BLACK VIKING

Evening all,   another slight  update  on my 5th Line KGL   -  hands  now painted,  back packs with Grey Coats  and straps,   facings done  and details to the Shako's,   not far to go with these  than I will be back on some more 2nd KGL Light.
 
OC.

what the heck........no time like the present......right?!?!?    after I logged off,  I figured that it would take no time at all to take a few pictures.....I also have a picture of that tool I was tell'in you about.   I bought this as an assortment........I was going to see if they would work with this project,  but I've pulled the trigger on the supplied windows and doors.  so I'll save these for other projects {the mind of a pack rat  }  the scary part is..........I DO have something in mind.........I just have to get started on it ***huge rabbit hole***   the assortment comes as ten packs of twelve......come complete with the clear glazing and shades { for all you Peter Noone fans  }

 

 

 

they have a larger set too.......I think over 200 pieces......but I think you have to order the glazing separately.  heck......who knows......I may even build my OWN house    we'll see what happens!
 
about the tool........this was given to me a while back.  I had no idea what the heck it was.  when I started working on the PT boat,  I used it to make a couple handles..........and that's when it hit me.  it's use is to make the bends for grab Iron handles and brass railings.  loosen the knob and position the brass to whatever step you need...tighten and bend away  

another thing to add to the project,  is that I've saved all the cut outs from the larger windows.  I figured they would make great chimneys.  what the Grabhandler is sitting on,  is a piece of artist's poster board.......to keep me from hacking up the table.  I saw that was happening and I came up with this stuff that was in the closet gathering dust.   forgot why I bought it.......

I see a large mat in my future..........
 

I did some work during my work week.........surprisingly {wonders never cease}.  I need to fit the rest of the windows,  so I can paint the entire lot.  still flip flopp'in on the color,  so while I was cutting the windows out of the powerhouse walls,  I can bat it around in my head.  the templates that I cut out don't match the size of the wall billets,  which the outer wall is already done in a brick motif.  I decided not to downsize the overall size of the building,  but drop the height..........about 10 mm should be good.   I was also going to leave the walls and scratch build the eaves and pitched roof,  but I ended up pitching the roof using this 10 mm spec,  leaving enough to box in the soffits.  the back wall has no windows........the side walls are identical......only the front wall has a door {so much for fire codes}.  I thought I had taken some pictures of the assembly.....but I thought wrong.

 

the corners will have moldings to hide the bare wood.......I painted up some .5 x 3 mm strip stock to cover them.   wish I had 2 mm,  but this is all I got at this point in time.  I added some form of framing inside to help strengthen the structure.  with all the windows and doors cut and delegated,  I can paint them........I went with a dark gray.

the kit did not supply anything for the glass,  so now the question is,  whether to use that tinted cello I have on hand,  or use clear stuff {which I also have plenty}.  I find that today's clear product packaging does a great deed to keep me well stocked {and in different thicknesses too}.  I also ordered an assortment of windows from Micro Mark, produced by Tichy.......I'll show you what they look like in the next update......they are pretty cool  unlike the boiler house,  I decided to drop a floor in there for the second level.   this kinda forces my hand......now it is likely that I will do it for the boiler house.   the last thing I did before we had to go out again,  was to add the side sills for the rafters and A frames,  which will be likely from scratch as well.

hope to get more done.......I'm on the week end  
 

I got a chance during the past week to work on this project,  but time wasn't on my side to present it.   as mentioned,  I got to paint the exterior of the boiler house.  to clear this up { I was confused too}  the larger structure is the boiler house......the smaller brick building is the power house.  as said,  I used the same green that I used on the PT boat.

 

I'm kinda debating whether I want to do floors in it.  I decided to do the single smoke stack .......glued the four sides together.

I gave it a bottom.......cut them from scratch,  since the supplied pieces didn't fit.  the top wasn't flush,  so I added another piece on the top.

the windows took some time to clean up......I still need to paint them.   debating what color to paint them..........white to me,  seems kinda residential,  don't you agree?!?!    the smoke stack will fit on the back wall.....the one facing you in the above picture.  the instructions are pretty vague on the piping,  so research is under way.

