Greg Davis

No, there is not a plan sheet with the laser cut pieces to scale. This is unfortunate both for checking the supplied pieces and for anyone that would have liked to scratch build based on a new plan set. It seems that this would not have been hard for Model Shipways to have printed and included. There are drawings of all the laser cut pieces in the instruction manual - but no scale is provided / it is not clear if there is any distortion in the drawings. They don't seem to be worth anymore than as part identification.

Today I received the newly released 1:48 scale Phantom New York Pilot Boat 1868 manufactured by Model Shipways. I wanted to build this kit for at least two reasons. First, in 2007, the 1:96 scale Phantom was the first wooden model ship that I completed (not the first I started!) and now after 17 years and many models I hope to do much better this time around. Second, I have a dog that I named after the boat and he is getting up in years - just turned 14 - so we don't know how much more time we will have with him. This model will help cement my memories of him. A young Phantom is the one on the left below; we lost Zargon, on the right, nearly 10 years ago. So back to the kit! As noted above, this is a reintroduction of Phantom at a larger scale. One of the biggest differences is that the new 1:48 version is plank on bulkhead; whereas the 1:96 version is a solid hull model. The plan set has not changed, short of making enlargements from the 1:96 scale kit. Thus if you have built the small model, there is really nothing new in terms of documentation. The instruction book for the 1:48 scale kit features color photographs to aid the construction process. It's sort of funny that Model Shipways continues to use the same basic material at the start of the booklet as they have for years. Once and a while they should update! For example in the Painting and Staining section, they still refer to making use of Floquil and Testers Model Master paints - both of which have been discontinued for years. Nevertheless, it appears that the construction is laid out in a thoughtful manor with many photographs to aid in the process. However, it won't be until the model is completed that I will really know how good they are (for me). In terms of materials, there is a slew of limewood strips and several sheets of laser cut materials: Note that the keel / stem / stern post components are separate from the false keel. This may simplify tapering of bulkheads and creation of the planking rabbet. There is a sheet of photo-etched parts. Some I will likely discard, e.g., the wheel and deck houses as they deserve to be built with wood. Finally, there is a collection of fittings, rigging line, etc. I'm not sure how much of this material will be used verses replaced. Certainly the blocks need to go and probably all the rigging material as well! Hopefully soon the construction will begin!

I've started to fit some of the decorations near the galleries. Most of the vertical ones are a tad too long and need to be shortened - which is fine as too long is better than too short! I'm reducing them quickly with a desk sander as filing was taking more effort than desired. I'll probably glue these in place later today. Currently I'm too caffeinated to keep everything in place.

Now the castings have gotten a couple of coats of paint! Not quite as harsh as before. I used Vallejo Air Gold paint for this.

There sure are a lot of castings in this kit! I've 'stuck' the larger ones on a piece of cardboard so that I can airbrush them without too much fear of them flying away. I don't care much for the plating, so I will be toning them down a bit. Hopefully when done they will look more like they were gilded instead of plated. There are also a zillion flor de lis, but they are so small, I doubt that painting in this manner would be worthwhile. I will say that these Corel castings are not badly done compared to some other kits, especially when it comes to flash removal - nearly none needed here.

Thank you so much!

After months of having this model sitting on a shelf, I finally added the 6 ship's boats and the anchors. The ships boats are not as good as I had envisioned, but will do. I decided to paint them all a color similar to the hull planking and then stowed them upside down. I'm taking some 'artistic liberty' here, as the actual boats were probably white at this time and stowed upright as the ship had a significant davit system for the boats. Here again I choose not to include this detail. I'm going to call it job done as far as the model goes. Time to build a case and get this out of the house!

After a bit of touch painting, the windows have been installed:

Got them all cut out / cleaned up today. Two or three have a bit of damage, but they will not be needed as there are extras of the tall and short narrow windows. There are no extras of the larger stern windows - fortunately they are all usable. The outer window casing edges need to be repainted and then the windows will be ready to install.

Can't quite believe it took 3 days to paint all the window grates - hard on the eyes for me! Now its time to start cutting all of the windows out. This may also be time consuming!

Thank you for looking!

I'm planning to use the pressed fiber windows. Today I airbrushed the windows blue and am starting to paint the gratings and window frames by hand:

That is quite an 'interesting' looking machine! I just watched a couple of videos of it on the water - amazing! thanks Greg

A couple of Dremel flap sanders later and some finish sanding has resulted in some good looking hydrofoils. Here is a mock up with the pontoon and nacelles. Now I really need to do some metal work!

