popeye the sailor

glad to see your doing well Walt! I thought you were doing great already {on the boat, that is}!

very nice work on the stairways........a bit forgiving if they can't be seen. your next level is gonna look neat! gee....I had to look back in the log to see where the half round structure came from forward and upward Nils.........such awesome work!

John.....she looks awesome! I love the 'sea gull' view.......it's a shot you usually don't get to see rigging looks great......love the pulley assemblies {sometimes hard to get them so they don't twist}. wonderful progress!

a small step forward.....but this is big. the boom winch is in place! I added the brake levers and cemented it in place.....no more parts will be added to it. the levers are actually parts that I did not use for the AmericA build........they are the light boxes. painted up and affixed to the winch, they serve the purpose well enough. you may not readily see them in the picture.......I took it this morning before the camera decided that it needed to be fed {charged up}. the holes for the shrouds are already drilled......eye bolts dry fitted at the moment. I need to adjust the port side though, since I found that the gallow for the port side is a bit forward than the starboard side. I'm sure there will be more parts added, before this is said and done more to come

pennies from heaven! thanks gents! exactly the problem I was having John....as I zoom in on anything, the picture becomes grainy and blurry. the admiral wondered what I was hoot'in about...........she just mentioned to me that I could download a program called 'hover zoom'. I will look at that as well. thanks so much.......I bookmarked the site sitt'in here hoot'in like a kid in a candy store! thank you as well Jack ! I wasn't overly concerned about the language barrier, since I will probably use them simply as a visual reference. I down loaded it.......is that both sheets? no matter, I'll find out soon enough there are a few changes I may make as well, so going rouge will lead me away from them here and there. I hope you follow along.......shared knowledge about the kit can be a life saver, as well as a time saver. what did you do concerning the life boats? happy to say that it is happening....the hull planking has started. the 1 mm planking is working well.........but I did have an after thought. I could have measured bow to stern, and down to the deck line, and made up a pair of 1/16 panels for the bulwarks. Billing boats kits are based this way. I know they sometimes can be a pain to install, but it would really sturdy-up the bulwarks, since they want me to cut out all the posts. I did not cement the planking to these posts, so eliminating them won't leave me with a huge mess to clean......just sand the roots flush to the platform before I plank the deck. easy-peasy! I shot four pictures before the camera died........I need to charger it up. 1 plank strip equals two of the supplied planking strips for this model. I will have enough to sand, without fear of burning through......and perhaps I can get away with doing a single plank on her as well. more on her progress today.....that's what I'm shoot'in for

thanks Pat, Mark, and John for you kind comments....and thanks to all who hit the like button. the netting material supplied in Billing's kits is a tad bit thicker than this stuff. this is more like a fabric. I haven't noticed it lately, but I think they did away with the fabric dept at our local Hobby Lobby. sad if they did. more soon

nice progress Rob. did you got your ship's boats from somewhere, of are you using the ones that came with the Cutty kit?

nice looking winch.........lots of detail and very life-like. really nice work Jack

hello Steve welcome and enjoy I was doing a little browsing this morning........I thought I had more sites bookmarked, but only had one. it only showed pictures of portraits done on different clipper ships. nice, but doesn't answer too many questions. most of the pictures I did find are in black 'n white of course.......but descriptions can help with color schemes, so I'm not too worried about that. the mizzen/galley this is probably the most puzzling aspect on this vessel. in my later days as a modeler, when I began building ship mostly, I settled on the larger scale vessels. Revell was first on my list, since they had their 1:96 series. the Constitution, the Cutty Sark, and the C.S.S. Alabama were the first three that I did. then I got the U.S.S. United States, and found it to be a spin-off of the Constitution......the only real difference, was the added galley {w/badges} and poop deck {basically, the aft section is altered}. the same can be seen as true for the Cutty Sark and Thermopylae. that early in my ship building, I didn't really think of it; but later on, I began to see that ships of any specific type, do have subtle differences. I can't remember if I had ever owned a Revell Thermopylae {who could forget something like that}, but everything I had seen of these two kits, mirrored each other to the point where it was hard to dispute that these two kits were clones. Kpnuts introduced his build of the Revell Thermopylae, and turned my thoughts upside down. the galley on his model was an elongated rectangular looking structure... ......the Galley on the Cutty Sark model is an elongated rectangular structure, but the sides flare out towards the fore end of the ship....has a bit of a curvature too. the second structure was omitted on the Thermopylae as well, and in it's place is a canvased hold. these were the only two features that differ between the Cutty Sark and the Thermopylae. there is one glaring feature that indicates that the same molds were used on both vessels....the deck sections still have the same location holes for the second structure and the Cutty galley structure. the 'pad' for the galley can be seen in the Thermopylae kit........Kpnuts build shows this. I found a site for wooden decks.......even the wooden decks reflect the difference to the galley structure. even the over view of the deck shows it http://www.radekshipmodels.cz/en/seznam-modelu-plachetnic-en/modely-v-meritku-do-1_100/cutty-sark_-en if anyone is looking for wooden decking for the Cutty Sark.......and a select others......have a look here. the instruction sheets can also be found here, for revell, Airfix, And A.L. versions of these two kits. I also looked at images od the Thermopylae.......the closest and best ones I found, were of an admiralty style model. I'll be looking for more pictures.........in the meantime, planking the hull is the next thing to do.

