popeye the sailor

I do have one more bit of progress to pass on to you. I would have posted this, but this was when the site went down.....believe it on not.....so this is fairly recent. I had ordered a grate kit from the place where I had ordered the 3.5mm deadeyes for the Gothenborg. it was taking so long to get them, I canceled the order. while I was waiting though, I thought about how many of those kits I would have to order...and the cost involved. I decided to try and make them. I bought two packages of 1/16 square stock and cut them into short lenghts. with just a tiny bit of cement on the ends, I cemented ten of them down onto a small piece of wood, spacing them equally {1/16 wide}. placing another layer on top of them, spacing them the same way, they form a cross - thatch pattern. third row fourth row fifth row I was running out of the strips......and only half way as high as I want to go. the only recourse at this time, would be to cut this in half, fit it together the best position possible, and glue it together. so, I finished with what I had and did just that. when this was dry, it was sliced into wafers. they will be sanded flush, making them thinner in the process. there were some of the tiny pieces that broke free. they were repaired and set aside to dry, I would just pick up another one and work on thay one in the meantime. for some reason, I got eleven of them........I thought I'd only get ten. a bonus.

thanks Marcus......kinda quiet right now, but when I can get caught up, I can get working on it a lot steadier. for now it's just a little here and there. thanks for looking in. I know Mobbsie......painted myself into a corner this time! .....and I don't even have the Gothenborg in here yet....LOL! never a dull moment at the Wharf.....I can tell you that...hee...hee. it just looks scary. about the clothes pins......I have to buy my own. as a matter of fact, I have to get after them......they grab them to keep their chip bags closed........yea......they watch me too....LOL {and shake their heads}

I did a bit more......but not as much, since I was running out of wood. before I can make the spar deck, I need to get more. I figured that I would paint the copper....I've never sprayed a metallic paint through an airbrush before, this should be interesting. I did make a couple of parts for the spar deck, before I bundled them. I bundled the gun deck up as well.....I don't want them to get warped either. I gave the hull a light prime. the copper paint went very well......only two tiny imperfectiond to repair. I was very happy to see that.

I drew the center lines on the sections......there was a mention on the old site that they appeared to be a bit off. the hull is a bit disproportionate at the moment, so the sections are not sitting in there the way they should be. when the hull is pulled into shape, it does tend to straighten out.........please bear with me. the aft section will take someadjustments to be correct. it starts out like this just for fun, I took the bow cannon and placed it in one of the ports. I need to raise the galley section, so it will align with the hull. the line of the deck curves upward...to correct this, the tail has to be cut off and shimmed with a 1/16 spacer. the level is now corrected......from here, it needs to be shaped. as with the other sections, pieces of planking is cemented underneath to keep the section from doing anything wierd. when it was ready, it was dry fitted. the deck line is much better. when the time comes, the major assembly can begin.

I told you Andy........I have manic constructive disorder. I just wanted to get this one back on here for when I can finally get back to it. I hope it will be soon, but who knows, I may be able to dabble with it from time to time. I still have the other decks I have to make. it is a good thing that I'm doing this anyway......some of these sections are really warped bad! thanks for looking in Andy.....I will probably need some of your sage advice later on

the process continues with the cutting........ the grasting frames were cemented in place. I cemented a couple of pieces of planking underneath the section to keep it from warping or curling. tabs on the connection ends will aide in them in being cemented together flush. the mid section was next. the first two sections are done......the hardest one is yet to come.

At this point, the gun deck sections are prepped and traced out. I needed to cut out the grates in order to trace them, so I'll have to make.....or even order grates for them. I have one on order asa matter of fact.....haven't seen it as of yet.......I wondered if they mailed it. I didn't bother to show the middle photos.......they just show the grates cut out anyway. the stern section is going to be the interesting one for sure. that tail piece isgoing to need to have some fine tuning done on it, if it is to work out. I did make all the marksas to where the aft quarters are to be located. now to cut them out and assemble the frames for the grates and other bits of detail.

thanks Patrick.......I had to put this one back in. when the real work starts on it, it's gonna get quite busy. if everything I want to do works out......I think there will be others who want to try this. who do you think Augie.........it's me! I was a lot younger.....and I had thicker hair I think I was about 35 when that picture was taken. I didn't do a lot of apinting on that build.....it comes in four different plactic colors, very easy to sluff off on painting. this was a complaint, taken a look at by manufacturers.........folks who wanted to build models, but were not adept with paint. this was also aimed at young modelers, whose parents didn't want a big mess, with paint. thanks for the good word gentlemen......glad to see your going to follow along. I'll try to get to it a.s.a.p.

