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Matt D

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Everything posted by Matt D

  1. Matt D
    I tried to modify the rudder and ended up with it too short to reach the helm. So I built a new one using the leftover lime from the keel. It is cut to curve around the bottom corner of the transom I’ve also started installing the deck furnishings and preparing the masts. My next step will be to install the anchors and bitts.
  2. Matt D
    I knew I'd find good company there! Thanks for the compliment, Peter. Your Sultana is looking great. I was showing my 11 YO son what you'd done, too. It was good for him to see what can be done if you use your imagination and find the right tools. We got a good laugh out of the picture of the solid hull in the trashcan.
  3. Matt D
    Future builders of this model: this post is for you. I have the same rudder problem that everyone else has had. I also think I just figured out how I could have averted it if I’d noticed before I sanded the keel even with the stern piece. As I see it, the problem is that the stern piece is too small. I would say I built it wrong and the stern piece is too far forward of the transom, but you can see if you go through the other builds that nearly every one of them has the same problem. So I’m going to blame Artesania Latina instead of the fine model builders of Model Ship World. If you look at the drawing blow-up below, you can see the stern piece even with the bottom corner of the transom. Mine is almost 3mm shy of that corner. If I could back up time about a week, I’d have cut a filler piece out of the scrap from the keel and glued it onto the back of the stern piece. That would have evened it up and the rudder would fit just like the pictures on the box. Instead, I’m going to join the Virginia 1819 Modified Rudder Club, where I know I’ll find some good friends.
  4. Matt D
    Thanks, Paul. Once I had an idea of how I wanted to build the stand, it was a lot of fun to put together. That’s a really neat idea. But I’m looking forward to rigging it the way it’s shown on the box, all ready to set out on a voyage.
  5. Matt D
    Thank you very much for your kind words, Mark. It helps a lot to see how others, including you, have handled the challenges of this build. Logging the build has made it much more fun.
  6. Matt D
    I’ve spent some good quality time in the shipyard the past week and a half and wanted to update my log.I added the rubbing strakes after using the bowl trick to get a nice curve in them. With the added width of the rubbing strakes, my model no longer fits in the temporary cradle I had built. Rather than spend time on fixing that, I built the stand I plan to display it on. I really like the launch that Peter built (SardonicMeow), but I wanted something more like a dry dock. This is what I came up with out of wood I had laying around. Of course, the awkward part is going to be when it’s all done and it’s sitting in dry-dock with unfurled sails.
  7. Matt D
    It looks great, Peter! Thanks for sharing it.
  8. Matt D
    I ruined my rubbing strakes. Somewhere along the way, I used two of the rubbing strake applewood pieces where I should have used mahogany. So I didn’t have four matching pieces. I decided to stain them darker so they would all match, but I overdid it on darkness. So I had to cut new 2x3mm strakes out of some larger applewood stock that I found at the hobby store. Here’s a pic of the dark stained original and my four fresh cut replacements.
  9. Matt D
    Peter, I love your transom windows. They look really nice. I especially like The way you built the assembly up.
  10. Matt D
    Happy Easter! Here are some pics of my recent progress on the second layer of planking. I’ve done some sanding on the port side to see how it would smooth out. I’m pretty happy with it and hope I can do as well or a little better on the starboard side.
  11. Matt D
    Hi Danny. I saw that you’ve changed the index for wooden ship kits from pdf to xls. For some reason, the links don’t work for me now. Have you heard this from others? Or am I doing it wrong?
  12. Matt D
    Hi Mark. You have a sharp eye. I have had that happen on almost every strake starting at about the third one going down from the top. The compound curve causes it to want to pucker up just slightly. There's very little stretch in these planks, unlike the first layer. So on each spot where that happened, I used a paint brush to push extra glue under the popped out section and then taped it down good and tight to dry. This photo must have been before I glued that one down, because it's tight and secure now. Thanks for your attention to detail and for pointing it out.
  13. Matt D
    Thank, Wallace and Nikbud. I didn’t come up with that idea on my own - I learned it from your logs (and others).
  14. Matt D