the holidays are over...........steadily trying to pick up where we left off here. there are two more parts I want to add to the boom/net winch....these got a coat of paint. while they were drying, I figured I'd do a little toggling between two larger steps, faring the frame of the Thermopylae, and starting on the nets for this build. the templates were drawn out for them......I thought I'd try to do it, so I'd only have to sew one side of the net. I did both sides when I did the nets for the Cux....can't tell ya how many times I picked myself with the needle. I thought this would do the trick......... ....till I came back to the table a bit later and realized that it wouldn't work. not feeling like redoing it, I just cut them out. I have two different colors of netting.......I bought this a while back {can't remember which ship I got it for}. I got it from the local Hobby Lobby. this is pretty close to the netting you get in most Billing's kits........the weave is small enough. 290 mm across x 290 mm deep....I chose the brown. laying a big piece of thick cardboard on the table, the template was laid out and the netting was paid over it. I used a couple short lengths of 2 x 4 to weight it down. the triangular cutouts were brought to my desk. the first one I did freehand.......with nothing to hold it in place or anchor.......what a pain! brought back some fond memories, I can tell ya that! using those clamps you see.........I devised an anchor system. it made life a little easier now........I thought I had folded it out to make two sets of net halves. seems I underestimated how thin this material really is. I ended up with four nets........and I made them all. I was rather bug eyed by the time I was done. I still need to trim off the excess thread and turn them inside out. there is still a little more prep work.......and then the net rig needs to be made. I will also add the round buoys from the Cux instructions as well.

well I think I have the faring just about done. I was sharing it with another project. might need a little more fine tuning here and there........especially around the stern {part #21}. I then realized that the poop deck wasn't cemented in place. after cementing it in place, I saw where the mizzen hole is. this looks a bit odd to me....... I'll have to check this out. there is no direction to cap off the pop deck/main deck either. I'm beginning to think some deviation is in order >the inner bashman is starting to emerge<

for what I'm doing at the moment Sam..........I can agree with you!

well done on the markings.........I'm surprised that you didn't have decals for them.

looks great Nenad! you'll be using this as a plug....am I right?

thanks J.........almost done with the faring. I should be planking soon.....I think the 1 mm planking will do just fine. I've been using it to gauge the faring process. I'm actually surprised that the admiral let me do it in the computer room! I use a drywall sander....hand operated, and going across the bulkheads creates quite a noise { I try and do three at a time, moving from bow to stern}. some of the squeaks and squawks were quite ear piercing. the admiral did voice her opinion about the noise........which made me sing verses to the old song 'it's cold outside' , and my impersonation of Bella lagosi's famous line in the classic 'Dracula'....."what beautiful music they make....". "no different than me play'in my bass dear", was my next great line before I got the "well....Hurry up!" "but dear.....you can't rush these things......it's like a fine wine"......or as Groucho would've said "I'm making fine wine.....an' she's got sour grapes!" the trick here is to keep talking......any psycho babble that comes to your head she'll tone you out........and the noise follows as theories go, don'tcha know in reality..........she's a good egg about my hobby. she reads her books at her computer while I work on the boats. I was going to move the Wharf into Kevin's old room, but she was afraid that she'd never see me, so here I stay. it's nice to have her company too hope you had a great holiday as well

my bad Carl........I'll put something together. the table is laidened with faring dust at the moment. once I have 'Thermie' ready, I'll move it over and bring the Flattie out. I have to check something......I'm wondering if the mast is really the size they say it is. it's very loose in the hole.

good to see this build back on the table Kevin. hope you have a creative new years as well

WOW! very nice looking ship Pat.........would be interesting to follow along. great introduction BTW

the mini kit looks cool! I like the laser cuts within the parts..........it will make it easier to remove the inner areas after the boat is planked.

