Doreltomin

As I mentioned in the Intro, the Higaki Kaisen had no frames.  The model is built around a set of molds which will be removed later.  It is flat bottomed.  I broke a piece of the planking and Jeff quickly came through with a nice thin slab of boxwood which is about the same color but without the heavy grain of the Cyprus.
 
  Bob R.

Not to forsake my Constitution build but I had the opportunity to purchase this kit while in Japan during the month of April.  A Japanese friend of mine picked it up on Japanese Yahoo for a great price.  It was delivered to his house the next day and I hand carried it back to San Diego. 
 
    The Japanese Cyprus wood used in the kit is outstanding and the laser cut parts are of the highest quality.  I quickly noticed that when sanding the wood there is a very pleasant odor.  Smells like Nana's old cedar closet.  The only downfall of the kit is that the instructions are entirely in Japanese.  Fortunately, there are not a lot of written instructions.  The instruction format is 90% graphics.  The packaging of the model is superb as seen below in the obligatory box / contents photos.
 
My goal is to complete this kit in time to show at next years 40th Rope Exhibition in Tokyo.
 
    The Higaki Kaisen (hee-gah-kee-kah-ee-sen) is an Edo Period cargo boat used from 1600 to about 1868.  Higaki was a Trades Guild in Osaka, Japan and Kaisen translates roughly to Cargo Boat.  During the Edo Period, Osaka was the center of the national economy and Edo, which is Tokyo today, was a big consumer city.  The Higaki Guild held the chartered right of maritime transportation of consumer goods from Osaka to Edo.  The Higaki-Kaisen were the sailing freighters of the Higaki Guild.
 
   The Higaki Kaisen hull structure has no framing.  Instead, its' hull consisted of only planking firmly joined with nails and clamps.
 
    I want to give a special thanks to Clare Hess.  Clare has helped me get this started and has provided me with numerous photos and information on his build.  Thanks also to Don Dressel who just completed his build and has provided me access to his model.
 
      Bob R.

Giving her build-date and builder is as good as tellin gshe was named SS Namdo
Wrecked by a seamine in 1944
 
Jan

Europe back on line..
 
Was just thinking that she looks a lot like the first vessels with Irish Shipping, for instance the Irish Pine.. but the Wheelhouse is slightly different, so I suspect her pedigree is very similar ! the first Irish Shipping vessels were all 'previously owned'..
 
Stay Well
 
Eamonn

Latest achievements go here ...
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=9glpb--vOik
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=XNVUUidHKls
 
Two more tests of my advancing character animation. The workflow and setup is almost complete. The texturing of the coat is still missing. Credits for modelling of headwear, wig and under-garment goes to Varsels from sharecg.com. The officers coat, its fittings and the overall composition and animation setup is my own creation.

In respect of additional information:  HMS Pandora by Larisa Rumjantseva (Ukraine, Odessa) - the Gold medal on the European Championshit in Timishoara and the first place in the class C1 agrees NAVIGA rulles 
http://forum.modelsworld.ru/topic8032.html

More here. The setup gets more accomplished now. The latest render features a bow wave and foam along the hull...


 

 
 
 

Hi...
...there is no some special way of polishing the hull ... first do some grinding, for example with glass, then fill the gaps with putty, then do sanding with sandpaper, with fine one and then with the finest one in the end ...

Tthank you all for the compliments ...

schnu... model is to be in a work stand until it is completed, or until it is done ​​so much that can be placed in a display stand,,, in the work stand model must  stand solid that you can work all kinds of work: drilling, gluing, etc. ...
... The address of our site is lowermost in my profile ... thanks for asking ...

OK ... here are a few more photos ... now the hull is polished and ready for the next phase of work ...

its the bit that hangs down from a spar or yard arm to string the footropes to enable the crew to let out or furl the sails. I got this from the kit instructions & Lennart Peterssons book "Rigging Period Ship Models" I hope that's right ! ? Geoff

After a week of filling and sanding she's now primed and marked up, ready to be painted.

Finally managed to get back to work on her. As you can see I've now completed the starboard side planking, and just about there on the port side. Thanks everybody for the interest shown, it's been a surprise as to how much motivation it gives you.
Lots of filling and sanding to come next.

Yessss, congratulations Jan! She is indeed the Tromblon of 1875, nowadays a well known diving site off Toulon. The fourth picture shows her as she is today:
 
Your turn!

Yes Jan, actually I love this period very much because of these bizarre shaped ships. I remember first seeing as a school boy a picture of the old Redoutable in the Brest dry dock. It was in my first maritime book, which I kept reading and re-reading all the time. It looked like an old marine beast taken out of the sea. Now here is the first photograph of our "beast", taken late in her career, with the raised part of bulwark stripped down and extensively modified from her previous look. And it is not incidentally that I spoke of the old Redoutable, which was actually one year younger than our subject!

Well, I believe it's time for another clue.
 
Yes Hexnut, it's post siege of Saigon and post Crimea and Jan guessed the period pretty well, althoug he must have looked a few years earlier than 1880. And she's not a car ferry but a gunboat. Moreover, she's not one in a series but just an one-shot boat with an un-eventful career. She had only one brief episode of war in the summer of 1881.
 
