lmagna

I sympathize with your moving woes. I have done it a couple of times with models, some made it and some didn't do so well. If the distance is short them I have had the best luck in putting them in the back of the car with pillows or foam for protection and take them by them selves. Longer moves, not so easy! It also helped that almost all my ships were RC so they were a little tougher than your normal shelf kit.
 
I still may be a little while on the Titanic as I think I am a little intimidated by the project and I also just started my sloop Providence build and want to make some progress with it before I branch out to another "Never done that before" build. Plus, like I said I still need some tools before I start working with this PE stuff.
 
Meanwhile I will avidly be following your build and see how it is done before I have to try my pitiful attempt.
 
Get back to work now, I need my next lesson!
 
Me again 

I sympathize with your moving woes. I have done it a couple of times with models, some made it and some didn't do so well. If the distance is short them I have had the best luck in putting them in the back of the car with pillows or foam for protection and take them by them selves. Longer moves, not so easy! It also helped that almost all my ships were RC so they were a little tougher than your normal shelf kit.
 
I still may be a little while on the Titanic as I think I am a little intimidated by the project and I also just started my sloop Providence build and want to make some progress with it before I branch out to another "Never done that before" build. Plus, like I said I still need some tools before I start working with this PE stuff.
 
Meanwhile I will avidly be following your build and see how it is done before I have to try my pitiful attempt.
 
Get back to work now, I need my next lesson!
 
Me again 

Hi Denis
I bet this is one build log that won't fall behind or end up in the unfinished kits! This could be the fastest build log in history! Keep it up I'm expecting great things from you!
 
Lou

A lot of thanks to all of you for your kinds comments
 
After making ships on a larger scale for years and not knowing what to do next with them, it was precisely the problem of space in the home, together with my facet of collector, which led me to make and collect miniature models ( I'm now making number 62 of my collection).
Regarding the techniques, I'm posting in the forum section “Build Logs for Scratch Ships Model Projects”a topic called “Two miniature moliceiros”, which without being a step by step, shows part of the process that I follow in the construction of my models.
In any case, I will be happy to answer all questions and doubts that may arise
 
A cordial greeting
 
Javier

Indeed, as a border resident and having some personal knowledge of the postal system (i.e., I work for the USPS), there can be a lengthy delay, particularly with the Canadian postal service (amazing how many Canadian residents will rent a US Post Office Box because it is quicker and cheaper than delivery across the border - even with the drive and customs each way).
 
Also, though not likely a major issue, is the customs clearance inbound (not generally a big delay unless the value, size or description raises a red flag).
 
Keep in mind that mail doesn't move office to office, but rather post office to processing plant to international departure plant to international arrival plant to processing plant (maybe more than one) to destination post office. 

We have some Canadian members who report that their Journals take up to 90 days to arrive.  They start to look for their Journal when the see the next issue posted to the NRG web site.
 
The Journals are sent to a consolidator in NY who ships them across the boarder and they are then put in the Canadian mail system.  This is the way all non USA periodic Journal mailings are done.  Some members in Australia routinely report less than 30 days from our shipping to NY until they get them down under.  I get a confirmation (and the bill) from the NY consolidator when they are shipped out so the delay isn't at that end.  Canada is by far the worst when it comes to delivery times.  About 1/2 of our Canadian members pay for first class mailing to avoid the delay.
Kurt

Add some more banking, so they look like they're turning into each other. That would be a dogfight.

Yessssssssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's more like it ... Add a Nieuport to it, and you are complete

And finally, finally, I didn't like the stand much. It was too low and so now we have the dogfight from the ceiling !!
 
 

I don't know why, it just happened that way and I think you are right - another hole in the ceiling !!!

And finally ...........
 
on it's provided stand and appropriately, under the Sopwith Camel !!
 
(I still might fly it from the ceiling.)
 
