AnobiumPunctatum

Hi giampierorcci,
I really admire your work and I often look for inspiration in it for my construction. I was interested in your evaluation of the participation in the championships organized by the Naviga organization (I personally saw your L'Amarante model at the championships in Croatia). I agree with you about the part about judging the models by the judges. But what I fundamentally disagree with is the rest. Of course, I can only speak for the participants from the Czech Republic - none of us are professional modelers and no one profits from this activity. And because building models costs us a lot of time and money, we like to "show off" our models at these events. I also disagree with your condemnation of the use of CNC machines, the same would have to apply to the use of normal electrical equipment instead of hand saws, manual drills, etc. Modeling technology is evolving and I know from my own experience that making a top model from a plan even with the use of CNC is not at all that easy matter as it seems at first sight. I personally would not be able to make such beautiful carvings by hand like you. So should I give up my hobby or look for an alternative?

It is interesting to see the difference between the European and US/Canadian situations.  In the States, there are few contests and a few non-competitive shows.  Although some models are built by people who accept commissions, I would not describe them as professional modelers.  Your Pegasus is beautiful and deserves to be appreciated by the modelling community.

I had the opportunity to take part in a European championship a few years ago with my 'Amarante' and, frankly, I realised that these types of competitions, at least in Europe, are completely distorted by rampant hypocrisy, inept judges who don't even know the basics of naval architecture, and verdicts already written before they even begin! By now, the most important federations (French, Belgian, German) snub these competitions while they are very committed to non-competitive events (such as the next international meeting to be held in Evian), leaving the competitions to the Eastern European countries whose participants for the most part are professional modellers who profit from their works, which are perfect because they are for the most part made in 3D technique and CNC machines, against which even the best manual artist cannot compete!
Therefore, at least until this stagnant situation can be changed, my Pegasus will not take medals! 🙂
 
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

more....

chesstree, fenders and the entry steps:
 

The channels:

The bow structure is finally finished. Some details are missing, which I will do later
 

I finally fixed the bow structure:
 










 

some steps forward:
everything is still only provisionally resting, I haven't fixed anything yet
 







 
 

Many of you are curious about this photo.   Its floating around the forums without an explanation.  I brought my Medway Longboat to the New London show last week where it was photographed..   You may not be able to see it right away but yes I changed this Medway English longboat to be an American boat.   This model was used in the movie that I worked on last year which I talked about a while back.   I changed the flag and the nameplate on the model.  They wanted it to be American and have the Character's Name on the model.  They were going to slowly pan across it for the movie and wanted Ed Harris' character name very visible etc.
 
To my Surprise after spending a bunch time with him trying to teach him how to fake being a ship modeler,   Ed Harris signed the model.  But of course not the base....Black sharpie right across the hull.   No fixing that!!!  So rather than put the model back to its original English origin and remove the nameplates, I decided to just leave it as is.  It will make for a nice conversation piece.   The movie is supposed to come out in July I believe....It was about 10 degrees out the day he signed it.  The workshop was set up in the garage of the set.  I have no idea how they acted as if it wasnt freezing all the time.  I suppose that is why he is considered such a great actor.
 
Starring Ed Harris, Dustan Hoffman, Bill Murray, Gabrielle Union, Jenifer Coolidge, Pete Davidson and a bunch of others you would certainly know.   We shall see how the movie turned out!!!   At least I have a memento for the wonderful experience.
 

Bulwark planking has finally been completed.  It really wasnt too bad.   You just have to keep plugging away and while making careful cuts between those ports.   All the cracks, gaps and dents were filled and sanded in preparation for painting.
 
The second layer of spirketting was added as well to finish off the bulwarks below the ports.  The top edge was softened or even rounded off.  I dont like to leave a hard edge here.  I used a 1/32" strip the same shape and size as the first layer.  I took the shapes from the plans because this wide 1/2" strip needs to be tapered like the first layer and shaped before you glue it on.  Every model will have slight differences so it will take some time to get it right.     Then the top of the sills were very carefully sanded and the cracks filled there as well.   I was careful not to sand into the top of the spirketting which would ruin the nice continuous run along its top edge.  You can see how bad port sills look now but the surfaces are now smooth and once painted will look really nice.  
 

