BLACK VIKING

And another update! I knuckled down this week and got a lot of the tedious bits left to do on the hull out of the way. Here we go:
 
I put the rudder brackets on and attached the metalwork on the rudder itself.

This is actually still removable - I feel like I'm going to knock it and don't want to bend the relatively soft brass out of shape, so I'll just keep it off whilst still working on the build.
 
Then I started on the aft side of the forecastle:

 
Most of the following building work is done using the same principle of 0.8mm plywood as a foundation followed by planking over it with walnut. I won't go over the major details, so here's a few photos:

I made sure to keep the cannon pointing out at a suitable angle - the Anthony Roll has these pointing upward at quite an angle as well, but mine are relatively horizontal.

 


The way I'd put my decks in meant I couldn't follow the lines of cannon and windows exactly like the Anthony Roll depicts, but I've tried to be relatively faithful to that design, with the two windows at the top.
 
Here it is finished:

I'm really pleased with how this has come out. I used the same sort of design for my various portholes and cannon ports as I did along the sides of the ship, so it fits very well with the rest of the build.
 
On to the sterncastle:

I had a bit of scrap ply that was almost exactly the right width for the entire sterncastle's forward face, so I marked out where I wanted the various apetures and cut them out. The small arched openings are a little messy, but it doesn't show up too badly on the final product.
 
Here it is test fit with some of the details added:

 
And here with the rest of the detail:

 

Here it is with everything in place, and again I'm very pleased with this. I ended up adding one more strip of 2x3mm walnut at the top to fill in the gap between the face and the poop deck.
She's absolutely bristling with cannon now!
 
I also finally got around to finishing up the waist:

Caldercraft had some very strange designs in mind for the 8 ventilation hatches here, with an open square at the bottom and then a top plate that's only just large enough to sit on top of the opening. I'm not entirely sure what the idea was for this - there's supposed to be another larger square on top of each of them, but they were so flat and uninteresting that I've left them off. There's no evidence these holes even had hatch covers, but I wanted at least something on them as I'd not planked the deck below. The provided ladders were also way too long - an extremely frustrating part of the build. I ended up covering up the two ladderways on either side of the mast - they didn't exist in the real Mary Rose, as there was a bilge pump where one of them is.
 
Then I build up the trestle-tree and the top for the main mast:

 
I tested the mast length again and found that Caldercraft's measurements are just slightly shorter than I'd expect. According to R.C. Anderson's The Rigging of Ships in the Days of the Spritsail Topmast, the mast should be 2.4x the length of the beam. That puts my mast at 336mm, which is 88 feet in real scale, though that's measuring from the deck and not from the keel - but Anderson notes that masts were getting shorter throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, so it stands to reason that the Mary Rose's could have been slightly longer. Most sources seem to think that the mast was around 80 feet.

As you can see, I have some wiggle room here, as my shrouds still won't interact with the sides of the sterncastle - especially once they go over the trestle-trees. I think I might be conservative and bring the trees down to the 300mm mark, or 78ft from the deck.
 
I also planked up the waist gangway. This will eventually support the struts for the boarding netting on each side of the waist, but I needed it planked now as I'll be putting in the masts soon and the mainmast goes through it.

 
And with this update, I'm pretty sure the main bulk of the build is done! I still need to paint the sterncastle stripes, but otherwise the majority of the wood is in place. Caldercraft's kit is extremely generous in this regard - despite the huge amount of extra stuff I've built, there's still an enormous amount of spare timber. The only thing I've ordered extra of is 3x2mm walnut strips. I did order extra 1.5x1.5mm wood as well, but it was left out of my order and I didn't end up needing extra.

 

 
Thanks for following along as always!

Following on my last post I have now removed the laser char from the all the deck beams and additional filler pieces. With another dry fit all the parts are a perfect fit. At this stage it is always a good idea to check the various dowels will locate through the various access holes. As can be seen in the following photo there are no issues.

I really liked @Blue Ensign idea of adding a stone floor effect to the stove area. After looking for some suitable image files I downloaded a couple of different patterns. Once I had resized the images they were printed out. Although I prefer the top pattern, as shown in the photo below, there is an embedded watermark which means I am unable to use that image.

