yvesvidal

I agree with you all about the retractable keel. I would not show it on the finished model, although it would be cool to have some kind of mechanism (spring or others) that allows you to pull it out, with automatic retraction inside the hull. This could be a nice feature on a static model. The lines of the hull are so pure that the lower keel would break the incredible beauty of the J class. As for the height of the mast, unless you place the model on the floor, you will need a ladder to work on the top of it. I cannot wait to see more progress and pictures. Yves

Madness? Yes, I am mad when I saw that you did not build the anchors with metal. That is not like you Dan, and you are taking short cuts Beautiful work as always. I enjoyed your Swan so much: I hope you found a good home for it. Yves

Norberto, Your work is fabulous. It was my dream to build the Bismarck at the scale of 1/100 when I was younger (a kid). I built a couple of turrets and then gave up, busy with other tasks and projects. Please, do not be shy of posting your progress, accomplishments and challenges with lots of pictures to make us dream. I will be following your Building Log with a lot of regularity. Where did you get the plans at the scale of 1/100. I can see that there are written in Italian. The YAMATO is a monster in size and in amount of weaponry. Perhaps, after the Bismarck, you can resume the Yamato, unless you decide to build the HMS HOOD to go with the Bismarck. So many projects, so many dreams....so little time. Yves

Dan does this mean we say good-bye to the Swan? Yves

Congratulations jack. This is a very nice vessel. Yves

Great project. Finally, a cross section with a sizeable dimension, so as to allow lots of details. Will you be showing the entire mast or will you stop at the first level? If at all possible, please take a picture with a human reference next to it, so that we can appreciate the size of the model. Thanks Yves

Jack, I understand your pain and frustration waiting for the parts..... Yves

Folks, I am with you all and love tug boats. My brother built the Saint-Charles a french tugboat at the 1/35 scale: I do not have a picture of his model, but it is the exact same one with a black hull (an earlier paint scheme). Below is the real stuff, on the banks of some river, most likely Paris or perhaps Marseilles. Tug boats are very special. Yves

Richard, I do not want to take over your Build Log, but this is a picture of the finished result Yves

Bob, This company used to produce some nice hulls and sell plans as well. I do not know if they may have a similar tug type as what you want to achieve: http://scaleshipyard.com/Catalog%20Pages/auxillaries.html#WHU-A%203 Yves

Big relief!!!! Thank you Jack, for the good news. Yves

Richard, this is a breath of fresh air! Finally, some changes from the period Ships. I will be following with great interest your Build Log. Please make sure you take a lot of pictures and that you have a small ladder to take care of the rigging.... Thank you for doing this kit. Yves

Tony, Beautiful work and great progress on the rigging. I was wondering what motivated you to install cannons on your Mayflower model. Thanks Yves

Great work Jack. And thank you for that beautiful and so useful hot tin can, used to bend plank strips. What a great idea. The ship looks great and will be quite a monster when done. Yves

I don't want to kill your hopes, but after writing a while back, I never got an answer from them. You may be luckier.... I hope it. Yves

Cdogg, Take a look at this thread: http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/2260-kit-review-mayflower-165-by-constructo/ It may help you a little bit in taking a decision. Yves

Jack, I believe you figured out the best way to plank that complicated bow. The planks will butt against part B, while being glued to all parts C and your intermediate filling. Part A will protrude and will be use used to mount the front pieces of the bow. It will require some serious bending of the planks to make all fit cleanly and tightly. You can put the kettle on the stove... Yves

Jack, I would try to fill up entirely around the C parts on your picture. Yves

Beautiful Jack. What a great kit. Yves

I have many times thought about the same thing and never found a practical and reasonable solution. I am not sure DeAgostini will ship to the USA, but if they did we are talking of more than 30 issues costing each 12-14 Euros. At that rate + shipping, the cross-section will easily cost you more than $400.00. Another option would be to find a modeler in the UK or Italy who is willing to order these for you and ship them to the USA. As you can see, nothing really easy for such a nice kit. It is possible that this cross-section may become one day a kit in itself. However, I suspect that it may take 8 to 10 years before a company decides to distribute it under such form. It seems that this way of distributing kits (on a weekly basis) is a very lucrative business in Europe and I suspect that the rights to certain of the models may last quite a bit. Yves

Folks, there are currently on the French Market some graphic novels depicting the kind of ships the members of this forum enjoy to build. These novels are extremely well drawn and the attention to details is outstanding. The stories are quite often riveting and the reader has a hard time waiting for the next installment of the series. I believe that some of these series have been translated in German but I am not sure about the English language. Even though you may not read French, the drawings themselves are a treat and would justify the purchase of one or many albums. I wanted to introduce you to two artists: 1) Jean-Yves Delitte who is the official artist for the French National Marine Museum and Collections. Jean-Yves produced three series Belem, U-Boat and Black Crow and I have uploaded the front covers of the albums: as well as some pictures to show his talents: Jean-Yves also authored two books about some famous ships: 2) the second artist is Marc Bourgne who has produced a very large quantities of graphic novels and seems recently to dedicate his time and talents to the series Pirates of Baratavia: Here again, the drawings are extremely beautiful and the plots riveting: I encourage you to procure one or a few of these albums and enjoy the adventures of Corsairs, Pirates, British, American and French naval forces as well as romances and intrigues. Yves

San Martin, your model is fabulous. Bravo. Yves

Bob, that little yawl is gorgeous and so precious. It is a marvel and you can be proud of you. I have to admit that I enjoy watching you build this beauty: it is such a refreshing change from all these admiralty and armed (to the teeth) ships of the 18th century. Finally, a nice boat designed for the sole pleasure of sailing and traveling in style to remote destinations. I simply love it. Yves

Absolutely superb!! Yves

Sam, It looks like it was not so poorly done, to start with. I can see the Model Expo projects taking a toll on their expected delivery dates.... LOL!! That should be fun. There is always pleasure in renovating and restoring old stuffs. Yves