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Having recently reviewed the scratch build log of Phantom 1868 by victory78 – New York pilot boat, I was intrigued by how much more can be shown at his larger 1:50 scale version. Most notable to me was the differences between the plans provided by the Model Shipways kit and his version. While I have no way of determining which version is correct, I suspect that since his version seems to include a lot more details that don’t appear at all in my kit plans, I’ll go with his version.
    One example of this was that the waterway and the margin plank on the foredeck are indicated as separate features on his, as opposed to the kits’ version of just a single plank. I’m not sure, but perhaps the kits’ smaller scale led to them to just simplify it.
Another notable feature that his version added, that seemed like it would have been a logical thing to see on a ship like this, was the reinforced deck doublings in the areas around the mast holes and bitts. It seemed so logical in fact, that I decided to include them to my version, especially since they seemed to be an easy feature to add.
    Since my bowsprit was not yet permanently attached, it was pulled out first to allow adding the doubled deck for the winch bitts. I made up these three somewhat simplified versions of the doubled decking area add-ons as shown below.

    You can see that I even included a version of his contrasting body wood for the winch bits, but was unable, at my scale, to make them separate pieces. So I just compromised, and was able to combine the two into one.
    He also made body wood for all of the deck projections, but once again, with the difficulty of working at my much smaller scale, I decided to skip the remaining projection trim. (I think that if I had known about them earlier in my build, I might have included them, but that’s water under the bridge now.)
    After completing the doubler decking sections and test fitting the winch bitt with the bowsprit reinserted, I discovered to my dismay that the bitts had been placed too far back from the bow and the extra thickness of the decking had also lowered the angle of the bowsprit! Once again it was back to doing some more damage control.
    So the pointed bow end of the doubling deck and the heel end of the bowsprit were both shortened, and the bottom cross beam of the bitts was filed down until the proper angle was restored.
    Whew! But wait for it… when test fitting the fife rails, I also discovered as you can see below that the spindles included with the kit were 0.16mm too tall and caused the rails to be tilted! It seemed like if I found one thing that needed correcting, something else also had to be changed.

    Comparing my wood bitts to the metal fitting that came with the kit, they were a match size wise. Which only left two possibilities. One, the spindles provided were too tall, or the fife rail fittings were too short. At least the error was apparently not mine. But, since the metal spindles couldn’t be shortened, I had to add 0.16mm to the bottom of the posts.
    Since I was never quite satisfied with the previous fife rail posts anyway, I wasn’t all that bummed out about it. Unfortunately, while taking my glued up fife rail fittings apart I broke one of the plastic rails, which would have been the hardest part to reproduce. Luckily it only broke into two pieces, so all it needed was to be glued back together.
    So I ripped down a couple more 3/32” x 3/32” maple strips as shown here and cut the notches for the fife rails as I did originally.

    Rather than filing a peg at the bottom of the posts again, I decided to add that missing 0.16mm to the bottom and to cut them off at 10mm and drill a hole into the bottom for a 10mm long 0.62mm brass nail with the head filed off. Which left about 6mm exposed to go into the deck.

    Since all of my light buff deck house paint from Model Shipways came out of the jar the consistency of a hockey puck, I ended up grinding it down and added enough water to get it somewhat usable again. The first time around I had made the mistake, of gluing the fife rails together prior to painting and as a result, the assembled fitting was very hard to sand between coats and the resulting finish was rather poor.
    So this time I painted all of the components before assembly to make them easier to sand between coats. Of course my paint was so watered down now, that I had to use six coats with light sanding between. I did manage, however to get a much smoother finish this time.
 
    While I had been careful to avoid getting paint into the notches, I forgot that the wood might still swell a bit from so many coats of watered down paint. So, another test fit was done, and sure enough, the notches had to be lightly filed for easier assembly. Now all I need to do is add the half cleats and reassemble the fife rail fittings for later installation on the deck.
    My next posting will cover making the navigation lights and the portable anchor davit.

 

Thanks Mike!
 
Continuing on with the hammocks, I made a line of clay, which fit between the hammock cranes--

 
I wrapped this in the black painted Silkspan and tested the fit.  It looks just okay.  I may work a bit on the "wrinkles"--

 
I removed the clay/paper, realizing it would be much easier to run the line through all the hammock cranes without having it in the way.  And it was FAR more difficult than I anticipated.   I spent hours trying to come up with a way of stiffening the end of the line with superglue, and cutting a point on it, but the holes in the cranes were just too small, and some had become partially blocked with blackening deposits (I think).  I spent a lot of time with a pin trying to open the holes--very awkward with them glued in place.  Some cranes came loose from the rail, or bent (though easily re-straightened).   I even tried supergluing a strand of fly tying thread to the end of the line to lead it through the holes, but that failed like all the other attempts.  I finally searched for a thinner line in my stock, and found one.  It was just enough thinner to work--
 
 
Hopefully I can get through the rest of the holes, and finally see what this looks like with the hammock paper inside.
 
