Doreltomin

And these are the consequences for my little ship :-)   Here the old improved lid, with new fittings , ok looks a little bit scratched by now ...     ... with the too wires to fix but still looking a bit thinny.     Increased thickness with 0,5 mm sheet ...     ... the all new lanyards ...     ... and much closer to what I want :-)   Using 0,5 mm sheet I can show the decreasing thickness nicely by using 0,25 mm for the second gundeck and by leaving the upper lids "à la nature"   Small detail, the two lower gundecks have two tackles on the outside and two rings on the inside, the upper gundeck lids have two tackles but just one ring on th inside, and the lids underneath the poop have just one tackle and one ring :-)   And now: Beat to Quarters!     Not as much protruding as often seen ...     ... and if one sees this view better look for cover!     For me even more interesting: what can be seen of the fastened guns???     And one can look inside even better than with the guns run out :-)         "As an ϋber detailer I am wondering if you intend to represent the leather sleeves thro' which the port topping lifts run"   Hallo B.E., I think I will do a simple solution for this: just a little bit of white glue and black paint :-)     You mention leather, I thought these were lead pipes, or are you talking of something different?   All the best, Daniel    
And to finish just a sum up ...
 
 
  Mast, Stern, upper deck, beakhead bulkhead and the small bit of deck are just dryfit ...     ... this is where the ship starts ...     ... and here it ends :-)   Lieber Gruß, Daniel

And now to something completely different:
 
Halleluja, praise the heavens!
 
Why? Because also small things can make me happy :-)
 
Looking back: A year ago I was already working on the improved gunport lids but had a grandious failure on the gunport tackles:
Looks like a ball of hair straight out of the shower plughole :-(
 

 
These days I broused through Gil Middletons wonderful Jotika-Victory and dicovered the splicing that he presents there:
 
We proudly present: The Powersplice
 

 
It is simple but effective:
 
Thread - here 0,3 mm - through the ring, neadle through the thread, it is more easy than it looks ...
 

 
... make tight, secure with a drop of glue ...
 

 
... and once more through it with feeling ...
 

 
... pull thight and ...
 

 
here we are!
 

 
Great, isn´t it???
 
All the best from a happy Daniel with thanks to Gil!

As Rob the Rasper would say, I am just trying to avoid the 100 guns waiting for me around the corner, I found some more itzy-bitzy-tingies to still push the other task a little bit further
 
There I found the MASSIVE lugs of the side davits and the D-block - for the crossjack lifts - much too small to drill a decent hole; That is most possably why heller suggests to fix the lifts in the mizzen top ;-)
 

 
Made a new block, on a handle to be able to hold it properly, and made new lugs out of sheet ...
 

 
... and as usual, the rest of the untidyness is coverd up with black ;-)
 

 
And now my question is: Where and how are those lifts being fixed? On the lanyards? A ring on the channel? A ring on the hull?
 
Amicalement, Daniel

On a model in a german forum I saw the copper held on the top by a thin wooden strip. Once discovered, it can be found on all ships still bearing their copper hulls, nicely to be seen on the HMS Triconmalee.
 
I was preparing this for a while as not to damage the copper. Trials with Polysterol did not work as it was difficult to cut and to flimpsy to glue. Trying wood on the circular saw did give just rubbish as the little thing was meant to be only 0,3 mm thick and 1 mm high - and about 50 cm long.
 
And the result from the last show said: Trust your hands :-)
 
So I found 0,4 mm wooden strips from the trials for the planking that was long enough, glued it onto the cutting board - with help of the cutting ruler - for that nothing can move ...
 

 
... and cut with a razor blade. Even though it resulted in different hights ...
 
... so I built a template with a guide 1 mm high, a movable guide in the front 1 mm high to hold, putting the strip vertically in and sand everythig away that sticks out. Gives a very even hight and very even apparence :-)
 

 
Glued it on immediately which worked fine ...
 

