knightyo

That detail is insane. Really, really great parts! Alan

The HMS Queen Elizabeth with the newly arrived American F-35's would make an interesting project. That's an interesting joint multinational deployment about to take place. It could even be an international modeling project. One of you could do the air wing, one could do the ship, and it could then reside in my living room when finished. Everybody wins! Alan

Below is a pic of an experiment I ran on my swiss pear. The left column is just unfinished, the middle column is pear with Formby's Tung Oil Finish (which I learned isn't actually Tung Oil), and in the right column are pieces which had Pentart Patina liquid (50/50 mix of mineral spirits/Pentart) applied over the top of dried Formby's. I'm going to keep experimenting to see if I can get something between the middle and right columns. Maybe starting out with a 90/10 mix of mineral spirits/Pentart; it was surprising how dark and strong that medium was. I'd love input on the combination of these two products or similar products, as stains/finishes is an area in which I have the least amount of knowledge. Will these products react with one another over time? Should either one not be used to begin with? My goal is to reproduce a fairly "aged" look to swiss pear with a finish that will last a long time. Alan

I now realize that I have sinned. Mark, I'm sorry for derailing your log; I just wanted to provide a quick photo of my experiment since I knew you were using the same type of wood that I was. I'll post my experiment in the proper forum, as it really does seem like there could be some very robust and fascinating conversation on this topic! Alan

Hi Bruce, According to the can, Formby's is comprised of tung oil and other "fine penetrating oils". The can also indicates that it contains aliphatic hydrocarbons. No, I have no idea what those are. The guy in the video below tipped me off about the tung oil finishes. He has a few other products on his bench, one or more of which might be available on your side of the pond as well. He indicates that most of them, unless they specifically state "100% tung oil" on the bottle/can, are usually only 5% actual tung oil, with the rest being resins, etc. Is this a bad thing however? It sounds like these products result in a finish which won't need to be reapplied periodically which tung oil apparently does. I can't fathom having to reapply a finish over a completed ship model, so I'm thinking these alternate products might be the way to go. I do wonder however, if the Pentart is ok to apply over the top of the Formby's and how that will hold up over time. It seems like we have a few chemists on the forum, so I might bring this up in the Finishes section to see if anyone has additional information on this point. With the amount of time we spend on our projects, it would be horrifying if the two products didn't interact nicely over time. Alan

Another thing you can do is experiment with the type of finish to apply over your pear. Below is a pic of an experiment I ran on mine. The left column is just unfinished, the middle column is pear with Formby's Tung Oil Finish (which I learned isn't actually Tung Oil), and in the right column are pieces which had Pentart Patina liquid (50/50 mix of mineral spirits/Pentart) applied over the top of dried Formby's. I'm going to keep experimenting to see if I can get something between the middle and right columns. Maybe starting out with a 90/10 mix of mineral spirits/Pentart; it was surprising how dark and strong that medium was. Alan

I'm thinking safety glasses are probably in order for Popeye moving forward. Alan

When it's time for me to make my rope, I'm going to purchase Chuck's rope making device. He published a tutorial for it, and it looks like it would be very satisfying to use. Alan

Those mines look awesome. And thank heavens you have your models in a safe location now. Alan

I agree regarding the walnut. I wish my walnut was that fine grained! Your build is looking great so far. I'm also an Alan S. I'm glad that this is actually your log, and not something I posted in a sleepwalking mode during the night. Alan

Man I wish the photos on that site enlarged more. The detail on that model is insane! Just stunning detail when looking under the deck at the structures at the bow and stern. Alan

I think this ship would be fantastic to see in unpainted wood. I also wouldn't worry about whether or not the plans are 100% accurate, as no one will be able to prove they are wrong anyway. Alan

Your build looks great so far! And after looking up the book you mentioned by Hameichi Hara, I purchased said book, as it looks great. I've been "building" my Syren model since about 2008, so it's nice to see another modeler who is deliberate with his work. Alan

