Mike Y

It is coming together very nicely! Looks like the preparation is paying off  

It is coming together very nicely! Looks like the preparation is paying off  

'Carving' rudder ironwork from solid brass is unusual. Labor intensive but well done!

I've started attaching the aft cant frames.  No more until I add some basswood spacers at the top of the frames.  Soon I will also start fairing the internal part of the stern before too much more gets in the way.
 

 
Adam

I finished gluing up the aft cant frames.  My plan is to simulate the frame bolts with copper wire and blacken any exposed bolts on the model with liver of sulfur after fairing.  I used wire labeled 0.019" diameter to simulate scale bolts 7/8" diameter.  There are 2 types of joints on the cant frames.  One type uses chocks and the other a simple scarph joint.  I wanted to save some time laying out the bolt patterns on the frames, so I printed up some guides on label paper.  I found that to work great.  I drilled the holes using a micro drilling accessory on the Sherline lathe.  I broke my last drill bit, so no more holes until I find some more.
 

 

Adam

I forgot to show my high tech gluing setup.  I glue them on a small plate of glass and weigh them down with a flashlight.

 
 

I made a slightly larger building board to provide a bit more room to install the frames at the ends of the model.  Long story short, when I setup the new build board I found some issues with the alignment of the transoms and aft fashion piece.  I have known for a while that something wasn't right with the alignment, and happy to figure it out before doing a ton more work.  I envisioned this would be a problem that would follow me through the whole build, so got out the isopropyl and re-built the transoms and aft fashion pieces.  I also used the opportunity to add a 4th filling frame which looks much better to my eyes.
 
Adam

Don't remember seeing this option previously.  When looking at build logs, there is a small button in the upper right corner of a person's signature page to either hide that individual's signature section or ALL signatures.  On some folks' signature pages, that might be a nice feature to click on. 
 
I can especially see a value if you want to do a copy/paste of someone's build log into something like a Word document, but don't need the signature details, and that saves you from deleting those areas in the actual Word doc.  The follow-up question, though, would be... is there a way to unhide someone's signature if you decide you want to see them again?  Not sure I saw that ability when I hid someone's signature section to test this.
 
Thanks for continuing to make MSW better! 🏆🏆🏆

Really like the organic shapes of the framing! It feels like the tree is growing around the mast step, hugging it with branches  
A bit too much decking obscuring it, the photos in post #135 are golden! 

Really like the organic shapes of the framing! It feels like the tree is growing around the mast step, hugging it with branches  
A bit too much decking obscuring it, the photos in post #135 are golden! 

Hello,
it is done, the deck is finished. That was no easy job, at least in the stern and stem. I'm waiting now for the second oiling, and build in that time may be the rudder, some cleats or toggles.




And that is all you could see from the interior. Just some frames and parts of the mast step. But I have the pictures.

Hello,
After a short break, we continue now. The last two stands are now ready. Since nothing is straight here, they got me really busy.
But it's done now. Next is the deck to be made. That means, cutting wood first.

Hello Cisko,
as you can see in the picture, the stand is made of 3 parts. I haven't found more parts in the trash bin anymore. In this case, the stand itself must first be dressed. That's the difficult part. Everything else will explain itself, hopefully.

Thanks so much, everyone. This was a major hurdle for me, thinking about it for many years, and now able to move forward.
 
A couple more thoughts, for those working on paintings like this.
 
1. Using frisk to lay down the base yellow ochre actually accomplished a couple of things. Not only did it allow a smooth application of airbrush paint, but it also solved part of the problem of getting the design transferred to the hull. Because the frisk is based on an accurate drawing, there is no need to worry about sketching in the design on the model itself, trying to keep faithful to proportions and sizes. It is as accurate as the drawing used to cut the frisk.
 
2. To get an accurate underlying drawing, I scanned photos of the painting on the original Bellona model, and imported them into my CAD software (HighDesign 9 for Mac). I then resized them to approximately the correct sizes and printed them. When I cut out each print and laid it onto the hull, I could see where the shape needed to be adjusted for more or less curve, a little wider or narrower. I would then make these adjustments to the CAD drawing, print again, adjust and so on until the CAD drawing was an accurate fit. Then I knew the frisk would fit well in its assigned space.
 
3. Regarding airbrush paint, I also started with Vallejo, which is highly regarded by many modelers online. But I also had problems with these clogging my airbrush (Harder and Steenbeck Evolution). Although I tried a number of suggestions for thinners seen on YouTube videos, nothing seemed to work reliably for me. It may be that I did not work out a good way of mixing the paint and thinner, or it may be that spraying on wood rather than plastic makes a difference. Golden High Flow paints worked without thinning, which does allow for a greater consistency in what is going to happen when you pull the trigger. And they match the Golden Fluid acrylics for hand painting.
 
4. As David Antscherl pointed out in his section on painting in the Fully Framed Model, the base layer of yellow ochre is a translucent paint, not opaque. So when spraying or hand brushing yellow over Prussian blue, the resulting color goes green. David's advice of mixing some white into the yellow ochre for hand brushing helps, while a number of layers of airbrushed yellow ochre eventually goes opaque. They dry so quickly that it is possible to get an opaque finish in one session of airbrushing.
 
I look back and wonder why it took me so long to work out this painting business; and now I remember the many experiments, dead ends, different products....
 
Mark
 

HI everyone,
A long time since my last post. I realized that I was getting to far ahead of myself, building up the stern with everything just pinned. I needed first to paint the lower and upper counters before I could actually start assembling things.
 
And learning how to paint the friezes was a major learning curve!
 
