Thukydides

Time for a minor update. I have finished painting most of the deck fixtures and edge highlighted all the railings, timberheads, wales etc... This mostly just involves taking a medium grey and running the side of the brush along the edges.

I also figured out what I am going to do with the cannon barrels but more on that in the next post. You can see the current state of affairs below.

That is looking really nice. Fantastic work!

Looking good. Dry brushing is a great technique for cannons, because the downsides of it (a kind of rough chalky look) actually sort of simulates the rough surface you get from casting.

If you would like a small suggestion, I would recommend going in with a very fine brush and accentuate the upper sharp edges and how they would catch the light. I am thinking of a colour sort of like citadels talaren sand, but any ochre type colour would do (the exact colour is hard to recommend because things sometimes look different in pictures). Then in an even smaller space on the upper edges go in with an ice yellow or even pure white (almost just a dot). This will give it a bit of a simulated metallic reflection.

See the above picture for an example. The bronze exhaust pipe things are about the size of a cannon at 1/64. You don't need to do as much of a gradient as I did or do the reflection all down the barrel, just accentuate the upper edges and add a small bright reflections on the sharp edges, just make sure they line up.

As everyone else has said there is no "best" beginner model. As someone who is in the middle of their first model, I would suggest paying particular attention to items 1 and 2 on Chris' list. You will make a lot of mistakes and so this means that:

1. You don't want to have problems with the kit itself adding to your already steep learning curve
2. You are unlikely to produce the model of your dreams with your first attempt

You may aspire to build a three decker some day, but I would recommend picking something smaller to make all the inevitable mistakes on. Then once you have the experience of completing a model you can move on to the subject you have always dreamed of doing and maybe actually do it justice.

I can recommend the one I am working on (Alert by Vanguard Models), but there are many other suitable alternatives.

1 hour ago, glbarlow said:

Nice work.  Your skill with the air brush is outstanding. I always appreciate a builder willing to go backwards to rebuild or replace something to improve the model. It’s a bold, but seldom regretted decision. 

Thanks Glenn, you and BE have been much of my inspiration for taking the time to go back and redo things as I read through your logs and saw how taking your time and doing it right is always more rewarding than doing it quick :).

This looks fantastic. Your kits are getting better and better.

Log #33: Fixing the Railing

Thanks everyone for stopping by and for all the likes.

I continue to work on painting up deck fixtures. The windlass is the latest piece complete. I still need to catch the edges of the metal bands with a bit of dark metalic paint to simulate the scratches and wear from metal rubbing against metal, but it is mostly done.

I recently presented my work to date at a Model Shipwrights of Niagara meeting and one of the questions I received was regarding if I had had made sure the stantions at the stern were perpendicular to the keel. And once I had looked I could not unsee the fact that a few of them were at the wrong angle. In addition I noticed that in Goodwin, the railing at the stern is much thinner that what I had. This was particularly problematic to my eyes where I had made a fairly thin railing at the top of the transom. So once again I broke out the isopropyl and my exacto knife to disassemble parts of the stern.

I then reattached the stantions using a square to ensure they were at the correct angle.

I then thinned the railing down to around 3/32” and attached it to the stantions.

And here is the final result. In the end I am once again pleased I went back and fixed what I had done. Something had always looked off to me with how the railing met the transom, but I hadn’t been able to put my finger on it. I will have to repaint it, but that shouldn’t take too long.

Looking good, what do you mean by how the mizzen works? Alert doesn't have a mizzen to my knowledge unless you are referring to where they could temporarily rig one using those rings attached to the quarter deck?

Log #32: Painting the Deck Fittings

With the carriages assembles it is time to start the painting. Though not strictly necessary for most of the fittings (only the plastic ones), I decided to prime everything black with my airbrush.

I then mixed Vallejo flat red with a little bit of Citadel incubi darkness to make a dark crimson which I sprayed over all the parts. I then sprayed pure plat red from above to leave the undersides in simulated shadow.

After letting it all dry for a day I broke out a very fine sanding paper to smooth some of the flat surfaces that had swelled up due to the paint. This obviously removed some of the paint, but as these were large exposed surfaces it didn’t matter since I painted over them again.

Then I began a process of glazing highlighting the various parts. To do this I begin by blocking in the main highlights with my brightest colour (an orangish red from citadel called wild rider red). In general vertical surfaces I wanted to be brighter towards the bottom and upward facing flat surfaces would be the brightest. This also allows a greater contrast between the two faces where they meet. I should also note that since the example pictured is a curved surface, I highlighted towards the middle to simulate the light reflecting off the surface.

