pompey2

And yet more-


Here's the finished paint job.
 


I have now moved on to the Channel Wales.
They have been cut bent and glued on.
Here I have masked the painted surfaces so that I can sand the Wales without a risk of marking the paint.


Now, after sanding them down I am giving them the tree nail treatment.
I used a piece of masking tape to mark the drill line as I went.


Now the Channel Wales have been fully tree nailed, filled and sanded.
You can also see here the Black Strake above the Main Wales, ironically not actually painted black.
I put this on after the painting so that I could get a sharp paint edge.
It is thinner than the Wale so I made them up fully, complete with tree nailing and sanding before fitting.

Finally to bring me right up to date.
These are the fancy profiles to go along the painted upper hull sides.
I have used Chucks scraper, supplied with the kit, to make the shape.
Here they are getting a coat of Danish oil before fitting.
I will be using Danish Oil for finishing all of the bare woodwork.
 
Thanks for dropping by
 
Nick
 

to continue-



Main wale both sides now sanded back and a small radius sanded in top and bottom.

Next job, remove some of the capping structure where it crosses the higher gun ports.
Here's on done and one waiting, first carefully saw them out.

Then a gentle sand back to shape.
The paint gets a touch up a bit later.


Now I can get prepared for some painting.
I am giving the painted surfaces a coat or two of Shellac sanding sealer, then a very fine grit sanding.
First time I have used this but I am pleased with how it worked out.
Here you can see the Wale coated and the upper works.

Bit of a jump forward.
But hull masked and 20 coats of thinned (quite a lot) Admiralty dull black acrylic applied.
I used an air brush.
But I think that it will be the last time I do use the air brush.
I have been finding that the many thinned coat approach gives a perfectly satisfactory finish with a brush.
The Air brush is, to be quite honest a huge P.I.T.A.
Extra masking, dedicated painting area, constant clean between coats, who needs it.
Another shot from the bow.

I'm afraid it's been a while since I updated my build log.
But here we go with a few posts to bring it up to date.

This where I had go to.
All the above wales planking is now drilled for tree nails.

And I then sanded back and rounded out the holes with an awl.

Now they have been filled and again sanded back.


Next thing was to add the main wales.

For the strakes at the bow some special treatment is required.
First I need to edge bend them.
I have a jig with a couple of suitable radius guides glued on.
Put in the plank and use my hot air gun to heat it up, then gently push in the loose outer guide and clamp in place.

Once cool (I tend to leave for at least an hour but not really necessary) the plank comes out.
There is always a bit of spring back but that was allowed for with the guide.

Then I use the hot air gun to gradually work the required radius in for the planks position.
This method allows me to constantly try and adjust till I'm happy, heat it up - flex or twist a bit by hand - try in place - repeat.
Here is the wale at the bow finished.

And at the stern.

Because the wale will be painted I have been able to use a bit of filler to fill any small gaps etc.
 
Nick

to continue-



Main wale both sides now sanded back and a small radius sanded in top and bottom.

Next job, remove some of the capping structure where it crosses the higher gun ports.
Here's on done and one waiting, first carefully saw them out.

Then a gentle sand back to shape.
The paint gets a touch up a bit later.


Now I can get prepared for some painting.
I am giving the painted surfaces a coat or two of Shellac sanding sealer, then a very fine grit sanding.
First time I have used this but I am pleased with how it worked out.
Here you can see the Wale coated and the upper works.

Bit of a jump forward.
But hull masked and 20 coats of thinned (quite a lot) Admiralty dull black acrylic applied.
I used an air brush.
But I think that it will be the last time I do use the air brush.
I have been finding that the many thinned coat approach gives a perfectly satisfactory finish with a brush.
The Air brush is, to be quite honest a huge P.I.T.A.
Extra masking, dedicated painting area, constant clean between coats, who needs it.
Another shot from the bow.

to continue-



Main wale both sides now sanded back and a small radius sanded in top and bottom.

Next job, remove some of the capping structure where it crosses the higher gun ports.
Here's on done and one waiting, first carefully saw them out.

Then a gentle sand back to shape.
The paint gets a touch up a bit later.


Now I can get prepared for some painting.
I am giving the painted surfaces a coat or two of Shellac sanding sealer, then a very fine grit sanding.
First time I have used this but I am pleased with how it worked out.
Here you can see the Wale coated and the upper works.

Bit of a jump forward.
But hull masked and 20 coats of thinned (quite a lot) Admiralty dull black acrylic applied.
I used an air brush.
But I think that it will be the last time I do use the air brush.
I have been finding that the many thinned coat approach gives a perfectly satisfactory finish with a brush.
The Air brush is, to be quite honest a huge P.I.T.A.
Extra masking, dedicated painting area, constant clean between coats, who needs it.
Another shot from the bow.

