GGibson

Nice looking Pinnacle, sir. Couldn't have cut off too much thumb. I don't see any red stain on the ship. 🤷‍♂️👍🤣

When this discussion of using plexiglass for the spar deck planking was raised as an idea, I thought it had some merit, but I, too, was curious whether one would cut it as one full sheet or as individual planks. And, as Mustafa questioned, as well, if cut as individual planks, how would they be secured and would any visible adhesive (once dried) have any effect on the appearance? How would that also affect any faux-caulking applications between planks and its appearance? Very cool idea, but not sure it's ever been done for deck planking before. Doing a search for plexiglass on MSW, and you get 19 pages of posts regarding display cases, but none of the posts deal with deck planking. But, visualizing how it would look, I have to admit I'm intrigued.

All looks really sharp, Unegawahya! After all the work you were doing last fall on the ship's wheel, nice to see it in place! Congrats on the work-to-date!

Looking forward to seeing how you place them on the Constitution, Peter. They do look nice!

Very interesting, Mustafa! Yeah, didn't know how far in you were planning on planking from the carriages, leaving visual "windows" on either side of the centerline, or leaving the centerline open. I'm excited to see how you have envisioned this and see it come together! And I am not familiar with the hornbeam wood but in reading up on it, it sounds like a very hard wood that is used a lot in building percussion instruments, handles, wheels and flooring (even if that flooring is only 1.5mm thick!). They say it's a very white wood and it looks that way in your pictures. Are you staining the spar deck, just putting a topcoat on it or leaving it natural? Should look really nice when you are finished, sir!

The initial spar deck planking looks very nice, Mustafa! I have been very curious how you were going to plank this upper deck in order to allow us to still see your gun deck work. Now we get to see what you do! What type of wood are you using for the spar deck planking? Thanks!

Welcome, Dave! Model Ship World is a great place to learn and to share information! And... we'll see you in Kansas City in two weeks... 👍🏆🏈

Welcome Jim! The Norwegian Sailing Pram was a good start for me in this hobby. You will enjoy your time with the ships you build. Frustrating at times, yes, but you will have fun. My son and his family lived in Hanford for a few years, so flew into Fresno a few times. 👍

Hey Peter! I have used Joe at Modeler's Sawmill in the past and he's awesome with good quality wood strips or sheets. His strip packages only go down to 1/32" and it looks like you are needing 1/48" (wow, that's thin!), but see what he can do! Wishing you the best! Milled wood lumber strips for the model ship builder - Modelers Sawmill I haven't used styrene before, but in reading all of your build logs, it sounds like that is going to be an option I'm going to need to have ready, as well! Taking notes...!

Hope your move goes well, Chuck! That is definitely a view you are not used to... but will enjoy the difference probably very quickly! Congrats on the transition. We shall visit sometime after February! 👍

If you would have asked my opinion of choosing black over dark gray for the carronades without the pictures, I probably would have chosen black. But in your pictures, the ones painted dark gray look (to me) more of a "dirty black" and seem to show their lines better than the solid black ones. So, I'd maybe select your dark gray ones, but I'd be consistent with all of them on the spar deck. Great work, Mustafa!

Nice to see you were able to separate the carronades from their bases for the ones that have the screw barrel elevation mechanisms, Unegawahya! Did you just use something similar to an Xacto knife or something more complex? They look good!

Hey Peter, I do recall Chuck saying that he and his wife were moving the first part of the year, so if he isn't in the process, he's probably packing. But Syren would be a great source, if he's able. I also recall something on the website stating that he got his brass cannons from someone in Poland. But, as he has been doing with his blocks, he has been working with laser-printed fittings lately, so an 1812-era screw-barrel elevator carronade may be a doable addition at some point. Probably not timely, though, for what you are looking for. I think your HiSModel option is a good choice, then. Shipping, however, from the Czech Republic will be slow. Fair warning if you weren't already aware.

Oh, wow... I was way off. Not sure what number I was recalling. I am "forever time" away from this point, anyways, but appreciate all the great info, gentlemen!

I wouldn't recommend the add-on chuck, as it severely reduces, as Kurt pointed out, the available space between your drill bit and your subject matter, especially with a vise or XY table... unless you are successful in adding height with a longer support column. I would, though, get the additional collets for larger bit sizes.

I was looking at the Model Monkey page a few days ago. I'm still seeing this 32-pound carronade/carriage combo on their page. But, as you said, Jon, not sure how well they could be separated. 1/76 US Navy 32-pounder Carronades with Carriages | Model Monkey I'll be interested in watching how both you and Peter fare in this carronade issue. Thanks to both of you for the great info.

Well, I did purchase the mill after the drill press, but it is also my belief that, although it's entirely possible to use the mill as a drill press, using the top hand wheel on the mill to lower the drill bit into the wood or brass or whatever your object is, would be a bit more tedious (lots of spinning!) than pulling the handle down... boom.

