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schooner
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Everything posted by schooner
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Hey Ross, I'm currently working on the SYREN, which I see you have on your shelf. It has similar issues with how to sand the inside of the bulwarks given their inward slope. I've found that flexible sanding sticks work well. I've found them online at various sites, they come in a wide range of grits. They have enough "give" to conform to the fore and aft curvature of the bulwarks and, importantly, they do not have any grit on their edges which means I don't have to worry about un-intentionally sanding the tops of the bulkheads which would cause problems with the deck planking sitting too low and screwing up the placement of the gun barrels in the ports. I hate sanding and use power tools wherever possible just to get it over with but I would be leery about using them on the inside of the bulwarks where is is really hard to judge how much you are taking off, and where. Keep up the good work, your log will be a big help when I get around to the ESSEX.
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Wonderful work!!! I was in the first crew for PHM-6 and I can tell you that this is a VERY realistic model! Well Done!.
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Great stain color and your treenails look just right for size and color. Just to double check - the instructions call for drilling the treenails with a .55 bit but you used a a .025, is that correct? They sure look right.
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I'll be following along as I recently bought one of the old Revell plastic kits of the Buchanan along with the PE set from GMM. I always thought the 4-stackers were an elegant design. The Anatomy of the Ship The Destroyer Cambelltown by BlueJacket's Al Ross (who designed your kit) has some vey good line drawings of the ship in her USN days, albeit without any of the China Station modifications like the searchlight tower. Enjoy your build - it should turn out to be an eye-catching model.
- 11 replies
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- Pillsbury
- Clemson-class
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Hi Julie, I'll be following along with interest since I bought a MS Forester on Ebay a few months ago. My intent was to cut the hull in half for a half hull model (maybe even 2 of them!) that I could ship to my sister who lives on Grays Harbor WA, which around 1900 was the biggest lumber port in the world. Trying to ship a fully rigged model to the West Coast would be prohibitively expensive, plus gifting someone a cased ship model might lead to one of those "Gee, thanks, I guess..." moments. My kit seems to have all the fittings and I've been thinking of buying another kit like yours where the seller says "parts missing" for the half hull model and using my kit for a rigged version for me. If you are going to use the hull just as a template for bulkheads keep me in mind before you toss the hull, I might be interested in buying it. You mentioned not being able to find a photo of the finished MS model - if you google "schooner forester model" and look under images a nice one pops up right away. Good luck Tim
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Very well done. I'm impressed with your technique for the furled sails - I'll have to use it when I get around to building my FORESTER kit, an old Model Shipways West Coast Lumber schooner. Once again, great job.
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Nice looking ratlines - the small knots look great! What do you use to trim off the excess from the knots?
- 121 replies
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- Lucia A Simpson
- AJ Fisher
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Great idea on the jig!!
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Your explanation of how to sand these lift boat hulls is the best I have seen - I wish I'd seen it before I trashed my longboat while sanding the hull and had to replace it with a planked kit from Victory Models.
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Another amazing build! Quick question, you said your final topcoat grey overspray was "Storm Grey", what brand was that? It is different from Haze Gray and I think it would work well for a model of a USN 4-piper DD of the 1920's. Keep up the great work.
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Phil, I just noticed your CLG-5 avatar and your MSI build link. I was stationed in Yokosuka on an FF when the Okie Boat did her last ride there in the late 70’s. I was on an MSO in the late 80’s - I thought our fantail was crowded with sweep gear but it was nothing compared to what you had crammed into an MSI.
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Hi Phil, Looks like you are making good progress and solving the little problems that inevitably come up. I have not built the 18-footer but I hope to near the end of my Syren build. I did do the 24ft launch (I have a build log under the 1751-1800 section). One suggestion that may help you avoid a problem - the transom is a weak point when planking the hull since it is just hanging out there in space and not attached to the base. You might want to consider attaching some scrap wood to the base that will reinforce the transom vertically and athwartship so it doesn't break off under pressure. keep up the good work.
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Thanks for the kind words. Just one more photo to show what attracted me to this kit - I wanted a fully rigged 3-master that would fit on a bookshelf. Well, it does!