Yet, there is a twist of the tale. As previously said, she still exists...  in a certain way, and is well known to those who research her.
 
I had just four pictures of this rather bizzare craft. The first was that one on the building yard. Here you can see the second picture of her, this time floating -later in her career, with her masting and rigging stripped off and only with the funnel remaining. I believe this picture is taken during a refit because the next one shows her with just one mast before the funnel, without bowsprit and extensively modified in the fore part, which incidentally makes her ressemble well with Rendel's flatirons
 
And, by the way: as the rake of the funnel says, the stem is to the left and the stern is to the right of the picture!

Never knew the Frech did build so many strange vessels
 
Jan

still existing as a famous dive site or so?
 
Jan

Or one of those funny shaped gunboats?

Well, I believe it's time for another clue.
 
Yes Hexnut, it's post siege of Saigon and post Crimea and Jan guessed the period pretty well, althoug he must have looked a few years earlier than 1880. And she's not a car ferry but a gunboat. Moreover, she's not one in a series but just an one-shot boat with an un-eventful career. She had only one brief episode of war in the summer of 1881.
 
Yet, there is a twist of the tale. As previously said, she still exists...  in a certain way, and is well known to those who research her.
 
I had just four pictures of this rather bizzare craft. The first was that one on the building yard. Here you can see the second picture of her, this time floating -later in her career, with her masting and rigging stripped off and only with the funnel remaining. I believe this picture is taken during a refit because the next one shows her with just one mast before the funnel, without bowsprit and extensively modified in the fore part, which incidentally makes her ressemble well with Rendel's flatirons
 
And, by the way: as the rake of the funnel says, the stem is to the left and the stern is to the right of the picture!

Resembles Jabba's sail barge from Star Wars VI 
 

The French had some weird hull-designs in the 1880-ies....
But I cant find this one (actually, I still don't know whether we look at the front or the back-end
 
Jan

Introduction:
Imperial Russian Cruiser:  Varyag, (Variag)
 
 
I am really excited to work on this model, having followed it's development prior to release and finally purchasing one of the last remaining kits in the USA (that I could find anyway).  The kit was produced as a limited edition by Artwox Model, who are mainly known for their wooden deck offerings.  This kit was their first foray into a full model kit, detailed release photographs can be found here.  My interest in this kit was not originally in the actual ship itself, but rather in the type of ship, and the level of detail that the kit contains.  
 
What I was really looking for was a super detailed model of SMS Emden of World War 1 fame.  However, I quickly came to realize that if I wanted to do anything to the level of detail that I wanted, I would have to scratch build most of it.  Emden was appealing for it's operational history, type of ship, and the mission it was designed for.  These protected cruisers were at the time not conceived of as line of battle ships, but rather as commerce raiders.  Almost akin to the frigates of 100 years before.  Emden and her crew played that role to perfection in the Indian Ocean.  A highly detailed kit of Emden was not available, but the Varyag was.
 
So, not knowing much about the ship or it's history I sprung for the kit, putting it in my to do pile for a later day.  In the interim, I have learned a lot about the ship, it's history, and even it's crew.  I plan on doing a more detailed post later on to share some of the better details that I have learned thanks to a Russian co-worker, a museum curator, and good old fashioned research.
 
Some Quick Facts:
 
Built:  Philadelphia Pennsylvania, USA, William Cramp & Sons
 
Year Launched:  31 October 1899
 
Type:  Protected Cruiser
 
Length:   425'
Beam:     51' 10"
Draught: 20' 8"
 
Armament:
12 single mount 6" Rifles
12 single mount 3" Rifles
10 Small Caliber, 1.9", 1.5" rapid fire Rifles
6   Submerged Torpedo Tubes, 15"
 
Service:
 
Russia:   1899 - 1904
Japan:    1907 - 1916
Russia:   1916 - 1918
 
Fate:
 
Seized by the United Kingdom 1918, ran aground 1920. scraped 1925
 
The Kit:
 

 

 
Whats in the box:
 

 
as you can see from the photo above, there is a lot in the box!  The hull is a casting from Zvezda, the deck is a thick sheet of brass covered by a real wood veneer.  Everything else is either in the 248 pieces of resin, 86 scribed brass parts, or in two large sheets of PE.
 

Wood Deck + Some of the resin parts
 

Brass Deck Substrate
 

Scribed brass parts
 

PE sheet 1
 

PE sheet 2
 

Hull Detail
 
Kit Short Comings:  
 
Though at first glance, it appears that everything you could possibly want to build the kit was in the box, that isn't really the case.  For one, there is no stand or mounting contained in the contents.  Okay no big deal there.  The other, the instructions, though highly detailed, only show you where everything is supposed to end up in the assembly.  Not how to put the ship together.  So I hope that this log can be of service to others that may have a hard time deciphering the pictorial instructions.
 
The next post will include some history and research about the ship, then I will get into the build itself.
 
Best Regards!

Think I got it, the cruiser Nadezhda?

Bulgarian?

Well Done Nigel.. Suirbheir it is !!      that's it, I taking a photo of a pedalo in the local duck pond next time..  or an RNLI Lifeboat.. evil laugh !!
 
Eamonn
 
OK Bud you are up next..