augie

Looking good, Denis. Love the concepts - will be fun seeing how each adopts its own personality!

Hi Collingwood:
 
Nice to see you have a start here. You might have already noticed that the keel does not fit the drawing of the CNC part provided on the plans. In fact, I recommend you leave Corel's plans and instructions behind almost entirely. They are vague and even deceptive. Check the bulkheads carefully - I had to shore up bulkheads 9 and 10 considerably (adding a good 8mm worth of .5mm veneers to create a fair hull). There are areas where you need to modify the bulkhead edges a lot to get a fair run of planking. Not sure how much ship modelling experience you have, so maybe these words are expended unnecessarily - and apologies if they are! It's a frustrating build to begin with but is quite a bit of fun in the offing.
 
Keep in mind the fudges or structural modifications that might be necessary in order to achieve certain effects - like the open bulwarks as represented on the HMS Blandford, which I achieved at some cost to overall integrity because I did not foresee the structural modifications that would have been necessary in order to get a "perfect" look....
 
Anyway, bonne chance and let me know if my experience with the kit can benefit you at all
hamilton

Hello to all my friends on MSW.
 
I'm alive and well - thank you for the concern. The past month or so has encompassed a little bit of traveling, family visits and friends stopping by, keeping me busy and away from the shop. I sneak in a quick peek at MSW send a few Likes when I can and try to get an hour or so in the shop from time to time but it's been hard to do. I hope over the next few days or so I can pick up progress on my ship and spend more time on line with my friends on MSW.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and good health to all of you.

We all have our own methods I guess.  I just use a stick the width of the space I want and play with the lanyards until the tension is right. 

We all have our own methods I guess.  I just use a stick the width of the space I want and play with the lanyards until the tension is right. 

in my process,  I'm having to paint them.......let them dry,  and so on.   it creates such a long process,  that I don't want to wait,  so I'm just doing them by eye.   it seems that my eyes are not as good as they used to be........but I like the way they're coming out....they seem to be more natural.   I would in no way,  knock a person who prefers to have all they're dead eyes and lanyards the same height.....there is great beauty in seeing them all in a row....there is also a lot of time and attention put into them as well.   it does make me wonder though

We all have our own methods I guess.  I just use a stick the width of the space I want and play with the lanyards until the tension is right. 

Last night was mainly shop area cleanup, actual modeling was off the table. Tonight (Tues.) I plan to get the bow section assembled to the hull and puttied.
 
 I did, however, take a few photos of the hull pieces:
 
 

ahhhhhh,  the master at work       you keep us  'shrouded' in mystery..........is there an update for us meager folks 

Sorry Grant......can't possibly work.  Too simple!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Certainly beats the wire 'claw' used to hold the deadeyes together for the same purpose.

Where you been Mate??? Hope all is well.....

Hi Sjors,
 
Have you tried the dead-eye jig (the one I copied from EdT)? It really makes it easy to get the dead eyes all lined up correctly. A picture is at post #3 on page one of my log:
 
http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/163-hms-victory-by-grant-dale-mamoli-scale-190/?hl=%20victory%20%20grant%20%20dale

Many thanks Popeye. You may have bailed me out.
And Klaas and Jerry, I sincerely appreciate your comments.
 
A REFLECTION........Why do we spend so many hours building model ships that were in their prime over 200 years ago or more?  We each have different priorities, however many are common to the majority of us.  For me, the satisfaction of working with my hands to produce a replica of a ship with beautiful lines tops the list.  We learn a great deal about ships of the day, and how they worked, sailed and crossed oceans, and perhaps more than we need to know about the source of our immediate project.  I'll never anchor our boat again without thinking of Daniel's dissertation on anchoring the "Victory." (I'd need ten men to raise our anchor without a power windlass.)  We strive for authenticity in our models, which of course can lead to obsession over details, while sharing with great joy the interchange with our friends on MSW.  They praise us when we get it right and keep us humble when we miss the mark. But most of all it's dialog with friends from around the world.
 
We build model ships for the love of the sea, and dreams of crossing the horizon to who knows where.  "If I were a lad in 1805 going to sea........................."
 
We build the models for presentation, but since larger models don't travel well, our audience is limited to close friends and family, unfortunate neighbors whose eyes glaze over when told of over three thousand copper plates or serving the shrouds and grand and great grand children who call it a "Pirate Ship."  Few of us will ever crack the door of a major museum, so the venue will likely be the front hall, back room or where ever space allows.  Judy says, "The house is a museum."
 
