BLACK VIKING

Yes that is a boat of the Vic in P. With an inner deck convenient for todays rower 😉
 

 
XXXDAn

Nicely
done.  

Progress is continuing, just finished Chapter 7.

Hello and thanks for your comments and likes
today I build the tiller for the rudder. After turning most of the handle, I had to glue it to a peace of wood. My fingers are too thick to hold it. It's 21 mm long, and the handle after the head has 1 mm Ø.

I carved mostly with my small V cutter and my carving knife. Using also small files. And that is the result

This is a little faking, because the tiller is too short to go through the slot 😐 But you would't see it 😇

And now in action, but not fast

I have three things I would like to give away:

A Model Shipways solid-hull Harriet Lane model kit

How to Make Old Time Ship Models by Edward W. Hobbs (1977). This hardcover book has foldout hull plans for the Royal Albert.

The Neophyte Shipmodeller's Jackstay by George F. Campbell (1976).

I was intending to build the Harriet Lane in retirement, which began five years ago, but my eyesight and dexterity have declined enough that I have decided to give it up. When I was young I built the Model Shipways Phantom and Forester models and scratchbuilt a small vessel.

So if you can make use of the model kit and books or maybe could use them to help someone get started in the hobby, just let me know.

Steve Dunham
Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania
sgdunham[at]verizon.net

Some time ago, I made the mistake of getting involved with the boats because of the oars. Of course, this was not without consequences ...

... Here is the white “big” launch from the kit and behind it a new “decent” 34 foot launch according to McKay's drawings.

Unfortunately, the planks of the inner floor gave way during printing, there was only a small usable remnant at the front and rear.

And if you man the boat, you can see straight away that the large boats were rowed “double banked”, i.e. 2 men per thwart and if the capstan is used, one thwart cannot be used.

Oar lengths inside and outside and the position to the rower and his arms seem to be correct.

But the inside floor still gives me pause for thought. As McKay draws it, it is 30-40 cm too low for the rower's legs and too high so that 50% of the load volume is lost. So it's a strange intermediate height

Somehow this still didn't fit. I then rummaged through my documents again and found what I was looking for, as these details are seldom shown.



Here is the small kit that has evolved as a result.

The inner floor to protect the hull now rests on the frames at the very bottom. The rowers' feet have been given a bar for this purpose.

Trial sitting ...

... and it fits reasonably well. With slightly straighter legs it even fits quite well.

So the other foot bars are also installed.

After that came the thwarts and the other interior ...

 




And again we had a rehearsal sitting ...

... even multiple ones.






This also seems to fit. The capstan is removable, so two more rowers could fit in.

But the next question is, what was the rigging like?



In terms of the mast positions, I would have guessed lugger rigging, which I was able to see live a few times in France, or perhaps sprit rigging, but I'll see what Steel has to say about that later. Above all, all the fittings on the hull are still missing, which are vera often omitted.

Greetings, DAniel
 
 

Started gluing the frames from each end and figured out I am missing a half a dozen frames in with the max size. All frames were leaning in one direction making it look like I had enough frames for the whole keel. So now I have to pick out my bending kit again and created some more frames.
Dyeing the frames as a I fix them, it will be around 65 frames.
 

Hello,
after I build the last days toggles in all variations, I build today the rudder. Tomorrow I will start then with the tiller.

Update:
 
Finally all rails attached and also the top of the hull given a few layers of WOP. Now that the top and bottom are finally in the oil it looks like a nice whole.
Long awaited to put the top in the oil, so happy to reached this stage. Also filled all the holes that were in the rails, so that it looks nice and uniform.
 
