BLACK VIKING

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 

Hi all .
I have been a bit busy on the FD . The planking has been finished and sanded down. I was going to second plank the hull but I like the look of it as she is meant to look all beaten up.
Next job planking the decks and capping the bulwarks. All the wood has been left over from all the other builds I have done so this has cost me next to nothing so far and quite pleased with the outcome. I'm not very good at carving so I plan to use modelling clay for the carvings so just wondering what the best one to use .
Thanks for following 
Martyn

Here is a photo I found on the net for the Su-33 Flanker D cockpit. My kit came with a pilot figure, and I may use it this time around. Usually I don't use it.
 

Hi,
following Denis' suggestion, I went a bit on with my build. I must admit that I find this phase of preparing the large fuel tanks a bit boring and also finishing the many missiles is not very exciting. I should have thought earlier to close the slots that are there to hold the tanks so to omit them and display the airframe in its sleek and beautiful shape. Too late for that, these are the tanks now after the usual black followed by several layers of paint:

Transparent clear and matt are still missing. I will not weather them much, because I do not want them to catch too much attention. Meanwhile, I brush painted the pilot's seat which is a QB resin replacement. This is the only aftermarket used for this build, if we exclude the new decals. This is the most prominent piece that will be visible through the closed canopy glass and I wanted it to look cooler than the simplified part supplied with the kit.

I painted it with Tamiya acrylic paints, Vallejo metallic for the buckles and the I sealed everything with a light coat of clear matt. Finally, the cockpit is now complete:


That's all for now, 
thanks for your interest,
Dan
 

It's been a while since the last update. Mostly sails and rigging for the foremast - I thought I'd be on the mainmast by now, but it's been going very slowly. Quite a lot of fiddly work, but not much dramatic to see where I've been.
 
I had to replace the fore-topgallant shrouds - they were looking particularly tacky, the ratlines had gone "feathery" at the ends.

 
  
Fore topsail braces

Adding the new topgallant shrouds.
 
I'd discovered the main topgallant had bent both forwards and sideways, so I had to remove the stay (which had gone loose), bend the topgallant mast straight with my trusty soldering iron and put in a temporary rope holding the fore and main topgallants taut so a new stay could be added. 

Adding blocks to the fore topsail stay for the forecourse bowlines to run through 

And the corresponding blocks on the bowsprit.

Combined fore topsail sheets/forecourse lifts

Fore topgallant stay added while temporary rope makes sure it will be taut.

Forecourse bowlines in place

Topgallant lifts, clewlines and sundry blocks. I've also glued the parrel truck to the mast, with a (non-historic) small wedge to hold it in place.

Overall view
 

And then - disaster! The topsail yard broke - possibly at an earlier mend. So after a lot of soul-searching I decided to cut away the robands and fish the yard (shouldn't be all that obvious when it's fixed.
 
Fish being cut to shape:

Yard glued back together

And fish glued in place

Robands replaced, along with the blocks for the sheet and brace.

And then another disaster - the bitts which were just end-glued to the deck, lifted off under the force of all the lines that were belayed to it.
 
I tried gluing it back on with a sort of spacer (made of balsa) to hold it in place:
 

No good at all. Just messed up the foredeck and the bitts came loose again immediately. I decided I had no option but to remove all the ropes that were belayed to the bitts and make a new set, this time with "pins" carved into the ends, to fit into holes in the deck. All very well, but there was no way I could get a drill into that confined space. I ended up drilling them by hand with the pointy end of a fine file, and an awl. VERY fiddly and time consuming. Unfortunately I did't take photos of the new bitts and the holes in the deck, but here they are glued in place. I'm just hoping they'll stay this time.
 

 
But this time I've added a new couple of side-rails that will take quite a few of the ropes that were belayed to the previous bitts. That should reduce the force on the join with the deck. Unfortunately there's a bit of shine from the (CA) glue, which I can't do much about.

Steven
 
 
 

 
 
 

A little bit of progress for today
- all the guns for lower deck
- ladders and grates
- started cleaning sides, s lot of shavings ((
Everything is under control of my doggo ))

Agreed!🙂

The Big Reveal!
 
The Lewis gun took about three hours to build, but now she is all done. I really enjoyed this build -- quite refreshing after the struggles with the GPM Hellcat. I can't recommend the Kartonowa Kolekcja kits highly enough -- try one! Now, enjoy the pictures!
 
First, the Lewis gun. The Allies didn't have synchronization gear at this point in the war, so the Lewis gun was mounted to fire above the propeller arc.
 

 
And now for the glamour shots!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 
 

 

 
And lastly, a family photo of the two KK kits together, the Nieuport and the DH.82A.
 

