catopower

Sorry, I didn't see this until today. The figures don't actually say 2001, but they are clearly the lunar astronauts from the film. You can find them here: https://www.shapeways.com/product/MWUZ2B6Y9/sf-lunar-set-1-48-1-55-1-72?optionId=314218691&li=ostatus Hope that helps!

Yes, unfortunately, while the photo I posted at the very beginning is of a contemporary model, the rigging was a modern addition, so not much help there.

Phil, Tony, my hats off to you both. That's exactly what I needed, thank you! Tony, I checked out your making and use of the head stick on your Sherbourne model. Wow, what a treat to see the work you did on that model. Outstanding!

Hi David, welcome to MSW! Others have given some good advice here. I'll just add that I would at least start considering how you want to mount the model. If you wait too long, it will become difficult to drill holes into the bottom of the ship safely, if that's something your stand will require. I usually use mounting pins or screws and try to plan where they will go ahead of time. If your model has a solid hull, then screws or pins are no problem. If it is plank-on-bulkhead, you may want to reinforce the interior structure by gluing in some solid wood blocks, so screws or pins will have something to support them.

I don't know where some people are coming up with ridiculous ideas of the value of kit built ship models. If they're well done, then they have value. The idea that they're worth so little is total BS. It all depends on the modeler and their skill, and attention to detail, and scale. If that's not the case, then many of us shouldn't even be here, myself included...

I noticed that your first post shows Shipyard's HMS Wolf kit. Are you working on that one? I've been working on it too, though I took a bit of a break to finish up some other stuff. I got as far as making the masts and starting on the other spars. Would love to see what you're doing on the Wolf!

Nice work on the color conversion. My only concern would be with opacity/transparency of the paints. As you discovered the Shipyard kits include a brand of paints called Renesans, a Polish brand. They can be found online, but you usually have to order from Europe, and it can be difficult to find a seller that can/will ship internationally. The Renesans acrylics have a slightly transparent quality to them, so you can see printed or laser-etched (burned) details through the paint. I like to use these paints for the Shipyard printed paper kits for this reason. Also, I've found that with lots of grinding and stirring, that I've been able to revive most of the dried Shipyard paint jars. But, it is a lot easier to just get new Renesans paints if you can find them.

Lovely work. Wspaniały.

wefalck, I agree that the "pockets" idea seems odd for the time. The museum model I'm looking at certain shows the whole mini-spar, uncovered by sail cloth. Checking with Ab sounds like a good plan. Dr PR, I found the image you're referring to. I think that's just tiny gaffs, but they do very similar to these mini-spars on this jib and staysail. Kind of makes sense the it might be rigged similarly. druxey, you cost me a lot of money trying to keep up with your writing, but always well worth it. These titles in particular sound like something I'll be very interested in. I just wish I were better at the carving that's required to scratch build these kinds of ships. Not sorry I asked at all – Now I know what to start setting aside my money for! All, I just get my Internet fully restored today and I've had power back on now for 2 days. Such a relief, but I guess I need to get back to work now! Clare

Allan, sorry, I should have made it clear that the photo was of a contemporary model. By the way, I don't think the rigging was removed, just the flags. Druxey, thanks for identifying the model and providing the link! How did you recognize and find it from the photo I uploaded??? Robert, druxey, wefalck, that's interesting about the unusual Dutch block. It's different from what I'm seeing on this model, but it does seem to serve the same purpose. The reason for my query is that I'm building Woody Joe's Charles royal yacht kit, which is apparently roughly based on this unidentified contemporary model that druxey provided the link to. The person who did the development work for this kit, the late Mr. Kazunobu Shirai, wrote a book about building the model. He wrapped the spar in the head edge of the sail. That's clearly not what I'm seeing on the museum model. I managed to translate a bit of the book's text where he mentions that this was a Dutch practice, as everyone here has pointed out. Dr. PR, I'm thinking the club is, as you say, is probably laced to the head of the sail. I looked for mention in Landström's book, but couldn't find anything. Do you have a page number? These are from Mr. Shirai's book... Clare

Thanks friends for chiming in on this subject. I must apologize for not being more responsive, but I lost power in my house on Saturday morning when neighbor's yard people trimmed a tree and downed a power line, causing a power surge that knocked out service to several houses and burned up a lighting fixture in my house (Fire Department had located it). Just got power restored today, though possibly temporarily. I actually have no Internet still, except from some limited wifi I can piggy back onto (like right now). Again, power's back, at least for the time being, and more importantly, light, HEAT, cooking appliances, refrigerator, and did I mention HEAT??? I'll try to follow up on your comments about this strange little spar soon! Thanks again! Clare

Can anyone tell me what the little spar is called that appears at the head of the jib and staysail on this English yacht? Also, does anyone know how it's attached to the sail and to the halliard? I can makes some guesses, but I'm hoping someone has something definitive. I've looked in various rigging references, but haven't been able to find any info. Thanks in advance! Clare

