UdoK

Nigel, thank you for posting the link, quite interessting article.
You are right for the high costs to replace kit material. I think I will stick on the basswood and replace the bad planks on the beakhead bulkhead only.

Great Progress Nigel, keep going!
 
On my build I'am right now thinking of ripping off the beakhead planking and replace it trough a different sort of wood. I find the kit supplied basswood planks a bit too soft, no sharp edges.

Thank you very much John and of course..welcome aboard!
 
First step in chapter 4 is to plank the beakhead bulkhead which is taking more time than I expected!
 
To ensure the plank edges lined up across the bulkhead, I glued prestained strips across the full length of the bulkhead. A pencil was used on one edge as usual to simulate the caulking. I used a piece of scrap planking on the deck to act as a spacer so I can slide the deck planking under the bulkhead planking and so get a clean edge.
 
Doors frames were cut out by drilling small holes at each corner before using a keyhole Xacto saw to rough out the door openings in the bulkheads and then filing to finish. The bowsprit hole was also drilled out before filing it to shape. The outer plank edges were faired in to match the bulkhead fairing except I left an extra ~1/8in on each side at the top. I did this to correct a fairing mistake as  I found I'd rounded off the top edges of the beakhead bulkhead. A light sanding was then done w 320 grit paper which showed how variable my initial staining depth was!  
 
Same steps were repeated to plank the inside of the bulkhead, except unstained planks were used given these planks will be painted crimson. Next steps are to add in the door jambs and frames, deck planking, treenails and of course restain the bulkhead planking! 
 
Thanks as always for the likes and a few photos are below!
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Well done Dave, a clear and nice run of the wales!

Update:
 
I changed my mind and thought it better to attach the stern facia part 139 before removing the bulwark tabs as this provides structural support to the bulwarks in this area. I like to use contact adhesive for this, but its important to have everything measured and marked correctly because it can't be moved if it's wrong.
 
Then I removed the tabs using the dremel saw and planked the inner bulwarks as described in the kit.
 
I prefer the stern facia in the AOTS book and decided before fitting the sheer strake I'd shape and fit its wood work because the sheer strake butts into it.
 
To get the 1.5 x 1.5  ledgers running parallel and in the correct positions I soaked and shaped the lower first. When it had dried over night I glued it with contact adhesive. Then to shape the window ledges I soaked and clamped them to it. Then carefully marked their positions and glued with contact adhesive also.
 
Then I shaped the taffrail and trimmed the window ledges to take it. I also angled the lower edges of the taffrail for the figurines. Finally I carefully sanded the top of the taffrail parallel to the water line. I'm not sure whether I need (or indeed if I can) add a capping to the taffrail. There is no mention of this in the kit, but wouldn't need to do that until after the rubbing strakes are on which is my next task. So time to think on that. 
 
Last I cut the rabbets in the bow for the sheer and rubbing strakes.

Thank you Dave for stopping by.
 
Wale on the starbord side has been completed.
As mentioned earlier I'am not using the kit supplied planks, the wale consists of a 4mm x 1,5mm walnut Strip for the blackstrake and four strips 3mm x 2mm for the wale.
Before constructing the wales I have compared the kit drawings to the AotS, it matches very well.
 
 

Hi all
 
First thank you all for your likes and comments.
 
Just a small update.
 
Capstan in, Whipstaff in place , stairs in.
 
Denis.

An update to work on the stern Flag Boxes(I believe they are called)
Probably used for storing flags and assorted attachments.
 
I thought I'd run a bit of a log on the process I use to make the hinges through to end. I don;t know how some of you modelers make things so small. This is how I do it.   
 
Lets start with the plan on the rear deck, the starboard flag box highlighted(from the AOTS):

 
Create and fix in place port and starboard box frames for the lids to fix to:

 
The lids; I made the lid/frame from left over 1mm planks:
Selected a purchased hinge to bash into a smaller version for this application.

 
Hinges bashed - grind and filed thinner.

 
The end of each curved to allow a thin bar(actually a model railway pin - so very thin) to pass through as a hinge pinion(is that the correct word?).


 
Blackened and CA/glued to hatches.


 
Make some very small pins(from the railway pin heads)
Craft some eyelets(fairly rough but you do not see them in the end really)

 
Loose fix the pins & eyelets to the hatches:

 
After touching up the black, gluing in place, ended up like....


 
A couple of coats of clear, should bring the timber grain out and onto the flag pole fixtures. 
Updated - coat of clear.


 
Dave R

Thanks for the "likes" and comments.. 
 
An update..  the stern.    I'm going to paraphrase a line from a speech by John Kennedy about the Apollo program.  I think it fits with model ships...   "We do things not because they are easy but because they are hard".   I had the full quote sitting on my desk at work for many years.  I finally dug it out of the box and now have it again in place to remind me.
 
