BLACK VIKING

I’ve been on a few days road trip up to the north cape of NZ so this gave all the oil paint a good long time to dry in the hot water cupboard.
Before I left I painted the exhausts aluminium and gave them an oil wash.

These dried well while away and then I did many light misty coats of a red brown mix.

Until it was enough to still have some aluminium coming through. Then I added some rust pigments and abit more highlighting with some soot pigments. 

Happy with these I managed to get them on the plane with only slight damage! They blended in with the whole plane which was what I was after, I didn’t want them to be super obvious and jump out in a bad way. I wanted them to look the part and just add to the over all feel. I am really happy with how they turned out!

Something to occupy idle hands while paint is drying elsewhere. Another Thirty Years War subject from Art Girona. This time a Spanish Officer.

I assume every war has its rear echelons but with his little shoes with violet bows this chap doesn't look like someone who plans on charging through the mud and unpleasantness of the front lines😄
The figure is the usual very nice sculpt from Art Girona. I added brass wire pins at the raised arm and neck to locate the head and hand.
 
The usual black primer and the directional white shading before starting the colour glazes.



Thanks for looking in.
 
Alan
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Yeah, Etsy's kind of an odd space. I love the fact that little hobby level makers have a global market. I hate the fact that it is true caveat emptor. Especially in regards to intellectual property law. Human nature, I suppose.
 
Anyhow... she's done:

AND lastly.
 
3D printed chimney is glued in, as is the capstan and pawls.
 


 
Might as well add all those guns too!

 
 
The channels are now fitted, and the belaying pins added.


 
 
Pumps etc. fitted.

 
 
And Harpy now looks like this...

 
 
Now I need to add the finishing touches and move onto the masts.

Thank you for the brilliant comments.  Hopefully will be a update soon as I have been working on the rigging 
Martyn 

Everything behind the mainmast is completely finished, half the work :
 

Taking a short breather between ships. She's been gracing my work desk for at least a year. Waiting patiently while I divert myself with ship models. But then, I suppose it's not wise to ignore a goddess for long. So...
 

She's not quite finished yet. Probably this weekend.

Thank you kindly  for  those  kind comments,     You should  dig your mossy  kit out  and  start a  build  log  -  we  will follow  with mutch  interest.
 
OC.

Hi,
It’s been a while since I’ve checked-in as well as posting any updates. Been busy with other bits of my life. But, very lately, having found some disposable time I have done further work on this so far “lifelong” build.
 
Some thoughts - 🙂
1)   I know hinges should be black along with other bits as well. I chose leaving the hinges brass purely for their looks – given this ship’s hundreds of other bronze parts, and that this project bears very little relationship to any historical accuracy. as I’ve mentioned before…….
 
2)   But, I am regretful that the gun ports (doors) appear a bit too thick. I had overlaid thin strips above some other matching wood strips that I had available, and cut to size. No other (to me available) wood matched the very light outer hull planks that run the lengths of the lower, and upper-gun decks. And I don’t have a wood strip sanding drum. So be it….
 
Thanks for your continued interest.
Regards,
 

 

Main mast area, summer 2024:

Some new deck pillars have found their way onto the ship, increasing the number of original kit parts used immensely but because of this, some of the incorrectly placed ones had to make way for others.



Some coamings were also newly created ...



... and then the internal structures around the main mast were added.











XXXDAn

Completed planking the upper deck, mainly using 1 x 4 mm Tanganyka strips which came with the kit together with some extra wider strips used for joggling. I also used quite a lot of 1mm Tanganyka sheet which was quite difficult to cut and split along the grain. In the end I temporarily glued a 1.5 mm sheet of ply to the Tanganyka sheet to strengthen the Tanganyka whilst cutting and shaping the waterway . I used the same planking pattern as the lower decks(4) with the length of each plank 180mm and staggered 45mm. Unfortunately there was quite a big difference between the colours of the Tanganyka sheet and the strips but hopefully this will not be too noticeable once the decks are covered with the numerous fittings. I also used the drawings off the AOTS Diana book as to which deck openings had either coamings or scuttles  and ended up with a lot of wasted Tanganyika pieces due to attempting to cut this wood along the grain but hopefully I have made a reasonable job of this.
                I would like to thank Andrew Johnson for giving me the idea of using one of the many Liberon products on offer for trating the deck This time I have tried their superior clear oil which I think shows the Tanganyka wood off quite nicely.
           Next up will be the hatch coamings, gratings and the numerous upper deck fittings. Still  a long way to go as am well past the 18 month mark now and no end in site yet but she is beginning to look a bit like a late 18th century frigate..

