BETAQDAVE

Hello dear friends,
in the meantime I have installed the first rope ladder on the bulwark of my model.
I made customized drills for the holes, because it has very tight conditions on the model.

 

And here I thought it was my doing.  I tried to undo it, but when I saved my correction it reappeared.  I just had my computer upgraded to windows 10 (and discovered a host of new emojis) so I thought I had pressed a special key or something.

Hi everyone, just starting out with this hobby with not a lot of background in modelling outside of some cheap plastic ones in my teens. Coming into this with a background in PC building and a love of working on projects by hand. I've set a few goals for myself, first of which is to buy a model and just see if I enjoy the hobby to begin with (I followed the NRG recommended beginner models resource and got a mamoli kit). If all goes well I'd be very interested on where to go next in terms of learning planking and building up my skillset.

Hello, Michael,
first of all thank you for your interest and the positive comment.
I open the rope with the same tool, a kind of 
hollow spike. I made that from a cannula and usually use it for splicing LINK.

Hello, 
after a little longer research, I will now show you how I make the rope ladders for my model.


Before I install these rope ladders on the model, I do a test on my model section, as can be seen in the following pictures.


 

Moving along with the completion of the propulsion block. Lots of parts, but the fitting is exceptional. This kit is very well engineered.

 

This is the anchor which will be used to hold the model from the rear and to feed the negative side of 12 VDC. It is a 3 mm special nut. I will try to show a picture of the part, later on.

Yves

The thrusters are almost complete. Inside each one of them, there is a flickering yellow LED. After trying these LEDs on my bench, I realize that the current drawn by each one of them, varies constantly because of the flickering. Therefore, they cannot be serialized or daisy chained. They operate at around 3 volts, under 10 mA each. Since the whole enchilada will be powered with a source of 12 Volts DC, it is necessary to drop about 10 Volts in a resistor. 1 KOhms is perfect for that purpose.
 
First, the lower shell of the rockets are glued on the rear bulkhead: 

The main rod is being opened in three places: Ground wire, Plus wire and the two tiny wires leading to the central LED. The holes are done with a round file, then semi-round and finally a bit of 2 mm, to provide a less sharp opening for the wires.
 
The rear bulkhead has been reworked: pins on each side, have been shortened and drilled to allow wires to go through. The inside of the thrusters is painted black, to simulate the intense heat and combustion taking place in them.

Wiring is neatly arranged, as much as possible. None of the plastic parts are glued yet....the wires are holding everything together.

The lug on the top of the picture (right side of the engine block) will be the negative side of the holder. The green wire brings the - to the front module, through the rod. The yellow wire feeds the rear engine block with the + side, coming from the holder that will be located near the front sphere or living quarters of Discovery. Verification of the diodes: 

It flickers well and provides a sense of these atomic reactors being ignited by HAL 9000, to complete his precious mission....with or without anybody alive....

Yves
 
 

Hello Doris,
since it is a pair of tackles, each behind the foremast and probably the main mast, I suspect that these are topsail halyards.
In addition, a section from the book by Mondfeld page 310, No. 7.

Source: Historic Ship Models, Wolfram zu Mondfeld, Sterling

As already mentioned, this is only a guess on my part. I am not an expert in 17th century ship rigging.
I hope that a specialist can provide you with more information.

Thank you very much, guys, that’s a great idea. They really could be lifts for the ship’s boats. I would like to place them on my model as well. I assumed that these ropes should be easily detachable in order to use the capstan. 
 
I have just finished other 14 pieces of demi-culverin for upper deck. The last 18 pices (10x demi-culverin for upper deck and 8x saker for quarterdeck will be made with all details).
 

