JerseyCity Frankie

Mantua 1:78
Mantua 1:98
Mantua 1:200
Panart 1:78
Heller 1:100
Billing Boats 1:75
Model Space 1:84
Constructo 1:94
Revell 1:450
Revell 1:225
Mamoli 1:90
Mini-Mamoli 1:325
Artesania Latina 1:84
Airfix 1:100
Airfix 1/180
Airfix Series 1 (no scale)
Lindberg 1:500
Shipyard 1:96 (card)
Imai 1/150
Deagostini 1/84
Aeropiccola 1:170
Mikrostocznia 1:1200
 
And this doesn't include sectional models or Chinese knock-offs.

Please can we keep any discussion strictly to the build log subject?
 
I've had to cull numerous posts. 

Why are all of you posting your conversations in my blog that was completed 4-5 years ago? 
Abelson please start your own blog.
Thanks.

Building my HMS Snake and got to fitting the anchors. The instructions and plans appeared to be very simplistic in so much as basically saying tie them to the side. I thought this would mean in reality that the couldn't be used and didn't look right. After looking at paintings and drawings of ships of the line I realised that they were loose at the side of the bow ready to be dropped by the crew when required .The clearest schematic was in Stephen Biesty's Cross Section book. I find this book an invaluable reference source.

Once I got her ready for the first planking I put her aside. I new we were going away for Christmas. Just my wife, myself and our two border collies in a little cottage in Norfolk. We stopped near to a beach which has the biggest seal colony in the UK with 2050 seal pups born between Christmas and November.
 
I new it would be quite with just the beaches and a pub within a minutes walk so took the kit with me.
 

 
So below is the first planking complete.

Been a while since update as lengthy processes reached e.g. Planking and coppering. As I wanted my ship to be as "organic" as the original ship I didn't follow the often used trend to apply layers of filler ,primer and undercoat before applying the 900 copper plates. Although this makes the surface similar to moulded plastic and makes the job far easier I couldn't see the point of bothering with the second layer of walnut planking to simply bury it under filler. I know that a response may justifiably point out you can't see the planking under the tiles but I would always know it wasn't the same as the original Snake.😉

Beautiful sunny day here in Scarborough UK so took opportunity to carry out the sanding on my first planking. Lemon wood on Caldecraft HMS Snake outdoors. Horrible job up in my hobby room. Need to tidy some slight unevenness with light paper before second planking in walnut.

There is no “gaff boom” those are two different spars. No idea why your plan is describing the Boom as the “gaff boom”. The Boom is the lower spar on your sail and the Gaff is the upper spar. The Gaff will not have a topping Lift, only the boom has that feature. The topping lift’s only function is to keep the Boom up off the deck and at the proper height, the Gaff needs no such lines. The reason there are two Topping Lifts is because you slack off the leeward Tooping Lift when you’re sailing so the sail won’t press against it and cause wear. This is why the TOpping LIft can be adjusted on a pin or cleat. This is also why the Topping Lifts often have baggywrinkle on them. 
when sailing with the wind abaft the beam, the boom will be sheeted out, meaning the sailors want it over to port or Starboard so the sail can fill with wind. Often they Sheet it out as far as it can go and the extent to witch it can be swung outboard is limited by the location of the aftermost standing rigging, in this case the Running Backstay.  If that Backstay was fixed in place, they can’t Sheet the boom out any farther and that limits the amount of power they can get out of that sail. This is why the Running Backstay can be adjusted. If the crew slack off the lee Running Backstay completely (or even move it-that’s why it often has a hook on it) they can free up more space to Sheet out the boom a few more feet, and gain more sail power by presenting a better angle to the wind.

Thanks Thomas and thanks for all the likes.
I'm slowly closing in towards the finish line. This time I have added the clew lines, sheets and tacks for the main and fore course yards. I have added a photo showing some pegs on the ends of the lines before I belay them. I have gotten into a habit of installing the lines with pegs on them and wait a day before belaying them. One reason is that the lines will settle a bit, but I also found a number of times that I made a mistake somewhere and It gave me an opportunity to move them around and fix them.
At this stage I also fixed the Spritsail yard to the bowsprit. Here are some photo's again.

Hello,
many thanks for the comments and the LIKES !
It Always makes me  happy.

In the meantime I have completed the shrouds of the mainmast so far. They are lashed tight only when the stays are installed.

The time I prepare the mainstay and the main preventer stay.


 
The stays were all cable laid and it is wormed, as can be seen.

Quelle: Musée de la Marine Paris – La Crèole

Source: Musée de la Marine Paris – La Crèole
 
Around 1830 the stay mouse disappeared. The stays split into two parts which each had an eye for a lashing.

