grsjax

Amazing work. I am just now finishing up my first ship in a bottle and seeing Igor's work makes me realize what a long way I have to go. Beautiful.

The older type of flue was removable and could be replaced with a cover over the hatch.

I will be following this closely as I have this same kit in my stash.

Picked up a couple of old constucto kits on eBay. Wasn't expecting much but the subjects, Wifredo, a mid 19th century steamer and Velachero, a late 19th century barkentine rigged cargo vessel using lateen sails on the main and mizzen were interesting and price was right. After receiving them I am pleasantly surprised. First the bad; No scale given but guesstimated at about 1:284 (1/32" = 1 foot) give or take a bit for the Wifredo / 1:32 (3/16" = 1 foot) for the Velachero, plastic dead eyes and really limited instructions. The good; very well made kits with nicely machined solid hulls, pre-shaped spars and well made fittings. Not a great challenge but the results will look good and be something a bit out of the ordinary.

Depends on what you are sanding. I use 80 grit to remove lots of wood quickly but never try and get right up to the line with it. 180 works well for doing the clean up on parts. Finishing should be done by hand to avoid going to far.

No specialty paint stores around here that deal with retail customers. Don't really know why the paint dries faster when thinned with alcohol but it does. I think it is maybe that the alcohol simply evaporates faster under conditions here.

Living here on the wet side of the Big Island (Mt. View gets ~200 in/year of rain) I find that water based paints can take a very long time to dry completely. Trying to find a solution I tried using my wife's hair dryer to speed the process up and it worked. Problem was that it took a long time using the hair dryer to get the paint to a satisfactory dry state. Next was trying something other than water as a thinner. I got very good results using 91% Isopropyl Alcohol (drug store rubbing alcohol). Mixed 50/50 with the paint, I was using MSW paints, it made a real difference in the drying time. Otherwise seemed to work fine with no ill effects. I am probably not the first to figure this out but thought someone might find my results interesting.

Have some books to trade. All are hardcovers and good clean copies. Some have dust jackets. Some have prices and or names on the fly. 1. Howard I. Chapelle, "The Baltimore Clipper", 1987 reprint by Edward W. Sweetman Comapny. 2. Howard I. Chapelle, "Boat Building", 1969 reprint, W.W. Norton & Co., Inc. 3. David R. MacGregor, "Merchant Sailing Ships: 1775 - 1815, There Design and Construction", 1980, Argus Books Ltd. 4. C. Nepean Longridge, "The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships", 1994 reprint, Naval Institute Press. 5. Harold A. Underhill, "Plank-On-Frame Models and Scale Masting & Rigging, Vol II", 1964 reprint, Brown, Son and Ferguson, LTD. I have others if you are looking for something else drop me a PM. I am looking for the following books. Prefer hardcover books but will consider softcover. "Fore & Aft Rig in America" by E. P. Morris "Rigging of Ships in the Days of the Spritsail Topmast" by R. C. Anderson "Elements and Practice of Naval Architecture" by David Steel or the Knowles edition of the same book. Books on the design and construction of small craft (~<100' LOA) that include plans and detailed descriptions of the boats. Books on modeling small craft. Model kits of small craft including fishing boat, utilities, racing craft and other work boats. I have built all the Midwest apprentice series but would be interested in their America's Cup models and other small craft.

Ran across a kit by a company called Nidale. Nice looking and very detailed but it looks like a Chinese made kit. Checked the list of banned manufactures and couldn't find the name but thought it a good idea to ask if this is a legit company.

Looks good.

Actually any wood will glue well if the right glue is used and the wood is properly preped.

Hi Jan Model looks great. I wish my first attempts has turned out so well.

If you want to stick with wood rather than a non-wood substitute you might try soaking basswood in carbon black water color. The stuff I have is Hydrus Fine Art watercolor 11H carbon black. It comes in a small bottle with an eye dropper. Gives a deep black color to the basswood. To give it the slight glossiness of ebony I use a light coat of clear gloss sealer over the color. Looks pretty good, is cheap, is easy to work and has no health issues to worry about. I have tried various ebony stains and different types of black paint but none of them are as good as the carbon black watercolor paint.

I am building (or attempting to) my first ship-in-a-bottle and needed some clear sealer. I was out but my wife offered me a bottle of clear nail polish. I was surprised at how well it worked. As an added bonus the built in brush worked great for spreading the nail polish. Don't know how well it would work for larger areas but for my tiny ship-in-a-bottle boat it works just fine.

Looking forward to seeing it.

Hi Jan Yes that is the one. I haven't tried bending the planks yet but plan on soaking them in warm water and drying them with a large book on top to help with the brittleness. Don't know if that will work but it is worth a try. Can you post some pictures of your model?

Hi Peter Nice build log. The zeeschouw looks like it has a hull form similar to the schouw but otherwise is different. The schouw is an open boat with less rise of the sheer at the bow and I think less beam to length. I seem to remember reading on one of the websites I visited that the zeeschouw was a later development of the original schouw designed for use in open water.

I picked up this model recently. Box was pretty well trashed but all the pieces appear to be there. This is one of Billings' older offerings as the parts are just printed on the wood, not even die cut. My question is has anyone built this model? Is there a build log on the web somewhere? I did an internet and MSW forum search but there isn't much beyond a few pictures of completed models boats that have been converted to pleasure use. One thing that struck me is the resemblance to one shown in Chappell's book "American Small Sailing Craft".

Poplar is an excellent wood for modeling. Low cost, fairly hard (harder than basswood but not as hard as good quality soft maple) but easy to work. turns, carves, saws and drills well. Takes paint, stain and glue with no trouble. Don't know about steam bending as I haven't done any with poplar. If you can check the piece for hardness as there is some variation, get the hardest piece available with no or very few knots or other defects. Wonder why kit manufactures don't use poplar instead of basswood.

I was looking at some fly tying thread and was wondering if anyone has used it to rig a model or for making rope on a rope walk. The stuff was 100% polyester fiber that had been waxed.

The Dremel drill press adapter is fine for run of the mill modeling work. It is just what it says it is, a holder for a dremel tool that can be used to drill holes. To expect it to double as a mill or precision drill press is asking to much for a tool that doesn't cost that much to begin with. That said if you want something stronger and more precise there are a few after market dremel tool drill press adapters out there such as milescraft. You can also make your own ( https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:161190 ) or modify a drill press adapter for a regular power drill. Here is a link to one of these. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1654673

I recall that interiors were painted a light color to increase the light in the cabin and make it easier to see dropped items. I have seen work boats with off white, gray and light blue interiors. I would guess that any old paint available would have been used including mixtures of leftover paint.

Any blade with the correct arbor hole size and is the same or smaller diameter than the original will work.

Despite the low inflation numbers put out by the government some things have become much more expensive. Labor in eastern Europe and Asia is become much more expensive than it was a few years ago. Some materials like tropical woods have become significantly more expensive. New technology while making production faster and cutting down on some labor costs has high startup costs that must be amortized. Add to that that there is a small number of companies making models so that competition does not have as large effect on keeping costs down as in other industries and increase in prices becomes understandable.

Looking at the Chinese models. With prices running from $400 to well over a thousand dollars they are not cheap. Wonder how many kits they are selling? At a price point from $500 up how much demand is there and would it be enough to get a legit manufacture to introduce similar kits?