catopower

Thanks for the kind words Ron!
 
Well, small update here...
 
I've been trying to wrap up one project and put some time into a big project – can't get very far on large 3-masted ships if you don't put in the hours!
 
But, a friend of mine is interested in the Alert model, and I'm really not that far from the end since the rig is so simple. So, I thought I'd make a little progress by installing the carriage guns. I've had the guns done for some time now, but fitting them into place along with their breech ropes means drilling small holes in paper, gluing eyebolts into place in very small places, etc.
 
I epoxied pins on the underside of the guns to help position and secure them to the deck. Holes were drilled at each of the gunport openings as well as at either side of the gunports.
 
I'd already secured eyebolts to the ends of the breech ropes, so now they just had to be trimmed and glued into place. I used gap-filling CA for this. 
 
I found that I didn't have enough room to glue the eyebolts to the bulwarks with the cannon in place, so I let the cannons flop around while I installed the breech rope eyebolts. When these were dry, I mixed up some epoxy and glued the cannons down to the deck. The pins, even epoxied, didn't hold the guns securely in all cases. So, on some guns, I put a little glue underneath, close to the rear axles. 
 

 
 

 
 
Definitely tricky trying not to spoil the appearance of the printed paper deck. I manage to get a small shiny spot on the deck from glue. I ended up having to give a shot of Testor's Flat Lacquer Clear Coat, which worked extremely well hiding the shiny spot.
 
Clare

The taffrail is now complete. Was a bit of a challenge getting it all together, but it seemed to turn out okay. I still have some small details to add, mostly the beds for the mounting of the swivel guns. Besides that, nearly all the hull detail on this model is done. 
 

 

 
Next step will be to add the cannons into place. 1/96 is probably too small for me to rig tackle blocks, but I'll think about it. This ship has 12 guns to rig. It's not like it's a 38 gun frigate, and there is a lot of open space on the deck, so I'll have to give it some thought.
 
Also, rigging is coming up pretty quick and I have to start working on the shrouds and adding blocks to the mainmast. More on that next time.
 
Clare

Didn't do much on the Alert while finishing up the Yakatabune model. But, now that that's out of the way, time to put some work in on the Alert again.
 
This year, I decided not to risk any damage to the model by bringing it to the NRG conference, but a number of people asked about it. So, I kind of regret not taking it. For one thing, it serves as a great advertisement for Shipyard paper model kits in general. However, this model is far enough along that I now need something in the earlier stages of construction again. I do have an HMS Mercury kit in 1/96 scale that will probably do the trick. I also have the GPM detail kit for it. Plus, I believe that there's a set of sails and a masting kit at Ages of Sail that's been part of a box of stuff that's just been hidden on a shelf for the last year and a half. So, that may be the next background paper model project.
 
In the meantime, I cut a thin strip of photo paper that I printed a black line on. I then painted the edge of the thin strip and cut it in short length to serve as trunnion caps on the Alert's cannon carriages.
 

 
I've also been working on the spars and added the yard to the topsail and the gaff to the mainsail. I also added swiss pear blocks to the spreader yard, but I've been feeling like I want to make as much of the model from paper as possible. So, I'm going back and adding paper blocks in place of the swiss pear ones. They don't look as good, but the more of the model that is paper, the better, since it IS a paper model.
 

 

 
I've also started adding the stanchions of the taffrail that surrounds the quarterdeck. This is one of those things where I "thought" myself to a standstill. Having thought less about it, I've now started to make a little progress again.
 

 

 
I'll swap the blocks and see if I can't finish the taffrail soon. With that and adding the cannons done, it will officially be time to rig.
 
Clare

Small update,
 
I worked a little bit on the sail set I bought for the Alert. It was a separate purchase I made from Shipyard shortly after I got the kit. The sails are nicely printed on one side, but the back sides are blank, so I just traced out the lines on the back using colored pencil. 
 
Afterwards, I took some .4mm model rope and used it for the bolt ropes. At this scale, it makes sense to simply glue the bolt ropes into place without sewing, which is all the kit instructions call for as well. Personally, I've had good results doing this at 1/4" scale as well.
 

 
 
I also received the swivel guns from Syren Ship Model Company, so I quickly went to work adding the trunnions and blackening them all using BlueJacket's Brass Black. Interestingly enough, the swivel guns' short trunnions were a perfect fit for the small cannon carriages. These are beautifully turned barrels. 
 

