BLACK VIKING

Building goes well besides the sails.
Had some problems to attach mahagony decor strips at the bottom because my clamps were too small. Had to use some tweezers with the clamps to hold it tight.

 
For the upper decor strips the clamps are working well and without bending of the wood.

 
The hull needs now a lot of sanding of the edges but then it’s finished and i am happy with it.
 
Adding the rolls for main sail and finishing mast and bow as well as adding the rudder and kiel went good.
Also the stand is looking good with maganoy stained Optimist class Logo.
 


rudder attachement:


Details of the bow and kiel:


the wood filler you can still see on the edge:


Done, now it’s only the sails and rigging missing:

Something to consider is the availability of suitable wood for single piece trucks.
 
At some point, the trees used that were big enough to provide such massive single pieces of wood stopped being commonplace, and started being rare.
 
Mostly because they'd been used to make ships, and parts for ships.
 
NS
 

I think Druxey is correct, I have come to the same conclusion.  Early 20th century photos of Victory show made-up trucks, but the carriages on Victory at this time were not sea service carriages, none of them actually centre the guns, they were modified garrison carriages. But, as with so many things Victory is taken as the ‘benchmark’, but many details are incorrect, but these errors perpetuate.  Many of these carriages are still in Victory.
 
Not all Victory’s guns have built-up trucks, below is a recent photo I took of a 12-Pounder, with single piece trucks.
 
Also, a truck recovered from the wreck of the St. George, she went in for refit just after Victory, so a strict contemporary, is single piece (photo courtesy of Dafi).
 
Also see the attached the drawing of the Venerable from 1799, again single piece trucks.
 
I also visited the wreck of the Invincible exhibition at the NMRN Hartlepool recently and I’m certain there were single piece trucks, I need to download my camera.
 
Gary

Work on the gear assemblies continues and vents and exhaust added to the engine.    I got around to added a profile photo and opted for a CF-104 starfighter which I hope to build in the near future 
 
Scott

Unfortunately I did not get the boat to the pool for a water test today so it must wait until we return from our trip in two weeks. The mechanical setup is complete ie. all the servos have their mechanical links to the oar mechanisms and the 2nd lower oar bar is fixed via the requisite hinges to its beam. I also added the aluminum rods at the stem for mounting the printed ram when available, and also to prevent water reaching the wood interior of these holes.
 
We need to finish packing so there's no time to install the Arduino, fire it up, and tweak the software to the actual physical connections of the servos in this final configuration. I expect the water test to be underwhelming. I plan to make the oar blades larger, but they will move just below the water surface. Deeper would be better but that would mean the loom ends would be higher and be interfered with by the deck beams. I can just see me reworking the mechanisms to shorten the oar looms (which would reduce their ultimate height) , if that is possible for the upper remes since they must reach the wall of the outrigger. Time will tell.
 
I used the shortest arm possible on the sweep servos, to get the two inch stroke at minimum torque load using a reasonable total rotation. The arm must move over 120 degrees; looking at this I recalled Bedford's comment of long long ago when he suggested linear servos which would give constant sweep speed. Since my sweep servo arms are rotating, and the software as presently written generates a steady rotation of the arms, the sweep speed along the boat's axis decreases as the angle of the arms increases. I'll need to change the software to accelerate the sweep servo arm rotation as its angle increases, to maintain a constant "delta-x", if you will, forward and backward. Haven't looked at the math yet, should just be some basic trig.
 
Here are a couple of shots of the boat "ready to go"; just needs electronics, updated software, and ballast.

Finalizing the gun port works~ I decided to install the wrought iron guns for now as these will be difficult to install when the quarterdeck work begins. So, the demi-culverins will be installed at a later stage.

Some progress on the upper hull assembly and fighting compartment. The odd shape of this tank is becoming apparent. 
 
Scott

A mess….trying to restore as much as possible.  We have the coffered ceiling too but sadly that may have to go.
 
 
It has been pretty sucky this week but I see the light at the end of the tunnel.  All just to sell it in the spring!!!  No more old houses for me.  Too old for this stuff.  Plaster walls are a real mess.  Again sorry for the delays restocking stuff.

Ok gentlemen correction made to my screw up yesterday.  I took the thimbles off and replaced them with the upper blocks of the tackles. Henry I tried your idea of just lashing the blocks to the thimbles but I just could not get a look I was satisfied with. Would the falls which I now have tied at a deadeye have further coiled on the deck for the crew to access?  Also need an opinion. I still have the pendants on the main mast with just thimbles. Would have been appropriate for there to be tackles mounted on the foremast and just thimbles on the main?  Should I also change them out or display the different functions of the pendants by leaving them with thimbles only?

Bottom Plates
 
Up next, I needed to blend the outer edges of the new bottom plating with the kit hull… I didn’t like having that .010 lip all around the bottom of the hull.
 
Out came the Miliput again…

After taping around a narrow band that encompassed the outer edge and enough area for a smooth transition into the kit, I mixed up a small batch of the Miliput and spread a thin coat the length of the edge – port and starboard.  I was careful to keep it wet and kept smoothing it down and scraping with a scrap of styrene until it was reasonably thin and just covering the styrene edge.  I then removed the tape and let it all dry overnight.
 