 
... at least at the bows. Aft it - have a look yourselves ...
 

 
... this Heller lump always existed, but now it sreamed HERE I AM, so I had to do something - as usual with me ...
 

 
... looked for the right trace with some tape, difference almost 3 mm (!) ...
 

 
... striped the strip down , cutting down the copper plates that stood over the stripline and glued the strip back on, this time straight :-)
 
And as it was so much fun, I solved the same ...
 

 
... Heller-bug at the bows too - luckily only 1 mm this time, ...
 

 
...  lifted the strip with a blade and repositioned :-)
 
And now there is a nice finish to the top border of the copper. 
 

 

 
Have fun, Daniel

Act 3
Happy End
 
And here they are, our happy actors ...
 

 
... from the inside ... 
 

 
... and with a mockup crane.
 

 
Huuuuooorrrrrraaaaaaayyyyyy!

And what is that for???
 
Until now she is a nice ship but as I mentioned already in a earlier post, it is meant to be a martial piece of war technology ...
 
... and I simply realized that I will not be able to push much further away the wonderful and lovely task of building the hundred cannons ;-)
 
First came bolts and some color shading: highlights and shadow - as usual. Then the apron for the secured one ...
 

 
... the flint look for the one in use and the breeching ropes.
 

 
Even though it looks short, it is long enough that the muzzel can be retrieved inside for about a meter. The rope will be replaced still by a better one :-)
 
For the rigging there are so many different versions found in the literature and in Portsmouth, so I decided to try that one for the secured one:
 

 
Now come the freshely build blocks ...
 

 
... but looks strange ... *think* ... *read* ... ok ...
 

 
... block and lanyard were the wrong way ...
 

 
... and here on the secured one.
 
 
And as it pleases here some more views :-)
 

 

 

 
Now welcome Hell-O-Kitty ;-)
 
Remark 1: The side lanyards are not meant to stay that tightly pulled to the back, they are meant to be loose on the floor. But it was less disturbing for the work :-)
 
Remark 2: No, even I will not do all the guns this way on the lower decks! But to work out simplifications, I have to know the real thing :-)
 
All the best, Daniel

... I finally found some material to represent the lead roofs of several parts of the ship: 
 
Aluminiumfoil TF2 from Hasegawa ...
 

 
... glued and cut ...
 

 
... and with some layers of a transparent mixture of plack ink, white paint, cleaning solvent and water ...
 

 
... it looks quite charming. Even though the original is extremely matt light grey it looks rather comprehensive on the model as the silver slightly shines through :-)
 
Here are the round house tops, the netting is not the original of course  ;-)
 

 
As the region I come from is Swabia, so we are known to be are excessively stingy - some claim, that we are Scots, banned because to be even tooooo stingy for them - and also me beeing too impatient to wait for out of stock deliveries?
So I help myself ...
 

 
... know what is coming????
 

 
Now should be getting clearer ...
 

 
... yes, it is the 2 mm blocks ...
 

 
... the ones with the ring :-)
 

 
Looks less tattered in real life, I hate that macro ;-)
 
All the best, Daniel

... that it will still take some time before I start the rigging. But I wanted already start to reflect upon my deadeyes and the lanyards.
 
First thing was to construct the original and guinee dafi deadeye holder to fix the parts to be able to work properly.
 
 
 
Like this, the shroud is fixed, the height can be nicely adjusted, it has the right orientation but I am still able to turn it to reach the back :-)
The small wood with the two clamps are just holding with their own weight and so it is very flexible.
 
First the loop with the vertical first lashing, putting the deadeye in, adjusting the height, close the loop and put the other two lashings. A needle helps a lot :-)
 

 
And after putting in the lanyard ...
 

 
... it looks a little bit like this ...
 