Not sure if this is answering your question, Salty, but if you place your mouse over the person's name and click, you go to their profile page. From there, you can see on their Activity tab the pages they have recently been active in and can go to those pages. The other thing I have done is saved multiple pages of Model Ship World in my browser's Favorites tab for people that I am following on specific builds (either ongoing or finished), so I can go directly to their build log.

I have both the Proxxon TBM115 drill press and the Proxxon MF70 micro mill, both with the X-Y table, and love them both. Used them extensively when I was building my Bluenose, and they are both quality machines.

Great USSCM info, Jon. Thanks for sharing! I do like the looks of the screw barrel version. I don't recall your discussion of carronade choices, though, yet, on your build log. My obvious question is... where did you get the screw-barrel carronades?!? 😆👍 I'm trying to recall without looking up to verify to avoid making a fool of myself (easily done, however), but I recall a 38mm length at this 76.8 scale, but don't remember if that was for the cannons or carronades. 🤷‍♀️

Seems like decent looking carronades has been an issue with everyone, Peter... Ugghhh... But, a great looking eagle! Hats off to Clement! 🤠👍

Excellent work, Unegawahya! The skylight and brass rail look sharp.

Hey Tim! Congratulations on your Bluenose completion! The sails look awesome, and your nameplate design is unique and is a nice addition. Great work, sir! The Bluenose really is a beautiful ship to build and I, too, had a lot of fun building it. Again, fantastic work, Tim!

OK, James... So, I did the logical thing in order to check this... I logged out and back into this MSW website. I guess I need to keep a more accurate list of account logins, because the MSW login is, in fact, my screen name. <gulp> My apologies for thinking otherwise... I have updated my fancy "master list", accordingly.

Really don't have a whole lot to update on this Santa Maria build, but with about 20 additional pictures of my "progress" waiting for disposition, I figured I'd provide another post. I continue to be a bit "underwhelmed" by this Pavel Nikitin kit but am trying to work through the hurdles as they arise. I am finding, however, that many of the same issues a couple of YouTube builders ran into in their build are appearing in this build, as well. And Pavel's comment about incompetent builders on one of those builders page still aggravates me. Pavel is, however, posting his own build log on YouTube. However, with what appears to be several build logs in the works at one time, his Santa Maria posts are pretty infrequent. With all that said, I continue to move on and treat the hurdles as best I can as challenges. I will certainly face similar challenges whenever I begin my Constitution build, so... I need to get used to it, right?? 🤷‍♀️😆 Wow, haven't posted an update in over a month! Guess the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and all the preparation and distractions had a bit of an effect on my shipyard time this month! I had begun working on the hull planking and had completed the lower halves of both the port and starboard sides. Now to work on the top halves. You will recall that these Pavel Nikitin planks come already pre-cut and pre-shaped, so these seemed to come together fairly well. I had a few issues with the top planks on both sides not quite reaching the tops of the bulkheads. So, some sanding was required in the center, main deck areas, and we were a full plank short in the poop deck area, so I added a strip with some available wood strips I had from previous builds. I had mentioned in a previous post that all of Pavel's pre-made parts have some type of "part number" assigned to it so you can find the part in the sheets of material and you can (hopefully) see how the part is placed on the ship in the pictorial instructions. One of the issues that I discovered, then, was that the hull planking part #'s were visible on the inside. Others had commented that they were concerned that too much sanding of those part numbers would make the hull planks too thin. Anyways, I am hoping that with the stain I will be applying to the hull (both inner and outer sides) will cover the part numbers and that the inside bulwark rails would also help cover. Working on the forecastle deck next. The kit has you put together a framing jig to assist with the forecastle deck construction, but it was actually more of a hinderance, so I scrapped it and worked on building the deck base without it. The kit comes with a finite pre-determined number of forecastle deck side panels. From the diagrams, it appeared that these panel pieces were to be placed vertically, although they were cut at a bit of a diagonal. Either way we placed them, they still came up short in filling each of the three sides, so I secured them vertically and, again, filled the empty spaces with extra available wood. The kit's provided 3-piece top rail was not fitting well, either, so I decided to shape my own top rail using some available basswood sheet. I worked on shaping it, as well as placing the kit-supplied forecastle decking. I've given it all a couple of coats of the deck stain, and will probably put another coat or two on it before affixing it to the rest of the ship. Speaking of affixing to the ship, the instructions have us placing six (6) timber braces under the poop deck. However, as other builders have also acknowledged, those timber braces, although identified with part numbers to be found on one of the wood sheets, were not included on the sheets. So, using my new Byrnes saw I acquired several months ago, I milled six new 3/4"-square timbers. Excited to find new ways to use the saw! The poop deck doesn't set perfectly on top of the timbers, so that will be our next challenge to conquer. Thanks again for the reads and likes.