maggsl_01

Hi all, I had contact to Massimo several times. As I go to Milan about 8 times a year I asked him to visit his company someday. The Lake Como is just about 50 Kilometers from Milan and when I drive to Milan with my car from Germany I come along there always. His reaction was a spontaneous Invitation which I will take in spring. And all the contact with him before I purchased the Friedrich Wilhelm-kit was so pleasant... And above all the delivery of the kit: It did last only 1 single day to have the big big box in my hands... Never had any service like this before. All the conversations are really nice and helpful. If a Company has a Boss like Massimo - nothing can go wrong Cheerio Max

Oooops... I will do the Friedrich Wilhelm in about one and a half year (when I have finished the Endeavour, which I will start next month...) I heared and read about the special crafts that are necessary at least by reading Piratepetes interpretive manual... But to watch you getting along with this challenge is quite different to just thinking about it... I see... this will be really a heavy job - but I am looking Forward Cheerio Max

Thank you all for the compliments I am glad - and... yes... a little bit proud - that this model came out quite nice. Also I am a little bit sad, that it's over now. You sure know this feeling... Bye bye for the moment - CU soon (when the Admiral gives me the permission to start the Enbeavour ) And: The Gallery is open

Hey Joe nothing better than a good working-place with good light and enough space to feel well and work proper. Grats for yours... Cheerio Max

Thx a lot Tom... I wish you can use something for your porpose... This would make me happy Good days Max

Hi together... This is probably my last update of my Royal Caroline log. I am ready, have ordered the hood, made the stand and took all the pics for the gallery. The gallery will be open soon, perhaps I will upload the pics today, perhaps tomorrow. I thank you all again - it was a funny and really good time. One of the pics show my two models - the Half Moon and the Royal Caroline - a nice small fleet with nearly the same scale. And the last picture gives an Impression of the next project - the Endeavour. I will see you all again as soon as I start the Endeavour. This will be not before March. Enjoy the pics and come by to my gallery the next days. I will follow several logs and stay online - of course. When you start wooden modelling... well, you can't stop it so easy Cheerio my friends Max

Hi David, I like the way you get your Caroline together. It's a nice kit and a very nice model - I am almost a Little bit sad that I am ready with my build Enjoy the weeks to come - I didn't want to miss just one single Minute (although there are really dark moments... when you see that you were wrong with your work ... and restart) Cheerio Max

Cheerio my friends! Well - it is done. The Caroline is completed, as I think. The rigging is fixed, the lanterns are on their place, even the flag is allright. although I will try with my next ship to get some more realistic flags... But nevertheless - I like the flag as it is. All in all I say - the kit by Panart is ok. There is a lot of possibilities to bash or to improve the build. I got swivel-guns, built a door beneath the stairs etc... only some small additions as you see. For me it was most important to improve my knowledge and my craftsmanship. And I wanted to create a model that is nice to look at under a Hood in my living-room. This is done. I was a little bit dissapointed by the rigging plan - it Needs a lot of detective work to understand the drawings. This could be done much better as I think. But at least is also worked. I thank you all who followed my log, thx for all comments, tips, hints and tricks. The next days when I have some more time I will do some additional pics and at last create an own Gallery for my Royal Caroline. I will have a break now for some weeks. I will be back some not so far away day with my next log - the Endeavour by Occre, which I want to bash more according to the AOTS. Cheerio Yours - Max

Hello my friends an fellow men just a little update with some pics again. Still working with the running rigging. But as I am working in the news business the past days left no time to relax and to care about my good old lady Caroline. All that terrorism takes my time away... But today I could finish the bowspirt and the biggest part of the foremast. So I thought I could be good to share my results with you There is nothing special to tell so far. All takes its place as soon as I have found the place in the confusing rigging plan Enjoy the pics and don't hesitate with any kind of comment. Cheerio Max

Hi Edwin sure you are very welcome to my shipyard. Take a seat and let's have a nice time while building our boats The FW will be a challenge - I think you all know this. Therefore I will wait till I have gathered more expierence esp with bashing. I hope I can try this with my next model The Endeavour by Occre. I have the AOTS to the Endeavour and will try to improve the kit with more details from the book. Keep on rolling... BTW Just had a look on Google Earth and found, that Port Alberni is situated on Vancouver Island... I am envious now as Vancouver Island represents for me one of the most adorable places on earth... Cheerio my friend Max

Hi J you have done a great job and built a real gem... I like your interpretation of the Half Moon very much. It is interesting to compare different builders resilts of one kit. Keep going on Cheerio Max

