BLACK VIKING

A little more done on the planking, very slowly making my way down the side of the hull . Two more rows then starting planking from the bottom up still haven't had to put in any droppers yet. 
 
Martyn

Thanks for the likes everyone 
A little bit more done on the SR . She has been given a good sand and a little bit of filler and am really pleased how the first planking has turned out 
I have now started the second planking on the stern and have covered the transom and stern chasers. As you can see I have trimmed one side just waiting for the other to dry 
 
Thanks for following rgd Martyn 

Hi all just a little update on the SR. 
I have now finished the first planking on both sides, just letting it dry over night then on to giving it a good sanding ready for the second planking to begin. 
Thanks for looking in 
Martyn 

Hi all thanks for the likes and following my build 
A small update I have finished planking one side and started on the other, it's going to be a slow process as I have torn the tendon in my elbow so planking is a little painful but onwards and upwards. Can't wait to get it all closed up and give it a good sanding 
 
Martyn

Thank you for all the likes 
A very small update on the SR . I have finished planking the upper hull and have now started on the lower planking.
 The garboard plank has been fitted and left to dry over night. The second one was butted up and glued to the first one, it's a bit of a slow process as that nasty four letter word gets in the way ie work so the time for building is limited at the moment. Can't wait for next week as I am on the early shift and get all the afternoon to build. As you can see there are gaps between the planks that end in a sharp point at the stern , not to worried about them as this is the first planking and will be filled with steelers. The second planking will be layed differently and hopefully no steelers or very few 
 
Thanks for following rgd Martyn 

Hi Sjors I will post some pics tomorrow but I have noticed you are building the Sovereign of the seas from Deag I built it as my first ship about four years ago 
 
rgd Martyn 

May I say thank you for all the brilliant comments Guys and the likes 
 
I have been scratching my head on how far down to paint the blue as there seems to be a lot of debate on where it stops? 
So I have gone down to the top of the middle gun deck just to see what it looked like and I must admit I like it so have fitted the first whale. The instructions say just to butt up the joints but I have done them with scarfs as it looks a lot better.
 
Thanks for following 
Martyn

Hanging my head in shame as we speak Anthony lol thank you very much for the great comments. I did look at it and think l love the colour of the wood but have bit the bullet and painted on the blue as the carvings are really great and the blue will make them pop 
cheers for looking in my friend 
 
Martyn

Hi all just wondering how far the blue paint came down the hull, on my instructions it comes down to the top of the middle gunports but on some of the pictures I have seen it comes down to the bottom of the lower gunports? So a bit confused on which one is right.
Thanks in advance for any assistance.
 
Martyn

The deck planking in the instructions are very simplified for beginners to follow. The three shift pattern are quite common on ships of the period along with the five shift but it looks a bit over the top at this scale so went with the three shift. Hope this helps.
Martyn

DRINK CAN RING-PULLS
After the above entries, taken from USS Constitution builds that I follow on MSW, this one comes from my own build.  I had noticed some iron-works marked on the plans. As this hull will eventually be copper-plated, I wanted to replicate these hull braces as an added detail.

 
To my eye, the horseshoe-shaped front brace looked a lot like a drink can ring-pull …

… so I salvaged a few for a trial. Holes were drilled to simulate the bolt-heads. The ring-pull ends were trimmed off.
 

… shaping the bow hull-brace around a pencil-tip.
 

Braces for the stern were cut from the rim of the drink can, annealed and straightened.
 

… grooving out a seat for the stern braces.
 

The horseshoe-shaped bow brace fitted into position ...
 

…. and the stern braces also placed. The surface of the braces sits slightly proud of the keel.
 

 
Since I am still a long way from planking and copper-plating my hull, a test was done to see how the braces would appear, once plated …

... NOTE TO SELF: Be more careful when coppering-over the holes.
 
 

Thanks everyone for the nice comments, likes and visiting!
 
Bill, I notice those slots a while back but still long after everything was too late to disassemble. I will probably end up using my dremel to cut them out. Just have to go slow but they should cut out fine. I plan to do that before I do my final sanding and seal the hull in case I mess up the finished wood, I can more easily replace it.
 
Steve, the hull is 33 inches long, 13 inches tall and 8 inches at the widest. When completed it will be around 41 inches long, 30 inches tall and 18 inches wide at the main mast course yard. She is a big model!

The 1:200 Scharnhorst items arrived in the mail today. Here are the turned metal barrels that came with my order from GPM.
 
 

Superb work EJ and I hope you feel better soon plus have a nice holiday with the Admiral. Looking forward to seeing your next update 
 
Martyn

Superb work EJ and I hope you feel better soon plus have a nice holiday with the Admiral. Looking forward to seeing your next update 
 
Martyn

It's been a slow build week. Busy at work, not feeling good and the natural slowness of planking. Still, progress has been made! May be slow on updates the next couple of weeks. The Admiral and I leave on vacation for 12 days on next Thursday and I have a lot of stuff to do between now and then. I'm hoping to get in another update before I go. 

Hi Mates
 
Minor detail update.
 
Worked out a "plan" to make the fore lower appear as if the parrels are "functional"
When all buttoned up it will be like this.
 