Before I paint however I needed to add the 4 fixed blocks on the inside of the bulwarks.  On Winnie, I had used laser cut fixed blocks the same thickness as the planking.   You would glue them to the framing before planking and then plank around them.  I went a different way this time.  I just planked the entire interior bulwarks and then just drilled the fixed blocks through from the outboard side.   Then I sanded them clean and reamed them a bit with a round file.  To finish off these simulated fixed blocks I took a very small "V" gauge chisel and made a small simulated sheave slot between the two holes.   Since the bulwarks will be painted this seemed like the better way to go.  You can see the two fixed blocks below at the bow on the starboard side.  I used a sharpened pencil to color the sheave to simulate a more appropriate color.   
 
I have also hi-lighted in this photo how I planked the bow inboard.   I first glued a 1/4" x 3/64" strip down the inboard side below the bowsprit hole.   See the red arrow.  This allows me to push the planking strakes up against it which for me makes the process easier and neater.  There were two more strakes to add on each side of this to plank the bow inboard.   The cracks were filled and it was all sanded smooth for painting.
 

 
Here is a photo showing the aft portion of the bulwarks planked and ready for painting as well.  Note the two fixed blocks here as well. 
 

The one last thing you might notice is that I did in fact add the margin plank all along the bulwarks.  This is 1/4" wide and 3/64" thick.   It finishes it off neatly.   You dont have to add this yet but I find it easier to paint the bulwarks when I have a nice right angle to paint down to.   Hopefully I wont bugger it up and get red paint all over the margin planks.  But if you find it easier to paint the bulwarks first without making a mess then fell free to do it that way.
 
At the bow,  the margin planks on each side were cut from a 3/64" thick sheet of yellow cedar.   I used the plans and planking template provided.  I cut it out and used that paper template as a starting point.   After seeing what I needed to adjust for a tight fit, I transferred this shape to the wood sheet and cut it out with a sharp #11 blade.  If you look at the photo again you can see my first attempt which I discarded.  It didnt fit as nicely as I wanted.   So I made more adjustments and cut another.   You would be best served to buy a few extra 3/64" thick sheets of Yellow cedar for stuff like this.   Every model will be slightly different and you will want to go through this exercise as well for a good fit.   
 

 
I am ready now for painting....the bulwarks will be carefully painted red over the weekend.  Depending on my honey-do list.
 
 

At the moment my progress is very slow because I have to take care of my sick wife.
But I’ve already started aging.
 

 
As always, very tedious. But the result that a little diluted dark gray paint leaves on a painted surface still amazes and fascinates me. Even after all the years I’ve been doing this.
 

 
A little every day and I’ll report back when it’s done. 

Post One hundred and Seventy-one
Album photo's
I have at last got around to taking the completion photo’s which will form part of the Photo build record book that I’m currently putting together.

4395
4361A

4392

4364

4365

4391

4390

4396

4369

4405

4395

2161A

2145a

4397

2162a

2164a

4380

4379

4388

4494a
I am currently faffing around with a clinker built 18’ cutter, and ‘Indy’ is yet to be enclosed in her case, so the story has not quite ended.
 
Then there’s the 26’ Launch, still on my mind.
 
Cheers,
 
B.E.
 

Just a small update...
 
I was eager to get started with the planking of the bulwarks.   There is no trick for this.  Its just a grind of cutting and shaping planks to fit between the ports.   Its a slow process and you must be very neat and keep the cuts around the ports straight etc.
 
The planking is all 3/64" thick.   Just as I did with the Winnie, the two strakes below the the ports (the spirketting) were added first.  The spirketting is normally thicker than the planks above it and stands proud.  I have always accomplished this by planking the spirketting in two layers.  It still amazes me how few kit mfgs even show this feature.  You dont have to do it this way if you dont want to.  You could just use 1/16" or even 5/64" thick planking and do it one layer.   Its up to you.  I will add the second layer of spirketting once the entire side has been planked.  I will use a .025" thick second layer.  
 
Having said this...some notes are in order.   The top of the spirketting is lined up perfectly flush with the bottom of the gun ports and sweep ports.   This is great if you happened to get lucky and they all line up perfectly.   I dont care who is making the model, this is pretty impossible to do.   Even the most skilled builders will need to tweak the bottom sills of each port so they line up perfectly with the top edge of spirketting.  This will become very apparent after you run your planking strip down the inboard bulwarks.   I was very lucky in that most of the ports only needed some minor tweaking.   Some were just a hair too high.  Less than 1/64".   So I used a sharp chisel to  make the ports sits flush along the top of the spirketting.  you can see that in the photo below.  The ports will need a lot of paint touch up which was expected.  Whatever you do,  do not notch out your spirketting to accommodate a port.  Try and keep the top edge of the spirketting a nice continuous run without notching it.  Should one of your ports sit too low...I recommend instead that you add a sliver of wood on top of the port sill to raise it up in line with the spirketting.
 