I completed the lower masts and the bowsprit, adding the mast hoops and the wooldings. In order to get the width of the wooldings consistent, I measured them out on the plans and then cut some adhesive backed vinyl as a guide. I cut the vinyl on my Silhouette Cameo 3 machine. It allows me to make consistent strips of precise widths without error. After I mounted the hoops, I painted them and then painted the space between them black. Just in case I don't do a good job with the wooldings, it won't be noticeable. I wrapped the wooldings with some black rigging line. To be honest, I don't even know what line I used. It was just laying around my work spaces in a bit of a tangle and was the right size, so I used it. There are a LOT of parts going into each of the lower masts. It was a bit of a challenge building them up, but it felt quite rewarding. Here's the ship with the masts and bowsprit test fit... I'm in the process of making all the yards (and gaff) now, but that's a lot more straight forward and easier than the masts. I do have to figure out what to do about the t'gallant masts still. The poles at the tops get might thin. Perhaps I'll use some brass rod. Meanwhile, I'm starting to give some thought as to what her sailing configuration will be. The kit includes a full set of sails. I will have some of the sails set, might try furling the main courses to pull them up out of the way. I'll do a bit of research before I have to start dealing with them. Next step is to finish rigging the cannons and adding the remaining cleats...

Being rather productive this holiday season, I decided to press forward by working on the bowsprit and masts of HMS Wolf. It's amazing how many laser-cut parts are provided for the detailing of these. There are some dozen little parts plus the wooden dowel, which requires shaping, and another seven or so, just for the bowsprit cap, not including the half dozen eyebolts that have to be made and added to it. My completed bowsprit. Still have to add eyebolts to the cap... The lower masts were next and this was the first time I'd encountered the built-up card for the mast tops. The cheeks and above are all laser cut card and I found the part of the mast that will make up the doublings to be too flex, and I was not confident they would survive my rigging work. So, I added a little strip of wood front and back at the cheeks – I figured they be painted black, like the whole area of the mast head, and be pretty well hidden. I also made sure to soak the thick card masthead with thin CA glue. This did stiffen them up and made the whole masthead feel a lot sturdier. The thin paint used on the wood beaded up at the CA soaked card parts, but this area will be later painted black, so should look much better. Test fitting the mast tops. Here, you can see the wood reinforcements at the cheeks... The assembling of the main topmast, showing the dowel and 5 of the 8 laser-cut parts that make it up... Complete main topmast after assembly and "primer" painting... I expect I'll continue preparing all the mast parts and start on the yards and gaff as well. By the time I'm done with these, I'll have decided on the rigging and blocks I'll be using. Then, the rigging can commence!

I've noticed that some manufacturers of models kits of wooden ships, and some modelers, tend to throw around the term "riveted", when in fact they're referring to things that were nailed or bolted. If it's any help, Matthew Betts in his book on HMS Terror, describes the iron plates as being "bolted" to the bow.

Hi Yves, it is a pretty neat model kit. I've always liked this car and it's interesting to see how well a 1960's concept "Car of the Future" holds up today. It did have electric motors, a hybrid engine, digital display, onboard computer, rear video camera, solar cells, etc. But it also was supposed to be built for high speed travel on specially designed highways using computer control, lift fans, turbine engines, and retractable wheels! I'm still waiting for these "future" developments in car travel...

Hi Ziggy, I hope you do! It's a fun build.

I'm starting to work on some of the various tackles on deck. I'm going to try to make the train tackles for the guns, but I also need to rig the tiller ropes, so I've pulled out the cardboard blocks I made using the laser-cut block sets that are included in the kit. I used wooden blocks on my 1/96 scale HMS Alert paper model, and I've always felt I had to qualify my descriptions of the model to mention them. So far, this is an "out of the box" build. Might as well keep it going, if I can, though I'm already using some rigging line that wasn't in the kit. I haven't decided if I'll continue using 3rd party rigging line or start using the kits rigging line, which appears to be nice quality linen. The definition doesn't look great at the larger sizes though, and it'll need staining as well. I could just use the smallest sizes, which are 0.1mm and 0.3mm, but they'd still need staining. I'd just have to figure out what to stain them with. I have some stains on hand, so I guess I can try those. It may not look the best, but there's a certain challenge and ideal of building a model like this using kit materials. I'm almost sorry I used the 3rd party line for the cannon breeching ropes. Anyway, here's the updated build photos. Many things aren't not permanently in place yet, so I can simplify access to the deck are for adding some small details yet. Looking at it now, I think I can secure everything shown in place and leave off the boat gallows and the capstan for now. These are easily put into place, even if there's a lot of rigging in the way. The gallows stick up and I can see them getting easily snagged and damaged during the rigging process. The capstan is just really simple to drop into place later.

