hamilton

Hi Ferit: I know I've asked before for wide shots to see the state of the whole thing, but I have to say I love the detail photos, too - it doesn't seem to matter how close you get the camera to the model - it still shows an absolutely flawless build! Inspiring work hamilton

Hello all. My son and I are off to visit my dad back east tomorrow so there won't be too much going on here for another little while....things starting to slow down with the approach of another school year, too....I always say that the coming year will be easier than the last, but this is never true! I don't know why I continue to deceive myself..... Anyway, my dad is a modeller, too (planes), so I think I'm going to smuggle the Blandford ship's boat kit out there in my carry-on so I can sneak in a little time at his workbench (which is much more well-developed and well-equipped than my dining room table!)....We'll see. I know he'll want to tour me around his latest projects and he may be interested in seeing how these little boats come together and lending a hand, who knows? In the mean time - happy modelling to all hamilton

As per the glue issue - best to stain the wood parts or strips before gluing to avoid this problem. Stain the wood and let dry completely before assembling. Good luck! hamilton

Hi Ian: You should give it a shot. Mine is a bit over-sized for scale (perhaps about 1-1.5mm too tall), but I think it was worth it to take a stab at it. It's one of those things where, as I said before, the more you build yourself the harder it gets to use the kit-supplied parts, mostly because when you do they'll stick out like a sore thumb! The capstan was not too difficult in itself to fabricate - I actually used the kit supplied one to trace the circumferance of both the base and the drum head on thin sheets of basswood. After that it was just a matter of cutting a square section out of the sheet with the traced circle in the middle, trimming it down and then sanding it into the circular shape you see in the finished piece....I used the kit supplied capstan also to mark the holes for the capstan bars on the appropriate circle (before cutting it out) - this was 1mm thick, and sandwiched between 2 .5mm thick pieces. I filled out the holes with the thin edge of a flat micro file and then assembled the head. After assembly I drill a hole through the centre and inserted a blackened brass nail (this protruded out the end and was used as a support when I fixed the central post) . I used a 3mm dowel for the central post and drilled a hole in one end to accept the nail from the drum head. These parts were then assembled together. I then drilled another hole in the bottom of the central post and also through the centre of the circular base. I inserted a piece of brass wire through here again to provide extra support for the whole assembly. The welps were made from 3mm x .5mm basswood, which I rough cut in an upward slope before installing (8 in total positioned between the bar holes on the drum). I then used a hobby knife to trim these further down for a better look. Once again, the capstan is by no means perfect, but I'm happy with the results and I know it looks better than the kit supplied one would after it had been slathered with red paint.... Now that I've installed all the cannons, I'm wishing I had scratch built the carriages! The Corel ones are "just fine", but only just....My next step is to build the elm tree pumps, which at this scale could be very difficult...especially the brake handles which will be shaped out of 1mm x 1mm walnut...and the brackets which I'm thinking of fashioning out of wood to simulate iron....anyway, these are very small parts and will test whatever skills I've managed to acquire over the last little while..... hamilton

Thanks all! I appreciate these words of encouragement greatly! Andy - perhaps it is making less sense to call this a kit - of all the kit-supplied cast parts, I've only used the ship's wheel - all the others I've tossed into a drawer which is kind of like a graveyard of unused metal parts from various kits....Still, the bones of it are the Corel kit - and my scratch-building exercises are really only a derivative of this kit's limitations - especially where they have not entirely worked (as with the open bulwarks and rails).....Taking a dive into real scratch building will require a dedicated workspace which I do not have and a lot of new tools (which the admiral would welcome if I turned them to home improvement projects but which would be looked at with loathing if I was just using them for modelling!). In the meantime, I'm contemplating the Echo cross-section from Admiralty models as an intro to scratch-building.....perhaps followed by the Lumberyard Hannah....but that is for the far future - at least 3 years out! Alistair - I tried a few experiments with the scans you sent me of the ship's decorations....I was just using regular printer paper, shrunk down from 1:64 scale to 1:100 but at this scale the paper ripped with even the sharpest blade....I will have another go with heavier stock - this may work (I hope), but if not I will have to call the experimentation off.....one more stab at it and we'll see how it goes.... hamilton

Very nice and precise work here - the addition of the masts really makes her come alive. hamilton

Thanks a lot for the words of encouragement Mobbsie! Much appreciated as usual! OK - time for another update. The cannon rigging continues, but I've decided to break it up a bit by completing some other parts of the build at the same time - namely, the ship's wheel, the capstan, the main jeer & topsail sheet bitts (the latter fitted with gallows) and the forward gallows (positioned just forward of the forward hatches and not yet installed). The forward gallows are not included in the Corel kit nor do they appear in Goodwin's drawings. They do, however, show up in a photo of a model in Goodwin's book, and I've used that photo as support for the decision to install these gallows. In any case, I need them as forward support for the spare masts that act as a cradle for the ship's boat (about which I asked an extremely stupid question in another area of this forum). So there it is.... All the parts were scratch built with the exception of the ship's wheel itself, which I did not even try to attempt. The supports for the wheel that were included in the kit were these spindly metal pieces - they looked like metal pillars that had been repurposes as a ship's wheel. I derived the design for the ones I built from Goodwin. The capstan was a lot of fun to make, and even though it did not turn out perfect, I'm more or less happy with the results. I could have made it again, but I feel pressure to move along with the build - I may have mentioned earlier that we're expecting another child in late November, so once that happens, there will be precious little time for modelling - and lots of time for bouncing the little person on my knee and teaching our son how to change diapers! Now the photos hamilton

