BLACK VIKING

Well, I took a few weeks' break - it'd stopped being fun. One of the problems was that the fore-topgallant yard broke just after I'd tensioned all the lines leading to it. It had been broken when I started repairing the ship, and I'd glued it back together, so of course it failed just as I'd finished all the fiddly stuff attached to it.
 

 
You can see the break in the yard about halfway between the mast and the end. I tried fishing it - you can see the attempted fish is the lighter (straight) piece of wood behind the yard. Didn't work. 
 
So I undid some of the lines, and cut the robands, intending to sew around the fish and hold it to the broken yard. No good.
 
Eventually, I decided the yard was beyond saving, so I removed it and made a new one, whilst cutting as few lies as possible to reduce the work I'd have to do to put it all together again (for example, I kept the sheets and bowlines attached to the sail), so all I'd have to do would be to sew the sail onto the new yard. Nup. No good. I ended up cutting or undoing all the lines - it was just too ridiculously fiddly.
 

 
So I made a whole new yard, sanded it down, made it very pretty but a little thicker than the original so it would be stronger. Added the blocks for the lifts and the clewlines. Looked really good. Left it on the cutting board overnight.
 
Came back in the morning and moved the cutting board further back on the table, then went and did something else. Came back later - where's the yard? GONE!
 
Huge search. Never found it. I think it must have got caught on my sleeve when I moved the cutting board and dropped off somewhere in the house - it certainly wasn't in the workshop.
 
So I gave up and watched Youtube videos for about a week.
 
Day before yesterday I'd recovered enough to start again. Only took me a few hours to complete. So here's the progress of the new topgallant yard (plus blocks).
 
Yard made (with the piece of wood it was carved from off to the left.)
 

One block carved and attached to its strop on one side, plus another block in the process of being made.

 
Second block ready to be cut off and finally shaped.

Yard and all the blocks with strops partly attached (plus two spares, just in case) - with a giant match to show the scale.
 
 

My patented method for holding the strops while they're wrapped around the blocks and the glue dries.

And tightening the strops around the free end.

And ready to attach.

Blocks in place for the lifts.

And finished.

Topsail clewline blocks.

Voila!

 
Naturally, I've put this in a safe place where I can't lose it again. Next step is to attach the sail, add the parrel trucks and attach to the mast. Starting to become fun again.
 
Steven
 
 
 
 
 

Nothing wrong  with us all going  a bit  Phantoom  mad  - its  was probably  the best  plane of its  time  and  sadly missed,   and I think we are all blessed  having our  very own  mister  toom  driver  Ken  - so much respect  (same to  all the other  vets)
 
My show  of respect  taken  by  me  - 
 
OC.

The Big Reveal!
 
So, one day shy of two months from the beginning of construction on this project (though it felt like longer), the Bf-109E-4 is complete. The final bits of construction consisted of small parts that needed to wait until the final stage in order to avoid getting knocked off repeatedly: tail wheel, antenna masts, gun barrels, aileron counterweights, pitot tube, and canopy. All in all, a challenging project without too many issues, though I did find some post facto construction errors and did wind up with a few tiny "mystery parts" left over. Enjoy the pictures!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Great to see back at the desk

Evening all,   so I found my mojo  - its was in the bedroom cabinet,   so  I pulled my finger out  plugged my  table lamp  in and  made a start.
I  decided  to do a bit of multi  tasking  -  so first  I  painted the flesh  on  the last of primed  2nd KGL,   these  where given a  few coats  as they  dried  quite quick,   while they were drying  I then  painted tha Red jackets  on my  5th KGL  injured, again  I was able  to apply a few coats  as they were drying.
 
So here a  couple of pics  - The Red coats  are still a bit shiny  as they are not  fully dry  yet.
Good to  be back on the bench.
 
OC.

Abandoned 
No SOS In thos days 
w/c 16" X 11" 

Having done what I could on the port side, flip over to the starboard side again. I'll be adding to mast #4; shrouds 1 & 4, jackstays,  backstay, and ratlines every 5th batten. To #3 mast; shrouds 2&3 (for the battens) and start the jackstay. Then we'll flip yet again.
 

Fine picture, they were busy ships in all their rolls. Thanks for the posting your work, all of it and especially this, you must have covered most of the ships of WW2 and many under sail. Couple of photos of USS LST 44 on the net, your work portrays her better.

Sorry,I no longer do commissions. This is the only one I’ve ever painted, and it’s part of a Diptych which is in the Russian Arctic Convoy Museum at Loch Ewe 

Ships off Gourock, Aquitania, Vindex, Charybdis, Blue Ranger etc 

 
w/c 16" X11'

“Doon the Water” River traffic off Gourock on the Clyde at the turn of 19/20th century watercolour 16" X 11"

Tug just cast off from Steel Barque 'Francois' anonymous coastal schooner in the Clyde estury
w/c 16" X11"

Square rigger 'down south' 
w/c 16" X 11" 

Thanks for the comment Ken, and for all the likes.
 
There were 35 parts for the 7 cylinder rotary engine, plus another 10 parts for the propeller. The blades of the propeller are stiffened with short lengths of 1mm brass rod (and I should add here that there are templates provided for all the wire/rod parts). An interesting exercise in assembling the engine, and the diagrams had to be studied carefully in order to do this correctly. The engine parts, the completed engine and the engine plus propeller.



