realworkingsailor

Progress continues to creep ahead. After a bit of adjustment to the shapes involved, I was able to fit the figurehead that was made some time ago by Janos Nemath, one of our modelmakers. I really should have left it off a little longer, but I was anxious to see the 'Duchess' with her brightly coloured figure, which was painted at sea by the captain's wife without his knowledge. The damage to the port bulwark has now also been repaired and is ready for re-painting.
 
John
 

Yes, yes, I know -- this will be yet a third concurrently running project. And actually, this project will not really begin for at least another week to ten days, because I just ordered the kit today, and it has to wing its way over here from Poland. So, first question is: Why this project? For several reasons:
I have long been wanting to try my hand at a card sailing vessel. This looks like a great kit for that purpose. The rig is super simple. It is hot off the presses. I want to be among the very first to build one of these (the urge to be an 'early adopter') -- hence the slightly premature rush to start this log.  
I will do a deep dive into the kit contents once it gets here, but for now here's a shot of the kit cover:
 

 
And a contemporary drawing of the subject by Willem van de Velde.
 

 
I ordered the discounted set for the model, which includes the kit, laser-cut parts, mast dowels, and printed sails. In total, this set me back a whopping US$30.62, including shipping, which is about half what it would cost to acquire a single Halinski kit along with its bells and whistles. I have remarked before on the value of ordering directly from Tomek at his website.
 
And now . . . we wait. In the meantime, I will try to get as much done on the Salmson as I can before the next project arrives.
 
That's it for now!
 

I can't say. Just because I can't figure it out doesn't mean that the designer didn't have a plan -- he just didn't communicate the plan very well!

We are going to see pics correct?  Pretty Please.... {chuckle}

Packed and ready to go to the Malaysia international model show 

Yury, (St George's Models) does make some beautiful kits Doesn't he...  I need to get a Durkopp and a Bussing as well for my 150mm K16 Gun....  (nice to see I'm not the only artillery nut around)

Might have bought  one 

Before and after the fix.
 

Playing around with the wing-to-fuselage fit. As I said, there is virtually no guidance in the instructions or diagrams about how this structure should go together. To begin with, I stiffened the bulkhead extensions and then doubled them. Then I added the ribs, both the original 0.5 mm original and its 1.0 mm replacement. The structure is now quite rigid and guides the wing right to where it (hopefully) is supposed to go.
 

 
And then there's this part:
 

 
Once again I have no clue about how the upper and lower edges are supposed to be brought together, and wing roots do not seem to have been the focus of any photos found online. So, this structure will be treated as one of those "no one will notice it, so I'm going to guess at it" structures. My plan is to add a fillet to the gap and paint it to match the kit colors. Tune in later to see the result!

The hawse holes can be complex but if you spend a lot of time preparing and measuring it will go smoothly.   Before I begin describing my process here is a look at the contemporary model.   You can see many close up details here.
 

I started by preparing some new templates.   They are very much like the other templates but I wanted to add some other reference lines to help me more with aligning the hawse holes.   So these are the ones you want to use when you get this stage.
 

You will note a few things in that photo.  First you will see the dashed vertical lines I added that extend up to the cap rail.   These will allow you to mark the locations of the hawse holes on top of the cap rail.   To do this I cut some painters tape to the width of the hawse holes and placed it on the cap rail using the template as a guide.  The tape runs parallel to the keel across the cap rail.   
 
You will also notice how I cut the hawse holes from the template so I could use it as a stencil after taping it to the hull.   I also cut an opening to mark the location of the hawse hoods or naval hoods.  These are the plates that sit over the planking.   The template sits on top of the wales as before.  The forward edge sits against the stem.
 
I of course cut away the molding strip  on the hull before I taped the template in position.  I dont want to forget to mention that.   Then I traced the hawse holes onto the hull.   
 

On the inboard side of the hull,  I prepared another template specifically for the hawse holes.   Note the dashed lines again that extend to the cap rail.   This template was lined up with the tape I placed across the cap rail.  This will be the path I plan to drill through the hull for the hawse holes.   This was a lot of measuring and planning to come up with these templates but it all worked out well.   Just trace the hawse holes on the inboard side as well.  Note how the template is sitting on the deck which establishes the correct height...I hope.
 
I didnt take any pictures right after drilling the hawse holes.  I cant believe I forgot to do it.  But let me explain the process.  I drilled them out using progressively larger drill bits.   I drilled from both sides.   I drilled half way through from the front and then switched to inboard.  I drilled half way through until the holes met in the middle and the first small hole was clear and through.  Then I switched to a slightly larger drill bit and repeated the process.  I increased them until the hawse holes were almost full size and then I switched to a round file to clean them up and enlarge them further.   
 
THE ENTIRE time while drilling from the outboard side I used the blue tape on the top of the cap rail to guide the drill bit at the same angle.  Following the keel.   The hawse holes are almost level in height inboard and outboard with only a slight upward angle needed as you drill from the outboard side.  A very slight angle.   Not to worry if its not exact because when you dill from the inboard side to meet the outside hole it should all meet up decently.  
 
I touched up the red paint inboard and used a soft pencil to darken the insides of the hawse holes black...to represent lead or tin I suppose.
 
Next up was to add the Hawse hoods or Naval hoods on the outboard side.   These are made in two layers.  They are laser cut and on the outermost end is a laser etched detail.  This small etched detail wouldnt be difficult to carve with a sharp chisel.  But I just assume etch it onto the ends.  This means you must clean up the laser char from this "stepped" detail.  I used a small flat needle file.   It doesnt have to be perfectly clean either.  Just do the best you can.  Mine isnt perfect by any means and this little bt of char will actually accentuate the carved detail.   Look at the photo of the contemporary model to see it on the original.  The parts on the left are not yet cleaned.
 
