popeye the sailor

if the sheeting is cut right, it can be done.......I've done it. good you chose a direction and went with it......this is the hardest part. once your finished planking and satisfied with how it came out, the rest will be a lot easier.

I've dealt with a number of Billings kits......the one glaring issue with the plans are the termination points. does the plans include a deck view of the belaying pins? I've always wanted to build this vessel

thanks Lou.......can't wait to get it over with. wish this crap would just go away hey Mark......I didn't know you started another build!!! I wrote it down........definitely got to take a TOTAL look at your log! looks beautiful!!!!

so now you are past me Tom.......I'll get back to mine one of these days I get the second shot March 26........I took the following week off from work in case there are any side effects { a third hand would be nice }. this has also been the first year that me and the admiral got a flu shot. I don't recall what I did for the ship's boat........I thought the same, and I didn't get the vac piece, as some of the parts were missing. she's coming along really nice.........superb progress!

I was tempted to get the coastboat bent, by Billings, but was a bit daunted with the clinker design. with the way I plank.......you couldn't doubt it by me Billings had a few different kits of these era ships in the past.......I fancy collecting old catalogs { I have a few}. I'm a big fan of their kits......my first kit was the Nordkap wow! you do some beautiful work!

I had not seen this kit.......thought it might be an older offering. I was surprised that it is fairly recent........gee, for a while there, they'd take one out of production and put another back into production. nice to see they are turning out new models never done a clinker before.......yours came out excellent! if like your village, she's gonna look sweet!

hey.......guess what?!?!?! there's an update going on! I wish I had a larger one, but I've been splitting time with a 'what if' that's been rattl'in 'round in my head for some time now...... time to put it to the test to see what comes of it it's been occupying brain cells since 2018. I'll have some time on my hands coming up as well.......March 26th is coming! this is when the admiral and I gets the second vaccine shots.........I'm taking that week off {yes, a vacation....first one in probably three years}, so I'll be able to gets some decent modeling time in. work is allowing us to use more of our sick time, so I'm taking advantage of it they say that the second shot may make you feel icky { mild side effects}, so I'm not taking any chances. finally.......I got around to the catheads. with the Clotilda, it's not too bad, but with the Agilis, the cannons and the pin rails need to be in place before the cap rails can go on. I decided to go a different route than I normally do.......I'm actually going to fit a reel {rollie thing} in the end, rather than drill simple holes. there aren't too many pictures of the assembly process, but you'll get the idea. it's all in sandwiching pieces of strip together.....the head part is slotted for the reel and a filler piece. since the Clotilda is similar, I'm making two pairs. the base will be trimmed at an angle to sit flush on the deck. I ordered a windlass for this one too...........I still have more parts to order, but mostly for the PT boat deciding to go with the smaller one, the holes were drilled and fitted, and the filler pieces were added. can't see it too good, but the reels are in there. the pair for the Agilis were trimmed at the base and dry fitted in place. I'll fit the Clotilda a bit later, when I get the pin rails done. they won't be as labor intensive as the Agilis.......these will have the eye bolts for the cannon rigging. two sets of the forward and aft rails were cut, for each of the ships. there will be reinforcement posts on both side of each of the gun ports, and those that involve the rails will be built in to them. I still need to drill all the holes for the belaying pins and such.....but they are fleshed out and ready for paint. here, starting with the forward rails, they are cut out, to accept the posts and gun ports. the aft pair still need to have the gun ports cut out. strip wood was cut for these posts.......some are really short, but will reach the deck. here, all the posts are added, and the one not involved with a rail, are whole length and ready for paint... they are labeled as such. there are other parts that need painting too......when I get them all together, I'll do it all at once. I will endeavor to come up with more soon..........

you move fast........lots of really nice progress, and the PE is great I hate to be the one to mention it though.. one of your louvers looks like it's closed.

coming along really good Dragzz....the masts look great I hope the bow spirit is dry fitted in place......gonna make it hard to clean up the opening

I got the green light to order the parts I need for the running hardware. I'll have to introduce the 'other' parts a little at a time I started to look into the mufflers.......in my kit, they are wood, but in earlier kits, they are vacuum -form. I've thickened them up a bit more, so I can round off the edges, before adding the detail to them. I should have more on it soon

they came out great Kevin.........only gets better from here seems to be my big thing too....you can only fight with something for so long....then another avenue comes along. I have a couple....they will resurface when the solution becomes apparent.

amazing model Ian..........I love the Revell kits, but Heller does so much more as far as detail goes. very nice

that's the one I have........you must have had an earlier release?