    I’m working on the second layer planking. I’m using PVA brushed on with a dampened paint brush. Then I tape it with blue painters tape until it dries. It’s a slow process, but it’s very forgiving: I can make adjustments if I don’t like how it goes on. I was thinking about CA to make it faster, but I don'twant it to dry fast in the wrong position.
  15. Matt D
    Wow, Peter! Your model looks amazing! I’m following this and really like your work.
  16. Matt D
    I had to travel for work last week and wasn’t able to work on my model for a few days. Before I left, I added the bulwarks. Today, I installed the upper stern piece and added some wood filler to smooth out the hull before planking the second layer. After getting that done, I made wooden bitts to use instead of the metal ones that came in the kit. They came out pretty good after a few tries.
  17. Matt D
    Sardonicmeow, Wallace, nikbud: thank you very much for your answers. I will confidently sand away this evening.
  18. Matt D
    I’m finished with laying the first layer of Hull planking and working carefully on preparing for the next few steps. I still have more sanding to do and then some filling. I’m looking at the bulwarks and the transom/upper stern. The instructions are not very clear on how the upper stern and deck beam mate up. The deck beam piece flares out and is slightly wider than the back of the deck and the upper stern. I think I need to sand it to the same width. It also interferes with the bulwarks, so something has to go. Since unsanding is hard, can any previous Virginia builders tell me what I should do to get a good result?
  19. Matt D
    I’m not quite done with the barrels. I started by making stave joints with a pencil. I tried backing them up by cutting into them with an exacto knife, but I couldn’t really get much effect, so I left them like you see the lines. Then I stained them with Minwax Gunstock stain. I was planning on using golden oak, but really liked the gunstock color when I was at the store. I also found some 6mm wide Tamiya masking tape, which looked really skinny when I bought it, but is actually closer to a mile wide when compared to the masking needed for the barrels. But it cuts nicely with an exacto knife with a straight edge. Masking was tedious because of the shape of the barrel. I used black acrylic paint with a fine brush. After it dried, I pealed the tape only to find that half the bands were too narrow. So I had to tape them up again and paint some more. I still wasn’t happy, so I tried filling in with a sharpie marker and that’s when I learned that I should have skipped the tape and paint and just used a sharpie. I still have a little more touching up, but I have to be in the right place mentally so I don’t mess them up with an errant mark.
  20. Matt D
    Here’s a picture of my work as of this morning. I hope to get some time to work on it some more this evening.
  21. Matt D
    Thanks, Stevinne. I have that book and I’ve read most of it. But I had mostly been going by the AL instructions and many build logs. I had not connected the dots on figuring out the plank tapers early on, but now see some really good examples in other Virginia build logs. I’m not stripping off the upper section, but I did pull off the three stakes at the keel. Looking more carefully at other people’s first layer, I didn’t think what I had would mate up well with the keel extension. I then faired the bulkheads as advised. Then I went a little further and did a little bit of sanding on the remaining planks. I think they look pretty good, but I didn’t take any photos yet. Constructo Enterprise is one I’d like to build some day.
  22. Matt D
    I decided to strip off the bottom three planks on each side because that seems like the area I have the biggest problem. I’m sanding that some more and then I’ll work my way down from the top the way that Robert Vaglio did in his build. Thanks for giving me your honest opinions. It won’t be any fun if it turns out like crap. Oh look: I’ve made it to page two!
  23. Matt D
    Mark, thank you for pointing that out. I thought I had faired it enough with the work I did at the bow. I didn’t go over each bulkhead with a block and instead sanded through all of the laser burning. I thought that would suffice, but I still have a lot to learn. I’m not going back and I think it will be ok because I have a decent contour now. If I had it to do over, I would have blocked the bow and stern to give me more wood to glue to in those areas.
  24. Matt D
    Thanks for that tip, Nikbud. I’m still going slow and steady on the first layer planking. I lost my modeling time to taxes yesterday. Somehow, I don’t enjoy that as much as ship building. Here are a couple of shots of my progress today. I’m hoping to get one more piece on each side later today. Then I might get the last two on tomorrow.
  25. Matt D
    I’m still progressing on the first layer of planking. I have four strakes per side to go. I’m also working on the caronnade rigging. I think I’m going to need a needle threader to get the line through the tiny holes in the blocks.

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