UrkVisser

Wednesday, 12. March 2025 Rigging My Ship: Hi everybody! I finally raised my first sail today which is the smaller Stay Sail. I'm using 'Krick No. 60860 3 mm blocks plus the rigging thread which came with the kit. I had problems getting this thick thread though one of my blocks but it was due to flat spots in rigging thread from the early 1980's. I solved the problem by running a needle back and forth through the block and enlarging it slightly by also pulling the eye of the needle through the hole in the block. Cutting the bad spot off the thread also helped. So it's on and looks good! Here's also a photo of the ship's cabin which was originally only a stack of slivery balsa wood. I cut white carton off of a medication box and then made port holes in it with a rotary fabric punch pliers. The greyish sky blue reflection in the windows happened to be a piece of a cash register slip which was the right color as a signal the roll was coming to it's end. One spoke on her ship's wheel broke off so I replaced it with the tip of a toothpick after a lot of 'micro-sanding'. H0 scale maritime figures should look good on this ship. But finding a either a suitable trawler or freighter crew will be a task. And the bow sprit net on her bow was made from the net which garlic was sold in. You sure wouldn't get me oit there without one! Best Regards, UrkVisser

Hi everybody! Today I finally installed my first 3 mm block for rigging my ship! Putting 2 mm brass rings on my Stay Sail was a chore (15 in all); alas two flew away 'into Cosmos' or where ever. These really fit tight and 3 mm rings would have been better but I have a lot of these 2 mm rings to use up. I finally got the sail hung on my ship and then glanced over at the blueprints: "Gosh! Noöoo!" I forgot this sail also needs to get sail tie downs and thus 2 horizontal rows of stitches: one row above the tie downs and one below (like what I also did om my Fore and Main Sails). So I had to clear away my end of the dining room table from all my ship building stuff, get out the sewing machine again and only for a 5 minute job. Baäaäah! I also had to getting cooking straight away as my wife wanted a nice chicken dinner and she comes home from work as hungry as a bear! That limited further progress for today. The Stay Sail is not yet attached. Tomorrow I'll hang and rig the Stay Sail. Good Night! 😴🌛✨☁️ UrkVisser

Sail Making Power Tools: The Sewing Machine! A good sewing machine doesn't have to be expensive. My machine only costed me 100 € new and was made in Taiwan by the same factory who also produces machines from 80 € to 8000 € (and more) for various other companies. Something important to look for is a machine with various interchangable feet as you also wouldn't use a Philips screw driver on a slotted screw would you? I like fully mechanical machines the best and really you only need one with 'straight stitch' and 'zig zag'; but an important feature is a 'stitch width' control! Left = Length / Right = Width Of course you won't be zig zagging your sails but in the 'straight stitch' mode the 'stitch width' controls shifts the position of the needle to the left or to the right as need be. I set my needle to a desired position from the left side of my foot using a small ruler. Then I only watch the leading edge of the foot and not the needle. This is a big help in sewing the gores on a sail! Set the needle say 1/4" away from the left edge and you will sew perfectly straight every time by only watching the left, leading edge of the foot running a long the edge of the cloth or the last gore you sewed. The next gore will then be perfectly straight and 1/4" away from the last one. No pencil marks or marks of any kind! Trust me! I design and sew all my own jeans, pants, office shirts, T shirts and sweat shirts. My Great Grandpa and Grandpa on my mom's side of the family were tailors and I took up hobby tailoring during COVID lock down. Anyway back on topic! Here is my favorite foot which is clear plastic with smooth stainless steel feet underneath. In the normally centered needle position you only have to keep your eyes on the little arrow up front instead of watching the needle. This one has metal rollers for problematic fabrics. It also works nice but limits one's view a bit. But there in a little indentation up front to keep your eyes centered on . And last but not least when your sewing comes to and end and you lift the foot up always pull your cloth towards the back of the machine before cutting the thread. If you pull your cloth towards you the needle will get bent straight away! Bye for now! UrkVisser

This kit came with some sort of thin, dark beige 'oil cloth' material of sorts as sail cloth. I cut it out, hemmed it's edges and sewed the gores nicely on three sails but it was too stiff, 'lifeless' and too dark. The only advantage was that it's impregnated so the edges won't ravel. So I saved this set of 8 sails as patterns and cut new ones out of the back of an old, white 'Oxford Broadcloth' office shirt. (Maybe the one I got married in? Haha!) Oxford Broadcloth is robust but still light and as shirts you generally don't even need to iron them if you give them a couple of good shakes out of the washer and then hang them on a hanger damp to dry. Perfect! Alas when cut the edges want to ravel straight away and it's 'basket weave' won't hold a needle hole or thread right to it's edge. So I took out a roll of ' No. 320 Interfacing (like what's used in a nice collar) and cut strips of it 1/8" wide and then glued them to both side of the edges with 'Gütermann - Creativ HT2 Fabric Glue' which is a type of crystal clear, thin, fast drying rubber cement. Then the next day I sewed the edges of these strips close to their edges with 1.5 mm long straight stitches using a very fine Number 60/8 needle. This 'sandwiched' the Oxford's edges in between the two interfacing stips solving the problem. I also developed a trick for sewing the gores without pencil markings or markings at all! I'll write about it next time. But more on this later! Bye! UrkVisser