As a supplement to this topic, a historical photograph:

Source: "K.u.K. Segelschiffe in alten Photographien" by Vladimir Aichelburg

It looks like you have a good start here.  The only suggestion that I would have, is to reinforce the keel joints before you start the planking. Since the keel is not one continuous piece and it's essentially just joined with butt joints, I would glue reinforcing blocks of plywood to each face of those joints. (Similar to the blocks for the mast holes.)  The frame would be both stronger and more likely to remain straight.  To tell the truth, I am surprised that the instructions for these kits with multiple keel pieces don't suggest this simple piece of advice.  A butt joint of such thin material is one of the weakest joints, regardless of that jogged joint line.

Go ahead and leave them so that others who might run into the same situation will be able to follow the discussion.

You can go to the Quick-Find Indexes to BUILD LOGS FOR KITS   in the wooden kits section and scroll down to La Nina by Igorsr Amati/Victory.  There you can follow his build of your kit.  According to his log the hull is planked first.  Then the bulwark extensions are cut off before the false deck is installed.  So cutting notches for the extensions is not necessary.

Another problem has come up concerning mounting the ship on the base.   As the keel on this model is just 9/64” wide, I discovered during my search for a source for mounting hardware that while getting 2 bolts in 7/64” diameter in anywhere near the 3 ½” lengths that I will be needing is possible, it would also be extremely expensive!  (Like $45 each expensive.) I also thought about using some threaded rod, but there again the cost would be prohibitive.
    I found that the smallest diameter that is readily available and at the same time still affordable would be 1/8”.  So, the problem now becomes how to conceal a bolt that will clearly show as it passes through the 9/64” keel and into the keel supports.
    It appears that my only solution will be to have some timber blocks on both sides of the keel where the bolts pass thru.  While I haven’t been able to find any more info anywhere in any of my references on blocking the sides of the keel, I shall incorporate two pair of them on mine regardless.  (Although there is an indistinct indication on the AD photo of some kind of blocking between the keel blocks just below the mainmast and the stern of the lowered whaleboat, it isn’t at all clear exactly what that is.) 
    Each pair of side blocks will span two keel supports and although the exposed portion of the bolts will be minimal, they will be painted black.  I made a sketch below to show the location of the blocks and the drilled holes.

    I had also contemplated threading the ends of a solid metal rod for some nuts, but as I don’t possess a tap and die set for this I didn’t see that the added expense would have been worth it.  At any rate, the 1/8” bolt should provide a more secure mounting of the model than one of a mere 7/64” diameter, so maybe it’s for the best anyways.

Another problem has come up concerning mounting the ship on the base.   As the keel on this model is just 9/64” wide, I discovered during my search for a source for mounting hardware that while getting 2 bolts in 7/64” diameter in anywhere near the 3 ½” lengths that I will be needing is possible, it would also be extremely expensive!  (Like $45 each expensive.) I also thought about using some threaded rod, but there again the cost would be prohibitive.
    I found that the smallest diameter that is readily available and at the same time still affordable would be 1/8”.  So, the problem now becomes how to conceal a bolt that will clearly show as it passes through the 9/64” keel and into the keel supports.
    It appears that my only solution will be to have some timber blocks on both sides of the keel where the bolts pass thru.  While I haven’t been able to find any more info anywhere in any of my references on blocking the sides of the keel, I shall incorporate two pair of them on mine regardless.  (Although there is an indistinct indication on the AD photo of some kind of blocking between the keel blocks just below the mainmast and the stern of the lowered whaleboat, it isn’t at all clear exactly what that is.) 
    Each pair of side blocks will span two keel supports and although the exposed portion of the bolts will be minimal, they will be painted black.  I made a sketch below to show the location of the blocks and the drilled holes.

    I had also contemplated threading the ends of a solid metal rod for some nuts, but as I don’t possess a tap and die set for this I didn’t see that the added expense would have been worth it.  At any rate, the 1/8” bolt should provide a more secure mounting of the model than one of a mere 7/64” diameter, so maybe it’s for the best anyways.

