dvm27

For those wishing to purchase rivets and bolts of very small size check out https://model-motorcars.myshopify.com/collections/small-parts-hardware/rivets. They purchased Scale Hardware when they went out of business and have an ibcredible varieth of micro fasteners.

First plank above garboard on port side.  Straight forward, spile, sand to adjust, fit, glue, clamp.

Maury

Thank you all .
 
Getting near the end of the build. The last major part - the gun :



 
All that's left to do are some minor details - a 50 cal machine gun, some jerry cans and tools, etc.
 
Danny

The TFFM books refer to The Fully Framed Model. They are a four volume set on the construction of a typical British mid-eighteenth century sixth rate ship-rigged sloop. The book are part of the extensive offerings by SeaWatchBooks. They have a link on the first page of this site, down the right hand side. Click for details.

I’ve been working on my club’s group build of the Medway Longboat,  but I did take time out to complete the bow sprint and its standing rigging.  All the lines and their collars were served. Getting the lengths of the bobstay collar and bow sprint shroud collars correct proved to be a challenge.  It took a few tries before I was pleased. I used dead eyes since I thought that closed hearts looked too big.
 

 

 

 

Tools

I like this building board! Much freedom during operating with frames

Thank you for your comments, Michel and E.J., and also to you all for the support and "likes".
 
Today I have finished nameplate, its base and letters are made out of card, the frame is wooden. I tried to do it in the style of English Restoration approx 1670 (the frame and small ornaments) and you can also find there initials of authors - me and Captain KL who helps me to achieve more realistic results and gives me professional advice how to do things correctly and better.
That's why you can watch here a completely different build of the Royal Katharine than those that are based on modeling plans - unfortunately, in many ways, fictional.
 

 
So enjoy the pics and have a great time.
 

Hello again and thanks to all who are following along.  I buckled down and put this together a bit sooner than I thought I could, and I hope you enjoy it.  This segment catches up the build to about December 1 of last year.  Soon I hope to be current.
 
First, I got some welcome confirmation from Professor Smith of our best guesses for the dazzle paint colors.  Somewhere in the archives of the museum he came up with color chips of the paints used during World War I.   The one most in question, Blue Green 1, is at the upper left and matches quite closely to the color already on the model, so no overpainting will be needed.  Whew!

Construction itself continued upwards with B Deck, which is highlighted in the photo below.  This and other pictures told me that only the forward two long sections are enclosed by window units, while aft of them the side is open with pillars and a solid rail.

The details of the deck house are rarely seen since it sits well back from the side of the ship.  I relied on the one photo below which was taken at just the right angle to show the doors and windows at this level.
   
After lots of time spent poring over the photos and trying to decipher the notations on the plans, I came up with these windows for the deck houses of both B and A Decks.  It’s a bit surprising what can be done pretty easily with Photoshop and clear decal film for an ink-jet printer.

The deck house shape was taken from the plans and was assembled from various rectangular pieces of ½” basswood.  After sheathing it in styrene the troop ship side was painted grey.  Portholes were drilled and installed, followed by the doors, window decals, and handrails.

At the side the forward window sections are built up from smaller sections and panels, but most of the photos are taken from too far away to be really helpful.

In a close-up of the troop ship I learned that the windows consist of three-panel units with added pillars in between.  The frames have cross-pieces setting off the top third of each panel, but no corresponding lower frames.  The upper and lower thirds have solid panels behind the frames, leaving only the center third open.

I laid out the repeating frame units in Photoshop using the ‘copy’ function a lot so I could generate the long runs that I needed.  A similar set of windows was laid out for the face of the forward superstructure and its deckhouse.  These were laser cut for my by Charlie Zardoz, a good modeler with some build logs on this site, and a great guy.  He managed to get the penetration set so the windows just pop out while the frames remain sturdily behind.

After sizing and cutting out the lengths that I needed two back panels were installed to cover the upper and lower thirds, then the units were painted.  Here is one of the troop ship pieces before installation.

And after.  The darker area seen through the open windows is the side of the deck house which is set back and painted flat black to create the impression of depth.   The dust is not for effect and will be removed.

The process was similar on the ocean liner side, but with more colors.  I have not located any color photos or paintings of the liner which have this detail, so I opted for a warm brown for the frames and tan for the backing pieces.  The pillars are each added individually and left the bare color of white styrene.  A black background proved too much of a contrast with these colors, so a warmer grey was used.

The aft portion of the ship’s side at this level has numerous pillars set every 14mm on the model.  As before, they are 0.032” brass rod, painted white on the ocean liner side and grey on the other.  A quick wooden spacer and guide ensured that the opening was a consistent 10mm tall and that the pillars were vertical.  Gluing them with cyano and white glue double locked them in place and strengthened the support for the deck piece of A Deck, which had a tendency to warp a little.