Also, trying to finish everything on the deck before rigging begins, I glued some eyebolts and rings to the deck binding strakes, and some to the channels, which can be seen in the photos.
 
All for now,
Ron
 
 
 

For those who have used traditional sandpaper with a paper backing the improvements in sanding paper took a major advancement when they started producing self cleaning sand paper. There are several brands, I prefer Abranet, made by Myrka. it lasts longer ad self cleans better. It works really well with the soft sanding blocks that have the backing that grips the sand paper. Just cut it to fit. The other characteristic is that it never really wears out it just changes the grit as it ages. After long use 80 grit becomes 120 grit and with more wear becomes 220 grit etc. Try it and you will never go back to traditional sand paper.

Well I guess it’s a wrap. I completed my Charles W. Morgan today. It has been an educational and fun 2 year journey. Thanks to everyone here on MSW for all the support. Not sure what my next build will be. I will take a break for a bit. I still have a 9000 piece puzzle of the Battle of Algiers. That will be a good project to take a break with. 
 
Here are some final pics. I need to figure out how to make an album and mark the build log finished. 
 
Happy modeling!
 










 

The bow structure is finally finished. Some details are missing, which I will do later
 

I finally fixed the bow structure:
 










 

She was thought to be a three masted frigate of approximately 200 tons, that measured 103 feet long with a beam of 24.6 feet.   Originally operated as a slave ship operated by René Montaudin, a leading slave trader of Nantes, until it was sold in 1713 in Peru.  She was briefly operated by the French Navy in November 1716, but was sold by them for commerce five months later in France as a slaver once again.  Then in November 1717 she was captured by Edward Teach (AKA Blackbeard the pirate) near the island of Saint Vincent in the West Indies.
    After Blackbeard and his small fleet of pirates sold her cargo of slaves at Martinique, he gave her the name of Queen Anne’s Revenge. He made her into his flagship and added more heavy cannons. (For a total somewhere between 30 and 40.)  He continued to operate her and his small fleet for less than a year in the Atlantic Ocean between the west coast of Africa and the Caribbean, attacking and capturing numerous British, Dutch, and Portuguese prizes.
    Then in May 1718 while attempting to blockade Charleston harbor in North Carolina, his flagship ran aground while entering Beaufort Inlet.  Despite efforts to kedge her loose by one of his smaller ships, the sloop Adventure, he decided to disband his small flotilla, transfer supplies to the smaller ship and make his escape.  Several of his crew members were stranded on a nearby island, who were later rescued by Captain Stede Bonnet.  He ended up surrendering shortly after that and accepted a King’s pardon for himself and his remaining crewmen from Governor Charles Eden at Bath North Carolina.  However, he soon resumed his career as a pirate and in November 1718 he was killed in combat.
    On November 21, 1996 a shipwreck was located by Intersal Inc., that laid in 28 feet of water about one mile offshore of Fort Macon State Park, Atlantic Beach, North Carolina.  They believed it to be the remains of Queen Anne’s Revenge.  After much research and recovery of artifacts from the wreck, the National Geographic Society finally confirmed on August 29, 2011 that it was indeed that ship.
    During the interim while they were still trying to confirm its identity, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. The site is now owned by the State of North Carolina and located South of Beaufort Inlet.
    As somewhat of a side note to this ships history, the Sunset, a replica of Queen Anne’s Revenge, was used in numerous roles in the Pirates Of the Caribbean films.

 

A beautiful Model Daniel, congrats, well done
 
Nils

Continuing on.
 
I'm going to try using clay to stand in for the hammocks.   My plan is to wet the Silkspan, and wrap the clay.   Hopefully when it dries it will shrink a little and take on the bumps in the clay.  We shall see.
 
