hamilton

Hi Tom: No problem, of course - it's nice to follow a log so close on to a model I'm building, and glad to be of assistance. A couple of notes. My quarterdeck needed A LOT of reducing in size. It ended up being quite thin top to bottom, with a slighter angle aft. Looks like you've got more sanding ahead of you there! As for the paint - I think your hull looks good, though it would be nice to see it in daylight. Just my opinion, but I would avoid a gloss finish. Satin would be my choice. I think that the glass will give the hull a glossy shimmer without applying the extra coat of gloss finish....again, just my opinion. I think I mentioned before, I use artist acrylic paints (by Golden) - don't know if they're available in the UK, but something equivalent must be - you should be able to pick something decent up at any artist supply shop. I like them much better than other modelling paints I've tried because they hold the pigment extremely well over time and do not separate. They go on very smooth and require fewer coats to get something that looks clean. The trade off is that they're a little pricey (small bottles ranging from $8-12 CDN - roughly 4-6 pounds) and they do not come in the variety of colours that model paints do.... Anyway, enjoying your build - you'll catch up to me very quickly at this rate! hamilton

Beautiful work Augie! hamilton

That boiler/engine looks like a very fun little project - nice work! I'm not eagle-eyed so I didn't notice the repositioning of the whistle.... hamilton

Hello all: Well I guess I'm now officially working on two models at once.....actually, I feel like I'm avoiding the Hannah a little bit....or anyway, I didn't think the last night before the beginning of another school year should be spent redoing her topsail rigging.....maybe once I get back into the rhythm of the semester.... In the meantime, there has been some progress on America. I've adjusted and dry fit the first 5 bulkheads. I think I mentioned earlier that all of them had significant play, so it'll be kind of slow going. Here is a shot that shows how much play - this is bulkhead 3, but it's pretty representative. As you can see from that photo, bulkhead 1 and 2 are already fitted. The process was very straightforward. I first filed off the laser burn on the inside of the bulkhead and keel slots. I then filed out a bit of the forward section of bulkhead slots 1, 2 and 3 (4 and 5 did not require this, though some of the bulkheads further aft will). This widening might seem counterintuitive, but it's not just that there was wiggle in the fit of the bulkheads - in the cases of bulkheads 1, 2 and 3, the position of the keel slots was slightly aft of where it was marked on the plans. For bulkheads 1 and 5 I had to file the bottom of the slot so the top of the bulkhead was flush with the top of the centre keel. I used a small triangular needle file for this (I preferred it over the square one because it was wider and left less chance of unevenness), while for filing out the forward and aft edges of the keel slots I used a larger flat file. Here are implements at rest and at labour For bulkheads 2 and 4 I had to add a thin shim at the bottom of the bulkhead slots on the centre keel so that, again, the tops of the bulkheads would be flush with the top of the keel. I trimmed down some crappy deck planking material leftover (unused) from my Fair Rosamund build for all this kind of work. I used CA to fasten it in place and the after a few minutes of letting it set I snapped off the excess and filed it down. Here it is in process Because the bulkhead slots on the keel had to move forward this meant shimming them aft. I prefer to put the shims on the bulkheads themselves rather than in the slot on the centre keel. To do this, I simply drew lines up to the top of the bulkheads from the slot, marking out the area in which the shim would be placed. Then I used some of that thin leftover material to make the shim. Here's a shot This is bulkhead 1. I test fit it after shimming it and it fit great. But I still needed to put shims in to stabilize it and even it out symmetry wise port and starboard. Here's a shot with bulkhead 1 pushed over towards the port side. The gap is large, though in reality to make it sit symmetrically, gaps half this wide had to be filled on either side - I pushed it over for this shot to give you a sense of what needed to be done. These shims are placed on the centre keel running down below the bulkhead slots. They must only be as long as the bulkhead itself, so my process was first to draw extension lines to the rabbet from the bottom of the bulkhead slot and then to mark to the bottom of the bulkhead "arms" (or legs?) so I would know how much area had to be filled with the shim. I then cut the shims and installed them on both sides. The keel shims for bulkhead 1 needed only a bit of sanding, but those for the other forward bulkheads needed quite a bit to get the bulkheads to sit snugly. Here's a shot of the portside shim for bulkhead one with a bulb of garlic from our garden for scale comparison. And here's bulkhead 1 fit nice and snug on the keel..... Repeat four more times tonight (and ten more times on future nights and this part of the build will be done. Here's where I am now.... Hope you've enjoyed this update....I'll post again once the bulkheads are done and I'm on to the next thing....bye for now hamilton