The face of the bow superstructure got a run of tall window frames as well.  The frames match the ones on the side of the ship, but have no backing pieces or added pillars.  Here they are in place with the window filling pieces taken out on the ocean liner side and set over a grey background.  I left the window pieces in on the troop ship side to match photos showing covers over them, probably to block any stray light.  The edges of the frames were given a dark wash to improve contrast.  Above, the smaller window units have been applied to the initial mock-up of the A Deck house. 

So here is the model status as of December 1 of last year.  Bit by bit, taking small steps, I am working inward and upward toward the upper decks and funnels.  I find it quite interesting that changing the paint scheme changes the look, to my eye, of the husky, tall troop ship into the low, sleek ocean liner even though I know, for a fact, that they are identical.
 
More soon.
 
Dan
 
 

In the Central Naval Museum (Saint-Petersburg, Russia) there is an Admiralty model of frigate La Legere.
During 2 years i was busy with measuring this model and preparing a drawings.
Then during 2 years i was busy with her building.
I will show you my work in progress...

I started plotting the frame section lines. The drawing numbers the frames with frame 0 at the steering position. Frames 1 to 38 are forward of the steering position and frames -1 to -7 aft of it. It's a bit slow going but I am making progress. I have commandeered the dining room table - somewhat warmer than the workshop at present and my wife can find me more easily. The Christmas table cloth hasn't been removed yet. My draughting arrangements are somewhat basic, MDF for drawing board, my woodworkers square, dividers, french curves and a much overused eraser. Oh! and a laptop to give the impression of sophistication.

Never the less it seems to work and the bow sections are coming out well. I will publish PDF's of the sections in a later post. 
 

 
 
. 

I have made a start on defining the frames I started with the small web image. This was originally in a magazine and probably scaled about 6 inches long.
 

I had a play with it in the Mac iPhoto package basically whitening and sharpening the image. The plan and side elevations improved more than the image showing the frames.
This wasn't a big deal as the frames were only for the fore part of the yacht and anyway I thought plotting the frames from the plan / elevation was likely to be more interesting.
 
I printed the plan / side elevations at 1:36 and 1:72 scale. 1:36 is the upper 2 sheets in the next photo, the lower 6 sheets are 1:72.

Scaling up to 1:36 produced rather wide / poorly defined lines.

1:72 was somewhat better.
As I was going to draw the frames at 1:36 the scale of 1:72 worked well as I could measure across the matching plan section lines and use this dimension as the centre line to hull dimension on the 1:36 frame sections.


I felt the urge to check that the plans were reasonably accurate as I was worried that length / beam scales could have been distorted. Hence the following check calculations:-

The error line (red) shows the maximum error to be about a third of a percent which I am happy with. 
 
It is probably worth stating that the frame section lines are spaced at 1 meter (full size) or circa 1.1 Inch at 1:36. For building I had to consider how many frames to create. 1.1 inch spacing gives 46 frames and of course 2.2 inch gives 23. I decided to go with the larger number.

Well, the Czechoslovakian fellow who provided our cannons turns them out in about 2 minutes per (not including drilling the trunion holes and muzzle bores). Such is the beauty of CNC. But perhaps he has a commercial setup. I do think the look of a cast cannon gives a more realistic impression than smooth brass. Your workshop view is magnificent!

Hi 😊

rpeteru: Thank you, I am really honored reading your words.
 
I continue with modelling front pedestal, here are some pics from process and first half after baking:
 

 
Have a great time and enjoy the pics.
 
 
Best regards

Hi Alan,
 
I might still be trying that. I learned more about photo etching today, getting as far as exposing and then developing the resist. I discovered (after talking to the great tech support at Micro Mark) that I had probably not cleaned the metal enough and/or run it through the laminator enough times. The resist had not stuck properly to the metal, and washed off completely in big areas.
 
So, the artwork is good, now I need to start again with the metal prep, exposure and development of the resist.
 
My wife is very patient about me taking over the guest bathroom for my developer studio...
 
Mark
 
 

The port side planking above the first layer wales is done. Again you can see the original wood color in the area of the wales compared to that which is above. I pencil marked X's on the first layer wales so as to avoid placing the second layer in the wrong location.

I also started to clean up and fair the inside of the hull in the forecastle area. I glued scrap 1/8" basswood and balsa in-between the frames as a guide while removing material. Lots of sawdust!

MIke

Thank you dear friends, I appreciate your feedback a lot. I am pleased you enjoy the pics and shots from process.
 
