BLACK VIKING

I do want to encourage everyone to take up the skill of making their own rope.  Hopefully I will have more ropewalks in stock soon.   I am biased but believe the type of manul ropewalk like I offer is the best and quickest way to make it.  But whatever ropewalk you choose,  I want to try and make it easier for folks.   
 
Since I have been making rope available for a few customers on a custom basis using Mara for several years now,  I would like to share the recipe for making the various sizes I offer this material in to my clients.   Now the sizes you end up with may vary a bit depending on your technique and how tightly or loosely you lay up the rope.   But as you can see from above, a tightly laid up rope is much more realistic.  So when using MARA try and give more twists to the initial strands than you think.  And then you will be able to twist those strands together more tightly in the opposite direction to make better looking rope.
 
So here is my recipe using MARA for the sizes I offer.
 
TPS - threads per strand.
S - Number of strands ....or hooks on the ropewalk.
 
 
.008 rope......mara 120......1 TPS x 3S very tightly laid up
.012 rope.......mara 100.......1 TPS x 3S very tightly laid up
.018 rope......mara 100.........1 TPS x 4S
.025 rope......mara 70.........1 TPS x 4S
.035 rope......mara 30.........1 TPS x 4S
.045 rope......mara 30...........2 TPS x 3S
.055 rope......mara 30.........2 TPS x 4S
.065 rope......mara 30.........3 TPS x 4S
.080 rope......mara 30..........4 TPS x 4S
.095 rope.......mara 30.........5 TPS x 4S
 
Your results may vary as I said.  BUT after you lay up your rope, make sure you tie a knot on each end.   Poly wants to unravel.   Remember Morope!!!  Its crazy.    Then get yourself a toaster oven....or use a real oven.    Wind your rope around a metal sheave or pully.  I have these!!!!  Garage door pulleys.  They work fantastic.
 

 
Then place these in your toaster oven at 350 degrees for no more than 5 minutes.   If you approach 400 degrees yo will make a mess.  The poly will melt.   After much trial and error this is the best temperature......also, no longer than 5 minutes because it will also change the way the rope looks and feels.  Let it cool off on a rack.   Now you can cut the ends with a sharp blade without any worry that it will unravel.  This recipe and process makes perfect rope out of 100% polyester like Guterman MARA.
 
The best place to buy it in the USA....is Waywak
 
https://www.wawak.com/Thread/Thread-By-Brand/Gutermann/
 
Gutermann also makes other sizes, like MARA 50.   A great size for making rope.  But this must be bought from the MFG in large amounts.  I have a bunch of this and it changes the recipe above.  But the regular stuff you guys can get from Waywak use the recipe I have given.
 
Hope this helps.........start making your own rope.  Its rewarding and FUN!!!!!!   Untill you have to make 1000 feet per day for seven days every week.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Thank you kindly  Kevin.
 
OC.

you have nothing and your builds turn out so much better then mine, keep safe my friend
 

After a good sleep  I attacked the Mossie again   I was able to gently rub off the splats on the wing  (the stabs were ok)   I then went in the back yard  with my Dark grey rattle can  (this was still ok - had not run out)  so I sprayed the stabs  - went ok, then I did the same  in two coats  on the main wing, again this  looked ok  - I put them away in the box to harden.
 
I then came in doors and firstly decided to glue down the canopy  (no fuss just used liquid poly)  I also decided to have a look at how the main u/c  fits inside  the  wing box - I decided to trim off the edges then It slotted straight in,   so I glued the front main u/c  section in with ca glue, followed by the rear support legs  - these needed moving about then securing again using ca.
 
I decided to do a dry fit with the wing temp  placed  to check for hight fit  - looks ok I think?
 
OC.

Jim Hatch has finished the prototype model for the Zulu's stable mate, the Fifie Lady Eleanor.
 
The foremast for both Zulu and Fifie is actually comes in 8x8 and 6x6 square walnut respectively, as the bases of the masts are square.
 
Am hoping Zulu will be ready for release at the end of next week, and Fifie the week after, depending on how quick I can put the manual together and how quick the printers can get the plans, manual and box label done..
 
Oh, I had my boxwood sheet arrive yesterday. Started to laser cut the 1mm, and it cuts (and etches) well - although I did have to scrap a couple of sheets due to my own stupidity...

That's looking so nice. Have you used cherry for the wood?

Afternoon, 
Hope everyone is well. 
 
The build continues!
 
Started to piece together the wings and the engine area.
The engines themselves are starting to come together.
These were easy enough. 
Not too bad fit or flash wise. Some seams, I'll see if I can fill these. I do have a putty.

All of the landing gear have been painted. 
A basic Tamiya flat aluminum with Tamiya thinner. 

There are some PE pieces for all three.
I had some fun with it, see what I could do.
I find myself gaining confidence handling PE.  Not perfect, but fun. 

