fnick

Hi Patrick
To echo Mark's sentiments, very sorry to hear about your loss. 
Nick

Hi Folks!  
 
It’s been a sad week.  Mum’s funeral was held on Monday this week.  At 91 years old...a good innings, as they say.
 
Needless to say, the shipyard was pretty quiet this week; that is, until tonight, in which I was able to do a bit more work, and also take these photos and short videos.  Ahem...all I can say after watching them, is that these close up photos and videos show up every bit of dust, inaccuracy and mistake...oh well...
 
Pls enjoy!
 
Thanks
 
Patrick
24769D02-191E-4171-8803-9E9447A38966.MOV
4672163D-5583-4001-AABF-7B63C91761FE.MOV
9628DDD9-31F2-44C4-AF9E-75C3B7674626.MOV
640DE8AE-1623-411B-A1A7-97A6BB52EB78.MOV
71413B7C-049A-4552-B99E-50009B04EE27.MOV

Left side of one life boat - done
More precise, less clean
Why nobody tell me that my fingers had to be absolutely clean? #!?##$*
Ok, there will be some white acrylic over

Testing with paper strips a bit wider

Less than 1mm in my oppinion can not be visible

Pretty satisfied

Nearly there, helicopter on the back deck, flag at the front. I’m just awaiting some cage aerials. I had some from WEM but there were just not enough of them; plan B pending, if they don’t work I’ll probably just run some Ezy line. 

Hi Mike
 
That does look like a very nice kit. I'll pull up a comfy chair and join you on this one! I'm sure you'll do a good job job of it.
 
Nick

Hi folks. 
 
Thanks for all of your Likes and comments.  I’ve been doing more painting, but, took a break last night to take these two photos.  The first one’s my favourite.
 
I hope you like them!
 
Have a great weekend.
 
Cheers. 
 
Patrick

Very impressive. Your perseverance paid off! 
 
Nick 

Very impressive. Your perseverance paid off! 
 
Nick 

Very impressive. Your perseverance paid off! 
 
Nick 

Both completed
2 more to go!

Hi folks!!!
 
I hope everyone had a great Xmas and NewYear break.

Well...she's getting there, folks.  Please see the following photos.  I'm finally getting the paint finish on Shadow's superstructure just the way I envisioned; i.e. glassy smooth, unblemished, glossy and crisp.  I know that it's hard to tell from these photos, but i reckon she's looking pretty good.
 
Also, I've worked hard to get the hull nice, smooth and glossy as well.  I gotta say, that the gold hull is starting to really pop now.
 
Have a great week!
 
Cheers  
 
Patrick

Please give our latest sponsor, Master Korabel a warm welcome.  You can see their banner on our forum.  Click over to their website and check out their kits and other offerings.  I will also let you folks know that MK and Syren Ship Model Company are in discussions to create a collaborative project together.  One that will show how two similar companies from across the world can partner to develop projects and offerings together.  Stay tuned for more details as this develops.
 
Please give them a warm welcome.
 
Chuck
 

Sorry children. Looks like Xmas is going to be cancelled next year... 😢 

Thanks for that Grant .
 
I thought it might be time I posted some Progress pics. The fore and aft superstructures haven't been fixed to the main deck yet as I still have work to do on both of them and it's easier off the hull :




 

 
  Danny

Hooray, the glue-up is completed, and it ended up ok. Even thought it was a stressful time race against silicone and epoxy, trying to make sure nothing falls apart, avoiding smearing adhesives all over the place, while trying to hold it together with swears and load bearing masking tape
 
Overall the design is really super light, the case weight without the base is just 6kg (2.4kg for the front glass and the rest is 3.6kg). Most of that weight is plexiglass, I would be surprised if all that pear sticks combined weigh more then a 0.7-0.8kg.  
 
The corners have some slight gaps, that should be far less visible once sanded.

 
The pre-finishing was done mostly for the areas that are hard to reach, but all exposed flat surfaces would be sanded/scraped to be perfectly flush, and then re-oiled. Will do it once the case is mounted - without anything in the back, it wiggles without the front glass. When mounted, top corners would be attached to the wall with recessed brackets that were prepared in advance:

 
With the glass attached, a bit of scraping is required to ensure gapless fit:

 
Here is how the glass connects to the case, basically lots of magnets and a boxwood strip that locks the top side with the glass, preventing sagging:

 
LED strips as seen from the inside. Sorry for the photo quality, but the strips are in recesses, should not be visible for the observer.