I greatly followed David Antscherl's advice on painting in the Fully Frame Model, vol. II section 7.26. It was exceptionally helpful for everything from paint and brushes to technique.
 
Alas, I discovered after a great deal of experimentation that hand painting alone did not work well for me. Particularly for the background Prussian blue and the letters "Bellona" on the stern, I needed a way to get things sharper and more even in tone. So, I turned to my airbrush. I masked everything but the counter and sprayed away.
 
 

I glued artist's frisk onto a print of the upper counter letters and frieze elements (a woman riding a sea monster, a man riding a galloping horse). I could then turn the frisk/print every which way on my light table, and very carefully cut the frisk with a scalpel. I then attached the frisk and sprayed everything that would be the yellow ochre base for all of the frieze work:
 

I then used white graphite transfer paper to trace the rest of the pattern onto the surfaces:
 

Then following David's advice of painting highlights and shadows on the basic forms, I eventually got to an imperfect copy of the original Bellona model:
 

I learned to admire those original model builders for their painting skill. Try as I might, I just could not get to the same level of skill. But as good as I can do! So, moving on to actually gluing together the stern!
 
I did learn a few good things that I will pass on for anyone else attempting these kinds of friezes.
 
First, after trying a number of airbrush and hand paint brands, I settled on Golden. They have the same colors in different densities, for airbrushing and hand painting; the colors match the historic colors I was looking for; they come in plastic bottles with ball bearing inside, for mixing. They spray without problems through my airbrush. And they are highly regarded in the artist community.
 
Second, I struggled with the acrylic paint drying too quickly on the palette when I was trying to mix colors. My son introduced me to the model gamers' favorite tool, the Army Painter Wet Palette. This tray holds a water saturated pad, upon which is placed a parchment sheet. Paint mixed on top of the parchment can stay wet and mixable for as long as 48 hours. A huge help!
 
A glass of wine tonight in celebration, and on to assembling the stern!
 
Mark
 
 

 
 
 

Thank you guys.
To Chris - I don't like the black caulking between the planks to be too prominent, so the caulking here is created only by blackening the edge of the plank with a pencil so that it is not too prominent. The only exception is the planks on the decks, where the caulking is created with black paper. Here this color contrast makes a bit more sense (at least from my point of view).
I continue by planing the "thicker" part of the bow.

after three months , finally I  completed the framing , and started with transom,  and now pairing... 
 

hi folks,
just a small update, the progress is moving slowly, btw  tiny progress is better than no progress
 
cheers

Last elements before starting with the masting: the nets of the gangways.
I used a cardboard holder of a suitable size, threading very thin cotton thread diagonally between the cuts and then using another thread in the opposite direction by tying knots in it
 

@Keith Black
@druxey
@Thukydides
@Dr PR
I am very grateful for your interest and the nice comments.
I would also like to thank everyone else for the LIKES.
 
Hello Phil,
I'm very pleased if my reports are of any use to you. I also benefit from other colleagues. My understanding of a forum of this kind is give and take, to help us all become better model builders.
Hopefully the belaying needle can be a solution to your rigging problems.
 
 
Addition: Securing the ropes of the running rigging with a belaying needle
It is obvious to me how the last loop is to be guided when securing the ropes of the running rigging with a belaying needle. However, this is not clear from my previous illustration on this subject.
A model maker colleague asked a question on this.
In this respect, I would also like to explain this step here with this additional explanation:

As can be seen in Fig. 1, the rope can be guided under the last loop with the belaying needle. In the second step, the rope is then unthreaded by pulling it back, if necessary with the help of tweezers in hard-to-reach places. Fig. 3 shows that the belaying needle can simply be pulled out of the loop by tightening the rope.
 
I hope I have explained it clearly enough. For me, these processes are easy to carry out, as I have already done them many times.

 

Johann,
 
I have been following this build and am always impressed with the extraordinary detail you manage to put into the model, especially the rigging.
 
I'll have to think a bit about your belaying needle. I have been pretty lucky belaying lines to the pins in the pin rails on the bulwarks of my model, even though the gaff sails block cross hull access and I have to work blind from the outboard side of the pin rails (I do have a dental mirror, but I need a third hand to hold it). But rigging to the fife rails on the center line becomes difficult as more and more lines enclose it in a web of ropes.
 
I need a tool that is designed to give better control in these hard to reach places and your belaying needle, or a variation thereof, may be the answer.
 
Thanks for posting your build, and for the excellent photos that show what and how you have been making it.

Thanks Greg - fun bit of milling this week on the inner keel parts.  I used the TAIG Mill along with sharp Lie Neilsen chisels.  

Tricky bow area, looks to be nicely done!
Wonder how it would look after fairing 😊
A few areas look suspicious, but hard to tell from the photos. Just hope you are verifying the ”flow” of frames as you go (with some wood strip) to avoid obvious dips and misalignments.
Rooting for you! 👍

I struggled with this assembly - 6 attempts later here are the results.  I can finally move forward ! 

Richard,
 
I have used optical fibres to light the interior of my 1805 schooner model in 1/64. The period and scale are quite different but optical fibres have properties that are useful or a pain, depending on what you are trying to achieve. One is that they leak light if you bend them too much so they have to be routed carefully. A second is that if you roughen the surface the light also leaks out. This might be what you need to simulate your fluorescent tubes. 

 
I have used 1mm diameter plastic fibre and arrange seven fibres in a hex pattern to face a 3mm diameter LED. The fibres enter the model through brass tube stands (3mm internal diameter) so they are invisible. This also leaves electronics and solder joints outside the model so they remain accessible. 
 
The fibres are readily available on Ebay and cheap so a bit of experimenting could give you a solution. 
 
George