Decided to give a go on the hydrofoils today. I cut a piece of boxwood 1/4" thick, a bit wider than the chord (~ 2cm), and about 2 feet long. The main hydrofoil is about 15" long the rear one about 4". After marking the foil shape on one end of the slat, I repeatedly ran it across my table saw to 'mill' the basic shape. The extra width of the slat allows the slat to sit flat on the table saw for this operation. Now I will sand the final foil shape, except for the leading and trailing edges - they will be shaped after parting the mostly formed hydrofoil from the extra material. I hope this works!

Thank you so much for the offer! I really look forward to what you might be able to fill in the missing gaps from my kit. I do have the window frames (unlike you, there is no way I'm going to do all the work to open up and lighting he cupolas!), stern lanterns, and false cannon barrels. Greg

One triangular bulwark in place - one to go as well as the corresponding top rail. Seems to look better than what I could possibly do with the kit supplied pieces.

That's wonderful that you will take a look!

Got a good start on one of the triangular bulwark structures today. I've tried to build in some of the curvature. Once this is dry some finish sanding will even up all the pieces and will hopefully have a nice look.

This is a wonderful offer! The castings I am most looking for are the 14 closed gunports (roughly 1cm wide) as well as the (8 cm) ship's boat. The capstan is also missing, but that I can recreate if necessary. If you do find them, we can arrange shipping etc. Thanks! Greg

Did a bit more work up front - added some of the head rails. The upper ones are actually L-shaped. The recess is for a good deal of grating. Unfortunately, the appropriate amount of grating was not included in the kit. I didn't feel like making any so I went ahead and ordered enough to finish the project. It should get here in a day or two. Started work on, and attached, the front cupolas. They will get lights at the same time the stern ones do; i.e., not today! Between the blue planking, fore and aft, the bulwarks are to be raised with wood containing a decorative triangular motif. The kit includes numerous bits of wood with notches that when matched properly form the triangular openings. Unfortunately the supplied pieces are not well formed having rough / chipped edges and inconsistent heights. The amount of work that would be needed to get a reasonable outcome from these pieces is definitely not worth the time and effort. I will be making this section of bulwark in a slightly different fashion instead. To get started, I've milled some 2mm x 2mm Castello boxwood. The bulwarks will then be made in three layers - first a 2x2 strip, next a line of trapezoids about a centimeter wide and sides that will form the triangular shape, finally another 2x2 strip will top it off. Once this is all in place another walnut rail is to be added. Unfortunately, soon after ordering the grating material I found that there were other missing parts from the kit - notably a number of castings that I was planning on using. So a request went off to Model Expo (where I had purchased the kit) and they claim to have forwarded the request to Corel with the expectation that the parts will be sent to me in 4 - 6 weeks. I hope this actually happens! Else some additional work I wasn't planning on.

I do have a well equipped model shop and enjoy scratch building as well! Here are a few pictures of a 1:36 scale model of a 1750's French dredger I built from ANCRE plans a couple of years ago. It was made from cherry that I milled specifically for the project. All the 'bolts' are copper wire, and the remaining metal work (including the scoops) are brass.

The stem and keel are now completely 'planked'. As expected, the result is OK; but I'm still going with Corel could have included solid would for these features! It certainly can be done as an example, Constructo has found a way to do so and for the most part their kits are less expensive. Time to start adding deck and interior details - then onto the part I'm most looking forward to: the masting and rigging :).

Still it seems there might be a good option for kit manufacturers and/or after-market opportunity here to sell upgrade packages - replacement keel structures / planking material / blocks / rigging material for specific kits. Analogous to PE upgrades for plastic models. I would guess that builders of a kit such as La Couronne would dish a couple of hundred for a set of upgrades in one box - the right number of higher quality blocks, ample amount of good rigging line, better wood package, etc. - without having to look around and sourcing everything individually.

Started some work up front - the stem was added and now I am 'planking' the stem and keel. It should look OK when done, but if I could go back in time to the start of this build I would have replaced the stem / keel structure with solid wood. Quite frankly, I do not understand why many kits haven't been improved / updated to have solid wood showing in these locations instead of plywood. I don't think it would cost the manufacturer / consumer very much to do so and it would be a nice improvement to a lot of kits.