Ferrus Manus
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yvesvidal reacted to a post in a topic:
Le Chebec Requin 1751 by Ferrus Manus - Heller - 1/50
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yvesvidal reacted to a post in a topic:
Le Chebec Requin 1751 by Ferrus Manus - Heller - 1/50
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About the injector marks on the hull: I tried to scrape them with a knife, but I couldn't get the knife straight enough (because of the stanchions) as to not damage the plastic. I am afraid to attempt sanding them as it would surely destroy the wood grain, and I wouldn't be able to re-scribe it properly. I figure they will probably just disappear into the detail. At least, I hope they will. This is the only thing about this kit that really grinds my gears. -
Today's jobs were drilling holes for the gun rigging eyebolts and gunport lid outhauls, and gluing the hull halves together. Tomorrow will be painting.
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yvesvidal reacted to a post in a topic:
Le Chebec Requin 1751 by Ferrus Manus - Heller - 1/50
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yvesvidal reacted to a post in a topic:
Le Chebec Requin 1751 by Ferrus Manus - Heller - 1/50
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Don't damage the wood with saliva!! 🤣
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@yvesvidal, your Chebec (and you aren't even done with the hull yet) exhibits a level of quality and craftsmanship that I cannot even hope to match here. Truly, when it is done, it will be worthy of a spot in a museum. With that said, I am finished building and painting the hull of the ship's boat, with just the oars left to go.
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Ferrus Manus reacted to a post in a topic:
Le Chebec Requin 1751 by Ferrus Manus - Heller - 1/50
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yvesvidal reacted to a post in a topic:
Le Chebec Requin 1751 by Ferrus Manus - Heller - 1/50
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yvesvidal reacted to a post in a topic:
Le Chebec Requin 1751 by Ferrus Manus - Heller - 1/50
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mtaylor reacted to a post in a topic:
La Lomellina by Louie da fly - scale 1:100 - Theoretical Reconstruction of a Genoese carrack sunk in 1516
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Let's start off this build by getting the ship's boat out of the way. Interestingly enough, Heller has a kit called La Sardane, which I thought, until now, depicted a 17th century ship's boat. In reality, it's a repackaging of the Requin's boat plus some sails, yards and masts. As per the sprue label, the boat is known as a chaloupe. This is likely the direct French translation of the English word shallop, meaning a small boat/ship's boat, especially in the context of 16th and 17th century maritime terminology. 1751 seems a bit late to call a ship's boat a shallop. By that time, at least in the English-speaking world, ship's boats had individual names based on form and intended role (pinnace, jolly boat, launch, etc). The ship's boat, apart from some warping of the keel halves, was easy to put together, and was molded so precisely that the interior pieces fit easily into the boat without glue. Here's what the ship's boat should look like when it's done: This, to the best of my knowledge, is a museum model from Toulon.
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gsdpic reacted to a post in a topic:
Le Chebec Requin 1751 by Ferrus Manus - Heller - 1/50
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After I finished my Reale, I imagined a world where I could make another large lateener without having the hassle of dealing with poorly molded parts and excessive numbers of oars and oar-related parts- a proper sailer, properly armed, properly rigged, and properly good looking. Well, today, the ship I imagined showed up on my doorstep. The chebec was the galley's last breath- a final, hail-mary attempt to remain relevant in the age of the gun. Probably developed in North Africa or the Middle East, the chebec was the perfect weapon of the Barbary Pirates. It was a sleek, fast, nimble sailer that could rapidly approach a large square-rigged merchantman, hold them up, and make off with the stolen goods with authorities being none the wiser. it was so bad, in fact, that the major navies of the Northern Mediterranean built their own chebecs as an anti-piracy weapon. The kit is so well thought out that I might not even replace the kit blocks, just add more for the ship's gun tackles. I will have to do some research on rigging, but overall, it is an extremely well-made kit especially by Heller standards. I got it on eBay where there are several listings of this same kit, for maybe half of what it would be worth unopened. The kit is complete and unstarted, and I want it to look like this when complete: Shall we begin?
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Ferrus Manus reacted to a post in a topic:
Gjøa 1872 by Harvey Golden - Roald Amundsen's Cutter built at Rosedahl, Norway
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mtaylor reacted to a post in a topic:
HNLMS Jacob Van Heemskerck postcard
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Ferrus Manus reacted to a post in a topic:
HNLMS Jacob Van Heemskerck postcard
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Ferrus Manus reacted to a post in a topic:
HNLMS Jacob Van Heemskerck postcard
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Ferrus Manus reacted to a post in a topic:
HNLMS Jacob Van Heemskerck postcard
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Ferrus Manus reacted to a post in a topic:
Dora Railway Gun by Kevin - Soar Art - 1/35 - started February 2025
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Ferrus Manus reacted to a post in a topic:
Best Marine Salvage Airbags for Lifting Sunken Vessels?