Source: Atlas du Genie maritime

The mainstay and main preventer stay penetrated the foredeck and was fastened under it with strong eye bolts. These had iron counter-plates on the outside of the hull.
 

Source: Musée de la Marine Paris – La Crèole

Source: Musée de la Marine Paris – La Crèo

Hi all,
I have sanded it smooth and l am glad to say l have not had to resort to too much filler. I have started the second planking and completed the first 3 planks on either side. I am not using pins as l would like this (gunport bulwarks) area left unpainted, if my planking is ok l will use varnish, if not l will paint it.
I will now work carefully and slowly down the ship.
Best wishes as always. 
The Lazy Saint. 

Released in the US as Damn the Defiant. Made before CGI, all the ship sequences are miniatures so any MSW members would love this film. Here’s the link dcelent Model Ships in Cinema websit’s take on the film: https://www.modelshipsinthecinema.com/2012/10/hms-defiant-1962-damn-defiant-us-title.html?m=1
 
and here’s some of the many screen grabs from that article.

Well, I got the Orca finished enough to enter it into the Jerseyfest Model competition this past weekend.......
 
To my surprise, it took a gold in the vehicle category, AND it also took Best of show vehicle!?
 
Here are some photos of it at the show........
 
Hope you like!

Thanks Frankie. I hope my log is of some assistance. I know the others on this site have helped me.
 
I am going to Eire in August to see the real Niagara (and the rest of the tall ships on the Great Lakes this summer). Probably will not check out the Tops - I grew afraid of heights after a trip up the pole mast on the USS Rathburne in 1977.
 
While in Australia late last year I got to take a "three hour cruise" on the James Craig (1873 iron hulled three masted barque) where we set eleven sails. Quite an impressive sight.

Finally am moving to the Fore Mast. Here are the shrouds, stays and course yard truss in place.
 
Will alternate between assembling and rigging the Fore Mast and installing and rigging the bowsprit. Touching up the paint on the bowsprit now.

I can’t speak for the company itself or most of its products. But I did click on the link and noticed this cd they are selling, advertised as a how-to on ship rigging. Which is hilarious since I had stumbled upon this cd on eBay and was AMAZED at all the very obvious blunders visible in the COVER PHOTO of the publication. The eBay listing had photos of some of the cds contents and I saved them. It illustrates the point that anyone can claim to be an expert, there’s no official criteria that has to be met before one can claim expertise on ship model rigging and publish a book.

Not too much obviously wrong in this cover photo but hasn’t he accidentally switched the Main and the Fore? Lol.
This photo is AMAZING. I’m prepared to say that nearly every scrap of rigging in this photo is wrong. But to someone who’s never learned about rigging? They would assume this book was going to show them the proper way. 
Under the title “sheet storage” this guy appears to think the footropes are for “storing” the sails?   He appears to think the Gaff is called “The mizen sailcloth boom”! And look at the topmast shrouds in figure 17. 

I can’t speak for the company itself or most of its products. But I did click on the link and noticed this cd they are selling, advertised as a how-to on ship rigging. Which is hilarious since I had stumbled upon this cd on eBay and was AMAZED at all the very obvious blunders visible in the COVER PHOTO of the publication. The eBay listing had photos of some of the cds contents and I saved them. It illustrates the point that anyone can claim to be an expert, there’s no official criteria that has to be met before one can claim expertise on ship model rigging and publish a book.

Not too much obviously wrong in this cover photo but hasn’t he accidentally switched the Main and the Fore? Lol.
This photo is AMAZING. I’m prepared to say that nearly every scrap of rigging in this photo is wrong. But to someone who’s never learned about rigging? They would assume this book was going to show them the proper way. 
Under the title “sheet storage” this guy appears to think the footropes are for “storing” the sails?   He appears to think the Gaff is called “The mizen sailcloth boom”! And look at the topmast shrouds in figure 17. 

Hi Tom,
I had to make some safety netting for my Morgan. I tried finding tulle in a fabric store, but the only stuff I could find was much too fine, so I resorted to making it. I essentially did what Bob suggest above -
 
It was a little like tying ratlines, only the resulting squares needed to be diamond shape, so I made two rows of nails and strung lines between them so that they were a little bit like shrouds, only they ran parallel. I then ran two lines on an angle across them, which represented the outer edges of the shape I ultimately needed.

 
Then I added "ratlines" securing them to the vertical "shrouds" and ending them at diagonal lines which defined the shape of the finished piece.

 
I glued the knots and then cut out the piece.

