Fernando E

Greetings everyone! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Simon, I'm originally from New Zealand but have been in Australia since 2004. I am not new to modelling and my works have been primarily sci-fi, aircraft and cars etc. I recently started building ships after I discovered World of Warships and really enjoyed the history of some WW2 battleships and cruisers.  I thought I'd join up to take in the immense wealth of information and talent here to try and get better at ships. My preferred medium is plastic but would like to give a wooden ship a go one day. 
Thankyou all for having me and sitting through this thread 

Tomorrow marks the 40th anniversary of the lifeboat Solomon Browne's courageous attempt to save the crew of the Union Star which had engine failure and was drifting towards rocks off the Cornish coast. All crew members perished in a brave attempt. Coxswain Trevelyan Richards refused two members of the same family aboard such was the difficult nature of the sea. RIP brave men, your memory lives on.

Keep in mind we did moderate that that topic.   And what you cant see,   is that we did speak to those who treated the OP badly.  There is and will be no tolerance for belittling other members.   We have hundreds of members who may not be experts or they may even be beginners.   To call what they have posted as a tip or suggestion "trash"   is not something we want to condone at MSW.  We have many new builders who are proud of what they have done.  They want to share their methods and work.  It may not be perfect or masterful.  But they dont deserve to be treated badly.  And you wonder why new folks dont stick around.   Its because of people like those members who bashed the guy.  I counted six.  And I must say if those six experts suddenly vanished from the site...it would be less impactful then the scores of new builders alienated and poorly treated by them. 
 
These so called experts who love to pontificate (you know who they are)  will not be allowed to treat other members like dirt.   They have been formally warned.   If they continue...they will be banned.  The OP of that topic was NOT banned.   Nor was the topic removed.  It was being cleaned up and pruned of the nasty remarks other members were making.    Such as the one below.  Who would actually have the balls to to post THIS!!!   ...on another persons topic no less.   They should be ashamed of themselves.  As if they are so perfect.   
 
Pompous posters who love to pontificate on their wealth of knowledge be warned....do not treat folks this way.  There is a way to teach and educate without being a bully.  You guys are certainly NOT mentor material.  You get three strikes.....if the behavior continues...you are out.  The bully below says the member wasted his time.   You know what wasted my time...cleaning up the hate you decided to post all over someone elses topic.   That was a waste of my time.   Sending you a private message and issuing warnings to the folks who think they are "genius" masters who everyone should kiss up to....that was a waste of my time.
 
found the video a total waste of time. So what's to respect in the effort to make it and why do you care whether the poster "is getting pleasure in his task?" I know I may be criticized for being "insensitive," but I don't respect the efforts people put into posting useless, let alone erroneous, "how-to-do-it" videos on the internet and I could care less whether the people who post such drivel are getting pleasure from it. They waste everybody else's time. Who has the bandwidth to waste on junk content?
 
And here is the kicker.....non of the so -called MASTER builders in their INFINITE WISDOM of all things...posted a better method...or the correct historical reference.  They made ZERO attempt to politely state that there may be a better way or a more historically accurate way.   No attempt to teach or mentor.  They just bashed the guy and went on long Rants...like this one I am now forced to write about how so many people dont know as much as they do and yet post on You tube and the internet all this bad wrong information.....making society more stupid.
 
18 posts by expert bullies were pruned from that topic leaving just two replies.   All 18 had no value other than to belittle.   Shameful.   Talk about a waste of time reading those.   The replies of the bullies had no value what so ever.  Except of course maybe to allow the bullies to hear themselves claim omnipotent dominance of all things in the Universe. 

Chris, you should have got in touch with any questions, I didn't know you were building her and I crew her! I've said before that I'm impressed with the accuracy and detail and you've done a great job.
 
A few points of interest:-
The towing bit (that's what we call it) has much greater rope wear on the port post than the stb. This is because the hooks were outlawed not long after she was built and they made tow lines off to the port post to counter prop walk. The "locker" aft of the forward accommodation is actually the coal bunker as are the circular covers either side of the superstructure. You seem to have the life jacket boxes in the correct places except their isn't one across the front of the forward accommodation. Rather there is a low frame to hold the fire buckets. The box there seems to be forcing the mast too close to vertical. The life jacket boxes go either side of the forward and aft accommodations and either side of the engine room. I'm impressed that the model even includes the wartime patches to the stb side of the superstructure, in both wars she was charged with clearing incoming ships (making sure they were friendly) and she had to fly the flag of the day when returning to harbour. One day ( in WW2 I believe ) they forgot said flag and on return to Newcastle harbour a shore battery opened fire. The shell penetrated the wall of the galley (big patch) then through to the upper engine room. No major damage as it didn't explode and I believe only minor injuries to one crew member.
Pardon the typo below, there's no such thing as a lox frame but there are low frames.