After carefully cutting the holes for the bitts and stove I did a trial fit of the pattern. Overall it does not look too bad. I will need make another floor tile pattern as the one shown below is a tad too small. I am also deciding weather to glue the floor tile pattern to a 0.8mm wooden base before adding it to the deck. I will also compare the floor tile pattern with a version printed on photographic paper. This will probably be a bit bright and shiny.

 

Base coat of green down 

I finished preparing the deck and it is now ready to install. I trimmed the excess planks, sanded it down, then used an awl to make indents for the treenails. I filled these with wood putty, then sanded the deck again. I then finished the deck with pre-stain, Golden Oak stain, and wipe on poly. I also checked the fit of the upper deck bulkhead pieces in the slots in the deck before finishing it.
 

 
I was happy that I used individual planks instead of using full length planks and drawing in the plank ends. I was also a little worried about the thickness of the supplied planking wood, but it did sand up nicely.

Today's task was to glue the two laser etched patterns to the forward and rear deck bases. This was a task that I took my time, with plenty of dry fitting of items that would be added later on in the build process.
 
I started with the rear deck section. After checking the rear cabin pattern would locate in the slot I brushed plenty of plenty of wood glue on the base and I carefully aligned the laser etched deck pattern and used plenty of clamps. I also made sure once the deck pattern was in place that the rear cabin pattern would still locate in the slot. All was good, as can be seen in the photo below.

Once the clue had cured the clamps were removed and the assembly was added to the hull framework. The deck is held in place with 4 locking keys, as indicated by the blue arrows in the following photo. I was very pleased that everything was a perfect fit and the locking keys were inserted without any issues.

The rear panel was test fitted once again, and all looks good.

Before adding the laser etched deck to the front deck base I wanted to make sure that the various key components would locate in their respective slots. This is shown in the next two photos. All looks good.


It was now a case of brushing plenty of glue to the base and then clamping the laser etched deck in place. I used the sail room framework assembly to ensure the laser etched deck was correctly aligned.

As the glue was curing I made a few more checks that the various deck items would locate fully in their respective slots. By taking my time with the aspect of the build I am very happy that the various deck items could be fitted without any issues.

It was then a case of adding the forward deck assembly to the hull frame work. Once again the locking keys were inserted without any issues. The two cable house sides were also added to the hull frame and were locked in to place using a series of locking keys. The deck items and cabin patterns were test fitted (again). I have also checked the fitting of one of the deck beams and I was pleased that it was a perfect fit.





So far so good and I think taking time to double check the fittings before gluing parts together has certainly paid dividends. There are a few more parts to add before diluted glue will be painted in to the various bulkhead and deck joints.

I was fumbling around for a couple of days trying to figure out how to finish this thing up.  I liked the weathered deck planks, but I wanted more than just the bottle sitting on a cradle on top of the planks.  The Final Jeopardy music kept playing and nothing was coming to mind.  The next day, I was walking through an old shed out at my ranch and noticed a discarded, rusty chain and some scraps of a rusted gutter lying in the corner.  Hmmmmm.  I wasn't exactly sure what I could do with them, if anything, but they were interesting enough to take home and ponder further.

 
 
I got them home, started playing around, and finally stumbled upon a way to use them to enhance the presentation.  After sealing the chain with spray poly, I coiled it around the bottle's cradles to where it hid the cradles and made it look like the bottle was resting on the chain.  OK.  I liked that.  Now, the only thing left was the nameplate.  I was sizing up various small pieces of wood to glue a nameplate to when another light bulb went off.  Why not use a piece of the thin, rusted gutter to glue the nameplate to?  So I found a piece that had rough edges and was about the size I needed.  I bent the bottom edge of it backwards so it could act as a base.  Then I printed out my paper nameplate and Mod Podged it to the rusty piece of gutter.      
 
