popeye the sailor

thanks Sherry and Edwin.........yes it is I hope to make a bit more, before I go back to the Gothenborg. I had test fitted the stern rails earlier........I have a serious gap under the rail. to fill it, I made up a piece of curved plywood and will later sand it down to match the incline. the stern rails are dry........and the curvature is good and finally..........the interior is stained at last! ....more good stuff to come soon!

well.........I thought it was going to be a chore to get the bulkheads changed over. this area is still going to be open, till I can get the interior stained. the hardware is going to consist of a pair of tiny hinges {still have to make them} and some sort of handle. I'll just tweezer them in place after, before I do the clear seal coat. tricky, but that's how my cookie is crumbling.......so I kinda have to go with it. thanks for the good word and concern John..........

did you fix the pipe.........or am I talking to a lake?

the doors as I mentioned, are missing in the kit........an entire sheet of parts is missing. the rigging sheet is 1:1 with the model, so I was able to trace the doors from the over view diagrams, on the other side of the sheet. I cut them out from a left over piece of 1/16 flat stock. I made a couple of extra, so I can select the better of them. there are two large doors and one small one......they were sanded and shaped. I intend to cover them with .5 X 2mm strip Annegre. the edges will be penned in. once they were done, they will be trimmed and sanded. the outer edges will be done with the archive pen, and given the dark mahogany bars. I took a couple of miniutes and used the scroll saw to cut the posts for the lower aft deck. there needs to be a beam along the underside of the deck......there is a noticeable curvature of the deck lip. it will also need to be pulled together......the walls sort of splay outward. the doors were cemented in place...when the interior is stained, they will be stained as well. then I can put some hardware on them then. in preparation for the cap rails, the stern edge needs to be shaped with a curve. the ends were wet down and wedged between two glasses and allowed to dry.

I do the same thing.........never take them off the sprues until you use them. I do like to clean up my parts though, if there is a lot of flash. for this, I stick pins into them, or hold them with clothes pins......you'll develope your own technique. flats will be your friend, as for sails, it up to what you want to do.........if they look too shiny and white, dull them down with some flat light gray......or you can mix equal parts of flat white and flat tan. experiment with your hobby.......you'll be surprised with what you can come up with

I think your apprenticeship is over Sjors.......you've completed one ship already it's guys like me, who are playing Ketchup.......and I'm trying, with all the gusto I have mustard!

now that's a thought..........do a search on this vessel. I remember seeing a dioramma of the part in the movie where he sails the ship through the desert.............I wish I still had the site book marked curses! foiled again by my own house cleaning!

oh my god.........YES!!! I can't believe the level of detail.......it is fantastic! your doing a superb job..........look forward in seeing more!

I agree with Crackers...........it's your ship there is absolutely nothing 'dumb' about any kit. I haven't had the chance to do any research on this vessel {kit}..........I an SO glad you brought this kit to light! now that I've had the chance to see some information on it, I see it as a kit with a lot of potential.........it can be done in a number of ways. I can't wait to see what direction you take with it

could also be Obechi wood....real cheap Africcan wood.......very rough stuff.

thanks to all for your kind words. I have been working on the doors for the bulkheads........should be finished with them today. I can then do the stain job to the interior and begin on the cap rails. that will be a cool feature....I hope hello Alex! nice to see you.......hope to see more on your fine build thanks John......it really wasn't that bad.....that will teach me not to follow what my initial thoughts were. I should have done this in the first place thanks Mobbsie......yea, there really isn't any difference......problems VS setbacks. I've read a few logs where folks knock the kit for these inconsistancies....sadly, some even end up being scrapped, because of them. this kit is already missing a few parts.......it already suffers it's own handicap.....not an impossible task for "Bash man" the Billing line of paints aren't that old........they've had 'em for a few years now. they also have the metallic paints as well....copper, silver, and gold..........they are unique, because they don't have the luster that Testor's paints do. it's a nice antique look when they are fully cured. as for stains, the only one is the mahogany stain, that I know of. so far, this is only one application, but after the interior and cap rails are done, it will get a second application, and then sealed. I'm not concerned with the archive pen calking, by the time I get around to doing the clear finish, it should be long dried and won't become solvent. the hull work still has a way to go yet. thanks Patrick..........so far........so good

