JerseyCity Frankie

Recently visited the Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic Connecticut and saw this superb model of Flying Fish. The cased model was excellent, great construction detail and rig. The unpainted model was aging very nicely, except for the anchors which were blooming with scale and deeply corroded. That old white metal corrosion again. In other cases I’ve seen painted anchor bursting like stuffed animals, white fuzz emerging from cracks in he paint caused by the expansion of the metal. In this case the corrosion looks like brownish orang bubles. The base under the Bow was discolored from material dripping off the anchors. Also two copper hull plates had come off. Oddly, the figure head appears fine, sugesting it’s made of stronger stuff. Real gold?

I’m doing watercolors myself, from time to time. I had done watercolor at college and used Arches paper. The Arches brand paper available today is different, it used to have a lovely sour smell when it got wet. Now it is different and also appears to take the paint differently too.
what brand of paper are you using? I’m trying to settle on a typ I can live with but so far nothing appeals to me, they all absorb/don’t absorb the paint differently.

Recently visited the Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic Connecticut and saw this superb model of Flying Fish. The cased model was excellent, great construction detail and rig. The unpainted model was aging very nicely, except for the anchors which were blooming with scale and deeply corroded. That old white metal corrosion again. In other cases I’ve seen painted anchor bursting like stuffed animals, white fuzz emerging from cracks in he paint caused by the expansion of the metal. In this case the corrosion looks like brownish orang bubles. The base under the Bow was discolored from material dripping off the anchors. Also two copper hull plates had come off. Oddly, the figure head appears fine, sugesting it’s made of stronger stuff. Real gold?

Recently visited the Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic Connecticut and saw this superb model of Flying Fish. The cased model was excellent, great construction detail and rig. The unpainted model was aging very nicely, except for the anchors which were blooming with scale and deeply corroded. That old white metal corrosion again. In other cases I’ve seen painted anchor bursting like stuffed animals, white fuzz emerging from cracks in he paint caused by the expansion of the metal. In this case the corrosion looks like brownish orang bubles. The base under the Bow was discolored from material dripping off the anchors. Also two copper hull plates had come off. Oddly, the figure head appears fine, sugesting it’s made of stronger stuff. Real gold?

Evening, 
Chores are done, belly is full from a homemade pizza, and the house is quiet.
Time for an update.
I have hit a few milestones, I think!
 
Below, as I installed the deck, when I had enough of the deck in, I checked the clearance of the gunports.
Seems to work pretty well!
 

 
 

Might be a bit close to the main rail, but, I can live with it.
 

 

 
I really gotta start building more carronades!
 

 
Another big milestone, well in my head.....the deck is officially done!
There are some small gaps on the side but will be covered with a simplified Nibbing Strake.
 

It will get a good sanding then conditioned. 
The Golden Oak will be the stain used. 

Those little gaps will be covered with a thin strip of basswood running the length of the waterways.
 

Tom E 
 

I'm sorry, but I can't resist -
 
It's a Goldfish
 

I’m doing watercolors myself, from time to time. I had done watercolor at college and used Arches paper. The Arches brand paper available today is different, it used to have a lovely sour smell when it got wet. Now it is different and also appears to take the paint differently too.
what brand of paper are you using? I’m trying to settle on a typ I can live with but so far nothing appeals to me, they all absorb/don’t absorb the paint differently.

Recently visited the Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic Connecticut and saw this superb model of Flying Fish. The cased model was excellent, great construction detail and rig. The unpainted model was aging very nicely, except for the anchors which were blooming with scale and deeply corroded. That old white metal corrosion again. In other cases I’ve seen painted anchor bursting like stuffed animals, white fuzz emerging from cracks in he paint caused by the expansion of the metal. In this case the corrosion looks like brownish orang bubles. The base under the Bow was discolored from material dripping off the anchors. Also two copper hull plates had come off. Oddly, the figure head appears fine, sugesting it’s made of stronger stuff. Real gold?