Hi all sorry for the long delay but life has got in the way.  I've been working on the yards and sails. These have been made from a old shirt that has been cut and distressed by rubbing them with rough sandpaper and then painted with different greens and browns. 
Next job more sails 
Thanks for looking 
Martyn 

Sorry for the late response as I've had one heck of a year as I lost my mum last year and we have moved back to Kent to be near No1 son .
I have attached some pictures for you to look at to show what I have been up to. 
Thanks again for the comments and likes .
Martyn 

Hi all sorry I haven't posted for a while but life has certainly got in the way.  But anyway back to the build. 
The guns have been fitted on the gundeck and the sides. 
I have made some lanterns and some weird sticky up things on the stern and fitted some wooden teeth things on the beakhead. 
Next job making the main mast .
Stay safe all.
Martyn 
 

Hi all sorry I haven't posted for a while but life and stuff has got in the way.  I have been slowly working away on the FD . I have finished the hull and have now put some details on the stern galleries and the sides.  As I'm no good at carving I have used modelling clay to make the scary faces and strange fishy things and to make her look old and battered I have put some barnacles and clamy things on the sides. I need to find away of putting some smaller barnacles on the lower hull. 
Thanks for looking. 
Martyn 

These are such excellent  sculpts  Alan   -  lovely work.
 
OC.

I opened the box while I was waiting for some glue to set on the Argosy and somehow I started to fiddle with the bits - and here we are off again.

I'm trying a few ideas to see if I can make life easier. The weight of the parts makes it hard to get the components to adhere even if you leave the glue to almost set. If I paint the components separately and I'm gluing up the painted parts its really easy to spoil the paintwork; especially with epoxy glue. so I have drilled the neck and hands and added 0.5 mm brass rod which has been epoxied into place in one half of the joint and the fit and position checked satisfactorily for later.



 
A few more cast lines to remove on this one but nothing too bad. A lot more polished metal too and again I would rather polish the kit metal instead of painting it.
 
Based on a suggestion by @Jack12477 I decided to try a mini engraver / polisher and a few wooden shafted cotton buds.

With jewellers rouge they made quick work of it and got into the corners well.

Everything not polished then got a coat of Mr Metal primer hand painted on The polished parts of the body were masked and a coat of Mig One Shot black primer was air brushed on


Next will be the directional white primer to provide a base for the glazes.
 
Thanks for looking in and I hope you enjoy another metal figure. 
 
Alan
 
 
 
 
 
 

Build Log Index
Date: 01/09/2024
Time worked today: 3 hour.
Total time spent on build: 68 hours.
 
Cannon and Carronades Breach Rope Part 2
I have now completed the work with regards to the carronade’s breach rope rigging. They have now all be installed on the Adder’s deck.

The next photo shows the first stage of including the breach rope on the carronades. With an eyebolt seized at one end the breach rope is added to the carronades

After the position of the other eyebolt has been determined the carronade is held in the quad hands so the seizing can be added, as shown below.

With regards to the two cannons, I also decided to also the training tackle (inhaul tackle). The training tackle was used to haul the gun back inboard to the loading position.
 
Two 2mm single blocks are required for this, one is attached to an eyebolt located at the rear of the gun carriage, and the one is hooked to an eyebolt mounted on the deck some distance behind the gun, as shown in the photo below.

I am planning to add rope coils to complete the task. I have ordered some clear plastic counters so I can make a jig which will hopefully help me create the desired rope coils.

The starboard side is painted
And the threaded rods that make the rear castle narrower at the top are back in their place (I am too wide at the top and otherwise I will have problems with the standing rigging)

Now the outer standards, with a lot of fitting and measuring and cutting...

dry fit

The colours on the transom do not want to work 🤢 After 3 different schemes, which did not work. the "short pain" was chosen.
A new start, with a scheme that will look more like the Anthony roll

Hopefully the fourth time will look better 
 

The Spitfire is done!  Thanks to everyone for the likes, suggestions, and kind comments. 
 
Kotare makes an amazing kit.  This was the best engineered kit in terms of fit that I have ever built, and I love the thought they put into hiding seams.  I’m overall very happy.  I learned a lot. 
 
