BLACK VIKING

Taking a break from Wood for a while….
 
Cheers!
 

 

Sounds  like  a  plan  mate,    if  you  make  the  dio  as  detailed  as  your   scale  replicas   it will  be  Epic.
 
OC.

So back to this! This is my plan, 2 French soldiers trophy hunting, taking a Morser and large mortar and finding a smaller in in a puddle ignoring a family on the side. I got a French victory medal to go on the base 

Changes to figures made, I said keep the epaulettes as they are shown on the source pictures my carver used.

Inboard Details
 
Been a while since last update, springtime diversions....   Anyway, been finishing up some details inboard.   Mast and bowsprit stubs, knights, some deck rings, and all the pin rails with those period incorrect belaying pins    I at least got some wooden ones to make them more reasonable than the brass ones included.  
 

 

Wow Chris, that looks really nice. 

I got the cabane struts and their bracing done, so of course I had to give the top wing a trial fit.
 

Some additional progress on weathering.  At this point I’ve not added decals. Given how many different countries used the FT-17 I’m think I will portray it in a more generic manner.  I have some touch-ups and additional weathering to do but will call it complete for purposes of this log. Thanks so much for the comments and likes everyone. Scott 
 

Evening all,   I have  placed  my Jager  after  cutting him away from his  base,  I  have stood  him in on of the  wheel ruts  and  added some water  around and over  his  shoes, so  he is assisting the  95th  firing on the  French  from about  30 yards.
I have  also  thrown in another arty shot  from the  front.
 
OC.
 

With the modifications to the beakhead bulkhead nearing completion, this is the final test fit of the bowsprit, once the eyes for the bowsprit shrouds are fitted and the sprit sail mast rigged, it'll be glued in. Cheers.
 
Michael D.
 
 

 

 

Packed and ready to go to the Malaysia international model show 

Rigging - upgrades: I'm slowly catching up from last week's misadventures.  I took this opportunity to "upgrade" some of the rigging as @kirill4 suggested. Thanks!
 
I changed the way I tied the block to masts, using serve-rope this time.
Lastly, I changed the way I tied the small boat on the deck.  I do not have blocks of the appropriate size, so I simply tied but this time vertically without any cross-over.  The sailors are in the process of tying the third one ;_)
 
Back from a small vacation, so I should be able to catch-up this week.

A little bit of progress in painting - both the tank and start on base colours on the diorama stand. 
 

How's that trip down the rabbit hole going, Greg. You might need another prime mover.

Sorry for the late response as I've had one heck of a year as I lost my mum last year and we have moved back to Kent to be near No1 son .
I have attached some pictures for you to look at to show what I have been up to. 
Thanks again for the comments and likes .
Martyn 

Couldn’t help myself 

So this is the two of them and I’m quite happy that I re did it without the shield 

Washes and a bit of rust and pigment 

Thanks for all the likes! I'm wrapped.
 
I did the shrouds today. First I drilled the 1mm holes on the top of the desk as I didn't want to mess up the gun ports on the side. Five each side and back from the base of the foremast and main mast. Three each side and back from the mizzen mast. They are 2mm apart from each other.

 
Next I looked underneath and saw that a few holes missed their target . This is not an issue as I could simply gouge out the stray holes so I would not interfere with the flat surface. I do admit that it does look a bit like a dog's dinner but you won't see it later. ☺️

 
Finally, I  removed the standing line from the top of the mast to avoid 'line clutter', then by using a 0.7mm thick neddle and thread, I started underneath the front hole of the foremast. I didn't secure the end, just left a long enough end to be able to tie a knot later (about 60mm). I went up to the lower side hole in the mast and down to the corresponding hole on the other side. Underneath, I simply came up the adjacent hole on the same side, up, through and down through again. On the fore and main mast I has three shouds going to the lower hole and two going through the upper side hole. When I finished each mast I tied the start and end lines together, making sure the mast is sitting where you want it, and then glued the knot with super glue.
 
Two warnings. Use plenty of string  for each mast. I started with 700mm on the fore and main masts. Also be carefull of glue on your fingers as you are sure to strip off some paint on your ship.
 
I'm very pleased with the result. Sorry but I'm not mad enough to add ratlines to my shrouds. 🤪

 
I'm done for the day as we are celebrating my '21st' birthday this afternoon.
Cheers

Yard Manufacture
Over the last few days I have been shaping and then adding the various PE parts, cleats and footropes to all the remaining yards. The only task now remaining, before installation to the masts will be to paint the yards black. Please see the following set of photos.
 
Driver Gaff
This was an interesting dowel to shape. There are two flying lead blocks and a couple of blocks secured to the driver gaff via eyebolts,


Driver Boom
There was not a great deal of shaping required for the driver boom. The most time consuming task was to make the knotted footrope.

Mizzen Topgallant Yard
This was a nice simple yard to make with a central section which tapers down to each end. 

Mizzen Topsail Yard
I had a bit of a brain fart when adding the footrope stirrups and initially drilled the holes in the wrong place, as you will see in the attached photos where these holes have been filled. I will adjust the position of a couple of the footrope stirrups so they are vertically aligned.

Crossyard Jack
I had the same brain fart with regards to drilling to stirrup holes. I will also need adjust the position of a couple of the footrope stirrups so they are vertically aligned.

Main Topsail Yard

I did add thin planking trips to the central octagonal section.

Main Yard

 
I did add thin planking trips to the central octagonal section.

The kit 
Scale: 1/90
Width: 385mm
Height: 765mm
Length: 1085mm
Difficulty: Medium
Number of pieces: +6,600
 
First impressions were wow, there is a lot of kit for the money, in what is quite a heavy box. like a lot of Occre kits the package is similar to others in the range, a simple folded base keeps everything in place with a generic coloured lid with a pasted photo of the build, having said that one of the plastic cases had been damaged, allowing some of the contents to be loose, but everything was accounted for, this was not caused in transit as noting was around it to do that sort of damage

wood package
the wood stock provided has been cut well with no splintering, for me the veneer is the best i have seen in a kit, although its a long time since i purchased a kit with it contained
bulkheads are plywood,
 lime for first planking
sapelli veneer for the outer hull
sycamore decking
and a variety for the rest

it would be nice if some of the wood stock could be identified rather than bundled together
 
The rest of the wood package is lasered stock and the lines are very clean with very little scorching on either side
its nice to see the wooden boats enclosed rather than the metal ones
 
However no deck camber has been built into the kit, i think this applies to all Occre vessels. including the new release HMS Victory i will try and raise the centre line when it comes to building this, i just need to work out what else would need to be changed like hatch coamings, skylights 
 


 
 
 

I added all the pieces that the old model was missing compared to the actual aircraft.
 




Once the glue cures, I will seal the model and begin painting.
 
I wasn’t going to do a build log for this one, because I’m just taking an old model and essentially bashing it into a different aircraft.
 
But, there are many of you who are far more knowledgeable than I am about these aircraft.

I achieved some important progress today, marrying the engine and the frame. Luckily casting precision and design is very good and I had only a little wiggling to do, while join the numerous connection points of the engine bearing plates to the engine.
The frame itself needed some bending, to accept the engine, which I did before painting. The cast material is durable but easy to bend an very good to work with, luckily. 






 
Cheers Rob