vaddoc

Fantastic news. Myself and I am sure many others have been patiently waiting for you to pick this up again.

Bob, I am not sure that the flow improver or the retarder are designed for the varnish. They are to be used with the acrylic paint that is completely different to the varnish. You should not really have a rough surface after varnish, it should be very smooth. Also, It should not really feel tacky after all this time. I think that either your varnish suspension broke up by using too much thinner (the varnish is not paint, I think you can thin up to 20%) or that the water media evaporated before the varnish touching the hull. The Valejo varnishes have extraordinary self levelling properties. It could also be that these varnishes need water to thin and not the air thinner. These are only some of my thoughts as there are very little info on the Valejo site or anywhere else really.

😁 I think my use of English failed me here I mean, what is the advantage of mdf over plywood?

Chris, do you know why mdf will be used and not plywood?

I tried Future (or Pledge over here). Not impressed, it is really a very diluted varnish, looks like a form of acrylic or polyurethane. Best to use the proper varnishes. For the Valejo varnishes, be a bit cautious with thinning. Polyurethane varnishes thin with water but you can only add that much, I think just up to 20% before the varnish bonds start breaking down. It is supposed to be thicker than paint and brushes rough but its levelling properties are amazing. I tried years ago their previous acrylic varnish and was not impressed. I think you have their high end polyurethane varnish, I have not used it. Not sure how these varnishes will react to spraying. The water based varnishes are nowhere near as tough or as consistent on behaviour as the enamel ones but are much easier to use. The matt varnish will need really good stirring, probably constantly as you go along. Definitely experiment. I had a spectacular failure with my rudder where the polyurethane varnish congealed and separated. Not sure why, I did experiment with various ways of thinning (on the rudder!), adding retarder etc and the varnish did not like one of the combinations.

Great paint job Bob! The waterline came out fantastic, might took a while but you got it. Indeed, put some varnish on, you don't want scratches on this lovely hull! Are there any raised edges between the colours?

This is a fine boat, very nice especially considering it is your first wooden model. Beside kits there is also the dark side, you could of course scratch build anything you like. A simple boat at a somewhat larger scale could be lots of fun and also educational.

Thanks Alan, very nice to have you for the rest of this journey! It is a very enjoyable boat to build. Hopefully not long now, I started doing the 3D plans Jan 2016 so almost 5 years ago!

I d give it a day to be sure. Use the special low tack non bleeding tapes, Tamiya, yellow frog or equivalent. They will not lift the paint but good practice to remove tape as soon as possible as the bond generally gets stronger as time goes by. I left ordinary masking tape a bit too long and it lifted the varnish from my cabin top

Hand brushing I always need more a dozen coats, especially if the surface underneath is a very different colour hence the need for appropriate primer with grey being the more versatile . I leave 15-20 min between coats and put all coats at the same session if time permits. So airbrushing seems to be 20 times faster than handbrushing.

I enjoyed very much going through your log Ilhan. Great job! A very well thought process, looking forward for the rest of the journey

Bob, these scratches need filler to disappear. You might be able to raise them with a wet towel and heat but I doubt it. Whether you will go back depends how much it bothers you. I have previously sanded a hull after all paint coats were on! It was painful but had to be done. Now, for a couple of scratches it might not worth it but then again, you only have primer on. Also, it kind of looks like your primer coat is very thick? It needs just to cover the surface. Sometimes is the wood. I like maple and beech for planking because they are very flexible but also hard, sand nicely and keep an edge beautifully. Soft woods mark easily. 400 grit is plenty, will leave surface plenty smooth for a gloss finish. No need for 600. I would actually use a sanding sealer first, then primer, then paint, then varnish. The sealer will leave the surface glass smooth and seal the grain. My 2 c!

This is a very nice green, seems to have a blue tint. I like it a lot. How about matt bellow the waterline and satin above? You could spray the whole hull satin and then spray matt on top of the satin to simplify masking etc

This is great, a fun log to follow. Like the story with the ugly duckling-all will fall into place in the end!