 

 
Admittedly, this is a much simpler shape than the safety netting on POB II, but perhaps the same technique might be made to work. The size of the "diamonds" can be adjusted to whatever is called for. These ones are fairly large, but they're exactly what the plans indicated.
 
My next project is the POB II and I'm hoping I can make it work. I'm certainly going to try it at least. Just a thought.
David

Thanks Javlin.
Added the futtock shrouds and ratlines as well as the block and line for the Fore Course and the block for the Top Sail brace on this side.
 
For anyone who does this on Niagara (or really any square rigger with futtock shrouds) be sure to attach the necessary blocks (and lines - in this case the Fore Course Brace bitter end is seized to the forward most main lower shroud) before you rig the futtock shrouds. It is much harder to get the blocks where they need to be once the futtock shrouds are in place. It would be close to impossible (absolutely impossible for me) to get these blocks in place after the futtock shroud ratlines are there.
 
Here is the port side futtock shrouds and associated "stuff". I need to be a little more sparing with the glue it would seem although things always look worse in the pictures than in real life - at least that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

It's not all that difficult to make it on a frame and then attach it to the model. Draw the net, ruling all the cordage with a fine pencil on a sheet of paper.  glue the sheet of paper to a scrap of wood block. Drive nails of tacks ("push pins" are handy for this) into the edges of the block everywhere that a line drawn would extend over the edge of the block. Then take your thread and wrap it over the pins in one direction, and then in the other, so that the line, stretched taut over the nails or tacks, forms squares of the mesh size desired. For fine work, you can simply touch the thread with a bit of shellac, thinned PVA cement, or a dab of clear nail polish (perhaps thinned a bit with acetone) and let it all dry. The net can then be cut from the nails or tacks and attached to the model.  Depending on the scale, you can alternately tie each intersection of the thread squares with a separate piece of fine thread (a surgeon's knot works well for this) to fasten the intersections.

Congratulations on your first post on model ship world! If I was doing the safety net I’d tie it all together on a jig off the model. I imagine it’s tied on its outboard sides to Bowsprit Shrouds? I’d make all that stuff off the model and glue it on in one piece. Or omit it entirely? After all it’s very small diameter rope. On my models i will often decide not to include some stuff that’s below a certain size/visibility threshold.

Caldercraft has a different solution than Corel with pre cut gunports.  Nice to not to have to measure these up, but also abit tricky to get in place. Unfortunately, here is where i did my 2nd mistake. Wasnt sure how high i should place these at the bow... got too low.  Hopefully I can correct it with some extra wood on top of them later on.

Not posted anything for a while. To be honest not thought that there was much of interest to anyone. Anyway since last post have:
Completed second planking fitted Wales. fitted entry port steps completed the deck planking fitted cat heads Bulwark capping timber heads
I broke both of the for timber heads, (are these knightheads), so these are very weak.

You can see the timber head in place above the starboard cathead. I could not get happy with the positioning of this as these are supposed to be an extension of the ships frames and as such would not pass through the cathead. I have cut the larboard one off and then filled it.



I have since re-installed these aft of the catheads as in the plans at the NMM.
 
I have since completed the head timbers and Hawse holes as well as the gun port gun tackle eyebolts and rudder brackets. Not photographed yet.

1:64 H.M. Cutter Alert 1777
Vanguard Models
Catalogue # VM-01
Available from Vanguard Models for £180
 

 
 
The Alert, built in Dover by Henry Ladd and launched on 24th June 1777, was the largest class of cutter in the Royal Navy. Alert originally carried ten four-pounder carriage guns and six to twelve half-pounder swivel guns. She was one of fifteen cutters built for the Royal navy between 1777 and 1778. Smaller cutters were often purchased or built by private yards and then purchased by the Navy, but Alert was purpose built from the keel up.
 
In February 1778, Alert docked at Plymouth for an overhaul, to which some alterations were made to her hull and the ten four pounder carriage guns were replaced with twelve six pounder guns, raising her broadside weight by 30%. The guns were changed because six-pounder shot was more commonly available and, of course, they were more effective. Because of the increase in ordnance, the crew of the Alert was increased from sixty to eighty men, and recommissioned under a new commander, Lieutenant William George Fairfax. In May 1778, Fairfax was promoted to Commander and Alert was re-classed as a sloop to comply with Admiralty requirements. (Although always remained cutter rigged)
 
On 17th June 1778, the Alert, in company with the frigate Arethusa, spotted and intercepted the French frigate Belle Poule and the armed lugger Coureur, with the latter overhauled by the Alert and surrendered, returning to Spithead after the action with her prize. On 8th July of the same year, whilst on an independent deployment, searching for the enemy fleet, Alert was taken by surprise and captured by the French frigate Junon. Alert is reported as lost without trace on 15th December 1779. Alerts sister, Rattlesnake lasted a little longer, being wrecked on the island of Trinidad on 11th October 1781.