Clearly I'm an idiot - though my excuse is that I'm lazy (not exactly the best fall-back quality)....apologies for being dumb and thanks Mark for your kind response! hamilton

Hi there: I recently bought a 3-3/4" plank-on-frame ship's boat kit from Model Expo and have misplaced the sheet that came with it explaining how to scale down the plans. The plans provided in 1:1 are for the 5" boat and have to be scaled to suit the size of the kit in hand.... If anyone either has a rough and ready calculation or has the information on hand, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks a lot! hamilton

Welcome home Augie - now back to work!! hamilton

Hi Max: No I haven't coppered a hull in a while - though the Syren is up on the shelf right now, so it won't be too long before I'm at it again. I've only done 2 coppered hulls - the Phantom and the Kate Cory. If you have something good to listen to while you're doing this task it's not that bad....keep at it and it'll get done eventually! hamilton

Looking good in the summer sunshine! Bon voyage hamilton

Hi Max: Here we go! I've coppered 2 models and it is quite tedious! Question - did the copper plates come pre-cut on your phantom? I had to cut mine out of a wider (1/4") roll of copper tape.....have fun! hamilton

Beautiful work Mobbsie! hamilton

Thanks Mobbsie - I have some left over wire from another kit that is quite thin and might do the trick...the problem is that it would be the wrong colour....I may use sewing thread - I'll see how it looks anyway. And speaking of making it hard for myself - aren't you building the Agamemnon? Looks pretty hard to me!! Way more guns than I've had to deal with.... hamilton

Hi Ferit - yes they will be small indeed if I keep to scale - however, I may have to deviate....depending on what is possible for my fingers to do. I'll look through your log to see if I can't gain some inspiration and ideas hamilton

Very helpful, Ferit! Thanks a lot - looks like I'll be adding some cleats! I'll have to scratch build these since the ones that came with the kit are way out of scale for that particular part - and at 1:100, I think I'll just add a simple rope rather than the tackle, which (as with the guns) will simply be way too tricky. Bye for now hamilton

Thanks Mark - very helpful - I'll seek out info on the head rails in the other forum. In the mean time, here's a brief update on the cannon rigging. I managed to get the breaching lines done on the 6 cannons aft. The aftmost cannon is only attached to the hull on the forward side, both because the aft side cannot be seen and because it would simply have been too tough to get back there. Here are the photos. hamilton

So I think I'm reaching a stage in the build where I have a lot of questions....any and all guidance will be appreciated, as always! 1. Would any molding that is interrupted by a gun port be continued on the gunport lid? I'm guessing yes....? 2. On the open gun ports aft, I would like to include the line that holds the gunport lid open (sorry for not knowing the proper name!) - I've seen these on several builds (including Ferit's Berlin), but I don't know how they are tied off inboard....? Any ideas? 3. The head rails are a bit of a daunting and baffling bit of modelling....but one part that particularly confuses me is the order of things. I'm tempted to make at least a dummy bowsprit to fit while I'm making the head rails - mostly because I will need to arrange the beakhead grating around it....but is this the usual (or an advisable) order of things? I'm going to make templates of the individual rails out of card stock and then cut them out of basswood sheets and then carve and sand them down to shape....this will be quite painstaking and no doubt frustrating, but....but the head timbers are also a bit mystifying - on some builds it seems that they are timbers made out of 2mm or 3mm square stock and fit between the rails. On other builds, it seems that they are wider pieces that butt against the stem and support the beakhead grating....I'm not exactly sure how to approach this - making the rails so that they also act as supports for the grating seems like a good idea from a structural persective, but I'm not sure if this is how I should go about it. I know this is a complex part of any build, and I imagine it's a difficult thing to explain. But any tips here would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again all - I'll be starting on the cannon rigging tonight, so hopefully I'll have some photos to post by tomorrow. Bye for now hamilton

Hi Jack: Those mast caps look a lot different from the ones I had in my 1:100 Bluenose....at least from what I remember. Unfortunately, this was not a build that I extensively documents - I was building it on a schedule to give to a family friend as a birthday present....However, I do remember the quality of the dowels being very poor - very uneven grain and at this scale requiring a lot of gentleness and care in shaping the spars.... Anyway, it does build up into a very nice model once you get past some of these difficulties. Bye for now hamilton

Wow Ferit! I come back from a week's vacation and here's what I've been waiting for - some very gratifying photos of an amazing build! I'll echo other people here - the ratlines look great and seeing the Berlin in a wide angle is very satisfying. The high angle shot looking to the deck captures the details you've added very well. A real inspiration! hamilton

Just got back - and now you're off - travel safe Augie! hamilton

Looking really beautiful! hamilton

WOW! That's some serious commitment! Excellent work so far on the Phantom. I don't have any photos of my phantom to be honest - it was my first model and I was more focused on developing techniques than documenting the build. She's not sitting kind of sad on my son's window ledge....so many other modelling projects that I don't know when I'll get to her.....someday. There are (or have been) some rehabilitation projects here on MSW.....there was a particularly detailed one on MSW1 by a fellow Canuck whose handle I can't remember - but I think it was of a clipper ship....the model was fished out of a trash can as I recall in a really sore state - watching her come back was a real treat - perhaps other forum members can fill in the blanks of my sketchy account.... hamilton

Hi Ian: Many different kinds of accidents happen to models as and after we build them....but I can only imagine that "eaten by a snake" is rarely among the reasons for lost, damaged or decimated parts! Amazing work on the stove - thankfully it did not end up as reptile food! hamilton