marktiedens

A little more progress has been made. While working on the railings between the middle & upper decks I didn`t really care for the little ovals that fit in them,so off to the art & craft store I went to browse around. I found some items in the bead dept. that looked like some fancy scroll work & looked about the right size so I bought some & installed them in the railings. They really seemed to dress them up a bit.

Then I cut out all the window panes in the upper windows & painted them.With some very minor adjustments they were fitted in place,along with the railings.

Then I made & planked the upper deck & slid it in place. All 3 of the stern decks were made from 1.5mm basswood sheet planked on both sides with some brass mouldings around the outside edges.The brass mouldings were left over from a previous build. The very top rail will be fitted after the fascia is in place.

The lower & middle windows are also now "glazed".

Mark

Thanks Frank!

Mark

You are correct about the glue,that`s why I am waiting until at least the wales are on. I plan to use satin polyurethane,maybe just one coat. In the past I have used just one coat on other ships & gives a nice finish that isn`t too shiny. 2 or 3 coats just seems to come out too shiny,even with a satin finish.

Mark

Thanks Jason - there is no finish on the hull yet,so it should look a little better after that. I am waiting to apply a finish until at least the lower wales are installed.

Mark

Great job - love that curved deck planking.

Mark

Update - all the middle deck windows are in place. They fit together nicely,although I had to add a shim across the tops of the windows between the side openings. the middle deck is now in place also & lines up nicely with the openings in the stern fascia.

Mark

Thanks Michael - I don`t have a small enough lathe to make them from wood,so I am always on the lookout for alternative items. I know it is blasphemy to some to use plastic on a wood ship model,but it`s ok with me .

Mark

A little more progress - After carefully bending the railings above the lower windows,I painted them gold & black. I couldn`t get regular taffrail stanchions to fit to my liking,so I went shopping & found some plastic toothpicks with some nicely grooved shanks. After trimming them to fit,I painted them a medium brown & glued them in place. I think they look pretty good. The railing is not glued in place yet - I am still trying to determine exactly where to position them. Also the red on the doorway behind the railing now looks close to its actual color.

Mark

I would probably have used red ochre too,but I could not find it locally. The red I`m using looks almost exactly like blood when it`s dry . I spilled a little on my hand once & didn`t realize it at first & when I did notice it I thought I cut my hand. A few drops of black makes it more of a brick red.

Mark

Thanks Greg & Keith.  The red is a Vallejo game color called gory red - with a few drops of black to tone it down. It`s a little darker in person than the picture shows - I don`t have the best camera. The blue is Vallejo model air light sea blue.I really like the Vallejo paints. For some reason reds always seem to come out lighter than it actually is,but other colors are pretty close to their actual color. In the future I will try & use the adjustments in my computer to get the colors closer to actual colors.

Mark

Hi all - another small update. I once again cut out all those window panes in the middle gallery windows & painted them.There seems to be no definitive color scheme,so I am just painting everything as I see fit. Giving it a curve to match the stern fascia,it set on the deck with no filing on the bottom. The slant of the side openings matched the angle of the fascia very nicely also. The side entry pieces are VERY fragile - I broke one twice just fitting the parts to the deck - a bit of paint hides the repair. The assembly must be placed carefully so the side entries go up against the back of the fascia.

Mark

Hi Vince - other than ripping everything off & starting over,maybe you could drill some holes down through the rails close to the stem & run the ropes through them. It may give the appearance of running behind them.

Mark

Thank you very much,Don.

Mark

Are the original authors of the drawing still available through Euromodel? Maybe Euromodel could contact them & ask what it is.

Mark

Pete - maybe it is meant to be an arrow pointing to the truss pendant knot.

Mark

Well,I decided to re-do those knees to better match the edge of the deck. Not to difficult - the old ones just popped right off. I think it looks a little better.

Mark

Thanks very much Greg .

Mark

Hi Greg - I see what you mean about the knees. I am still thinking about whether to re-do them. They are not easily seen at normal viewing height,though. The deck has a little more of an overhang than those photos,but mine is not a museum model .

Mark

Another small update - after tweaking that lower deck a little more,I glued it down. I had some nice brass moulding left over from a previous build,so I formed it to fit the edge of the deck & glued it on. Then I decided to make some small knees to go under the rear edge of the deck at the top of the columns. they are simply 2x5 walnut with a radius filed in them & painted gold to match the columns. They are shown on the plans,but are not part of the castings. After clamping the fascia in place the lower railings line up nicely with the outer edge of the moulding.

Mark

Hi Pete - I don`t really know what that oval shaped thing is,although it is also shown on the fore lower mast only smaller. Could it be some type of metal band? those 2 lower yards were rarely lowered,so they don`t need parrels. I checked on my Victory & Agamemnon and although they are of a different time period they are attached with simple rope pendants,slings,& jeer blocks. I`m not really an expert on rigging either.

Mark

Hi robboxxx - the instruction booklet does not tell the sizes,but on plan sheet 5 they are shown as 11mm tall by 13mm wide & planked with  .5x3mm strips. If you use 1mm by 3mm strips ,you could make the raw opening a little larger - maybe 12x14mm.

Mark

Hi Frank - Pete said it better than I could. The stern fascia is of good quality - it`s just that it is faced with mahogany,which has a grain that is out of scale. Actually,very little of it will show once all the castings are in place. Also,the extra thickness of the planking will allow the upper row of windows to be inset flush with the front & rear surfaces.The accuracy of the kit is pretty good - especially the plans.It has been a challenge so far,but I am working my way through it. One example is the windows - they could just be painted blue or black to simulate glass & look just fine to most people,but I decided to drill & file them out to look even better.

Nigel - thanks very much. I think you would also agree that the plans are excellent.

Thanks also to everyone looking in & hitting the like button.

Mark

First of all,thanks Nils & Michael for your nice comments.

Keith - I have circled the areas where the lower deck overhangs the lower windows. I will do some more checking,but I don`t think I am too far off.

Mark

Hi all - a small update. After scratching my head,checking the plans,& Pete`s info I am slowly proceeding with the stern. The stern fascia is flat & needs to be curved,so I put it in some water for a short time & clamped it to a hard plastic oval shaped waste container. When dry it retained a proper curve. Since it is made of an ugly mahogany plywood I planked it with some leftover hull planks.

After clamping it to the back of the hull,I could proceed to make the deck it sits on.

One other note - while sorting out the upper row of windows they appear to be mis-marked according to what the plans show. If I laid them out according to the plans,they don`t fit the openings.

After shuffling them around,they then matched the openings.

Mark

Hi Vince - I have that piece also & don`t know where it goes. You might try asking Pete - if anyone knows,it would be him.

Mark