The model kit of the Alert is depicted after her refit with twelve six-pounder guns and a full complement of twelve half-pounder swivel guns, giving an ordnance total of twenty-four guns. Although not stated in the records when researching, it is possible that the upper bulwarks were fully planked, rather than having the open drift. The decoration that adorns the upper sides and stern is optional, as it is unlikely that the original vessel, when in service, would have had such decoration. This is inspired by the two paintings of the vessel by Joseph Marshall, which formed part of the George III collection of ship model paintings. It is possible the decoration would have been painted on during launch day, or if a prominent (Royal) figure visited to review the fleet.
 
The kit


H.M. Cutter Alert 1777 is the very first kit from Chris Watton’s own brand label, ‘Vanguard Models’. Of course, you will have heard of Chris’s name from kits released under the Amati (Victory Models) and Caldercraft/JoTika companies, as well as some magazine part-work stuff etc. I’ve bbeen watching this project come together both on and off Model Ship World, and the sort of effort that goes into producing a model kit. Vanguard’s new kit comes in a reasonably large box which is adorned with photos of the completed model, and some profile illustration too. Guess what? I got kit #001!! I’ll not claim any preferential treatment though! Lifting the lid and the first layer of bubble-wrap reveals a personalised customer letter and also a MASSIVE A3-size instruction manual which is spiral bound. We’ll look at this again a little later. 
 
Fittings

A neat little labelled box contains all of the fittings for Alert, carefully kept in one place, and very professional-looking too. Cutting the tape tab reveals a series of labelled bags. Everything in this kit is also labelled in the same way and easily cross referenced against both the parts inventory and during construction. It really does appear to have been made as intuitive and easy to follow as humanly possible.

The fittings are generally a mix of either resin or white metal. In the first pack we have the large winch which is cast in resin. This was originally intended to be white metal, but the quality of the parts was poor, so a new part was 3D designed and cast in light grey resin. Only a little clean-up is required to push this into service on Alert. Also in resin is the smaller windlass for the topsail bitts. The anchors are cast in white metal, and these look great. Very little preparation will be needed before they can be used.

More white metal fittings are supplied for the twelve 6-pounder cannon and the twelve half-pounder swivel guns. I would give these a clean-up with a file and some steel wool. Another pouch is supplied for the cannon shot.

One of the next packs contain steel pins for assisting with the first layer of planking. These look very nicely made and are sharp, with nothing malformed. It could be an idea to pilot drill the plank before using these, so as not to split any of the MDF frames or the planks themselves. The next two packs contain deadeyes and deadeye sheaves. The quality of these is very good, and definitely some of the nicest I’ve seen recently.

Three more packets contain two sizes of single block and one size of double block. Again, quality is evident here.

In the last three packets in the fittings box, you’ll find triple blocks, parrel beads and also the mainstay ‘mouse’.

 
Rigging

A zip-lock wallet contains six spools of very high-quality rigging cord in natural and black colours, as well as a sleeve of thicker natural thread which I think is for the anchor cables. This latter is handmade by Syren in the US, so you can be assured of its standards. Also note how each spool is labelled and inventoried so you won’t accidentally use the wrong cord when rigging.


 
Timber strip
Onto the timber strip. This initial release of Alert contains boxwood for the deck planking and pearwood for the hull. This sort of timber isn’t normally found in kits, with the recent exception of Master Korabel’s Avos kit’s XS Edition. It certainly is very welcome to see, and the standard of timber is excellent. I do believe that Chris will be releasing a slightly cheaper version of Alert with Tanganyika instead of pearwood and boxwood. Chris hopes this will retail for around £155 and is actually the same as he used in the prototype model you can see on the box lid and the photos in this review. All timber strip is packed into thick, sealed plastic sleeves, and clearly labelled so you can cross reference with the inventory to make sure you are indeed using the correct wood for the specific task.










Timber standards are high with a nice uniform colour per batch, no coarse grain or split ends and fuzziness. 
 
Sail cloth is supplied too, just in case you do indeed want to display in this manner. The material is provided as sheet, and you will need to use the drawings to draw out the shapes on the cloth and cut/sew. Sails aren’t really for me, but the option is there, should you want to display her in all her sheets to the wind glory!


 
Sheet material

Now we come to the sheet material. There are two thick, clear sleeves containing laser-cut material. This first sleeve holds all of the main constructional elements plus something rather unusual for a kit like this, and that’s a clear acrylic display base! 