 

I sympathize with your moving woes. I have done it a couple of times with models, some made it and some didn't do so well. If the distance is short them I have had the best luck in putting them in the back of the car with pillows or foam for protection and take them by them selves. Longer moves, not so easy! It also helped that almost all my ships were RC so they were a little tougher than your normal shelf kit.
 
I still may be a little while on the Titanic as I think I am a little intimidated by the project and I also just started my sloop Providence build and want to make some progress with it before I branch out to another "Never done that before" build. Plus, like I said I still need some tools before I start working with this PE stuff.
 
Meanwhile I will avidly be following your build and see how it is done before I have to try my pitiful attempt.
 
Get back to work now, I need my next lesson!
 
Me again 

Glad to see your work again Scott. I was starting to go into withdrawal! For some reason My "Unread Content" didn't show your last posting until today!
 
I finally ordered and received the PE sheets needed to do the 1/350 Titanic for my Admiral, (It HAS to have lights as well!) and OMG  that stuff is SMALL!!!! Your pictures make it look like something you can actually see! After I get over the shock I will probably have get a list of the tools you have found most useful, other than a magnifying optical system that would normally only be used by a Micro-surgeon!
 
Optically challenged Lou  

The deck planking is done. Unfortunately. Not sure for you guys, but for some reason deck planking is my favorite part of model making process... Anyhow, a bit changed presentation process follows..
 
Done for today:
 





How did i get here?
 
First i completed second half of a deck planking processes. Come up with template for plank joggling and transfer it to second half of a deck, after 4 planks being installed.

Then, planking started... each plank measured and cut/sand to fit correctly....and completed...
 



You will notice a small stringer at the bottom right-hand corner; it appears that bow is a bit wider at that area than 19 planks x 3mm (wide) so a small stringer (hope that have a term correctly) has been placed...
 
Then a tree simulation happened, in the same matter as previously...
 

After filler was dried, deck sanding took place. After sanding the whole deck, tiny layer of golden oak stain has been applied on all deck. Extra stain was removed with piece of bounty and the end result is up there, somewhere..
 
I installed transom after this.

Looking towards transom, from bow..
 

And testing of rudder fitting..

I glued broken part of bow keel; it is fine now, still to make a decision to live with it or to make another, new part..

Then i painted cap rails for tomorrow work..

Tomorrow i will also put a coat of varnish on the deck to protect it...
 
Happy modeling..
 
 
 
 

I sympathize with your moving woes. I have done it a couple of times with models, some made it and some didn't do so well. If the distance is short them I have had the best luck in putting them in the back of the car with pillows or foam for protection and take them by them selves. Longer moves, not so easy! It also helped that almost all my ships were RC so they were a little tougher than your normal shelf kit.
 
I still may be a little while on the Titanic as I think I am a little intimidated by the project and I also just started my sloop Providence build and want to make some progress with it before I branch out to another "Never done that before" build. Plus, like I said I still need some tools before I start working with this PE stuff.
 
Meanwhile I will avidly be following your build and see how it is done before I have to try my pitiful attempt.
 
Get back to work now, I need my next lesson!
 
Me again 

Thanks chaps. I have a split personality, altering between Mr. Dumb and Mr. Dumber.
So the function of the fan is to give a consistent even spacing of planks at a given bulkhead.
Drawing a fan consists of lines radiating from a vanishing point. So each gap between the lines represent each plank selected for the job.
Back to the fan. presumably the lines are 10 degrees apart.
Then you mark a paper strip with the top and bottom of the area being planked; then offer the strip to the fan so those marks coincide with the relevant fan lines; then mark off each fan line in between onto the paper. Take the paper and transfer those marks to the bulkhead.
Is that it? Simples?
 
Once again, thanks to my BIGGEST FANS!

Thanks for the info Canute! 
I finally assembled the barrels and installed all 12. 

starting on the ladder rungs. This is what I dislike doing very much! Damn ladder rungs!  But this time instead of drilling holes I just folded the tips of the rungs and glued them on. It makes it easier. 