thanks for the kind comments and to those look'in in. part #21 is cemented in place now.......I beveled it a little, but now I can do it the rest of the way. I can finish faring the frame now. I envy you Piet..........if you want to do a wood deck for her, the kit is a spin-off of the Revell Cutty Sark. you can find wood decking here: http://www.scaledecks.com/our-story.html yes Hof.......you plank the hull, and then trim off the bulkhead posts, before planking the main deck. I read that the inner wall of the bulwarks has to be planked with walnut strips. it is always best to fare all of the bulkheads.......should one of them be off, it will show after the planking is done. it also insures the smooth run of the planking, as they follow the contour. for any novice or first timer, that would be a bad habit to be teaching them. .....and a manufacturer telling them this to boot.........I'm not being overly critical, but I just want to advise newcomers to the hobby, to be through with this......it's important. to not do this will result in a chunky looking hull......the bulkhead edging will show in a very undesirable way. another reason for this, is to match the deck platform to the bulkheads. when the planking is run, there won't be a nasty gap along the edge, should the platform need to be painted, rather than planked. there is never a dumb question Hof..........just the ones that are never asked thanks Zoltan......a happy new years to you as well now that you got your shipyard back together, I hope to see more on your Santa Maria

hello Piet....glad to see your finding time to visit the site.....hope your holiday was enjoyable and wonderful. I made some of the bark rings.......two batches. the first one, I thought wasn't thick enough, so I made the second batch. the holidays kept me from doing more on her......thanks for the good word and looking in. I looked at the hoops in the Bluenose fittings........they are 5/16, the same size that I made the birch hoops. I feel that they are too large......does anyone else agree with my thinking?

super looking clock and model

that's the spirit J...........keep at it till it pleases you! you could even buy some balsa blocks, or do what I do and make it out of flat stock. 1/32 {with the grain} bends real easy can't wait to see the change

I did manage to separate most of the fittings........too bad there isn't a parts list to compare it to. I figured that I might want to scan the English instruction part, so I wouldn't have to play with the big sheet every time I need to look up something {for what there is of it}. with sheet #1 pinned to the wall, I can't even look at sheet #2, unless I take it down. I did read though that all of the : "blocks are all of the same dimension and one-hole." quote.........unquote. I don't care.....like I said, I can fix that. I did do a couple of things for right now........first, I filled in the gap left by cutting out the broken bow bulkhead. the gap is not needed, since the center spine piece is supposed to slide in the slot. I thought though that leaving it like it was would make the bow weak, and apt to break off if I got too rough with it. if I would have thought of it, when I cut out the bulkhead, I would have traced the part with the gap filled in.......all I would have had to do is shim it to the center spine and cemented it. roughly 3.5 mm filled it in as I began to fare the frame.........oh, here's a funny......in the instructions, it says to fare only bulkheads #1, #2, #12, #13, and #14. ehhhhh, shouldn't you do them all?!?!?! if for no other reason, to get the char off'em. told ya this would be a fun kit anyway.......as I started, I kept thinking that the deck platform should be in place. I would have liked to plank the deck before this is done, but they're instructing me, that between the fore castle and the poop deck, the bulwark posts need to be removed. this will be the first kit that I've ever had to do that to. the deck platform is the likes that I've never dealt with, it's made from some really rough thin plywood. I've already cracked one of the appendages between the posts, in the aft section. it wouldn't have mattered if I broke it off.....it would not be seen after the poop deck is put on. I heard another cracking sound, as I cemented it in place.......I'll have to check it out after it dries. this deck is hard to conform to the curvature, tried my best to keep rubber bands and clamps from pushing down too hard on these appendages. I wanted to take the sheet off the wall, so I could see how some of the sub assemblies go together.....haven't taken it down yet. pictured is part #21.........it needs to be beveled around the outer edge. I did it, but you might not be able to see it. the poop deck must also be cemented in place, in order to plank the stern transom and shape the counter. the fore castle deck doesn't though.......the windlass is involved with it, so best to do it later when the main deck is planked. I mentioned somewhere on one of my logs that I had gone to Hobby Lobby, to spend some of gift card money, I had gotten for Christmas {where I get my wood from as well}. I got some more of those gears that I used on the Syborn and Andrea Gail builds. I saw these other ones too.......a few of them would make great ship's wheels. I saw those rings too.......thought about using the larger ones on the Flattie........but I'm thinking differently now. the admiral showed me these.....my eyes lit up like a Christmas tree! they look so cool! these are made of wood.....as the name implies. it'll be interesting to see what I'll be able to use them on. then, I got a spool of smaller size chain. I can see if it can be used on the Syborn, but as I recall.......I don't remember seeing the martingale......or the typical rigging that these clipper ships possess. ya gotta have chain man.......not just rope {thread} rigging I might have to go for an even smaller size....I can get it...not a problem.

thanks Mark and Piet.........hope you gents and your families had a great holiday season been at the table speratically today....hoping to turn some attention to the Syborn thanks for the good word and the likes everyone!