Hi! I'm ending this thread because I just started a build log with the name: 'Scientific Kit No. 164 - Bluenose (1921) - UrkVisser' See you all there!

Hi everybody! I bought this 'Scientific Kit No. 164 way back in 1991 which was then old inventory since 'Scientific Models' was by then out of business for a long time. This kit was never given a particular scale so I'll avoid such controversies but it was a very popular kit between the 1950's and until the early 1980's and designed by Walter A. Musciano (1922 - 2019). The kit has a solid hull which was designed around a 4" x 4" x 24" board which was roughed in at the factory and a good choice regarding production considerations. Alas, I remember it being difficult to hand carve into it's proper form (which I completed in 1992). Being that a certain sized model was their sales goal for display in a home or office a certain LOA was developed which conflicts slightly with the scale of it's hull (1:72 vs. 1:106). In besonders the main sail boom is quite long but the ship is a pleasant proportion as deco. I finished the hull and set it's two masts but it sat over 30 years protected by in plastic kitchen wrap on my shelf before I dusted it off and now being retired could finally now finish it. My model actually sailed the Atlantic in a ship's container from Baltimore to Rotterdam and then onward to Hamburg being delayed due to a nasty North Atlantic storm. This build log will mostly deal in my experience making sails for her out of an old Oxford Broadcloth shirt and tips as a third generation tailor (even though myself just a hobby tailor) on how to make them. Plus of course my 'adventures' with rigging. Best Regards, UrkVisser

Hi Everybody! I recently painted the upper section of a hull with Vallejo Model Color Acrylic for brush painting. The results were wonderfull but alas this paint is very matt and I need a satin finish to match the nice scarlet red satin finish on my hull. Can anybody advise me what to do? Does Vallejo make a transparent satin overcoat for brushing on? I've only seen something like that in their air brush paint sets. This is the first time I have ever used acrylic paint on a plastic model. I only have experience with Revell or Humbrol enamel. At first I had painted the black part of my hull with some Revel SM 302 which was on the shelf too long but never opened. The results were horrible plus it coated poorly. Of course my Revell scarlet red satin enamel looks beautiful on the bottom of my hull. Then after sanding her down as good as possible I bought some new Revell SM 302 it only reactivated the bad paint underneath plus also had weird problem with tiny bubbles! Then I really sanded it and sanded it more and repainted it with Vallejo Model Color which covered good and went on nice with a red wissel hair brush. Thanks for your help in advance! UrkVisser

Hi John! Your railings look good! A very nice model plus I love your sea display! Best Wishes, UrkVisser

Well back to my 'Scientific Kit No. 164 - Bluenose'. Since the hull was made from a 4" x 4" x 24" piece of lumber only 'roughed in' by the factory and then carved into it's proper form by myself; I believe any deficiency in the scale size of the hull was a production consideration in order to choose a standard size of lumber. Also, Walter A. Musciano must have decided on making the LOA and sails in a larger scale due to marketing and sales goals. Of course the first thing people notice when they look at a ship model is it's sails and a certain sized model must have been 'standard' for decorating a home, office or den in the 1950's to the 1970's. This is only my opinion and there is noting in internet about this particular kit as to explaining why. The kit never had the scale marked anywhere which was quite odd. Smooth sailing! ⛵UrkVisser

Hi everybody! I sanded the black paint off my trawler's hull a bit more this evening and then repainted it with 'Vallejo Model Color' black. This was my first time using acrylic paint on plastic models because I always used enamel. What a difference! This paint is in a little squeeze bottle and went on really nice and smooth with a good red wissel hair brush and covered excellent. It also dried extremely fast so I could do the other side of the hull straight away after painting the first side. Any mess was also very minimal since it dried so quickly therefore no stray paint was smeared about here or there like with enamel. It also cleaned up quickly with warm soapy water and I could keep my brushes fresh in a little cold water inbetween usage by brush size. But this black paint is very matt and I wanted satin finish but 'Vallejo' has an over coat for this purpose. Alas, my usual dealer isn't very well stocked at present. My hull needs to dry and any errors repainted so I'm not making any photos yet. It's too soon for that. I actually wanted it to look like it's first day after an overhaul shiney and new and not like when it looks like a 'rust bucket' again 3 weeks later. Oh, well I'll decide what to do about it later. The red part of the hull is still the Revell satin finish enamel crimson or wine red which I like a lot and used on my schooner's hull. Now it's bed time, Bye! UrkVisser

