Snug Harbor Johnny
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Status Updates posted by Snug Harbor Johnny
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'Ever complete the Grand Prix car? I have the kit and intend to have a go at it eventually. I did build the Hurdy Gurdy and to make it work half good, there had to be MAJOR modifications, Wood-on-wood 'moving' faces were sealed with model airplane dope and sanded smooth with super-fine sandpaper. Then there could be a little PTFE model train lube added to reduce friction and noise.
Some of the journals had mini ball bearings installed (these were large enough to do that, but the car project is too small). I thinned the soundboard on places, enlarged the sound chamber and installed spring returns for the keys. With real instrument strings used its not half bad but ... I had fun doing it, staining the outside and varnishing. Looks wonderful.
So when I do the car its going to have to be done with enough care to make it operable (some builders have had troubles). Johnny
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Nope. The Admiral insisted on parking her car in MY man cave! Rude, right? No priorities. Sold a 69 GTO and gave away the lift used for the off chases restore. JUST finished today moving my model workshop to a spare bedroom. 10'X10'. I was just getting ready to post pics in the "What have you done today" topic.
Lost too many parts in the move including major parts to my serving machine made by <SP?> Alexa Dominnov. I had version 2.5 and He's now at version 4 so I didn't mind getting a new one.
I did these a few years ago. They both work but the truck was supposed to have dualies and I just couldn't get the second set on.
Thanks for asking, though:)
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Admirals ... gotta love 'em ! Fair sailing, mate. Johnny
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Great photos of the 'Big T'. I have a Revell 1:96 kit from 1959 (a lucky find), and my plan is to consider very well what modifications (busts?) can be done to make it much closer to the original. There are a couple of logs for the Reveal Cutty Sark 'bashed', and the many great ideas are applicable for Thermopylae. Wood planking the deck is on-tap; as is reshaping the bow to conform to the Aberdeen profile, angling the stern better (a real challenge), using wire for railings - whiskers and 'dolphin striker', and remaking some of the spars and mast parts in wood. Of course, real deadeyes properly mounted are a must. Nut I must finish my Wasa - a project shelved for decades, yet now I have the information and initiative to re-work the outdated Billings kit so that it is 'good enough'. I've started a log, and you might want to peek into it from time to time - but the going will be slow ... as usual.
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Outstanding ... thanks. 'Not much can be done to change the Revell Leonides. Somewhere (can't recall0 was an account that the sword was detachable from the hand, and was slid into a sheath on the figure (opposite side for a right hander?) when the ship was in port. I tend to doubt this, as it would be fussy and the sword could be lost in rough seas if it were removable. Another option would be to build an accurate wood hull and use what Revell parts would be convenient, like the pump, winch, figurehead, lower masts, tops and crosstrees. Once again, it will be well into the future pending completion of my present project - the Wasa, adapted as best as practical from the ca. 1970 Billings Kit 1:105.
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Speaking of the 1:144 scale Airfix "Vasa" model, have you seen this fellows amazing work? While he admits it doesn't follow modern red As incredible as it looks,these images are from a heavily modified Airfix kit! Since you mentioned that you're currently tackling this project, I thought you might appreciate seeing this.
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Speaking of the 1:144 scale Airfix "Vasa" model, have you seen this fellows amazing work? While he admits it doesn't follow modern red As incredible as it looks,these images are from a heavily modified Airfix kit! Since you mentioned that you're currently tackling this project, I thought you might appreciate seeing this.
After actually looking at your Wasa post, I realized you're project is a Billings Boat kit; not the Airfix one.
Either way, I thought you might appreciate seeing Wasa Museum's "Little Wasa" an identical scale model of her full sized mother behind her. I think she's 1:15th scale of her full sized version.
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Ahoy, sir! 'Noted the title change (your privilege, of course), yet perhaps the new scale of 1:150 might mislead some observers. Billings did not put a scale on the drawing of their original kit - at least I have not found one. The real Wasa is said to have a 226' "sparred" length (including bowsprit). Deducting about 60 feet for that ponderously jutting affair leaves about 166' for the hull. My model's hull length measures 19", or 1.58 feet. When multiplied by 105, the result is 169.5' ... those figures seem to jive, even though it isn't a common ratio modeled - just a 'calculated' one.
I'm glad to have found out about Model Ship World, as it represents a smorgasbord of information on all aspects of the ship modeling hobby.