Before I post the final pictures, I want to extend a sincere THANK YOU to everyone that took part in this project.  I would have never made it to the finish line without your comments, critiques, suggestions, encouragement, and humor.  What an amazing group of people we have here at MSW and I’m fortunate to be a part of the community.  Whether you popped in and out or suffered through every post of this build log, I owe you a debt of gratitude:   @BANYAN, @Keith Black, @Knocklouder, @Ian_Grant, @Javelin, @Canute, @GrandpaPhil, @FriedClams, @gjdale, @Paul Le Wol,@mtaylor, @Bryan Woods, @tmj, @Landlubber Mike, @BLACK VIKING, @JacquesCousteau, @Old Collingwood, @Dan Poirier, @Kauz, @CiscoH, @herask, @ccoyle, @John Fox III, @Baker, @Snug Harbor Johnny, @PvG Aussie, @Desertanimal, @Thukydides, @gsdpic, @firdajan, @vossiewulf, @DanielD, @Pfälzer, @Ainars.
 
 Oh, and special thanks to Plumber Paul, PFC Gnomer Pile, and Goober for their support (even though Mr. Goob had his doubts about me).
 
One more.  Extra special thanks to my friend Eric.  He is an extraordinary artist/carver/creative genius, etc and is the one that came up with the idea of building the whirlpool in layers outside the bottle and then inserting them piece by piece.  That was the key to pulling this whole thing off.
 
Here's how all that came out.






 
   
    
 
 

I am calling this one done fellas I had three pieces left to install two landing lights and the clear underwing light ..well as my luck has been the last I dropped the r/wing light and wala it was frigg'in gone 🤨.... I am not manufacturing another one I figure by the time I get done sanding and repainting I will break another gun barrel the antenna/pitot tube will both wala best to stop while ahead.I figure should it show fix it then,
The kit is a worthy kit for a P-47 the subtleties of the lines and rivets are quite nice.I had no issues with the front cowling myself upon examination notches are supplied to remove any guess work on your part.I thought I had the aux.fuel tank aligned let it sit overnight well it slid some I left it been breaking to much on this one. The one thing I did not understand you have a square hole for the LG but it was loose  I mean the reason for square to get a uniform alignment no guess work other than that decals/stencils worked out great beginning to not like Florry's Dust would of been fine with the Sand like you see on the bottom.I was trying to lighten the color of of the OD for sun fade not to successful but is better than the P-40.

It’s mostly assembled now:






Yes, that is a wooden antenna, lol.
 
Time to paint!
 
I’ll start with my usual priming with thinned down black paint and move on to the olive drab for the plane itself.
 
I need to paint the propellor hub assembly and nose red.
 
I figured I’d attach it after painting the plane itself the olive drab.

So the plans aren’t the best as they are photographs which are very grainy, and they also just miss out on bits! I have parts that I can’t figure out but they double up on the fragile stuff which is good for mistakes. A good razor saw and files are a must 

Dutch 17th Century Ship Models in Paper
An Introduction to Scratch Building Paper Ship Models
by Ab Hoving and Emiel Hoving
2024 Seawatch Books
USD $75.00
 

All photos courtesy of Seawatch Books
 
Long-time members of MSW will need little introduction to Ab Hoving, a man well known as a curator, modeler, and expert on 17th century Dutch shipbuilding. His exceptional knowledge in these areas is on display in his latest book, Dutch 17th Century Ship Models in Paper: An Introduction to Scratch Building Paper Ship Models. I really don't need to say much regarding the topic and intended purpose of the book, since both are plainly stated in the title and subtitle. Rather, I will focus on the Big Question that any potential buyer of the book will undoubtedly have in mind when thinking about putting the book in his or her shopping cart at Seawatch:
 
Can I actually build a card model of a 17th century Dutch ship using the methods outlined by Mr. Hoving in this book?
 
I believe the answer to that question is a solid yes. First of all, Ab's method will not be completely foreign to anyone who has built a wooden ship model from a kit -- it's a take on the classic plank-on-bulkhead technique, starting with a longitudinal hull profile and a set of bulkheads. Instead of wood, the hull is built up from card stock. After a first planking in card, the hull is then 'planked' with self-adhesive plastic film (this is the method that we have seen so expertly done by MSW members Doris and Firdajan).
 
Ab walks the builder through two models, a relatively simple smalschip ("narrow ship") and a more complex pinas. Templates for the framing and planking of both models are provided in the book, and digital copies are available at Seawatch's website for those who have purchased a copy. Of course, after the basic hull is constructed, it needs to be appropriately painted. One of the things I have always appreciated about Ab's models is the high degree of realism they project as a result of his particular painting and weathering techniques. These are outlined in the book as well.
 
