BobCardone

I think that's why my wife is always telling me to turn down (TV, Stereo, etc). Back when I played out a lot, if you didn't have a backline taller than you than you weren't in a REAL BAND.

All things considered, I agree. The darn thing weighs about 20 pounds, tho. I guess I don't have to worry about it turning over...😁 When I was young and dumb I didn't care, and now that I'm old and dumb I'm paying the price. According to the VA, I'm down 40% in my left ear (the side that always faced the drummer) and 20% in my right.

Looking good! Based on the excellent longboat you just completed, this should end up a real gem!

Hi all, It's been a while since any progress on the Philly, but the workshop is finally clean and organized... Mr. Snowball and The Nipster supervised, and then advised me to get back to work on the boat. I finished out the water as best I could, still have some delamination on the front but after sanding and polishing it's a lot less noticeable. Here's some pics as it stands now, and with the workshop revamp completed work on the boat will resume at a faster pace. Next will be re-attaching all the guns, deck stuff and other things removed to make the water pour easier. If I did it over again, I would have made the base much smaller and less complicated. Building it really set me back on the boat construction and made me lose my primal focus. As they say though, in for a penny, in for a pound...

Thanks, I appreciate the support! In retrospect, I "went down the rabbit hole" on the base, and lost focus on the main project. I'm guilty of what the military calls "mission creep"; adding features that compromise the objective with little added overall benefit. I've decided to put the base "on ice" for now and get back to the boat. The existing base may be salvageable, or I may make a smaller and simpler version. It is frustrating, but it was fun building it and I won't let some problems take away from that fun! I'm rearranging my workshop, so there won't be much progress over the next week or so. Not to worry, this will NOT be a necro build log. Slim (and Snowball) just won't let that happen...

Hi all, Well, had a major failure in the base water resin. Delamination all along the front edge between the first and second pour. It's still structurally sound, but there is a very visible series of air pockets that go about 1/4" horizontally into the water, they look silvery in this pic (under the sanding marks)... I spent all week trying to fix it, but it's there for good. That foils my plan of having the front of the base displayed with the water visible. I guess I'll just box the bottom 2" of the base with the display case I've designed. The good news is the rest of the base is done, with just one very thin coat of resin left to blend all the sanding marks. Here's the state of things... Poor Philly is stripped down, dusty and tired of being handled so much and so roughly. But no more! all the rough stuff is done and I can start putting things back together and moving on to new construction.

I think they were one of the more interesting looking examples of WWII German armor. The Panzer IV was made in vast quantities in many variations, and was actually a good tank. Most were used until destroyed or abandoned, so I figured I'd do this as a "close to end of service life" diorama.

Superb work, Yves! Now all the small details you put in are combining to make a total composition. A scene that tells a story and gives a snapshot of what it was like in those amazing machines.

I decided to use resin to embed the rudder bottom. Filled the slot half way with an eye dropper, than inserted the rudder slightly below the water surface. Added resin until it totally covered the slot and rudder piece. Seems to have worked out fine, I can't see any signs of the edges where I cut the slot. Next is to finish sanding the water and hull edges.

Resin is funny stuff. I've had problems I didn't expect and success where I expected problems... That's what it's about... learn as you go and be adaptable.

Chuck, it was a real bummer when my rudder "floated away" but I'm not easily deterred⚒️ I cut a groove with a rotary tool for the underwater part of the rudder, and made a piece stained and nailed like the original. Here's the original, forever attached to the lid of my Durham's can.... R.I.P. I plan on embedding the new piece, and I'm testing both resin and ModPodge gloss medium as the filler on a part of the resin pour under the boat (won't be seen, great place to experiment). I embedded a small piece of hull color stained wood in each test, we'll see which one comes out the clearest and blends the best. I believe with some effort I can overcome the rudder fiasco with little visible evidence. I hate resin fillets. You know, the part where the resin "creeps up" any vertical surface it contacts. I believe they really ruin a lot of water effects I've seen, so I take special effort to remove them. If the resin was mixed properly and is fully cured, it takes machining, sanding and polishing very well. You can tell it's OK to work with if you get white powdery dust when sanding. For the fillets around the edge and the hull, I used a hobby knife to cut off the upper part and then started wet sanding at #240. Once the fillets were leveled with the main water surface, I wet sanded in order -#400 -#800 -#1200 -#2500 grits to remove tooling and sanding marks. Once all the edges are finished, I'll use some polish to get rid of most of the remaining haze. I'm not too concerned with a "wet gloss" finish at this stage, as I plan on coating the whole water surface with gloss ModPodge so I can do the final shaping of the water surface and where it meets the boat and shore. The nice thing about gloss ModPodge is it dries "wet look" and is very forgiving to work with. Here's some pics of the rudder groove, the piece partially inserted and the right edge fillet sanded down to #2500. Don't mind the cloudiness, that will go away with polishing and gloss medium later on. While I was at it, I made some elevation corrections. The path on the lower right would have been underwater, and I needed a flatter surface in the upper left corner for a big tree.

Here's a video of this amazing guitar...

Rudder fail. I originally cut the rudder even with the waterline, with the intention of pinning the underwater part to the base and then attaching the top part after the last pour. I pinned it to the bottom, and of course after the first 3/4" of pours it floated loose, totally soaked in resin and unusable. Now I have to wait for the resin to harden completely and then rout a groove for the bottom of the rudder (of course I'll have to make a new piece). Oh well, this was the only real problem I had, and with some effort I think I can make it look right.

Thanks, Bob! Dioramas are a lot of fun and can really complement a model. I've found that mica powder is the best for tinting about anything. It's very concentrated and finely ground, and blends evenly. I got a set of 24 tints, I used the middle two in the picture on the first pour only. I did most of my pre-shading of the riverbed beforehand with paint, washes and dry-brushing. I wouldn't use paint or food coloring, you might get unpredictable results with the resin not hardening or fish-eyeing. Mica powder comes in some pretty crazy types: sparkle, pearl, candy, metallic and a lot of colors. It's pretty cheap, and it's so concentrated it'll last forever. Very cool! The mica tints would be perfect. There are tons of good YouTube videos of people making "river" coffee tables that use graduated tint techniques that would apply to your didgeridoos. You have some very interesting hobbies, Bob... If you're didgeridoos are anything like your Medway Longboat, I'll bet they're sweet!

Hi all, Final pours done. The draft ended up about 3/4", and the total depth about 1-1/4". I ended up using the whole gallon, about seven pours total. To facilitate handling the boat, I removed most of the furniture and cannons. I was lucky... the Tyvek and Vaseline trick worked, the only moderate resistance when I removed the boat was some suction (probably the Vaseline). As the final coat set, I poked and prodded it to simulate ripples and swells. After the resin finally sets (about 72 hours) I'll start with the gloss ModPodge to detail out the ripples and edges of the resin where it meets the boat. After that, I'll add the soil, foliage, trees and grass and touch up where the water meets the shore. Now that the hull is finally fitted to the base, I can start completing the boat. All the furniture, masts, fittings and cargo are done, and just need attaching. After that, I'll start rigging. I'm so happy to have achieved this milestone, I was so afraid the boat would be permanently stuck to the base... that would have been very bad... Here's some pics... I like the sun reflections off the water on the hull.