Anyway, so much for philosophy today but you'll understand it down this post a bit...      Here's the step by step...
 
I glued the previously cut light frames over the ebony filled opening for the 3 deadlights.   I made a scraper and scraped the lower molding strip to the profile on the plans.  The boxwood molding was mildly edge bent with heat and glued and secured into position with clamps.


 
I then turned to the next step, the glazed lights.  I checked locally for mica from gem/mineral shops locally.  All the locals were are the kind that sell "new age" crystals and cut stones for the chanting brigade.  So.. Google is my friend... I find bags of mica sheets but... no guarantee that any of the sheets in the bags would be clear.  Scratch that.  Back to Google..  started calling all the shops within a 200 mile radius.  No clear except one place... and it was a 10 pound chunk.  Yikes!!!
 
Time to fall back to Plan "B"... liquid glazing.  I used it and glazed the 4 lights following directions... and they warped badly.  Cut 4 more using the Deathstar (I guess scratchbuilding is called the "darkside" for a reason    ) and modified the method.  I applied the glazed, put it between two 1/4" plates of glass over night.  The next morning, I took off the top glass and let it sit until the glazing was clear and then the lights started to warp.  Put the glass plate back on and let it sit for 24 hours.  Success!!!!
 
I glued on the lights and added the ebony strips between them as there aren't faux columns between them, just plain wood.
 

 
The next steps will be to make and install the mold strip above the lights, and add the ebony planking for the rest of the transom. The lower mold strip needs to be trimmed back and the inside of the transom needs to be planked.  Then I can add the taffrail.  They do look better in real life than in macro.
 
To be continued.....

Hi All,
Well my shipyard has finally started back from the Xmas break.
Has been into action constructing the Companion Hatch.
At the scale of 1:60, sure is fiddly timber work and fabricating more hinges.
I laminated the sides, to have side cut-outs(red boxes).
 

 
 
Unfortunately, the pictures do not show how close the arms of the capstan mix(just clash) with the top hinges. I'll probably lower the lower hatch a bit so it clears.
 
Onto ?, always something else to build.
 
 
Dave R

Hi all
 
Just a little update ha-ha.
 
Stained and glued some of the beams in on the gun deck.
 
Sorry that is all I have done.
 
Denis.

Almost one year since the last upate, time goes by but the build is still alive.
 
Hull fairing has been completed, all the low frames are filled and sanded again. I have installed one another transom wing and a Piece of wood to support the planking around the rudder opening. Now on to the wales.....
 
In the last Picture you can see some damge on the false keel caused by the 'heavy sanding equipment' during hull sanding. I will probably replace the after part of the false keel after planking is completed.

Almost one year since the last upate, time goes by but the build is still alive.
 
Hull fairing has been completed, all the low frames are filled and sanded again. I have installed one another transom wing and a Piece of wood to support the planking around the rudder opening. Now on to the wales.....
 
In the last Picture you can see some damge on the false keel caused by the 'heavy sanding equipment' during hull sanding. I will probably replace the after part of the false keel after planking is completed.

Thank you Nils.
 
Window framing completed and I made some good progress on the hull fairing last weekend.
 
 

Almost one year since the last upate, time goes by but the build is still alive.
 
Hull fairing has been completed, all the low frames are filled and sanded again. I have installed one another transom wing and a Piece of wood to support the planking around the rudder opening. Now on to the wales.....
 
In the last Picture you can see some damge on the false keel caused by the 'heavy sanding equipment' during hull sanding. I will probably replace the after part of the false keel after planking is completed.

Almost one year since the last upate, time goes by but the build is still alive.
 
Hull fairing has been completed, all the low frames are filled and sanded again. I have installed one another transom wing and a Piece of wood to support the planking around the rudder opening. Now on to the wales.....
 
In the last Picture you can see some damge on the false keel caused by the 'heavy sanding equipment' during hull sanding. I will probably replace the after part of the false keel after planking is completed.

Display case,.... the final....
 
today the display case has been completed, and sowith the project is done
 
Nils
 

 
the preliminary "grip" on the upper large glass side is fixed to the wall cupboard and is a useful third "hand" when mounting
 
 

 
 

 
put the model in it`s place already whilst mounting sides and top
 
 

 
pictures taken through the glass never auto-focus correct (sorry for pic quality)
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
I use these screws rather that sink head screws because of the better strength and handling
 
 

 
 

A bit of an update.  First off, here's hull "right-side up".... I'm liking the way she looks.
 

 
I removed some of the build board material around the transom area to give me some working room. If you'll go back to previous pictures, the transom is actually glued to the build board.   When I removed the board, I found some problems with the transom.  Not a show stopper or a big problem.   Some fairing/sanding and maybe removal/replacement of some of the small framing will fix it nicely.  Once fixed, I can continue on with the planking and build up of the transom.
 

