BLACK VIKING

Stunning job OC , love the pirates especially the one who has been on a bit of a diet lol
Martyn

Still have to tackle the pendants around the masts before the real fun begins. This is my first go at seizing threads together. 
 

Really need 4-5 helping hands getting this done... I used 2mm styrene tubes sliced off with a scalpel and wound black thread around it, then seized using 0.18mm black fishing wire. 

Seized and placed over the foremast starboard before port side. A little glue and an assortment of weights to shape the thread.

My main mast snapped recently (could be the kids) and I had to glue it back and possibly adjust again when the shrouds and stays are rigged ... Could someone please confirm the mast-deck angle from a side view (90 deg?)
 
Cheers
 

I managed a little progress over the last couple of evenings anyway.
 
Once I completed the planking up to the top of the frames then it was time to cut the arc along the top of the gunwales. I have agonized over this step from the beginning. It just seemed to me that this could turn into an excellent opportunity for a major misstep. The instruction simply say draw and arc connecting the tops of the frames and cut it out. Easy right, not for me. I tried every pot lid in the kitchen and anything else that was round but found nothing the right radius. I finally came up with a plan though. After completing the inside planking up passed the gunwales I drilled some small holes through the planking at the top of each frame.

then I inserted some stick pins in the holes.
Using a thin piece of brass stock I clamped one end to the forward pin.

Then pulled it up until it was in contact with all 4 pins and traced the arc onto the planks. I rough cut the inside planking leaving the line.

Then built up the outer planking. Oh yes and in between waiting for glue to dry on the planks I did a little work on my capstan and got the gun ports cut out.
Then I cut the gunwales down to their final shape.



I will frame in the gun ports tonight and start the final sanding of the planking in prep for the second layer.
 
Best regards

Finished   (at last)  -  I  painted  and added the last  of the figures  including an unlucky guy who was left to hang  from the main upper mast  (he just bones).
 
Also  I fitted  two  flags that I sent off for to get  fabric ones, they were trimmed  then had the rope trapped and secured,  I got the drupe  by applying pva  and shaping when wet  - then  heated with a hairdryer  to catch the shape.
 
Its been a really enjoyable build   and I can Highly recommend the kit  to anyone.
 
Thank You to Every one  who followed  and commented.
 
Here's the gallery  light wasn't to good though indoors with just an over head light.
 
OC.





 









 

Hello All, 
The snaking between the forestay and the fore preventer stay was the next job. I used 0.25mm black thread for this, tying it to the stay at the point of each triangle with a length of the same thread and then adjusted them till I was happy with the outcome.
                                                  
                                               
They were then glued and trimmed. The ratlines on the foremast shrouds and futtock shrouds were next these were done with 0.10mm tan thread and were left in their natural state, I was going to paint them black but I like the contrast in colours and there are a few photos floating around on the web that show tan or white line used as ratlines even some older ones of the Victory herself at Portsmouth.
                           
                       
They were tied on using a clove hitch and then glued and trimmed after that the ratlines and shrouds were given a coat of diluted PVA glue. The bumpkin stays were added next, this is a two legged stay with an eye made in the middle of it which fits over the end of the bumpkin and rests on a shoulder machined on the end of the bumpkin also holding the foresheet tack block in position between it and the shoulder. The two legs have a hook seized into the end of each one and hook into eye bolts located in the stem.
The photo is a bit out of focus, sorry.
                          
I fitted the boarding pikes to their rack on the foremast next before too much rigging got in the way, the shafts were made from bamboo drawn down to 1mm and the tips from flattened brass nails they were then stained and painted.
                      
                     
Thanks for looking.
               

Hello All,
The bowsprit shrouds were the next item to be fitted there are two on each side and they are attached to the hull by means of a hook and eye in the lower wale at the bow just outside where the lower stem decoration rail finishes.
 
                                
                                
After all of the foremast shroud, forestays, bobstays and bowsprit shrouds were fitted the foremast shrouds underwent their final tension adjustment and the seizings were finished off and they were glued and trimmed.
The futtock staves were fitted next. The rule for fitting these is that they are fitted at a level as much below the upper edge of the trestle tree as top of the lower mast cap is above it.
                              
                              
The staves were made from bamboo drawn down to 1mm in diameter. The hooks for the futtock shrouds were made from 2mm copper eye pins bent to shape.
                             
The futtock shrouds were made from 0.75mm black thread and fitted and tensioned by passing a loop around the fore shroud and the stave and seizing the tail to the fore shroud. 
                            
