Glen McGuire

I've got popcorn for me and cubes for mini-Dimples! We are ready for the show!! Git er Done!!!

Just found this new build log. I'm on board! Looking good so far!!

Thanks, Gary and Thukydides. I appreciate y'all saying that. Knowing when to stop is the thing I struggle with the most. I add a little bit, back off and look, add a bit more, back off and look, etc... And then I force myself to stop before I really want to.

Thanks, Ian. I dab it on with a stiff-bristled paint brush that's about 1cm in width (the stiffer the bristles, the better it seems to work). I'll dab it sideways (parallel with the rows of pilings) to create ripples and some small rolling waves. With the thicker Water Waves product, it does not take much shaping beyond the dabbing to get some nice light ripple/wave action. If I do want to create some larger waves, I'll use a small plastic spatula. A popsicle stick would work just as well. If I get some areas that look too smooth or glassy, I'll take a small brush and rough it up a bit with some light dibbing. The Woodland Scenics products work really well.

Dang Olympics have been distracting me from finishing this build. I can't seem to pull myself away from the TV even if it's the most obscure sport. A couple of hours watching mixed doubles ping pong? Are you kidding me? Summoning great will power, I finally managed to stop my binge-watching and get some work done on the water. With the pilings in place, the next step was adding some texture to the water. I started by applying a layer of Woodland Scenics Water Ripples to the smooth base of epoxy resin. The product is clear and goes on with some nice ripples/small waves. While drying, however, it settles itself down and smooths out much of the original texture. In this case, a little too much for what I wanted. So for the next step, I did two things. The water was just a little bit too clear and too blue (we are talking about the Galveston Bay, right?). So I thinned out a very light gray wash and spread it over the surface. Then I added a different Woodland Scenics product called Water Waves, which is thicker and holds its shape much better than the Ripples product. In the pic below, you can see on the right side how much the Ripples product settled and smoothed itself out. You can also see the slight clouding effects of the light gray wash. On the left side, you can see where I began applying the Water Waves product. Here's the whole thing after application of the Water Waves product. As a final touch, I added light brushes of white to some of the wave crests to give the water just a bit of action. Next step is adding the deck planks for the wharf. The finish line is in sight!

Thanks, Roel. For the front row of pilings, I drilled holes into the epoxy resin and into the base at the same depth as the holes on the back 2 rows. That was really a nerve wracking experience as I was petrified of making a mistake with the drill and royally screwing up the whole base with all the hours of work it had eaten up. But I managed to get clean holes drilled with uniform depths and good alignment. Yes, I drilled the holes for a tight fit. To affix the pilings, I used a very thin layer of CA glue (instead of epoxy) on the sides and a more liberal amount at the bottom. I think I only had 1 where I used a bit too much glue and it oozed out the top of the hole. But it was an easy cleanup. Here's a couple of closeups that show the difference in how the sets of pilings look. The first pic focuses on the front row where I poured the epoxy resin first, drilled holes after it cured, then inserted the pilings. The second pic focuses on the back rows where I put the pilings into the base and then poured the epoxy resin epoxy around the pilings. The back rows show the significant resin creep-up that I wanted to avoid on the front row. The next step is to add ripples and mild waves to the entire base of water. That might hide the creep-up, but I was not sure so didn't want to take the chance on the front row.

That's a great solution! Gonna have to add that one to my bag of tricks.

She's a real beauty, Bob. Well done!!!

Looks great! I think PGP deserves a promotion to PFCGP after all his great work on this project!!

Glad it will be helpful, Bob. The artist chalk dust process is a lot more trouble than just painting, but I believe it's worth it. As @gjdale said in his Foss Landing diorama, good weathering involves color and texture, which the chalk dust helps provide.

Whoa!! Those pictures are breathtaking, @BANYAN!! OK, penguins or no penguins I may have to put that place on my bucket list. Now that I’m totally distracted, I’m having a hard time remembering where I was with the Banshee…Oh wait, I was working on my own waterscape, although Galveston is so far from the beauty of Norfolk Island I shouldn’t even mention them in the same post! Nevertheless, I got the epoxy resin water poured onto the base (after I installed the Texas backdrop. Then I added the wharf’s support structure to the back 2 rows of pilings. I did not do weathering to these pieces as they will not really be visible. Also, I poured the epoxy resin before installing the front pilings because they will be quite visible and I did not want the resin creeping up the pilings where they contact the resin as @Javelin and I have discussed previously. I will give the resin 3 days for a hard cure before drilling holes for the front pilings. Speaking of the front pilings, I decided to go for a more realistic look than dowel rods. So I scrounged around my pile of small kindling and found several sticks that were the right diameter and straight enough. I put them on the drill lathe to get them to a uniform diameter while trying to leave as much of their natural variation as possible. Afterwards, I gave them a light gray wash to get them to the aged wood color (second pic below, although for some reason the pic makes them look more greenish than grayish). While the epoxy resin continues it drying process, I started work on the deck planks for the wharf. It’s going to take about 50 planks that are 8” x ¼”. Since they are on top and likely would have been cared for a bit more than the support structure, I wanted to show a mix of ageing and weathering – a color in between the gray of the supports and a natural brown. To try and achieve this, it took a 3-step process. First was texturing (grooving) the planks as I did with the supports using a rasp. Second, I mixed a couple of shades of brown chalk dust and worked it in with IPA using the same process described in an earlier post. This gave the planks a reasonable base color of brown. Finally, I went back over it with a light dusting of gray chalk and IPA. The pic below shows the 3 stages. The first set of planks have been textured. The second set has the brown base color applied. The third set has the gray applied for the finished color.