Hi everybody! Here is my next post about mt trawler project. The bow of this trawler only has an anchor chain hawse on her starboard side while on the port side there's only a fairlead for a heavy mooring line (or maybe also for towing). Anyway you have to drill these through yourself on this model and also the two on the stern. The forecastle deck also has no anchor or mooring line holes around it's double sided anchor winch. The original anchor winch was made by 'Ruston & Hornsby Ltd.' and also her main winch plus her engine (as in the case of the 'Ross Jackal' anyway). The 'Ross Cat-Class' used the 'Ruston & Hornsby Ltd.' 7 cylinder diesel engine which was a new design especially for outstanding reliability and durability in a trawler's harsh marine environment. They typically had 150 to 200 BHP or 112 - 149 KW power. On the other hand, the 'Arctic Corsair' and her sister ships had the 6 cylinder 'Mirrlees Monarch' diesel with 1800 BHP or 1300 KW. Anyway, I also had to drill the forecastle deck in 4 places. I plan to use some 1 mm anchor chain which I recently bought plus also some carpet thread ad a mooring line rolled up by the winch. I used extra N scale parts from various 'Faller' building kits to improve this winch! There is a white stripe painted under the 2 mm masking tape. This photo shows the different positions of the fairlead and anchor chain hawse. This was also so on the trawlers 'Crystal Palace' and on 'Grimsby Town'. I painted the inside of the forecastle red and white like on the 'Ross Tiger' but this will never be seen again after the forecastle deck is glued on unless I cut a door into the bulkhead. Alas, here is my Revell black paint nightmare! I'll do more sanding and then paint her with the 'Vallejo' Model Color which arrived today. The fairleads on both sides of the stern. I like how the rudder swivels freely! More on this later! Best Regards, UrkVisser

Thanks John! That's a big help! The only railings I could find are plastic ones from "Faller" for 1:160 scale railway bridges otherwise only laser cut cardboard which goes kaputt at the first slightest bump. I've been very busy editing photos plus reducing them to 1MB or less for future posts. Best Regards, UrkVisser

Hi Yves! Thanks for the compliment! I painted the deck with Revell 382 SM satin finish leather brown and then a the next day with a thin wash of Revell 84 M matt wood brown thinned with a little white spirits turpentine. I bought the kit for only around 20 € from a N scale train shop in December 2024 with the intent of using it in a harbor scene by a dock. Alas, a partially torn bicep tendon in my left shoulder and a broken left rib from a fall prevented me from building her for 14 whole months! That was my first year of 'enjoying' my retirement! Best Wishes, UrkVisser

Hi everybody! Of course this kit is an example of 1970's tool and die technology and things now a days are a lot better. But I like 70's stuff anyway like my olive green impulse dial touch tone telephone (without DTMF) and my 'Marantz' stereo amplifier. Haha! Anyway back on subject! The railings with this kit are very thick. I would like to find some N scale (1:160 or British 1:148 scale) railings in brass. Alas, too much lately is made of laser cut cardboard which may wilt on rainy days (which is almost always here) if my windows are open. Another quirk of this kit is that all of the windows and port holes are only to be painted on with black. Maybe a good clock maker could cut these window openings out but not me! And then what ever clear plastic would be glued in from behind wouldn't set flush anyway and there are no decks or walls inside either. So then, in keeping 'traditional' with the 1970's I carefully painted the windows and port holes with a glossy black paint marker from 'Edding' with a very fine tip. It looks goods. At night when the trawler sits at a dock you would only see glossy black from her windows anyway. The box shows the superstructure painted brown but these trawlers looked better with wheel house painted white and the lower part of the superstructure painted mustard yellow; or in my case 'Revell Lufthansa Yellow'. A brownish yellow would also be good. I painted the hull with Revell satin finish enamel because I want the trawler to look somewhat wet. Revell's red really went on nice but I had some weird reactions with the Revell black I was using and a new batch only reactivated the defective paint underneath. So I sanded the black down as much as possible and cleaned it with white spirits turpentine. Now that it has dried out for a week or so I ordered some 'Vallejo Model Color" black acyclic to finish the job. (Otherwise I always use enamel with a brush.) I've always liked 'Humbrol' too but it's not available here at present due to some issue over containing MEK (it prevents the paint from forming a skin). Well, more on this project later! Best Regards, UrkVisser