I'm basically just assembling parts, with no particular rhyme or reason once the cannons were painted, I packaged them to keep them from getting lost or damaged. taking a look at the decking....there quite a task ahead this was the gun deck........here is the spar deck these parts were in a bag unrelated to the color in which they were molded. it's my guess that these parts were added in.....found as an oversight on their part. just a couple of other parts that will need either paint or assembly.

so, the build kicked of in November of 2012. right now, I'm just doing small things, until I can get some of the other builds out of the way. the deck sections are the most important thing first off. they need to be made so that when they are put together, they will lock together without any lines or unevenness..the planking will cover all this over anyway. for the moment, I decided to put the hull together. I'm going to use the stand parts.....they do work quite well. I also assembled the bow chaser cannon...I wish I had two of them.....I like them better than the other cannons. I put the Gothenborg up next to it......I think the size difference in scale is cool.

I have some pictures of my first build......this had to be in the mid 90's here is the kit as I got it

this is the Revell 1:96 scale kit. I had built this kit some time ago. the model was short lived though and met it's demise at my hand. I had been looking for another one for quite a while. I got a tip that there was one on E-bay........didn't think I would suceed......but I managed to get it. it spent a long time in the closet, until one day, when my curiosity got the best of me. I had seen Daniel's build of the Victory here on the site, and wondered if I could pull something like that off. so here it is.....in it's infancy. Now, when Revell came out with this series of large scale models {there we several in the series}, quite a bit of evidence pointed towards the reasoning of the grouping in the series. The Cutty Sark mimicked the thermoplyae.....the C.S.S. Alabama mimicked the U.S.S. Kersarge.....the U.S.S. Constitution mimicked the U.S.S. United States....the only one that didn't seem to have a clone, was the Spanish Galleon. these kis may have.....or probably were, molded from the same molds. whoever came up with this idea was a genius, in my view. outside of a few minor discrepancies....they came out with some of the best kits that revell had ever done. sadly, the Constitution was the only one to survive the discontinual chopping block. my rebuild of this fine vessel is going to be a bit different.....I plan to replace all that I can do with wood. I don't think I'll be able to go as far as Daniel did on his build {which is exsquisite, by the way}, but I'll do what I can. the one thing I want to defeat.....are those nasty separation lines that cursed these decks. the decks on these particular kits are done in sections. when put together in the build, you can't help but see these section lines. I have seen other folks try many ways to hide them.....some are pretty good, but I think doing the decks in wood will totally erraticate them once and for all! what started this build sounds kinda silly......just playful banter on the site. I decided to bring out the cannons to put on the Gothenborg......as a show of force, and to defend the wharf. It opened a can of worms.......it got me thinking of the deck idea again.....and so I went for it. I spent quite a bit of time making the barrels for the cannons I did manage to do a little painting on them. the parts are in pretty good shape....not a lot of flash, or deformaties. there are some things that were not put into this kit, that are in the Connie kit. the aft quarters, for one thing. I'm going to try to add the parts for it in here.....I think it would make for a nice addition

please do........I would love Tom to see this! Fantastic work!

thanks Frank.......I thought of you after I had done them. I don't do too much weathering. I try to do it......it looks good. I look at it later though and I get the feeling that I messed up.......so I fix it. I'm too keyed into the 'clean look' , to be able to come up with a totally weathered build. I see others do it and it looks fantastic.......like your hull! thanks for the good word.