Cannons were also a fairly significant deviation from the kit instructions. Instead of using the laser cut parts which did not look right to me, I only cut off the top ridged bit of the side pieces and used that. The bottom section of the side piece was then glued to that to give a groove.

 
I made up the quoin using the previously purchased brass belaying pins
 
 

 
Then I could add the actual cannon barrel (yay)
 

 
The main body of the cannon was finished off with wheels, eyebolts (from 0.5 mm wire) and cannon hinges. This all had multiple steps that took quite a while with 6 cannons. I can’t even imagine doing 100 for something like the Victory, but I would definitely want to do a big battle ship like that eventually.
 

 
I also rigged them with some 0.5 mm thread. I now need to add the blocks and tie them down to the deck. I think I will also add eyebolts to each of the gunports where the cannons are supposed to go.
 

 
Anyway, here are some more pictures.



 

Similar to how I did the cabin windows, I wanted to cut holes in the wood and place a mirror behind it to give the illusion of depth. This proved quite difficult with the pre-cut parts as cutting out the holes was extremely painful and they ended up being too small. So instead, I decided to scratch build them using some of the limewood pieces. This gave some ugly little skeletons here (I think the main one is wrong here, I fixed it later but the slope on the roof should go the other way)
 
 
They looked a bit better with the sycamore lining and the roofs
 

 
 
I had to also make the bars from scratch, which was a long night cutting 1mm brass rods (I ended up buying some spare stuff in the end)

 
I really did not feel like priming all of these and then painting them multiple times, so I decided to blacken them instead, which turned out okay
 

Then I glued in the mirrors to give this effect, which is quite difficult to take photos of

 
Then I fixed them to the boat, and the deck was starting to come together


 
 
There was a bit of trouble on the poop deck as the sounding winch did clash a little with the larger sky light and I had to rebuild it with shorter wire and shift it a bit so that there was enough clearance (I think this piece is a little too large for scale, but I still like it)

 
Anyway, cannons next.

Hey everyone, I’ve been quiet for a while but have a couple of posts that have been ready for a while now. It’s been slow going for the past couple of months, but significant progress has been made since the last update and I have a few posts I can do now.
 
First up is all the details around the main mast. The hatchway was mostly straightforward to make. I had a bit of trouble with the number of eyebolts around the main mast. I settled on 6 around the mast and one in front (changed after this photo). I did also need to order some more cleats as I think the rigging in the OcCre guide is not quite accurate. I’ve forgotten the specificities of what each of the eyebolts are for, but I’ll get into that later.

 
 
 
The winch was a little tricky. I added some gears by cutting a thin wheel off of a dowel and cutting in some grooves to mimic the effect, which I think works. I also had to make the posts a little longer as it clashed with the belaying pins

 
 
Bilge pumps were fiddly, but mostly straightforward, getting them to align symmetrically took a bit of trial and error but turned out okay.
 

 
The sounding winch was also fun. For ages I could not figure out what this thing was for. This was apparently used to lower ropes to the sea surface in order to gauge the depth of the sea floor, which is pretty cool. 
 

 
 
Then it was either cannons or skylights. I had planned some pretty major deviations for both of these and both seemed a bit daunting. In the end, I decided to do sky lights first to get all the stuff that is actually fixed to the deck done first.

Finished of securing the channels by lining up the forward shroud with the aft of the fore and main mast and for some reason every drawing and or picture has the channels for the mizzen mast fitted further aft. Temporarily fitted bumkins, cutting out a section of the bulwark so that they lie flush with the upper cap rail. Also fitted both cat heads, and securing brackets for fish davit again temporarily. As I don,t want them damaged whilst carrying out other work. I continued on with other deck fittings including aft walkway over rudder post ,large 1.5 mm brass hand rail aft . It was also necessary to reposition the stanchions for the Taffrail  so that when I fitted the cleats they lined up with the centre of the windows on the transom. I also fitted the brackets for the flagstaff to the taffrail. 
                     All in all the above went fairly smoothly and I am now thinking of making up the lower dead eyes and their links/chains/plates. together with the tackle for the steering and for securing the guns which I think will take a ggod while before moving onto the ships boats. I know I keep putting this off but I want to complete as much as possible on the ship so I can put this to one side to make a bit of room in my workshop . Here is an update of the work so far.

Two of my previous builds. Smit Rotterdam and Zwarte Zee.

Some progress on the planking. I almost finished one quadrant of the ship: 
 

 

 

 

 
Most of the planks were placed in this crude jig: A little dipping in pure alcohol and then placed between the nails - 
 

 
Four planks can fit nicely, while drying in shape. When released, they rebound a little bit, but are more willing to comply to the difficult shape of that hull.
 
Now, I just have to do the other side, with more than 24 planks....
 

