Dowmer

Rob, When you have time would you detail how you make the paper sails, materials, techniques etc. I’ve seen many different techniques, but your sails look very nice. 😃

Practice makes perfect 😁. If things get too ugly you can get some replacement parts from Model Expo

I wouldn’t worry too much. I had 11 strakes on my build. Just make sure they all fit without any gap left over. Once again, watch Chucks build of his 1/48 scale boat. Also his cutter Cheerful build. He goes over measuring out strakes, fairing and tapering planks.

Dont worry, I broke the stem on mine too. Just glue it back. This is a very fragile model. You will find that the basswood in this kit makes it difficult as well. Fuzzy, soft horrible stuff. Other woods are easier to work (sand, carve etc). But basswood will be good for you to learn the ropes.....so to speak.

Daforunia, I dont believe the sheer is tapered or the wale plank directly below it. The rest will have to be tapered or spiled to fit the required space. Whenever possible, reference the plans. Chuck is building a larger 1:24 version with a lot more detail. If you have a chance read through it and see a detailed version of what you are building. Lots of great tips to pick up. The 1:48 version you are building can be difficult for a beginner due to the small size and advanced planking required. Just go slow and take your time. Welcome to shipbuilding. A very rewarding but slow and tedious process.

Beautiful work Ed. I especially appreciate the arrows you have added to draw our attention through the web of lines. By the way, the natural droop of the chain you refer to is called a "Catenary" curve. Cheers,

According to Steel, he shows sheaves on each side, so athwart as well as fore and aft. But Ive seen others with only fore and aft etc. So I guess its up to you. You might check Levers "Young Sea Officers Sheet anchor". He might have another picture of one as well. I dont have my book in front of me right now.

Bob, oh the horror !!!!!!!!!! 😁 No worries Bob, sometimes you just have to pick your battles.

In the first movie of Pirates of the Caribbean the crew was holy stoning the deck. Wouldn't that make it lighter? 🤔

Delicate work Ed, nice job. What are you going to do about the holes left in the boom from the previous position? I saw a few pictures of a topping lift on an actual working sailing ship "Niagara" like yours set up. I thought you might enjoy the pics. Below was on their facebook page last week. They are currently removing the spanker boom. Here we can see how the crew uses the main yard like a crane to lift the spanker boom before they swing it over the side of the ship. Hope you enjoyed it. Your setup looks pretty close to the placement on the boom with the exception of you have the extra tackles on the pendants.

Oh my goodness Ed, look what I started 😁 I must admit, its facinating stuff and the input from everyone is excellent at the risk of straying from Ed's masterful build. By the way, for what its worth...less than .02 pence if that...........I'd go for the dark brown color for all the reasons stated, but I think Ed was edging that direction anyway.

Thanks Ed for the feedback. Good to know

Ed, beautilful work. Its progressing nicely. For the deadeye lanyard rigging you have in the channels, is that rigging supposed to be tarred as well like the shrouds? I thought I read that somewhere, that working ships tarred them. That would make the lanyards dark brown or black instead of light natural. Of course this could be a preference too I suppose. I see a lot of ship models like this. Just curious as I see it different ways. Beautiful workmanship 🙂

I personally like the red one above. But that's just my preference.

Mike, Why not try some Alaskan yellow Cedar?

Thanks Mike! I love using wood colors to replicate painted colors when possible.

Better than me Fernando 😀 How did you insert a window to your Norfolk build? Is there a button or something?

Johann, looks pretty good. You have a fairly tight twist or “lay” which is good. Perhaps just a bit more but it is looking real good. I’m anxious to see how your linen will lay up.

OC, Im in too. So tell me. How do you know the dimensions of the Black Pearl? Its ficticious but are there some kind of plans etc? What are you using for reference?

Well done BE. Looks like the fiddly time spent was worth it.

Chuck, When I put the tissue paper (The packing type for gifts, not the backside kind 😁) on a blank sheet of 8x11" paper in the printer, I tape all teh edges down so they dont catch. obviously the paper is bigger than I need for the image. Once the printer is finished, I cut it out with an exacto or scissors. Works a treat and I havent had one fail yet. The fixative really sets the ink so you can see it on both sides and allows the flag to be positioned how you like it. Hope that helps and perhaps you won't have to go buying "weed" paper...although there's nothing wrong with that. 😀

The best flags are those you make on your own. Chuck had a great demo how to make your own flags on his Cheerful build. LINKY The problem with most made flags is the material is too thick or they just dont look realistic. Making them out of Tissue paper makes them llok much more realistic and they drape nice. Here's an except from his explanation, I basically use a jpg. image of the flag which has been sized in Microsoft word. You could skew your flag ahead of time in the program to make it easier to shape but I didnt do that. I just printed out the standard rectangle. First you print out the flag on normal paper so you can see where on the paper the flag will print. Then you carefully tape the tissue paper over that image on all four sides...the tissue paper being slightly larger than the flag. Then print the flag again after placing the paper in your printer again. Cut the flag free from the tissue paper after it dries. Cut it right along the edges with no white space showing. This next step is important. The tissue paper is so thin that the ink will soak through to the other side but NOT entirely. So the first thing you need to do is flip the flag over and spray the REVERSE side with some Krylon Matt fixative. Dont be afraid to spray too much. This will facilitate the ink soaking through to the back side further and it will look like it is literally printed on both sides. Then after it dries flip it over and spray the front side. Shape it to suit with various size dowels. You can also spray the fixative more to really soak it because this makes it easier to shape...you can do this several times if need be. Once dry it holds its shape. Then I poke a hole with a sharp awl in the two corners so I can lash it to the flag halliard. Done!!! Here's a pic of the flag I just made for my boat. 1/48 scale. Give it a try

Reviving this thread but no one mentioned Amati figurines for 1/48 scale. Actually they are probably O scale but works out to almost the same. 35mm is the size but that is to the top of the hat. So in reality the figures from foot to top of head are about 33mm which works out to about 5’3” in 1/4 scale. Slightly small but not too bad since the average person back then was about 5’4” to 5’6”. I can live with it. I got mine from woodenmodelshipkit.com. Quick ship. I ordered it two days ago and I already had it delivered from across the U.S. Here's a couple pics in a longboat I just built. Like I said. Slightly small. I bought them so I could use them as perspective when building.

I bought a couple figurines so I can get perspective on scale when I build. The only ones I could find that looked respectable were from Amati through woodenmodelshipkit.com. Quick ship. I ordered it two days ago and I already had it delivered from across the U.S. Anyway, if anyone is interested I put them in the boat to see what it looks like. Pics below The figures are 35mm. But that is to the top of the hat. So in reality the figures from foot to top of head are about 33mm which works out to about 5’3” in 1/4 scale. Slightly small but not too bad since the average person back then was about 5’4” to 5’6”. I can live with it. comments? Are they too small? cheers

Thanks gents. 😁 Time will tell where it ends up.