Scottish Guy

Hi John, I have done some brass plating and nickel in the past (not Britania parts but parts for typewriters and tripod restauration). AS a former car mechanic I even did some chrome plating with car parts. I use a power supply for laboratories from RS (RS PRO Digital Bench up to 3.2A three outputs) which I use regulary but you get some decent ones from Amazon or eBay for round about 50-100 Bucks. Be careful with the units about safety since you "play" with electricity. Unfortunately there is no guide how to do it except experimenting since there are some factors applying to the process, thinckness of the material, grade of plating (thickness of the plating), size of the item you want to put the plating on. I would try to get some "left overs" to do some experimental shots first, the Britania parts can be pricey sometimes so I wouldn´t sacrifice one of those with my first shot. But yeah, can be a challenging path to walk, I would write down the settings you used for specific parts so you can repeat the process for the next time with the same outcome (I do this for example with my tripod's mounting plate and hinges, which I most likely do in brass). Micha

Hello and welcome aboard... Micha

Hello Olli, nice having you here aboard at MSW and a warm welcome. Micha

Hello Highlander from Moray / Grampian, welcome aboard here at MSW. Micha

Hello John and welcome aboard here at MSW, enjoy the community and the modelling... Micha

Welcome aboard here at MSW and a warm welcome from the North of Scotland. Enjoy the community and modelling... Micha

Welcome aboard here at MSW, a warm welcome from the North of Scotland. Enjoy the commuinity... Micha

Welcome aboard here at MSW Scott, enjoy the community... Micha

I crossed the Atlantic ocean twice in a sail boat and I know what you are talking about. I also get your point of going as far as possible about building a scale model. I think I made my point not clear as I don´t judge anybody, especially not for being super acurate or trying to be as perfect as possible. I just tried to make a point that in the past not one boat or ship has been build with such a perfection that the planking was mirrored perfect or the planks ended equally at the same point. I dare even to say that they never had the tools to be that perfect and I doubt that they had the time to be that perfect, so I was wondering why we try to reach perfection in our scale models. That was all I tried to explain. I get the point that people try to get to the most perfect point, I try to be perfect in skills I know well in skills I don´t know well I try at least my best. But does a scale model have to be looking more perfect than the original? But that´s just my humble opinion and I definitely don´t judge anybody that tries to deliver a perfect scale model, I adore people that can bring a model to museum level perfection. SO don´t get me wrong folks, I just stated an opinion. If I made someone feel uncomfortable or even felt attacked by my comment I deeply want to apologise and hope you will accept it. Thank you all for your kindness. Micha

Welcome aboard here Noggy at MSW. Nice having you here. Micha

Welcome back Chuck here at MSW. Glad to see you not gave up at all, hope you enjoy and still get the support you require. Micha

I´m sorry for your loss Robert, I wish you and your family all the best and the strength to go through this. Unfortunately I live too far away to be of any help but I hope there is someone on here that might be able to help. I would suggest to talk to the mods or admins, maybe they have a good solution. I think Chris solution would be also a good way to consider since this would be an easier fix that even you might be able to do yourself. Micha

Welcome aboard here at MSW. Micha

Welcome aboard here at MSW and all the best from the North of Scotland... Micha

This is a piece of art what he archived there but sometimes I ask myself, should it really look like that? Did the real ships and boats really look that acurate and neat or were they just work items and no one spent so much attention to the details as we do in our models? Don´t get me wrong here, I really like the build he did, I like this build here and I like being as neat, acurate and perfect as my skills allow me but sometimes I really ask myself if this would be authentic? Just buy a new car, even Mercedes or Rolls Royce have a clearance between their adjacent parts which is not always acurate (especiall Mercedes recently has massive quality issues with that) and that with computers and quality control mechanisms in place which definitely not existed in the early 20th century and definitely not earlier. My humble 2c to this topic... Micha

Welcome aboard Tony from the cold North of Scotland. Nice having you here at MSW. Micha

A warm welcome from Scotland Clive, nice having you aboard here at MSW. Micha

You should get the same box as me though since this is the last version of the kit. Mine look both the same, so I expect that they both are the same. Not opened yet the new box. Your version should be from the early 2000´s while mine is the version from 2020 (new tools - whatever that means lol). Micha

Hi Johnny, don´t apologise, I just realised that the kits are different, which shouldn´t be the case, but what to expect... and don´t get me wrong, it was not meant to be in a bad way that you overthink, I like that and I often do it myself, but I learnt the hard way that sometimes we just have to accept things the way they are because often other people don´t think enough and mess it up lol... we are then the ones that have to deal with the results LMAO... but I take it we all love our challenges... Micha

Hi Johnny, LOST in TRANSLATION... sorry for the joke but you lost me here a bit. I think you overthink the process a bit too much. Not sure if this really will work the way you describe, also not sure if we really have the same kit since you show pictures of parts that are definitely not in my kit. Not sure if it would be advisable to adjust the parts or if it would be worth to duplicate them and then adjust them by shortening them. A build shouldn´t be that complicated and definitely shouldn´t demand such work (since the ship is praised as beginner friendly). This is not a scratch build even if it sometimes feels like one. I´m telling you this since I started the build lol... the hull is quiet a challenge but I like challenges therefore I try to find a solution, either by adjusting the additional parts to finish the build (as a learning process) and start kit TWO with a complete but newly thought approach (which means thinking BEFORE glueing). But yes, the ship looks easy and is even stated as an entry level but it is not that easy at all. I will manage, even if the first kit just ends up in the bin but the second kit will be definitely a supreme kit *fingers crossed*. Will keep you updated, this and next week are a bit busy, therefore not much progress but after that I will start over again and dig in myself deeply to the knuckles into that issue... Love the chat with you, keeps me going and also gives me some nice ideas. Micha

Hi tmj, Good luck with your kit. YOu won´t be behind because I´m still on halt to figure out what is going on with my two kits. Kit ONE might be considered as waste since I´m not sure if I really can safe it. Unfortunately I used CA for the planking and not PVA, therefore it might be a bit harder to dismantle the build again. I might sink it into a basin with acetone (but I have COPD so I don´t really want the smell in my house or garage). So not sure if this really will be an option, maybe I just adjust the other parts and go on with my build and use kit TWO to open another build LOG and go a complete different route with the build. Micha

Hi Johnny, thank you for your really well done answer and the pictures. Unfortunately it looks like you have a different kit than me lol, the half rib as shown in the (a bit out of focus picture) I don´t have at all. A bit confusing and I still don´t believe that your approach really will work. Micha

Hi Johnny, enjoy work and I would appreciate the pictures because I´m not sure what marks on part 4 you are talking about. I think I know what you mean and if they should be ignored I found my fault. Because I used them as marker to line the planking with those. But I wait for the pictures. Micha

Hi Keith, thank you for the comment. I´m still thinking about another try to fix the first build or at least giving it a go to fix it, even if it might end up in a total loss. I will try to find a container / basin large enough to fit the entire hull into it, then I have to find enough acetone to cover up the entire hull. I know it will end up with tons of sanding, still considering if I might just try to finish the build without dismantling the hull but just proceed with the build. Micha

Hi Paul and thank you, it´s nice to see that you guys would like to see my second approach. Micha