Hello my friends a little update today. I work on the yards at the moment - and within with the running rigging. It is a pleasure for me to see the ropes grow and to understand how the ships were sailed long time ago. I prepared the yards on my lathe and stained them with a mixture of dark walnut (ca 70 %) and oak tree (30 %). I have attached the anchors... the ship turns more and more into a complete model. I think I have about 3 or 4 weeks (my vacation is done now... not so much time to build anymore) to finish the Royal Caroline. All in all it will be about 9 months (!) to do the ship... Today one of my next Projects arrived: The kit of the Friedrich Wilhelm zu Pferde was delivered Wish you all the very best Cheerio Max

Hi Burnside, I am glad to see that someone else is having fun with that swedish steamboats. I was very pleased to notice that there are These kits on the market. I probably will look for them when I have done my sailingship-Projects some day. I will follow your build... looking for a comfortable chair, a good glas of wine and many time... Cheerio Max

Hello again ... thx all for your compliments... Yes, I admit: I really enjoy the build of the Royal Caroline. Too sad that the end is coming closer with every day of fun... The next project already takes shape... I purchased the Occre Endeavour. And... shame on me... I ordered my absolutely dream of a ship - the Friedrich Wilhelm zu Pferde by Euro Model. I dont know if I already dare to start with the FW or if ist better to wait and get more expierence. But Euro Model had an Holiday discount with 20 % to the usual Price. So shipment and all taxes included the kit is just about 570 Euro (more than 700 normally)... I just could NOT say NO... (even the Admiral said: Do it - so... would you wait with this encouragement?? ) Well...we will see... I feel just a Little bit crazy now as the FW is for me the "royal class" of modelling. Next time I will update the Caroline again Cheerio Max

Hello again... it's just me at present I tie the ratlines on my Caroline's shrouds. The shrouds themselves were very good to fix, it was a joy. Also I like to tie the ratlines - it is a quite relaxing job but it Needs attention to have a good balance between tension and flexibility. I enjoy to do this knotting and listening to an audible book (Ken Follet, The Pillars of the Earth). I think my ratlines are ok so far. I get one side of one mast per evening - more is impossible or you get them knots in your brain... So I have still four evenings to knot and knot and... Best wishes for a good happy and enjoyable and healthy New Year Yours Max

Hello again Just a little update with some pics. I am more or less ready with the standing rigging. Just the ratlines have to be made yet. But I will first look if I can fasten some ropes of the running rigging on places that are just difficult to reach - like the rings on the bottom of the masts. After this I will lay the ratlines and then fabricate the yards.The pics show mostly just details of the current status. I tried to shoot some pics to show the loading device with the boat. Was kind of tricky to build - but at least: It works Cheerio my friends Max

Hello my friends... just before the Christkind - the German pendant to Santa - arrives with all the gifts, a little update. In the book AOTS Royal Caroline there is shown a parapet on the mars of every mast. I decided to "bash" a little bit and to build these parapets. I used some walnut 2/2mm, a black stained strip with 0.3/3mm and brass wire with 0.5mm diameter (see my unprof drawing ) I think those parapets come out quite nice. The other pics show the status quo of the building. The standing rigging is not done completely yet. I wish you all a very nice Christmas, merry days with your families and a lot of fun. Cheerio Max PS... RIP dear old Joe Cocker - one of the best singer ever...

Hello my friends... many many thanks for your words and compliments. @Edwin - thank you and have a nice, peaceful Xmas too. Ours will probably not be so nice as my wifes father died this year - the family will miss him I asume... but we will keep together - and have a glass of wine or two for his rememberance @John - yes its all for fun and relexation. @all Since photography took such an amazing progress by developing the digital world it has become much more easy to create such pictures. Modern cameras - I use a Nikon D 3 system-camera - allow to raise the sensitivity up to 1000 ISO without any loss of sharpness and quality. So you shoot good pics with the hand where your former needed a tripod. This and of course the quality of the photographic sensor inside the camera and the process of saving the information makes this part of photography quite easy. So I can focus on setting the light, what kind of exposure I use, what kind of light-measuring etc. It is not wrong if you learned all this while the non-digital time - I had a darkroom, developed all films by myself etc. Nowadays with all this electronic gimmicks like adjustable whitebalance or all that possibilities of editing the pics in a good software like Photoshop it is possible to get very good and quite impressing pictures with a minimum of effort - compared to former days. So I just used the two ordinary working-lights on my desk. Important is to spot the part you want, to use a adequate kind of measuring as I did with a spotmeter with very low diameter and an old black t-shirt on the wall. Some years ago this kind of pics were only possible in a professional studio with light equipment and a special way of film-developing. Today its a job of half an hour to take the pics and another half an hour to process them on the PC. But nevertheless - you need some expierence and most of all the "eye" to see the motif. But all in all it is not a devils work CU all my friends - this evening I will continue with the mizzen, the shrouds left on the main mast and hopefully with the main mast's stay. BTW I am glad I received my next project today. The Occre-kit of the Endeavour was delivered. The first impression is very very good. The instructions - also the booklet with the pics and additional the drawing for building up the masts, yards and sails (presewn sails are included) - seem to be excellent. Cheerio Max PS I attached a few pics to amplify what I mean. They are the result of a minimum effort for photography (the dioramas sure are the result of years...)