Came back the next day and sanded the Miliput down using various grit sandpaper – coarse, medium, fine until it was blended into the kit surface and smooth to the touch.  A lot more effort than I thought it’d be before I started!  Another part of the kit that will be refined after a layer of primer.
 
In the meantime, I cut a length of .250 wide styrene to match the general length between butt joins on the upper hull to use as a marking template.

I then marked off the individual plates in pencil across the hull bottom mid-section.  Adjustments were made at the bow and stern to accommodate the more complex shapes.

Next, I snipped many dozens of .250 width strips of .010 x.030 styrene to approximate the kit butt joins.  I used some scrap styrene as a template:

These were cemented to the hull in the marked positions…

It took about four days’ worth of my modeling time, but the plates are complete (except for a few on the outer edges that will wait until final tuning).
 
Here is a view of my bottom plate butt joins along with the kit side versions:

Not too far off.  Some sample views:



Butt Straps and bottom keel up next.
 
Cheers,
Evan
 

I see a Tamiya Matilda Mk. III on your shelf -- built one when I was a kid.

Ok i will try to do it. But I will do it in this thread if it is ok. The reason is that I have started some bulldogs for plastic kits in the past but I have never finished them. The reason is how I build. Many times I start a kit and build half of it and then it ends up on the shelf for a lot of different reasons. It is much easer to do pure bulldogs for the wooden ships. But to be honest, I have to many projects ongoing at the same time....and I change between them all the time.
 
So here I will keep a blog or whatever it is called for my builds in for plastic kits. I will start to show my working place if you don't mind. Some of you might think I am crazy over how much I have but the reason is that almost all of it is collected more or less in a lifetime. I have collected things but never actually used them because of lack of space, work etc. But 12 years ago we bought a house and suddenly there were a place to put everything. Most of the time since then have been in fixing the house. But now everything is finished and our children starts to be little older (8 and 11) so there will be more free time to put in the hobby. 
 
So let's jump in to it, here is my "Man cave" in the basement. Please ask questions about anything so can I explain it here, things that I use, how I use them etc. But just to be clear, there are a lot of better model builders on YouTube than me. 
 
Here is my room. I always have a totally mess when I build. It doesn't matter how much I try to put things in order, it just ends up in the same way. But after all, that is one of the rules in the universe. Everything try to go to chaos and the lowest energy state

Here is my ship building place will all the machinery. The model on the shelf is Billing Boats Vasa that I want to build with the "old painting scheme" suggested by Björn Landström. The reason is that I really like that scheme and have grown up with it even if it is not correct. Here I can aslo mention that I always build what looks ok for me. I don't care at all for historical correctness. This helps me when I destroy decals and then just choose another number or whatever

DeAgostini Vasa on the floor with ongoing first planking. I am very slow on this. This kit will have the proper painting scheme. 

Her is my station for the plastic modeling and other detail work. Some kits waiting on the shelf to be build.....
I bought the big color sets from Vallejo many years ago and they are still working fine. Here are the model Color range and other tools that I use. My Sherbourne can aslo be seen down in the picture. 

Vallejo model air range. I don't use them any more because of lacquer paints but they are perfect for my children.

 
The paints from my childhood....I never use these any more. But the memory in a tight room with enamels are still there....

My precious MRP paints! These paints were/are the game changer for me. More to that later in the builds.

More laqures I try to play with. I like the Mr Color range since they are close in shades to MRP. The Ak real color is a good color but I still can't understand their approach to the shades. The actually released two really good books when they introduced the color range. But the colors are not same as in the book. 
These two brands are actually a very good complement to MRP since I paint with these first and then MRP as last step. This to give variation in the paint. More to this later. Here are also my old tamiya paints that I use very seldom. 
Here is my spray cabinet that I have connect so the fumes is venting to the outside. This is also a game changer in using hot stuff. But I still use a gasmask when I spraying much. As you see I use a Harder Steenbeck Infinity airbrush that I bought many years ago.
One of the ongoing projects that I will start to cover in this log have it seems checked.
 
Another ongoing projects....
Bismarck 1/350

Some ongoing airplanes...

And more ongoing airplanes and some tanks..

And here are what I am working on at the moment so let this "new"log start here:
 
1/32 Spitfire MkII by Revell and 1/48 P47 Thunderbolt by Tamiya

The P47 is out of the box but I have the etch cockpit set from Eduard to the Spitfire
And this is how far as I have come. Im just glued all major parts togheter and now I am working on the cockpit. The cockpit is just assembled and painted with black primer and the MRP RAF interior green. I am working to attach the photo etc.

So let's start it from here.  I will post updates on what I am doing and the subjects will change often. I hope that will be ok with all. And also sorry for my English, it is far away from good but I don't care. I thin you understand it anyway even if it is Swedish/English 
 
Jörgen
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

One of my first and most read book about air battles during WW2 is "The big show" by Pierre Clostermann. I can highly recomend to read the book. This is Pierres Spitfire Mk IXc LO-D when he just has landed in France shortly after D-day. It will come more Clostermann related planes further on. The kit is Eduards superb Spitfire.
 