 
Thanks for looking in!

Update: engine, cowl, and propeller completed, but will leave the final installation for later. Struts for horizontal stabilizer added, but no control wires yet. The last significant assembly to do will be the Lewis gun.
 

Last pic for today -- tail skid (10 pieces).
 

Finished lifeboat and experimented a bit with lower deck. Still not happy but already better, especially with guns )

Another small (postcard) w/c 6" X 4"

A little more progress today

I was on line with idle hands not really needing anything, but wanting everything I didn't need and came across the Worx WX106L 8v rotary tool. It was offered for $29.00 with free shipping, I had to do a double take. Usually cordless rotary tools run close to $100.00, especially Dremel. I currently own several Worx tools and really like them: 20V weed eater, blower, 20v nail gun (just finished building a fence around my back yard with it, awsome tool) and a power share Makerx rotary tool using the 20v batteries, it's not truely a cordless rotary tool like the WX106L. Needless to say I bought one of the WX106L rotary tools and did the old walk of shame thing since I already owner 3 or 4 rotary tools not quite sure how many at the moment, but I;m sure my wife will point it out to me sooner or later.     
Now I owned several of the old Dremel 7.2v nicd/nimh cordless rotary tools and loved them, especially the fact that they had a removeable battery for charging and coulod be replaced when the battery got to weak. But they no longer make that model.
 
The WX106L has a built in lithium battery and came with half a charge, which is normal. It came in a nice plastic storage box, with several different bits, sanding drums, wire wheel and a USB cable for charging the rotary tool. You either plug it in to a computer or use a wall plug adapter, which I did. This tool has quite a bit of power over the old 7.2 Dremel and is about the same weight. I will put it through it's paces in a few days and report back as to how it performs.   
 
I probably should mention here that the Worx WX106L comes with a 3 year warranty, for a cordless rotary tool, that's pretty darn good. And from what I know of Worx, they stand behind their products. 
 
Update: I have put about 90 minutes of use on the Worx WX106L from using the cut off wheel, mini saw blade, sanding drum, grinding wheel and found that there is plenty of power to do most any job that a corded rotary tool can do. It's still on the initial charge! I have to find something I don't like about the tool, so not to really nit pick here, I don't care for the on and off button, which is flush mounted to the body of the rotary tool, which means when using the tool, you have to actually look for the on or off button, taking your eyes off of the work area each time. On all my Dremels and even the Sears rotary tools, the on off button was raised making it easier to find by feel.
 
Good points: I love the front mounted lights which helps these old eyes. I really like the soft start of the machine, unlike the hard starts of a Dremel. I also like the holding capacity of the lithium battery. 
 
PS: I thought I would add in here that the USB charging cable may be proprietary and made specifically for the Worx Rotary tool. I have several old cell phone chargers and USB cables and none have the extra wide end.  
 
Overall, I'm very pleased with my purchase and for $29.00, it makes it one of the if not the best purchase of the year for me so far. 

The road wheel/idler/drive sprocket assemblies are fairly complex. This one side took more than a couple of hours to clean up and assemble.

 
Too bad so much of the assemble gets covered with panels and will never be seen. However, s kit like this could make an incredible maintenance diorama.
 

Bowlines,
To the mast top, or not to the mast top...

After a constructive exchange of thoughts with one of our members via PM. It turned out that this method is not feasible.
That's why I did a live test on this model.

To the mast top, comes into contact with the top sail.

To the fore castle, comes into contact with the fore sail.

To the beak head, no problem.

Result.

With the fore mast ready i took some pictures in the garden.
Someone thought he wasn't getting enough attention...

A moment of panic,with me, not with the cat.

And get in the way 😇

Now without a cat



Thanks for following

I am sorry reading that. I have the same issue, I always wear compression socks and take anticoagulants during long haul flights. Unfortunately, sitting long hours in the office and at the hobby desk is not a good thing 😒. I try to make breaks and take my dog for long walks almost every day. I am not modeling these days, my models languish on the desk, but I prefer to walk in the sun, when I can.
Take care,
Dan

hello Sam!  so good to see you!  you caught me in the middle of one of my tangents..........   the instrument panel is a decal.......I sanded the molded detail off the part to get it to lay better on it.
 