                            
Thanks for looking and the likes
 
 
 

Here's the state of the build.   Many subassemblies built, exterior of the fuselage isn't not painted yet but holes have been filled.   I probably won't paint the exterior until the deck and fuselage are assembled in case I need to fill some gaps.   And those guns are tiny and will be a challenge.  After re-looking at the after market, what would need to be scratch built on the interior, I"m sticking with the basic kit.  I just don't think my skills are up too it.
 

The focal point of this model are the interior components. Not sure how much of it will be seen once the fuselage halves go together, but it does have an open bomb bay, and open hatch for the gunner's station in the ventral position. While even now the interior parts look complex, this is only about 50% of what will be the sum of it, while I still must add a lot of detail including the gun turret, the ventral gun station, and options for an extra fuel tank, or a torpedo, or four bombs in the bomb bay.
 

What a stunning job you are doing on this build. I, and l am sure many others, will be inspired by you and your example. 
Keep up the great work. 
Best wishes as always, 
The Lazy Saint. 

Hi Mates,
 
Minor updates – been away, and decided to also give the shipyard a rest, but did manage to do a bit more recently.
 
1) Attached the top sail to its yard along with adding needed blocks.
2) Attached the shrouds and deadeyes to the  lower platform
3) Now fixing into place the lantern wires.
note the backside is NOT “finished”. The ship will be fitted into a clear three sided case, hung on a wall and only be seen from the front and to some extent the sides; so not an issue.
Will, later, do some lateral detailing to even the side edges a bit more uniformly 
 
Adding needed extra lengths of electrical wires and then hiding them along the sides.  
Goop is perfect – it also serves as a sealant for the otherwise exposed connected wire twists. I thought of soldering the connections, but thought that it might create too much
resistance especially when all the wires will then attach to a single battery. AND did not want ro risk melting these super tiny wires. gggrrrrr. 
 
FYI: purchased all of the lights and wires from Evan Designs (one of our retail sponsors)
 
Here are a few images -- as always thanks for dropping by….
 

 
 

Completed as much as I can on the fore mast for now. Next...if all goes well, the mizze mast.

Hi all,   more additions to the crew  starting with  "tommy two shoes"  then  the commodores  daughter  trying to get someones attention to rescue her,
 
OC.

Good Morning All
Here is the I400 painted , hope you see it is close to the Original 😃.
Thank you 
 

Hello All,
It has been quite a while since I posted to this site but having finished this model a couple of years ago I decided it was to time to complete this log. Looking back through the log it appears I left off just before the foremast was fitted and the rigging stage started.
I thought I had taken a lot more photos of the final stages of the build than I could find but either I hadn't or if I did I can't find them, however I have found enough to show the rigging of the model and I apologise in advance for the quality and composition of some of them as they were taken in my old workspace before I refurbished it.
Righto on with log, I wanted to replicate as much of the rigging that is on the actual ship so before I started the rigging I made up a list of the quantity, line size and the block size and type required for both the standing and running rigging. The list for the standing rigging is in the first photo.
                                                    
 
The foremast was glued into place and then the shrouds were fitted in pairs. They were set up with the help of two jigs made from brass wire to give a gap between the top and bottom holes in the deadeyes of 25mm. They can be seen in use in the second photo.
 
                                      
                                    
                                      
 
The next two photos shows the rigging of the shrouds completed however the seizing on the lower shrouds has not been finished to allow for some adjustment to the tension, if required, after the forestays have been fitted.
                                     
                                      
  The next parts that were added were the fore and preventer stay collars to the bowsprit. They were made from walnut and limewood stock respectively and lashed to their collars. 
                                       
That's all for this post. I will post some more soon
 
 

Started working on a plan to make magazine holders similar to the ones in the first picture found on-line.  It's a 1/32 scale model.  The kit only had one on the port side with no magazine detail.  I will remove it and scratch build one for each side.
 
 

Thanks for the kind words Justin. However....................
 
After three courses of planking I noticed a fairing issue that was not apparent until I got above the main deck level.
 

So I thought I could try to fair the ribs from this point up or remove the planking and do it properly.. I went with the latter option. That is when disaster struck.
 

OOUCH.
 

I think it will be ok needless to say I am going to let this set up for a good bit before any fairing though. On the bright side...
 

I did get the planking off in one piece and should be able to reuse it.
 
This is what I get for jumping out of bed and diving right in. LOL
 
 
 
 

Quick note:  DO NOT GLUE YOUR BOTTOM PLANK OR ANY PLANK TO THE FORMS,  only the stems get glued to the building board.  I didn’t make this mistake, but I almost did!
 





I the glued the stem/bottom plank assembly onto the strong back and laid down my first plank.  It went on fairly easy so fingers crossed.  I am also lightly sanding each of the planks as I put them on in hopes to cut down on the basswood fuzz.

