egkb

I blame the aliens myself, or the Spanish Inquisition.. nobody ever expects the Spanish Inquisition!
Great video.. empirical evidence too.. how could we possibly doubt it.. ahem ahem
 
E
Look at my avatar.. we aliens are amongst you.. LOL

Just decided I'm doing my next ship in Legos!
 
Is that too cool or what?......
 
Great job Wesvdal!
 
Sam

I blame the aliens myself, or the Spanish Inquisition.. nobody ever expects the Spanish Inquisition!
Great video.. empirical evidence too.. how could we possibly doubt it.. ahem ahem
 
E
Look at my avatar.. we aliens are amongst you.. LOL

Thank you, WackoWolf.
 
I am trusted to design the models following my own research, which usually means relying on others. I could develop the kit with no entry ports and fully built up bulwarks, and Amati wouldn't mind - but I would have to be darn sure I had the weight of evidence to back my decisions up- and this is exactly what I don't have.
 
When I designed Golden Hind, with the kind help of a 16th Century ship design expert, I was quite happy to answer certain questions put by Amati regarding the differences between the Golden Hind replica and my version, because I had the evidence, hard evidence to back it up, and Amati accepted this. If I decided to develop Victory the way some would like, without entry ports and fully built up bulwarks - I may be able to show Amati a some pictures to prove it, but they will quite rightly turn around and show me dozens more pictures and drawings showing different. It has to come down to balance of evidence - I would be a fool to go against it.
 
For most seasoned modellers, this is moot anyway, as most will stamp their own mark on the kit, and if you want to add or remove certain parts, it isn't difficult.
 
Chris

Could always add a little white to that red for a nice 'manly' pink hull ahem ahem
 
E

Prompted by you I went and did what research I could find
It was, as you say, a very expensive treatment but it does say in somewhere that the finish was pink
Apparently Humbrol did a colour in one of their special ranges, MC10 but I don't think it's available now   
I will keep trying but if not I guess a red oxide would be a fair finish
Let is see what transpires   
I am back on the Endeavour until I get the larger nozzles, then I will give it a couple of coats of white before getting the top coats on
Hopefully that should then look realistic 

Hi Mick,  Though I have never seen the boat I suspect you may not be so far off the mark with your thoughts on below the water hull colour (red oxide aka Red Lead) though some 'modern' anti-fouling treatments are pink so I expect your answer is there somewhere, if you were going for an old authentic look I would imagine Red Lead to be the colour of choice, as 'branded' anti-fouling was very expensive back in the day   I found this site a few moments ago which may help (not sure if it is a 'live link' (I shall click on it myself as soon as I post this and see) but if not just copy and paste into Google it will hopefully get you to the site!
pink antifouling colour | Scale Models Forum
 
Eamonn
 
Edit.. Have only just posted this reply, and the link is 'live' so just click on it..

Good question SjorsIt went through a few colours in its life
But when it was working for Everards and also how it is now is grey above the waterline and they say pink below
Any idea what they mean by pink??????
I am presuming something like red oxide
So that is the livery I will probably give it
 

 
This is how she is now

Well I had a little time the last few days, so thought I would ease back into the build by building the anchor buoys.  Let's just say they took me probably four or five times longer than I thought they would    I have to clean them up a bit, but here they are.  I was fairly pleased for the first attempt at making them.
 
To build the buoy, most people I see use wooden dowels.  I started down that road, but ended up switching the black sculpey clay.  I used that clay earlier on the build for the mouse stays - it's easy to mold, quick to bake in your oven, and comes in various colors.  I was able to make a bunch of different sizes until I got to the size that I thought worked best, and it was much quicker than working with dowels by hand or on my lathe.  Once baked, I painted them with brown acrylic.  The acrylic ended up acting more like a wash than a paint on the clay, which ended up giving it the look I was hoping for (not solid, but sorta worn and weathered) without using different shades of brown and black as I first thought I would end up having to do.  
 
