Jim Rogers

Hi!
I thought I work a bit with Halifax so I started to sand and dryfit the keel and the bow (the instruction calls it stern  ) on the false keel.
The fit is worse than terrible.
They are prefabricated? well, the bow is but the keel is 16 cm. too long !!
This is going to take a while but I have learned one thing.
I will never again buy a model from Constructo. I've read about it before I ordered this so I was warned but I thought "how bad can it be?"
Can it be worse? Well well, I'll have to take it like a man 😭  😂

Thank you Fernando
I have not really built any kits. I am currently using an AL kit as a base for another ship but my modifications are extensive enough that it would not be fair to judge the kit by my build.
 
I looked over these kits and it is nice that they have such a unique selection of historically important vessels. from Australia's colonial period.
 
Looking forward to seeing what you do with this one.    

Hi Lou
This is the third kit I have bought from them, the first was the HM Cutter Mermaid and the other was the Colonial Sloop Norfolk (which was my first build log on this site).
The company sells a variety of kits as well as does it's own Australian historical kits (see the following website https://www.modelerscentral.com/model-ship-kits/).
From my limited knowledge of kits available in the market I have found their stuff generally very good. I have completed a Panart kit (The Santa Lucia which I recently completed and did a build log on this site) as well as an Artesina Latina  small boat kit which started me on this great hobby a couple of years back. I would have to say that the Modellers Shipyard kits were way better than the Pannart and the AL in terms of wood provided as well as fittings and most importantly for me...great instructions including, if needed, you can buy a DVD of how to build your particular model. One other point I would make is that when I have had an issue with any faulty parts (not many at all) I have contacted them and they have immediately replaced it free of charge......no questions asked! Great service from these guys . Again, this is my personal opinion and others who have been doing this hobby much longer than I have will no doubt have a different opinion.
 
Saying the above I plan to do the HM Endeavour next and I'm not sure whether to get the Occre Kit or the Caldercraft Kit.....whichever way I go it will be interesting to compare it to the Modellers Shipyard Kits!
 
Cheers.............Fernando 
 
 
 
 

Have to give that a try. Good tip.

Try some watered down white glue after the glue stick has set up.

Routed the poplar display base.(The hole is for the electrical plugs).  

For joining styrene to styrene, I always use a liquid solvent like Testors.  With the model parts joined together, you can use a small pointed brush or a pipette to apply the solvent to the joint.  Capillary action will wick the solvent into the joint and effectively “melt” the parts together quite neatly. 
 
I typically use CA for attaching resin or photo etched parts.  Thin CA will wick into joints neatly too.  
 
White glue can also be used for attaching photo etched parts, especially small-scale ship’s railings and such. 
 
And for gap gap filling I haven’t found anything better than Bondo Spot and Glazing putty.
 
My oldest surviving models are 20+ years old and everything seems to be holding together.
 
HTH,
 
Keith

Heck Jim, most people are happy if they come with good wood!

Do any kits come with good rigging material? 

Do any kits come with good rigging material? 

After a short break from the shipyard I have decided to start my next project which is another Modellers Shipyard kit of the Brig Perseverance. The Brig was built for Robert Campbell a Sydney merchant a few short years after the colony of New South Wales was established. She mainly sailed off the coast of south east Australia and southern New Zealand in search of seals for their fur and oil. The Captain of the Perseverance discovered Campbell Island (named after his employer) as well as Macquarie Island (after the then Governor of the Colony of New South Wales). As I have an interest in early Australian colonial history and can still see the old sandstone Campbell Stores building in the Rocks in Sydney I was keen to have a go at this build.
 
First a few obligatory pics of the packaging as well as my very clean shipyard desk!

 



 
The contents of the box are as expected and other than one sheet of the laser cut ply showing a lot of burn marks (which I'm not too fussed about as I will be painting or covering these parts with mahogany strips) it all looks like good quality fittings. I did order some new rigging rope from Syren as I have not been too happy with the quality provided in previous kit s from Modellers Central....the rope arrived very promptly (thank you Chuck!) and looks fantastic!
The instruction booklet is, as usual, very detailed (57 pages) with plenty of photos (129 photos!).  
 

More pics to follow....a word of warning to those who want to follow the build progress.......it will be a slow one!
 
Cheers................Fernando 
 

Try some watered down white glue after the glue stick has set up.

Have to give that a try. Good tip.