I believe California is very close to sea level.......one of the thing I missed in Florida as well {it too is close to sea level}.

looking good Sjors........the masts are coming together you'll be ready to do the shrouds before you know it those are called cross trees Mick

hello Kimberly, I have the same kit.......I am a big fan of the old lindberg {lindberg line} brand of models. when I began working with wood, the admiral told me....{with much opposition, because I have the Revell United States}....that I was to build "no more plastic kits". we were in a craft store and I was looking around in the model dept {sad to see how few wood kits there are}, when the admiral stumbled onto this one. I knew it was a plastic kit......didn't say anything. she as well, loves the old pirate ships, and she wanted to get it. I just left it as "OK...but remember who wanted it" :D }. yes, the sad truth.....it's from the old Pyro molds. what I have uncovered, I will not post, because it comes from another site. the ship went by many names.............. La Vestal Flora La Flore La reconnaissance .....there's a few more in the mix somewhere. sunk......raised......scuttled......raised........she had her ups and downs. the ship does have all the bones to be a pirate ship......from looking at Cracker's ship, some rigging has been ommitted. I did read that there is one problem with fitting a deck.........I'll look back in the info I found {maybe do a test fit for you, to see if this is true}, and let you know what I have found. by all means.......I will be very interested in seeing what you do with this kit......I won't be building it any time soon. your build may give me some really cool ideas. are you going to replace those plastic shrouds? I hope to see more are you sure you don't mean "brake fluid" Duffer. that's what I use, and it even removes chrome.

thanks Bob......yea, it was a feat trying not to get glue ooze on the planks thanks as well Frank......you use that paint too huh?!? I have a friend on another site that has been experimenting with Jo Sonja and Chroma paints on plastic. he's proven {believe it or not} that it is doable other parts that are not in the kit, are the doors for the cabin bulkheads. I've made some.....what I'm working on at the moment. a bit more progress here.......and I'll head back to the Goth thanks for the good word Bob and Frank

that's some serious detail here!!! definitely need to see more progress! is there more under the bubble wrap?????? look forward in seeing more!

let's hope your vision as better than my camera :D thanks a bunch! thanks Adam.......just a perk from the position of the lamp now that the corrections are done......I can move on thanks for the good word Augie and Adam

up here in the north-east, our hobby shops carry Plastruct products......the same stuff as Evergreen. flat stock, round and square stock.......just about anything you can think of. I use either the Testor's green tube, or CA to cement it to wood. perhaps you could even try to look these products up on line. the exhaust shrouds came out great! super cool pictures as well!

different model manufacturers depict different views on detail.........can't really explain why.......if one person sees it a certain way, they all should. take plastic for instance........some have really crappy detail, while others are highly detailed. with wood, you have some lee-way, but you need to keep in mind how high the bulwarks will end up. the dead eye and pin rails are already there. the rise that is there, will have to be used for the decorative border you want to do. it would probably be best to use the 4mm for the cap rails........5mm would probably be too much, and hinder the dead eyes. you would have to do a check fit, to see what is best.

I've seen this one done in wood....and it's quite nice with all the brass. but......this I feel is a bit harder to do.......all of the ornamentation is painted. you've done a superb job with it.......all of the minor aspects shine. very nice detail.....well done!

you may just have an answer for that old Lennon question........how many holes DOES it take to fill the Albert Hall :D

I finally got those recessed cabin bulkheads corrected........and yea......it wasn't easy. it went quickly though......and that was a plus, dispite having to sand them to shape and all. using the templates I traced earlier, the aft bulkhead planks were cut. this one was made a bit easier, because of the opening in the deck above, trading the plank from one tweezer to another. then, the fore bulkhead......... the two on the bottom have already been shaped a little. the top plank needed to have 1mm removed from the width. now I can stain the interior. from there, I can the support posts for the aft deck, cap off the ends of the upper decks {to hide the ends of the plywood platforms}, and install the cap rails.

nice progress Piet!

are those Humbrol colors?