The buoy harness (if that is what it is called) was probably the biggest pain for me.  There are eight ropes running along the length, and two rope bands that go around the width.  The bands only are knotted at the four ropes that start from the opposite end of the buoy, and lay over the other four that start at the end closest to the hoop (hope that makes sense)  I started by first making a "spider" with two lengths of rope that crossed each other with one of them making the harness loop at the top.  Glued the spider to the top, and the first half portion of the "legs" down the length of the buoy.  Then I repeated with the other side.  That was fairly easy, but figuring out the bands was tricky.  I tried doing pre-made bands to slide onto the buoy, but they never looked right.  I ended up taking the approach of cutting a length of thread, and tying each of the four knots one by one working around the diameter of the buoy.  Once the knots were done and dabbed with diluted PVA, I cut the extra lengths, and glued the legs and the bands onto the buoy.  That part took me a few hours to figure out how to do, but they came out ok I think. 
 
Next up - furled sails (finally).
 

 

 

Thanks guys,
 
I appreciate your continued interest.
 
Eamonn,
 
Sails on models are a probably a personal thing, and I (like you I imagine) don't particularly like the sails set when a ship is on a stand. However, I think furled sails are acceptable, as not only do they allow more detail to be seen, but they give the impression that she might be going somewhere – if only she wasn't fixed to this bit of wood! Many here won't agree with this view, but each to his own. I'm flattered that you might emulate my example.
 
My apologies for the 'missing' pages to my log, but I'm afraid I can't remember that far back!
 
BE,
 
Thanks, as always.
 
Paddy,
 
Thanks for your kind words. She is indeed a 'grand little kit' as you say, and is certainly open for improvement. I don't believe you however, when you say you couldn't do her justice, as I am certain you would make a fine job of her. I don't know if the Sherbourne, or any of the other Jotika kits, are available in the US through an agent, but I hope your searches bear fruit.

All that talk of Smoothness and Creaminess kinda makes me want a pint of Guinness
E

My model shipway.
 

 

 

 

Thanks Eamonn 
As you probably read, the Admiral and I just fell in love with it
 
As to the filler I would imagine it would work with any water based filler
It would just be a question of getting the right time
After it had stopped moving but before it solidified
This Brummer makes it quite easy as it tends to dry fairly regularly and then smooths beautifully
What makes it stand out from other fillers I have used is its creaminess

Nice wee boat.. Everards were a huge company, I forget the amount of ships they had but it was substantial (at any one time, I mean) Great to see a build log of a different type of sail/work boat every now and again, keep up the good work (and the tips) you got me wondering whether that damp cloth approach would work for different fillers
 
Eamonn

Ok I have done as I said
I put another coat of filler on after I had sanded it as smooth as I felt I could
Then a little tip for you, particularly with this filler, I soaked a piece of a soft kitchen roll I use, wrung it out but left it fairly wet, and gently wiped over the filler once it had started setting
This really gave me a great finish   
 

 
I am now going to leave it until I get my nozzles for the airbrush
If I need something to do I could fill around the deck and frames to make the inside solid and smooth   
We shall see
I have it going well now and I am pleased   

Having fitted the boom, the next job was to make the gaff. This was made in a similar fashion, its dimensions being taken from the AOTS Alert book. The gaff tapers rather more along its length than the boom, with its maximum width being closer to the mast. Again, I made similar modifications to the kit-supplied jaws (they are actually the same fitting as for the boom) in that they were first split in two, each half being shaped to fit the gaff end, and then glued to the spar on either side.
 
The other fittings are as follows (from the jaws end): an eyebolt on top of the spar, just above the jaws, to take the lower double-block of the throat halliard; a stop, on top of the spar, just aft of this to retain the mainsail throat lashing; a strop for the small double blocks (one each side) for the mainsail brails; another strop, fitted about midway along the gaff, to which were attached two small single lead blocks, again for the brails; two stops on top of the spar, for the rigging span to which is attached one of the single blocks of the peak halliard tackle; further aft, a strop for a second single block for the peak halliard tackle; at the after end, a stop to retain the mainsail peak lashing; finally, an eyebolt in the end of the gaff to which is fitted a small single block for the ensign halliards. I decided to paint the entire gaff black, including the jaws, and gave the spar a light covering of beeswax.
 

 
I thought there might have been similar problems of movement with the after end of the gaff, as there had been with the boom. However, having dry-fitted the spar, in its hoisted position on the pin inserted in the mast, I found it was quite firm and that further measures were not necessary. I also surmised that the process of gluing would significantly reduce any movement. Due to this concern, I had initially intended to fit vangs at the end of the gaff, made fast to belaying pins on each quarter – but then discovered that these items of rigging weren’t fitted at that date. There is, therefore, a spare belaying pin aft on each side. I had a slight worry that the pin in the aft side of the mast might not be dead centre – or the end of the gaff would be off to one side or the other – and it was just slightly out. On the real ship it wouldn’t necessarily have been all-square in any case.
 