I finally realized I had forgotten to install support struts on both the rear landing gear. 
The fix is not seen in these pics, but has been done. 

Continuing with the "extra's", time to see what the resin gun barrels bring to the table. 
The kit supplied part is self evident. 
These should add a nice look. 

As for the yellow stripe on the bombs...…...
I am not knocking myself out on these. 
Yeah, sure I would love engineered precision, but what ya gonna do!
Found the longest, thinnest, finest brush I had and gave it a go!

Meh...…..
Looks like the bomb techs were out late at the USO the night before. 
And four feet away buried in an enclosed fuselage...…...they look perfect!   

Dinner time!
 
Tom E 
 
 
 
 

An amazing accomplishment!  Congratulations.

Stunning build and a pleasure to watch come together. Well done my friend 
Martyn

Well, finally got two coats of Model Master Ultra Gloss Clearcoat Lacquer on the body and hood.... 

One of the things I discovered 35 years ago is with these Metal Master kits, when you hit the soft chrome with a solid coat of lacquer clear, they turn into mirrors.... (you can easily see the reflection of the forceps on the table in the side of the car body)

Top Rear.....
 

Opposite side, now the chrome on this kit was not as clean as the chrome on the last one I built you can see the spottyness of it behind the rear fender here, it's not real noticeable on the model itself but it does show up under intense flash from an oblique direction...
 
Anyway, major construction is done, now for the details.....
 
EG

Thoroughbred to Carthorse 
Once a crack Tea Clipper 'Cutty Sark' seen here as 'Ferreira' a Barquentine in Portuguese service. Now restored and preserved at Greenwich on the River Thames
w/c 14” X 10”

Stunning build and a pleasure to watch come together. Well done my friend 
Martyn

Stunning build and a pleasure to watch come together. Well done my friend 
Martyn

Thanks to all who contributed to this interesting discussion of the whipstaff.  I thought I was pretty well versed in its intricacies, but even so I have learned a lot.
At the end, I have to agree with Druxey and Dafi that any slot in an upper deck, if needed, would be fairly short.  It could be covered, railed, or even with a hood.
The one reasonable certainty seems to be that a long slot, as drawn by  Leminuer or Budriot, would not be needed.
 
As far as contemporary cutaway drawings go, they are so varied and all over the place that only very general conclusions can be drawn.  For example, below is one which my notes identify only as "Phillips - 1690s"  It has a very short staff that does not pierce the upper deck at all.  Others show the mizzen mast being stepped on the deck above, with the tiller passing under it and extending forward to meet the whipstaff.  In that case the pilot's view and communication would not be hampered as much, but the mast might not be as stable.  As with many of these issues, I think that shipwrights experimented with various solutions in different ships, so there is probably no one clear 'right' answer.
 
Of course, I could also be completely wrong.  😕
 
Thanks again, and stay healthy.
 
Dan

 

Lanterns are built and installed. Suddenly I’m looking at a complete model of Soleil Royal. I will be posting final pictures soon as I want to take her outside to use the natural light. 

I love how the lighting turned out, EJ.  What a magnificent job you have done by making all of the carvings yourself!

First two anchors are in place. Rotating the ship around to install the others next. 

Latest update, I finished the braces for all yards. Only the fore and main course sheets left to go for sail rigging. I also dug the anchors out and will begin to assemble and install them. 
On a side note, I received a new bonsai tree for my birthday and spent a little time this weekend pruning and shaping it as well as replanting some of the clippings to try to propagate new plants. 

 
As always, thanks for following along and I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy. 

Last construction update..... Finished the Generator and mounted it. Manufacturing the lifting lugs proved to be a bit fiddly but I got it done.
 

Lifting Lugs constructed and attached to the clevises and cables....

Preparing the attachment points....

Putty fills the holes on the ends of the half-round skid bumpers....

Sanded flush and Lugs mounted....

Generator mounted to the lift and raised halfway to full height.....

Opposite side view......

Fully loaded position, the fit appears to be perfect....

Painting off the corners and touch ups....

Another test fit....

Cables painted off gunmetal, the Cables, although when manufactured were painted OD Green, in a very short time with moderate usage the paint flaked off leaving the oiled cables exposed. the cables were oiled to prevent corrosion....

Left side profile with the Generator in it's final position and the cables superglued to their lifting hooks.......

Left Front view.....

Right Rear View......

Right Front View....

Rear view with the generator permanently in place..... (and one touch-up still to do) Mount the drivers door mirror, body hoops and the antenna and she is done....
 
Complete......




With its M-51 Skysweeper hooked up..... I decided not to load up the body with details, I could have gone another couple of weeks building and adding stuff. This would make an excellent diorama subject not often built... I added a tarp, folded in its storage place above the ready ammo lockers, a simple piece of napkin trimmed to appropriate size, rolled and folded to fit it's space, then drybrushed in field drab with olive drab highlights.... An issue vehicle would have it's tarps... And no the M-51 didn't travel with ammo in the autoloader, it's just that sitting on the shelf for 4 months has caused the rotation mechanism of the ammo holder to freeze up. I couldn't rotate them to remove the shells. So I left it this way cause I didn't want to break it just to take a pic as unloaded.....
 