First attemt to raise the sail on the mast, just to check if and how the wind is blowing it.
 
I think the experiment did not went bad!
The new rigging its almost prepared and tomorow I ll try to finish the project.

Frankie (JerseyCity Frankie), here in the blog, whom I have to thank a lot, gave me the advice how to to do so. So now  I went to experiment with the way he explained to me. Using the GAC 400 stiffener. 

Haven't been painting for a while, but did this yesterday and today 'Dispatches' no particular ships.
Jim
watercolour 14" X 10"

I am currently building the Naval Smooth Bore Gun Kit from Model Expo. There are quite a few cast Britannia/Pewter I will also be using common BBs for round shot all of which will require blackening. After doing a search of this site specifically and the webs in general I decided to experiment on my own using mostly household products.
 
A little background. I have been in the Marine Water and Waste Water business for going on thirty years. My current job is designing Reverse Osmosis Desalination Systems. As such I have a fairly decent lab at my disposal. Not a lab in the strictly chemistry sense but also in the system testing and refurbishing sense. Lots of exotic cleaning chemicals and such. Any way I have a fairly good handle on water chemistry as it relates to the marine/seawater environment.
 
So Last night I started with a very concentrated Ammonia solution and heated it in the microwave for 30 seconds. Caution do not breath the fumes when removing from the microwave and if take it immediately to a well ventilated area preferably out side. I then dropped in a handful of BBs and one of the cast pieces I did not intend to use (see my build thread). After 15 minutes or so I noticed no change in the pewter and a slight discoloration of some of the BBs. I let them sit in the solution over night and everything looked the same when I got up.
 

Notice the uneven coloration then compare it to the picture below.
 
I took the cast piece and one of the discolored BBs and one of the seemingly unaffected BBs to work with me for further testing. In the lab we use a product called Marikate On and Off Bottom Cleaner. It is a 30% Hydrochloric Acid, 10% Phosphoric Acid and water solution available in most all marine/sporting goods stores and most hardware stores. A weaker version called Aluma-Prep is what we use to etch aluminum prior to painting and an even weaker version is under you bathroom sink right now disguised as toilet bowl cleaner.
 
Anyway I put the parts in an undiluted batch of Marikate and immediately saw the blackening process begin and after 5 minutes and a thorough rinse with cold water had the results you can see below.
 

The scratches you see are me testing the hardness of the finish. I had to rub fairly hard with another piece of metal to scratch it.

 

The Marikate evened out the finish on both BBs. I am still stumped on why only some were affected at all.
 
Tomorrow I am going to experiment on some brass using the same methods.
 
Thanks for looking in I hope this helps.
 
 
 

Setting CA generates heat, as part of the chemical reaction.

Here are pictures of the finished brig other than a couple of paint touch ups here and there. Being my first ship build I learned quite a few lessons that will certainly benefit future builds. I plan on building the USS Constitution and will do a little more research and study the plans before starting the build.
 
I would also like to thank those that provided both guidance and encouragement during this build. 
 
Here are a random sampling of overall and detail pictures. 












 
Now to move on.

It just so happens that today (August 10th 2018) is the 204th anniversary of the Battle of Stonington, a battle in which HMS Terror participated.  Stonington CT is directly adjacent to Mystic Ct, home of the superb Mystic Seaport Museum. 



The sunken wreck of HMS Terror was recently located.

It just so happens that today (August 10th 2018) is the 204th anniversary of the Battle of Stonington, a battle in which HMS Terror participated.  Stonington CT is directly adjacent to Mystic Ct, home of the superb Mystic Seaport Museum. 



The sunken wreck of HMS Terror was recently located.

It just so happens that today (August 10th 2018) is the 204th anniversary of the Battle of Stonington, a battle in which HMS Terror participated.  Stonington CT is directly adjacent to Mystic Ct, home of the superb Mystic Seaport Museum. 