 
I haven't made a final decision on using paper or pear wood blocks yet, but I just ordered some more pear wood blocks from Chuck just in case.
 
Clare
 

Thanks Chris, Mark, Slog, for the advice. I'm moving ahead with the turned brass cannon barrels. Regarding blocks and such, I needed to work on something fairly mindless, so I started working on the paper blocks. I figured I'd see how they turn out. If they're not so good in the end, I'll switch to purchased wooden blocks. 
 
The paper blocks have one advantage over the Syren blocks in that this is a small model and with the paper blocks are available in 3.5mm size, which I can't get in pear wood.
 
So, in paper blocks, I now have 2.5mm, 3mm, and 3.5mm sizes. 2mm blocks are available from Shipyard too, and rigging calculations would normally call for them, but that's awfully small to assemble. Anyway, I don't have any of the 2mm paper blocks on hand, and the kit itself calls for these sizes I do have.
 
Here is a sample of the unassembled blocks. These are the same kits that come in the boxed kits. 

 
 
A nice, cool but sunny Sunday morning, cup of coffee and ship modeling project – A perfect day!

 
 
Here's a close-up of painted, CA reinforced and touched up blocks

 
 
Sorted by size and cleaned up a little more.

 
 
This certainly took a bit of effort to pre the blocks. I painted them while still in their sheets, I also glued them up in batches, which is easiest to do on the sheets. The process of assembling is exactly the same as the Syren built-up blocks, except that because they have to be painted, they need touch up. Also, cardboard isn't a very strong material, so I made sure to wick in some thin CA glue. 
 
I have yet to see how well these hold up when rigged, but at least their ready when I need them.
 
Clare

Thanks for the supportive comments Cog, Druxey, Telp and Mark.
 
Cog, okay, you're probably right... Watch. My next paper (card) model will probably have open bulwarks! 
 
Telp, I doubt I'll ever go down the path of 3D printing, though there are some 3D printed parts that I'm sure I'll use. I already bought a 3D printed ship's wheel for a 1:78-scale HMS Victory model. I won't necessarily use it if I can make one that looks good enough. Overall, I like building the parts myself, even if they're not perfect.
 
Of course, with a paper kit, it's a different game, with its own challenges. Don't know that I'd ever feel up to the task of scratch-building a paper model. For now, I'll stick to kits, or at least to this one kit.
 
But, I have to admit, I picked up another Shipyard kit (HMS Mercury) that I thought I might partially build as a display model showing the hull construction style. I also thought one would make a great dockyard scene with the ship's hull completed and ready for launch – a follow up to a discussion here on flags mounted on a Royal Navy ship at launch.
 
Clare

Thanks for the kind words Ron!
 
Well, small update here...
 
I've been trying to wrap up one project and put some time into a big project – can't get very far on large 3-masted ships if you don't put in the hours!
 
But, a friend of mine is interested in the Alert model, and I'm really not that far from the end since the rig is so simple. So, I thought I'd make a little progress by installing the carriage guns. I've had the guns done for some time now, but fitting them into place along with their breech ropes means drilling small holes in paper, gluing eyebolts into place in very small places, etc.
 
I epoxied pins on the underside of the guns to help position and secure them to the deck. Holes were drilled at each of the gunport openings as well as at either side of the gunports.
 
I'd already secured eyebolts to the ends of the breech ropes, so now they just had to be trimmed and glued into place. I used gap-filling CA for this. 
 
I found that I didn't have enough room to glue the eyebolts to the bulwarks with the cannon in place, so I let the cannons flop around while I installed the breech rope eyebolts. When these were dry, I mixed up some epoxy and glued the cannons down to the deck. The pins, even epoxied, didn't hold the guns securely in all cases. So, on some guns, I put a little glue underneath, close to the rear axles. 
 

 
 

 
 
Definitely tricky trying not to spoil the appearance of the printed paper deck. I manage to get a small shiny spot on the deck from glue. I ended up having to give a shot of Testor's Flat Lacquer Clear Coat, which worked extremely well hiding the shiny spot.
 
Clare

Thanks for the supportive comments Cog, Druxey, Telp and Mark.
 
