popeye the sailor

nice job with the metal frames and painting.....dredges look good. don't count yourself short......you did well with the soldering, not having done it before. it'll get better........just gotta do it more {i'm not good at it either}. we try....that's what counts

shaping up really neat J. are there to be steps for the helm room doors?

welcome Professor, Philo426, and to you as well Nigel it's still very early in the build as you can see.......as a mater of fact, I have the fitting on the desk at the moment........I was going to separate them. there are so many tiny metal parts, that I'm thinking it best to do it according to their assembly. you are right Nigel.......this model is very small.........I wish it was larger, like the 1:96 Revell kit. she's a beauty Philo426........and you added the studding sails, which really fills her out. I have the Cutty......my second build of her. I began to fare the frame, but I haven't gotten much further that that. I was looking through my planking strips, and I do have a good supply of 1 x 4 mm strip stock. the kit supplies 0.5 x 2 mm strip stock......not sure how contorting the 4 mm planking is gonna go. a second planking, I feel, might not be needed, since I will be painting the outer hull. still up in the air about coppering the bottom....if this was a larger kit, it might not be as big a problem. I see things that changes will benefit: eye bolts: I see an abundance of the larger brass colored eye {I forget the size}. I can substitute copper colored smaller eye bolts wherever I can, to make them more scale-like. blocks: there is a package of what looks like 2 mm single blocks supplied in the kit. from what I can see, these are the only ones in the kit......how in the heck can you make decent vangs, back stays, and pulley assemblies, with just single blocks. I have some 3 mm doubles kicking around some where.......we can fix this railings: I'm looking into getting some decent railings for this kit........bent wire just doesn't cut it. Nils has been a great help with the places he gets his from, but 1:124 scale is hard to find.......I may have to settle for the next size up.....like 1:200, or 1:350. I saw the photo etch for the Academy Titanic.... that might even do the trick. Shrouds: I know this is a small scale.......but the fore and main mast should have a wider shroud spread than shown. I'll see what I can do with this. Life boats: where? there are none in the kit. something to look into........ studding sail booms: don't recall seeing anything like them in the kit either..........again, something to look into......... a lot of this, I have time to research. I appreciate your look'in in and coming aboard. just got the badger.........got to take Gibbs out {he's scratch'in the heck out of my leg}. enjoy and hope you folks had a great holiday season!

awesome progress Daniel if anyone could make something out of this kit........you sure did!

super looking cranes..........such a sweet job of putting them together

consider that site bookmarked! I saw they list wood decking for the 1:96 United States........I think of all the trouble I went through to make my own

I'm sure you'll find a solution........I don't redo anything that's going to damage the model. firm rule of thumb of mine vents look super

has the look that there isn't too much head room.........standing rigging looks awesome though hope you had a super holiday!

have a productive 2017 Adam........glad to see you've returned

good to see your back Adam.......hope you had a happy holidays

what.......crap! I thought you fell asleep sanding............ life does have it's way of robbing leisure time......there's either a lot of it, or none at all. the only thing I can suggest, is when you see it.........GO FOR IT!!! I'll have to check out your Santa Maria for any new updates. hope you had a great Holiday..

looking good Steffen

thanks for all the kind comments and the likes. the holiday has slowed me down........hope I would have made more progress on her. thanks Pat......I like doing the extra stuff...adds more interest thanks Jud.......I can respect pointers from someone whose been there. if I had those parts and the idea of it, I might have done that.....I make do with what I got. not wanting to damage anything......I'm going to leave them as they are. I was hoping to get this model finished as well, so I could move on to another project......from the looks of it though, I seem to be spinn'in my wheels on it. I do enjoy building these types of vessels......I'd like to learn as much as I can about them. anything you can tell me is valuable....it will make my next one, all the better thanks you as well Patrick........I hope your having the best of holidays thanks John.......I have something of the same problem.......darn computer is about as old as I am {not really, but if you heard the noise it makes, you'd swear that something was running amok in there!} haven't seen it.........but if it sticks it's head out........I got a hammer.....and I know how to use it! thanks for the good word my friend!

looks very good Eric

try and do it from the inside, if the structure isn't cemented in place. the window framing will add a nice effect

good to see your making progress Michael....tedious process to be sure. looks like your going into mass production with the helping hands?

I know.........we're mak'in you blush.......right!?!?!!~ well.....I gotta add to it Nils......she is one awesome ship, when seen in her entirety seeing her stretched over that narrow sill in the first picture though.......kinda gave me a chill. tell me that was an optical illusion ! I know I sound a bit skiddish, but to me, anything less than the overall length of the model... is considered a sill! Happy Holidays Nils!

....and to you and yours Bob!

I played with these pesky gaffs long enough........time to get off the seat! the big problem.......I glue the brass blade sliver to the toothpick........then when I'd go and trim it, it would rip it off. time to get smart.......lets do some prep to the sliver of brass. I want to put a barb at the rear of the blade......try ti cut it with the clippers, and it would pop off. all I got was these two at the early stages of the process. so......lets make the barb cut before cementing the sliver on the toothpick...............BRILLIANT!!!! I had already done a few without cutting the barb.........no matter......I'm gonna use them! ....not like it will be too noticeable anyway. after making the rest of what I needed.....and trimming the point. it was time to paint everything. paint the blades.......and the red ring for a little bling, and I was almost ready to go. yea.......not the best picture........here's a better one..... I started to add the few additional parts to the winch. cementing the gaffs on the racks.......they were cemented in place......in the fish box first. this one is for the companionway...... I'll need to make the netting soon......... this is the diagram I got with the Cux 87.........I have green and I have brown netting. I think I will go with the brown. I also need to make the net bar........I have more than enough chain the companionway gaff rack is in place now. the fish box was put back on deck. I've started to work on the mast again........a few more parts are needed. once the winch is in place, then the mast can be cemented in permanently. I will have to alter my shroud and ratline set up due to the dump ramps, but it won't be too bad.

I made a bit of progress with this build. in between working on two other builds, I managed to separate the birch bark. the bark of these trees are set up in layers......once a layer gets old enough, it simply peels away, revealing the new undercoat. there are like several layers. anyway, I separated it towards the center of the bark. the white outer layer was then scraped away, leaving the under coat. I tried the first batch........wasn't too thrilled with it, so I did a second batch. jury's still out on it.........I'll report more on it soon. I also managed to trace out the sails, which was kinda nice...... not real thrilled with the thickness of the material, but I'll go with it. more on this soon, as well

looks great finally on display Jerry! good to hear that Charlene has started to work on La Nina....hope we see a build log, or even a peek every so often super job Jerry...........so......what's next?

super progress Greg!....all that detail is very nice are you going to paint once you've gotten to a particular point in the assembly? very....very....nice hope you had a good Christmas

very nice Andy! two things you can do about the planks showing through the windows..........you can use tinted cello. I have the stuff they use for tinting car windows........that might hide it enough. or........you can trace out the skylight...cut out and remove the planking, and paint the open area flat black. you did such a great job matching all the structures........very uniform and neat hope you had a great Christmas!

they didn't laser cut your deck panel? interested in what your doing with the cabin panels. are you going to fill in with mahogany strip? great progress hope you had a good Christmas

looks even better now! great job Steffen!