The base is a simple but attractive slot-together affair whose parts just need to be gently removed from the sheet. They are also covered in a protective film that makes it look dull in my photo. Rest assured that the material underneath is crystal clear. To assemble this, you could either use an acrylic cement such as Tensol, or an epoxy that will also dry clear. One such product that comes to mind is from HpH Models in the Czech Republic. You can of course use Cyano glue, but make sure it’s the odourless variety so it won’t cloud the clear plastic.






The constructional stuff here comes in two sheets of 3mm MDF and one sheet of 2mm timber, all nice and warp-free. On the MDF, you’ll find the false keel, bulkheads, inner and outer bow patterns, stern planking and securing patterns, and the ship’s stove flue. The timber sheet contains the lower deck pattern (constructional element), and stern frames (middle, inner, outer). Laser-cutting is nice and neat with almost no localised scorching. It wouldn’t really matter either way though as these parts will be either hidden or bevelled. 

Our second sleeve of parts are all laser-cut from timber, with no MDF. Here, we have a combination of 3mm, 1.5mm and 1mm sheet material, containing parts for absolutely everything else timber-related on Alert, from gun carriages, hatch coamings, keep parts, cap rails, transom rails, tiller arm, trestle trees etc. You name it, it’s here. There are a few parts on the 1mm sheet which are hanging by only a few tabs due to the relative fragility of the tabs on a thin sheet, but all parts are perfectly fine. This material isn’t too rigid either, so those parts that need to be curved, such as the transom, will do so without any problem whatsoever. 






 
Photo-etch

The inclusion of photo-etch in models these days is almost de rigueur, and Alert is no exception. Three frets are included in 0.2mm, 0,4mm, and 0.6mm bare brass, and all as good as any such material that I’ve used in any of my magazine and book work over the last 10yrs. As well as the obvious and intricate outer hull scrollwork embellishments, you’ll find metalwork here for the bowsprit and masting, cleats, windlass parts, stanchions, rudder gudgeon and pintle brace, eyebolt rings, deck grating, anchor ring, rigging components, and even a neat nameplate for the clear acrylic stand. All parts should be nice and easy to remove with them being held with thin, narrow tabs. A jeweller’s file will be needed to clean up any nibs remaining from the tabs. 










 
Instruction book

This is epic in size! Printed in colour on thick paper stock in A3 size, the manual us spiral-bound instead of just being stapled. This means it will be easy to turn pages over, and the size is good for the eyes for those of us of whose youth has long since slipped away. The manual is 56 pages and begins with a side and upper elevation drawing of Alert, followed by a history and building tips/suggested tools and materials list. A full inventory is then supplied, along with images of the various sheets and PE frets. As the timber elements aren’t numbered on the sheets, you are advised to number each yourself before removal from the sheet. 


 
 
Construction sequences are given in photographic form with crystal clear English explaining everything along the way. All illustrations are also clearly annotated where required. The photographs are interspersed with more drawings of the vessel in various profiles, clearly showing the task at hand. A good example of how comprehensive the instructions are is the inclusion of a deck plank showing the planking format and the shift between the planks.



 
When it comes to masting, drawings are supplied for this with accompanying dimensions and diameters. As I always find masting the most frustrating task, the drawings are a big help and clearly mark out the plan of attack. Excellent rigging illustrations are also supplied, showing everything clearly, including seizing, ratlines etc. A guide to exactly which rigging block to use is also provided. No guessing like on many of the legacy kits that got so many of us started in this hobby. As also mentioned, sail plans are supplied so you can make and add these from the cloth that’s provided.


 
Conclusion
What a great start to Chris’s new venture, Vanguard Models. He does keep telling me that he’s learnt so much from this that he will change in future releases, but he does sell himself short, dramatically. If you know of Chris’s work from his previous designs with Amati and Caldercraft, then you will know his own personal style comes through in attention to detail and design approach. This is a gorgeous kit that will present many hours of fulfilling bench time. Materials quality is what what we have come to expect from high-end kits. All in all, a fantastic package!

 

 
My sincere thanks to Chris Watton for getting this out so quickly for me to feature as a review here on Model Ship World. To purchase directly, click this link at the top of the article.
 

 
 
 

Hi Dave,
The tool that I went without for a long time and now can't imagine how I managed without it is a digital caliper. I use it all the time - when strips of wood need to be resorted by size, what size hole do I need to drill for this eyebolt, when I need to convert mm to inches, measuring wire thickness, when I stupidly have more than one container of drill bits open at the same time and mix them up, etc. etc. I seem to reach for it continually. It won't use up all of your $100 either.
David