Cog, okay, you're probably right... Watch. My next paper (card) model will probably have open bulwarks! 
 
Telp, I doubt I'll ever go down the path of 3D printing, though there are some 3D printed parts that I'm sure I'll use. I already bought a 3D printed ship's wheel for a 1:78-scale HMS Victory model. I won't necessarily use it if I can make one that looks good enough. Overall, I like building the parts myself, even if they're not perfect.
 
Of course, with a paper kit, it's a different game, with its own challenges. Don't know that I'd ever feel up to the task of scratch-building a paper model. For now, I'll stick to kits, or at least to this one kit.
 
But, I have to admit, I picked up another Shipyard kit (HMS Mercury) that I thought I might partially build as a display model showing the hull construction style. I also thought one would make a great dockyard scene with the ship's hull completed and ready for launch – a follow up to a discussion here on flags mounted on a Royal Navy ship at launch.
 
Clare

Hi thanks for all your advice
the deck is now planked and I don't think it looks too bad
as expected it isn't even port/starboard but by the time all the deck furniture and  guns are fitted I don't think anyone will notice (apart from ME !)
Andy

Thanks for the kind words Ron!
 
Well, small update here...
 
I've been trying to wrap up one project and put some time into a big project – can't get very far on large 3-masted ships if you don't put in the hours!
 
But, a friend of mine is interested in the Alert model, and I'm really not that far from the end since the rig is so simple. So, I thought I'd make a little progress by installing the carriage guns. I've had the guns done for some time now, but fitting them into place along with their breech ropes means drilling small holes in paper, gluing eyebolts into place in very small places, etc.
 
I epoxied pins on the underside of the guns to help position and secure them to the deck. Holes were drilled at each of the gunport openings as well as at either side of the gunports.
 
I'd already secured eyebolts to the ends of the breech ropes, so now they just had to be trimmed and glued into place. I used gap-filling CA for this. 
 
I found that I didn't have enough room to glue the eyebolts to the bulwarks with the cannon in place, so I let the cannons flop around while I installed the breech rope eyebolts. When these were dry, I mixed up some epoxy and glued the cannons down to the deck. The pins, even epoxied, didn't hold the guns securely in all cases. So, on some guns, I put a little glue underneath, close to the rear axles. 
 

 
 

 
 
Definitely tricky trying not to spoil the appearance of the printed paper deck. I manage to get a small shiny spot on the deck from glue. I ended up having to give a shot of Testor's Flat Lacquer Clear Coat, which worked extremely well hiding the shiny spot.
 
Clare

Thanks for the kind words Ron!
 
Well, small update here...
 
I've been trying to wrap up one project and put some time into a big project – can't get very far on large 3-masted ships if you don't put in the hours!
 
But, a friend of mine is interested in the Alert model, and I'm really not that far from the end since the rig is so simple. So, I thought I'd make a little progress by installing the carriage guns. I've had the guns done for some time now, but fitting them into place along with their breech ropes means drilling small holes in paper, gluing eyebolts into place in very small places, etc.
 
I epoxied pins on the underside of the guns to help position and secure them to the deck. Holes were drilled at each of the gunport openings as well as at either side of the gunports.
 
I'd already secured eyebolts to the ends of the breech ropes, so now they just had to be trimmed and glued into place. I used gap-filling CA for this. 
 
I found that I didn't have enough room to glue the eyebolts to the bulwarks with the cannon in place, so I let the cannons flop around while I installed the breech rope eyebolts. When these were dry, I mixed up some epoxy and glued the cannons down to the deck. The pins, even epoxied, didn't hold the guns securely in all cases. So, on some guns, I put a little glue underneath, close to the rear axles. 
 

 
 

 
 
Definitely tricky trying not to spoil the appearance of the printed paper deck. I manage to get a small shiny spot on the deck from glue. I ended up having to give a shot of Testor's Flat Lacquer Clear Coat, which worked extremely well hiding the shiny spot.
 
Clare

Thanks for the kind words Ron!
 
Well, small update here...
 
I've been trying to wrap up one project and put some time into a big project – can't get very far on large 3-masted ships if you don't put in the hours!
 
But, a friend of mine is interested in the Alert model, and I'm really not that far from the end since the rig is so simple. So, I thought I'd make a little progress by installing the carriage guns. I've had the guns done for some time now, but fitting them into place along with their breech ropes means drilling small holes in paper, gluing eyebolts into place in very small places, etc.
 