Hi Tom - my keel also sat deep in the hull - I don't think it's a huge issue in terms of construction and I think that given the height of the model and the space inside the bottle, a low set keel will actually help (I think it helped in terms of the relative ease of getting mine into the bottle. I don't think the keel should disappear entirely but it doesn't look like that's the case with yours - how far does the keel protrude at the bottom? Mine is at a minimum of about 1mm I think, though it is well exposed at both stern and stem.... hamilton

Haha! By "give up" I mean just toss the ship into the bottle in a heap and leave it like that as a "ship-wreck-in-a-bottle" - it's pretty high concept and I don't think many people would get it immediately, but it might be my last option if all else fails.....I won't be trying to mount it again tonight, but am going to stick with redoing the topsail.... You might also have noticed that I decided not to rig the fore course - I felt that too much of the deck work would be masked by this large sail, so I opted to go for a rig as depicted on the bottle with topsail only......anyhow....more later hamilton

Hi Tom: Looks about right to me! The sanding will help a lot with the unevenness of the lifts. I spent a lot of time sanding (probably could have spent more). The top side particularly and the bottom both needed quite a bit to smooth out the edges that define the sweep of the deck and the shape of the lower hull. The bow was probably the trickiest area to sand to smoothness while keeping it even. Looks like you'll need some filler in a couple of places, but it's better than mine - I had a small gap (about .5-1mm) that ran around the entire ship due to the misnomered lift..... One issue with leaving it with a natural finish is that the lines between the lifts tend to really show up when the hull is sanded and it looks kind of weird. Maybe this would be ok with the dramatic effect of the sails and the opacity of the bottle, but you'll see once you get it sanded - you can hold off on the decision till then, fortunately - I actually held off until I'd already installed the bulwarks.... Anyway keep it up! hamilton

Hi Tom: Yes at least she went in! I've not given up yet, though I still have to re-do the topsail rigging before trying again.... Here's a shot with the sails set - they look pretty overdone (with the dark seams and reef bands) but again, I'm assuming this will help them show a little bit once in the bottle and for better or worse, I'm going to use them.....I'm not sure I could make a set of sails at this scale - the material would need to be very thin to do it justice and very difficult to sew for the average 10-fingered person. Anyway, hope this helps... hamilton

Hi there: Glad you decided to start a build log for this kit - there are a couple on here, I think, which will likely provide some help as you go - though since you're aiming for a particular version, the help might be more in particular construction techniques rather than overall aspects of the vessel. Anyway, I've always admired the look of the Mars and hope to build her myself one day.....I'll follow your build with interest (though ten years is a very long time!) On another note, I've visited the Twente region a couple of times - both times staying in Enschede while visiting at the University of Twente. Good times! hamilton

Thanks Danny: And on that note, I'll add an update on the Hannah build....I began this evening with the intention of fixing the Hannah on the stand (already in the bottle). I spent a bit of time considering the approach. I then made an initial attempt to manoeuvre the ship into the bottle. It is a snug fit, but with a little gentle pressure it actually goes in ok. I only moved the hull about half way into the bottle neck before retreating. Satisfied that I could actually get the thing in, I decided to make a little tool to apply the adhesive (I chose 5-minute epoxy again - more on this choice in a minute) to the stand. This turned out to be the only successful part of my evening's work.....Here is the tool - the filed down end of a bamboo skewer onto which I glued a short piece of 10mm x 1.5mm lime. I chamfered the end of the lime strip to ease the application. Here's the tool and here's my test of its reach and action on the stand - exciting stuff here, people! Once satisfied with the tools utility, I mixed up some epoxy dipped the tool in and applied it on the stand....it was a bit messy and the glass distorts the view to the point where I was unsure whether I was getting an even coat on the stand. I took a look down the bottle from the mouth and all seemed well, so I decided to go for it. In the build log I'm using as reference, the modeller mentioned using double-sided tape to attach one of the kit-supplied tools to the hull of the ship and thus be able to manipulate it in the bottle and onto the stand. The kit-supplied instructions mention making a rope sling using another tool supplied with the kit. I have not tried this (I might later) but decided to go with the other modeller's technique. Unfortunately, the only double-sided tape I have is wall mounting tape, which is very thick, though also strong enough to get a good leverage on the hull using the tool attached running alongside the stem. But in order not to have the tape stick in the rigging, I had to run it along the turn of the bilge from the bows to about 1/4 of the way back. What I did not notice until I drew the ship out again in failure was that the tape rose up from the hull enough to make it impossible to sit the forward part of the hull on the stand......mistake number 1. Anyway, blissfully unaware of this, I proceeded. On my first attempt, I accidentally wound one of the out threads around the bottom of the hull forward (it didn't get epoxied, thank god! but it did make it impossible to raise the masts) - mistake number 2. Still not noticing the tape issue, I pulled the hull out of the bottle just enough to untangle the out thread. I then began manoeuvring the hull back into the bottle. Here she is on the way in: At this point I had to drop my camera and focus all my attention on getting her onto the stand.....I actually wish I had kept the posts, which would have helped me to lock the hull onto the stand. The "V" stand I made is adequate, but when slathered in epoxy the hull slid around quite a bit and the tool, despite it's strong hold on the hull, did not allow much in the way of precise control. I did take a moment to pull the out threads and saw the masts come up quite gloriously (it was a momentary elation) before I finally noticed that the forward end of the hull was not sitting on the stand at all, and that it would never adhere to it as long as the tape was keeping the hull from contacting the stand. I drew the ship out planning on repositioning the tape, which is when I noticed: Mistake number 3 - the boom had detached from the main mast Mistake number 4 - the port side boom sheet had snapped Mistake number 5 - the main gaff had also become detached from the main mast Mistake number 6 - the aft port side canon had become unglued. Mistake number 7 - the line that runs through the foremast topsail had snapped on the starboard side Sheesh!! I decided I needed to step away from the modelling table for a bit (and write this post) so I could decompress and build up some positive energy to continue....I think that tonight I will simply do the following: 1. reattach the canon 2. reattach (with stronger thread) the boom and gaff 3. re-tie the port side boom sheet Tomorrow I'll tackle the topsail rigging (again!) and see about getting it into the bottle.... At this point (just to make a long post even longer), I'm a little concerned about the stand....it's epoxied in the bottle, so I imagine it's there for good. But now the lifts on the stand are slathered in epoxy.....I'm considering using slow-acting CA now to set the hull on the stand (despite my earlier misgivings about using it inside the bottle). But I may go with the epoxy again - except holding the thing straight while the epoxy sets will be a test of zen-like patience....on the other hand, will today's epoxy on the stand give me trouble when I go to try to put the boat on the stand at a later time? If anyone has insight here I would greatly appreciate it...... Long and the short - I can see that this is doable (which is important), but the goal line just receded significantly after today's modelling debacles...... And on and on... hamilton