 
... and with the a bit more of the surrounding area :-)
 

 
It still is the wrong rigging line, also the direction of the loose end has to be checked, the lashings most probably should be black and for shure there are other mistakes still in there. But it was a nice start of the evaluation period :-)
 
Amicalement, Daniel

Hi all here is tonights bit, I've corrected another flaw of this kit There is a big gap in the knee of the head (which according to the experts would not hold the weight of the head and should have been filled with carvings of some sort ) here is the gap

and (since i'm no carver her is my fix, I know its not very elaborate but it fills the hole)

 

 

Hi all well since my boss was having her hair done in Harrods that meant 5hrs sitting in the car waiting, I took a few parts to do whilst waiting, I think I've glued over half the cannon barrels together (the moulding on these kits really is superb, it's such a shame about their customer care)

Thanks to all of you for your kind comments about my work, greatly appreciated. Jack.
 
Continuation . .
 
Further images of the clinker planking . .
 
01 29012016 P1100455.jpg

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Regards, Jack.

Friday, January 29th, 2016
 
In the last days, I proceeded to apply planking with the famous method called "clinker": I was a little worried, however, so far, it has been going pretty well.
 
The pre-cut strips, already shaped, until now worked in an excellent way. The only flaw is that each strake is composed of two strips, one long and another shorter. And this fact required a joint and only after some time I finally realized that the shorter strip had exactly the same shape as the initial part of the long one and then I could put alternately forward and aft as desired with, in my opinion, a better result.
 
The poop is smoothly evolving, except for some points to be finished after the stern wheel, while the bow is much more tricky: its evolution is different than that of the stern and the strips must be forced a bit more to follow the water lines.
According to me the prow strips had to have a different shape for this zone, not equal to that of the stern. But for now that's fine too.
 
After have installed a pair of strakes I should be able to detach the model, it should not move anymore, from the board so I'll can install inside the deck and then proceed with the sides with the hull upside right.
 
However I need to proceed quite slowly, maximum a few strakes per side each day . . but it is better than I thought.
Regards, Jack.
 
01 29012016 P1100451.jpg

02 29012016 P1100452.jpg

03 29012016 P1100453.jpg

04 29012016 P1100454.jpg

 

Sorry, for the late reply, Jack.
 
I add a picture from a reconstruction drawing of Werner Dammann. It shows a possible viking style figure head for the Gokstad ship.
 

 
If you have a look at the original in the Oslo museum, you see that stem is also a little smaller than in your model.
Werner Damman shows in his wonderful book about the ship also another solution that as far as I know is the most common interpretation
 

 

Jan, you are right: the building instructions tell us to fix the deck to the frames before planking. As you say this will stregthen the structure. But, this strength is only applied on one axis and in my opinion, for this model this is not enough . .
 
I try to explain better: considering the relative small height of this keel, also with the deck installed you probably may not assure the required rigidity of this assembly. In fact this is not probably enough to ensure avoidance of torsion movements of the hull and keep held the prow and the poop.
 
So, all my infrastrucure is finalized to avoid any kind of torsion of the hull over its three axis. The deck can be installed after the planking when the hull will be detached from the board. In addition this method allows me to enforce the internal side of the hull below the deck if necessary.
Keep in mind this is my first experience with clinker planking and I'm trying to achieve the best result with minimal risk . . think for example to the process of beveling the frames: with my method you can sand the frames without major risks to broke them because they are firmly locked and consequently, more safe.
 
To conclude, always remember the mission of a building slip: keep the hull structure in the perfect shape until planking is sufficiently strong to avoid distorsions. You may avoid to use it only in few circumstances and, believe me, this is not my case . .
Cheers, Jack.

Thursday, January 21st, 2016
 
Second building board completed . .
 
Finally, after a couple of days that I could not stay working in my workshop due to a cold weather, yesterday I found the right conditions and I finished setting up the building board, board that will be exclusively used to apply the planking.
 