Model: Supermarine Spitfire MK IXc 
Scale: 1:48
Manufacture: Eduard
Extras: None
Colors: MRP

 

Now back to 1:48 again. This time it is a Hurricane MK1 with metal wing. This time I tried the Mr. color range instead of MRP for the RAF colors. It is crazy how much the shades differ from brand to brand for the same color. In MRP:s case it also differ in batches..
 
Model: Hawker Hurricane MK1 
Scale: 1:48
Manufacture: Airfix
Extras: None
Colors: Mr. Color 
 


  




 

Now will here come a real gem as a kit. If you haven't tried Eduard's 1:72 range I really recommend it. The detail is very good even if the plane is small.
 
 
Model: Fw190 A8
Scale: 1:72
Manufacture: Eduard
Extras: None
Colors: MRP 
 



 

 

Nowadays at the Vic in P., the rudder pendant goes up to the mizzen chains and is secured there with a toggle.





There is an interesting detail on the contemporary model SLR0512 of the Victory: The rudder pendant goes up through the channel board to the poop deck, is routed aft at deck level, and is tied to a cleat further aft. This way, in an emergency, the line is quickly ready for use and does not have to be extended as it is today. A detail I wanted to install for a long time, now it was finally done 🙂









XXXDAn

Hi Jim, I hope you are well.  I for one have been missing your beautiful artwork in recent months. 

Pencil sketch on A4 paper, found it under the printer!. 

I think that 6 fishing boats is already enough for my range. If I did more, they would need to be very different and perhaps non UK. I would like to do a kit for under £100 at some point, though.
 
I am wondering if there's be any interest in the colonial merchantman Susan Constant?

Leaving aside the discussion regarding the "beads", here's the latest progress on the ship. Adding wales in line with the stringers. The first starboard wale below the gunwale in place and the larboard wale clamped and waiting for glue to dry. 

And the clamps removed.

Completing the stringers by adding the bits on the ends.


And the second wale down from the gunwale glued and clamped. I only had two clamps that reached far enough, but my wife had a brilliant idea - use twisted wire as clamps.

I had to be careful with this method to avoid the wire digging into the wood, but it seemed to work pretty well. It only works in very specific instances, but was ok here.
 
Steven
 

My 'Future Projects' Folder, what I would very much like to do for main kits before I die. (not included are smaller subjects) - all 64th
 
Amazon (32 - 1770's)
Amphion (32 - Hoste's command)
Phoebe (36 - 1790's)
Arethusa (38 - 1780's)
Imperieuse (38 - Ex Spanish Medea, Cochrane's command after Speedy)
 
Bonne Citoyenne (20 - Influential captured French large flush deck corvette)
Royal Oak (70 - 1740's)
Centurion (60 - Anson's)
Bellona (74)
Spartiate (very large 74 captured at the Nile)
Foudroyantt (80)
 
Royal George (100 - 1750's)
Calendonia (120 - 1800's - if only to see the look on my wife's face when building up the hull on the dining room table...)
 
Restoration warship (1670-1690)
 
Constitution (US)
 
If I live to do even half of that list, I shall be somewhat happy.
 
 
 

Man does it feel good to spend a day in the ship yard. Feeling  a lot better. My foot is still swollen,  but not as bad as yesterday  . On the Mend lol.
I got a lot done, stairs, colums, the winch, grating, the  cannons and life boat were done before.
Still lots to do, but is mostly  fun stuff. We'll it is actually all full stuff, glad I picked up this hobby. 
  So I am just making things up as I go along,  moving on to anchors tomorrow,  and then maybe the rudder who knows lol
 But this is how she sits tonight. 
 Thanks for looking.  

Finished the port side lower foremast ratlines and set up my process to do the starboard side. Also continued fiddling with the spritsail topmast backstay. Henry I used your idea of 
slightly rounding the sharp edge of the hole where it enters groove on the block to eliminate some of the parabola shape of the lines. I have also rerigged the backstay with 3 different weight thread. I am still getting a slight bit of parabola shape if I don’t snug the backstay so much that they forestay starts to bend. Have one more weight and type of black line to try tomorrow. Is a slight somewhat noticeable bend in the forestay as you see in the photo acceptable, or do I keep experimenting? Black sewing thread does OK but it is way to thin. 
 

planking.
Because planking with only the bulkheads as support every 6cm is very inconvenient. I'm going to place the frames of the gun ports first before continuing with planking.
 
First I determine where they should go and how wide the cannonports are. 
Measure on the drawing and transfer to the model (drawing 1/100, model 1/50, so just multiply by 2).
 



And the dimensions stated in the book correspond well with the drawing.

Sawing and installing the frames

"Surgery"

for some reason they were given an M number in the book. M3,M4,M5... if these were all BMW's....

I think I'm going to fill in a bit of the bow for support. Later on you won't see anything between the stem and the first bulkhead on this deck.
The shape remains quite pointed towards the top
In accordance with findings on the wreck and paintings from that time, there will also be a cannon at the front.
provisionally called Mx

The rigging is just so good!