I hope that makes sense.
 
See below...notice how I did not use any pencil to simulate the seams between each strake.   In fact, just the opposite.   I am painting the bulwarks red so this allowed me to take a small shortcut.  You may want to consider it as well.  I dont want any seams to show at all.  In fact I didnt even have to use two individual strakes for the spirketting.   If you look towards the fcastle bulwark planking you can see the area I havent planked yet.  I used one wide strip of 3/64" thick cedar instead of using two narrower strakes as is typical.  I believe it was around 1/2" wide.  Probably slightly wider on the aft portion.   
 
Then because we know the sweep ports are 3/16" high,  a 3/16" strip was used next and cut between the ports and sweeps.   I was careful to be very neat with these cuts.
 
Finally the remaining planking above the sweep ports would normally consist of two more strakes.   Because I am painting the bulwarks, I once again used ONE wider strip of 3/64" thick cedar so I could quickly fill in those areas in one pass.  It should paint up very nicely.  This reduced the number of neatly cut ends to all those strakes between the ports.   There are fewer seams to keep neat as well.   The photo almost looks like a solid hull because there are few seams showing between strakes.  
 
Now if you are NOT going to paint the bulwarks red....this means you will have to use individual narrow strakes.  It will take many more cuts and trial fittings...repeat and repeat again.  That is your choice.  I will take more pics after the second layer of spirketting is added and after the bulwarks are painted red.  The bow area will be planked with narrower strakes just as they should be.  It will be easier to bend those.   But once the bulwarks are painted red nobody will be able to tell how many strakes you actually used.   So you must make a decision ...to paint or not to paint.  Essentially you can plank what's remaining of the bulwarks with just three rows cedar strips.   The wood package comes with your typical 3/16", 7/32", 1/4" and 9/32" wide planking strips that are narrow, so you will need to buy some 3/64" sheets should you want to plank your bulwarks like I have done here.  Then you can cut some 1/2" wide strips instead.   But only if you will be painting the bulwarks red.
 
 
 
 

Micha,
 
Düsseldorf is close where I live. I thought that also the Skuldelev kit was in 1/25 and has the same skale as the Oseberg kit.
The 5 Skuldelev ships as models were a long time a dream. But now I am more interested in English Ship Sloops of the late 18th century.

The Skuldelev ship shows the same ship as the Roar Ege. Skuldelev 3 is the original wreck, which they found and preserved. Roar Ege is a replica which they have build in the 80th of the last century (if I remember right)
This kit was my first wooden kit ever as I was a child. You have to cut each plank with a saw. Now the same kit is lying in my stash and waiting.
Perhaps one day I find the time to build the model again.

Micha,
 
Düsseldorf is close where I live. I thought that also the Skuldelev kit was in 1/25 and has the same skale as the Oseberg kit.
The 5 Skuldelev ships as models were a long time a dream. But now I am more interested in English Ship Sloops of the late 18th century.

That`s why I wrote that you should send some greetings to my old hometown (city).
 
 
 
The Roar Ege kit is in 1:25 scale, the Skuldelev kit is in 1:20 scale and yes, I agree the Skuldelev 5 would be a nice kit, trying to find some plans / blueprints for it. Skuldelev 1 is also very interesting as a long distance going ship (Atlantic crossing).
 
Micha

I know the history of the Skuldelevs, that`s why I have choosen the model kit. Unfortunately I found the 1:20 kit later than the new version called "Roar Ege". The builds differ completely in the way of being build (even if I have somewhat choosen the Skuldelev way to build the Roar Ege). I have seen the replica which was built in 1982 but decomissioned in 2007 and is now on display. In 2017 it was again rebuild as Estrid Byrding. Skuldelev 1 was rebuild in 1999 as Ottkar. Skuldelev 6 was rebuild in 1998 as Kraka Fyr and in 2010 with a name I can´t recall. Skuldelev 5 has been rebuilt in 1990 / 1991 as Helge Ask.
Good luck in finding the time to build the amazing little ship. I´m always impressed what the vikings could archive with this little ships compared to some bigger ships from the other countries like England or Spain.
 