I'm afraid it's been a while since I updated my build log.
But here we go with a few posts to bring it up to date.

This where I had go to.
All the above wales planking is now drilled for tree nails.

And I then sanded back and rounded out the holes with an awl.

Now they have been filled and again sanded back.


Next thing was to add the main wales.

For the strakes at the bow some special treatment is required.
First I need to edge bend them.
I have a jig with a couple of suitable radius guides glued on.
Put in the plank and use my hot air gun to heat it up, then gently push in the loose outer guide and clamp in place.

Once cool (I tend to leave for at least an hour but not really necessary) the plank comes out.
There is always a bit of spring back but that was allowed for with the guide.

Then I use the hot air gun to gradually work the required radius in for the planks position.
This method allows me to constantly try and adjust till I'm happy, heat it up - flex or twist a bit by hand - try in place - repeat.
Here is the wale at the bow finished.

And at the stern.

Because the wale will be painted I have been able to use a bit of filler to fill any small gaps etc.
 
Nick

to continue-



Main wale both sides now sanded back and a small radius sanded in top and bottom.

Next job, remove some of the capping structure where it crosses the higher gun ports.
Here's on done and one waiting, first carefully saw them out.

Then a gentle sand back to shape.
The paint gets a touch up a bit later.


Now I can get prepared for some painting.
I am giving the painted surfaces a coat or two of Shellac sanding sealer, then a very fine grit sanding.
First time I have used this but I am pleased with how it worked out.
Here you can see the Wale coated and the upper works.

Bit of a jump forward.
But hull masked and 20 coats of thinned (quite a lot) Admiralty dull black acrylic applied.
I used an air brush.
But I think that it will be the last time I do use the air brush.
I have been finding that the many thinned coat approach gives a perfectly satisfactory finish with a brush.
The Air brush is, to be quite honest a huge P.I.T.A.
Extra masking, dedicated painting area, constant clean between coats, who needs it.
Another shot from the bow.

I'm afraid it's been a while since I updated my build log.
But here we go with a few posts to bring it up to date.

This where I had go to.
All the above wales planking is now drilled for tree nails.

And I then sanded back and rounded out the holes with an awl.

Now they have been filled and again sanded back.


Next thing was to add the main wales.

For the strakes at the bow some special treatment is required.
First I need to edge bend them.
I have a jig with a couple of suitable radius guides glued on.
Put in the plank and use my hot air gun to heat it up, then gently push in the loose outer guide and clamp in place.

Once cool (I tend to leave for at least an hour but not really necessary) the plank comes out.
There is always a bit of spring back but that was allowed for with the guide.

Then I use the hot air gun to gradually work the required radius in for the planks position.
This method allows me to constantly try and adjust till I'm happy, heat it up - flex or twist a bit by hand - try in place - repeat.
Here is the wale at the bow finished.

And at the stern.

Because the wale will be painted I have been able to use a bit of filler to fill any small gaps etc.
 
Nick

Hello Jerry.
2 part epoxy.
IMO nothing works better. Is it messy? YES! Is it a big waste? YES! Is it more expensive? YES! Is it still the best option? YES!
Hope this helps.
 
Ulises

Xacto knife or scalpel, diamond tweezers and ........ number 1 - Headband Magnifier. It's the first thing I reach for when I sit down.
 
I'm looking for a good one to replace my 10-year-old one - the lenses are getting past it, too many scratches. I'd prefer one with a 3rd lens that goes to 6x or 8x magnification - not that useless drop-down round one but an actual rectangular lens. It also doesn't need those equally useless lights - they don't do anything a good movable worklight can't do, and they get rather heavy after an hour or so.
 
Any recommendations?
 
  Danny

Hi Guys,
Thanks for all the nice comments! and the likes.
 
Hi rafterrat, the PE is very easy to bend being only 0.15mm thick and the fold lines are grooves etched into the surface so it’s a simple case of using a blade to hold the part down, just showing the bend line and then using another blade to pry it up.
 
Thanks David not so sure about that though!
 
Hi Greg it isn’t too bad on the eyes, but I find I can only do a few hours at a sitting before eye and hand strain set in.
 
Thanks Sam but might leave that off for these…although you got me thinking about the main 15” guns!
 
 
Okay the 37mm guns are totally finished as far as I am concerned and even packed away in a little storage container never to see the light of day again for who knows how long.
 