 
A first pass of "scraper" and some rough sanding took place. I am still debating if I will paint the hull (anti-worms white) or copper plate it. I would love to do the copper plating but need to learn about that process. Non-covered section of the hull may require a second planking made with 0.4 mm thick maple planks, provided in the kit. 
 
I still have plenty of time to think about it....
 
Yves

Top capping rail completed and swivel gun posts glued into position. I am beginning to wish I had left the painting until everything was glued to the hull. It was necessary to remove the paint so the glue would take better so once everything is glued into position onto the hull it will need painting again. I then moved onto the ladders and the fenders. I temporarily stuck some sand paper to the hull using two sided tape and then shaped the fenders to conform with the hull.


I then moved onto the channels and used 1mm brass rod to give them added strength. I moved away from the plans and removed the wale altogether and ended up fitting 1.5mm square walnut underneath the wales. Unfortunately I did not have steel rod so hopefully brass will suffice.

I managed to round up the square anxles using my Dremmel and a suitable collet so thank you Gregory for the Idea. I used the kits Trucks but they didn,t clean up too well and I think next time I might make my own or at least clean the ones up using my lathe .( Once I figure out how to hold them together and grip them in a 3 jaw chuck). All in all after 2 weeks work on only 6 of them I am reasonably happy with the end product for my first attempt at making my own. Here is a couple of photos of the progress
 
 
 
 
 
 


 

Well if those coils oversized, I did just the same with my CC Bounty and made them in exactly the same way as you.  There maybe someone on MSW who knows what the rule for gun tackle rope lengths are, but I do not number among them! 🤔.
In any case you are making great progress  👍, enjoying following along, will see how you get along with rigging, I am not far behind!

The grain of the wood comes up a treat. I will definitely do that when I start my Endeavour kit (currently on the shelf together with the Beagle).
 
Cheers.............Fernando 

The grain of the wood comes up a treat. I will definitely do that when I start my Endeavour kit (currently on the shelf together with the Beagle).
 
Cheers.............Fernando 

“BELT SANDER : An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor touch-up jobs into major refinishing jobs.”
 
LMAO.
 
 Also capable of turning a mast into a toothpick in the time it takes you to tell the dog to shut the hell up!

Also doubles a chisel - see also tools used convert small project to large.

PILLAR DRILL : A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, denting the freshly-painted project which you had carefully set in the corner where nothing could get to it.
 
WIRE WHEEL : Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprints and hard-earned calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you to say, 'Oh sh*t'
 
PLIERS : Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of blood-blisters.
 
BELT SANDER : An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor touch-up jobs into major refinishing jobs.
 
HACKSAW : One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle... It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.
 
MOLE GRIPS : Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.
 
OXYACETYLENE TORCH : Used almost entirely for  setting on fire various flammable objects in your workshop. Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel hub out of which you want to remove a bearing race..
 
HYDRAULIC JACK : Used for lowering a car to the ground after you have installed your new brake shoes, trapping the jack handle firmly under the bumper.
 
BAND SAW : A large stationary power saw primarily used by most people  to cut good metal sheet into smaller pieces that more easily fit into the bin after you cut on the inside of the line instead of the outside edge.
 
TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST : A tool for testing the maximum tensile strength of everything you forgot to disconnect.
 
PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER : Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids or for opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on your shirt; but can also be used, as the name implies, to  butcher Phillips screw heads.
 
STRAIGHT SCREWDRIVER : A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to convert common slotted screws into non-removable screws and butchering your palms.
 
PRY BAR: See Screwdriver
 
HAMMER : Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent to the object we are trying to hit.
 
STANLEY  KNIFE : Used to open and slice through the contents of parcels delivered to your front door; works particularly well on contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic bottles and rubber or plastic parts. Especially useful for slicing work clothes, but only while in use.
 
ADJUSTABLE SPANNER aka "Another hammer", aka "the Swedish Nut Lathe", aka "Crescent Wrench".  Commonly used as one size fits all, usually results in rounding off nut heads before the use of pliers.  Will randomly adjust size between bolts, resulting in injury ,swearing and multiple threats to any inanimate objects within the immediate vicinity.
 
BASTARD TOOL : Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage while yelling  BASTARD at the top of your voice . It is also, most often, the next tool that you will need.

After a long break I am slowly going back to work on the Endeavour.
As I had this scale problem with the rings for the boards covering the hatch, I decided to redo them. With that decision came an idea. Before I was trying to sand the boards as smooth as I could get them. Now I did an experiment with wirebrushing the surface to emphasize the grain of the wood. Here is a picture of a test. What do you think, good idea or bad idea?
 