Next job seems to be the rudder  
 
I replaced the Chess tree patterns with my own, probably sanded the originals down a bit too much when removing the char. This made them a bit too narrow
 

 
This is how the Sphinx looks now:
 




 
 
 

good morning everyone
 
thank you for comments and likes
 
Wednesday day 22
having  marked out where the gunports go, a lot of them have been rebated to accept the lids in the shut/closed position, i quickly realised these lids are going to have to be put on at a later date, because i was finding that the sanding of the hull was hiding them. Not regretting doing them like this, but i can understand people questioning my logic behind it, (lol i dont want all guns run out, when under full sail).
lots of paint added, and i am still sanding areas that refuse to look good, lower wale added to just give me the warm fuzzy feeling that i have most things in the right place
 
 
 
this idea does not work for me, putting the lids on and then finishing the hull, as the gaps fill up and they become invisible

Whoops. That'll be a four month update break! Sorry all, life got in the way and progress has been slow on the Mary Rose. Developments have still been made though, between a few trips away and a new work contract (the boring parts of life). I'm going to condense a lot of the work I've done down into a few short photos as I can't actually remember the exact order some of this went on in, but the following is a summary of the last few months of steady work.
 
Here we go!
 
First, here's a full shot of the ship as she was in the first week of March. Excuse the backdrop - that's one of the Caldercraft instruction sheets. 

 
Here's some details; the parrel for the lateen yard on the mizzen, rigged following Anderson's diagrams, and the first of the 7-holed deadeyes set up on the mainmast. 

 
Here's the shrouds linked up on the mizzen:

 
And here's the whole line of mainmast shrouds tied down:

Honestly this was one of the main factors in the slow update - I completely burnt myself out tying these, and whilst the process was satisfying I'll be happy not to have to tie another deadeye in place for some time!
 
But it's so nice and neat now they're all tied down. So much less spaghetti mess!


Looking much better. Now on to the topmasts. Take note of the plaque in the background please - more on that later.
 
Futtock staves - lengths of brass rod as per the Caldercraft kit. I might have used wooden strips in hindsight, but I don't think these show too badly:

 
I put a single tackle in the main top and fore top. I'm not sure if there would have been any in the mizzen or bonaventure mizzen, but at this scale I went for simplicity:

 
All four lateen yards in place - Anderson's book notes that ships prior to the 1600s would likely have been lateen rigged on the mizzen topmast, but doesn't provide a way of actually rigging them. Something to ponder!

 
Futtock shrouds and deadeyes on the bonaventure mizzen top:

 
Not my neatest knots in some palces, but I'm actually really happy with how these have worked out - and the shrouds all being tied off makes the ship look, well, shipshape!
Again, I felt very burnt out on the project during this period, so photos are few and far between - I think it took me a couple weeks between sessions to get these done in all. Here's the main topmast at a nice artistic angle:

 
And here's the whole mainmast assembled - the only thing missing are the braces for the top yard and topgallant yard. And all the sail controls. And probably some other things... 

 
Well, that summarises the progress I've made. It doesn't look like a lot in these photos, but man does it feel like it! 
Here's an updated shot:

As you can see, all the yards have their controls in place, with the exception of the main topmast yard and the bonaventure top lateen yard. The former I simply need to complete - running the braces to the shrouds on the mizzen and back to the deck - but the latter is a bit of a puzzle.
 
As I mentioned above, Anderson is not clear how these would have been rigged, so I've left it til last. The Caldercraft plans have the lead for the lifts going to the mizzen topmast, but that's where I have the lifts for the bonaventure lateen, so it seems unlikely the bonaventure top lateen would also go there. My current thinking is to perhaps run the bonaventure top lateen lifts to the tip of the mizzen top lateen, but that seems a little tenuous - any input would be very appreciated here. 
 
I still need to do the ratlines, but other than these points the main bulk of the rigging work has been done. That is, until sails are considered. The Caldercraft kit has no sails, and I understand most people rig sails before rigging the yards in place, so that ship has (aha) sailed. I have a few square feet of linen that would be suitable, but I'm currently considering putting furled sails in place - this would be easier for sure, and also more closely match the Anthony Roll. Any opinions are welcome here - open to ideas!
 