I finally took the B&M snow plow out of the closet.......this was my early stab at a diorama

for some reason {I didn't use flash},  they came out kinda dark.  I was just going to do a bit of scenery and a scratch built structure or two,  signs,  and other railroad bits.  this structure kinda changed that,  causing me to think larger.   that's where I am on the snow plow.......I was working on the wings.

 

I had gone to Hobby Town to get the trucks and couplers.  I even have the slips........these are Bettendorf trucks.

whether it's my goof or what,  the front trucks don't have the ability to turn too tight a radius.

I had to redo the cupola.....broken or misshapen parts.......I would have to look in the old log on her to recall

it was 2011 when I got it.......not much was done.  it was fun getting her to this point.  I do have a tool to make grab irons........know  I have a picture of it somewhere.  I even dug out the decals I bought for her.  for a chuckle,  I even put the military train car on the track.......that includes a ramp / platform, so there's something else to plan for.
 
before I forget.......my excursion didn't pan out much......Hobby Lobby is limited on what they carry for plastruct.  I'll have to do the corner molding from scratch,  unless I can go to Hobby Town.......I'm sure they have more.
 

Cargo finished - at least the bit that will be visible. Both large and small barrels.
 

 

 
Cargo arranged in position. In the real world they'd have been wedged tightly together - with wedges.
 

 

 
And a start on the main decking.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Main deck planking complete. And starting to add the removable planks to go above the hold.
 

 
 
 

 

 
All the removable planks glued in place except the ones left off to show the cargo, stacked off to one side. I think I'll make an extra crewman and show him putting the last of them in place. 
 

 
 
 

 
And the mast and yard dry fitted to give an idea of proportions. 
 

 
Next to make the windlass, then the steering oar and the castles for the bow and stern. 
 
Coming along nicely.
 
Steven
 
 

OK. I've done a bit of research. Certainly there is a wide range of barrel sizes - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_wine_cask_units
 

 
But if you look at mediaeval illustrations, particularly of wine barrels, they generally seem to have been pretty big -
 
        
 
   
 

 
Maybe I'll go with the idea of different sized barrels. Thanks for the suggestion, Druxey and Mark.
 
Steven
 
 
 
 
 
 

I appreciate that very much, Mark and David.  It’s all a bit overwhelming, but my sister and I are a team, and I think we are on the right track.

In the US units that use a lot of captured vehicles are called a "rag tag circus"  😉
 
https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-history/rag-tag-circus-stole-vehicles/

 

Floor panel in place, completing the first day's work.
 
Figure 18a:
 

 
EDIT : Noticed a terrible terrible mistake, luckily only in less than an hour after assembly, before the glue totally dried! It was this close to make it total garbage or very costly to revert. I glued the floor panel in the wrong direction and I always double check the instructions. This train is very symmetrical, yet it doesn't forgive even a slightest assumption that any part is symmetrical. Do not repeat my mistake, if you build this kit!
 
Now looking back, actually what mislead me was that, it looked like the "front" face of the board would face up. You know, the face where the laser cuts are clearer. However it appears that you should glue the "rear" face facing up. It will be covered with carpets, but still, one would easily assume that the front face would face up. Anyway, always check the photos and instructions!
 
So, I removed the floor very carefully using knife, cleaned the glue remains, sanded, flipped the panel and glued back in correct orientation. What I mean by correction looks like below. The small slot in the circle mark should be on the opposite side.
Figure 18b:
 
 
 
 
That's all for today.
Thanks for watching!

На данный момент занимаюсь внутренней обшивкой бортов (вишня) с круглыми портами для пушек (орех).   

Hull planking on Boat 15 finally finishes. Next job would be fitting the rubbing strakes and capping to the gunwale. Also some filling and trimming job is needed on the stempost and breasthook(shape needs to be corrected).
     Some water decals for the boat plaques arrived today. The original photo eched parts supplied in the Artesania Latina kit is placed bellow it for comparison. One could easily notice that the AL plaques are all hopelessly overscaled.

Okay, for all those who are interested, here's a lesson in card model error creep.
 
In this first photo, I have used my incredibly expensive and precise calipers to measure the width of a slot in one of the wing spars. As you can see, this slot is about 0.4 - 0.5 mm wide.

 
The billet that contains the part that will fit into that slot is also about 0.4 - 0.5 mm wide, which of course means that the part should fit snugly into the slot -- no problem.