Hi my friends thank you all for your words... It makes my glad... and yes: a liitle bit proud to read all this. Thx again. The build is a fun and relaxing thing - just what it should be. Of course I could improve more or scratch more... but at least the kit is quite comfortable and for me it is not the goal to rebuild an original but more to have fun an to get a real gem for my living-room. With my next model, the Endeavour by Occre (already ordered and waitng for shipment) perhaps I will do more bashing as the famous AOTS by Mr Marquardt gives a lot of hints. For today I admit that rigging is one of my favorite jobs on a model. So I started to build up the masts and the standing rigging. The attached files are more or less focussed on the photography... as this is an other passion of me. Pls enjoy the pics and - as always - dont hesitate to tell me what you think ... Cheerio Max

Hello my friends it is time for al little update. The last days I was working in the nightshift from 5 to 1 am - so when I came home all I wanted was a beer or two and then into my bed. And during the day there was so much things to do so I had almost no time to build. Well - this changed as I have my vacation of the year now - that means four weeks at home till midth of January. There will be time to continue my Royal Caroline (BTW my Admiral says I should look for a new kit asap - as she thinks I will finish the Caroline at the vacation..) I did prepare the masts. The bowsprit is mounted, the foremast also. I started to rig the formemast with the shrouds. The wood of the masts was very fine and was easy to work with as it has to be carved on the top rectangular. All the jobs with the mars and the salings are perfect to be done.Only, as regrettably, the instructions are more or less BAD. So they do not show where you have to attach eyelets for the ropes eg for the bowsprit or some other ropes. I found some good pics of a built Caroline on http://modelships.de/Royal_caroline_I/Royal_Caroline_I.htm this helps me very much. But I think its a shame for any company to distribute so bad instruction with a kit that at least costs about 320 euros (germany). Nevertheless I found the solutions and can now start to build up the masts, to rig them, to get the standing rigging done. Then the yards will follow... As a resume in-between time I at least say: I am content with the kit, the materials and the plkan at a fullview. Improvements could be done in Details. But this is as always... At least I want to be challangend - otherwise I would buy some plastic klit :D Now pls enjoy the pics - as always: comments are welcome Cheerio my merry mates CU Max

Hi DEavid, welcome aboard to the Caroliners I will follow your log with great attention! I am still constructing the masts... Best wishes and Cheerio Max

Hi my friends thx for your words ... I do appriciate this :D @schnu - they do so much by Proxxon, make sure to visit their online-catalogue... Its a treasure for every modeller Cheerio Max

Hello again... the work on the foremast goes very satisfying. I am ready with the first, the lower, part. Next will be the upper part of the mast. Now, that I do this masting this way I understand how the process works best. My problem with my first build, the Half Moon, - or better with the instructions by Corel - was that there was hardly no space between the crows nest and the mast itself for the shrouds. It was very tricky to fasten them. But here with the Caroline there is more to see and understand how the shrouds thing will work. Thus I do... (As my father told me: You will never ever stop to learn... what a wise guy he is) And now I can see how it is to be done to create the masts step by step and to fix the shrouds. I like it really But pls see the pics and dont hesitate to comment if you ever want. In Germany it is winter time now, and in the region I live in winter means cold, fog, snow and a lot of time in the shipyard (as I have always my four-week-vacation from mid Dec to mid Jan because of the dogs. Its more easy to take a walk as long as it is light and in the winter evenings fall fast). So I will be able to have a lot of rigging work in my vacation. Cheerio and best wishes to you all Max

Hi all, it's me again I startet to build the masts and tops now. The precut parts have to be planked, I stained the strips with a mix of teak and oak, the transoms (?) are walnut, I stained the edging black and assambled all togehter. I Comes out nice I think. Next will be the salings. Thx for your attention Cheerio Max

Hi together Well, I am through with my boat earlier than I thought... At least: Now :D I have atached some pics (as usual) to show the result of an almost one-week-Job. I had a lot of fun although I thought at the start it will NEVER be something similar to a boat. But I admit - indeed it a boat. Thx for your attention and interest Cheerio Max