Hi Tom: It's funny that you say the more you do the smaller it seems - this is definitely true! Wait till you get into the rigging! I also found the laser cut wood to be unevenly cut. Also - I suspect that a couple of the lifts might be mis-numbered on the plans - I can't remember which, but I would advise you to test their fit against each other before gluing them and making sure that the numbers correspond to the right part. There was one lift that should have been wider than it was given its placement and I think it was actually mis-numbered in the plans....if I hadn't been assembling as I went, I could have fixed this easily, but I ended up using some wood filler during and after the sanding of the hull to correct for this.....maybe your kit is different, though..... hamilton

Hi Bob: Just caught up on your Cheerful - she's coming together very nicely. hamilton

So far so good eh? The bottle that came with my Hannah was also a little foggy, though it's now too late for me to do anything about it and viewers will have to pretend that they're peering at the ship through a light mist..... I don't think you'll have any problems with the finishing on this tiny kit - given the scale and detail of those figures! I'll be following along here with interest hamilton

The deck and stern are looking great, Brett. And good on you for sticking with the 2mm planking - you're a braver man than I! hamilton

Hi Tom: Well there's not actually that much left to document, and I don't have many photos of the ship in process and none of the various construction stages.....as I say I'll try to get some good photos of the ship going into the bottle and to document that.... The keen-eyed among you will notice that I replaced the brass pins on the stand with some rough-hewn walnut strips shaped for the hull to rest upon. I thought this would make mounting the hull in the bottle a bit easier - someone (either here or in another place) compared putting the hull on the pins to a carnival game.....not really in the mood for that sort of finagling.......I'm going to have a try at getting her into the bottle this evening, so check for an update (good or bad) later. hamilton

Hi Brett Yes mine was double planked - making for a much easier build! Though I've seen some very nice planking jobs on the SF II, but it looks like quite a battle....You might try replacing the wood with two thinner layers that add up to 2mm - a 1.5 and a .5 or a 1 and 1.....I'm not sure whether this would cause construction issues down the road (do the bulwarks come as a laser cut piece?) but it would certainly make the planking easier.... hamilton

Weird indeed, Mike. And hello Augie!! Yes, that's the plan.....looking forward to more copper tiles! hamilton

Hi Brett: It's hard to tell from the profile photo, but do the bulkheads in question taper off towards the keel? I built the first version of this kit (the San Francisco) a few years back and can't remember this situation on that build (and unfortunately don't have documentation!) I believe you'll be adding the sternpost, keel and and stem as separate pieces, right? If so, then plank the whole thing - the final planks will bend up to land on the centre keel part at the stern, creating a little slot above the bottom edge of the keel into which you'll place the keel piece(s)....I hope this makes sense..... hamilton

