BLACK VIKING

Martyn,
Been away the last couple of weeks – been following on my iPad, but forgot my login info haha – now back at home so I can post again to builds that I follow 🤔 A big congratulations!! indeed a beautiful example of the Vasa - 
PS: Also really like the stern lantern - was it part of the kit?
 
Cheers,

Cheers for the comments guys and the likes 
Glad to see you back Michael and looking forward to seeing your Trinadad X section again. The lantern was scratched built with a bit of poetic license as the lantern hasn't been found, but who knows as their is a lot of bits and pieces still to go through so you never know 
Martyn

Evening all,
 
Sincere thanks  for all the likes and comments, 
 
I started the day by  lacing up the upper mizzen  rats  - this  finished the ratlines   and took just over an hour,   next job was  to  work on the two main mast lower yard  adjustment  ropes, these  were constructed  by two sections of  rope (thread)  and a single  adjustment  block.  and  lashed and tied off on the poop deck bulwark handrails.
I also fitted  the lower mizzen yard.
 
OC.

Wow just caught up with your build, stunning as always m8 
Martyn

Stay well clear of these cheep and nasty kits it would actually cost more for just the wood for the planks let alone all the rest of the stuff at $20 .
Martyn
 

I got started last night by installing the deck rings for the cannon. I had thought about omitting these and the associated rigging because I thought it would be too much clutter but changed my mind. Then I installed the deck support beams.

I almost forgot the barrels and racks. They would have been impossible to place once the deck was in.
I then turned my attention to the capstan. I drilled a .028" hole in each end as near to the center as I could. Then I cut and inserted a couple of stick pins in the holes for aligning the capstan between the decks. The round piece ( one of the cutoffs from the spools I used for the capstan) above the capstan will serve as the upper escutcheon plate instead of the square piece of bass wood provided in the kit. Once the upper deck is installed I will slide it up and glue it in place.

And a dry fit with the upper deck in place.

Finally I trimmed and fitted the stanchions.
I will stain them tonight.
 
Regards

After finally resolving the fairness of my bulkheads, I made ready to install them.  Taking a lesson from the prior two levels, on this go-round I decided to glue in opposing indexing tabs for each bulkhead, prior to installation.
 
Each tab (excepting the center bulkhead) is beveled to accommodate the angle of the bulkhead.  I took this precaution because the specific placement of the bulkheads is now of critical importance; they must remain as close to center of the pilasters, as possible, so that I will still have room on the interior to glue-in retaining strips for the window glasses.


I could also, now, fix the position of the jaumier ornament.  Before doing so, I glued a backer to the head for the counter plank-ends to land on.  In the picture above, I have glued-in the head to the framing of the stern counter, along the centerline of the ship, and cross-checking to make sure I was centered on my window plate.
 
The starboard side covering board, that abuts this ornament is being fitted.  I’ve deliberately filed a small bevel where the covering board joins the face because every succeeding layer of planking and moulding will be similarly beveled in order to create a sense that the ornament is set into the stern counter.
 
Now, with both covering boards installed, and their edges faired, I could proceed with the risky business of letting the acanthus scrolls into the transom planking.  Again, the reason for doing this - as opposed to simply surface mounting the scrolls - is that I really wanted to reduce (by half) the gap between the scroll volutes and the head.
 
This is a calculated gamble that I will be able to dress the front face of the covering boards sufficiently with moulding, in order to create a seamless transition.  After much checking and re-checking for position, the initial excavation did not look promising:
 
Because of the way that this last transom plank fays into the transverse bulkhead, it was not initially clear to me whether I had broken through the plank to get to the bulkhead.  To be clear - I wanted to break through, because the bulkhead is my mounting surface.
 
I wasn’t sure weather to keep digging, or to stop and fair the bottom of my mortise.  Just a little further, though, and I saw daylight.  With a lot of careful inletting, I eventually arrived at my cleaned-up mortises:

And, here are the scrolls glued-in, from a variety of angles:




In hindsight, I kind of wish that I had glued some material to the backside of the acanthus scrolls, so that I could have created a more rounded relief, but such as it is, the carving will do just fine.
 

Weak/Week in the Knees
After too much research (I'm cursed by this habit/addiction! 😩) and a week of dithering I decided to alter the arrangement of knees from the simpler, yet elegant, plans. In the AoTS books Diana and Pandora, the lodging knees forward of frame 0 abut to the aft side of the beams, there are knees between the beam arms and there is a transition where there are two overlapping lodging knees or a scarphed pair.  
 
Mess deck of HMS Pandora (Anatomy of the Ship, McKay)
 
Mess deck of HMS Diana (AoTS, White)
 
 
[aside: this content editor is giving me grief on my iPad 😡]
 
I couldn’t visualize the "transition" knees but, lo' and behold, there was a picture in HMS Trincomalee by Davies:

I took ideas from all of these plans.
 
First, I notched the deck clamp for the beams. In an attempt to be consistent I resorted to scribing the depth of these notches by using dividers from a drafting set my father gave me when I was 12! 