I epoxied pins on the underside of the guns to help position and secure them to the deck. Holes were drilled at each of the gunport openings as well as at either side of the gunports.
 
I'd already secured eyebolts to the ends of the breech ropes, so now they just had to be trimmed and glued into place. I used gap-filling CA for this. 
 
I found that I didn't have enough room to glue the eyebolts to the bulwarks with the cannon in place, so I let the cannons flop around while I installed the breech rope eyebolts. When these were dry, I mixed up some epoxy and glued the cannons down to the deck. The pins, even epoxied, didn't hold the guns securely in all cases. So, on some guns, I put a little glue underneath, close to the rear axles. 
 

 
 

 
 
Definitely tricky trying not to spoil the appearance of the printed paper deck. I manage to get a small shiny spot on the deck from glue. I ended up having to give a shot of Testor's Flat Lacquer Clear Coat, which worked extremely well hiding the shiny spot.
 
Clare

Thank you Nils.  
 
Of course, I can't take credit for making the cannons out of card. I decided my skills weren't up to doing that and having something nice looking, so I did purchase swivel guns from Chuck Passaro's Syren Ship Model Company and adapted them for 1/92-scale 6-pounder guns.
 
I had the hardest time with all the timberheads and the taffrail. Next time I build a paper model, I think it will have no railing like on this one!
 
Clare

Thanks for the kind words Ron!
 
Well, small update here...
 
I've been trying to wrap up one project and put some time into a big project – can't get very far on large 3-masted ships if you don't put in the hours!
 
But, a friend of mine is interested in the Alert model, and I'm really not that far from the end since the rig is so simple. So, I thought I'd make a little progress by installing the carriage guns. I've had the guns done for some time now, but fitting them into place along with their breech ropes means drilling small holes in paper, gluing eyebolts into place in very small places, etc.
 
I epoxied pins on the underside of the guns to help position and secure them to the deck. Holes were drilled at each of the gunport openings as well as at either side of the gunports.
 
I'd already secured eyebolts to the ends of the breech ropes, so now they just had to be trimmed and glued into place. I used gap-filling CA for this. 
 
I found that I didn't have enough room to glue the eyebolts to the bulwarks with the cannon in place, so I let the cannons flop around while I installed the breech rope eyebolts. When these were dry, I mixed up some epoxy and glued the cannons down to the deck. The pins, even epoxied, didn't hold the guns securely in all cases. So, on some guns, I put a little glue underneath, close to the rear axles. 
 

 
 

 
 
Definitely tricky trying not to spoil the appearance of the printed paper deck. I manage to get a small shiny spot on the deck from glue. I ended up having to give a shot of Testor's Flat Lacquer Clear Coat, which worked extremely well hiding the shiny spot.
 
Clare

jbford, what is it that you are building that you don't think is good enough for nice quality rigging line?
 
You will definitely find that the good stuff will enhance your build and your enjoyment.
 
Of course, if you're rigging a 3-masted ship, it might take a good supply of line.
 
I turned my own rigging line early on, but I was never really very satisfied with what I could produce. I have given in to the wisdom of buying line from Chuck Passaro – it's really nice stuff!
 
Clare

Tadeuz, 
 
There is something particularly disturbing about running across ones own photos that someone else posted without so much as an acknowledgement. Worse yet, it's mixed in with copper plates from kits!
 
These copper plates are made from tape that I embossed using a die a created. Shown below (and the earlier post above), is the hull of my scratch built U.S.S. Saginaw hull)
 

 
I gave up on all manufactured copper plates 20 years ago as none of them are realistic - all are way out of scale. The closest I've seen to looking correct are the ones that BlueJacket makes, but they are REALLY expensive. Unfortunately, I like the look of a coppered hull, so I've had to work on improving mine ever since my first wooden ship model, the pilot boat Phantom, with its coppered hull.
 

 
However, I haven't gotten a European nail pattern down yet. That's coming up soon.
 
But, I've always liked using copper tape. It's available in a wide variety of sizes – not just the couple sizes regularly sold by ship modeling sites. It's also very thin and can be overlapped the way actual copper plates were applied and not unrealistically butted together. They're also much cheaper than pre-fab plates of any manufacturer, and are copper all the way through.
 