Net result?  It's a passion and it's fun.
 
One other observation.  Vindicari noted that my Yellow Ochre seemed brighter and more Yellow than the real ship.  I responded with a "learned reply" about mixing paints, effects of lighting, etc............and then I had cataract surgery three days ago.  You guessed it.  With the unoperated eye, the "Yellow Ochre" looks pretty good, while through the operated eye, it's brighter and more yellow . So from now on, one has to consider the age of the old geezer and whether he has cataracts.  Nuff said.
 
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  Gil

Joe is right about battleship cove.  Just near Fall River, MA they have several WWII ships moored there for the public.  The Massachusetts is one, and I think there's a fleet sub.  Haven't been there for 30 years so they may have a lot more by now.  Some great Portuguese restaurants in Fall River as well.

I go every couple of years to the Constitution, and believe me you will always see something that you didn't notice before. If you come up this way again, try and go to "Battleship Cove" it is more down my way somewhat of a drive, but I do think you would enjoy it very much. Keep the pictures coming.

Thank you all     
 
@ Mark,
 
How can you've bin so busy lately.....you are retired.
You should be having all the time in the world to do things 
But no problem.
Thanks for the good words.
This is the first time that someone called my build a masterpiece !!!!!!!
And yes, I love to work at her.
Maybe that's the reason that I don't mind to re-do things.
With every new build I want to do things better, more things like serving the ropes where it needs to be served.
With the Aggy I go one step further like tree nailing the deck, rigging the cannons and all that kind of stuff
We will we see where it all ends !
 

Sjors,
 
I haven't said much of late due to too much going on with upcoming holidays, odds and ends that need fixing around the house and new shipyard manager that likes to play fetch..    She's looking super good.  I love the serving and the care you're putting into this ship.  She's a masterpiece.

Gee John.  It's starting to look more like 'Little House on the Prairie' then a ship
 
Great details.

She is looking good John, a little at a time will get you a long ways to being done. And the it starts all over again LOL.

Cannons – Blackening
 
Using the process outlined in many places on MSW, I chemically blackened the guns.
 
Maybe some minor variations from what others use for mixture ratios or the duration of each step in the process, but pretty much the same drill:
Silver solder trunnions in place Acetone bath for grease removal (15 – 20 Minutes) Muriatic acid bath for surface etching (15 – 20 Minutes) Thorough rinsing with cold water Blackening bath, 5 parts Birchwood Casey Brass Black, 1 part distilled water (approx. 2 – 4 minutes) Thorough rinsing in cold water Following a few minutes of air drying, buff with a soft cloth The end result, depending on the lighting, looks like a pretty attractive deep, gun metal gray.
 
While I think they look kind of nice as is, the shine is a bit overwhelming for 1:64 scale.  Therefore, the final step will be to seal them with a coat of clear, matte lacquer.
 
The result of the matte finish treatment can be seen on the gun at the far right.  With the reduced light reflection, it now looks more black.
 
Onward to making some carriage bolts, eyebolts, and ringbolts...
 
Robert

Gee John.  It's starting to look more like 'Little House on the Prairie' then a ship
 
Great details.

Yes, when I first saw the plans online I kind of fell in love with her. She just looks right doesn't she.
 
Robbyn the keel is 13mm thick or just over half an inch and at this point she is still well enough balanced that she stands upright on her own.

Looking good Sjors. Glad to see you fixed the alignment of the deadeyes - those little details really make a big difference to the overall appearance of the finished model. Well done!

Thanks all for your comments.
 
I have a drill press and haven’t thought about trying to turn something like this in it yet. I have done
small stuff in it but as Augie says the size is an issue. The first issue would be cutting the block or
dowel down to ½” so it would fit in the chuck. Then if that was successful I would need to get a good
set of tools for turning which I now see are quite far ranging in price. I assume that in general terms
cheaper is not better when purchasing these.  But then I’ve seen sets for 200-300 hundred dollars.
 
Mike, I too agree with Grant that “dark side” builds lend themselves to getting a lathe but I don’t stick
to just scratch building either. There are several kits I want to build too. Although I will do some
modifications to them…..Hmmmmmm.
 
And then Floyd mentioned my weakness and that is I LOVE TOOLS.
 
Crap, in my mind I’m getting nowhere. Anybody have a rich uncle?  

Getting a few pointers here Sjors
Keep them coming