To Bob Cleek: Well, I have some offers of cooperation from model producers, so it is possible that my sculptures and various accessories will be also available for modellers. Meanwhile, there are two main problems - all my sculptures and ornaments are adapted on the specific model and a scale I make. And it is also time-consuming a lot and nobody in our country is able to pay adequately for such hand work. For example I spent 15 hours creating this pedestal. 
 
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The surface was covered with velvet at the points of contact with the model to prevent abrasion and achieve better stabilize. The model is already stable enough on this single rear pedestal so it was safe to throw out the auxiliary supports from the center.
 

 
Best regards

Dear friends,
I am very grateful for your comments and support and do appreciate it a lot. 
 
Your praise means a lot for me, dear Albert, thank you very much.
You are welcome.
And BTW, will you also take part in that Swimsuit Edition on MSW?😎
 
You are right, this kind of modeling clay does not change when baked at all. This is one of its advantages I like.
 
I am very honored and pleased you find inspiration in my work. I am also looking forward to your gorgeous work and great craftsmanship.
 
 
In fact it was quite difficult to achieve a good symmetry. Some parts I had to make again or correct.
 
Thank you dear Michael, and also the best to you and your family.  
That was a small tourist boat on which we sailed to watch dolphins and sunset on vacation.
Here are some pics:
https://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=177&t=110763&start=570#p2136552
 
Thank you Rob, I am pleased you like my work.
Well, I do not have experience with "Sculptamold" so cannot compare. The clay I use is made in our country. It is called "modelit"or "modurit".
 
https://www.top-obaly.cz/produkt/modelovaci-hmota?gclid=Cj0KCQiAg_HhBRDNARIsAGHLV517ab3Wioqn5FWVfMxuxvfWpfaSwCPDVPIN0tXJS25g0FQBGNBfCZYaAl6_EALw_wcB#product-modelit-500-gramu
 
The clay does not change during hardening at all. Only its white colour gets tan  - depending on temperature and length of baking.
All my sculptures are created individually, I prefer unique results. In addition, the front and rear pedestals are different in the shape. The front one is lower.
 
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I have already finished rear pedestal and here are some pics from process and final result. So enjoy them.
 
Making back side, reinforcement added:

 
Before hardening:

 
 
After baking in the oven (temperature 120-130°C, baked about 40 minutes):

The pedestal (still warm) during final shaping according to the hull planking:

 
 
The final result after gilding - I used TS-21 Gold Tamiya spray.
 

I learned a lot today about photo etching. First, the instructions and I came to a misunderstanding about the required length of the artwork film on front and back. They have to be taped together back to back while registering exactly. One side has to be longer so the other side can be taped to it, to form a hinge at the top. The metal then slips in between. I did it wrong, leaving too short a distance at the hinge to allow the artwork to slip down to be centered on the metal. So as long as I had to do the film again, I reworked the art so that I could get all of the hinges on. I also placed registration marks at the corners to help with aligning these to each other.
 
I also talked to tech support at Micro Mark. They were very helpful. They said that the exposure to a 60 watt bulb will do the job well. 100 watts tends to deform the plexiglass that the metal and artwork is temporarily sandwiched within, and fluorescent takes all day. 60 watts takes about 10 minutes per side. Time does not seem to be critical; the film will turn a darker blue when properly exposed, and there is no danger of too much exposure. Basically, the resist under the exposed areas (white) is being hardened by the UV light, so the unexposed areas (black) can be washed away to reveal the metal for etching. It apparently cannot be over-hardened with too much exposure.
 
Also, the ink side of the art work is placed directly against the resist film on the metal, which is why the artwork has to be reversed to read properly. So there is only the thickness of the ink to cast any shadows when being exposed, which appears to be negligible.
 
I had hoped to be further along today, but there was no rush because the sun never showed up here...
 
Mark

Toni, I am looking forward to rigging her. The only other ship I've rigged is Hannah. As a ketch rigged sloop, she's a relatively simple model to rig. I'm attaching a photo of the Speedwell model David and I have based our model on.  I find her to be a simple, yet elegant ship. Photo courtesy of the National Maritime Museum.
 

 
 

Hi,
Speedwell volume I is on press now and is scheduled for release Feb 1 I will announce it on this site and on the SeaWatchBooks site. Stay tuned.
 
Thanks,
Bob Friedman

I’ve never seen a rifled bore on a ship model before Valerie! Your work reminds me of the finest builders models made by shipping companies in the 1900’s.

That’s how I affixed mine Mark, using 5 minute epoxy. Slightly over-contour the cypher to conform to the barrel. It’s a bit dicey keeping everything neat and tidy while the epoxy is setting but a little seep out is easily cleaned with isopropyl.

Just curious Mark. If you sweated those cyphers and vents onto the masters wouldn’t they be incorporated into the casting?