How realistic this photo is! Impossible to tell it is not a real ship. The way you work and paint really goes well with the large scale. Very nice

Indeed Steve. My post does not really reflect how frustrating that day was. I dropped a part and took ages on my knees to find it. As I was getting up, I knocked my hand on the bench and the part dropped again. Went on my knees again, this time could not find it. I am sure my hair are a lot more grey today! Kevin many thanks, also a big thank you to all that hit the like button Vaddoc

Those rings on the sails are almost as big as the portholes! Completely out of scale. Probably better off without.

All in good time Mark! The boat is not finished! Although here in Cambridgeshire the wind is remarkably stable😃

Many thanks to all for your likes and comments. The last few days have been both busy and frustrating. Many things went wrong and correcting the issues was difficult. I also kept dropping the little complex pieces on the floor, I found most but not all so I had to re-do a few things. Then I found bigger issues. To start with, I made a few wooden sheaves. I did not want them to sit very high above the deck so I did not use shackles but used eyes directly soldered to the threaded rods. The soldering was quite tricky. Then I replaced the metal sheaves on the port side of the deck with the wooden ones. This was a ton of work as the space is tight and also I had to take down the sheets and blocks etc and then re-do them back. And all this in a heatwave. Then I installed the upper rail. After I had finished I realised it was wrong so had to redo it. Both the upper and lower rail will have a pair of hearts as tensioners. The lacing in the second pic is wrong, was corrected later I also installed the sheet for the top jib Then it was time to install the lower rail and disaster struck. The thin rope goes through holes in the poles but I had forgotten to drill through one of the poles! The next two photo show the missing hole This is 3 mm solid brass and only Tungsten drills will go through. No other option, I had to take down the upper rail again, take out the pole and drill it. This went well but I checked the other 5 poles that would go on the other side and one was also not drilled. During drilling, the carbide drill broke and stayed stuck in the hole. This is game over, the piece is trash. I re-did the piece which is pretty complex and I had my first soldering failure in a long time. I managed to save it though but with a lot of work and quite a lot of cursing. The swear box must be full by now... Then, I had to put the pole back, re-do the upper rail for the third time, then install the lower rail and call it a day. Some pictures The Highfield lever is clear of any rope. And with a rope posing as backstay. The wire rope going to the stern is a temporary one So the port side is done, except for the backstay which will be installed last and of course the main sheet which I am not sure how it will be arranged. Overall however there are many ropes everywhere which is what I was aiming for! The starboard side looks very empty... Best wishes to all Vaddoc

Very nice work, a very tidy hull! The deck beams will be a ton of work but your 3D work will be a big help.

Be careful what filler to use, some trade ones are rock hard when dry. Modelling ones or Elmers are good choices, they sand nicely

Thank you all for your likes and comments. Moab, a pleasure! Keith, I have given up on soft solder and have not used my iron for a very longtime. Soft solder is plenty strong but I find silver solder a sharper and cleaner method. I use the small proxon torch. Rarely, due to the large scale I like working at, I have large brass pieces to solder. For these I have a massive torch. It needs a lot of care though as it can easily melt the brass or light up the whole garage!

Looks very good Kevin! What is the wood supplied for the deck?

😀😀 ok Michael, I gave it another go! I fired up the computers and quickly designed a roller block for a 5 mm sheave and printed it out on plain paper. Then, the pattern was glued to a strip of wood, I think cherry, 1 mm or so The pieces were drilled with 0.9 mm drill for the 1 mm axle and 1.1 mm drill fro the 1.2 mm axle and the outline roughly cut Then they were sanded carefully The axles were anealed, straightened and threaded. an eye was silver soldered to a 2 mm brass tube then the tube was shaped and cut to the thickness of the sheave All the components ready for assembly The sheave axle went in first, then the top end assembled and the ends trimmed and sanded flush. And came to life with Tung oil I think that indeed it looks much better! The eye actually pivots and it works very smoothly. Many thanks Michael! I also installed the poles for the rails. It took a bit of work to drill and aline everything and I did not use any glue, only brass pins cut and the tip reformed. They are super solid. I then installed the upper rope, one end shackled to the bowsprit, the other to an eye at the deck. I have also prepared two hearts for the middle to tension the rope. The red cloth is there to protect the boat from the dust in the garage. This is a great forum, many thanks to all for your likes, your valuable advice and encouragement. Regards Vaddoc

Richard, this is a very nice ship! Very clean and tidy work. Olympias is actually open to the public to visit, travel and row! I think they only use the two upper rows in these journeys.