Pirate adam

Looks amazing! Adam

Johann, It continues to be an inspiration to see that this level of detail is possible at this scale. I would think that was a digital rendering if I hadn’t been following along through the steps. Great work making every piece its own little model. Adam

I have switched to an artists pigment mixed with wood glue to add color to the seams. I am very happy with the results, as it adds nice color as well as providing some gap filling capability. The lines on the stern deadwood above are totally smooth to the touch and not actual gaps.

I am back at it after some time away for work travel and family stuff. I have completed the layup of the aft deadwood. The top and fore surfaces still need to be cut back to the line so are a bit rough looking. My drawings didn't include the layout of the deadwood, so I made some choices based on similar ships, Pandora Anatomy of the Ship book, Ed Tosti's Naiad books, and David's HMS Swan series. Adam

Wow, that is looking incredible. I am really looking forward to seeing your Victory continue to progress. It will be a masterpiece. Adam

I personally prefer the second picture for a model of a ship made from wood. The scale joint lines would be very thin, but I think it is a bit of a waste to try to remove them completely. Adam

I am really excited to follow along from the start. Your Pandora and le Gros Ventre logs were both very inspirational. Adam

I am super excited to follow along on this one from the start! Adam

Knee of the head Mk. II. I messed up the first one when I was sanding the backside to fit the stem. I learned my lesson and made up a sanding block with the same profile of the stem to sand back the second version. This time I used brown artists pigment mixed into the Titebond glue. The lines are hardly visible, but show up nicely when the wood is damp. I will stick to that approach for the rest of the build. The stem, keel, and knee of the head are just on the bench for show and not glued up yet. Adam

I diverted from the steps in TFFM to build the knee of the head. I will work on fairing this piece to the stem and then put it away for safekeeping until the fore cants and hawse timbers have been installed. It still needs to be tapered in both directions and the slot for the gammoning cleaned up a bit. I used druxey's recommendation of painting the edges of the joints brown before gluing. I like the way it turned out. I am expecting some powdered brown pigments from the Amazon guy today that I will try mixing with glue going forward. Adam

I experimented with adding some brown acrylic paint to some Titebond glue. I liked the look of the joint on some test pieces. I may have added too much paint though, as I was able to pull the test pieces apart rather easily after the glue had dried. I will parallel path trying druxey's approach of painting the edges along with just adding less paint to the glue. Adam

My experience with blackening fluid is it seems to work better when dramatically diluted with water (think 90% water). This slows down the chemical reaction and helps prevent the thick buildup of black that comes right off. I dip it for 20 or 30 seconds several times until I get the color I want. It is important to keep that stuff out of your eyes, etc. though. Painting is easier if you want a pure black color. I think most of the iron was painted black in real life. Adam

I love seeing your 3D drafting in parallel with the construction of the model. It is a work of art as well. Adam

Druxey, I used the pencil approach for my last model. I liked the look especially on the deck. It is especially effective with lighter colored wood. The only thing I found is certain pencils have waxier lead that can reduce the strength of the joint. The joints on my keel scarphs should be bullet proof (fingers crossed), as I put 6 copper bolts in each joint with some CA as well as wood glue on the joint faces. I am going to switch to the brown glue approach when I get away from the timbers for the keel and the knee of the head. I don’t want to mess around with potential de-lamination when I get to the frames. I have loads of colors of Vallejo acrylic paint from plastic airplane modeling during the pandemic so will experiment with that approach as well. I agree with you and Allan that the more understated look is nicer Adam

This has been really interesting to follow. It is amazing how you are able to do the 3D design work and bring it to life with the printer. Adam

Glued up the keel and false keel. I used black tissue paper between the joints after testing it for color fastness when applying finish to a scrap piece. The black tissue paper comes with a level of frustration that I was not prepared for, but it does end up in a crisp black line between the parts. I am finding tiny pieces of black tissue paper all over the house, as it static clings to everything. Hard to believe it has already taken 11 pieces to get to this point. I am following the steps in The Fully Framed Model, so next up is the lower stem. Adam

The myrtle wood looks very nice. That should make for a really sharp looking model. Adam

This is what I am going for in the end.

