capnharv2

This photo (from left to right) Finished main yard, partly done fore yard, and roughed out mizzen.

And finaly, all decks are full, boats on their places with all spare yards all arround, also glued on their place
Only boat and anchor davits left to be mounted, but I am thinkin about solution to left them for later work, to avoid damage during rope work which is in front of me
 

 
And new "look and feel"
 

 
 

Placed the spanker in the hull for some balance and measurements.  Making sure everything is correct before I finalize the stepping and glue the mast in place.
 
Rob

And here's the yard painted, ready for the attachment of several blocks.
 

I wanted to add this new image to give some balance to the entire rig of the ship.
 
Rob

I've occasionally done that as well, Harvey. Perfect mark-out is essential!

Just a silly observation. I have those Lie-Nielsen squirrel tail planes.I've been clamping the plane upside down (blade up) in a soft jawed vice and pull my plank over the blade.
It seems to work well for me . . .
Harvey
 
 
 

Just a silly observation. I have those Lie-Nielsen squirrel tail planes.I've been clamping the plane upside down (blade up) in a soft jawed vice and pull my plank over the blade.
It seems to work well for me . . .
Harvey
 
 
 

Thank you, everyone, for all these comments.  I have been less active on the forum for awhile, but I still check for notifications and p-messages every day.  I am happy to say that YA Volume 3 has shipped - I received my copies before the holidays.  Please be aware that there was a problem in assembling the book package - with the CD that was included with the book.  Seawatch is sending the correct replacement CDs for all books shipped and correcting this for future shipments.  If you received a book you should be hearing from them.  So far, the response to the book has been very good.  My thanks and apologies to all the early purchasers.
 
As usual. I will be monitoring the forum topics in the Book Review Section here on the forum - for comments, questions etc.  Any necessary corrections will also be placed on those topics - for both Naiad and Young America books.
 
Thanks again for all your support over the past several years.
 
Ed

Funny..as I survey the situation....it appears all that is needed is the stays and the shrouds/ratlines...not to mention  lots of final finishing details and some running rigging for the gaff and boom.
I'm shocked I'm gonna be finished with this model in a month or so(assuming a lot).
I'll have to take some good photos of it, outside the model shop, that is.
 
Happy new year everyone.
 
Rob
 

Here are some images of todays work.   I set the topsail and am finishing up its rigging with sheets and downhauls.
Pretty close to stepping the mast in the hull.
 
Enjoy.

Thanks guys. If feels good and as you said there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to get every thing done. But I am really enjoying my self.  Any way here is a couple of photos of the shop and addition to it. I added it in where do you do yours.  

Here's a few photos of where she sits right now. 
The camouflage is done, still need to add some panel line work. The canopy and seats are sitting in place for photos, but not cemented. Still must add photo etch details and detail painting to the ejection seats. My aftermarket resin ejection seats were too wide to fit inside the cockpit tub. While I could sand away enough to force a fit, it would erase much of the detail the resin seats provided in the first place.I just opted to use the kit-supplied seats and will add the aftermarket photo etch bits to enhance them.
It's unfortunate but this kit does not supply any decal markings for the vast array of ordnance provided in the kit. It just won't look complete without the decals, so I had to order a set from a vendor in Australia. That order won't arrive until mid-January so it's going to be a while before I can finish this model.
In the meantime, I'll be finishing the cockpit, adding and painting the afterburner, preparing and adding the ordnance pylons, adding panel line details, then applying the main decals supplied in the kit.
 

You are welcome
 
I am just sharing my book knowledge augmented by 30+ years of tinkering in the workshop ...

At the risk of thread drift, may I recommend Tom Cunliffe's Pilot Cutters Under Sail. https://www.amazon.com/Pilot-Cutters-Under-Sail-Pilotage/dp/1848321546
 
Also of interest would be Luke Powell's Working Sail. I haven't read it, but it appears to be full of pilot cutter "porn." He's made quite a name for himself building pilot cutter replica yachts of late. You can also go to WoodenBoat Magazine's website and use their index to order back issues with articles detailing his designs and work. https://classic-sailing.co.uk/article/luke-powells-book-pilot-cutters-working-sail
 
The pilot boat Bible is the two volume set, Pilot, volume one is on pilot schooners and volume two is on pilot boats with other rigs, as I recall. A bit pricey at around seventy bucks a copy, but highly regarded. https://www.woodenboatstore.com/collections/history-books/products/pilots These are also by Tom Cunliffe and are presumably expansions of his original Pilot Cutters Under Sail published earlier.
 
Malcolm Darch has a great modeling book in its own right, Modelling Maritime History. It covers the builds of models of various historic vessels, one of which is Marguerite, a Bristol Channel pilot cutter. Each chapter offers lines, rigging plans, contemporary photographs, and discussions of building techniques for each model he discusses. What I liked about this book is that the models he builds aren't the "usual suspects," but rather a wide spectrum of subject matter. I'd expect an experienced scratch builder could build a model of any of the subjects in his book, although its not exactly a "how to build it" book, but more of a "how I built it" book. https://www.amazon.com/Modelling-Maritime-History-Malcolm-Darch/dp/0715391380
 
Then, of course, you've got a beautiful one right here in this thread to whet your appetite!

front false deck,  just below the first deck



 





 

And next is:
 

The rule seems to have been that if the plank above or below a port was cut into by more than half its width, the plank adjacent was widened to form the port edge. Of course, the run of the wale's edge would be preserved by differential thinning as required.