The book has some interesting selling points in addition to being a how-to on card modeling. The first few chapters are devoted to the vagaries of modeling Dutch ships due to the paucity of original source material (and the reasons for why such is the case), how the author has coped with those limitations, and how his research and his model building are inextricably linked (we who enjoy Ab's models should therefore be thankful for his intense desire to understand a subject as admittedly esoteric as 17th century Dutch shipbuilding practice). The book is also richly illustrated, both with diagrams and with beautiful photographs of the author's models. I was quite surprised, in fact, to learn that the book's photos depicted Mr. Hoving's models and not original works by the Dutch masters! His photo compositions are that convincing. Readers will be pleased to learn that the book describes exactly how to create such compositions using Photoshop.
 
To summarize, purchasers of this book will receive some interesting insight into the author's research and background, detailed descriptions of how to build two different Dutch ships using a technique that can readily be used for other ship model subjects, a plethora of beautiful photographs suitable for any coffee table, and a treatise on how to create life-like photographic compositions incorporating one's own models. That makes it a worthwhile addition to most anyone's library.
 

 

 

 

 

Post 14
Onto First Planking
For the past week I have been busy planking the hull.
The Gunport patterns have been fitted and trimmed to fit the stern counter and I’m liking the look of her.
My younger modelling self of the 1970’s/80/s would be amazed  to get this far in only three weeks of work.
 
First Planking.
This is in 5 x1mm Limewood and the kit provides a good standard of timber.
I have covered my first layer planking method in my previous builds, so I won’t go fully into it here.
Suffice to say I use a combination of taper, edge bend, bevel, tick marks, and eye.

035

033
Having completed seven strakes down from the Gunport pattern, the Garboard strake is fitted using a wider 7mm limewood strip.

038

040

046

041
This is followed by the adjacent plank using 6mm strip.
 Planking continues….
 
B.E.
05/01/2025

Very nice work, Doug. Looking very good.
 
As I mentioned earlier, I chickened out on adding netting on my own Great Harry, but I found gauze at a fabric store that would have done the job nicely. You know, the stuff that goes on bridal gowns etc. Might be worth checking out. Probably synthetic, but what the hey. I chose black, firstly because the original stuff was probably tarred, secondly so it didn't grab the attention too much away from the rest of the ship.
 
Probably on what is known as a pavesade - basically just a railing that holds shields. They were probably tied to the rail by a rope passing through their enarmes (the straps at the back that you hold the shield by). That's certainly what I did with the shields on my dromon build, and it worked fine (though you have to make sure you get the alignment right).
 
Steven
 

Thanks for the kind words everybody!
 
Here's my next update, but first:
 
Oh, I'll definitely be giving it a go! I've got some boxwood lying around so at some point it's definitely on the agenda - as is a trip to the museum to go see the real thing 😁
 
Yes, these are the issues I've been dealing with as well - and it's something I'm going to have to consider very soon as I think the nets will have to go in around the same time as the masts. I think I'll probably go with something similar to Mcelvogue's interpretation, though Marsden also has some input which I need to review. My other concern is actually sourcing a net that's that fine; I think judging by the scale I need around a 1.5mm hole size and probably about 0.8mm cordage - not really something I want to make myself, but I suspect that might be the only option. I did buy some sample fabric on etsy, but it was far too heavy for my purposes. I was also thinking of perhaps using some hessian fabric (burlap or jute for the non-UK speakers here) I have lying around, but even that seems too coarse. I'll keep looking.
 
Yeah, the Anthony Roll also has the shields in the waist, and the Embarkment painting has them on the forecastle as well - but how they'd have been mounted is completely unknown!
 
Agreed the boarding nets wouldn't have been permanent, but for sure at least some of the support structure for them must have been. Looks to me like there was a sort of A-frame 'tent' structure on the sterncastle, and then the waist has a central walkway from which the nets were supported on spars - much like @Louie da fly detailed above.
 
On with my (small) update for today!
 
I carried on with the decking on the sterncastle's poop deck:

A bit of a weird shape resulting in a jigsaw puzzle, this, but it looks pretty good now it's done.
 