 
Now before we go further, we must keep in mind that a card model kit is designed and printed so that it can be built without after-market laser-cut frame sets. Normally, the internal frames would be glued onto either chipboard or laminated sheets of card and then cut out. It's up to the builder to make sure that the cardboard + printed parts + glue (this last part is often overlooked) comes out to the desired thickness, or about 0.4 - 0.5 mm in this instance.
 
In many instances, if a laser-cut replacement part is used, the printed part is simply omitted from the construction. But what if a printed part has color on it, i.e. it's supposed to be visible after construction? Take a look at this next photo -- here I've measured the thickness of an internal bulkhead. It's a laser-cut part + printed part + glue. Notice it is now about 0.6 mm thick, not 0.4 - 0.5 mm. That's because of the added thickness of the printed part (printed on bond paper) and glue; it would be even thicker if the part were printed on card stock. We're only talking about 0.1 mm of error here, but the key word in error creep is creep -- little errors can add up to irksome headaches in precision kits.

 
The solution in this case was to cut off and use only the colored portion of the printed part, thus avoiding the extra 0.1 mm that would have been added to the end of the floor piece if the entire printed part had been used.

 
Will this reduce error creep in this model? We hope so! Stay tuned to find out if it worked. 🙂

Thanks, Tony and Pat. And thanks everybody for the likes.
 
Pat, I wouldn't be too worried about the speed with quality like yours. And the time you take to do the research to get it right. Amazing that such a (relatively) recent ship as Victoria, built in the days of photography and printed manuals should be so hard to get correct information on. But she was a bit of a trailblazer, and not enough people were taking photos or writing stuff down.
 
Tony, I've seen your very informed comments on other people's builds, but haven't seen your own log. Am I missing something?
 
Anyhow, I do seem to be on a bit of a roll, which is nice. Earlier, particularly during the planking, it seemed as if I wasn't getting anywhere fast. So this makes a nice change.
 
I've added intermediate frames in line with the mast step, to make a pozzie for the knees. Eventually there will be intermediate frames between every pair of frames you see here.
 

 
 
 
And here are all the knees in position.
 

 

 

 
The only problem is that I was planning to have some of the removable planks above the hold removed, so some of the cargo would be visible, but the mast step assembly is so pretty I really don't want to cover it up as in the Ijsselcog's archaeological report (referenced above)
 
"In the area around the mast step the remains of a removable or false ceiling was found. It consisted of longitudinal timbers, placed on the first and second ceiling strakes and covered with loose planks and dunnage (Fig. 16). Salix twigs, branches, and straw were abundant across the whole width of the false ceiling.
This construction would have kept the cargo dry by separating it from accumulating bilge-water and, at the same time, covering the open space between the floortimbers. The false ceiling and the remains of what were probably shifting-boards in the rear of the ship are indicators for the internal layout of cargo space. It is plausible that the cog was able to carry a load of casks amidships for which a dry, horizontal, upper cargo deck was reserved. The shifting-boards in the rear could have contained sacks of merchandise, such as grain."
 
and the reconstruction drawing in my post #173. I'll have to think about it a bit and decide which way I want to go.
 
[Edit - But looking again at that drawing, are they perhaps showing that the layer of planking, branches etc isn't over the mast step assembly - at least not over the knees I took so much trouble about? Hard to be sure, but it would help a lot if that were so.[/Edit]
 
Starting on the frames for the pointy bit at the stern.
 

 
And here's where the wood with the forked grain from an earlier post comes in handy.
 
    
 
    
 
 
    
 

 
Now I need to make and put in the breast hook and the beam clamps and deck beams for the after deck.
 
Coming along . . .
 
To be honest it's been very hard resisting the temptation to make the castles, but I found out the hard way with my dromon that it's a bad idea to make something before you know the space it has to fit in and the other things it has to fit around. All in good time.
 
Steven
 
 

Progress on the barrels- 
Whilst I wait for some resin printed barrels to arrive, I thought I'd have a go myself anyway.
UHDPE was no good - if I had a CNC machine or metal lathe it might have worked, but this is slippery difficult material. 

 
So ditched that and found some 25mm beech dowel, and did a little turning on the DIY lathe.
 
 
 

 

 
Decided to see how these will look compared to the 3d printed ones, then make a decision.
 