Only significant final problem was from my first experience with two-sided canopy masks.  The inner side according to the instructions was brown, but was painted interior green on all of the restored Mk.I pictures I could find.  Because the interior green paint I was using was a little translucent and I did not want a heavy layer of paint, I put down a coat of white primer first.  I did not expect this would be visible given I was painting the outside separately, but it turns out the canopy frame is thicker on the inside than the outside (or at least the mask was smaller) so it turned out that this is visible.  I think the recommendation for brown may have been for some sort of sealer or grommet between the glass and frame, and it would have looked right if there was a rim of brown visible.  There was also a little residue on the inner surface probably from the masking tape. It came off really easily with novus polish and a q-tip, so I was able to fix the front, but not the back where I could not reach.  I also forgot to remove one inner mask, which was a real challenge to get out with the canopy glued in place.
 
I also have a little bump at the junction of the two camouflage colors – I wasn’t sure how the seal would work, so had sprayed clear flat at the junction of the mask prior to spraying the color.  I think I can leave that out next time.
 
I think the problem I had with the Vallejo paint bleeding under the vinyl tape was the tape, not the paint.  It didn’t bleed under the cockpit masks or regular Tamiya tape.
 
Anyways – I really recommend the kit.  It was a really fun build, and I am very pleased with how it came out.

And I changed my mind about the sheets. Originally I'd had them just tied directly to the clew of each sail,with a sheet going off to each side. I decided that threw away mechanical advantage and that there should be a couple of blocks at each clew. But how to attach them? After a lot of thought I went back to the traditional Mediterranean method - a toggle through a loop. So I made two blocks for each sail, each with a loop at the end,

and passed the two loops through the cringle at the clew with a toggle to hold them in place. The pictures show all - in the last one (for the mizzen) the toggle hasn't yet been cut to length



And I've been adjusting the balance of forces acting on the yards, to get the sails in the configuration I want (for example, the fore end of the central yard was too low, so I had to cut off one of the tacks which I'd already cut to length, and replace it with another longer one so there was enough rope free so the fore end could be pulled up higher by pulling down on the brace/vang at the upper end of the yard (not sure that this explains it very well, but I know what I mean).
 
So here she is in her current manifestation. A bit more fiddle needed - tying off ropes and adding the truss for the fore-yard, things like that. And I'd like maybe to have another go at smoothing out the sails - they're a bit too wrinkled for my liking.

Then to finish off the anchors, add the steering oars, re-position one of the crew - and I do believe that will mean I've finished! (unless I've forgotten something!)
 
Steven
 

I've been doing some designing on a "portable" "workstation", something that can be taken off the wall (using french cleats to fasten to wall), and be either stored in a closet or taken to my woodshop where my hobby room is. Some place to build a model but still be in the house at night (more or less with family). But have all or most of my tools, paints, brushes, knives, etc. and still be able to close it up (with model inside) and place some where out of the way if need.

I'll probably build it out of 1/2" cabinet grade plywood or maybe 3/4" with an oak veneer. Stain and finish so it will look like a wall cabinet but like I said before with a french cleat, you can take it down really easy if needed.

Here are some drawings.  Sorry the freebie program won't let me share the drawings (can save but not share) so I took pictures of them on my phone.  Sorry if they’re bad.
 

 


   

Nearly finished first planking layer typically manage 2- 3 a planks day, slow, but waiting for glue to set slows down the process, not much sanding of bulkheads needed on this build

CDW, Egilman, and Shipman - many, many thanks for the very kind comments.  I've done a little more work.  I've sprayed with clear flat and installed the rudder and canopy door.  I agree she is a beautiful airplane, although I also really like the p-38 lightning and the corsair.  I'm in the home stretch and think I can finish this weekend.  I just need to paint the green and red wing lights, install the landing gear, and a few other pieces.  The moment of truth will be pulling off the canopy masks and seeing whether I had the same bleed through that I had under some of the vinyl tape.

Started on the underside, Tamiya neutral grey was the base colour over the primer and preshading. 


used a lightened NATO black to pre shade.

A light base coat. The paint splashed out of my airbrush next to No 1 engine, so had to minimise that and try fix it. 

I’ll do a dark grey with a bit of brown oil wash to help blend it in better. I did learn if the shades underneath aren’t defined enough and visible then the washes will show nothing. So balancing how much coverage is tricky! 
Hopefully I’ve got it right! The pics are taken under light that really shows the layers through, under sunlight I like how it looks and it is alot more subtle!