Thank you druxey. I guess 1 year between posts is better than 2 years between posts. And, I'm certainly guilty of that and worse!

Thanks BenD. But, now you've given me a challenge. I'd better keep at it!

Yikes! It's been a long time since I posted an update on HMS Wolf... The project continues, somewhat in the background and temporarily shelved at times as I work on other things. However, I turned my attention to it again recently and have been making a fair amount of progress. I didn't like the breeching ropes I had on the model as they looked too thin. So, I ended up replacing them, which mean re-rigging all the ring bolts. It kind of helped that I was similarly rigging some cannons on another model, so I was in the "mode" anyway. Moving forward, I also went ahead and mounted the guns into place, though I haven't glued them down or rigged train tackles. I'll start making those. Since these will be my first blocks on the kit, I hadn't fully decided if I'm going to use the card blocks or wooden ones. But, I expect I'll use the card blocks, so I'll try making some train tackles using them. With these in place, I feel more free to start adding some more of the deck details. I have to add the tiller and all the associated steering lines that stretch across the quarter deck. But, I figured that first I'd make the ship's wheel. The ships wheel was a new challenge for me, as I've only ever used purchase fittings for it. With card models, it's necessary to build them, and it was an intimidating detail. When I finally got around to it, though, it was quite fun. Below, you can see the wheel, which consists of at least 6 pieces for the rim and hub, with wire cut for the spokes. I used tiny drops of Aleene's tacky glue on the spokes to give them the nice turned wood look, after which I painted it as per the kit instructions. Below, you can see the completed wheel with drum attached and mounted on its stand. I think the spokes turned out quite well and I'm surprised at how easy construction actually turned out to be. You can also see the binnacle box going together. The binnacle box you see here consists of 17 parts, not including the 6 acetate windows which have been installed. There is yet a 2-piece lantern and a roof to install, plus the eyebolts on the sides for the tie-downs. More soon, I'm on a roll...

Not too much to report on the Moon Bus progress. I'm working on painting the new astronaut figure I'm going to be using with the model display, but I have yet to add the interior cargo or to add the rocket nozzles on the underside. The main issue I have with the rocket nozzles is getting the correct angles on them. The film shows them canted outward, while the kit has you install them pointing straight down. In the end, it probably doesn't matter as my guess is that they were supposed to be mounted on gimbals, so they could be adjusted as needed. In any case, I did add the strip that covers the seam between the hull top and bottom. I ended up using the kit supplied parts rather than the photo etched brass parts as the photo etch seemed just way too flat. Here's the model on its temporary display base. It's in a case that I will probably go ahead and use, but I will need to make a base that will house the induction coil, etc. This interior photo was taken about a month ago and doesn't show some of the small modifications I've done to the bulkhead behind the cockpit. I had to trim a little so that the top would fit better. I also strategically added some plastic strips to help prevent any light leakage. The walls of the passenger/cargo section are now fixed in place, but at the time of the photo, I hadn't yet added some details. Those gray strips you see have been continued all the way down to the floor. Finally, here's the final placement of the wireless LEDs. The four on the right are red LEDs. The ones on the left that look kind of green and yellow are actually white LEDs, while the remaining three are blue LEDs. I decided not to place any LEDs on the light panel between the two sections. It should be white/blue, but it tends to wash out the red cockpit LEDs. Note that there are also two LEDs in the nose section of the cockpit. You can just make them out in the second photo. These point directly onto the faces of the pilots, which gives more of the look of the film. Because these are not perpeducular to the induction coil as it will be positioned in the base, these two LEDs will be slightly dimmer than the others. I'm not thinking about the decals. There are three of them, all reading USAA (United States Astronautics Agency). The problem is that I can't see them in the film. There are some dark details where they're supposed to go, but I can't make out any details. They kind of really stand out on the model and I'm wondering if I should just leave them off? Any thoughts?

Hi Ziggy, I know what you mean! (But, I DO have that extra kit... PM me if you're interested in it). When I saw that one of these old kits was available, I couldn't help but think how cool it would be to build. This, of course, is a modern re-release, but I've been seeing more and more of these new re-releases and whole new kits of old subjects, and it's kind of driving me crazy. I also remember building the PanAm Space Clipper from the same film, the Submarine Seaview and the Flying Sub from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, the Lost in Space Robot. Now, I see that the old U.S. Navy Sea Lab III kit is being re-released and I remember building that one too. So far, I've limited myself to picking up a model of the old AMT Amtronic Car of the Future" kit, and the small Discovery XD-1 kit. But, I'm mostly getting the nostalgic build bug out of my system so I'm now able to make some sailing ship mode progress again!

As Roger points out, the HAER has a report on the Hercules. Nice thing about this subject is that the actual ship is docked in San Francisco, so a lot of photos are available. Here's a link to the files in the Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/item/ca1507/

I've always liked this ship, and you are doing a wonderful job on your build!