 
I also finally took a good look at the interior.  I held off sanding and fairing it because I knew my planking clamps were going to cause <ahem> issues, shall we say.   Now is also the time to fair it out and fix any problems.  I'm not seeing any serious problems, just a lot of sanding and fairing.  So this area, along with the transom is being attended to.  I also wanted to get this out of the way at this point as when I install the galleries, stern windows, etc. removing the sanding dust would be a real problem if I waited to sand until they were done.  Another reason is, I don't want to damage anything with the handling needed during sanding. 
 

 
I have to admit I'm pretty damn happy right now.  The problems are not as bad as I thought they'd be and overall, looking pretty good.

Hi all,
just want to let you that I have received my english copy of the monograph today. It missed Christmas by just a few days.
 
 

Hi all,
just want to let you that I have received my english copy of the monograph today. It missed Christmas by just a few days.
 
 

Tom, I don't know why, I have placed the order in November and received the Shipping info just before Christmas.

I'm not so sure if I understand what you are talking about , is it if I replace the Kit cannons because they are not realistic, are you talking about if I replace the blocks because they aren't to scale, are you talking about replacing cleats that are far too large and bulky, are you talking about replacing cheap rigging to replace it with quality stuff that actually looks good, or, maybe it is replacing the kit supplied dowels because they are warped, or, maybe it is replacing the hull planks because the kit asks for hull to be painted and has supplied crap wood but I want it natural so I replace it with a quality wood ?
I could go on further, but as you can see it is not all by choice why people replace expensive parts and pieces it is the manufacturer supplying inferior parts and material doubled my quest to make the best model to my abilities. I would gladly pay more for a kit if I knew all parts and material were of top quality, however, as the kit manufacturer is trying to keep his costs down and the retail price within reason we will never see this.
 On my current build I have replaced 80 percent of the wood some of it for the reasons mentioned above and  other because I wanted to show my insight and taste to this ship. I think changing different things in a kit does not mean that I should be going to a scratch build I think it means that I have the ingenuity to build a model that is truly unique to me. I agree that a scratch build would do the same but could you imagine how MSW would look if we all built our ships to spec. using nothing but kit supplied material, might just be a little boring.
  So you see, my friend, there several reasons why we do the things we do.
 And as for all my left over wood and parts I'll use that for my first scratch build     
 

To clad the binnacle I used walnut. Not ideal but it is what I have. I stuck a 5mm square block on top and another one on the bottom of the perspex. Since the perspex was only 4.5mm thick I was able to leave a slight overhang top and bottom at the front. 
 
I milled some walnut sheet down to 0.5mm thick and a piece of this was stuck on the front of the perspex to represent the cover over the lamp.
 
The last block was a piece of 2 x 5mm walnut stuck on the bottom .
 
The next photo shows this. It appears on the screen about 8 times full size so rather exposes the irregularities in the surface of the wood!
 

 
The top and bottom blocks were shaped....
 

 
....then the whole was put in the mill to cut out the centre of the top block. 


 
I then added the sides of the lamp flue cover. The following photo reveals a couple of issues.
 
The first is that when I filed up the flue cover I made it about 1mm too narrow. As a result when I later added the glazing bars and other detail the middle section was narrower than the sections either side. Doh. I decided to live with that. Tut tut.
 
The second is the walnut sheet is noticably lighter than the walnut block. I tried "American Walnut" coloured stain on a test piece, but when I tried it on the actual binnacle it looked too red. It also highlighted the grain in an undesirable way.
 
Instead I tried some Raw Umber water colour paint which seemed to give the right result. It doesn't coat like oil or enamel paint and is nearer to a stain. It should be OK once protected with varnish.
 

 
Next was the glazing bars which I made fron 0.5 x 0.5mm walnut which I cut from the sheet. Ideally these should have been of a smaller cross section but the walnut tended to disintegrate below this size.
 
The binnacle on the Amazon model has a plain back. So on mine I made a plain cover from some of the 0.5mm sheet, the edge of which is just visible on the left in the next photo.
 

 
I had intended to detail the three panels across the lower front  but decided against this. I would have used thick cartridge paper for this. The centre panel was too small and just doing the outer panels would have looked odd.
 
The structure was completed by adding the end panals and the top . The bottom of the end panels was shaped to represent the legs.
 
The next photos shows it complete. I will try to get a better photo in daylight. The binnacle is not as blotchy in real life as the photo suggests (honest!). Will try tomorrow when the weather conditions will hopefully be less grotty.
 

 
A shot of the binnacle next to my specs for scale.....
 

 
...and a final shot showing it posed next to the wheel on the ship.
 

 
I will fit some rings to the binnacle later which will be used to "secure" it to the deck.
 

Hi all,
just want to let you that I have received my english copy of the monograph today. It missed Christmas by just a few days.
 
 

Hi all,
just want to let you that I have received my english copy of the monograph today. It missed Christmas by just a few days.