I’ve never been able to coil rigging very well even though there have been any number of great tips and hints offered on this website.
I am working on the ME Confederacy and am using a paper pattern to simulate the canvas covering for the great cabin. No contact cement was available so I picked up a Scotch Glue Stick which worked well laying the “canvas” down on the planks.
Then a little light bulb went off and I wondered if this easily handled adhesive could be used to coil rope. I simply dragged a length of line across the top of the Glue Stick, wrapped the line around the base of a dowel (1/4” in this trial) to the depth I wanted. Stripped the coiled rope off the dowel and had a very nice coiled rope. Fast, simple, & inexpensive. You can use a similar drill storing extra rope length on belaying pins. Check out Kevin Kenny’s video for some useful hints on setting up a jig.
The coils held their shape with no problems.
Cheers, Harley

 

So I needed a flag but I needed to figure out how they attached the flag to the halyard. After a lot of searching around I referred to an old Jean Boudriot book and found a depiction of one in his book of the BonHomme Richard. 
Im assuming this is how they typically secured them and it makes sense.  
 

 
 
The period is correct so I gave it a try.  The hardest thing to make was the toggles.  At this scale they were about a mere 1.5mm.  I turned down a piece of hardwood and wrapped the .008 rigging line around it. The Hoist of the flag (the vertical part) was left white and folded over the line and glued with thinned white glue.
 
The flag was made using Chuck’s method of tissue paper.  Here’s a link to his thread for the Cheerful. Cheerful Link
 
I chose a 13 star flag representative of the era circa 1790.  I used some some tissue paper the wife had squirreled away for Christmas.  Cut a small piece and taped it onto a sheet of 8x11.5 office paper. This acted as a carrier to feed the tissue through the printer.  Printed the flag then cut it to shape and sprayed some Krylon fixative. After gluing in the toggles I sprayed some more fixative on the flag to soften it and shaped it.  Viola La!
 
I attached the halyards and hoisted the flag to the truck.  Secured to the starboard deadeye.  Here’s some pictures of the finished product.  Making and attaching the toggles was fiddly but worth it in the end.
 
 

 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
Next up is to make some rope coils and hang them on the boat and I’m done. 
 
 
Cheers landlubbers 😁
 
 
 

I had all sorts of problems trying to get the flying transom seated in the existing planking.  I decided to place a spacer aft of the true transom, then glue in the flying transom.  So far so good.  Avert your eyes from the glue gobs.

Great to see you making such fantastic progress on the ship again Daria.
 
It is also great seeing your Fantasy dollhouse.
 
Just tell your dad that this is the one you want:

 
Almost twenty years in the making for the Admiral and still not even close to fully done on the inside! Something for dad to really look forward to making with you.

The Moose agrees.

Thanks Jim,
 
I want to rig as much as possible off ship.
Biggest fear I have, Is I forget to install a block or thimble some where impossible to reach.
And being impossible to reach, the final outcome wont look good.
 
I know I'll have some learning moments, hopefully most off ship!
 
Mike, below was your idea a few posts ago. Still in use to this day.
Probably for all my future builds as well. 
The below pic is old. That Fore mast is a lot further along!
 
As the Fore, Top, and Topgallant are built, supports are added to the board.
I want to do all, or as close to as possible, rigging on it.

 
Tom E 
 

Eugene the Phoenix I purchased through Model Expo has the instructions in English but no English name plate.

On my build list. 
 
Greenstone would it it be possible to add a nameplate in English to your kits?

Tom she is beautiful. Great paint job.
One of the things I find easier is rig it off the boat. I get all the blocks, Standing and Running rigging attached before hand. I work from fore aft and bottom up. I have broken off bow spirits before, usually whilst trying to run a line through a block or a fairlead. Learned my lesson about the third time. Now I rig in my third hand.

Evening, 
Hope everyone is having a quiet Labor Day.
Did the cookout/party Saturday. That left Sunday and Monday to the Shipyard!
I took full advantage!
 
Still painting.....
Although, somewhat of a milestone in my book. The hull now has it's first few layers of Black.
Couldn't find any quality rattle cans, so I stuck with hand paining it. 
I can control my paint better by hand. 
It will be thin layers. Should fill in nicely!

She's a bit snaggle toothed at the bow, but....I can live with it.
It's my first of, I hope, many ships!

 
I placed a piece of 1/32x3/32 at the junction of the Waterways and deck.
My version of a "simplified" Nibbing Strake. 
 

 
The height will come down as I finish sanding the deck.
The deck had a good rub with several grits, then I placed the nibbing strake.
Once dried in place, I'll finish the deck with one more good sanding.
Then ready for staining. 

I also finished the Fore Topgallant/Royal Mast.
Its in the paint shop as of tonight.
 

 

 
More Carronade should be ready soon.
I hope to have them all done by the time I'm done staining the deck.
 

 
 
 

I also finished the Flying Jib Boom for the Bowsprit.
I don't wanna do a basic white on the Jib and Flying Jib Boom.
I may stain these a dark tone.
We'll see.

Tom E 
 
 

I pour mine in a plastic container with a lid and use it over and over and over. No worries

Looking awesome Bob.