blackbeard is captaining his Queen Anne's Revenge when a mutiny breaks out among Jack Sparrow and the crew.  Blackbeard appears on deck and raises his sword, bringing the rigging to life which begins roping and hanging crew members from the yards.  Blackbeard decides to spare the crew but make an example out of the cook.  He sets the cook adrift on a long boat, points the Revenge at it, then unleashes a ball of Greek Fire from the bow, engulfing the cook and long boat in flames.  Here's a 5 minute video of the scene from the movie:
 
https://youtu.be/fO4ZLQmcXMU

My idea is to capture the moment where the Revenge is spewing out the Greek Fire.   Here's a screenshot of the moment from the video.  The scene is so dark that you don't get a good view of the ship, but you get the idea.
 
  
 
 
And here's my crude artist's rendition of the SIB concept.


 
Now, to bring the SIB to life, I want to actually light up my fireball.  So I'm going to try and incorporate some flickering LED lights within the fireball and run the wiring thru the bottom of the bottle and into the base where it will lead to a battery and power switch.   I think I've been reading too many of @Ian_Grant's build logs, which is why I can't get this crazy idea out of my head.

Obviously, this is going to require doing some things that I haven't done before - making a fireball, drilling a hole in a glass bottle, rigging up some electrical stuff, etc.  So put your helmet on and buckle up.  This is probably gonna be a rough ride!

I got a few items's checked off the list this past week.
 
 Added the stair railing. 

 
The stair railing was the moat time consuming as it was mostly trial and error
 
 Added control lever and steam pressure gauge in the pilothouse and it's now permanently attached. 
 
 Added the water tank, exhaust pipe, steam whistle, drive shaft (as much as can be seen) and step over

 
 
 Thank you to everyone for the likes and for your support, I appreciate it so very much. 
 
    Keith

I got a few items's checked off the list this past week.
 
 Added the stair railing. 

 
The stair railing was the moat time consuming as it was mostly trial and error
 
 Added control lever and steam pressure gauge in the pilothouse and it's now permanently attached. 
 
 Added the water tank, exhaust pipe, steam whistle, drive shaft (as much as can be seen) and step over

 
 
 Thank you to everyone for the likes and for your support, I appreciate it so very much. 
 
    Keith

I got a few items's checked off the list this past week.
 
 Added the stair railing. 

 
The stair railing was the moat time consuming as it was mostly trial and error
 
 Added control lever and steam pressure gauge in the pilothouse and it's now permanently attached. 
 
 Added the water tank, exhaust pipe, steam whistle, drive shaft (as much as can be seen) and step over

 
 
 Thank you to everyone for the likes and for your support, I appreciate it so very much. 
 
    Keith

I got a few items's checked off the list this past week.
 
 Added the stair railing. 

 
The stair railing was the moat time consuming as it was mostly trial and error
 
 Added control lever and steam pressure gauge in the pilothouse and it's now permanently attached. 
 
 Added the water tank, exhaust pipe, steam whistle, drive shaft (as much as can be seen) and step over

 
 
 Thank you to everyone for the likes and for your support, I appreciate it so very much. 
 
    Keith

I got a few items's checked off the list this past week.
 
 Added the stair railing. 

 
The stair railing was the moat time consuming as it was mostly trial and error
 
 Added control lever and steam pressure gauge in the pilothouse and it's now permanently attached. 
 
 Added the water tank, exhaust pipe, steam whistle, drive shaft (as much as can be seen) and step over

 
 
 Thank you to everyone for the likes and for your support, I appreciate it so very much. 
 
    Keith

I got a few items's checked off the list this past week.
 
 Added the stair railing. 

 
The stair railing was the moat time consuming as it was mostly trial and error
 
 Added control lever and steam pressure gauge in the pilothouse and it's now permanently attached. 
 
 Added the water tank, exhaust pipe, steam whistle, drive shaft (as much as can be seen) and step over

 
 
 Thank you to everyone for the likes and for your support, I appreciate it so very much. 
 
    Keith

She looks terrific, Keith.
 
John

Wonderful work all around, Keith!  I especially like the steam engine as well as all the other sub-atomic details you’re adding. Great stuff and yes, that Myers pump is a visual gem. 
 
Gary

Do you mean from under the poop to the well deck? she certainly had those.
 
John.

I got a few items's checked off the list this past week.
 
 Added the stair railing. 

 
The stair railing was the moat time consuming as it was mostly trial and error
 
 Added control lever and steam pressure gauge in the pilothouse and it's now permanently attached. 
 
 Added the water tank, exhaust pipe, steam whistle, drive shaft (as much as can be seen) and step over

 
 
 Thank you to everyone for the likes and for your support, I appreciate it so very much. 
 
    Keith

I got a few items's checked off the list this past week.
 
 Added the stair railing. 

 
The stair railing was the moat time consuming as it was mostly trial and error
 
 Added control lever and steam pressure gauge in the pilothouse and it's now permanently attached. 
 
 Added the water tank, exhaust pipe, steam whistle, drive shaft (as much as can be seen) and step over

 
 
 Thank you to everyone for the likes and for your support, I appreciate it so very much. 
 
    Keith

I got a few items's checked off the list this past week.
 
 Added the stair railing. 

 
The stair railing was the moat time consuming as it was mostly trial and error
 
 Added control lever and steam pressure gauge in the pilothouse and it's now permanently attached. 
 
 Added the water tank, exhaust pipe, steam whistle, drive shaft (as much as can be seen) and step over

 
 
 Thank you to everyone for the likes and for your support, I appreciate it so very much. 
 
    Keith