coxswain

Final Sponson and Turret Shaping
 
Decided to do the final shaping with the sponson and turrets glued together; with sandpaper attached to the side and deck simultaneously; reasoning was to avoid filling the turret/sponson seam.
 
Found, as the instructions state, it is important to hollow out the underside of the turret and inside the sponson - did this with a Foredom hand piece, initially with a flame bur to get the seam between the sponson and turret, then with a drum sander bit.  Resin dust isn’t good for you, so vacuum.

Here are the assemblies dry fitted, note a small gap at the deck/hull corner is ok, as there will be 3/16” half-round trim installed along the edge later.


 
 
 

Thank you, Rob
 
And a couple of studding sails... I've discovered that sewing sails is actually really really relaxing (except for when I'm stabbing myself with dress-making pins!)...  I can strongly recommend this as an enjoyable part of making the model. The plans include complex instructions for hemming the corners - due to the relatively coarse nature of the sail cloth, I have found it to be far too apt to fray for this to be possible (there's nothing left to sew that close to the edge of the fabric). Once the hems are done it all becomes much more manageable. Others with more experience of this may have excellent suggestions as to how this can be avoided. But I'm pleased with the results I'm getting, and as always, though I may not be able to reproduce them exactly they plans themselves are works of art, which I shall enjoy long after I've finished this model.
 
Care has to be taken with the studding sails (which are RH and LH), to ensure the hems are put on the back of the sail, and you don't end up with two RH or two LH! I've avoided this frustration so far...  Check twice, sew once, is the order of the day  
 
Happy building, all.
 
Rob
 

Just a very brief update - I've completed hemming the foremast course, lower and upper topsails, topgallant and royal... so here it is - the pyramid of sail...  

More soon  
 
Rob

Thank you, all, for the likes and encouragement. It does spur me on
 
Work has moved on to completing the yards. I've begun with the lowest yard on the foremast. I've added black cartridge paper banding, and had a first attempt at the rails that the sails are attached to. I'm not quite happy with these yet, but it's soldered so I can go back and have another go. I've also decided to build Stefano with stuns'ls deployed... it'll make the model a full 15cm wider than if the stunsl booms were retracted, but it'll also make her a very imposing sight indeed... so... I'll go for it, and worry about where I'll keep her later!
 
The first photo is one of my cleared up boat desk with Ethalion in the background...
 

With the masts rotated, she pushes to the back of the desk and that gives me room to work on whatever's going on that day.

And a couple of photos of the progress on the foremast main yard.
 

And with the stunsl booms attached temporarily... These are pinned in place, and then black cartridge paper will cover these attachments to look like the iron bands that would have held them in place.
 

That's it for this evening. Happy building, all.
 
Rob

Thank you all for your likes, and for showing an interest. 
 
I've finished mounting the yards today. This involved making up the lower yard attachments, which are constructed from two layers of photoetch, with 2mm brass rod. I've simplified these somewhat to strengthen the attachment.
 
Here are the original parts...
 

Which are soldered together...
 

 
And then tidied up with jewellers files...
 

 
And here it is in place...
 

 
The yards were now mounted to the yards...
 

 
And I couldn't resist temporarily trying the part-completed sail in place, too...
 

 
Now, I need to do a bit of tidying up
 
Happy building and a happy new year to you all.
 
Rob

Hi all,
 
I finished turning the yards yesterday.

I also started work on the fittings that attach the yards to the mast. The top three yards on fore and main yards are laser cut, and the bottom two, photoetch. Unfortunately the photo etch does not leave the spare metal where it is folded and so I have not been able to form these as suggested in the plans. Instead I used brass rod and soldered parts of the photo etch. They will not be articulated, but they will be strong, which is a good thing.
 

I've spent a while trying to work out how I could paint modelspan to represent sail cloth, but I seem not to have the knack, so having worked my way through a fair bit of acrylic paint and not come out with anything I was happy with my attention turned back to the sails contained in the kit.
 
The sails have to be cut out and then double hemmed, with a 0.75mm rope (3strands, 1 threads per strand, #20 DMC Cordonnet) worked into the second fold. I've chosen not to include any glue (because it easily creates ugly watermarks) and to simply sew the hem. Sadly my sewing skills are not as good as I might hope, but I was pleased enough with how it turned out. 



There's plenty more to be done yet, but it's not a bad start. The next step should be to stitch a bolt rope round the periphery. 