Having decided that it would be best to lace the gaff to the head of the mainsail before fitting the spar, I now set about making the sail itself. This was cut from an old, thin, handkerchief, its size being about half that of the actual sail area in order to reduce its bulk when furled. Naturally I made it with a full-length head, to be laced along the length of the gaff, narrowing towards the foot. To represent the seams, I teased out equidistant strands from the cloth, about a centimeter apart, which seemed about right. The operation had to be done very carefully, as the strands could break quite easily, using a pair of tweezers. Around the sail’s edge I made a narrow hem, using a fabric glue, to which I added a scale boltrope (on the traditional larboard, or port, side). I then added reef bands and reef points, with strengthening pieces at the peak, throat, tack and clew (I now realise that those at the peak and throat are a little over large, something I will have to watch with the other sails.)
 
Then it was time to put the kettle on. When it was reasonably hot, but not boiling, I poured the water onto a teabag ­– for staining the sail, of course (!) – in one of my wife’s small baking trays. When the resultant ’brew’ was about the right colour I put in the sail, spreading it out so that it was completely submerged, and left it for a couple of hours. As the sail changed colour quite quickly, I had look at it every now and then to see how it was progressing. Removing it from the tray when a suitable shade, I spread it out to dry overnight. When dry I found that, besides being a good colour, the cloth had puckered somewhat – which made it look even more realistic.
 
Now I had to attach it to the gaff, for which I used a needle and .25 black rigging cord. Fastening the cord around the spar at the jaws end I proceeded along the length of the gaff, piercing the sail just under the bolt rope (approximately every centimetre) with the needle, and forming a marline hitch along the spar as it progressed. A brief smear of glue under the line fixed each hitch around the spar when tightened, and a little touch-up with diluted black paint covered any excess that was visible.
 
The next operation was to attach the gaff to the mast. As mentioned the spar was quite firm when dry-fitted, but the CA glue applied to the pin prevented any real further movement. I then fitted the parrel, in similar fashion as for the boom. With that done, the next task was to stretch out the luff, or leading edge, of the sail and lash the tack down to the eyebolt in the boom, using the loop I had formed in the boltrope. This stretched out the sail, and I could then concentrate on fitting the sail hoops. As I mentioned earlier, I had unfortunately already glued the crosstrees in place, which meant that I would have to fit the hoops around the mast. This suggested that they would have to be of a bendable material, and copper strip presented itself as a workable solution – some of which I just happened to have. Making the hoops was straightforward although, being a soft metal, it was quite easy to bend the strips out of shape if too much pressure was applied. There are eight hoops in all and I eventually worked out, with a bit of trail and error, how long they would have to be, including the overlap for glueing the ends. I seem to remember a high-tech piece of string came into the the process! They also have to be a loose fit, to give the illusion that they could run freely on the mast. Following a little experimentation, I finally painted them a near buff colour, which I thought suitable to represent wood. Being metal this took a little while, as there are about three coats, which also included those inside each hoop so that no copper was visible.
 
I fitted the hoops by cutting small equidistant slots in the luff of the sail the width of the hoop, carefully bent each just enough for it to pass around the mast, pushed one end through the slot in the sail, and then closed it against the other end, fixing it with touch of CA glue.
 

 
Furling the sail into the mast, which I had decided would best be done on the model, had to be attempted rather carefully. First of all I attached the two brails on each side, which I would actually use to furl up the sail, threading them through the blocks already fitted. Dampening the sail, with a light wetting from a spray bottle helped with the process. Then it was just a case of gently pulling on each of the four brails, two being attached to the clew and two at about the middle of the leech, and lifting the sail from underneath until it was as close in to the mast as was possible. During the process I was careful that the sail furled with a natural look, and that the folds hung evenly. When it was dry, I was quite pleased with the result. The brails falls were made fast to the pins in the boom jaws, each one being finished off with a small coil. It then only remained to belay the clew outhaul to a cleat on the boom, glue down some of the reef points (which stuck out at odd angles) to the sail, and the job was done.
 