And then I tackled the railings. I wasn't keen on doing an open railing - I love what @Baker has done on his version, but I certainly don't have his artisanal skills and I doubted my own ability to make it look as good.
 
First I built up the sides and added a series of 9mm uprights:

These are spaced around 30mm apart, but I did play a little fast and loose with this, as at this point in the build nothing is quite square any more. Sue me.
 
I promptly forgot to take a single photo between this and completing the railing on this side. So here it is:

As you can see, I have interpreted the cross-hatching on the Anthony Roll image as a series of uprights which support the railing. As mentioned in the previous post, all of the strips of slightly reddish sapelli veneer will eventually be painted with the red and yellow stripes, just like the forecastle.
 
Here's the other side:

This side was a pain in the *** to get right - the whole thing is, it turns out, about 1.5mm off level. All things considered, less than it could have been, and not really noticable, but a huge nightmare when you've only got the right wood in 4mm widths. Ah well!
 
Shortly after this was taken, I added in the clinker planking on the exposed pine midway up at the front of the sterncastle wall.
 
And then I moved to the back!

 
Here you can see me building up the transom and testing out where the cannon will go. As you can see, I'm not building up the carriages properly, ommitting the wheels and the rear structure of each - only I, and everyone who sees this, will ever know!
 
I tried to follow the structure shown in the Anthony Roll as much as possible in this build, and for the most part it was just a puzzle of working out how to fill up the gaps and create something that'd be strong enough to support itself and the planking over the top. It's a little bit of a bodge in places, but I think it's come out looking great.
 
Here's the planking over the middle set of cannons:

Again, the strip of sapelli will be painted with stripes. In the Anthony Roll this stripe is actually above the ports, but this lines up with the stripes on the side of the sterncastle, so I thought it would look a bit better.
 
Next the top deck:

 
This posed a little bit of a challenge as I needed to include the middle window, and so I had to move where I'd initially planned to put the cannon ports. Not a major issue, but one that some better pre-planning would have avoided. I'm ver pleased with my uprights here; they all required a very slight curve that was a pleasure once I got it right.
 
N.b there aren't any obvious uprights in the Anthony Roll's depiction of this section, but I'd rather have these on the outside as it breaks up what would otherwise be rather bland clinker planking.

Speaking of which:

Here she is!
 
This is really beginning to look, to excuse the pun, ship-shape. I'm super pleased with how this bit has come out.
 
Next I'll be working on the aft side of the forecastle and the fore side of the sterncastle, at which point I'm very nearly done with the bulk of the initial build.
 
Thanks again for all the lovely comments and the engagement with this build.
See you next time!
 
 

Happy New Year Michael!
 
Glad to see you resume your terrific work on this model!
 
Frank

I've completed the fabrication of the topgallant and royal masts along with the associated top bases, these measurements are taken out of John McKay's book, this is all still in a very rough in stage at this point, fabricating the rest of the topgallant top will be especially challenging as the base only measures out to 8mm in dia = to approx. 4-1/2 ft at scale.
 
Michael D.
 

So. Ow this is done, the traversing arm arrived 

Just rigging up the deadeyes for the Fore topmost Shrouds in my usual unorthodox way. The modelling wire on the lower deadeye will go through the hole on the crowsnest then I will bend it up into a loop, where I can then tie the Futtock Shrouds from, this is the same way I rigged the futtock Shrouds on my Occre Endeavour build.
The 2nd pic below is for information only as to what I mean, not taken from my Endeavour build.
 

 

Assembling the cockpit required one evening's work.
 

 

My first selfmade Sail

Hello!
 
While I was away on Christmas vacation for a week, my Next Project (which I ordered on my birthday back in August) still did not arrive at my house, though the Polish Post swears it is on its way. So in lieu of the Next Project I have decided to go ahead with an interim next project. I have chosen to build the Fokker D.VI from MPModel for a couple of reasons:
The D.VI is mercifully short of rigging. The model is designed by Marek Pacynski.  
That second point needs some additional explanation. Mr. Pacynski's designs have been a mixed bag for me (see here for a prior example). I have completed two of them, but two others wound up in the trash can. The two finished models were both WW2 monoplanes; this one is a WW1 biplane. I have many of the other MPModel biplane kits designed by Mr. Pacynski in my stash, so this one is a guinea pig of sorts -- a build to see how the Pacynski WW1 kits stack up against the WW2 kits. Call me a masochist, but I'm always willing to give a designer another chance at redemption.
 