Well, life gets busy, and suddenly months have passed. I've finally finished the Greek Bireme, which I've named Ἀθηνα (Athena). It has the Owl sail, and will soon be setting sail for its new home. I haven't taken the final pictures yet, but I'll post a couple here when I do.
 
Having finished the Bireme, I'm now able to pick up work on Stefano, which I'll admit I was somewhat daunted by. Today I've managed to get my head back into the things I was trying to accomplish.
 
The cleats (part 70) are 2mm walnut, and I was concerned they would simply disintegrate or pull off the rail when they had rigging attached to them, so I've replaced them with some metal cleats I had left over from my Ethalion build. These have a 1mm rod on the bottom that provides for a stronger connection.
 
 
 
I've also picked up the work on the lifeboats and adding the lifeboat stands to the forward deckhouse roof.

 Only a little progress, but it's good to be moving forward again.
 
Happy building, to you all, and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!
 
Rob

The extra ring collar I used to add a bit strength, removing all but one attachment point and bending this one to 90 degrees slightly further out just to try and give a better fixing, then carefully glue this with thin supper glue working around the mast, fixing it as l went. You can see were I bent the fixing point on the collar in the previous photo 👍 once the glue had time to set I fitted the spar into place and proceeded to glue this as well, taking care to get it true and square in both planes. Next job shall be to fit extra ladder rungs so the guys can actually get up to the platform above. 😂

You then ease this part onto the deck attachment and lightly glue with thin supper glue, then stretch The Lycra and hook up other end. 👍

Once cutting this part from the part for my upper rigging like so, I then split the bottom eyelet so I could attach this to deck fixing. The other end on the Lycra shall attach  another piece of etch with open hook  once you sort out what length you want the Lycra to be, ie leaving it shorter to stretch it onto attachment point, it works surprisingly well. 👍

One thing that worked for me was using my extra etch to get bits for rigging and attaching Lycra to the parts, worked quite well I thought. Maybe similar etch parts can be purchased from parts for First World War aircraft?  I cut pieces from the rigging etch to try this. Shall put some photos up to show sequence.

On the rigging side of things, the best chance of getting a likeness is by looking at lots of the old photos of the ship, wouldn’t go to much by what she is today at museum, just my opinion. Old photos don’t lie. But you do have to look and study them for a while, I’ve corrected my attempts more than a few times. Next photo made my mind up on this, must be an early one of the preserved ship. 🤞

Put some photos up with rigging on the Pontos masts, definitely better building separately from ship, painting and rigging as much as poss, not a five minute job so that means it took me weeks 😂 Had to make a lot of alterations for my model to install forward jib to this mast and alter the height and length of mast spars, again all this I did by looking at old period photos and making my best guesses, quite happy though, looks reasonable close me thinks.  Put some photos up now.

Xmas eve not best time to do this guys, hiding from Jacqueline just now 😂 just a quick post to show that I’m still trying to finish this model 👍 since I purchased the Micro Masters ships boats and other parts guess what, you got it I have to change my model again 🙄 sure I have built this model three times now 🤪. The boats mainly have three cradle frames per boat, sure this has to be correct so have to accommodate supporting these, so my solution works and helps with the rigging on funnel stays. May not be correct but it works for my model, also changed my rigging on funnels, changed for a lighter Lycra, now have 1/32 1/48 1/72 rigging for aircraft, using 1/48 for funnels and 1/32 for main mast stays. Got to go for my tea now, shall post some photos after I have been fed. 👍

Thanks for that, I have to say I’m not being modest when I say this is pushing me to my limits, don’t find this easy at all in fact my better half has shouted upstairs that I’m supposed to be enjoying this, it’s your hobby, more than a few times 😂 Please tell me I’m not the only one who has these problems. 😂 And yes it is the Arizona in background, my first build in this scale, and really enjoyed it, was a lot easier than the Mikasa 👀 there are some photos of her further back in my build log for Mikasa, did the same with Arizona as Saltydog did with his Mikasa in as much as didn’t paint the etch so as to highlight the work that goes into building a ship model, still to do a bit on her painting wise when I get the time. Thanks for your comment, always encouraging when someone likes what you are doing. 🤛