Thanks for your tip Tim!  You are absolutely right with your comment. To be able to decide what exactly is reasonable in my case, I ordered figures in the scale I am working in as a reference. I was surprised by how big they are:

So they could have handled the rings I used, but probably they might be a bit too big... 😞
 
Fun fact: OcCre couldn't decide on the ring size themselves... 🙂

Today I did some amendments to adress the issue of the plywood that was all too visible from above.
I took some of the plywood reinforcements out.

 

 
Then built a box around the channel for the rudder and painted the interior black.

 
I think that looks way better from above.

 
 

Right now I am thinking about how to treat the transom. I am not so happy with the OcCre solution. For some reason I do not understand, they have decided to make the transom way too broad as you can see in this picture from the instructions:

 
If you look at the Marquardt drawings you see something completely different:

 

This looks way more elegant, but building it from scratch would mean to completely abandon the decorations. Maybe also the Windows. I am pretty unsure what to do. Beeing a first time modeller, I cannot imagine to carve new decorations from scratch. Or should I file down only the sides of the original transom to match the width of the stern and keep the full round overlap for the decorations? But then I still would have to shift the windows further inward.
 
There is yet another thing bothering me. There is a gap where deck and transom meet. The deck is even rounded. Are you supposed to bend the transom? The instructions don't seem to propose that. On the Marquardt plans it actually seems as if there is a slight bend in the transom. Or should I close the gap using a woodstrip.
Hmm. I really would appreciate your opinions on that one...

Also: If you are preparing the transom yourself, double check if the holes are centered. I had to shift mine by about a milimetre.

Have now completed the last stage of fixing steps, channels, deadeyes and straps.  The straps are simply made from brass wire as provided after being blackened.  All relatively straight forward.
 

 
That finishes the model.  I made a new base to try and enhance the display of the model and a couple of shots of the finished article follow together with the picture of the model as displayed on the kit box for comparison.
 

 

 

 

Picture of model from kit box cover.
 
I have enjoyed making the model but it is disappointing in certain respects as mentioned in my log.  However it has suited me as I wanted something to do during our Covid lockdown and it doesn’t have any rigging.  My hands have lost the magic touch when it comes to rigging details.  The model supplier has given the model a difficulty rating of 4 that surprises me since the full model of the Mary Byrne with full rigging is rated 3.  This may put off any one attempting modelling for the first time.  However I think it is a suitable kit for a novice modeller as it has the essential ingredients for making a ship model and would be useful as a learning exercise.  I don’t think it would be of interest to experienced modellers unless they are in my situation having some time to spare but not as much as a year or two for a larger model.  

06/09/21  Painted mast top caps again
08/09/21 Varnished masts
19/09/21  Cut and shaped all yards and stunsail booms
02/10/21  Painted yards
08/10/21  Assembled main yard and glued on strengtheners in middle of yard. 
09/10/21  Sanded main yard strengtheners, glued stunsails in place, bound and varnished entire yard assembly. 
17/10/21  Finished assembling three remaining yards
22/10/21  Started rigging yards and completed Fore Top Yard.
23/10/21  Completed rigging fore top and main yards
 
 
 
HTD:  351
 

Varnished the masts
 

Yards cut and shaped
 

Yards painted
 

Main yard assembled with center strengtheners and stunsails added
 
 
Fore top and main yards complete
 
So there has been a lengthy spell since my last installment partly due to spending equal amounts of time on my other two builds and a small measure of couldn't be stuffed.
 
So no real challenges in this last progression. Watching lots of videos to help with techniques for rigging and the like. Despite having a mini lathe it was still tricky getting those yards shaped nicely. I did find it a struggle to get the stunsails nice and straight and square to the yards. You see pictures of them everywhere and I think, that doesn't look to difficult but alas..........
 
I'm hoping to finish the two remaining yards for the main mast next week and then the installing of the masts and mast rigging commences. I am really looking forward to rigging the mast as it somehow seems like a milestone of sorts. I suspect however that reality will soon wipe the air of excitement from me.
 
Other confusing contradictions between manual and instructional video had me a little flustered, such as, video states that all pendants should be 75mm but the manual states 45mm, I settled for 55mm as I couldn't see that it was going to make too much difference other than to "historical accuracy".

Before I continue with the steering I would just like to mention that although there is nothing on the plans and as far as I can see on other blogs there is no cover over the hole in the deck where the rudder post comes out. I can see from a photo of the Endeavour replica that a small cover is fitted and on my last build the Bounty a small hut was placed over this opening which would prevent the ingress of water. So I would like to replicate this and see if this works


Above is a photo of a small platform which fits over the tiller arm alsready fitted with hand rail stantions made out of brass and blackened. The end of the tiller is fitted with another brass piece which I believe is so that the tiller arm does not come into contact with what I think might be a chimney. This is also not in the drawings but have seen this added to other builds of this model. Fortunately I have needed to use a few of other modellers ideas as I do not own a AOTS book of this ship.