First test is to size the clay filler, and determine the right width to cut the Silkspan--

 
I folded this piece over the clay, and held the ends down just to try and get some idea how it will work, and look.  It hasn't been wetted, and it's also the thicker Silkpan, which I don't intend to use.  But I can waste it to test, and determine the width piece that I need.  I think I can trim 1/4 inch of the width of this piece--

 
I'm also ready to start locating the end caps and cranes on the cap rail.  After epoxying a pin in each end cap, I located them on the ship, drilled holes and dry fit them--

 
Incidentally, I ended up narrowing each cap a bit.  These looked okay in place, so I drilled more holes in the cap rail and tested the 7 aft starboard hammock cranes in place--
   
I discovered that some of the blackening on the cranes had either not taken, or had flaked off, so they will need to be re-blackened.   I also see that the end caps need some adjustment of the top curve.  The two at the entry steps are not uniform.  When I narrowed the end caps I also adjusted the angle/curve of the tops, and apparently I "fixed" some more than others.  The angles on the iron cranes will need fine tuning as well, once they are glued on.


 
All for now.
Ron
 
 

I previously posted a review of this model kit back on January 4 th of this year.  I took numerous photos of it during the process and have decided to post this build log for it.  First, I'll give you a bit of its history and details of the actual ship.
    While there are no confirmed records of the date and place of construction it is generally assumed to be around 1710 since there are no records of its activities prior to that date.  She was a three masted frigate of approximately 200 tons, that measured 103 feet long with a beam of 24.6 feet.   Originally operated as a slave ship operated by René Montaudin, a leading slave trader of Nantes, until it was sold in 1713 in Peru. She was briefly operated by the French Navy in November 1716, but was sold by them for commerce five months later in France as a slaver once again. Then in November 1717 she was captured by Edward Teach (AKA Blackbeard the pirate) near the island of Saint Vincent in the West Indies.

I could suggest another possible option here Ron. Before I throw out old appliances or tools, I always disassemble them and salvage anything useful, especially if they can be used for models. If you have a small old electric motor driven tool that you no longer use, you could use some of that fine copper wire that's wrapped around the armature. The smaller the motor, the finer the wire.  If it's disguised as rope and it needs to be draped, it can easily maintain the curve and there is no fuzz to deal with.  

Perhaps I can provide some personal insight on this concept Gregory. See my build log for the whaling bark Wanderer in the Kit build logs for subjects built from 1851 – 1900. The 1/87 scale plastic model kit is made by Aurora and I am heavily modifying the kit, by replacing most of the plastic parts with wood, including the ships deck.

Perhaps I can provide some personal insight on this concept Gregory. See my build log for the whaling bark Wanderer in the Kit build logs for subjects built from 1851 – 1900. The 1/87 scale plastic model kit is made by Aurora and I am heavily modifying the kit, by replacing most of the plastic parts with wood, including the ships deck.

Perhaps I can provide some personal insight on this concept Gregory. See my build log for the whaling bark Wanderer in the Kit build logs for subjects built from 1851 – 1900. The 1/87 scale plastic model kit is made by Aurora and I am heavily modifying the kit, by replacing most of the plastic parts with wood, including the ships deck.

Continuation: Equipment of the fore topgallant yard – Vergue de petit perroquet
As announced a long time ago, I started to equip the fore topgallant yard. In principle it is the same rigging elements and accessories as the main topgallant yard, just with reduced dimensions.
In this respect, I don't want to repeat myself and let the pictures speak for themselves.



The double blocks for the royal sheets and the single cluelines are also a little smaller.
Here is a direct comparison of a quarter block for the main top gallant yard with those of the fore top gallant yard. Unfortunately, at this size you can already see some irregularities.

In the next photo I show, among other things: an already made strop for a double block with my scale man, which I've been neglecting a bit lately. Actually a loyal companion at the model building yard for more than 10 years now.


And here's another picture of the stirrups. On the one hand you can see the unraveled rope and on the other hand the finished braided plating.

 The sheets are connected to the cluelines in the usual way when no sails were attached.

 Finally, here is a picture of the entire fore topgallant yard, but still without lifts.
 
Sequel follows …

Ok, here's what I got. The first picture is a "Harness Cask," (I don't know how "harness" is defined on a ship) the second is the "Grog (watered down rum) Tub," and the third is the "Scuttlebutt" (contains water). I do have US Navy plans of the scuttlebutt and the harness cask should anyone want them.
 
Jon

A quick update

Spent the last weekend building a new office desk/hobby desk.  Previously I had been working on a small foldout table relegated to the corner of the living room, the cramped space had really starting to frustrate me and my office computer desk was also on its last legs. I decided to solve both problems and went to the hardware store bought an 8 foot butcher block counter top, ordered some metal desk legs online, along with some under desk cabinets.  It's already so much nicer to work on the boat having some space to breath and lay my tools out.  My next plan is to eventually get rid of the cheap pdf hobby organizer rack I am currently using and expand with something more permanent and with more useful organizational space.   Only thing I see that needs improvement is some better lighting. 
 