I am really new. I started out by just thinking that model ships had to be toughso I got a daughter-in-law to buy me an Amazon victory 1:225.  I thought I should just START someplace. 
That caused me to begin  tool research and as I went along I came upon MSW.  While my ideas have shifted I will be starting with something inexpensive and will get ideas. I may not build it. I am completely open to a project. I am 82 years old and I realize my ship building days may be somewhat limited. So I thought I would start with Admiral Nelson (I am an American admirer of the Admiral) and finish with a bigger build.  It was not that surprising to see so many Brits building Victory. 
Right now I am trying to figure out how to organize a mobile shop We live in NH but are in NJ for part of the winter and also travel to Florida for two months. We will also be going to Italy again for a month. 
I stormed ahead and bought a new Dremel 8220-1/28 12-Volt Max Cordless along with the Flex Shaft Rotary Tool Attachment.  My little one will be handy I am sure.
I have worked a lot building furniture and such. I have many tools and am going back to NH tomorrow to get the ones I feel will be useful along with stains and such. I am looking at little plastic storage containers so that I can move stuff.  A big boat probably has to be done in NH for reasons of room but we shall see.  I say these things because I can use all the input possible.  I adore these people that carve things and come ip with ways of doing tasks.  I have built two guitars and understand how you must build jigs and develop innovative ways of accomplishing details of a project. It may be that I will do parts of a ship as I travel.  I will check out Mugje Pickle. I am currently going through the alphabet of all of the Victory builders. I am up to E at this time. I have learned  a great deal and have many notes and references. I apologize for being so lengthy and I want to wish you a great holiday.

Hello Doris,
happy New Year !
I am always enthusiastic about your work. Not only are your sculptures unique, all other details cannot be surpassed in their execution. This type of model building is not available anywhere else in the world.
I hope that you will continue to delight us with beautiful pictures of your wonderful model in 2020.

Well, I guess that I was not kidding about the time involved to get back to this ship.  The spray booth project ended up taking much longer than I thought and then holiday projects came up, but now I can finally get back to it. This posting is a bit out of order as I needed to stage some of the illustrations after the fact but this is the gist of it.
    Working once again on the launching ways, I finished drilling the rest of the holes for the bolts in the support blocks and gluing down several that came loose when being drilled.  The brads representing those bolts needed to be blackened, but since the only part that would remain visible was the heads, I thought why blacken the whole brad?  Using a length of scotch tape laid down sticky side up flat on the bench, the brads were stuck in place with just a small portion of the head projecting beyond the edge of the tape.

    Then another piece of tape was stretched out sticky side down over the first strip.
    The next step was to form the strip into a coil as shown below.

    Using a plastic dish with some previously used brass black that had a bit of fresh mixture added to it, the coil was set into the dish with the brad heads down as shown and set aside for about five minutes for it to work its magic.

    Removing the coil from the mix, it was set on a paper towel to soak up the excess and let it sit overnight to completely dry out. 

    The next day, the remaining brads were pressed down with a nail set into the drilled holes.  A small hammer and the nail set were then used to set the brads until the head was still just visible.  So the ramp is ready to be drilled for the mounting bolts.

    Way back on post #42 I installed two LED lights for both ends of the open hatch and drilled a hole in the hull for the wiring to run to the switch and battery components. Changing my approach now to this problem, I decided to run the wires through the keel and hull support blocks rather than the far side of the hull so it would be less visible.  So, I’ll just fill-in that hole in the hull.
    At this point I discovered that the mounting bolt and wiring hole locations through the keel should have been done before the deck beams were installed as it was not possible to get a drill of such a small diameter (the keel is only 9/64” thick) in a long enough length to pass all the way through the ship and through the ramp, but once again hind sight never really helps much.  Luckily I had this battery powered screwdriver/drill made by General with a very slim profile with a lot of torque for such a small tool.

    Inserting my small 3-jaw keyless chuck for a rotary tool with a 1/8” shank into the tool that I picked up from Micro-Mark, I put a 3/32” bit into it and found that I had just enough space for it between several  of the beams.