 
Now the case is in the corner, hiding from the Admiral

 
Just a few things left:
1) Mount the base on the wall, if it is too heavy - remake it from a thinner plywood.
2) A bit of planing to ensure good fit to the wall
3) Plank the case "floor"
4) Glue the case to the base
5) Add a decorative pear skirt to hide the base
6) Sand everything flush, re-oiling
7) Connect the wiring, install the light switch and the dimmer.

Hello Everyone,
 
Today's progress is the making up the lanterns and fitting them to the stern.
 
As you can see they come as several cast  pieces needing making up. The opportunity is there for the frames to be cut out and the windows glazed. As I'd already done the windows I didn't think that this was going to be an issue but I was wrong. When I tried I found that the outer frames without the support of the cast windows had no strength and when handled they just broke up. I ended up painting them and just putting my liquid glass into the recesses straight onto the metal surface. This works ok for me, the silver metal backing gives it a bit of a sparkle through the glass and it looks quite ok, better than I'd hoped. I used pieces of strong piano wire for the mounts as these lanterns are very heavy and I wouldn't have been confident using brass wire.
 
Now I'll get cracking on with the ships boats.
 
Ken

I'm going to keep it for a short bit, then I will be donating it to my local hospital.
 
 
mike

Hello Everyone,
 
Thanks for your likes and kind comments, much appreciated.
 
I've got a bit more light in my room today, enough for my compact to get some close ups, so as promised here are some better pictures of the rigging. You'll see that I've trimmed the ropes right back, I found that there were just too many to keep neat for the scale, I'll add the rope ends and coils separately, easier to keep track of them that way. I'm making up the anchor buoys at the moment so they'll go on next.
 
ken

Well it's finally finished.  Both sets of anchors are now on (this was a really rotten job), and the rudder is on, chains and all.  Joy - and the whole thing only took about five years. 
 
The rudder and chains may be easily removed to transport the model to wherever it ends up.  At the moment I have no idea where.
 
Here it is in all its glory....  There is no ensign. I decided that the double-layer ensign earlier hoisted on it was too heavy, making it foul some of the rigging.  I will buy a couple of single layer becc ensigns to see how they go,  If I'm unhappy with them the ship shall remain ensignless.
 

Here are the two port anchors.
 

 

 

The rudder -
 

 

Just a note on the Granado gun carriages.  I received the Syren carriages a couple of days ago.  They are very good quality indeed, but unfortunately just too large. I will have to go with the Caldercraft carriages. I made a couple up over the weekend and they turned out reasonably well, though the ply shows.  A couple of extras were supplied so I will experiment to see if I can improve the result. 
 
I will post a couple of pictures when I get around to it, but aside from this, this is the last post.
 
 
 
 

Fife Rails....
Just finishing up the main and mizzen fife rails....
Everything in maple....

Tomorrow, I hope to begin working on the ships steering wheel.

And here ends my IJN phase. I really don’t want to build another for quite a while as it just starts to repeat itself. 
 
Hope you enjoyed this one, I’m going forward to the Cold War next. 
 
Off to the digital graveyard. 

Thanks Bill.
 
The starboard gun ports are now complete - now working on the port.  I'm hoping the rope supports to the gun port lids on this side will be a little better as I've learned a few things in the process.  Here's how things look.
 
I see the following photo doesn't show up well. I'll photograph the other side when I finish and hope it comes out a little more clearly than this.
 

 

 

 
 

 
 
 

What is done for now....
 
Hawse covers, bow samson post, side samson post, cat david's bow doors and heads ( round houses)
And of course pictures of that.
I know that everything is taken in HD quality so you will see each part of dust, sawdust and other things what I have no name for.
 
Sjors

Hi Peter
Thanks for taking the trouble to help.
 
After having a look at the crowded deck and being unwilling to drill into the top of the decorative facia, I think my Vanguard will have to go without an ensign.  The plan shows a block on the main gaff (which I have installed), the line going down to a block somewhere on the deck.  The arrangement you describe sounds far more sensible, but if you can find an accessible belaying point on the inner bulkhead (see below), please let me know.  However I could run the line down and belay to the eyelet shown in the following photo, and may give that a test run to see how it looks, but I am rather lukewarm on the idea.
 
Aside from all of this, the rigging is finished!
 
Incidentally, if anyone  has suggestions for another ship to build, please let me know.