The two layers are glued together carefully.  The circles for the hawse holes are registered together.   But a little tip....while gluing the two layers you can actually pre bend the hoods so they will stay bent and curved once the glue dries.  Its hard to see this in the photo but the one on the right is curved to almost match the hull curvature exactly.  This will make it so much easier to glue onto the hull.
 

 
Here you can see the two layered assembly glued onto the hull.  Please note that after gluing the two layers together the inside edge against the stem must be beveled.  I also cut these pieces a but longer (not by much) so you can line them up with your hawse holes drilled through the hull.   Just carefully bevel the edge a little at time until as you are test fitting it on the model it the hawse holes line up.   The holes themselves are also slightly smaller on this so you will have even more wiggle room to enlarge them after this is glued on the model.  I think they look pretty good and look quite a bit like the contemporary model.
 

Lastly...the bolster.   This piece is slightly thicker and not long enough to bend easily.  So I laser cut it on even thicker boxwood stock.   Its easier to sand the curve into the back side rather than bend it to fit on the hull.   Once the bolster sits nicely on the hull and the curve matches,   you can sand the outside to match.   This will leave the overall thickness at about 3/64".  Maybe slightly more.
 
Round off the top edges and sides but dont touch the hawse hole cut-aways just yet.   This will be done after you glue the bolsters on the model.  You will notice the oddball shape of the hawse hole cut-aways.  They dont look like half circles.   This is on purpose.   Remember the hawse holes are drilled through parallel to the keel.   So these weird shaped half holes are shaped like l=this so you can file them to the proper shape.   Use a round file to open them up to match the angle of your hawse holes through the bulwarks.  I hope that makes sense.   When initially gluing the bolster on the hull, line up the iboard side to match the profile of your hawse holes.  Just like in the photo.   Then use your file to shape them.
 

 
They will or should be opened up to look like this.  The holes were touched up and blackened with a soft pencil.
 

 

Couldn’t help myself 

Next trophy, the 25cm mortar 

So this is the two of them and I’m quite happy that I re did it without the shield 

Here's a bit of progress on the wings. First I'll give you an idea of the lower wingspan. The Salmson is about half again as wide and half again as long as the diminutive Nieuport 11.
 

 
The design of each wing structure is not ideal. There are few clues on where to place the internal frames, and though there is a joiner tab in the area of the aileron cutout, no joiner strip is provided for the rest of the wing.
 

 
Well, that just doesn't cut it for me, so of course I had to add some additional structure from scratch, including a joiner strip and some internal cladding for the frames. Fitting the joiner strip required trimming the ends of the ribs.
 

 
And here's everything glued together, except for the wingtip.
 

 
Only three more wings to go!
 
Fitting the lower wings to the fuselage might be tricky. There's a single rib to be added at the inboard end of the wing, but the kit provides precious little guidance on where exactly to glue it. Its location will determine the placement of the wing-to-fuselage joint, and there are no locator marks printed on the fuselage. Hmmmmm.

Dear all of you who are following this build, I would like to inform you that my build is momentarily on hold, because:
- in the last period, I am working on my ship build, although I don't have anything interesting to post yet;
- with my retirement, I resumed an old hobby of mine which is drawing and painting, see below;
- I am going to drive a long trip down to Italy to visit roots and that will keep me away from my hobby desk for several weeks.
 
About the Mosquito, the installation of the Squadron vac-formed canopy is concluded and the result is quite ok, I will show you that as soon as I will have some progress, when I am back.
 
About the other hobby, let me post here two exercises of mine that perhaps should please at least Chris, @ccoyle, seen the quote he inserted in the footer of his signature. These are drawings made by pencil and that I copied from pictures of the actors that I downloaded from internet.


Sorry for the digression,
Arrivederci,
Dan
 

OK, I have just competed the hull designs for Harpy (1796), now onto masts. Here are a few pics of the (sacrificial) 'pre-prototype', again, used only to check fit of designed parts, so this has really been taken apart and put together a lot. (And is in fact the third of my builds for this)
 
Again, the only planking required will be at the level below the main wale down, with everything above this all pre cut/engraved, including the main wale (this is why they take so long to design)
 
Armament is absolutely typical of this vessel, 16 x 32-Pounder carronades and 2 x 6-Pounder long guns.
 
64th Scale, as I am sure someone will ask, and a hull length of around 545mm, with a lot of detail..
 
ETA - The hatch coamings sit on the deck beams and carlings, and not directly onto the deck, and the deck sits directly onto the deck beams, instead of ply sub deck and lime deck, for better scale appearance.

Washes and a bit of rust and pigment 

Now I can start weathering 

Fair enough! I guess it would be a matter of replacing one headache with another!
 
Andy

If the laser parts are only half thickness, could you order a second set of them and laminate them together (with the laser parts you have) to create the desired 1mm thickness?
 
Andy

Evening all,   right  I am calling this  guy  done,   still  more to do.
 
OC.

This came up in my Facebook memories today. It's a Yak-3 built from an Orlik kit. It's one of the very first kits I built with laser-cut formers. A friend of mine back in California has this model.
 

Fair enough! I guess it would be a matter of replacing one headache with another!
 
Andy

If the laser parts are only half thickness, could you order a second set of them and laminate them together (with the laser parts you have) to create the desired 1mm thickness?
 
Andy