Dang. I just cancelled my trip. ☹️☹️☹️

Thanks and welcome back, Pat. I've never heard of Norfolk Island so I had to look it up. And wow! Just wow! Ever picture I saw was a stunning landscape like the one below. Hope you had a wonderful time there.

Looking good, Keith! How did you make the cleats and the boiler?

Absolutely incredible work!!!

Glad to have you join the MSW family, Charles!

Egg nishner, nose tone unturned, let stalk strine. Y’all have me as confused as my cows were when I put them on astroturf. I’m pretty sure when they were mooing, they were saying “bloody oath, eh?” 😃 Now that I’ve flunked my Aussie language lesson for the week it’s time to get back to the project. First up is the wooden wharf to represent the Galveston, Texas waterfront of the mid 1800s. I built a small mock-up of the support structure to see if what I had in mind would look ok. The next step was weathering/texturing/coloring the planks and pilings for the support structure (I'll do the deck boards later). I used @gjdale's method of chalk and isopropyl alcohol (IPA) that he described so well in his Foss Landing diorama build log. I used a rasp to roughen the flat wood surfaces. The pic below shows one plank before I hit it with the rasp and one afterwards. For the chalk dust, rather than scrape it directly onto the planks as I believe Grant did, I scraped the different shades into little cups and dabbed them on the planks from there. Then, as Grant described, I brushed over the chalk dust with a liberal amount of IPA. I had to go back over different spots a few times with additional dust and IPA to get the color variation I was looking for. They are actually a little more gray than they appear in the pic below. I wanted gray with a bit of the natural wood color showing thru as if the boards were in the middle of the ageing process. For the wharf’s pilings, the back 2 rows will be mostly hidden, so I just used regular dowel rods and smeared them with some different shades of gray paint. I’ll have something better for the front (more visible) row. Since I don’t have a steam donkey pile driver like @Keith Black is working on, I had to enlist some alternative help to get mine in place.

Simply brilliant work!

Such clean and crisp craftsmanship. The ensign and the pennant really accentuate the look. Well done, Thukydides!

I'd start here with the superb weathering job @gjdale did on the wood strips for his diorama. It's on the first page of the log. https://modelshipworld.com/topic/32778-the-shipyard-at-foss-landing-diorama-by-gjdale-grant-finished-sierrawest-scale-187-ho/

I thought you were pulling my leg, Grant, but I checked on Amazon and there really is a book by that name! I may have to get that one. Here's a question for you - Here in the US, someone from Texas like me talks a lot different than someone from the the northeast (like Boston) or the west coast (like California). Do folks in different parts of Australia have significantly different accents and/or ways of talking?

When I see comments from folks like @BANYAN, @gjdale, @PvG Aussie, I try to imagine the Australian accent as I read them. I saw this meme the other day and it's helping me with the accent. Now, on to stage 2 of the project which is the display base. As a reminder, here's the original idea suggesting the civil war era Galveston, Texas water front where the Banshee II made it's one and only blockade run. For the backdrop, I've got several walnut cutouts of Texas. The finish was a little dark and had some wear, so I sanded it off and refinished it. Then I made a horizontal cut about halfway between San Antonio and Corpus Christi to make it the proper height that I needed. Finally, I added some dowels that will secure it to the base. For the actual base, I put down a layer of acrylic paint for the basic water color that I wanted. Here's the backdrop added. The next step is adding about a 1/8" layer of epoxy resin for the actual water. Then I have to decide whether I should add ripples/small waves to the water then build the wharf or vice-versa..

nice job on a very tricky little piece!

Just discovered this build log, Rob. I will follow along with interest. What a majestic subject you've chosen!

@gjdale, @Javelin, @Paul Le Wol, @Rick310, @Knocklouder, @Ian_Grant, @Keith Black, @Desertanimal - Thank you for the comments and for suffering thru those videos! Forget the tot, I needed a barrel of Bundy rum after that experience!