Anyway, there will be a pause now until the next post as after 2 years of this blasted pandemic our children who live abroad are coming home to visit for a couple of weeks! The shipyard is therefore closing for a bit so that I can put first things first!
 

 
 

Winch fitting for mast...

 

 

 

the left over wood is the roof........I was going to paint them aluminum and probably weather them......likely since the fresh paint will be shiny     I was on the fence with the overall color.......I'm thinking green though.  I have that can of flat green I used on the PT boat......I figure that with flat white window frames,  that I will need to make.  materials not supplied in the kit.  here is the Green I was thinking of.

darker I could go with a flat medium green......I've always like that color    the metal siding your talking about...........well,  I have two choices now  

this is the stuff I just bought.......it has wider ripples.  you can see that there are some minor defects,  but I can either try to scribe them out,  or leave them,  chalking it up to the building enduring occasional hail storms and such.  I was going through my plastic sheeting,  and found a package of aluminum siding with narrower ripples.

that's a sheet of .005 brass behind it......I have other sizes that came with the brass assortment I got from Micro Mark.  I have odd pieces too......

good picture showing the ripple indentation.  I've got other stuff.......copper and such.......I am such a pack rat     I hear you on the wood thickness,  but I'm having some thoughts on the rafter parts.......this lead like metal is something to work with...probably Britannia,  but not sure......all it says is that they contain lead {not for small children}.   for the exterior window framing,  I ran into a slight dilemma.........most of what I have is .5 X 3 mm strip and would be a bit out of scale.  I did find my assortment of mahogany strip that is a mix of 1 and 2 mm widths.  I think I have enough.

another trip to Hobby Lobby might be in order......I believe they have 1/64 basswood sheet that might work better for the roof.  the metal stuff is good, but I think a backing might give it some stability.  I may even resort to card if all else fails.
 
drat........I gave you folks a preview of my next update 
 

I completed the nose gear repair.   this is probably the easiest repair I've made yet..........having that flat part that was so easy to drill through.   all I had to insure was the angle that the gear protruded.

 

I was hoping I could highlight the flat part in there....best I could do.   other added parts are the belly turret and the skid plate.   the skid plate is interesting.......I think they took note of the damage to the belly turret,  that B 17's received  in some of their less than perfect landings.

 

I used window maker to fill in the critical gaps.  when touched up,  I want to keep these lines,  barring these obvious gaps.   more soon  

Evening all,   more time playing with my dio  - firstly I had to carefully  cut the figures  off there pre-cast plastic basses  - just need to be careful not to cut their feet off,   then it  was  placement  time  - just a wee bit of CA  under each foot  and positioned,  one of the KGL  has died  and was placed on the grass  - a couple are on the roof of the Piggery firing down on the French  and the rest are scattered.
Starting to get a bit more populated now  Forty KGL  in the farm so far.
 
OC.

Evening all,   next set of 2nd KGL  detailed - washes and  dusting  then spray flat top coated with my airbrush.
 
OC.

Evening all  - a wee bit more progress  tonight,   the Captain has had waistband sash painted, also his Shako brades done in silver, the rest of the troops I have painted the water  canister belts in a light brown  to simulate leather, and I am now painting their trousers.
 
OC.

The particular challenge of erecting the aft bulwark pieces is that I don’t have the stock stern plate, in place, to guide their placement.  It is helpful that the forward bulwarks are in place, as they provide an anchor point, but they do nothing to help establish the slope of tumblehome that should be present.
 
The first step was to spend as much time as necessary fettling the lap joint to ensure that the part seated snuggly, along the upper main wale.  With that much established, I could secure additional glue tabs to the inside face of the bulwark, just as I had done with the forward bulwarks.  It was also necessary to fir-out, behind the upper main wale, so that these glue tabs had a firm landing spot.
 
Whereas with the forward bulwarks, I glued the bulwarks in-place, and then secured the gusset pieces, afterwards - the process reverses for the aft bulwarks because it is the gussets that establish the slope of tumblehome by providing a positive stop to clamp against.
 
At the very beginning of this project, I drew the transom by simply tracing the outer profile of the bulwark ends to the increased breadth of the transom; the additional 1/2” would enable me to add the missing 6th window at all three levels.  This was my initial drawing:
 

 
As a side note, it is funny to look back at my first attempt to draw the quarter galleries; the results were poorly scaled and relatively crude, as I was attempting to include all five false windows along the lower tier if the QG.
 