    With clamps at both ends of the keel for balance the ship was placed on the ways in its approximate final position.  I picked the gap between beam numbers 11 and 12 and drilled through the keel for the LED wiring. With a thin brass tube inserted through that hole, the ship was shifted just enough until the tube could line up with the center of one of the support blocks and it was given a light tap to mark the position.  Replacing the tube with the drill the hole was extended through the ways.  Once the hole was finished, the brass tube was reinserted to hold the ship in its final position.

    The gap between beams 13 and 14 was sufficient for the drill so it was chosen for the first bolt hole.  With a pair of dividers I set the distance from the center of the support block with the wire hole to the center of the closest support block that would line up for the bolt.  The dividers were able to transfer that distance to the inside of the hull and the hole was drilled there.
    Actually drilling the hole was fairly simple as the drill was easy to keep centered since the hull seam made it easy to align the bit and the centerline of the beams helped to align the upper portion of the tool.  The fact that there was so little space between the beams also made it easy to stay perpendicular to the keel.

 
    For the second bolt hole the technique was somewhat different as the divider couldn’t mark the location inside the hull.  I picked the gap between beams 2 and 3, then located the closest support block to that space and marked on the keel where it lined up.

    Drilling from the outside was a bit more trouble as there was no flat area on the seam to set the drill.  So, I filed a flat spot and used an awl to give the drill a place to start.  Keeping the thinness of the keel in mind I carefully drilled a hole with a 1/16” bit perpendicular to the keel through to the inside of the hull.  Now that there was a hole to guide the larger bit, I enlarged the hole from the inside of the hull with the 3/32” bit.
    While I was locating the LED for the skylight the decision was made to install LED lights inside the two rear shelter houses.  The three of these LEDs were now all temporarily taped in their positions.

    So, now I will be installing a total of five LEDs to run through one battery and switch.  The wires are not long enough to pass through the hull and into the base were the switch and battery will be placed and thus need to be spiced with another section of wire to make up the difference.  The splice will remain inside the hull with just the wire extension running into the base. 
    Joining the wires is fairly simple.  I just need to gather up all of the black wire leads including the extension wire, twist them together, apply some solder, and slip a section of heat shrink tubing over the joint to protect it.  Then all of the red wires need to be joined together similarly.  A section of heat shrink tubing will protect the two lead wires where they pass through the keel and base.  Once the ship is anchored permanently to the launching ways, the finish connections can be made in the base.  For now they will just be taped out of the way.

 
 
 
 

I've been tackling the rigging for the pinky schooner. I was terrified to start but finally took the plunge. I found the blocks and deadeyes for this model extremely difficult to work with. I have gone through at least a dozen needle threaders because the holes are so small that pulling that thread through destroys the threader so easily. Here are a couple of shots of what I've gotten done thus far.

I've also found I should attach the blocks to the booms first before attaching those to the masts. I didn't do that with the foreboom and now trying to get the blocks right. Oh well, live and learn.

Just to start with, I have never built a wooden ship model. I use to build WWII model planes but that was way back in my early teen years. I had lots of fun with them  so I thought why not at least attempt to see if I could do a wooden ship model. 
After reading several articles about what would be an appropriate model for a beginner, I settled on the Glad Tidings Pinky Schooner from Model Shipways.  Because there have been a number of build logs done with this model, I thought this would be at least a model I might be able to complete.
I spent the first six months just putting together the hull and its masts. That just about did me in.  I didn't keep a daily/weekly build log .. I instead snap pictures all along the way.  So this build log will be of those pictures.  I hope some of these might come in handy for others out there trying to do their first model. Hopefully I'm using the right terminology for the different bits and pieces so that others can follow along and learn.
 