 
Clare

Thank you Nils.  
 
Of course, I can't take credit for making the cannons out of card. I decided my skills weren't up to doing that and having something nice looking, so I did purchase swivel guns from Chuck Passaro's Syren Ship Model Company and adapted them for 1/92-scale 6-pounder guns.
 
I had the hardest time with all the timberheads and the taffrail. Next time I build a paper model, I think it will have no railing like on this one!
 
Clare

Thanks for the kind words Ron!
 
Well, small update here...
 
I've been trying to wrap up one project and put some time into a big project – can't get very far on large 3-masted ships if you don't put in the hours!
 
But, a friend of mine is interested in the Alert model, and I'm really not that far from the end since the rig is so simple. So, I thought I'd make a little progress by installing the carriage guns. I've had the guns done for some time now, but fitting them into place along with their breech ropes means drilling small holes in paper, gluing eyebolts into place in very small places, etc.
 
I epoxied pins on the underside of the guns to help position and secure them to the deck. Holes were drilled at each of the gunport openings as well as at either side of the gunports.
 
I'd already secured eyebolts to the ends of the breech ropes, so now they just had to be trimmed and glued into place. I used gap-filling CA for this. 
 
I found that I didn't have enough room to glue the eyebolts to the bulwarks with the cannon in place, so I let the cannons flop around while I installed the breech rope eyebolts. When these were dry, I mixed up some epoxy and glued the cannons down to the deck. The pins, even epoxied, didn't hold the guns securely in all cases. So, on some guns, I put a little glue underneath, close to the rear axles. 
 

 
 

 
 
Definitely tricky trying not to spoil the appearance of the printed paper deck. I manage to get a small shiny spot on the deck from glue. I ended up having to give a shot of Testor's Flat Lacquer Clear Coat, which worked extremely well hiding the shiny spot.
 
Clare

Tadeuz, 
 
There is something particularly disturbing about running across ones own photos that someone else posted without so much as an acknowledgement. Worse yet, it's mixed in with copper plates from kits!
 
These copper plates are made from tape that I embossed using a die a created. Shown below (and the earlier post above), is the hull of my scratch built U.S.S. Saginaw hull)
 

 
I gave up on all manufactured copper plates 20 years ago as none of them are realistic - all are way out of scale. The closest I've seen to looking correct are the ones that BlueJacket makes, but they are REALLY expensive. Unfortunately, I like the look of a coppered hull, so I've had to work on improving mine ever since my first wooden ship model, the pilot boat Phantom, with its coppered hull.
 

 
However, I haven't gotten a European nail pattern down yet. That's coming up soon.
 
But, I've always liked using copper tape. It's available in a wide variety of sizes – not just the couple sizes regularly sold by ship modeling sites. It's also very thin and can be overlapped the way actual copper plates were applied and not unrealistically butted together. They're also much cheaper than pre-fab plates of any manufacturer, and are copper all the way through.
 
 
Clare

Thanks for the kind words Ron!
 
Well, small update here...
 
I've been trying to wrap up one project and put some time into a big project – can't get very far on large 3-masted ships if you don't put in the hours!
 
But, a friend of mine is interested in the Alert model, and I'm really not that far from the end since the rig is so simple. So, I thought I'd make a little progress by installing the carriage guns. I've had the guns done for some time now, but fitting them into place along with their breech ropes means drilling small holes in paper, gluing eyebolts into place in very small places, etc.
 
I epoxied pins on the underside of the guns to help position and secure them to the deck. Holes were drilled at each of the gunport openings as well as at either side of the gunports.
 
I'd already secured eyebolts to the ends of the breech ropes, so now they just had to be trimmed and glued into place. I used gap-filling CA for this. 
 
I found that I didn't have enough room to glue the eyebolts to the bulwarks with the cannon in place, so I let the cannons flop around while I installed the breech rope eyebolts. When these were dry, I mixed up some epoxy and glued the cannons down to the deck. The pins, even epoxied, didn't hold the guns securely in all cases. So, on some guns, I put a little glue underneath, close to the rear axles. 
 

 
 

 
 
Definitely tricky trying not to spoil the appearance of the printed paper deck. I manage to get a small shiny spot on the deck from glue. I ended up having to give a shot of Testor's Flat Lacquer Clear Coat, which worked extremely well hiding the shiny spot.
 
