dvm27

A little progress 2282 holes have been drilled and approx. 1400 nails have already been set.  Now I still have the last frames 32-52 ahead of me.

I'm sorry that there aren't too many updates at the moment, but I've started another project as you can see in the picture.  Both in 1:36 scale
 

 

Thanks so much for the kind comments, Yancovitch and Steve. Slow but steady!
 
In my last post, I express doubts about the way I had managed the hair bracket, sitting tenuously on top of the knee at the stem. After pondering it a while, I decided there was nothing for it but to cut down the top of the knee that I had shaped in 1998 when I started construction (see image below). It was too short for the hair bracket, the gammoning slot and the hole for the mainmast stay collar were in the wrong locations. To this day, I don't quite know how I got that so wrong. I might have copied something out of Lavery's book on the Bellona, which I have subsequently discovered is not  accurate enough to build a model from. And I started construction years before I finally started drawing more accurate drawings--always a mistake!

So, I made a complete new piece, combining the hair bracket and a carved ornamental piece that stands directly behind the figurehead. It seemed more solid the two together, and they are the same thickness relative to the figure head:
 

 
And after a lot of faying and tapering, the new core for the hair brackets now holds everything firmly together.
 
I made up a dummy of Bellona (don't tell her I said that, she is supposed to be a very scary warrior...), just to see how things are starting to fit together. The first image below shows the new core piece still covered in the paper pattern, showing the bas-relief carving to come on the piece behind the figurehead (she is pulled away from it a little in this photo). It also shows the captain standing on the cheeks. Gives a good idea of the size of the figurehead.
 

And here are parts starting to fall into place:
 

 
I have been reading David Antscherl's excellent explanation of how to carve a figure head in Volume II of the Fully Framed Model. I might start with the maquette, and see how it goes...
I have pondered what wood to use, to carve the figures on the ship. My boxwood is not buxus semperivens, the stuff the old modeler's used, and that David recommended when he first wrote his book. But I can find no supplier anywhere in the world of buxus semperivens anymore. I know my boxwood is from South America, but I don't know its actual species. It seems to be stiffer in relation to what others have written about working true boxwood. I think it will have to do. And I can always blame a bad outcome on bad tools or bad wood, not lack of skill!🙂
 
Best wishes,
 
Mark
edited with higher resolution image here:
 

 
 
 
 
 

Flag installed.

This completes the model (!!!!!!).

Now my attention turns to finalizing the display starting with the cradle.  I would like to do this in mahogany to match the base board.  Let's see how it comes out.  Worst case scenario- I am unable to improve on what I have, in which case, I will paint the current cradle black.  We shall see.  More posts to come.

Hello and many, many thanks,
here a little update. The gammon lashings are ready.

Brilliant, Siggi. Love the way you've "draped" the flags over the channel knees

Great gratings Siggi. I learned long ago to make the gratings first to insure full borders on all sides. The coamings and head ledges can always be modified a bit to fit.

I certainly agree with Hakan. Those inset molded details on the bitts and cross pieces are fabulous. Do you use a small chisel, scraper or a combination of both?

While I tend to build in a highly stylized manner I can certainly appreciate that your model probably comes closer to the actual ships appearance than any other model on this site. Truly inspirational!

Hello and many thanks for your nice comments and likes.
Today only a little update, the boomkin cleats are installed.

Hi Gary to which NMM plans are you refering.

Finished!  After an 11-month journey, I’m calling it a Statenjacht.  It was a lot of fun, and I learned so much along the way. I wanted to build a kit for my second ship model that would be a stretch, and this definitely was that.  Could never have finished this project without constantly mining MSW for the myriad tips, tricks and advice found here. Kudos also to Hans at Kolderstok for producing a great kit - highly recommend if you’re interested in 17th Century Dutch sailing ships.  And I’m happy with the result. 😊
 

Some progress
 
The taffrail capping pieces on both sides were completed and then I started work on the Quarter Piece blanks - fitting to the hull shape takes time - the extra meat left on these is for the relief carvings that will be added to them - the one you see in the picture is the 4th test piece and I’m sure there will be more!
 
 

Well that carving is certainly matches the quality of your work. Congratulations on owning an original Antscherl piece of art!

Further progress on the main deck. Gun port stops next.

@druxey
Thanks for your nice comment.
Thanks also to all for the many LIKES.
 
Continuation: Equipping the yards - studding sail boom irons
After initial problems and a failed attempt, I set out with new courage to make another one. Probably to avoid the mistakes of the first attempt, such as brazing the fine parts of the hinges too much heat, so that they then ultimately become brittle and break off (see picture). In principle, it would also have been possible to make these joints with soft solder. However, for reasons of strength, I chose brazing.


On the next picture I show a photo collage, where single steps for making the studding sail boom iron are shown.

On the next picture you can see the studding sail boom iron still in uncleaned condition after brazing. The outer ring is still missing the hint of a hinge, which I will fix with soft solder.


Here a picture with spar:


And finally the result for the two inner studding sail boom irons of the fore topsail yard.


Making the outer studding sail boom irons should be much easier.
To be continued ...
 

Me and you both 👍  These are lovely little kits by the way I was very impressed.
Now there's an idea 😉
 
Just to give a little perspective on just how tiny these barrels are here's a couple of pictures of it in the hold.  I think it looks great!

Hello,
the bowsprit is now fast and the last „seats of ease“ are installed. The next things are the boomkin cleats. But that may take a little time.
 
Should I tar the gammoning? I'm not sure 

My room got gradually messier over the last 3 year with only interim cleans. 
 
For the first time since last April, there's no building activity.
 
This time it's a deep clean to remove all vestiges of dust and detritus. Indy is now encapsulated so it won't get dusty during the next project. About halfway to making this workable again. 
 

And lastly:
 
As with other VM kits, this comes with an acrylic stand. This one is quite heavy too, with a gold/black nameplate.
 

 
 
 
Final hull pics:







 
 
And with that, I'm having a week or two abusing my PlayStation5 with Hogwarts Legacy and Call of Duty. Modern Warfare 2. 

And fairly inexpensive 

Jewellers (silver-)solder rings on a cone-shaped carbon-rod. While, it is not carbon, but graphite mixed with clay, one could perhaps use a lead-pencil mine as mandrel for soldering. They come in various diameters or one could just sharpen an ordinary pencil and put this into a vice for soldering. Solder paste would be the way to go.
 
I am wrapping (soft) wire around a drill shaft, pull it off and then cut the rings with a scalpel on a glass plate. In this way the kerf is on the inside of the ring, where it is less visible even when not soldered. In this way I can produce rings with 0.3 mm inside diameter, if needed. 

Copper wound around a drill bit as mentioned then cut with scalpel or chisel as also mentioned.  Holding the ring with tweezers and using low temp silver solder paste works beautifully.  I have been using Solder It Silver Bearing paste which melts at 450F (232C) with great success.  A tiny dot of the paste is all that is needed especially with #33 gage copper which would be 1/2" at 1:64.   
Allan 

Lifeboats are on. I rigged them as closely as I know how with the documentation and pics I have so far. They can be re-rigged if necessary but this looks pretty close.
 

 
Employing some artistic license I did put some tiny pad eyes on the bow and stern of the boats.