The sunken wreck of HMS Terror was recently located.

It just so happens that today (August 10th 2018) is the 204th anniversary of the Battle of Stonington, a battle in which HMS Terror participated.  Stonington CT is directly adjacent to Mystic Ct, home of the superb Mystic Seaport Museum. 



The sunken wreck of HMS Terror was recently located.

It just so happens that today (August 10th 2018) is the 204th anniversary of the Battle of Stonington, a battle in which HMS Terror participated.  Stonington CT is directly adjacent to Mystic Ct, home of the superb Mystic Seaport Museum. 



The sunken wreck of HMS Terror was recently located.

All that rigging and gear on but no shrouds!? I never could have imagined THAT one. But now you could be off the hook, who could blame you for making up the shrouds-with the ratlines-off the model? Tie the shroud gang around the masthead as a single unit. Its not your fault!

What a superb model! Congratulations! 

I agree this is a gift shop model. It looks like someone recently put some time into freshening it up. The “rigging” is new and the base it sits on looks like it was repourposed from something else.
As a Gift Shop Model it’s value is low. As mentioned above, they are produced quickly and inexpensively and don’t look like any particular ship even though they will often have the names of real ships painted on them. The “details” on Gift Shop Models reflect the available resources at hand when they are built and have little or nothing to do with the details of actual ships. For instance the rows of windows in this model don’t reflect any actual ship, the builder was simply sawing out windows to add “detail”.
there’s nothing unethical or “wrong” about folk art Gift Shop Models. They fill a vital nich since they make  ship models available to those that can’t afford a “real” one. Ethical issues crop up though when Gift Shop Models are hyped as representing more than what they are, it’s not uncommon to see Gift Shop Models described as being “Museum Quality”. 

Why, I wonder, do you feel there isn’t anchor handling gear aboard? Are you looking at a particular vessel? I’m certain there will be a windlass at the very least on any vessel over forty of fifty feet in length, simply because you CANT handle the anchor and cable without one. 
a very good book that covers many deck evolutions and practices at sea in the age of sailing ships is Seamanship in the Age of Sail by John Harland. Kinda expensive but certainly worth every penny since you won’t  find better coverage of the subject anywhere else between two covers. 

I agree this is a gift shop model. It looks like someone recently put some time into freshening it up. The “rigging” is new and the base it sits on looks like it was repourposed from something else.
As a Gift Shop Model it’s value is low. As mentioned above, they are produced quickly and inexpensively and don’t look like any particular ship even though they will often have the names of real ships painted on them. The “details” on Gift Shop Models reflect the available resources at hand when they are built and have little or nothing to do with the details of actual ships. For instance the rows of windows in this model don’t reflect any actual ship, the builder was simply sawing out windows to add “detail”.
there’s nothing unethical or “wrong” about folk art Gift Shop Models. They fill a vital nich since they make  ship models available to those that can’t afford a “real” one. Ethical issues crop up though when Gift Shop Models are hyped as representing more than what they are, it’s not uncommon to see Gift Shop Models described as being “Museum Quality”. 

I agree this is a gift shop model. It looks like someone recently put some time into freshening it up. The “rigging” is new and the base it sits on looks like it was repourposed from something else.
As a Gift Shop Model it’s value is low. As mentioned above, they are produced quickly and inexpensively and don’t look like any particular ship even though they will often have the names of real ships painted on them. The “details” on Gift Shop Models reflect the available resources at hand when they are built and have little or nothing to do with the details of actual ships. For instance the rows of windows in this model don’t reflect any actual ship, the builder was simply sawing out windows to add “detail”.
there’s nothing unethical or “wrong” about folk art Gift Shop Models. They fill a vital nich since they make  ship models available to those that can’t afford a “real” one. Ethical issues crop up though when Gift Shop Models are hyped as representing more than what they are, it’s not uncommon to see Gift Shop Models described as being “Museum Quality”.