I glazed towards the highlights with citadel evil sun scarlet (a blood red colour) and down towards the shadows with the vallejo flat red. Then finally all the edges were highlighted with pure wild rider red (the orangish colour).

You can see how much of a difference this makes in the below comparison between two cannon carriages. One has been highlighted using the above method and the other has only has the base coats form the airbrush.

And here is what a couple of the finished fixtures look like on the ship at scale.

12 hours ago, aliluke said:

One little add I did for this and other parts was adding 0.7mm brass rivets

That shop has some really interesting things in it. I had just planned to drill holes and use black fishing line, but I may consider the rivits.

Looks really good, well done. I still don’t have to do yard work as we still have snow on the ground . 

Log #31: The Cannon Carriages Part II

Work has continued slowly making my way towards getting all the fitting ready for painting. I have finished removing the mould lines from the cannon barrels. One of them had a bit of a gap along the mould line which I had to fill with some milliput, but apart from that there were no issues.

I also decided I would also add some extra details to the cannon carriages. You can see below the drilling of the holes for the wheel pins using one of the spare wheels to get the spacing right.

As I was doing this I realized that I had assembled the carriages wrong. The transom  is meant to be at an angle, but I glued them in vertical. Chris even has the bolt that secures them laser cut into the carriages so it should have clued me in to the fact that I was doing it wrong. I briefly considered leaving them as is (it will be hard to see the difference once the cannons are attached. But then I remembered that I will always know so I broke out the isopropyl and my hobby knife and gently pried them off.

Then I had to cut/file/sand off the glue residue and attach them once again. I lost a whole afternoon to this, but having got it done I am pleased I did. See below for the corrected version (left) beside what I had originally done (right).

It is hard to tell from your pictures, but make sure that the sheer is a nice smooth curve and that the wedges you added are concave not convex.

On you issue with the ports on the transom not lining up, one solution would be to beef it up a bit as @Blue Ensign did in this post:

The kit part can be aligned so it matches the deck level, but then you can plank over the back to cover up any gaps.

Log #30: The Cannon Carriages Part I

I continue to work away at the deck fittings and attaching rings to eyebolts. By my count I need 60 of these ring and eyebolt combos so I have a bit of a ways to go.

As I was constructing the carriages for the cannons and looking at reference photos and drawings to try and figure out the number of rings / eyebolts necessary I noticed that the kit provides beds (19), but not quoins(2).

This simplification obviously makes it easier to make the carriages, but I decided to try my hand at adding some quoins. I started with pieces of wood cut down to 5mmx2mm rectangles from spare wood left over from one of the laser cut sheets.

I then used my miniature chisels to shape them into wedges and then with the same chisel thinned them towards the narrow end.

I thinned the kit beds down to just under 1mm and then glued the quoins to them.

And you can see the final result. Not perfect, but I think it enhances the look of the cannons and now the barrels sit naturally on them. Note the metal bar is just temporarily there to allow me to glue the bed to the rear axel at the correct angle.

Time for a minor update. I have been slowly picking away at the deck fittings and cannons in preparation to paint all of them once they are all finished.

Removing the laser char from the cannons is a bit of a fiddly task, but I am slowly getting there.

I am planning on leaving the wheels for the cannons unpainted (mostly for artistic contrast reasons), but I needed to remove the laser char or they would look like they had an iron band around them. using a wooden bbq skewer, some sandpaper and my drill I was able to remove it.

As a minor note, did anyone else notice there was an extra cannon (or at least the wooden parts for it, I didn’t check to see if I have an extra barrel). I assume this was simply to allow me to have an extra for my eventual mistakes.

Thanks @aliluke, the atos book is not really necessary. I only reference it every now and again when I need more detail on a particular part. A lot of the info in it you can get by combining a whole bunch of other sources. Alert is a great kit, hope you enjoy it.

@mtbediz your scratch build is pretty awesome. Thanks for stopping by.

11 minutes ago, dvm27 said:

I usually use five minute epoxy when fastening brass to wood. Haven't had a problem with glue adherence but you do need to be neat and remove the excess before it sets. Perhaps with the blackened PE items you should run the bottom surface against some 180 sandpaper to remove the blackening and give it a bit of a tooth?  

would any 5 ,minute epoxy do or do you recommend a particular brand?

Log #29: Blackening and Bending

As I hinted at in my previous log, I decided to give blackening some of the brass parts a try. I had not had much success with painting them and I figured particularly for the eyebolts it would be a bit of a pain to paint them all. So I took a scrap piece of brass, bought a min crock pot from the good will store and embarked on making some tests.