The tail skid is made up of a bracket and leg that support the card skid itself. The leg is 1mm rod, while the bracket has two parts of 0.5mm rod which I silver soldered together. This was my first attempt at silver soldering, and after attempts two, three…I finally managed to achieve an acceptable result.

The undercarriage is typical, two V-shaped struts plus axle. There are an additional three V-shaped struts through which the cables that controlled the wing warping run. One goes from the undercarriage to the bottom of the fuselage, the second downwards from the bottom of the fuselage at a point level with the rear of the undercarriage, while the third is on top of the fuselage immediately in front of the cockpit. All of these struts have a rod core with a card skin. I need more practice in doing struts such as this as my attempts are not as neat as I'd have liked.



There was a choice of how to build the wings. Either cut out 22 individual ribs, assemble with a “spar” then add the skin, or laminate a core then skin it. I went for the latter, easier method. The photo shows the four parts that are to be laminated plus the two 1mm diameter wire spars, one of which passes right through the fuselage. The tail surfaces are simple card cores that are skinned. The elevators have a rod joiner and there is a rod at the leading edge of the rudder (there is no tailplane or fin as such - the surfaces are all-moving).

The main components of the aircraft ready for assembly.

When the engine was slotted into the cowl, it was apparent that the propeller could not be attached to the engine without a spacer between the two being added. There was no way that the engine could be moved forward or the propeller moved back - the cowl was in the way. So a spacer was added. Attaching the wing to the fuselage was easy enough - the two wire spars ensured accurate location. The tail surfaces though were difficult. Both the elevators and the rudder need to be fixed to the very end of the fuselage, a gluing surface of about 10x2mm. There is also the problem of the horizontal rod of the elevators and the vertical rod of the rudder both being attached, to the fuselage and effectively to each other, by very small pieces of card representing the hinges. If I’d thought about it much earlier, I probably would have attempted to silver solder the rods together and then make the elevators and rudder, thus making the rear surfaces a single unit. I had to use epoxy and fake the hinges. The fuselage rear from underneath.

The control horns were added. All rigging was done with heavy EZ-Line. It is noticeable in places that the line is twisted as it is not round in cross-section but rectangular. I saw this too late to fix while rigging and decided that trying to correct it later was likely to cause damage. The finished aircraft.




Quite a nice little model. Not too difficult to build.
 
My apologies for the brevity of the log. I sort of got tied up with the building and forgot to make notes or take photos.
 
Cheers
 
 

Thanks OC
I am not going to pose the doors in an open position with this one. Maybe I will on the next one, but for now took a quick swipe at a set of belts and harnesses for the seats. Won’t be able to see much with the doors closed anyhow.
 
Also, the body parts all have paint on them now and am in the process of painting the small details like mirrors, marker lights, etc. I can see this one being finished in another day or so.
 
 

Indeed Kevin,
 
The say the cap for most is going to be about  £3000 + a year  thats about  £300  a month   compared to under £100  a month we was  topping up   - crazy times.
 
OC.

Inflation came from the wholesale printing of fiat currency.
Oil/energy cost is mostly self-imposed by a small group of elites who are playing on the emotions of a "color" movement.
In the big picture, we are all plebs and pawns in this game. 

Wow, there's a ton of detail in that jewel. Rye Field does a beautiful job and your skills enhance it. 👍👍

The last major component assembly before paint is the hood. Soon it will be paint, install remaining small details, some decal placards here and there then this one will be finished.
There is a beautiful 50 cal assembly to mount on top before it’s all said and done.

Here is that video link for the MRAP walk around.
 
 

A nice set of side mirrors. Delicate. Must resist dumb thumbing it down the road during this build. Maybe leave the doors off till the end?

Detail inside the doors not shabby either. Suicide doors. That’s what we used to call rear doors that opened from front to back. My old ‘64 Lincoln Continental had them like that. What a beast that car.

 

Even the inside top (headliner?) of the cab gets a lot of detail. This model begs for seat belts and harnesses.
 
 

I've been wanting to build this one for quite a while and now it's time to roll up the sleeves. I'm taking different approach on this build, I'm building her as she looks in the Vasa Museum except fully masted and rigged as if they found the complete ship, there will be no guns, paint etc. My first course of action is to introduce more graining into the ship to give it a more weathered look, this process will take a few months. Thanks for looking.
 
Michael D.
 

I just had these arrive for new stock today:
 
Pin Vice and 10pc Drill Set – VANGUARD MODELS
 
I have had my pin vice for over 30 years and have used it for every single model I have built when a powered drill isn't needed.
 
In other news, I finished the Indy masts and yards plans today, just the rigging plans left to do. Plan sheets will be B2 size (980x680mm), and I think around 26 in total.
 
 

Overall length
(with Flying Jibboom) - 1345mm
(without Flying Jibboom) - 1247mm
Hull Only - (approx.) 880mm
 
Height Overall - Approx 875mm
 
Width of Main Yard and Stunsail Booms tips- 500mm
 
Planned delivery date - When it's ready! Am hoping end of this year.
 
Price - Between £1250 and £1350, but this can change.
 
Today I completed mast and yard drawings, so 'just' the rigging plans left to do for my part...
 
ETA - Had this arrive today..