I've managed to cut the scarphs for the keel as well as the section with the boxing joint. It only took me 3 tries to make the section with the boxing joint without messing something up Plenty of good size pieces for the scrap box.

That figurehead is looking really good. Interesting choice of olive wood. I'm a little bit surprised we don't see more use of that on the site, as I have seen some amazing carvings in olive wood. Adam

The fun begins. My references indicate the keel should be built up in 5 segments 13" square. I am using swiss pear for the keel and frames. My plan is to cut the scarphs for the keel on the mill and cut the boxing joint with chisels. We'll see how that goes . I glued a copy of the stem to a piece of plastic to use as a template for shaping both the boxing joint and the stem later.

I really like the idea of having a few figures and leaving them brown or grey. It reminds me of a lot of history displays in museums etc. Adam

I have started working on a building board following the description in Ed Tosti's Naiad book. I used a similar, smaller board for by galley Washington. I still need to build the gantry and accessory parts for holding the keel, aligning frames, etc.

I have collected a number of references for building this ship. I started with a printed copy of the lines plans from the National Maritime Museum. I have also made a lot of use of "The Elements and Practice of Naval Architecture 1812" which is available as an electronic download from Google books. I have also taken a lot of dimensions from "Scantlings of Royal Navy Ships 1719-1805" by Allan Yedlinsky. That book contains information from "The Shipbuilders Repository" of 1788. Both "The Elements and Practice of Naval Architecture" and "The Shipbuilders Repository" are believed to have used the Porcupine class in the tables of scantlings for 24 gun ships. I have found the dimensions from "The Shipbuilders Repository" seem to more closely match the dimensions from the Admiralty Draught in many cases vs. dimensions from "The Elements and Practice of Naval Architecture." I also have the "Anatomy of the Ship The 24-Gun Frigate Pandora" book by John McKay and Ron Coleman. This book is a treasure trove of information for a very similar ship. I have finished all the basic drawings that I need to get started building, but still have work to go to have a "full set" of working drawings. I have little concern that it will be easy enough to keep ahead of construction with the drawing development. I am far enough along that I have confidence that I can start building without any regrettable mistakes to have to deal with later.

After completing my Washington Galley, I am ready to start a new project. I will start on the HMS Crocodile of 1781. The Crocodile was a 24 gun Porcupine class post ship. It is a sister ship of the famous HMS Pandora of 1779. It was a ship of no particular significance and was wrecked off Prawle Point, England in 1784. I chose the Crocodile for several reasons. Firstly, I was looking to do a small frigate that would be a "reasonable size" at 1:48 scale. Secondly, I wanted to do a ship that I have never seen anyone build before. Thirdly, I really like the look of the ship in the drawings that are available from the NMM. I purchased the plans of the ship from the National Maritime Museum. The plans include the figurehead and stern carvings. I am blown away by the beauty of the original drafting and that the plans are still in good shape after over 240 years. I have been working for several months drafting working drawings in TurboCad. I am hoping to finish the model over the next 8+ years. I would like to thank a number of people before I even get started. I followed Wayne Kempson's article Drafting Ship Plans in CAD from the NRG homepage almost from start to finish to draft the lines plans for Crocodile. I also have worn out the drafting section of Ed Tosti's Naiad book and David Antscherl's Fully Framed Model series. I do not think it would have been possible for me to draft a set of plans for a fully framed model without all of their work. Allan Yedlinsky's book Scantlings of Royal Navy Ships 1719-1805 has also been immensely helpful. Finally thank you to all the members of MSW going back to the original MSW for all the inspiration and for answering questions over the years. I don't think I would ever have even dreamed of starting a model of this complexity without seeing all the great work done by so many amazing modelers over the years. Adam