After many trials and tribulations I completed the awnings over the hatch that leads down into the the deckshouse. Such hatches were protected by railings made from polished brass tubes with connectors cast in brass. The railings had sockets into which arched awning stanchions could be fitted. The hole arrangement could be dismantled in order to be able to cover the hatches in very bad weather. The old photograph shows a similar arrangement on an austro-hungarian warship of the same period. The contemporary drawings of SMS WESPE show such quite complex hatch-cover.

 

Hatch and its cover on board of an austro-hungarian warship of about the same period


 
I first attempted to turn the stanchions from brass wire or small brass nails, but both materials turned out to be too soft given that they are 5 mm long with a diameter of only 0.3 mm. Even my sophisticated steadies didn’t work. In the end I had to fabricate them from 0.3 mm with 0,5 mm sections of 0.5 diameter brass tube slipped over them. The upper connectors were cross-drilled in the dividing head on my micro-mill for the 0.2 mm horizontals. I also attempted to turn 0.7 mm diameter knobs to fit onto the stanchions using a specially made cutting bit. While they turned out reasonably well, it proved impossible to fit them – I lost them faster than I could make new ones ... the knobs are simulated by tiny blobs of of white glue, painted in brass. Acceptable at normal viewing distance, but pretty awful in close-up photography.
Attempts to provide the stanchions with sockets for the awning-stanchions failed and I simplified the construction by just making a wire-loop at the end, that slips over the stanchions before the knobs were made. The knob in the centre was turned and cross-drilled.

The hatch-coaming was fabricated from two layers of bakelite so that it would rest on the deck. The corners were drilled 0.3 mm for the stanchions.

Assembly proved a major challenge for my patience and took me several evenings. Luckily, SMS WESPE has only one such hatch cover. The whole structure was assembled using lacquer. It would have been better to solder it, but I wanted to keep the polished brass appearance – nothing looks more like metal, well, then metal ! Nevertheless, I have some very good metallic paint made by a Czech company (http://www.agama-color.cz/en/products/colours) that was used on the knobs.



The model representation. The hatch is 7 mm x 11 mm – close-up photographs are unforgiving


 
To be continued soon(?) ...

Astronomy.  My father, with my help, built the 5" binos in 1974.  I inherited them so I wanted to use them in a comfy reclining way...…..  So I build a modified dental chair, that rotates and reclines.
 
Rob

Just a few updates....Like I said earlier...I've been so preoccupied with so many home type jobs I have had no real time to work on the GR....I can only assume I will be back in the shipyard this fall.  I do have a friend who I've asked to make the case for the GR.
 
But for your entertainment here are a few pic of what I have been doing.  I finished up the front porch and veranda/French door/roof for the front of the house...complete front overhaul and I just finished the cedar decking.
 
I began by installing all the new windows and ended up with the deck.
 
Next....I worked on my second hobby and converted one of my dental chairs into a binocular chair to hold my large 21X127 custom binoculars.  I also built the rotating table the chair sits on.
 
I, now have a couple of trees to fall and cut up......
 
I'm so exhausted.
 
Rob

Forgot to mention
Eye-bolts  are point where is (for me) impossible to stay on scale. According to photo from deck, they are about 5-7cm dia, which means that on scale 1:100, that should be 0,5-0,7mm dia, which is too small, and useless for any purpose on model
So, I decided to oversize them a bit, making them from 0,5 Cu telephony wire, with 1mm inside dia

Well, the 'Meteor' finally has a stern!  The major elements of the transom framing are now in place so she's looking like a ship at last.  Still some detail pieces to fit around the transom and then some final fairing up and sanding of the exterior before I give her a bit of planking to firm up the whole structure.
 
It will be a little while until my next update as I won't be in at the museum for the next three weeks.
 
John
 

It's been a while since I posted last...sorry for the delay...but I have been tackling some summer jobs, like finishing building the chicken coop and running fence in my lower pasture.
The admiral has required my time ashore to be fully engaged in these tasks...not to mention finishing up the front porch decking.
 
Thanks for hanging in there friends.....summer tasks seam to rob me of any time needed to work on the Great Republic.
 
Rob

Hi All,
Back in Perth for a week and finished the Crusader off.
 
Last time back I managed to prime all the under carriage components and wheel well doors and now finished them up with colour coats and the last of the wheel decals and a couple of No stand stencils on the doors.


Got to say the landing gear and wheels on these birds are pretty spindly compared to Phantoms and Hornets etc.
I forget about the resin wheel well door actuators to go with the resin wheel bay, which have a couple of arms to slot on to the doors. One of the brackets was broken off but found in the box and easily fixed with a drop of CA.  Shown being trial fitted before painting and gluing.

 
Lastly a few bits and pieces of photo etch in and around the cockpit and the previously made HUD finishes it off.

 
It was gloss clear coated previously for the decals and this time wanted to finish it a satin but only had Tamiya Gloss and matt so tried mixing it 50:50 to see if that gives satin.
Finished







I did leave off a few little bits and pieces and had a big picture of weathering it in my head but ultimately bottled out as what I did wasn’t turning out how I envisaged and didn’t want to mess with it anymore.  However the photos don’t really capture the weathering/staining I did do very well.
 
It’s certainly not up to Plasmo or Scale-a-ton standards but considering it’s my first plastic build since my adolescent Airfix days I am pretty chuffed how it turned out.  It was great fun and learned lots of lessons for the next one.  Hope to get a few days on the Borodino before heading off again next weekend.
 
Cheers
Slog