Clare

Looks astonishingly like the real deal, Clare ...
 
 
You reckon ... somehow, I can't imagine you doin' that ...
 
Cheers

Thank you Nils.  
 
Of course, I can't take credit for making the cannons out of card. I decided my skills weren't up to doing that and having something nice looking, so I did purchase swivel guns from Chuck Passaro's Syren Ship Model Company and adapted them for 1/92-scale 6-pounder guns.
 
I had the hardest time with all the timberheads and the taffrail. Next time I build a paper model, I think it will have no railing like on this one!
 
Clare

Thanks for the kind words Ron!
 
Well, small update here...
 
I've been trying to wrap up one project and put some time into a big project – can't get very far on large 3-masted ships if you don't put in the hours!
 
But, a friend of mine is interested in the Alert model, and I'm really not that far from the end since the rig is so simple. So, I thought I'd make a little progress by installing the carriage guns. I've had the guns done for some time now, but fitting them into place along with their breech ropes means drilling small holes in paper, gluing eyebolts into place in very small places, etc.
 
I epoxied pins on the underside of the guns to help position and secure them to the deck. Holes were drilled at each of the gunport openings as well as at either side of the gunports.
 
I'd already secured eyebolts to the ends of the breech ropes, so now they just had to be trimmed and glued into place. I used gap-filling CA for this. 
 
I found that I didn't have enough room to glue the eyebolts to the bulwarks with the cannon in place, so I let the cannons flop around while I installed the breech rope eyebolts. When these were dry, I mixed up some epoxy and glued the cannons down to the deck. The pins, even epoxied, didn't hold the guns securely in all cases. So, on some guns, I put a little glue underneath, close to the rear axles. 
 

 
 

 
 
Definitely tricky trying not to spoil the appearance of the printed paper deck. I manage to get a small shiny spot on the deck from glue. I ended up having to give a shot of Testor's Flat Lacquer Clear Coat, which worked extremely well hiding the shiny spot.
 
Clare

The taffrail is now complete. Was a bit of a challenge getting it all together, but it seemed to turn out okay. I still have some small details to add, mostly the beds for the mounting of the swivel guns. Besides that, nearly all the hull detail on this model is done. 
 

 

 
Next step will be to add the cannons into place. 1/96 is probably too small for me to rig tackle blocks, but I'll think about it. This ship has 12 guns to rig. It's not like it's a 38 gun frigate, and there is a lot of open space on the deck, so I'll have to give it some thought.
 
Also, rigging is coming up pretty quick and I have to start working on the shrouds and adding blocks to the mainmast. More on that next time.
 
Clare

Didn't do much on the Alert while finishing up the Yakatabune model. But, now that that's out of the way, time to put some work in on the Alert again.
 
This year, I decided not to risk any damage to the model by bringing it to the NRG conference, but a number of people asked about it. So, I kind of regret not taking it. For one thing, it serves as a great advertisement for Shipyard paper model kits in general. However, this model is far enough along that I now need something in the earlier stages of construction again. I do have an HMS Mercury kit in 1/96 scale that will probably do the trick. I also have the GPM detail kit for it. Plus, I believe that there's a set of sails and a masting kit at Ages of Sail that's been part of a box of stuff that's just been hidden on a shelf for the last year and a half. So, that may be the next background paper model project.
 
In the meantime, I cut a thin strip of photo paper that I printed a black line on. I then painted the edge of the thin strip and cut it in short length to serve as trunnion caps on the Alert's cannon carriages.
 

 
I've also been working on the spars and added the yard to the topsail and the gaff to the mainsail. I also added swiss pear blocks to the spreader yard, but I've been feeling like I want to make as much of the model from paper as possible. So, I'm going back and adding paper blocks in place of the swiss pear ones. They don't look as good, but the more of the model that is paper, the better, since it IS a paper model.
 

 

 
I've also started adding the stanchions of the taffrail that surrounds the quarterdeck. This is one of those things where I "thought" myself to a standstill. Having thought less about it, I've now started to make a little progress again.
 

 

 
I'll swap the blocks and see if I can't finish the taffrail soon. With that and adding the cannons done, it will officially be time to rig.
 
Clare