FINISHED!  
 
Thanks for the comments and likes, this was my first major project in a long time and I hope that you enjoyed it.... (even the wife was impressed)
 
EG

Thanks for all the likes and comments.
 
Already made: Apparently they used flutes to mark the time for the oarsmen. The high pitch is easier to hear over all the creaks and groans of a wooden ship under way.
 

 

 

 
Steven
 

Afternoon Quickie 
Cutty Sark drying her sails. In the days before becoming a tourist attraction she was a hard working vessel in the Tea and wool trade.
19” X 7”
Jim
 

Decals;
 
I build my armor at it's issue point, markings wise it will only have the registration numbers and national insignias at this point, unit markings were the purveyance of the field commanders and his designates. There wasn't a uniform method of marking until around '43 and that wasn't strictly adhered to, this is why you see different colors for the national insignias, (yellow and white predominated but there was also blue and red and orange colors used) and the unit designations were all over the map a combination of symbols and alpha-numeric designations. A real hodge podge.  This is why I prefer a simpler scheme and outside of dust and the occasional ding, no need for intense weathering. I know this isn't the norm for armor modeling where grit and grime is the rule, but it is what I like....
 
That being said, these vehicles didn't have much in the way of markings, even when they were in service..... Reg numbers and white stars were the norm.....

Basic stars and designation number, In my research I found from an army manual dated 1995! that had an image of what the national insignia's should be on an M8 HST......

An 18" star on each door, a 12" star on the front engine cover plate, and a 24" star on the roof over the drivers compartment. Now as you can see, my model has the spare tracks on the drivers roof so the star would be obscured and on images of the real thing when the tracks were there the roof star was omitted as we see here......


And the designation numbers on the side. "11A" has been observed on every M8HST that served in the field. Doesn't matter where it served it had the "11A" number on it's side below the air cleaner covers. It has to be a type designation of some kind but I have found no explanation for it. I replicated it using single digits decals... The number is feax, in actual usage the numbers ran from 500- 899 so 756 is a viable number and probably was actually assigned to a real vehicle. I've seen photos of these with numbers on both sides of "756" but this usage is completely fictitious. Above the number was usually a "US ARMY" or a "USA" I used the shorter version cause I had a decal for it that fit the space. This is what you would see on a basic issued vehicle before the unit numbers/symbols were applied in the field.
 
Tracks:
 
The most tedious part of the build, they come in individual links that snap together pivoting on the interior pins on each link. the links are plain, representing the cast steel plate that makes them up. The rubber road pads are separate pieces that need to be glued to each track link.....

One complete track, partially padded. Now most people use super glue to adhere the pads to the links, I found that SG is too brittle for the flexible vinyl pads and even after a short while they tend to fall off..... I chose Formula 560, the clear canopy glue to affix mine, it is white when applied, form fits to the parts and when dry is flexible and completely clear/invisible.....  I have yet to have a track pad fall off yet.....

On the upper left is one finished length of track and gluing up the final length of track pads....

Left side track mounted, now the way to mount these is to connect them all together and carefully hang them over the sprocket bogies, and road wheels using the rear idler wheel to tension the track as you slip the axel in.... It took me a couple of tries to get the right feel for it but when you do as you can see they fit beautifully, sag appropriately, and just look "right".......

And sitting on its tracks, you can see the distinct sag between the two middle return rollers just like the real thing... I like these tracks, a bit of a bore assembling, but terrific when complete, well worth the extra work... (especially as this is a custom application)

Almost completed body on the almost completed chassis, as you can see the glass is in place reels installed great looking tracks , you can even get the hint of a slight forward lean while sitting on the tracks, (it's natural stance with the dozer blade installed) more to come,  machine gun, antenna,  and possibly a tarp for the body bows.....
 
Final assembly and scratch building the M-18 Generator set coming up.....
 
EG
 

So  another spit on the go  - this time I am rescuing the ICM Spit IX  kit  and turning it into a Seafire Mk.111  as I believe they were basically the same  apart from a few mods that I should be able to create  - seam on the wing that would have been for the  wing fold, and scribing under the bottom rear to simulate the cut out for the arester hook,  I will also fashion a hook and fit it  semi recessed,    the rest is basically  built  as  the kit  IX.
Reason I have chose to do this  is  during the war my father cut his teeth on Seafires  before moving on to RAF types.
 
So here it begins with the already fitted out cockpit wall - I  added the paintwork (cockpit green)  and picked out the details then my normal  pencil for shading and white highlight,   I then closed both sides together  as the cockpit floor/seat/insrument consol  are made as a unit  and popped in from underneath.
 
Here are the first pics.
 
OC.