My other tasks are to finalise details - cannon, the figurehead (haven't forgotten that!) and gunport covers, amongst other things. There's also the spar that sticks out the stern, which I took off as I kept knocking it. I believe this would have been a tie-point for the bonaventure yards, and in the Anthony Roll it also has a rope ladder hanging from it, so I'll need to investigate that. 
 
And finally, here's a little cool piece of history. I mentioned the plaque in the background earlier, and here it is:

A family friend gave this to me the other month. As I understand it, he was clearing out his late father's possessions and came across it - his parents had entered a competition run by the Mary Rose trust in the 80s, presumably to fund the archaeological project and subsequent raising. This was one of the prizes, and is apparently an actual piece of the ship. 
 
I'd call this quite ethically questionable myself, and I doubt it'd pass muster today, but 50 years have passed and the damage has been done - nonetheless, I intend to keep this with my model wherever I end up displaying it. 
 
Thanks for reading, and sorry for the long break!
 
 
 
 

All good times must come to an end. The Kinneret is completed and sailing out of the shipyard this week. Here’s how she looked.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Thanks for all the looks,likes and comments:-) My next build is going to be a kit:-)

Sad news indeed, I contacted him via MSW a couple of years ago , he did an amazing picture of HMS Calipso in the English channel in ww1 for me celebrating my great uncles ship.. A copy of which a lot of my family have on their walls ..a very nice man

Sad news indeed. Curious to see that the poster on the art forum had only a single example of James' work to share, but here at MSW we have dozens, if not hundreds. He was prolific, and he did very good work.

Andrew, 
 
Sorry to hear that news about Vegaskip.
 
His MSW contributions were really quite a joy to look at and imagine how he came to understand the scene he was painting.
 
Richard
 

I had been hoping to see more of Jim's fine work, but found from another artist site he has passed on last year:-
 
James Rae a.k.a. vegaskip - WetCanvas: Online Living for Artists
 
Sad news, but we have this glorious catalogue of some of his work here on MSW to treasure.  
 

I spent some time experimenting with the plaid pattern on bits of scrap material. I discovered that the small flat brush was not really the best choice for the wide lines. I thought it would be easier to make consistent width lines but it wasn’t the case. Instead I chose a smaller round brush and used the side of the brush which also gave me more control. I also found that sketching out the placement of the lines with a pencil helped me to work on the pattern without getting too lost.
So I painted over the first attempt and put the wide brown lines on and the thin darker blue ones. There are a few logic gaps but overall I think it’s acceptable. I have started refining the lines and then I am contemplating doing a pale blue or white wash to pull it all together 
I moved to a darker brown and I’m not sure I like it. Again the wash may help.


I can’t wait to get some matte varnish on his tunic. For light relief I painted the fringe of his tunic and started on the Draco.
According to the references the Dacians used the Draco as a standard. It took the form of a dragon or wolfs head with a perforated wind sock body. When faced into the wind it created a shrill sound. This is supposedly the origin of the Roman Draco.

It’s fun to paint anyway.
Thanks for looking in, the likes and kind comments.
Alan

Happy you find it interesting.  As for crew, that's what I usually do for ships I spend more time on. (see attached) For game pieces though, I have found you don't notice much. It only really shows if you are taking pictures for a  battle report or a video. Check out my channel in the link (the first post) as I do many of those. 
 
Still these are my most detailed yet and for a diorama, so there will definitely be crew on them, and lots of them for El Gamo. 

Not sure why they don't use pre-lasered ply gunport patterns?

Good evening everyone, thank you for comments and likes
 
day 19- a recipe for disaster
but so far avoided- hinged gunports
 
Come on AL there has to be a better way for a gunport template
I copied the template onto printer paper, cut them out and built them up on the original template, 
took a lot of messing around to hopefully have them in the right place
 
as non of these are going to be open, i just had to remove the top planking, this side has now been roughly removed, and require some tidying up to get the lids to fit
 
free flood ports still to be marked out
 
 
 
 

 

The Big Reveal!
 