interesting build. looks like a kit though that would look really cool finished out. nice craftmanship

there is one good shot of the M&M build......where it was when these last pictures were taken. thank you Sarah for the good word. the deck planking I like to use is called Annegre. it is thin strip....about 0.7mm and comes in a variety of widths. it's a light mahogany from what I gather...I order it from Billing's. the crayon method is nice in a couple of respects.....it does a good job simulating the calking, and when sanded, blends into the wood quite well. I have been tempted to try different colors......browns, or grays......white might even be a nice touch, but how many decks do you see with white calking?......not so much {fun to try though}. I started to use a rattle can......when I did the Nordkap.......what a mess it made! I was in the local hobby store, when I saw the Testor's 'amazing air' airbrush kit. it works from cans of compressed air......but I fitted it to work from my air compressor, so I can adjust the pressure better. it's not very expensive....only cost me thirty bucks. the testor 1/4 oz bottles screw on nicely with the caps provided, classifying it as a siphon feed. I used to be able to find empty bottles, but they are hard to find......I just buy the small bottles of thinner and pour it into my big bottles....and thre you go, I have plenty of empty bottles to mix paint. clean up is easy as well......just the spray cap and the siphon tube.....and maybe wipe off the front of the sprayer. some adjustments can be made simply by turning the nozzle, but the only draw back is that it doesn't get down to the finite lines that other air brushes can do. for regular paint jobs......it has been great, and better control than with the rattle can.

I have plenty of touch-ups to do on her.......I've just been plodding along. The M&M build had progressed to the point of adding the waterline......I was tossing around adding one to this build as well. I got a positive responce from all of you, which helped me make the decision easier. this brings this build back on the site and up to date. as seen from the date.....it's been a while. in that span of time, the M&M build is long finished.....the admiral is quite happy. but, in that span, I have wandered onto other builds....damn disorder I have! perhaps I will find a little time to fit her out with what I have so far and show it to you. I hope to get back onto this build soon

7 - 25 - 2012 the admiral was getting mad at me, because I wasn't paying as much attention to the M&M build as she would have liked. I started to bring this one out when I had nothing better to do.......or whenever I could sneak it in. I thought I'd do the prop and rudder at this point then I did the bottom paint.

6 - 7 - 2012 I went further with the paint. I got in the fittings I ordered from Billing's as well. I now have almost everything I need to fit her out......although I might noe use those gallows.....I may ellect to scratch build some.

thank you Carl......I'm getting close to the end of my progress....I really need to get back to this one soon. 6 - 5 - 2012 with quite a bit of the structual work done, I was dying to get some paint on her. after prepping the hull up, I did just that. I didn't end up using those window frames....but I still might

6 - 4 - 2012 this was the day that the deck was planked.......really big day. as I always do, I had mapped out the deck where all the structures were to be. these areas will not get planked, so to create a 'location slot' for them when they are cemented in place. this will not show separation lines that sometimes occur when parts are cemented together.......no tiny gaps. the center planks were run down from the bow, to the stern......done gradually so to get all the structures tight with the planking. I had sanded the waterways along the edges to meet the planking. I did the calking with crayon. after the deck was down, a light sanding blended it together and filled in any tiny gaps. crayon is a bit messy.......I was careful to scrape most of it off the upper surface, so there wouldn't be much to sand....hence the reason for the blending. it does give the deck a nice hue though. the open areas will provide a nice location point for the structures. the deck is sanded some at this point now it given it's first coat of lacquer

5 - 30 - 2012 here is the second part of this mega session the second rub rail was added to the hull the top rails were added at this point

5 - 30 - 2012 this was a big day......so big that it was done in two parts. I needed a lot of doors for her.....around eight to be exact. here is how I made them. the rub rails were added to the hull more structures were assembled and fitted...by no means complete, adding to the build.

5 - 29 - 2012 I added an inner bulwark rail along the top.....mostly to give the top rails a better cement point.

5 - 24 - 2012 I thought to add windows to the aft walls. on most trawlers, these areas are left opne and sculpted, but for this one, I decided to do them, to add to the looks. these are the fitting that I have from the Nordkap build. I had ordered these parts from Billings, when I thought that Harold wasn't going to be able to find the fittings he had. he did find them, and now I have all these nice things to play with.