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Hello. The scale in the title should be whatever the kit states, or, if you have worked out a different scale, what you believe the scale to correctly be. You might want to discuss this issue in your build log, which would eliminate any of the confusion you fear might creep in. If you ever find that you need to correct the scale in the title, you can do so by clicking the three dots in the upper right corner of the first post; this brings up a menu that includes the option to edit. You can actually edit any of your own posts, but titles can only be edited from the first post in the thread.
Cheers, and thank you for your kind comments!
CDC
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I'd be game for the Thermopylae kit, and think that twice the postage would help compensate for the trouble of shipping. I'm located between Philadelphia and Reading PA, and USPS would be fine. You can e-mail me: johnsymborski@aol.com with instructions to buy the kit 'as is'. Of course there will be TLC needed to build her.
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I intend to do a log, and there are a few ideas cooking already. For one thing, most recognize that the Revell Thermopylae in many aspects is made from the Cutty Sark molds. There should have been an 'Aberdeen bow' (as opposed to the relative sharp angle of the Cutty), and the angle of the stern went way out further (opposed to the Cutty's sharp change of angle). I could go on, and the kind of modifications to make the plastic hull of conform to known pictures and models of Thermopylae are complicated. The other course would be to so a scratch wooden hull, install the plastic deck as a 'false' deck (so the masts, and pother gear can cement properly) then planking over the plastic deck with thin veneer strips. It would be a shame to loose all the great detail in the copper (or Munsey metal) sheathing - so a 'hybrid' approach is possible ... The lower part of the plastic hull could be used (with the bow attached and fitted with an internal wood skeleton that would be planked down to the sheathing. The plastic false decks could still be used (with modifications) and still be covered in thin wood veneer planking. Many of the fittings are usable from the kit, but some of the spars and upper masts could be re-done in wood - like some of the nicer kit busts. I have a lot to sort out, and also a wood kit to finish. Johnny
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Thanks for checking out the Wasa log. I just repaired an internal gun mount for one of the brass half-cannons that removing the forecastle deck made accessible (no post on this latest repair). I'm optimistic that I'll be able to do the original Wasa justice in a 'reasonably' done version ... no museum piece, to be sure - but enough to satisfy myself. Thermopylae will take more thought before doing anything. Perhaps building the 1:150 Academy plastic model of Cutty Sark (I got one this past Christmas) may give me more insights. I saw a build log for it on this forum, and was taken by the fact that this version is molded with the studding sail booms out. The somewhat reduced scale of 1:150 (17" hull) on the kit means that I could make cloth sails using the thin plastic ones as 'molds' to drape fine cloth treated with dilute white glue, then set them all on a model where the width of all sails set wouldn't be TOO wide, as they might well for a 1"96 scale model. Odd thing is, that the builder who did the log detached the studding sail booms and moved them inward to glue in the retracted mode. He could have more easily built the 1:130 version available that has the booms in as molded. At 1:150, I plan to use seed beads as blocks (1mm ?) and 2mm beads as deadeyes. Fair sailing, mate ! Johnny
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I'm a fan of yours (only just joined the forum, though) since I was viewing Billings Wasa builds not too long ago and saw many of your useful comments. My Wasa is an old kit my Dad gave me as a teen in the 70s, and despite not knowing what I was doing, got through the hull planking and rough deck installation. College interrupted work, and now as a retiree I see what was inaccurate in the original kit (tons have been learned in the decades since, so I do not fault Billing at all). I intend to finish it as an Admiralty model - so 2/3rds of the work is already done. Now my Dad first gave me a Revell 1:96 Cutty (which I had no trouble with) and then a Scientific 1:124 Cutty with a rough shaped solid hull - and I did OK on that, so he didn't just throw the Billing kit on me unprepared. I stumbled on your build of the Mantua 1:124 Thermopylae, and I plan on scratch building one in a slightly larger scale - likely either 1:111 or 1:96. I have the lines and scaled them to those sizes (as well as 1:124). I vastly prefer planking to carving, and can make as many bulkheads as desired for ease of fairing - with the spaces in between the bulkheads filled with basswood with the grain running fore and aft for easy fairing. If I choose 1:96 (or thereabouts), I can get an old Revell kit (complete or not) to draw on certain components that are in the right scale like the bilge pump, wench, etc. My late Dad left me several kits that have a large number of useful parts and great planking. One kit he started, so is incomplete but great for parts. Two others I have no intention of building but will use the parts and wood. Another kit is a Steingraeber version of the Fair American, which I have extra info on, so eventually I'll try building it. I'm in no rush and still work per-diem as a hospital pharmacy tech.
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