This is beautiful work! Alan

Wow! That longboat is superb. Alan

I think it depends on how "tight" the outside planking is, and whether or not the plank fits perfectly in place without really needing to be glued to the underlying surface. If it were me, I'd probably dremel out the underlying filler and reinstall a new plank on top of the "old", and sand to the correct depth to ensure the outside planking had a solid and long-lasting surface to adhere to. Take my opinion with a grain of salt tho. I'm famous for going with the most difficult and unwieldy approach whenever possible. Alan

To resurrect this one a bit... What grit do you guys think planks should be sanded down to before tung oil, pentart mix, bitumen, etc are applied? Alan

Yessssss...... There can never be too many guns. 😁 I love the capstan as well. It really looks fantastic. Alan

Well, it did take me about 13 years to pull the trigger on that decision. 😉

That deck is absolutely gorgeous. Alan

I've been watching this! Some of the "adult" content sure surprised me tho, and didn't seem to add anything to the show. Alan

So I've done something a touch drastic with the model, but first I have a question for the group. Take a look at the below photo. These plates were made out of copper tape and installed circa 2008 or so. The are now starting to peel. Any thoughts on solutions? There is a sick part of me that would like to place extremely small rivets in each hole in order to secure each plate; I've made larger bolts out of wire, but something this small? We'll see. My OCD level is indeed high enough that I'd follow through with it, if it turned out to be a viable solution. I definitely want to be careful not to do anything which would cause the plates to "crinkle" tho. And now it's time for my confession. Ever since I planked this ship years ago, I was never satisfied with the hull appearance. As the log reflects, I've done a number of things to the planking to try and make it "good enough", but it's never hit the mark. Sooo..... You can see what I've done. Isn't it beautiful? 😁 Hull re-planking with swiss pear has begun! I believe this will make the model look far and away better than the poorly stained basswood I'd installed previously. This also makes sense, as my quarter galleries, stern decoration and figurehead are also all made out of pear, so everything should blend together. You can see the first plank I've re-laid on top of the wale. Once the planking has been laid, I'll be applying an aging medium I procured from Canada (after extensive testing on scrap strips).

I'm at a good stopping point in my "real" work today, so am taking an early lunch in order to post a few updates. Below is the start of my new deck planking. The deck of the kit had zero camber, and was a straight line fore/aft. I've remedied both items with a lot of sanding. Then graph paper was glued to the deck to ensure the planking was installed evenly, and planking commenced below. It really was satisfying to plank the entire deck from front to back. I'm glad I made the decision to take the plunge in cutting off the quarterdeck. Below is the finished main deck planking, with sawdust included. Sorry for such stark lighting in the photo. The lighting in my den was too dark, so I thought I'd head to the kitchen for brighter, natural light. You can tell that I'm not a very competent photographer. Anyway, now I just need to plank the very front piece in the bow, and of course re-make the quarterdeck. But not so fast! So here's my dilemma. As I was cleaning up the deck and getting ready to shape the waterways, I was viewing my stock of photos of the replica of the Nina.. To my consternation (extreme consternation), I realized that the replica has scuppers (below) all the way down the hull, and not only did my version NOT have scuppers since I re-shaped the deck, if I cut scuppers out at the new deck level, they'd no longer match the wales of the ship on the outside; they'd go right through them. So guess who made the insane decision to remove the wales and all associated "bumpers" in preparation for scupper installation? Yea, I know.. But it's yet another thing which would have really bugged me now that I knew about it. For giggles, since the exterior hull is now "clean", I'm also going to very carefully scribe down the middle of each plank as well, as the initial planks were far too wide to be in scale. I might also take the opportunity to add more "meat" to the bow section, as it has quite a sharp rise at the bow, which my version does not. Might as well add that to the list; we'll see on that point. I think I might need to re-name this model "Pandora's Box", because I've certainly opened said box a long time ago when I thought "wouldn't it be cool if I did X to the model before I apply the finishing touches". It pains me to know how much I could have gotten done on my Syren/Triton by now if I'd just finished the model a long time ago, but I'm in it, so am moving forward. I have to admit it is fun to be putting this much detail into such a tiny model, but fully acknowledge the insanity of "upgrading" a model which was never meant to be very accurate. It would have been FAR better to have built from plans, or to have started with a more accurate kit.

You rhymed. 😁

I really like the look of pear. This will be a beauty. What are you thinking of filling the gaps with, Mark? Alan