Aha! Those thingamabobs on those turrets are the optical rangefinder covers. Those were Plan B. If the ship's internal fire control systems went down and they had to use local control, these gave them firing info in the turret (ranges, elevations and bearings). They didn't fire their guns via open sights.

I'm just  continuing on with the PE.  First the bands of brass go around the base. 

next to go on is the sliding hatches. 

next is to start installing the barrels. 

This model was just sitting on a shelf patiently waiting for some attention when a friend of mine saw it and wondered if I could build it for his office.  While I am currently working on the MS Phantom, I thought I could do both and try my hand at making a build log for this one.  I suspect that this method of model building is quite unusual, To tell the truth, I was not certain that this belonged in the kit built category, as the only part of the kit that is being used is the hull with all the rest being scratch built from wood and metal.
    My friend was actually interested in a wooden ship, but I told him that I could replace most of the plastic parts with wood.  I told him I’ve done that before and he agreed that it would probably look better that way, as the kit had heavy plastic sails moulded right to the spars and the deck had a lot of  the details moulded right on which he thought looked pretty bad.
    As I reopened the box to examine the kit I found that the instruction manual was missing!  Luckily, I had built this ship before in wood and still had the blueprints from A.J. Fisher.  The plastic deck was not very impressive with a lot of the details moulded on it, but it was a one piece deck so that would make it easier to use as a template to make a wood  replacement. 
    Before I actually started construction, I decided that I wanted to do a search in the internet for more details of the actual ship.  One thing that really caught my attention right off the bat, was the fact that the real ship only had four sails on the main and foremasts and not five as shown both in the kit and my set of blueprints. These two pictures below show both the box art and one of the pictures that I found showing the ship as it was built.

                                                            

                                                          
     Discovering this, I decided to really do some digging to see if any other discrepancies were evident.  There were a few, but nothing as glaring as the sails.
    Taking the plastic deck in hand, I traced the outline onto a piece of manila folder including the mast holes, marked the center line of the deck, and transferred the outline of the hatch as shown below.

                                                           
    As the end of the hull was closed in and the tumble home of the hull sides was too severe to allow a one piece deck to be slipped into place, I decided that I would have to split the deck down the middle for it to be installed. I took two 3”x24” sheets of glued up 1/8” wide 1/32” thick decking boards that were glued up with black colored glue to represent the caulking joints and joined them together edge to edge with tape across the backside. 
    Placing the manila pattern over the pair of decking sheets, I taped them together, being careful to align the center-lines of the pattern and the joint of the two decking sheets.  I traced this outline onto the decking sheets and unassembled it to allow easier cutting of the rough outline of the two deck pieces on my scroll saw.

                                                          
   After cutting, the next step was to carefully tape the rough cut decking sheets back together again on their backside and tape these under the original plastic deck.  Once again, I was careful to align that center joint of the decking with the center of the plastic deck.  This assembly was then taken to my belt sander and sanded close to the edge.  I would sand up to the tape and re-position the tape as I went along.  (This was necessary because the plastic deck was quite warped and once untapped; it wanted to spring away from the decking sheets.)

                                                           
    At this point the assembly was taken to my drill press.  I drilled all of the larger round holes right thru the plastic deck to assure that they would align exactly.  (This was especially important for the heel of the masts to align with the mast steps on the inside of the hull.)  I then took the whole assembly to my workbench and drilled all of the remaining round holes with matching small bits in a pin vice.  Here is a picture below of my progress to this point.

                                                            
    Taking a look here at the inside surface of the hull, you can see that the waterway was already moulded on and would remain.  However, the projecting tabs for support of the plastic deck and the injection mold stubs would have to be removed.
 
                                                            
    Taking my new battery powered Dremel, I ground off all of these unwanted projections and sanded them smooth to allow me to glue some 1/32”x 13/64” basswood strips to serve as a ledger to support some new deck support beams.