PS: Frank thanks for sharing - happy not to be the Lone Ranger.
 
Cheers,

 
 

So far I've only went and done a coarse removal of casting lines on the barrels.
 
They will get a nice proper rubdown with steel wool yet before priming and painting.
 
I've looked at some sample turned barrels and I'm not a big fan. There's apparently only one Polish company offering Scharnhorst turned barrels in this scale and their offer looks to me like they quickly redesignated some other barrels as Scharnhorst barrels to quickly cash in on this. They certainly don't look like a good match to the barrels in historic photographs to me. 
 
In any case, I expect after a proper cleanse, priming and painting these barrels will look their part well enough for now. Who knows what the aftermarket will release. We're only a few weeks into this multi-year-project :-)

Wow she is turning into a beast Greyhawk great update 
 
Martyn

After finishing up the roughing in of the stern mooring deck; I moved to the bow section which will have an elevated mooring deck one level above the main deck and have the same winches and fittings as the stern mooring deck. So I thought it would be wise to finish both decks at the same time with their winches and fittings. I decided to plank the bow section and finish up the inner container racks while still easy to handle since these ha d to be done before moving on to the bow mooring deck. I plan to finish up as much as possible on the bow section before joining it to the center section. 
 

 

 

 

 

 
I prefer using the automotive glazing putty because it is softer than wood, easy to sand and on the inner surfaces is scrapped with a square blade rather than sanded for easy cleanup. Works equally as well on bare wood and spray painted primer. Think of it as a thick primer and most will be sanded off. I does a great job of filling any deep sanding scratches and plank joints.
 
Now back to a couple of other projects that need attention.
 
 

I've made some pretty good progress the last few weeks, and have finished the first planking.  I didn't bother using planking bands, spiling, runs of planks, etc. since this area of the hull will be covered with copper plates and a few rows of ebony planks as a second planking.  But, that resulted in a little clinking, and hence some filler at the stem and stern.  The current ebony planking ends at the line of the wale, so I sanded the lime planking flush to it.  For this ship, the wale is marked by a thicker row of planks, so all I need to do is just add the ebony planks on top of the first planking and I'll have the wale.  For those planks, I'll certainly need to spile.


In the stern picture below, I stained the top area of the transom black as the planking for the transom is curved, and I was worried about gaps potentially showing if I don't get the curves perfect.  The counter is a little tricky because there are a lot of curves that end into it, including the name board which is the area between the counter and the black transom.  I thought it was really important to get the shape right, so rather than go plank by plank, I glued a bunch of planks together, traced the counter pattern from the plans, and then cut and sanded the counter to shape using the tracing.  That was much easier, and ensured an accurate and symmetrical counter.  Once glued to the hull, I was able to use the counter to help sand the hull to get the proper curves into the counter.
I think I'm going to go with the higher water line (thanks everyone for the recommendation), so mid-hull I probably only need three rows of second planking to get to the waterline.  My plan is to go a little below the waterline, and then sand the planks under the waterline to feather into the first planking.  I'm using 0.7mm ebony, so this shouldn't be too difficult.  
 
Thanks for looking in!  Hope my friends in Florida, etc. are staying safe with the hurricane.

More detail added to the area of the upper gun deck and the coat of arms applied to the stern (builders of the panart victory may recognise some of the stern decorations!)
 
 

take care all and have fun.
 
Keith
 

Really nice Mobbsie, I was not even aware of this kit until your build so nice to see something different, the stand is really subtle and discrete, love it.
 
As for the ensign, think you're good with the red duster as red, white and blue would still have been in use - and I believe the red was used for HM ships under admiralty orders, which I suspect a harbor gun boat would be....
 
Will look great anyway whichever way you go!

Hi Guys,
Back from the Hols this time and ready to finish this rather long winded log.
 
The next thing for me to ponder was the type of stand to put her on, I didn't want the kit stand as it seemed a bit chunky. I decided to make what I can only call "feet".
I cut a paper template and cut the feet from 6mm Swiss Pear, I quite like them as they are unobtrusive and they serve the purpose
 

 

The Bow "Foot" in place.

The stern "Foot" in place, I think they fit quite nicely and do not draw the eye.

Only remains to put all the parts together and complete the rigging, the rigging was very simple and did not take long at all, various ropes were used such as Morope, Caldercraft and the local haberdashery shop. Unfortunately I didn't take enough pictures of the methods used and so there is a big jump.
 

The mast has been stepped and fully rigged

This rig is really simple, no Ratlines ( lovely )
 


Bow on, all the little bits have been placed inside, none are fixed.

I've just noticed the ensign, it's the Red Ensign (Red Duster) which is for the Merchant Navy, I will have to get a White Ensign.

The knots on the Yard are correct and quick release.

The final picture, it's done, I did enjoy building this boat and would recommend it to anyone.
I hope you enjoyed what turned out to something of a long journey and I thank you for your patience.
 

Next up will be HMS Pickle, I love the story behind this little boat.
 
Be Good
 
mobbsie
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I have been working on the running rigging: Jib Halliard, fore stay sail Halliard,

spreader yard

Brace pendants completed but not attached 

 
Beginning of the Brace collar for the jib boom