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Ferrus Manus reacted to a post in a topic:
Best Marine Salvage Airbags for Lifting Sunken Vessels?
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Ferrus Manus reacted to a post in a topic:
Best Marine Salvage Airbags for Lifting Sunken Vessels?
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Recently, I ordered a book that was lightly used and in good condition from an online used bookstore, regarding British coastal vessels. Whoever owned this book originally had used what seemed like an early 20th century postcard from the Netherlands as a bookmark. Some basic research told me that this ship is the Dutch coastal defense ship Jacob Van Heemskerck (1906) and that this picture was taken in 1912. The style of the postcard, according to my research, is the type printed in Germany during and immediately after World War One. Is this postcard rare or valuable? Any information regarding it would be helpful.
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Sorry for the month-long hiatus. The avionics bay, or at least the beginnings of it: To be honest, this kit is really crappy. It's a mixture of poor design and poor execution on the part of Roden. It has so many issues that I think I will go for the wheels-up, closed-doors, in flight display. There are enough windows on the plane to make it a reasonable choice. It's a shame because of how detailed the engines are.
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The kit-supplied decals were not accurate to the actual colors/layout of the actual control panel, or even accurate to the type of skymaster in question. This is my hand-painted attempt, which is based on an image of what appears to be the closest control panel layout to what the kit provides. You tell me which looks more like the real thing.
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The firewall/engine mount and control panel assemblies are constructed to the point at which I can start painting them. Much work was required to ensure as proper of a fit as possible between the two assemblies, and between the assemblies and the fuselage halves. I highly doubt the top piece above the control panel isn't warped on the port side. Roden oh so generously provided me with decals for the control panel- decals that I'm unable to apply without sanding down the raised surface detail. I could probably do a better job myself by painting it.
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If someone is going to go so far as to accuse you of collaborating with pirates, you might as well not give them another second of your time. As a modeler (and a person) I value honesty, integrity and personal responsibility. If you design a crappy kit, you own up to it. Doubling down and pinning it on the modeler does not work and isn't a good look. If I'm paying for your model, I expect a good standard of quality. I am currently building a Roden kit (as you know) and I definitely have gripes about the design and execution. Fortunately for me, the issues I'm having aren't model-ruining. You deserve better that to have to deal with someone like that, and they need to seriously reevaluate their business practices.
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Unlike any reasonable kit manufacturer, Roden actually makes you drill holes for the landing lights yourself. The way I managed to do this was to paint a tiny yellow dot on the center of each landing light (both are one piece) and, while the paint was still wet, press the piece up to where it was to go on the model. Then, I immediately wiped the still-wet paint off the lights. That gave me an idea as to where the pilot holes were to be drilled on the model, and I expanded them until I got this. While they certainly don't look very good, once they're painted and the lights are in, they won't look as bad. I think I got the holes at least close enough to where they were supposed to be that it wouldn't be noticeable at a reasonable viewing distance. I honestly don't understand Roden's logic of forcing a modeler to unnecessarily risk ruining their model by drilling holes they easily could have molded into their parts. This will be a recurring theme.
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@Egilman Thank you for the information regarding the reason for the engine's disgusting appearance. I have attempted to replicate that appearance on the first of the aircraft's engines: It isn't a very large engine either in real life or in my hand. I think I replicated the anodizing coating with relative accuracy using shading. One of the next things I want to achieve before setting out on the next engine is drilling some holes in the fuselage for lights and making the frame for the aft engine.
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88 frames!! Do you really even need planking at that point?
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The type of engine used in the Skymaster is a Continental IO-360, a 6 cylinder, flat aircraft engine. Here's a real example: Most of the examples I have seen on the web seem to show a mostly steel-colored engine with a deep, oily, almost bronze-like patina over the entire thing. I recognize many of the individual elements of the engine in the picture, having looked at the instructions and the sprues. About the sprues: Remember when I said this model is very complicated for what it is? There are a grand total of 100 engine parts, 50 to an engine, across the aircraft's two engines. For context, there are many entire aircraft kits at this scale with fewer than a hundred parts. This should make for an interesting assembly, and should make painting easier. I might begin assembling one of the engines tonight, or I might not. My only gripe is the size and location of some of the sprue gates, and that issue extends across the entire model. It reminds me of some of the Warhammer kits I used to make when I was younger.
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