The trials and tribulations at working at the kitchen table.  I made a spray ‘booth’ out of some poster board to keep any overspray contained.  The compressor was fired up and left in the shed and the airline run up the side of the house and in through the door to the filter/moisture trap/gauge which was clamped to the table.

 
 
The parts were held in various configurations to hold whilst spraying.  The main bodies were stuck down on to some blu-tac on the end of a bamboo skewer and then held by a clothes peg.  The side assemblies were stuck onto blu-tac and then stuck into some balsa blocks with piano wire.  These parts could be held by the wire and skewers and rotated when spraying.  The side seats were stuck down onto some Tamiya tape along the edges of a balsa block with the arms hanging over the edge for access.

 
 
Here are the main parts all sprayed up with Tamiya Dark Sea Grey.  Other than a few trials spraying the lantern on my Endeavour this is my first real attempt at using the airbrush in anger and a few points of note I would like to make.
 
The Tamiya grey was mixed 50/50 with Tamiya acrylic thinners and the pressure was set at 15psi although I turned this down a couple of psi as I progressed.  The above set up and ratio sprayed beautifully giving fine lines to broader spray no problems.  The spray worked perfectly during the whole time with no splatter or clogging even with multiple stops for a minute or two to swap over parts and I could have sprayed for hours like this.
 
This is in total contrast to spraying the black barrels.  In the morning I went to the local hobby store for Tamiya flat black but they didn’t have any so went home knowing I had Admiralty Paints Metal black.  Admiralty Paints paint beautifully with a brush but DO NOT AIRBRUSH. 
Within a couple of minutes the airbrush would clog and splatter and stop then blast out full bore before clogging and splattering again.  Not to mention the problems cleaning the airbrush at the end.  The grey cleaned up in a few minutes!  In the end I used the last of some Games Workshop Chaos Black spray I had in the shed.

 
 
After I glued all the parts together and left overnight it was time to insert the barrels.  I struggled for a long time trying to line up all the holes to feed the nylon bristle through to hold in place until I realised that the elevating quadrant was hitting the gun mounting.  For the first 2 assemblies I bent the front sector of the quadrant to give more movement but this was difficult.
 
In the end I used the craft knife to remove the front sector completely as trying to bend them was breaking them off and had to reglue them back on.  Once the front sector was removed the barrels dropped right in and then wiggled about to get the bristle through.
 
Once all the barrels were in place and the bristle slipped right through, I stuck the gun bases down on to masking tape and used a balsa block to set the heights of the barrels all the same.  Then using a needle I touched some CA to the breech/mount/bristle to fix the barrels at height.  Then I used nail clippers to snip off the bristles from each side of the mounting and a final touch up with grey and black.  Although the macro shows I missed some bits and pieces.

 
 
Guns totally finished and all laid out.



 
 
Not bad for a first real attempt at constructing with PE (used PE in the Endeavour build but nothing like this) but could do better I think.  As usual lots of lessons learned.  Firstly shiny brass appears to look really good since CA glue dries clear you don’t really notice it until painted when it shows up in lumps and bumps and rough spots.
Some of the bending could be better, especially the side arms but these are very difficult to hold and bend in multiple directions without disturbing previous bends.
 
Overall I enjoyed the experience and like I mentioned I have the 20mm cannons to do but might have a break for a weekend or two.  I should be ordering the hull forms and another ‘kit’ book next week so will be a relief to work on something that can be seen without being 3 inches in front the face LOL
 
Cheers
Slog

Hi Heksanol
 
I have a method that is best explained by looking at your first photo.
Where you have seized the block in the photo, imagine the loose end you show passing back through the seizing.
That makes a loop that can go around the yard and the loose end can be pulled to tighten the loop.
Some glue seals it all up
 
Nick

My advice to anyone reading this and contemplating the restoration of a ship model is NOT to attempt to retain as much of the old Rigging as possible. The rigging on an old model is the first thing to go as it's made of efemeral material. It gets brittle and has lost its strength and by the time it's in your hands the rigging is falling to pieces. If you "restore" a length of line on a model that has snapped, your repair job will only last as long as it takes for the next stretch on the same length of line to part. In my view, if any part of a length of model line has parted, the ENTIRE length should be replaced. If your goal in restoring the model was to stabilize it for a future in a collection, you aren't doing other conservators any favors by returning this model to the collection as it's rigging will continue to deteriorate-the repair of that one broken section will NOT prevent the rapidly increasing rate of decay that has already been underway on the model and is sure to continue.

Hi SOS
Nicely related story, thanks.
On the Acrylics front, I have just finished doing exactly what you asked about on my Confederacy.
Two coats of Shellac based sanding sealer, light sanding, many, many coats of thinned acrylic.
And I'm very pleased with the results so I would say no problem.
 