Schöne Grüsse an meine gebürtige Heimat (Düsseldorf).
 
Micha 

The Skuldelev ship shows the same ship as the Roar Ege. Skuldelev 3 is the original wreck, which they found and preserved. Roar Ege is a replica which they have build in the 80th of the last century (if I remember right)
This kit was my first wooden kit ever as I was a child. You have to cut each plank with a saw. Now the same kit is lying in my stash and waiting.
Perhaps one day I find the time to build the model again.

The Skuldelev ship shows the same ship as the Roar Ege. Skuldelev 3 is the original wreck, which they found and preserved. Roar Ege is a replica which they have build in the 80th of the last century (if I remember right)
This kit was my first wooden kit ever as I was a child. You have to cut each plank with a saw. Now the same kit is lying in my stash and waiting.
Perhaps one day I find the time to build the model again.

* Sideline *
 
The 1:20 Skuldelev or How I would have guessed the proper Way to do it
 
Today I got the Billing Boats kit No. 456 called “The Skukdelev Ships” in the scale 1:20. I can’t find when this was launched or distributed but it seems quite a long time ago. The set seems complete (when I check the content of the box with the manual. The approach to build it is complete different to the one from the Roar Ege (but most like my approach of the Riar Ege 😂). However, I paid GBP 30.00 for the set since the seller couldn’t get rid of the set and just wanted it off the shelf. So I took it. I won’t build the kit before the Roar Ege is finished and maybe hit even before murph scratch build is finished. But yeah, a nice kit to have on my shelf now. Looking forward to it.
 

 
Micha

Small update, I’ve added the upper laser cut planking panels to the model, these will be the ones used in on the final model, with a few slight modifications that I’ve overlooked but corrected on my model. To begin I placed a board across the beam to ensure the proper height of the panels and I clamped them as I went along, once I was happy with their location I ran a batten underneath both of them to ensure that the planking that will follow below will have a smooth joint and continuity with the laser cut panels, once the panels were tweaked to fit right I then glued them into place using CA.

you can see below that I made some adjustments to the aft panel so the forward one would line up with the gun ports.
You’ll also notice the grey primer, I find this necessary with MDF as it’s super porous and soaked up three coats of solvent based primer. The primer also will not swell the MDF and allows it to be sanded smooth in preparation for whichever red you choose for  your port framing.

The batten ensured that I could set them right back where they belong without losing the correct position. I kept the front one clamped in its location while I glued the stern one, this ensured that there was no lateral movement of the aft panel.

The same process was repeated for the front panel.
 
I also begin the lower wales, you’ll notice the same process where I used a batten I reference to the marks on the bulkheads “W1”. The batten goes on the lower side of the line, once the batten passes the eyeball test then it’s time to start the wales, now the wales on this model are over 1/8” thick so unfortunately they will have to be done in two pieces, the first layer I’m cutting them at .080” with a significant taper in the front to fit the rabbet and allow for another layer to go over it and fit in the rabbet as well.

I’m not really concerned with the length or butt joints of the first layer of planks as they will be covered up, just get a smooth run with tight joints.
Unfortunately I can not proceed any further until I complete the counters, I have a laser cut lower counter that I will be testing soon and from there I will plank the upper counter using the laser cut lower as a guide.


 
I will be off for a month in the Himalayas, hiking to Everest base camp and beyond, so I won’t have any updates until about June, possibly one more before I go but will see.
 
Thanks for looking in.
JJ

It was so great to see everyone at the New London show yesterday.  There were some fantastic models on display.  I hope everyone has a safe trip back to their workshops.
 
And talking about a safe journey back to the workshop.  Many of you may recall that 4 and maybe even 5 years ago, Someone swiped my mini-me off the Winnie model under construction at the show.  
 
I am happy to report that after several years as hostage…and with no ransom paid,  someone anonymously released mini-me and placed him in the depths of the speedwell model at this years show.  I was happy to find him below deck upon my return to the shop.  No harm was apparent on “mini-me” and he is in good health.  Thank you goes out to person for having a change of heart and I am sure that both of you will sleep a bit  more soundly this evening!!   Since I have lost 30 pounds this year so far...mini-me will now undertake the same dietary and exercise regime that I am now unfortunately tolerating.
 
You cant make this stuff up!!!