popeye the sailor

with the ship stained, now is the task of figuring out what I'm going to do about the cap rails, wales and rub rails. I first looked at stain. I went with a dark stain.......to add some contrast nice........but I think it needs something......kind of a reddish look. I went over this with the Billing's mahogany. still looked kinda dark, so I switched it then I did a traditional flat black strip lets compare.........left side : mahogany over dark right side: dark over mahogany now the black mahogany over dark won........it carried the best redish hue I needed two of the 7mm and 4 of the 5mm strips. this seems to be easier said than done. while staining them, I broke three of the 5mm strips. wet down and bent more strips..........after they were dry, I stained them and broke two more in the process........set'em up again charlie

beautiful John.......that is some fine looking rigging I am so glad that you were able to sneak her across the finish line, behind Murphy's back! he must be cursing up a storm right now! :D ....a superb looking build....worthy of her place of prominence!

#4????............whoaaaaaaa Baby!

CRAP!!!!! I have to work! I never seem to be able to do stuff like that .......always on a week end HobbyTown here in Manchester has contests and meets every once in a while, and they do the same thing. oh....well. I have never seen that one before.......I bookmarked the site. looks like a very interesting site I had stopped for a while as well...the Revell United States 1:96 was my last build then. when I started back up, I built a few small kits, and then the Cutty Sark 1:96 {for the second time}. from there I got into the wood kits and have been doing them ever since. I still see plastic kits I'd like to do...I have another United States to do in my cue as well.....a bash of plastic and wood { I have a log started on it}. I guess it may be my memory or something. could it have been this ship kit?........I don't know.......been a long time. I belong to another site.....the burning question seems to be how rare is a kit. most of them.......no, but I do see some that may be. it would be nice to have some sort of book listing all this.......like an apraiser, but I haven't come across one as of yet. must be the holy grail :D well, it's nice to meet you....I'll keep an eye out for your build log........love to see your work

SWEET!!!

nice job so far! I agree.....the decks came out pretty nice. I had the same decision with my Billing's AmericA.......they said to paint the bottom gold......but I used copper instead not a big deal.........it's all practice, right

the Lindberg kit would make for a good practice build for painting and such. you've shown some better kits.......as long as the decks don't go together like the Lindberg kit, you'd have a better time of it. as I mentioned, I didn't look into the kit until now.........I'll hold off until I get my five other builds out of the way I have always liked the Revell kits........fair amount of detail and all. thanks Ulises........I knew I was in the ballpark with the scale thing........but no home run it comes from my working with plastic all these years.......you see a kit, you like it, you build it. scale wasn't a fore thought. working with wood has really been an eye opener for me.

that is a pretty cool design........I'm sure Adrieke gave you a few pointers I want to try it on one of my builds........perhaps on one of my scratch builds your thoughts are in the fore front of all who build.....can't wait to see it finished. take your time and savor the ride, it's the optimum bang for the buck your doing a fine job so far a kit sits on a shelf....however long.......before someone buys it. it may have been produced last year. the box is not humidity proof.....I don't believe I've built one yet, that didn't have a warped part or two...plastic kits included

I'm the same way Larry........I'll get so far with the planking.........and then the itch to sand it hit me! I can't help it you've done well on the planking......shouldn't take much to get her down to a smooth finish. don't take her down too much though....you want your continued planking to match up. doing a little here and there is good........cuts down on the amount you'll have to do later on. just use a good aggressive grit in the beginning, and then to a finer grit to finish it off............I'm sure your kidding about the belt sander LOL. if you haven't gone off on your trip yet.........have a good time!