Nick

Hi SOS
Nicely related story, thanks.
On the Acrylics front, I have just finished doing exactly what you asked about on my Confederacy.
Two coats of Shellac based sanding sealer, light sanding, many, many coats of thinned acrylic.
And I'm very pleased with the results so I would say no problem.
 
Nick

Hi SOS
Nicely related story, thanks.
On the Acrylics front, I have just finished doing exactly what you asked about on my Confederacy.
Two coats of Shellac based sanding sealer, light sanding, many, many coats of thinned acrylic.
And I'm very pleased with the results so I would say no problem.
 
Nick

A Crown Timber Yard equivalent in the UK please.
 
Mike.

I used to use steam
But since finding the hot air soldering tools I have been converted.
Here is a link with more details including my review
https://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/14646-bending-with-heat-only/
 
This cheap little unit delivers a 300 degree C (or higher if you wish) air stream in a focused nozzle.
 
I find the advantages over steam are
 
No preparation needed, just jump straight into a bend.
Steam can only reach 100 C (in atmos), this thing can go a lot hotter, so time to bring a plank to a malleable state is seconds.
You can keep revisiting the bend - put in heat, bend a bit by hand - hold out of heat a few seconds and try - return to heat and repeat as many times as necessary.
It will edge bend and twist.
The timber does not swell with the water/steam.
It is quite safe even though it doesn't look it.
the hot spot is within a millimetre or so of the nozzle.
You can put a finger within a 1/4" of the side of the nozzle without discomfort.
 
Sounds like I'm selling them
But I would recommend taking a look, even just read a more detailed review.
 
Nick
 

I ran 15 LEDs in my Caldercraft Victory.
I ran the two supply wires out though the mounting base to a transformer and added a remote control.
I buried a card with resistors in the hold and ran them as three parallel lines of 5 LEDs
Rather than Gunports I took a different approach.
At the foot of stairways, below skylight, behind cabin windows and in the three stern lamps.
 
Nick

3D printing, or Additive Manufacturing is really taking off now.
There are now a huge range of metals that can be used, at work we are switching a lot of manufactured parts to AM.
I recently saw an example of a 130 part Aero engine welded sub assembly converted to a single AM part.
Our products often require a complex wire hole to be routed though a difficult shape.
That involves drilling holes at odd angles, machining pockets that then get welded closed etc.
A great candidate for AM, the path is now nicely swept and requires no post machining.
But it get's better.
This will really blow your mind.
We are researching AM for the basic part with through hole (Stainless)
Then a second AM process with an insulating medium to line the through hole.
Then a third AM process with copper to put a conductor into the insulation.
Hey presto no need to run a wire at all, it's all printed.
It looks like AM dual materials is going to be a big one going forward.
 
Nick

I ran 15 LEDs in my Caldercraft Victory.
I ran the two supply wires out though the mounting base to a transformer and added a remote control.
I buried a card with resistors in the hold and ran them as three parallel lines of 5 LEDs
Rather than Gunports I took a different approach.
At the foot of stairways, below skylight, behind cabin windows and in the three stern lamps.
 
Nick

I ran 15 LEDs in my Caldercraft Victory.
I ran the two supply wires out though the mounting base to a transformer and added a remote control.
I buried a card with resistors in the hold and ran them as three parallel lines of 5 LEDs
Rather than Gunports I took a different approach.
At the foot of stairways, below skylight, behind cabin windows and in the three stern lamps.
 
Nick

Loving the work on your bow fillers, very nice
 
Nick

Exactly.....so even though you might find some other brands of backers easy to find.  Dont use them because most if not all of them have high levels of the stuff.   Just look for some way to get the polybak.
 

 

 

Hi Guys
Stunning Work Chuck Ive loved following the build - as a newbie here I feel like I'm walking where angels fear to tread suggesting this but thought I might share something which is sort of between both your and druxey preferences just a simple way to hold lines till you want to permanently fix them without using glue or marking them.
 
When I started rigging I found I needed at least three hands until I came across some various sized electrical heat shrink tubing. I used it for taking the strain during shroud seizing and just adjusting and holding any lines fixed or running in position till you were ready to finally tie them off.
 

 
Just cut two or three pieces of tube - thread the line or rope thru then around the block or deadeye then back up thru the tube. Move them to a position above or below where you want to place the final seizing. Hit them with a hair-dryer to whatever tension you want - easy or tight slip or no slip and when you've finished the final seizing take a no 11 blade to the rubber and it falls off with no marks or need for clean up.
.
Apologies for the Photo its from my Billings candidate for a Viking burial. Cheers Pete