Anyway, at the time that I made this drawing, it was pointed out to me that the top of the bulwarks appear to flare outboard, again, at the very top.  Back then, I was not too concerned about this.
 
At this stage, though, I can see that the finished bulwark piece does not look right at all, if I allow it to flare out at the top; the whole upper structure of the ship changes in a way that is neither pleasing, nor reflective of actual practice.  The only thing to do, here, was to shape my gussets in a way that would pull these bulwarks in more, thus providing a nicely sloping tumblehome.
 
Frankly, this is more art than science.  I simply manipulated the bulwark, inboard towards the centerline, until I had a pleasing profile.  I then took a measurement from the bulwark rabbet to the centerline, along the bottom edge of this window tier: 1 1/2” to center, and 3” overall.  This seemed like it would be adequate.
 
So, I clamped and taped the bulwark in this attitude, so that I could make card gusset templates.  I then made the gussets with all necessary beveling, and added a prop leg to make them a little stiffer for the eventual glue-up of the bulwark piece:
 


 
I went to bed feeing really good about this.  The part would have some minor tension, but I had increased glue surface area significantly enough to cancel out those forces.  In fact, there will be a third, aft-most gusset fitted after the glue-up.
 
Then, I woke up the next day and remembered my original layout drawing.  I took some measurements and found that I had effectively reduced the available space for this top tier of six windows by 1/4”.  In fact, my new stern, at this top-most level, won’t be much broader than the stock kit stern-plate, which only has five windows.  I began to feel a bit of panic creeping in.
 
Before glueing-in the bulwark piece, I thought it might be prudent to take some really good measurements, and do a little drafting to see what a revised window layout might look like.  One quarter inch doesn’t sound like much, but it is quite significant across this short span.  If I found that the reduced breadth resulted in a cramped window layout, I would be forced to buy back at least an 1/8”, in breadth, thus compromising my ideal tumblehome.  This would require very fiddly firring of the gusset pieces I had just glued-in, so my fingers were crossed tight.
 
Here is the new layout that I arrived at this morning:
 

 
And here, I’ve detailed one pane to get a better sense of the proportions.:
 

The original by Berain:

 
Mine isn’t the best drawing, but it’s good enough to get a sense of proportion.  I’ll do a much better vellum drawing, when the time comes for it.  I found that I only had to reduce each window pane by 1/32”, and each pilaster by a heavy 1/64” to get back the heavy 1/4” I had lost.
 
And so, I will go ahead and glue-in the upper bulwark, in the next few days.  I’ve been busily filling the skid joins, touching up the bulwarks, and establishing the location of the mizzen chanels.  A whole lot still has to happen in the next two weeks, but I am confident that I will be on-track for the show.
 
Thank you for stopping by!

Evening all,     I have done a bit more to the 2nd KGL  group  -  jackets and a wee bit more of a washe to their hair.
 
OC.

as mentioned.....more has been done.  the frames are barely visible on the tail turret glass,  so I didn't bother with them.  it is assembled and ready to be added when the time comes.

questionable about the open spaces,  but this is it.  the fuselage is together now........the tape still on,  but is now removed.

the dorsal turret was trapped in the fuselage.......it's free to move,  but it's very tight {no matter}.  the nose and blue field has been touched up.....I'm working my way around the fuselage to clean it up.

 

one of the blue cowls is ready to be added to the wing.  it didn't fit very well though.......I cut out the 'flatted' sides inside,  to make them rounded.  it was cemented in place when the fit was good.

 

I tried to touch up the other one from all the bleeds,  but it is too soon.  this one here dried for a couple of days before I touched it up.   I will just have to wait till the paint is totally dry before I attempt it again.  still other things I can do though  

Patrick, PKD, Frank, EJ, thanks for your very kind words much appreciated.
 
Finally working on the beakhead bulkwards. I have put this off for too long - mostly because I did not "get" how to correctly scratch the two sides, given that the lower deck support framings as well as the deck were scratch built.
I think that I have it down now -- will post when it's all done.
Thanks for your likes, comment, and or just dropping by.
Big continued thanks as well to members that are following this project.  thank you