...as for the procedure.....  bit of a circulation issue......the valves that line the veins that run up my legs are not as good as they used to be.  these valves hold back the blood as the heart pumps fresh blood to the legs and feet,  and keeps the blood from running back down between beats.  the result is pooling in the feet {mainly,  my left leg} and causes the feet to swell....it also developed what could be described as a lesion on the side of my heel.  in the legs,  there are three major veins.....the procedure shuts off one of the veins to lessen the amount of blood.  the way the doc explained it is weird........I think that if one vein is shut off,  that would increase the workload on the remaining veins.  the obvious thing here is that the veins return the blood......arteries are the ones that supply the blood.  I would think it more logical to shut one of those off.  but hey.......that's why my insurance pays them the big bucks     

Things have seemingly gone awry. Despite my best efforts at keeping the planks from curving up at the stem, it seems that is where it is going. I am trying to cut a curved plank out of sheet basswood because no amount of bending seems to be enough to fit to the bulwarks. I used some tape to get the curve and then traced it onto the sheet and, using a sharp knife, cut it out and sanded to size.
 

 

 

 
While that worked to get the curve, I am still thinking that the planks are curving up too much at the stem. You can seem from the “tick” marks, that they are all converging at the same point - like a starburst. I tried to figure out how to put drop planks in but, again, from my untrained eye, it seems that the drop plank won’t be longer than the first bulwark before it will be at full width, allowing me to put two half-width planks in. I thought that laying out the planks so that they lay flush on the bulwarks would keep me out of trouble but it seems that it just resulted in the convergence that I am dealing with now. Something happened early on that I now need to correct.
I feel that, somehow, the planks at the stem need to be wider. They can’t stay at the half-width they are now at. So I need to put a full width plank in, let it lay naturally on the bulwarks and fit in a drop plank or two further on towards the stern. This may not be realistic but, as I keep reminding myself, this will get painted anyway.
 
Here is what the bow currently looks like….
 

 

 
Thanks for looking.
Cheers,
Dave

Frist Stays:
 
Finally finished the second side of deadeyes and chainplates, probably my least favorite part of the build so far but at least now I'm ready to get into the rigging in earnest. After looking at lots of build logs and finished ships I wanted to serve the stays and shrouds, I just really like the look once they're served and it can be done with a hand machine so I got the Syren Serv-o-Matic and started practicing. I had some initial issues with fuzz on the practice bits I did and posted on the Masting, Rigging and Sails section, thread here: https://modelshipworld.com/topic/32544-thread-for-serving-rigging/ and by ordering a different thread, Guntermann Mara, and using a candle to melt off the fuzz I was able to get really good results so I've gone ahead and served by first two stays. One of the ideas in the discussion on serving thread was to use a very dark brown instead of black and I ordered both so I could try them and see which one looked best and I've decided to go with the dark brown on the San Felipe. Very happy with the way the serving looks and glad I decided to do that. Now just a zillion shrouds to serve.
 
I'm looking at constructing as much of the masts and yards as I can off the ship and then adding them as the rigging goes in place, this is a little different than how I constructed my Revenge and I'll see how it goes. It seems like the order here is about what works for me and I just have to try some slightly different things to know how they work for me. I'm also trying not to permanently tie anything off and leave some spare hanging so I can go back and adjust as things move slightly. I'm a bit afraid that things will get really untidy and it will be hard to determine which piece of thread comes from where as the number of loose threads build up but we'll see and if I need to I can go back and finish off areas where any movement should be over.
 
Foremast shrouds are next.

Thanks Jav!!!
 
This afternoon, the sun came out.... So I took the wing out to back porch to get some natural sunlight shots to confirm what I think I have...
 
Direct reflection...

Now she should start turning bluish silver as the aspect changes....


I think I've found the secret to doing this finish.... That is perfect coloration which changes as the light conditions and angle changes....
 
YAY TEAM!!!!
 
When I do the fuselage I will spell out the steps to getting this effect...
 
It looks even more stunning in real life.... Looks real...
 
I'm pleased with it....

Second RnB coat applied to the upper wing surfaces....

Looks good from here, consistent aluminum sheen with slightly darker splotches in streaks, I can't wait to get this out in some real sunshine...
 
With high flash to show the reflectivity....

The slightly darker streaks wash out in heavy light... It literally glows!!!  Yea Team! that is exactly the effect I was looking for....
 
Real sunlight will tell the tale.... Got to get the second coat on the bottom and then on to the fuselage and empennages....
 
I think it's going to turn out nice..

Steam Trawler 'Huddersfield Town' off the Faroe Islands w/c 16” X 11”

Thanks Dennis, I'm getting ready to silver her up....
Thank you and everyone for the good wishes... I just finished the dual scope procedure today, Doc said no cancer, top or bottom, didn't know what the mass was they found but it isn't stomach or colon cancer... He's ruminating on Diverticulitis, a huge relief if it is (common ailment for people our age) Will see my attending in a few days, maybe they will have a clue at that point....
 
Thanks all for the well wishes and prayers, My friends... they helped greatly...