- 142 replies
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- alfred
- solid hull
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Hey Jim, Shaping solid hulls is always an adventure (I've done 6 of them so far from BJ). But as you have obviously figured out already there are few unrecoverable errors at this stage. By adding wood where needed, and some filler (as long as it is not too thick to avoid problems with curing/drying) you can redo almost anything. I have not done the Connie but it looks like your fix on the stern may well work. Perfection is always nice but for the hull, simply keeping things symmetrical and avoiding anything odd-looking should be "good enough" because if you get this build finished everyone who sees it will be fixated on the masts, rigging and the deck details and any minor flaws in the hull will never be noticed (even by you). Keep plugging away.
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Glad to be of help Joe. The Niagara makes for a nice looking model, I hope you post some pix of the finished build in the gallery section.
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Nice work Avi! I'd like to make one suggestion regarding mounting the guns on the gun deck. You should consider pinning the carriages to the deck with a piece of thin brass rod. When moving the hull around as you get into the rest of the build you will unavoidably push several guns out of place. If you can, you may want to extend the length of the rod so that it passes thru the cannon barrel and carriage and then into the deck. Trying to remount the guns once the upper deck is in place can be a real pain, as I know from experience.
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I'm at the same point in the build as you. I think the idea is to place the top of the batten along the middle laser line then check for any weird bends, adjust as needed (and as little as possible) to get a fair line then mark the bulkheads where the top of the batten touches them (the batten can then be removed). That line will be where the top of the 3/16" high sill pieces sit. Doing it that way ensures that the top of the sill pieces sit as close as possible to being 3/16" above the transverse parts of the bulkheads which the deck planking will sit on. If they do, then the stacking of the 1/16" thick planking, plus the 1/16" thick waterway, plus the 1/16" thick carronade swivel brackets (pg 46 of the instructions) will leave the top of the swivel brackets even with the gunport sill, thereby centering the carronades in the gunport and level with the deck. That's the theory anyway, for what it's worth.
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Finally finished The display case base arrived from BlueJacket so it’s time to take some final photos and put this one to bed. It has been a challenging but enjoyable build.
- 142 replies
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- alfred
- solid hull
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I agree with Phil about gluing the stropping lines around the blocks. If you don’t some of your blocks may “roll out” under tension, probably in the worst locations for trying to fix them. You don’t need much glue, just a little on each side if the block. Rounding off the edges of the blocks will make them look more realistic. The blocks from Syren look great but the Model expo blocks can be improved with a tumbler or by filing down the edges (tedious but not too bad if you do them as you need them.)
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I’m a little late with this comment but your ship’s boats look great! Did you put anything on the interior wood or did you just leave the pear wood as it came?
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I too was worried about snagging the bowsprit/jib boom but I clipped a piece of bright orange tape near the end of it and it's visibility served as a warning/reminder whenever I was reaching anywhere near that area.
- 422 replies
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- Vanguard Models
- Sphinx
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Thanks Matt! ----------------------------------- Step 31 to completion The last step is to select and prep the oars. The kit provides 2 complete sets - one of PE and one of pear wood. I went with the pear wood. Sanding the char off these delicate pieces and then sanding all 12 of them so their cross sections would have a more rounded appearance ended up taking more time than any other step in this build. I did add copper paint to the blade tips per the instructions but did not follow the recommendation to partially paint them in white. I left it off since American warships of the Napoleonic War period seemed to have a lot less decoration/ornamentation than the RN. I’m not sure if that was a matter of preference, Navy Department parsimony or just no need to keep crews with too many embittered products of the press gang busy with fancywork rather than sitting around plotting mutiny.🙂 Final Thoughts: I’m very pleased with how this kit turned out. I may build Vanguard’s 18 ft cutter to hang on the SYREN’s stern davits when I get to that point in the build. Although the build logs made this kit look a little intimidating I found that clamping each hull plank in sections with my fingers until the glue set made that part of the build surprisingly easy This was more fun than I thought it would be - the kit is well designed, the instructions are very good and the materials are great
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