better yet.......I'll just get another light........with what's in this light, it's blinding me already.. this one is too short....it's in my face then again, if I get another crane lamp like I do on the other tables, I'll put it on table black and move the operation over there the Gundalow sustained a bit more damage than I first saw.....broke free fife rails and broke the tiller off the rudder. she's back on the shelf, along with the Spanish Galleon, which had a few things wrong with it too. as far as the other two.......well, they don't look too good.....broken yards and bow spirits, life boat davits broken.....just some of the damage. time to blow taps, I think ⚓

thanks Lou I can only go with a 40W bulb.......I'll see what I have in the drawer. I got some painting done.......the life rings and the props once the blade issue was repaired........along with a few touch ups. gotta lay off macro........makes the model look like a giant paint blob. the starboard davits were set in place, and the boat will rest on a pair of PE chocks......touched up the port side when I did this side. the kit came with five life boats.......was thinking of adding one or two extra, but pictures I have don't show them, so I won't. I gave it the 'ole college try and managed to pull off painting the bow railings. a little creative brushwork along the back of the foredeck rails came out pretty good I was going on to the next task, which would have been the anchors.........I noticed that one of the chains didn't lead to the hawse hole, so I fixed that. I say was, because it was that time, when the admiral harped about changing the rug in the living room. this of course turned into a chain of honey do's starting with reconnecting a spring under the recliner, that helps support the tushie..........what a PITA!!!!! finally getting around to the old carpet, I rolled it up {Gibbs had a ball with this going on} and proceeded to carry it out the door........this set off a chain reaction crash of four of my smaller ship models....sent them crashing to the floor! they are around the scale size of the Vendetta........the Thermopylae and the Connie are models I built some time ago....they received the most damage........the only wood ship in the melee is the Gundalow.......I'm certain I can repair her. a 1600 Spanish Galleon received only minor damage. the Devil Dog, the B25 I just finished almost hit the floor as well.......and a P51 Mustang got a gear flap broken off. this basically wiped out the top two rows of models! they are all waiting on table black at the moment awaiting evaluation. I fear that two of them might not fair too well.........but they had a great life...........I think I built them in the 90's. I look on the bright side.........I can put off putting up a new shelf a little longer oh...........I also painted the aft railings too.

that's a good fix at the bow nicely shaped frame.....off to a good start!

you've had quite the renovation going on there........nice to see she's all sorted out you've done a superb job!

....or bologna and whipped cream ..........nyuck....nyuck.....nyuck

I think I saw them ...........if I do, I'd go with the complete set........I bookmarked it thank you!

I have the Hood PE too.........might have some railings in there

another first class build Greg.........very well done!

hi Mike......thanks glad that I was able to come to that realization before the other railings were added. gonna be a sticky wicket, that's for sure. one hope, is as I paint them, the paint will leech over to the other side and solve the problem for me.......just my luck though, I go and paint.......and it doesn't happen I can just imagine what you have to do to a model of that scale the Vendetta is the smallest war ship I've ever done. it's presented a whole new bunch of problems, for a guy with big fingers. I just got done trimming all the vents.......they were held on the sprue by a thick injection tab, that still had distinct reminisces of it after I cut them off. to trim them was a feat.....can't even tell ya how many times I dropped them. to deter lost parts, I put one of those bath mats under my desk........it's got a thick pile which limits bouncing. seems to be doing the job ....I haven't lost any yet. I'm sure you're all aware of how small these parts are, so I'll refrain from doing the Penny comparison. I must not have done any touch ups either........I can see a few. I brought the light issue up to the admiral.......another crane light would be nice. she had other ideas......couldn't shoot her down.....she was trying to help. with everything laid out on the desk, she starts to clean. what's a little dust? I managed to take over the task before anything happened. she offered me her desk light.......couldn't say no without trying it out. the light is a bit better........ a bit yellow of hue.........not tall enough though.......I'd likely knock it in a heartbeat. the motif is a bit off too.......better if I had a coffee mug here they'd likely try to talk me into another model............although I do have one in the back of my mind

I finally have her back on the table. assessing where I left off and my next move....... ....gotta do something about this silly light ........gett'in on my nerves. first I think I'll add the vents......there are ten of them, and that will open the door to adding the aft railings. I still need to add the starboard life boat....among a few other things. I did note that one of the blades on one of the props was ready to break off.....bent it back and cemented it......I'll get them on soon as well. one thing I did learn....was to paint the railings before you put them on... I think this is one of the reasons I stopped.......pondering how to do them without making a huge mess. don't even know how I'm going to paint back here....... too close for comfort. just a small refresher

yes....I'm looking into shapeways........some of the aftermarket looks very good. mikes tubs are so sweet.........right down to the ammo

awesome looking tubes Mike! ..........they look great!