BLACK VIKING

Lining the Interior
 
The interior of the cabin is lined with 30 X 0.6 mm mahogany veneer.  This turned out to be trickier than it seemed.  There are some difficult angles.  So I made some card templates like these:
 

 
 
So here is the first sheet installed:
 

 
Petty well complete mow - as is often said "you can never have too many clamps"
 

 
 
The floor is planked with 1X3 mm mahogany much like the deck of deck of a ship but much simpler - no bow or stern to allow for! 
I cut these planks accurately to length using a jig attached to my RP cutter - I have had a few versions of these cutter but this is the best so far - all metal construction and gives very reproducible results:
 

 
Just a couple of curved planks to go behind the doors:
 

 
 

 
and so the completed interior looks like this:
 

 
Now to the exterior planking.
 
John

Minor update...
Fuselage decaling done.....
 

Working on finishing the wings now, Then a final once over for missing stuff...
 
Finish coming soon now...
 
EG

The running rigging of the spritsail is ready. Although not in use, all necessary ropework for this sail should be in place.
Paintings and drawings from this era served as example.

current status

Next to do, the fore sail
 
 
 

hello gents.......her are a few more pictures of the tank.......almost forgot I took these.   they were still in the camera.   I did the odds and ends,  like highlight the grates and rear vents with flat black.........headlights........tools and cables.......just finish things.  the decals are on it now,  but I've yet to do the weathering thing......I will when I calm down.  frantic search....don'tcha know  

 

 

 

 

yep.......been kinda crazy 'round here........enough that I truely believe that the admiral wanted to kill me   but I persevered   there is quite a story here.....so much so,  that I even wrote a blog about it..  I'll tell ya the story in the next log   {you'll love it J}

Simulation of the first pair of forward's composed down-rails :
 

 

good afternoon everyone
 
put some go faster stripes on, as i bring this side to completion

good evening everyone
 
most of the main coach body work is done now, a few pretty strips still to be added
i may have to rethink the suspension straps, they are very springy and quite saggy
the door hinges are on well the rebates are done  (they will not be opening) 
i used a bit of tape to hold the drivers cab in position, the glue in the coach is to offset the front weight
nothing is fixed yet

The finnished and numbered model.
The contents of the box were not really what the drawing on the box promised 👎
It was a challenge to correct this 

Thanks for following this build
 

More of the DUKW driver: 
Daz file cleaned up and made printable by Game Print. Bad gaps all filled in with no serious loss of detail. 
Pics show the figure fresh off the printer and post-cure, no fettling yet. But depending on the skill of the digital sculptor, some amazing detail can be included, as evidenced by the lacing, cuffs, collars, face. Of course a lot of this would be lost in smaller scales... this big boy is 1:8. BTW, I didn't bother buying the hair package! But he'll be wearing a helmet anyway.
 

Thanks everybody for the suggestions. Fortunately it looks like @henrythestaffy is coming to the rescue by 3D printing a whole bunch of them for me. My heartfelt thanks, mate.
 
And this is the reason I'm having so much trouble making the deadeyes out of natural materials:
 

 
That deadeye is 2mm on each side. I haven't been able to make any myself that are smaller than 3mm. And keeping in mind that those three holes have to be big enough for cotton thread to fit through . . .
 
Steven
 
 

E.J,
Thanks for your notes - Yes, it is much more work indeed. And as you stated - bits don't fit right. I had planked the lower balcony flooring using the kit's provided template piece. Well as much as I "played with it" it just was not going to fit as needed.
So had to make one from scratch and plank that one as well. And then I noticed - Yikes - that one of the door hinges of the foredeck bulkhead had separated. Luckily, I was able to separate the framing without causing any other damage. Door hinges are now like Fort Knox lol. 
When it comes to interior work your current log is way Up There - Well done indeed!!. Haven't reached that stratosphere  yet. On my list of attempts for a future build. As always thanks for following this log.
 
Cheers,
 

Hi mates,
Just sharing a bit of frustration that has now come around to bite. Early on I had decided (insecurity) to square tuck the stern as well as adding four detailed cannon door framings. Round tuck two years ago seemed too difficult for me to achieve properly – hmmm? The square tuck dimensions – have now come back to create the following issues.
Just sharing lol… image texts go through that part of this build
 
That said as I was putting this post together it has helped me to more clearly find solutions…
 
As always thanks so much for your likes, posts, or just silently dropping by to have a look.
 
Cheers,
 

Ok Brothers, I'm still here..
Was a bit under the weather again so I took the opportunity do so some research into F-104's and Paul Coudyrette's Rub n Buff Technique... 
Found a lot of pics of his models especially his Bare Metal birds... It appears to me that he's built most of the various manufacturers bare metal aircraft models, in his 50+ year modeling career, including the B-58, the B-25, the B-17 and all the various fighter aircraft... He was a master of brushwork/fingerwork, never used an airbrush, in fact he didn't even own one... You will see why I want to learn this technique...

These are all Paul's builds... Yeah, that's what I said as my jaw was breaking when it hit the floor... Unfortunately there is no tutorial on his technique and he passed some six years ago...  Of the numerous requests in the forums he frequented was to do a tutorial, he would always say he explained his method in other forums/threads, occasionally giving a hint of what he does, but never in detail... I did find one post where he outlines his technique, (probably cause he got tired of answering the questions over and over) but then when you spend decades figuring out how to do something like we see above, it is time to admire and not question... (I also found a post on what he uses for those colored heat stains on RnB and pretty much all his tinting for BMF's)
There is a video of his technique being demonstrated but it is in French and although it does show the finish as applied in basic technique, it doesn't go into a lot of detail in what was happening while doing it or how to finish it off...
 