Dry-fitting the beams

Now on to the lodging knees.  I drew up the additional knees and my rearrangement.  At this time I decided to incorporate a hatchway to the hold and...(gulp)...I'm debating about putting in the well and shot locker 😫😭.  I decided a while ago not to do this because it will obstruct the view into this tiny model, but after recently looking at Ainar's wonderful work I may just have to add these. (Sigh)
 
I cut some birch stock and glued on templates. Shaping these pieces challenged me and it took me a while to work out exactly how I could do this and maintain consistency. Just holding them was troublesome!  I was most worried that the knees needed to look identical from port to starboard. So, I roughly shaped each knee and then clamped together opposites and fine-shaped them as one piece. I had to use several tools to accomplish this but needle files, diamond files and small rifflers did not work well and I ended up attaching  sandpaper to chopsticks for the final shaping.  Once I had the work flow figured out I could shape a pair in about 10-15 minutes.  
Now my headaches will be what do I do next?! Once this deck is in place I won’t have easy access to the hold...so I'm going to sit down with a bottle if aspirin and do some more careful planning!
 
Clear skies!
Gabe
 
 

More detail, cannon doors and rudder chain. 

I have worked out a way to pass the time while  working on the pearl  - I listen to  the music I have created  both with my  over seas  but close friend  Luke James  (ex of the band Fashion)   or my own  instrumental  pieces.
 
https://de-stijlsynthbass.bandcamp.com/track/dark-to-light
 
https://de-stijlsynthbass.bandcamp.com/track/on-a-sidewalk-in-a-neighbourhood-i-dont-know-by-luke-james
 
OC.

Another good day  -  I fitted the main lower yard  and lashed it around the mast,  then attached the two blocks each side to the end of the yard,  then I  ran the lift ropes  and tied them off on the  bulkhead handrail.
Next job was to attach the two yard positioning ropes  that ran from the end of the yard  down to the blocks on the front of the mizzen tops, these two ropes were also tied off  on the  poop deck  handrails.
 
Its getting there.
 
OC.

Attaching blocks to yards. I plan on trying my hand at sewing sails this weekend. We shall see how that goes. 

Yep,   thats the stage I have been at this weeks  on the pearl.
 
OC.

wow Ken........that site is worth book marking!  for anyone who is looking for paint tutorials,  they have some here as well    sadly though.......the bottles aren't what I'm looking for.  I don't use pipettes  and stuff........I'm old school.  I don't use future either....tried it,  but for whatever reason,  wasn't happy with the results.
 
thinking further on the paint.......as I mentioned,  the olive drab is no good.  letting it set after mixing in all that thinner,  was the swan song........the suspension in the paint was totally broken down,  and allowed to harden.  I am not without a solution though............................I have a couple of white ensign paints  light olive drab,  olive drab,  and light bronze green.  I also have a couple of Humbrol paint too...interior green,  khaki drab,  and US light green.  I started this morning,  by trying to fix the olive and yellow line.  it worked out nice......but I saw something more.   the mottling of the paint on the Wulf Hound has been a question to me........how can I achieve that?.
   well......I just did    the olive I began using looks a little bit darker than the olive I used........using a brush to repair the line....I then went over the rest of the fuselage.

this turned into a paint fest.......started to paint other aspects of the plane.

the nacelle cowls had flash around the rims...took some time to clean them up.   I also did the props too,  cleaning around all the tips.

I assembled the tires,  cleaning up the seams after they had set a bit.    Mark had sent me a couple of machine guns that he couldn't use.......I though they looked a bit small for 1:72 .  here they are along side the machine guns for the Wulfe Hound.
 
seeing what the white ensign did to the fuselage,  I decided to use it on the wings too.  to use a brush though wouldn't do the trick........the streaking would be narrow and it needs to affect the entire wing.   rubbing somehow entered the picture,  and it became the ideal solution.  I first went over them with the olive drab............and without changing the cloth,  went over them with flat bomber tan.  this mottled the wings fairly well.

    I rubbed over the fuselage a little....I think I might do more.



I did the ailerons rudder halves and flaps in the light bomber tan     

I did notice while all this was going on,  that the waist gunner positions,  are just glassed over and no guns are present.   I may use the machine guns that Mark sent me.........I will need to make a bracket to mount them on.   more on this bird in a bit                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

It’s done.

Fantastic Work OC!  And I agree, there's no stopping you now!

More detail work finished. I didn’t realize how long building these pieces would take. Oh well, that’s the point of a hobby.

And just to see how the rig will stand, for the first time I am really seeing just how much sail my little boat carries.
 

Stay well clear of these cheep and nasty kits it would actually cost more for just the wood for the planks let alone all the rest of the stuff at $20 .
Martyn
 

Hi all,
 
Another good day  on the pearl,  first job was to  paint the mizzen shroud dead eyes  - when dry  I started lacing them up, a couple of hours later and celebration time as all the dead eyes are now fitted
After  I panted the dead eye ropes  and set aside to dry,   while they were drying  I set about  securing the upper mizzen to  main stay,  using a simple  loop around the main upper  and block attachment  to a loop around the upper mizzen,   I left the mizzen end un tied till I had created/fitted and tensioned  two upper mizzen back stays  - then I pulled all three  to the right tension.
 
Three more pics to day.
 
OC.

I run all rigging thread through a block of beeswax, that I got at the hardware store.  It works wonders for preventing fraying.

just a suggestion but if you want to learn how to plank you might look at the NRG half hall planking project you get a basic education in how a POB ship is built and a great planking education by Toni it really is a learning experience and a fun project and if you have questions help is just a click away
 
Best
Ed