Well, just like that, she's done. A bunch of little details rounded out the construction: tail wheel (complex and over-engineered), arresting hook (which I chose to display stowed, since the plane is not landing on a carrier, obviously, but which makes the hook pretty much invisible on the finished model), propeller, radio mast and aerial, and pitot tube. The kit includes parts for a drop tank, but I prefer to display my models configured 'clean', and the tank includes two petal structures (yuck!). The propeller was a bit of a headache, consisting of a separate hub and three blades. The hub, which is actually an A6M2 hub and not an A6M5 version (hopefully no one will notice the slight difference in shape), was not drilled for a shaft. I did not have any wire or rod that fit snugly in the pre-drilled engine, so I had to glue a piece of wire rod into the hub and then wrap it with some paper and CA to get the proper diameter. The three holes in the hub for the blades were also not all the same depth, so I had to cut down the shafts on two of the blades. 
 
Here are the completed pics -- hope you enjoy!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Due to the heat wave we are currently enjoying in the UK my time is the shipyard has been severely limited as I have spent much more time in the garden.
 
When grabbing a bit of time in the shipyard I have been working on adding the various blocks and deadeyes to the bowsprit and spritsail yard.
 
The attached plan shows the requirement with regards to the deadeye rings.


I thought I would share the process I am using for adding the 4 x deadeye rings.
 
I start by looping a length of thread around the deadeye and securing with a reef knot. The deadeye is then placed in the quad hands so the seizing can be added.

In the next photo I have added the seizing to the deadeye.

Next I create a loop with one end of the thread, noting the other thread end has been cut away. This is then held in the quad hands so the loop can be seized.
Once the loop has been seized the loop is threaded on to another length of thread, as shown below.

The loop can the be closed up by pulling the free end of thread, and the excess thread is then cut away. With all four deadeyes in place the thread can be secured to the bowsprit. The position of deadeyes can then be adjusted, as necessary.
 
 

Yesterday featured a landmark occurrence: the first movement of a train on this project:

 
OK, fine, it was just a quick electrical test of the first bits of track laid. But it was still a very exciting moment! This locomotive is sound-equipped, and the huffing of exhaust along with a triumphant whistle blast brought Mrs. Cathead in to see what was going on. Here's a broader view:

I really hate doing electrical work, it's easily my least favorite thing about model railroading. But it needs to be done so I'm doing it. I already showed the turnout controls; another step was to install the panels where locomotive throttles plug in. These involve drilling out rough holes in the fascia to accomodate the circuitry behind these panels, them screwing them in place. You'll also notice that the left-hand track diagram is now painted instead of taped, as agreed on by the community.
 


I then installed throttle holsters as well. So now the front-facing part of the electrical work is done, and it's time to start doing all the fiddly under-layout wiring along with additional tracklaying. I've already found something I need to troubleshoot and hope I can figure out. Did I mention that I hate electrical work? But the good news is that it directly leads to some really fun stuff (operating trains). 
 
A few more status shots. It really is starting to look "official" with the fascia infrastructure near completion.


And one final shot down the tracks:

I am sorry guys I forgot my camera but I received 1st,2nd in 1/32 prop missed in the 1/48 prop with my Academy B-25 PBJ and struck 3rd in the 1/48 jet with the F-84 from Tamyia the F-84 was last minute.The contest had a decent showing of 246 entries this year my buddy and I had fun he garnered 2/3 place with his 1/48 Fw-190 Eduard with all the goodies and a 1/72 Me-262 bomber version.The buddy bought $20 worth of raffle tickets and won about six kit and bought four more.

After a break of a few days, it was back to work on the main gear. Here's a shot to give you an idea of just how much work that entailed:

 
Not surprisingly, the work required several sessions, but it's now done.