Hi everybody! I assembled the hull without any problem at all and any flashing was minimal to cut away. The winch and anchor winch needed a lot of cleaning up but after that I added various improvements out of my box of N scale model train parts. I used 'Gütermann' Jeans thread in a steel blue with silver streaks for my winch cables. I left them extra long because I plan to make a model of the 'Otter Trawl' net. Afterwards I set the winch on the deck straight away as a help in moving the hull around with wet paint; a good idea! The guides with rollers unter the winch allow my cables to clear all four hatch covers. I used a single edged razor blade to carve away 'phoney' deck detail and added roller-capstans for my winch cables. I made the ventilator on top of the third hatch by filing plastic sprue scrap. The hatch covers and bulwarks on the 'Ross Tiger' were painted this bright red after it was restored however now this red has faded. The 'Arctic Corsair' has black hatch covers. Both of these museum ships have wonderful websites. All for now, Bye! UrkVisser

Hi everybody, This thread is about Revell's North Sea Trawler kit in the scale of 1:142. It's actually Revell's oldest kit still in production. It came out in 1970 as the fictive 'Russian Spy Ship - Volga' and was offered as such for many, many years. But in 1973 it was also the 'Arctic Huntress' (Boyd Line / Hull), in 1980 the Grimsby 'Kandahar', in 1998 the 'Arctic Corsair' (which is now a museum ship in Hull) and since 2015 the Grimsby 'Ross Jackal'. The 'Ross Jackal's' sister ship the 'Tiger' is a museum ship in Grimsby and is the last remaining trawler of the 'Ross 'Cat Class' which were built from 1957 to 1960 there about. The ships of the 'Cat Class' were all named by children from a certain Grimsby elementary school. Alas one child thought a 'Jackal' was a cat! While another mistook the 'Zebra' as a cat! But Ross was a good sport about it all anyway and the 'Cat Class' ended up with a dog and a horse! But this model really is like the 'Arctic Corsair' which was over 50 meters long and therefore required to have a taller mast aft of her stack (international lighting requirements). She also had 4 hatch covers on deck. The 'Cat Class' trawlers were under 50 meters long so they didn't have this tall mast aft. And also they only had 3 hatch covers. But as a former Radio Engineer I love this model where I can also rig all of it's antenna systems: Medium Wave 500 KHz, Short Wave 2 to 30 MHz and by the 1960's also VHF vertical antennas also started appearing. But naturally CW was always my favorite mode as it could usually punch right through fading, noise, static crashes and atmospheric quirks whereas SSB would be most likely unintelligible. CW could also transmit 10 times further than SSB on a given power in Watts. Alas, the fishing trawler company owners wanted to save money by not employing radiomen which resulted in a huge loss of lives and trawlers. A trawler widow named Lillian Bilocca from Hull was a major activist against the companies due to this issue. Anyway, I will add material to this thread as I progress. Bye for now! UrkVisser

Old black & white photos of the original 'Bluenose' seem to show a longer boom aft than what I see on photos of 'Bluenose II'. Also the 'Bluenose II' seems to have a a stern which is more squared off than the original schooner.vBut the angle of photos can also create certain 'optical illusions' at times. I can't explain the scale problems here. The kit was designed by Walter A. Musciano' (1922 - 2019) who was the Chief Project Designer of the 'Scientific Model Airplane Company in New Jersey. He was also a talented Naval Design Engineer in New York for over 40 years and also author of 24 books. He definitely knew knew what he was doing but this kit will remain a mystery. I can't find any other build logs or technical information about this kit in internet other than the two forum threads I started writing about my experience with it. According to 'GPT-4o mini' the 'Bluenose 1921 is suppose to have a 12,2 meter (40 ft.) boom whereas this kit has a longer boom. Best Regards, UrkVisser

Hi everybody! I have a really old 'Scientific' Kit No. 164 - 'Bluenose' which I bought back in 1991. From what I've heard this was a popular kit from during the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's but the manufacturer went out of business sometime in the early 1980's. No scale is mentioned on the box or in the plans but I always assumed it to be 1:64 scale. However I recently feed various data into the Artificial Intelligence 'GPT-4o mini' and it came up with 1:77 scale. But other people claim 'GPT-4o mini' was wrong about the prototype 'Bluenose' from 1921 and claim the kit must be 1:72 scale. Naturally the original 'Bluenose had a longer LOA due to it's very long Main Sail gaff hanging well aft of the stern. While some photos of the 'Bluenose II' I've seen show this gaff ending before the ship's wheel (no doubt a safety modification). Can anybody tell me the true scale of this kit? Thanks! UrkVisser