As you can see from the pictures below, with this building slip the keel and frames assembly is rigidly fixed to it so that all the pieces are firmly stuck in the (hopefully) correct position and unable to move. I believe that with this method it should not be difficult to avoid any kind of deformation on the three main axis of the model.
 
Starting from now I can proceed with the planking, obviously after beveling where necessary.
Now comes into play the quality of the kit builder project. My aim was to put the pieces so far mounted in the best position to apply strakes, which, as you can see the first images back in this topic, are already pre-cut to the correct shape, as they are not the usual straight strips. If the Dusek kit project will be good, then it should be a simple walk (just to say), otherwise. .
 
Also for the planking there is the problem to dye the wood before its application, as for the keel and frames. We will see how to proceed along the way.
 
Now, however, I expect a few days of other commitments and probably I will produce few interesting thing for a while. Here follow a batch of images showing this new building board in detail. I hope its architecture sounds clear. If in doubt, just ask to me.
 
Regards, Jack.Aubrey.
 
01 21012016 P1100447.jpg

02 21012016 P1100445.jpg

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Tuesday, January 12th, 2016 . . Frames installation.
 
On the day that my daughter left Pisa for Los Angeles, where she will stay +/- for a full month, I started with "nostalgia" to install and fix a first batch of frames of my "Viking". Obviously I used the process I described previously and I must say that it works brilliant, at least until now.
 
Here in Tuscany my new workshop seems to run well: till now I didn't need to use the electric heater because the weather feels more spring-like than winter. Only one thing confirmed its uncomfortability and impracticability: the chair, but in ten days will be discarged.
 
01 13012016 P1100416.jpg

02 13012016 P1100417.jpg

03 13012016 P1100418.jpg

04 1301201 P1100414.jpg

 
 
Regards, Jack.Aubrey

I have been meaning to take a look at this model for some time. Thanks for taking the time to show us all the details.
 
I have a piece of the original Gokstad ship given to an American frigate captain who was in Norway on a goodwill visit when they were excavating the ship in 1881. He visited the excavations and they gave him a 'souvenir'  It's a small piece of wood and a piece of goat hair they used for caulking.

Tuesday, January 5, 2016
 
Everything is now ready for the inauguration !! The worktable is ready, the shelves as well. . the chair is temporary, too low, but soon another most suitable will come from Milan. However improvements can always be done provided they will be needed.
 
So I can finally say that I could start doing something serious from now.
 
I'm starting to study the drawings and the assembly instructions of this Viking ship. For the moment I have some concerns about the rigidity of the hull framing, I fear some kind of deformation. This will probably happen if I'll strictly follow the provided instructions. I think there is a strong need to think about a building slip useful for a capsized assembly that will allow me to work keeping held the hull until the installation of almost all the planks. But it is not so intuitive about how to do it !
 
I'll sleep on it ! Let's hope in a viable solution . .
 
The worktable finished . .
01 20160105_172550.jpg

 
The two shelves side by side . .
02 20160105_172543.jpg

 
An overview of the workshop: worktable, shelves, radiator, water, lighting enpowered and desktop backup, only the chair is unsatisfactory.
03 20160105_172533.jpg

Sunday, January 3rd, 2016
 
It's now about fifteen days I settled in Tuscany, near Pisa, where the weather is much better than in Milan, especially in this winter, till now without rain and with pollution . .
 
During the Christmas and New Year time I thought about how to transform the garage, I rented this summer, in a shipmodeller workshop where spending some time with my preferred hobby, even when I stay here in Tuscany, quite far from my main workshop. As I previously wrote in this topic, not believing feasible to continue working on the "Brick de 24" when I'm away from Milan, I thought to build a Viking ship model starting from a kit. The "Brick de 24" is the model I'm currently building in Milan from scratch and described at ....
 
I have already presented the Viking ship kit earlier in this topic and now there is no need to write more. Instead, before I can start to seriously do something, I had to plan and get some simple "furniture" absolutely necessary to me for working:
1 - a usable worktable
2 - a couple of shelves,
3 - an upgrade of the existing lighting
4 - an electric radiator to heat a little the workshop when, during the cold days that will sooner or later come, it will be certainly needed, although the weather here is not like in Milan.
 
