yvesvidal

Lamps are finally finished. These kits (from Syren) are little projects in themselves and take some time to be completed. Again, as mentioned before, the lamps are made of 80% Syren and 20% CAF Model parts. Through the glasses of the lamps, you can see the main candle, a blob of wax on the base and the black candlewick. A small maintenance door facing the stern, allows access inside the lamp. Overall view of the stern: Now, I have to find a solution for the staff. Then, we will move to the bow.... Yves

It looks like this is going to be another master piece of the Mikasa. Yves

I can't believe AIRFIX would not have drilled the holes in the bulkheads. At that scale, it makes no sense to not do it. Yves

Same stuff for different markets.

That is a big piece and a very coveted model. I will be following. Yves

Gorgeous Planking. A pleasure to watch and probably even more to touch.... Yves

Very interesting and unusual subject. I like the two scales approach, too. Yves

Thank you, Kevin. While finishing the lamps, I have a few questions regarding the staff and ensign on these period ships: - How was the ensign attached to the staff? - Was the staff equipped with a pulley at the top, to raise the ensign? Any precision or explanations would be much welcome. I thank you in advance. Yves

Absolutely stunning. I just saw one 1966 Buick Riviera at a Classic Cars dealership in Charlotte and thought about your model. Yves

Your model is becoming a museum piece. It is incredible and I can see the Love and Patience being poured into that model. Yves

I would pour the shots, place them where you want them to be and then pour the resin on top. Resin is worse than water (in a way) and will seep through every little holes and cracks you have. Yves

Fabulous. What a great rendering of the real thing. Yves

I have used bug pins with success. These are the long and thin pins used to display bugs on boards. Using wire, I do not think you can get anything stiff enough to work. Below is what I did on my Honda CB750 (1/6th scale): Left is the reworked wheel, right is the kit wheel. Yves

Fantastic work on the Chrome, Craig. Yves

Sultana deserves to be produced in 1/32nd scale. It is such a lovely ship. Yves

Perfect.

I love that model. Thank you for building it and presenting it to us. Obviously, we cannot build everything and these logs allow us to live vicariously through the world of plastic scale models. Yves

Lead (glued) is the best way to ballast a ship model. Yves

Romantic view or wish: the treasure sleeping in a barn, ready to be restored! I doubt that you will ever find a Bugatti in a barn, especially the 35B type. It is not the kind of car countrymen usually buy. Yves

Oh, a model not made of paper !!! That is a paradigm shift 🙂 Great progress so far and beautiful construction. Yves

That is looking sharp, but what a pain it must be to place these strips around the openings. Yves

Thank you Javelin for your compliments and nice summary of my epic. Central lamp installed: You can barely distinguish inside, the wax and burnt candlewick. Two more to go.... Yves

Valeriy, another one of your large collection of matches.... 🙂 By the way, fantastic work on the ventilation pipes. Yves

What a beauty !!!

I realized that I have not posted any updates for quite a while. Life got in the way, new responsibilities at work (less time to tinker with models), a new Pinball machine being restored and many other things. I am still debating how to place these massive anchors on the bow and side of the hull. Therefore, I turned my interest to the stern and started building the lamps. CAF Models provides in the Session #5 of the kit, three pre-etched windows and some brass moldings of the top and bottom of the lamps: These lamps are a little bit crude and do not have some details such as the glasses, door and the candlewick. So, I decided to also acquire the Syren lamp kit in 1/48th scale. This kit is a lot more complex, complete and is really a small project in itself (not really surprising from Chuck, is it?): When comparing both kits, one can see some major differences. The only drawback I have with the Syren kit is that the lamps are a little bit short in height, whereas the CAF Model lamps may be a little too tall and reminiscent of these romantic Spanish galleons we see in Pirates Movies: After a lot of deliberations and considerations, I have decided to build my lamps, using the Syren Kit for the main body and the CAF model parts for the top. It creates a good tradeoff between the short Syren lamp and the tall CAF lamp. Below is one picture showing the differences between the two kits: One Syren lamp partially assembled: And in place on the stern: Still a lot of work to make them look decent. Yves