I don't recall seeing one of those, but I think you saw the Morgan whailer.........I had never seen the kit around these parts, but I believe I saw it in a catalog. in Manchester, back in the day, we had a hobby store called the 606.......if I had extra money, this is where I would be. this list, Connie included, were all on the shelf at one time or another. the only two I kick myself for not getting, was the Thermoplyae and the Kersarge. the last time I saw the Kersarge on E-Bay......it was listed at almost $300.00! most of these kits are becoming quite rare.......the Cutty seems to be holding it's own though.......more seem to bleed out of the woodwork when money gets tight. the Cutty kit does have it's variants.....the museum kit......with it's pre-painted hull, and no sails, is becoming rarer that the actual kit itself. Heller took the reigns on the large sailing kits...featuring the Victory and a large scale Spanish Galleon, perhaps your thinking of these kits? nice to see another fellow from New Hampshire.....welcome to MSW, good sir! I'm sure you'll have a great time here do you have a build log started?

hey Kester...........hope you had a great day yesterday! belated Happy Birthday, my friend!

ohhhhhhhh.....my head.......it's......vibrating! the pressure.........it's starting to build! too much..........I've got....information overload! arggggggggg! would this be the norm for larger bore cannons? I can imagine the recoil in touching one of these bad boys off. you make thing so interesting..........and looks good in the process I really enjoy what you do, good Dr.

I took a look at them briefly.......wait a moment..............ohhhhhhhhh my! yesssssss.........this is a STRANGE little bugger! what in the blue blazes were the designers smoking when they came up with this one! scale is the relation of the model as opposed to the real ship. I'm not too keen on the way of scale....130 feet to 1 inch {?} perhaps someone who knows better can give the correct measurements, in the event I'm wrong. with what I've read about this kit.....it's something about the decks {or the upper deck} not aligning properly. I think I can see why: the hull has a natural curve to it.......although the Revell kits have this curvature as well, I don't see it as a deterrant. the problem I see here is that the decks are done as a unit and the hull is assembled after the decks are complete these two decks are connected together with pins, which appear to be bent {at least, in my kit, they appear to be}. this will cause a malalignment of the upper deck when encased within the hull halves if added detail is to be done to the gun deck, it would be impossible to do, because of the inaccessibility of the bulwarks. rigging the cannons is out the window there is a way out though, should you wish to add in this detail, and that is to do the decks separately.........create pillars of the correct height, and then lay the spar deck at a later time, after the gun deck is fleshed out. in looking at all this, I wouldn't blame you for choosing a different kit

yes Adrieke.........my last one is gone as well. lets just call it a good gesture on something that is of no consequence is this the paint work on the hull?

I'm sorry to hear the news..........yea, taking the parts off the sprue can sometimes be as bad as losing the instructions. tell you what......when your ready to build this one, I will pull mine out and do it as well.....right along with you! I'll make it as easy as possible for you to be able to identify the parts, so you won't have a tough time of it. color and all! when your ready to begin.......you let me know.

HOGA is coming along nicely Bob.........shaping up to be a nice looking tug

congrats on a wonderful build....superbly done!

thanks Robbyn.......one thing I will add to the glass trick......make sure that they are smooth round glasses, and not faceted. they leave marks in the wood.......thankfully they are on the underside of the part now I have to cut and bend the parts I will need for the cap rails. I have already pre-bent the main wale boards.......now I need to do the smaller ones.

that looks nice........is the design in the plans?

not a problem Adam........glad I could help you one thing I will do in the future though, is keep the admiral in the loop, as to what I'm up to........this way she won't look like a deer in the headlights, when she answeres the door.........hee......hee! Yepper! it was a pleasure to meet you and your admiral. if your ever in the neighborhood....stop by! I think the admirals enjoyed themselves just as much I haven't forgotten Sjors..........skype soon

could also be used as a weathering aide.......especially if your looking for a two toned appearance.

the framing looks very nice Augie........makes no difference how fast or slow you go........just enjoy it as much as you can

looking very nice JP.......the dilemmas of doing and not doing......it always seems to come out in the end though your doing a fine job!

looking good Adam.......the decking looks sweet! little by little....the hull will look good with color

looking good Robert!