Easily archived steps no. 3 and 4, for solving the first two I planned a visit at the IKEA shop in Pisa, but later I changed my mind. So I went to a carpenter's shop and there I noticed that I could get the wood needed for scratchbuilding my furniture among pieces of debris cuts, offered highly discounted for sale, having anyway an very good quality. I then realized that buying a power screwdriver/drill/hammer and the wood I'll have spent the same money to buy what I needed at IKEA. But at the end I'll get also a drill . . tools missing here, and I would enjoy even for a few days great DIY sensations.
 
After purchasing the drill (it also sounds a great tool) the shelves were built in a short time. Then I started the worktable. The pieces were cut in measure at the carpenter's shop and I had only the job to mount, glue and screw the several elements. Below a couple of pictures of the worktable in two different states of construction. I believe to finish it definitely tomorrow installing a lower shelf.
 
01 P1100395.jpg

 
Below, the worktable with the final top shelf added and already used by one of my five assistants to test its features and functionality . .
 
02 P1100398.jpg

 
Now I just have to better organize the layout of the garage and take out the materials and tools I brought from Milan. Then I'll can finally start the Viking ship.
 
Greetings to all and happy Epiphany. . Jack.
 
PS: At the beginning I think to leave them as natural wood but may be I'll reconsider this choice later and paint them with woodfiller

This is my temporary work station so it's far less cluttered than usual. I have a nice big area in my basement dedicated to model building but due to an illness that has made me much weaker than normal I no try to avoid going down stairs unless I have too. In the meantime I have set up a card table and along with this rolling cabinet that I modified to hold my materials and tools I am in business in my living room. I also got lucky at work and salvaged that 4'x4' tack board that has been great for a plan board.

Looking more and more respectable each time, John. Bien fait, monsieur!

John,
We all poke each other with that Sharpie.  I'm covered in polka dots.

Hee Hee, apparently Avacado wood is not hard to come by in Hawaii. Fun.  Don, looks like you are the first to give it a serious effort. You could build a series of models and call it your Guacamole fleet. Be interested to find out how it works out. What is the color, does it mill nicely? Does it sand smoothly?. What is the hardness ,say compared to pine ,or maple? Fun stuff.         Bill in Idaho, where Avacado is a house plant.

Hello Lukas,
 
Congratulations, that's a very nice model indeed. Heller plastic kits can make into very interesting models, only you have to be patient and careful with them. It seems to me that you are not certainly a novice, it's a clear thing that you know what you are doing up there! I particularly like the colour of the deck. In the first pictures it looked a bit too gray, yet in the latter you added some lighter coloured strakes... is that all paint over plastic or you remade the deck in wood? Looks very authentic, anyway! This on the light side.
 
Now on the dark side, it seems your masts are a bit curved, you must take your time to correct this. Either trying to straighten them (generally speaking I used a recipient filled with hot boiling water and a pair of pliers to make them straight, check first the correct temperature with a piece of plastic) or replace them in wood if you are not sure about straightening them in hot water.
 
Keep up the good work,. have fun and cheers!

Next is to cut stock a scale ¾" square. This is next to impossible without a zero-clearance table and a slitting saw blade. So I made an insert of aluminum sheet and raised the saw blade through this, as shown (upper left). Note that, on this saw, I have an Accuriser II fence. I attached a secondary scale measuring in inches at 1/48 scale. This avoids having to translate from thousandths of an inch (actual) to scale inches.
 
I cut several sheets of 1/64" Castello stock and rubber cemented them to a sacrificial piece of softwood. In this case it was simply a paint stir-stick (upper right). This was then run through the saw and the pieces separated and cleaned up, giving the 1/64" square section required for the frames (below).