The jib will be attached to the fore stay by jib hanks. To make the hanks, I make a simple jig with one 3mm nail and two 1mm nails.

Making the hanks is just turning a copper wire around the nails and cut it at both ends.

 

In no time I have more than enough jib hanks and I can start to sew them on the sail. They are sewn first at one side of the sail ...

 

... then, at the other side (that takes a bit more time).

Here the sail is completely done and ready to be rigged and hoisted.

At least my boat is under sail. Next week I can start with the main sail.

 

 

This week I continued to work at the jib. Sewing the jib leach is very time consuming, it took most of the time this week.

Pressing the needle through the 'canvas' goes very well but when it has to pass through the leach I have to use sometimes the pliers.

Finally the whole jib is fit with the leach.

The jib has one reef level. A thimble has to be inserted at the luff and at the leech side. I us a thick needle as a spike to make a hole for it. The I widen the hole with a pricker.

 

In the hole comes a thimble.

And the job is finished with sewing a thread in and out around the thimble.

 

To make the reef points, I start with applying a bit of textile glue on the spots where the points have to come to prevent the canvas of fraying out.

Then I prick the holes with a thick needle.

 

The reef lines are passed through the holes and fixed with a knot at each side of the sail.

Now I hold the lines straight and soak them with a bit textile glue to hold them straight and prevent them of unraveling and cut the lines to equal length.

 

This is where I am now, next week I will try to hoist the jib. My sailboat will then finally be 'under sail'.

 
Thank you to follow
Thank you for the likes
Thank you for your constructive comments
 
Till next week

This week I started with modifying the gaff accordingly to the expert advice of Michael.

Then I continue the work at the fore sail. Before starting to sew the main sail, I want to finish the fore sail. It will take a while because here are new skills that I yet have to learn.
Around the sail a bolt rope has to be sewn. In the corners are thimbles. I think that I have seen the method to make them in the log of the Jaciente of Aviamator. I use electrical end sleeves from which I remove the plastic part and saw them in small sheaves of about 3mm each.

 

 

 

Then I open the edges a bit with the help of a punch.

And finally I weather the thimbles by soaking them a while in oxidant.

Now it is again sewing work, this time not with the machine, but by hand. The thimble goes in the bolt rope at the clew. and the rest is sewing along the jib leach.

That is where I am at this moment.

 
Thank you to follow
Thank you for the likes
Thank you for your constructive comments
 
Till next week

I have more progress to report on the Wulfe Hound.   I did a little paint and some assembly.....mainly the wings.   first was to assemble the aileron halves together for the wings and stabilizer.  no sense keeping them apart any longer. 

then to paint the deice panels......on the top halves,  I think I used the wrong paint.........or the black had not cured enough and became solvent.  in any case,  I need to fix it.   the nacelle cowls were a bit pesky too...I tried to do the two color paint,  and apparently,  the white ensign paint would rather be airbrushed....came out a bit ghostly.

the bottom halves came out alright,  but some bleed did occur.  thinner did help in removing most of the problem.  I also added the landing gear,  which will be in the down position,  as if it's taking off {flaps up}

don't know what those two slots are between the nacelles...nothing seems to go there..  there more to be painted yet.  I did this yesterday.....today, I decided to assemble the wings.  the ailerons were cemented in place.....I won't have them movable.  on the Nine o Nine,  they keep dropping like the plane's gonna nose dive....not very appealing  

first one done......

the ailerons have that faded coloration........you can see what I mean about the cowls.  the second one,  shown on the belly side,  shows the flap in the up position.  in the down position,  they would put drag on the wings, slowing the plane down for a landing.


other than the cowl ghosting,  I like how they came out.  as mentioned.....still more to be done on the wings.  I'm dying to decal them  

The TBM3 Avenger was the heaviest single engine aircraft of WW2. To pull it along, the massive Wright R2600-20 14 cylinder twin row radial engine, producing 1900 horsepower was used.
 

Hi all,    the parcel man delivered my figures today  but first things first  I needed to place the three lanterns on the rear bulkhead, then I soaked the  figures in soapy water  and  took one of the  spru's   - this  one  is a pirate  looking through a telescope, they are made in red  styrene  but  painted up quite well  using acrylics and a very fine brush  under my magnifier.
 
So  one is finished  - think it looks ok.
 
OC.

Lanterns  built painted and weathered  -   (with enclosed candles)
 
OC.

Not much to shout about  - I am working on the three rear  lanterns,  I have attached the  bottom  supports  and when set  I will paint inside an orange/yellow colour  then attach the tops  and give the outside a brass/weathered look.
I have ordered a  cloth Jolly Roger flag   and also waiting on the pirate figure set to arrive.
 
Just the one pic  showing the current stage with the lantern parts.
 
OC.