I was following along with @dvm27’s guide and everything appeared to go well. 

The only difference with my method is that I used vinegar and salt for an hour instead of sparex for 10 minutes. I don’t have a dedicated work space and so the blackening had to happen in my kitchen. I had done some reading on pickering online and this seemed like the best alternative.

Everything went smoothly and and just as described in the guide I was able to wipe off the residue leaving a even black finish. However, When it came time to attach them to the model I started to have issues. The rudder hinges (can’t remember the proper name) are very small and fiddly and getting them in just the right place was difficult. I also found when using super glue to attach them I ran into two issues.

1. The blackening adhered to the super glue better than to itself so I found I was constantly loosing bits of the coating to errant bits of super glue on my hands or tools.
2. The super glue when in contact with the blackening seemed to cure almost instantly. This is a strange thing I have noticed with super glue. On some surfaces it takes a long time to cure and others it happens almost instantly. In any case this made placing the pieces just right very difficult as if I did not place them exactly in the right place the first time I didn’t have time to adjust their position and I would inevitably loose some of the coating.

Has anyone had similar issues? Should I have varnished them before attaching them to the model?

In any case with a bit of touching up and some black paint I was able to get everything looking ok.

I have also been working on some of the fittings. Following the example of @Blue Ensign I decided to try and make the hatches curved and also to do a skylight as depicted in the marshal painting rather than just use a hatch. I soaked the hatch in hot water for 30 minutes then used a rubber band to attach it to a bottle and left it to dry overnight.

Using scraps from one of the laser cut sheets and left over brass pins I was able to make a passable skylight. Once I have it painted I plan to add clear acrylic on the inside to simulate glass panes.

And here is the current status of the hatch and skylight.

Thanks to everyone for all the suggestions. I went to my local hardware store and picked up some of the shrink tube. As you can see below it works perfectly.

Looking good. Make sure you tape off the keel and stern post with painters tape before you sand or at the very least be careful. I was not watching what I was doing and significantly thinned my stern post. It may be the perspective, but it looks like you have sanded the stern post a bit (like I did) so if you have more sanding to do here watch you don't think it anymore.

2 hours ago, Blue Ensign said:

I invariably use heat shrink tubing for iron bands these days.

Get a selection of sizes in black, and cut sections off with a scalpel, job done.

 

B.E.

 

I have never heard of this stuff, do you describe the process in more detail in your alert log, I don't remember seeing that. Where do you normally find it, what is it normally used for?

There is still time to add the top band and the bottom one wouldn't be seen anyways. If I went with the card option, @VTHokiEE do you do anything to the card make it look less like paper?

Log #28: The Rudder

It has been a very long time since I updated this log. The reasons have been a combination of factors, but the main underlying reasons have been a lack of time and I was unsure how to proceed. So I was picking away at things, but didn’t have enough progress to really show here. In any case I am hopefully back on track and I hope that the next entry will not take as long to come as this one did.

For the rudder I wanted to try and modify it a bit from the kit to align more with the plans in Goodwin. I briefly considered scribing the various joints, but given how my last attempt at that went, and the only alternative being to reconstruct the whole rudder from scratch, I decided to largely stick with the kit as is. The only modification I made was to the tiller and how it joined the rudder.

After assembling the rudder and the tiller as indicated in the instructions, I filled in the cap on the rudder where the two were meant to join and then carefully cut out the appropriate joint. I had planned to also add the iron bands that are just above and below the joint, but shaping the scrap brass to fit exactly right was very hard and given my issues with super glue and blackened PE parts (which I will cover in my next log), I decided to skip this step.

I also attempted to shape and round the tiller so it went from angled where it joins the rudder assembly to round where it would be held by the helmsman.

That was a really useful post. They all look great. I assume the benefit of making the rings/eye bolts from scratch this way as opposed to just using off the shelf ones (eg amati ones) is you can carry the size in line with what was historically used?
 

Looks fantastic, great job on the planking.

I use an iwata hp-cs (eclipse). I have nothing but good things to say about it. The main brush has a 0.3mm nozel, but you can order a replacement nozzle and and needle in the 0.7mm size which I find works better if I am using primer or want to cover a much broader area.

If you want a budget option that won’t break immediately you could look into the iwata neo. It is not the same quality as the eclipse, but it does the job (i have a friend who uses one, mostly for priming and varnishing). You can pick it up for under $100 (Canada).