So I need to do some more testing... I want to make sure I understand his technique fully and that was his advice, try, try and more try... He was willing to point the way, but he stated more than once that the best way to learn it was to try it and experiment, just like he did over 60 years of modeling...
 
I think that is why you don't see very many models done this way (almost none except his) No one is willing to do the work to learn and perfect his technique...
 
Paul Coudyrette, A master modeler, maestro with a paintbrush.....
 
Anyway, This is my next step...

Yeah putting the main fuselage halves together without doing too much damage to the painted finish... This is alternative 2 because I'm leaving the engine out, in fact I'm thinking through how I want to present this plane again... Feeling a bit uncomfortable with the everything open look, it's not my style... So I think I'm gonna go back to the image of what she shows in the video and let it be that....
 
Like she returned from a successful mission...
 
Anyway onwards, testing won't take too long... and I'll probably do a few simple parts first like the wing tanks just to make sure I got it right...
 
 
 
 

good evening everyone
 
4 wheels on my wagon (well not quite on but complete), tonight i made the outer wheel bandings
the chassis which was stripped down yesterday, was primed and now has a new coat on, pin strips well complete it 
at present i am rebuilding it, looks better than before, but even further removed from what it should look like
 
 

Forget Hero Forge, see elsewhere here about Daz (and probably others).
I was able to get a WW2 army uniform for a figure, pose him, and he's now on my printer. Big guy, for my 1:8 scale DUKW. 

Following preparation works about rails :
 

 

 
 
 
 

At last a day pic even with cloudy sky.
Main deck rails, weathering and rigging need to be added.
Using a small sand paper I made parallel (almost) lines of worn on weathered deck. Looks convincing I think

Alive and kickin’, part II.
 
I have finally painted the last bulwark to satisfaction.  Here it is, dry-fit:
 

 
I have fitted all the channels and scraped away paint in the glue locations:
 

 
A couple of troublesome little details needed to be resolved.  First, I was thinking about how the plank-ends of the f’ocsle and quarter deck were supposed to resolve, over the last exposed beam.  My first instinct was to have the plank ends exposed, with a slight overhang beyond the beam.
 
The more I studied other models, though, it dawned on me that this would not be correct for French practice in the latter half of the 17th C.  Take a look at the following examples:
 

 
On Michel Saunier’s SR, the plank ends are let into the last beam, which is dimensionally deeper to accept the plank thickness.
 
The same can be seen on the louis Quinze:
 

 

above photos courtesy of Marc Yeu
 
So, I decided to cut back my deck piece, and I will in-fill a strip of styrene with a just-broken edge to highlight the demarcation ever so slightly:
 

 
My f’ocsle beam isn’t perfectly straight, apparently, but this discrepancy will be concealed by the f’ocsle break railing and belfry.  You will see the detail at the deck entry points.  I will also apply a simple half-round moulding to cover the joint between the beam and the applied strip.
 
Next, I realized that I needed to cut-back more of the kit deck ledge so that I could abut my quarter deck beam to the hanging knee, as I did at the f’ocsle.  This shortening of the Q-deck also provided more clearance for the main halyard tackle.  I’m not sure if I’m correctly referencing the line, but it reaves through the large bitt, just aft of the mast (with a piece of blue tape on it).
 

 
Lastly, I wanted to make-up the supporting brace that ties each successive level of the stern together.  I laminate two pieces of 1/16” stock together, and leave them to dry over a camber former.
 
The one caveat is that I wanted to introduce ever so slightly more camber over the next two levels of the stern.  I had done so, along the top edge of the mid-balcony rail.  Here is how that compares with the former:
 

 
The difference is barely perceptible, but it is one of many small details that will improve the overall perception of the thing.
 
For my lamination, I applied three pieces of green tape to the center inch of the former:
 

 
And the match was spot-on:
 

 
When I get to the top tier of windows, I may do as many as six pieces of tape, as the camber would be greatest at the poop and poop-royal decks.
 
Well, that’s where things stand for now.  Hopefully, tomorrow, I will glue-in the bulwark.  Then, I can cope the brace to delineate the upper limit of the second window tier, while strengthening the bulwark connection.  Then, I can pattern the window piece in cardboard and do an exact layout drawing.
 
Thank you all for your continued interest in the project.
 
Best,
 
Marc
 

Ending all the back-stern of ship, next step, the forward rails :
 

 

RAF Sullom Voe in the Shetland Islands. Sunderland and Catalina flying boats of 330 and 333 Norwegian Squadrons moored off shore. The land on the other side of the Voe is now occupied by the Sullom Voe Oil Terminal.
watercolour 16" X 11" 

That's just beautiful work, Richard!

A view of the seat frame located on the quarterdeck compared with a picture of the full size Olympias. I have built my model as closely as possible to Coates design drawings (the drawings sheets contradict one another in some cases - as you would expect from what was essentially a prototype for a reconstruction of a warship which hasn't been built in living memory...). These include:
1.Differences in framing of the stern.
2. Removal of the footrest from the Trierarch's chair.
3. Differences in the leather upholstering of the Trierarch's chair.
4. Removal of the handhold post at the head of the ladders from the quarterdeck to the gangway.
5. Additional bracketry alongside the steering oar slots.
I am sure some of these changes were incorporated at build and others were introduced as sea trials progressed. Not unlike my own experience of  designing  and building modern ships!
 

Thanks everyone for the nice comments
So, did some experimenting. 
The result should represent a winter camouflage at the end of winter, with a somewhat rusty appearance. And the tank needs now an urgent spring clean up and repaind job.

Almost ready

Surrender