Next time: More items of running rigging, the shrouds.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Don't think I can say anything that hasn't been said but I won't get into an Aggy log with a real Aggy in it...    Just wonderful work, Mobbsie.  I really like the looks of her.

Hi Guys,
 
Thank you gentlemen for your very kind words.
 
Hamilton, I don't understand why triangular deadeyes were put into the box, all I can say is that there were 105 of them and they didn't fit the circular deadeye strops, all sorted now though, checks are being made on this batch of kits to make sure no others have infiltrated.     :mellow: 
 
Kevin,  the names "mobbsie" and thanks for the good words mate.  
 
George,  Thanks for the good word mate, being retired I have lots of time on my side, cant call the wife the Admiral anymore otherwise people may think I'm referring to Sjors, the boss takes care of most things around the house so that free's me up. What's your block at the moment ?, your not such a slow builder yourself and she's gonna be a stunner when your done.  
 
Augie,  Most certainly a clear plastic bag (A BIG ONE), give the bug life something to look at.  
 
Popeye, She's gonna be fully masted and complete, She's got to be put away for her own protection until I can find a space to put her and get a case for her.
 
The case will cost almost as much as a medium size kit and will need to be saved for. Perspex is more expensive than glass over here so that's out of the question and even if I make it myself it's going to cost a bomb.
 
I hate talking money but unfortunately it's one thing we all need in this hobby, nothing comes cheap, reasonable yes but not cheap. So there we have it mate, it's a necessity because I have in my Loft a completed model of J. Coustow's ship the "Calypso". She is about 20 yrs old and beaten up, a cousin brought it round and asked if she could be repaired, I said yes but unfortunately he doesn't want it back. She's over a metre long and is full of electrics, so you can see mate that space is a premium.
 
The Aggy will come down again when she can be protected and appreciated.  
 
Right now I'm stuffed, I've busted my last 0.7mm drill bit and that's whats needed for the deadeye chains, I've ordered replacements so it's waiting for the postman again, in the mean time the Boomkins are made and painted, they will be fitted today, after that it's the ships boats.
 
OK I'm gone, Be Good.
 
mobbsie

Thanks, Chuck, Augie and Sjors. I'm hoping that you are all right about the outcome. At the moment I'm feeling like the guy who jumped from the 20th floor window and shouts as he passes the 15th floor, "so far, so good".
 
Sam, I had to adjust the bow bulkheads as I did with the aft ones.  I beveled them using battens, but as I've said, it remains to be seen how it will work out. The quarter deck may need to be adjusted, but I've already used more isopropyl than I've ever used before, so a little more will be no big deal.
 
Bob

Genius. I think I will rig up my Dremel and mitre box when I need to get a nice square edge, and use the missus dyson so I don't make a mess!

Thomas, I wish that I were as confident as you about the outcome of this one.
 
The bow section of the framing is now "done". I thought the aft end was a challenge, but the bow turned out to be at least as difficult. The problems were the same -- incorrect drawings, dimensionally incorrect parts and really no way to know if I was getting it right when I was done. Again, the best that I can say is that the framing is now "fair" and hopefully can be planked. I still need to make and add the bow filler pieces. 
 
I'm going to do the stern framing now. I'm hoping that the stern frames are correct, but I know that there are discrepancies between the drawings and Sam's prototype photos, so we'll have to wait and see.
 
Bob

Thanks a lot, Ferit and Bill.
 
The yards are in place now.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
And here is the first picture of the running rigging:
 

She has ratlines!!
 

 

 

 
Well, with it the standing rigging is done.

At last the ship's boats have been completed. Believe me, it was a real challenge.
 
First of all the boat's resin hulls should have been sanded. Otherwise you can have big problems when glueing the cartridge paper for the ribs into the hull. My big awareness...
 

 
But the rest was quite easy.
 

 

 

 
Well, the lauch is very tall and I'll don't fit it until the rigging has been completed.
 

 

 

 

Time for bowsprit and mast assembly. I‘ve just finished the bowsprit. For tapering all the masts, yards and booms I‘ll use my Proxxon lathe.
 


Here are the tapered parts. The two holes in the bowsprit cap have to be drilled in.
 


And here is the assembled bowsprit with all the fittings. The bowsprit and jib-boom should be stained walnut, but I like this colouring more. Well, it's just a matter of taste.