dvm27

I’ll post the wood list for the Swan framing and a Echo cross-section to our website over the weekend. Thanks to all who ordered plans during our close out sale. I’m a bit overwhelmed by the response but will fill all your orders shortly.

Michael Mott mentions brazing vs soft soldering in a recent post. This begs the question how important is silver soldering at this scale? Do rigging stresses often cause soft soldered joints to fail? What other applications would favor brazing over soft soldering on our models? In my experience, I have found that soft soldering is easier and has a higher rate of success than brazing but perhaps because I do it so infrequently.

Admiralty Models Closing and Sale David Antscherl and I formed Admiralty Models over fifteen years ago to provide plans, support and products for those wishing to try their hand at scratch building. Along the way we have lofted several plans, published many books, hosted over a dozen workshops and offered timbering packages to that group of ship model makers whose dream it has been to build a fully framed model. We have truly enjoyed this experience and are very grateful for the level of support shown to us by the ship model community. All good things, however, must come to end and thus David and I have decided to close Admiralty Models. Ironically, our hobby business has been seriously reducing our personal hobby time. To facilitate closing we will be reducing prices on our plans by 25%. This will deplete our inventory (hopefully). We will still keep our website www.admiraltymodels.com open as there is ship model making reference material and photographs there. But we won’t be selling any products. So, if you have been thinking of building a Swan or Echo fully framed or cross-sectional model, you may wish to purchase your plans while they are still available. Prices are as follows: Swan plans (Mylar and USB drive) - $131.25 (regular $175) Echo plans (Mylar and USB drive) - $93.75 (regular $125) Masting and sparring plan (Mylar) for above - $37.50 (regular $50) Postage: US $5, Canada $10, Overseas $22.50. No extra charge to combine items for shipping. Ordering: PayPal payment to dvm27@comcast.net or check to Greg Herbert, 3739 Spring Lake Lane, Owings Mills, MD 21117 Admiralty Models will still conduct workshops if there is sufficient interest. If you have not attended one before please send me an e-mail and I’ll update our Master List. David and I wish to thank Model Ship World and all of those who have supported Admiralty Models over the years. In addition we wish to thank Byrnes Model Machines, The HobbyMill and Syren Ship Models for their collaboration and support over the years. Our little niche business has succeeded beyond our wildest expectations! Greg Herbert and David Antscherl www.admiraltymodels.com

Welcome back, Mark! Your ingenious problem-solving solutions are always instructional for the rest of us.

Look a bit closer and it's even more impressive Pat. The starboard gudgeons (on the planked side) are much thinner than on the unplanked port side. An elegant solution to a half planked hull!

Brilliant, Ben! So, are you going to carve those beautiful toptimber profiles in place or fake them by adding them later (as most of us have done). If you are doing the latter I'd recommend removing them now as its much easier to get a fair toptimber line without them.

Even on close examination it's hard to see. Quit while you're ahead Mike!

I did cheat those joints on Pegasus Alan but did them correctly on Speedwell. David does discuss the lofting of these angles in Volume I of TFFM. It really is quite easy to mill them if you have an angle plate. I only had one breakthrough out of the whole bunch so I increased the chock angle for it's replacement.

Those are tricky little timbers! A bracing piece inside the hull between the cants and outer counter timber (at the toptimber line) is indeed the way to go. I left the fillers quite full and faired them in place.

True that, Danny. Most of the features on the platforms and lower deck are not visible in our finished models. How cool would it be to show the photo below and say "this is what my magazine looks like"?

Yes, Denis's work is amazing. You should see the high resolution photos. I honestly can't tell his work from mine (well, actually I can...his work is flawless). David and I will absolutely be releasing these photos, which follow our books chapter by chapter, when Denis is finished. The photos will be viewable on a PC in high resolution. Printing costs would be enormous so that's not an option. We wish to provide them, at a very reasonable price, to those who have purchased our Swan class plans over the years, sort of a parting gift from Admiralty Models for all your support over the years.

Denis has been busy building our 3D Swan class ship. It's very exciting when it all comes together, for example the aft platform view below from the main deck (photo below). When paired with The Fully Framed Model series of books I don't believe there will be another more thoroughly researched and illustrated ship model reference available.

That's exquisite work, Mike! If it weren't for the grain it would be hard to tell the bollard and hawse timbers were from several pieces. I also use just two machinists squares when setting the frames. Much easier to reference the maximum height of breadth from the building board.

On a Swan class ship, for example, the galley cowl could be rotated and the baffle closed in a downpour. I suspect it could also be removed and covered by a hatch or canvas in a heavy storm.

Looks wonderful, Ben. Now get those fillers in and brace them before you snap them off with an errant elbow strike like Toni and I did!

As many sizes of rings are frequently required you can also make your own by winding 24 or 28 gage brass wire around the appropriate sized drill bit. After winding and making sure the ends are taut you can cut them straight down the middle with a very fine fret saw blades. Ends need to be sqared up before soldering using a file.

Merveilleux, Patrick!

Dan, there is a guy on Overhaulin who does beautiful pinstriping by hand - no taping off or other guides. Just hire him.

I use the 180 grit for everything. Your can remove as much (towards the end) or as little (towards the center) as you need with a smooth finish. If you need 80 grit you probably should be cutting your wood to closer tolerances before this point. Changing the paper is relatively easy but does take some time and a lot of mineral spirits.

Those bitts look fantastic, Jason. Definitely worth the extra effort.

Bienvenue, Mark. From browsing websites all over the world it is apparent there are many extraordinary ship model makers whose work we have never seen. Happily, several of them seem to have discovered Model Ship World recently and we are very pleased to view your work. I especially appreciate the meticulous lining out of your hull. It takes a very brave builder to take on a model with such exquisite carvings!

Those look very nice, Cliff. Does he include instructions for cleaning off the excess and polishing?

Lovely work, Michel. Even more impressive is the fact that the blank is just one piece. I seem to recall M. Frolich built his up of several pieces (perhaps to insure the best wood grain orientation).

Looking forward to this build, Ken! Are you modeling her with or without the shipping containers? It's a completely different look with them.

I'm so sorry about your setback, Karl! Most people wouldn't have the heart to jump right back in with a replacement build but you have certainly done so. In the medical profession we usually say "bad things come in threes". I like the German proverb better.