Hi Owen: I've always been intrigued by this kit. Looks like you're doing a great job despite some of the limitations of the kit (2mm planking on a single planked hull? Yikes!) hamilton

Hi Rowan: Just read through your log - the Endeavour's looking really amazing - and I really appreciate the documentation of some of the more niggling processes (like the jig you made for the pilasters and your technique for the pintles and gudgeons). Thanks! hamilton

Hi all: In response to Jason's request for a photo of the green wooden "copper" tiles provided with the Mamoli America - here's a pic. The instructions say to layer these on one-by-one as you would with the copper tape (but with adhesive), with each tile lapping very slightly over the one aft and with each row up the hull lapping very slightly over the one next closest to the keel. I can't imagine this would result in anything other than a kind of clinkering of the tiles, which doesn't occur with the very thin and pliable copper tape. For finishing Mamoli suggests first layering on a coat of copper paint, then sanding it to let some of the green of the tiles come through, then coating it with green paint and wiping it with a cloth while still wet to achieve a verdigris finish..... Anyway, I guess the world is full of ideas....bye for now hamilton

Thanks for the tip Danny! In the end I went for 5-minute epoxy (the stand is now in the bottle with one of the kit-supplied tools waiting for the epoxy to cure). It's a bit late for a build log, but I'll try to document the insertion of the Hannah into the bottle - if the moderators have no objection, I'll just do it here. Here's photo 1 (all I have for now) - and apologies off the bat for the poor quality - it's hard to get focus through the glass. Taking a cue from the fellow with the detailed log mentioned in another thread, I taped a cut out pattern of the stand on the bottle-stand underneath the bottle to mark the position of the stand, using the Hannah outside the bottle to gauge where it should be. I then wrapped a bit of double-sided tape around the applicator tool provided with the kit pressed it onto the top of the stand, laid some epoxy on the bottom, and gently eased it through the mouth of the bottle and into place. Some finessing was required to get the stand in the right position. I'm now going to leave the whole thing in there overnight and then (once the epoxy is properly cured over 24 hours) ease the tool free of the stand and draw it out..... The next step will be to figure out how to get the ship onto the stand.....as mentioned elsewhere (by me and others) the mouth of the bottle is very small and it will be quite a squeeze getting the Hannah in - at least that part corresponding to the quarterdeck area aft, where she's tallest (it's the height rather than the breadth that's the issue, and the masts and sails do not help here - though at least they're somewhat pliable....) I'll update this once the next stage is complete...... hamilton

Jonny - glad to hear it! My Admiral says exactly the same thing! With two on the go and (...let me think...) six on the shelf (!!) the chances of another coming through the door anytime soon are exactly 0! I've coppered a few hulls (Phantom, Kate Cory and Fair Rosamund) and the difficulty/simplicity seems to depend upon the shape and size of the hull, as well as on how true to practice you try to be. There are certainly some excellent examples of coppering on the forums here. It takes a long time and is quite repetitive (which is fine by me if I have some nice music to listen to or some thinking to do). For a very unique approach to weathering copper tiles see Alistair's (aliluke) Pegasus build log Nils - thanks for dropping by - it is a beautiful ship (and hopefully even my version will be ok). Mamoli's kit certainly has its quirks, but overcoming these is half the fun. Jason - thanks very much indeed - I'm a fan of your builds too - the Snake was really wonderful and I've been enjoying watching your Jason come together from a distance. The Caldercraft Diana is a dream kit of mine, though (apropos of my comment to Jonny) it's unlikely to grace my shelf for a while.....I don't have any pictures of the tiles ready to go, but I'll take one and post it here soon so you can have a gander.....And thanks for the vote of confidence - I have to say I enjoy it greatly when I come across a build log that walks people through the stages of doing something - particularly those often taken-for-granted elements of modelling that beginners may not intuitively understand. Thanks again all - spent tonight "working" on (more like staring at) the Hannah - tried for the first time passing her tentatively through the mouth of the bottle - it's true what many of said - it is too big for the bottle provided with the kit......I'm now considering how to proceed..... hamilton

Hi Johnny: Yes, I think the wooden "copper" tiles are pretty weird. They come in a really garish green, as well and I'm not confident that the finishing instructions provided would come out in the verdigris that appears on the photo on the kit box....I have a bunch of extra copper tape from a previous build so I'll use that I think. Hope you saved your 300 pounds! hamilton

Hope I'm not inundating the forum with meagre progress, but here's another quick update on America. I spent the evening adjusting the keel edge up through the stem. There's more work to do in and around the bulkhead slots, and it's relatively slow going, so I guess I might have to lay off updating here until some more exciting stuff starts happening.... Anyway, these first shots show the areas of the keel that need shimming And here are the shims installed So now the keel edge aligns nicely with the drawing - more adjustments to come....yay! hamilton