Hello again, hope everyone is well and have their Xmas wish list made out 😄 were was i with this build ? I’ll start with rigging on the chimneys,just kidding 😂since I was daft enough to buy another detail set I better use as much as I can. Used all the small shackle points for the funnel attachments for stays. Because she is quite hard to get cut and dry facts and photos on her, you just have to be like Luke Skywalker, use the Force 🤪. Got some advice from guys in model club on doing this👍 Turns out not to difficult, but you do have to be careful when working around the model at this stage, so easy to damage, when trying to glue some of rigging, steadying my hand I felt something give a little, god it was one of the twelve pounder guns underneath the boat deck, so that one isn’t as secure as I would want, then I thought imagine if I totally dislodged it, you’d never be able to reset it, you’d have to reset the gun hatches in the shut position. Took this as a warning shot across the bows, if you take this model on I’m sure you’ll feel the same way. Put some photos up to show progress, be easy on me I’ve never done this before.

thanks for the coments and likes😊
am allmost there..... lol
i do need some bits and peaces, paint, rope coils, signs etc and i need to print some flags
the base needs to be finished , but over all am soon finished... yeeeeh😊
sorry about the mess in the shop,  when the model is finished i wil move it an take new finished photos☺
 
svein-erik

Hi  and thanks for the coments and likes 😊
it going slowly at this time, but i did make the flag and union jack, the flags hs 48 stars and is from timeperiod 1912-1959
it was copy on tissue paper (cred to Chuck ) on how to do it.
so here is the result ☺
 
svein erik
 

Hello,
 
 I am behind on my postings, so catching up to where I am currently.
 
Painted and rigged up the two anchors for the ship

 
Installing the port side anchor

 
My thinking was to have one anchor hanging and the other shown in the stowed position.
However, I messed up earlier in the build.
I had glued the swing arm (shown in photo below) in the position shown.
For the anchor to be stowed, the swing are should be swung back towards the stern and then have the anchor stock sitting in the open space. I tried to pry off the swing arm, but gave up before I caused any damage.  As it is I have to re-align the cannon, which I knocked up a little.
 

 
So I settled for both anchors hanging off the sides. Have to re-align the cannon!!
 

 
Painted and installed the stern lantern
 

 

 
Assembled, painted and installed the cooking pots
 

 

 
My next step is to install the flags and tassels
 
To me, the flags supplied by the kit are not that great.
The top side looks good with vibrant coloring, but the back side is all faded and washed out.
 
Top Side:
 

 
Back side:
 

 
So I researched other methods of making flags, utilizing the methods used by other modelers on this website and with the help of the internet.
I believe, after a lot of trial and error, I was successful in using the transfer paper method and reproducing the flags to look better.
 
In a couple of days, I will sort out the photos and post the method I used.
 
Thanks as always for stopping by.
Frank
 
 

I have now completed the work in chapter 11. The final items were the gangways, gangboards and their supporting knees, the newel posts and fancy rails, and the gangway ladders. Although the work was relatively straightforward, it was done in tight crowded spaces and required an extra measure of care. Apparently, I didn’t do that because I damaged a number of previously installed items, including snapping off off three more swivel guns. This meant that my final work was damage repair and replacement and touch up painting.
 
The attached photos show the work done with a few overall shots of the model as it sits now.
 
Bob
 
 
 
 

Rest in Peace Bob...
 
I am saddened to announce that Bob passed away on November 10th.   
 
Bob was a wonderful model builder and a good friend.  He will missed.
 
https://www.freep.com/obituaries/det118856
 
Chuck
 

Hi Werner, nothing is glued to the deck as I was constantly thinking about things getting in the way when it is time to sand everything smooth. But thanks for the reminder!
 
Also thanks a lot for the tip on painting the bricks. It worked out for me. I did however add a few more steps in the process.
 
I first painted the entire section grey, then painted each "brick" with different shades of red and brown (by mixing the below paints in different variations). Some of this paint did seep into the grooves.

After the paint dried, I painted everything again with thinned grey paint making sure the grooves took all the paint in. The last step was to wipe out the grey paint quickly with a kitchen paper towel. For this I placed the towel on the bench and then applied even pressure on the platform onto the paper towel making sure all the surface paint was wiped off. Here is the end result:




 
 
Also, from the above photos, I ended up painting the coamings black. I really liked the look of the black against the deck in contemporary models and many Winchelsea builds and I wanted a similar look.

As usual, any constructive criticism, recommendations, or tips are more than welcome!
 
Harshil