 
Back to the Beagle.
 
I started on the ships boat carried on the deck, these little boats are harder to put together than I was expecting and I made quite a few mistakes that I will try to improve on the other 3 boats.

 
I have also started on the cannons, I am doing a pretty simple rigging for them since they aren't really the focus of a boat like the Beagle.  Next step is to get them fastened to the deck.

Experiments with Silkspan continue. 
 
After applying another couple of coats to the example in the previous post, I decided to try the "thin" Silkspan; the above post used the "medium" variety.   There is a big difference in thickness.  After wetting and taping a piece to my frame (and letting it dry), this time I applied acrylic matte medium to both sides of the Silkspan, hoping that this would fill in the fibers, so that I wouldn't need as many coats of black paint to make it opaque--

 
This seemed to work, and after three (I think) coats of black, I had a nice smooth, opaque surface-

 
While coats of paint were drying, I glued eight thin pieces of wood into a block, to shape into the end caps for the hammocks--

 
I decided that I would follow the angle of the bulwarks, inner and outer, with the hammock cranes and the end pieces--

 
However, my shaping had reduced the "block" too much.  It was too definitely too short, and too narrow for comfort, so I glued another set together-

 
These should work--

 
I separated them, and because some had slight marks from prying them apart I sorted and numbered them to put the "bad" sides inward where they would be covered by the hammock cloth and not seen.  I drilled holes in the bottom for pins--

 
I marked and drilled the holes for the six lines in the end caps.  Here also are two sheets of painted "thin" Silkspan, which I will use--

 
I'll now experiment with how to shape and place the hammock cloth within the cranes, and epoxy the cranes and end pieces to the ship.   I'll probably need another sheet of Silkspan also.
 
All for now,
Ron 

More progress on the eight fishing dories, using swiss pear which is very nice to work with, planks are .018" thick easily bendable with fingers.
Had a clamp which I glued bits of wood to, so that sanding to shape was easier. 

 
First planking done now have to work out shape for the second plank.
 

 
Until next time,
Regards
Richard
 
 

I would use a strip of double sided tape to hold it in place.  Others here use a temporary adhesive followed by a release agent. I'm sure there are probably other methods that are covered in the shop notes area of our forum.

I would use a strip of double sided tape to hold it in place.  Others here use a temporary adhesive followed by a release agent. I'm sure there are probably other methods that are covered in the shop notes area of our forum.

I would use a strip of double sided tape to hold it in place.  Others here use a temporary adhesive followed by a release agent. I'm sure there are probably other methods that are covered in the shop notes area of our forum.

I think I mucked up, I thought I was starting a Build Log, but it appears this Post was in the "Introductions" folder.
So I will now try and start a Build Log here.  And I'll start again.
Introduction
Hello, my name is Wayne and this is my first Post here, I joined the group a couple of weeks ago.
I’m 74 and in Melbourne Australia. I have been on Forums years ago, before Facebook killed off many of them, I was on several RC Tank Forums.
And I’m not real sure of the protocol for posting here, please advise me if I go astray.  
I’m currently building the Billings African Queen.
And this has been a quest of mine all my life, I saw the movie as a very young boy when my parents went to the Drive In Pictures, around 1953. And I have always remembered different scenes from the movie. So I have now finally got around to building it, and with live steam. And intend to have RC for the steering, I will just let the steam engine chug along. Yea being an open launch I don’t want to have servos etc spoiling the look of the model. I hope to hide a small servo for steering under the rear seat.
Yes I have made very many different and varied models over my life, including boats, so I feel I’m reasonably capable to build this launch
And the vacuum formed plastic hull will be water tight when on the water. But I’m thinking of planking over the hull, I hope that will be OK.
And I must say, the most important tip I picked up while researching the build was to leave the top extra mounding there, not cut it off until the hull internals and deck were completed.
I have the ‘Miniature Steam Models’ plant #4034 here to go into the boat. I must thank gjdale, (Grant) for guiding me to that plant, and it looks spot on for the Queen.
And MSM are in Melbourne too.
Just ordered 2 universals, 5 to 4mm, and a brass prop from ‘Float a Boat’, also in Melbourne, and they were very helpful. Will have to see if I use the Billings prop shaft or have to buy a longer one.
Wayne