Another problem has come up concerning mounting the ship on the base.   As the keel on this model is just 9/64” wide, I discovered during my search for a source for mounting hardware that while getting 2 bolts in 7/64” diameter in anywhere near the 3 ½” lengths that I will be needing is possible, it would also be extremely expensive!  (Like $45 each expensive.) I also thought about using some threaded rod, but there again the cost would be prohibitive.
    I found that the smallest diameter that is readily available and at the same time still affordable would be 1/8”.  So, the problem now becomes how to conceal a bolt that will clearly show as it passes through the 9/64” keel and into the keel supports.
    It appears that my only solution will be to have some timber blocks on both sides of the keel where the bolts pass thru.  While I haven’t been able to find any more info anywhere in any of my references on blocking the sides of the keel, I shall incorporate two pair of them on mine regardless.  (Although there is an indistinct indication on the AD photo of some kind of blocking between the keel blocks just below the mainmast and the stern of the lowered whaleboat, it isn’t at all clear exactly what that is.) 
    Each pair of side blocks will span two keel supports and although the exposed portion of the bolts will be minimal, they will be painted black.  I made a sketch below to show the location of the blocks and the drilled holes.

    I had also contemplated threading the ends of a solid metal rod for some nuts, but as I don’t possess a tap and die set for this I didn’t see that the added expense would have been worth it.  At any rate, the 1/8” bolt should provide a more secure mounting of the model than one of a mere 7/64” diameter, so maybe it’s for the best anyways.

Hello dear friends,

in the meantime I was able to find out in a publication " Takelung und Ankerkunde - Freiherr von Sterneck -1873 " that pushing the rungs through the rope ladder ropes represents the correct execution.
Quelle: Takelung und Ankerkunde - Freiherr von Sterneck -1873 - Bildband

However, there must be a clear passage at the shrouds.
This is not the case with the Paris model.

Now that the details have been clarified, I can start with the implementation for the model.

Hello dear friends,
I am really honoured reading your praise and kind words, I do appreciate your comments and likes a lot. Thank you very much for your support. 
Well, there are always various things or details I would like to improve in my work. Nobody is perfect, but it is a good motivation - trying to do things better.... This card model could by one of the most successful I have ever created, and also the most challenging. Hope I will finish the Royal Katherine this year, but there are plenty of problems to solve - especially some parts of rigging.  
 
Hello Jan,
You are right - these cannons are different - here are some documents according to which I made cannons for the Royal Katherine;

in the aft section on lower deck there are the longest cannons (Culverin) with lower caliber - in this picture are in a red frame:
 

 
 
And now I am continuing with other 14 cannons ( demi-culverin) for upper deck:
 

 
Have a great time and enjoy the pics. 

Life around here has done everything possible to keep me from this build. All I have left is the two flags. I really wanted to make a lifeboat to hang from the back davits but it doesn't look like that will happen anytime in the near future. I made a small cleat by flattening the end of a metal pin. I then filed it down to a very tiny size filing a very sharp point to stick in the staff. Forgot to take pics of this process. Made a very tiny hole with a micro twist drill and pinned it into the bottom of the staff on the bowsprit cap. Dipped the sharp point of the cleat in CA glue before pinning it in. I'm trying to rig up a block and cleat rig for this instead of just tying the (Jack?) flag to the staff. Folded and glued the flags sides together. Getting some folds set in them, I know the shaping will need changing a bit before they are done.
 
Jesse

Hello, everyone,
 
I see that the last posting on this topic was some time ago,  but I wanted to take this opportunity to announce that the third and final volume of the book has shipped and to thank those who have purchased so far.  For those who received shipments before the holidays, you may have noticed that an incorrect CD was included in those early shipments.  This manufacturing error is being corrected urgently by Seawatchbooks, so you should be hearing from them shortly to receive a copy of the correct CD.  Apart from this problem, the response to the book so far has been excellent - I am told.  I am very glad to hear that.  I will say, that work on this volume was, for me, more than the effort on the previous four books combined.  There will, no doubt, be the inevitable minor errors in the immense amount of data included, and while I do not look forward to hearing about those, I will endeavor to correct important errors via this topic on this forum - as I have done with previous volumes for both ships.  I monitor comments on these topics daily for that reason.
 
So, happy new year everyone.
 
Ed