The D.VI, of which only 59 examples were built, is a relatively small and simple aircraft, so this kit shouldn't take too long to build if everything goes together with a minimum of fuss. That's what we're here to find out if it will do.
 
Stay tuned!
 
P.S. Mr. Pacynski is nothing if not extremely prolific -- you'll note that this kit is #9 in the MPModels series. That line now includes a whopping 124 titles.
 

 

Standing rigging and ratlines now complete, less bowsprit shrouds (WIP).  I should get through the yards, sails and running rigging fast enough.  I think this will be the last (and my first) rigged model I build for a while.


 

The second plane has been a little easier.  I realized that the cowling shapes differed between the B-1 which was my kit versus the B-2 which i am modeling.  It helped a lot having the Hobby 2000 B-2 boxing for the other model so that I had a model to convert the B-1 cowlings.  It wasn't too difficult, and I didn't try to make them absolutely perfect given that the engines are going to be tarped anyway (all I needed was the general shape):
 
//forum.largescalemodeller.com/uploads/monthly_2024_12/IMG_2001.thumb.JPG.d047d02dad81ca13a2981104c0c1726f.JPG
 
With the cannon pod removed from the plane in this diorama, I realized that all that would be remaining would be the cannon rack as well as the open space in the bottom of the fuselage for the ammo, etc.  So, I cut open the bottom of the fuselage similar to how I did the other.  Much easier this time around as I didn't have the various aftermarket detail pieces in the fuselage so the fuselage was essentially hollow.  After cutting, all I really had to do was line it which was fairly easy.  I'll scratch the cannon rack and add it separately at the end of the build.   
 
//forum.largescalemodeller.com/uploads/monthly_2024_12/IMG_2068.thumb.JPG.bd386bf2199af5a10db120d00d421731.JPG
 
This model is also primed, so I can start throwing on some color tomorrow:
 
//forum.largescalemodeller.com/uploads/monthly_2024_12/IMG_2066.thumb.JPG.7e0bd37bd2cd77c4b75809d339f3a135.JPG
 
https://forum.largescalemodeller.com/uploads/monthly_2024_12/IMG_2067.thumb.JPG.99f7db633e2b305707778546b10936f8.JPG
 
Thanks for looking in!
 
 
 

Post 12
More patterns to add.
The final action of this section is to add the stern counters and Gunport patterns.

0272
The lower counter is fitted first, I soaked this piece before clamping into place.

0276
The Upper counter follows; I did need to tweak this a little to follow the run of the Lower.

0285

0286
The lower counter includes the discharge hole for the Port side seat of ease, quaintly described as the ‘Necefsary’ on the Adm Plan.
 
Gunport patterns

0304
The forward end was soaked, clamped around a tube, and given the heat treatment.

0295
The parts can then be dry fitted along the hull.

0297
There is a guide-line on the pattern to match with the line of the ply sub-deck, to maintain the ports at the correct level above deck.

0337
On this basis, where the pattern reaches the stern I found it sat just below the level of the stern deck cabins. Not entirely sure if this is correct, but there is not a profile drawing of this stage on the plans. The Manual photos would suggest perhaps not, but not very clear on this particular aspect.
 
Still, I am where I am, and I need to maintain the gunport levels.
 
The Starboard side pattern was fitted using pins and pva.
It goes without saying that glue is not applied to the bulkhead extensions, but I did glue against the side of the stern cabins, and the forward end into the prow slot. Diluted glue was then run along the joints below the sub deck. Before pinning I Painted glue on the bulkheads below the subdeck.

0306

0311
The Portside was fitted 24 hrs later, but firstly I checked that the sides were level with each other. Once satisfied I pinned and glued as before.

0336

0343
Some tidying up and then onto planking.
 
B.E.
28/12/2024
 

SOLEIL ROYAL UPDATE : 
the Lower ratlines are now complete from the Spritsail, Foremast, Main and Mizzen mast, with 942 clove hitches being tied in the process.
Now moving on to rig the deadeyes/shrouds for Top masts of the Fore, Main & Mizzen.