                                                           
    I decided that I should make a 1/16” thick basswood sub-deck, as the decking sheet was very thin, so I cut up two sheets of basswood for the sub-deck similar to the decking sheet as shown here. (notice the plastic decking springing away from the tapped wood deck)

                                                          
    Then I made up a spacing jig to help align the top edge of the planking to the underside of the moulded waterway. Taking short pieces of the decking and sub-deck for spacers, I glued them to a thicker piece of wood for a handle as shown.

                                                          
    Here is a picture of the spacer jig in use.

                                                            
    Using this spacer jig as a guide, I used some thin ACC to attach the 1/32”x 13/64” basswood for the beam support ledger and clamped it in place for it to totally set up overnight.

                                                            
    While the hull was drying I decided to work on the upper structure.  The first thing I did with the masts and bowsprit was to do a trial assembly without glue of all the components to see how they all fit together.

                                                            
    Disassembling these assemblies, I drew up some dimensioned diagrams of all the components for making their wooden replacements.  The lengths were all drawn full size and the widths were written out next to their locations.

                                                           
      Returning to the hull construction, I cut 17 3 ½” long pieces and 4 shorter pieces of 3/8”x 3/16” basswood to use for the deck beams.  The kit was designed (as most plastic models are) to have a flat deck, so I worked up a method of adding the camber to it.  I marked the center-line of all of the beams on their top edge as shown below.

                                                           
    The camber was scaled off the 1/6” scale A.J. Fisher blueprints and converted to the models 1:87 scale.  This worked out to about a 1/16” slope.  Flipping over the whole stack of full length beams, I shifted the full size beams up against a piece of 1/32” scrap wood (to account for the approximate 1/32” width of the pen point), and marked all of the pieces on both ends.

                                                           
    I set the beams on top of the plastic deck to get an idea of how to arrange them.

                                                            
    That’s as far as I’ve gotten so far, I will post more later on the shaping and installation  of the beams.  

judaic bitumen is liquid and acts more like a stain, not like the normal bitument, normal bitumen is the one that can give problems on the long term
 
judaic bitument is used on all kinds of materials to give a antique patina
 
here you can see a couple of links on it beeing used on wood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xJVSJAU9ug
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yrf-5FsInLg
 
Sorry for beeing in portuguese/brasilian but in english i didn't find any good videos
 
Also keep in mind that depending on the brand/dilution the stain ranges from yelowish-brown-black
 
There are also recipes to make your own, i've never tried any, because i have easy access localy
 
this does look like it had some judaic bitumen used, but also looks like it had work with pigments done over it
 
You can also mix it with wax and work with the stained wax, there's some areas that really look like they had technique used

Not sure 'bitumen', whatever it really is, is a good solution. I know some of the Russians use it, but there are more easily obtainable paints.
 
It appears, as if indeed various washes of paint were used and some wiped off after application. I would think they were oil-washes, but this technique requires a lot of time, because the oils have to 'dry' (oxidise). No intermediate sealers are needed on properly dried oils. A semi-gloss varnish seems to have been used over everything to blend it in.
 
Using acrylics is faster, as they dry within minutes, so you can apply the next wash fast without disturbing the previous one. One can actully apply oil-washes on acrylics as well. They will deepen the colours. The same happens, when you apply a clear acrylic varnish over matt acrylic paints.
 
Very nice 'muleta' indeed, the model shown above.

Hi Auggie
 
It looks like you're off to a great start.  As for any advice and direction, I always use the old adage "Just do it" and you'll figure things out along the way.
 
Good luck and I'm going to be in for the ride.
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

I am hoping that this Wil be a row boat or something closely resembling one.i stsrted this as a test of my dimensions as this is  my first build i wasnt sure on a few things so i just stsrted to draw and measure. This is what i have done so far.my next planned step is to pit together a jig to keep everything true and square as i make any needed adjustments as i start to cit out and assemble my keel and ribs.any thoughts or direction will be happily accepted
 

The adhesive is very strong. I have a build that is over 20 years old and there is no sign of any peeling. It is still best though to put a matte or dull coat over the plates to avoid fingerprinting. I use Testor's Dullcote.