ianmajor

Have taken some comparison photos around the gallery and transom. As I suspected the galleries as per the kit are too narrow. I have merged Danny's photos with mine to show the comparison. First is the rear view of the gallery where you can see that Danny has produced a wider gallery whereas mine is as per the kit. From this angle my galleries are so thin as to be just about hidden. The result is that on Danny's he has been able to put the full decoration in place whereas I had to carve the decorations down to fit producing a rather bald look. I could probably improve this by putting decorative strip along the joins. I managed to plank around this area using the mahogany supplied in the kit but it was the Devil's own job since it was very prone to splitting on pieces this small. To hide the gaps produced underneath I used Squadron Green putty. This will paint over OK. The transom comes in one piece with the kit which I now know is too narrow. The picture shows the stern of my Unicorn. I have put an arrow to indicate where the bulwark line is (as can be just made out through the windows). It is my view that the bulwarks should have lined up with the space between the outer two windows on both sides. I don't think I can correct this without doing a severe wrecking job so will have to do a cosmetic job. If I was doing this again I would make the galleries wider by about 3mm and I probably would leave the lower decoration off as per Peter's build.

Jan, Nice work. It looks to be a challenging kit.

Hamilton, Thanks for your kind words. I have been keeping an eye on your Blandford/Greyhound build. You have had some big challenges on that kit which would make many give up. My Unicorn had a problem with some of the bulkheads. A couple of them extended below the bottom of the keel if their tops were lined up with the deck. I had to do a lot of bulkhead shaping. Not sure if this error was corrected in latter batches of the kit. Danny, Thanks for the photos. It looks like your galleries are wider than mine. If I interpret your photos correctly you seem to have added additional wooden support behind the decoration. If my eyes don't deceive me you have also added a tiller on the top of the rudder which is not part of the kit. Peter, Thanks for your input. When I can clear some of the decorating clutter so that I can get the ship out of storage I will take some corresponding pictures around my Unicorn stern for comparison with Danny's photos. I put this detail on 20 years or more ago and am not happy with it.

Danny, Thanks for demonstrating my point that the kit makes up to a lovely model if built exactly as per the instructions. You have produced a fine piece of work there. One area I would like to compare notes with you and that is around the stern and galleries. My kit was one of the first batch produced by Corel. The decorative moldings above and below the galleries were too big so I cut them down to fit. Latterly I have come to the conclusion that the wooden parts for the gallery were actually too small. Looking at builds made from later batches of the kit the moldings appear to fit OK suggesting that this has been corrected by Coral. Could I be cheeky and ask you to publish some close up photos of your model around the stern, galleries and moldings. I think they would be very helpful to all builders of the Unicorn. Do you have a build log for your Bounty? Have you seen the "Fateful Voyage" website at http://www.fatefulvoyage.com/index.html ? It has a lot of information on the Bounty, its crew and the mutiny.

ZyXuz, thanks for your kind words. The Coral kit makes a very nice model if built as per the instructions but I am always changing things. I am hoping to put my next update in a few weeks time - when I have finished decorating the living room. .

Back in the '60s there were several magazine articles by model makers on making windows from microscope cover slips. They cut them using good quality scissors whilst holding the slips under water to stop the vibration from shattering the glass. It appeared to be successful though I have not tried this method so have no personal experience.

Wayne, That looks an interesting project. How old would you say the kit is? The artwork on the box has a definite '50s/'60s feel to it though the content looks quite modern.

Nice work. Love the finish on the hull.

I am a great fan of using nickel silver, in fact I am making a Brodie stove from it at the moment. It is a nice material to work with which as Wefalck says can be left in its bare silvery colour. I find I have no problem with using blackening products on it. Two advantages it has over brass. 1) Paint keys in to its surface better than brass. Even with etching primers paint peels off brass long before it does on nickel silver particularly around sharp edges. 2) I find nickel silver conducts heat less well than brass which means that when soldering detail in place the heat spreads less quickly to adjacent detail making it less likely to fall off. One point against nickel silver is that it is more expensive which probably explains why it is not readily available in shapes other then bar, sheet or rod. BTW on my avatar, between my hands, is a model that is being made from NS. Ian M.

Toly, Beautiful work. That reminds me - I always refused to play my Russian friends at chess because I never won a game. Mind you - one of them was a Chess Grand Master! Ian M.

Mayohoo, This is a very nice build. By the way. The pipe on the stove that you mentioned is a condenser or still. The stove could be used to boil salt water with fresh (well distilled) water collected from the condenser. The idea of it producing soup is more interesting - though I suspect the crew would prefer an output of something stronger! Ian M.

Toly, Thanks for showing how you did the inlays. That is really beautiful. Ian M.

Lami, Great work. If I understand the pictures correctly the running rigging is routed through brass tubes to the drive pulleys. Do you have to use some form of lubricant in the tubes? Ian M.

Stelios, Beautiful work. Thanks for the excellent description of preparing the wood for the build. I found that very useful. Ian M.

Jason, I will take the risk of being accused of stating the obvious. When you get this stuff keep it and any containers that you use well away from the little person in the middle of your avatar. It is nasty stuff. You will see various recommendations about wearing gloves whilst blackening your work. The reason generally given is to keep fingerprints off your work. The bigger reason for wearing gloves is to keep the stuff off your skin. Also rather than using "specialist" cleaners like Acidip I use sink cleaner! Currently I use one in the UK called Shiny Sinks. There are others like Barman's Friend. They contain acetic acid and are also mildly abrasive. You will probably find something similar in the household cleaning cupboard. Do try it out on a piece of waste material first though. You will also have to thoroughly rinse it after cleaning to avoid any (usually white) residue. The advantage is that you don't spend money on specialist materials that spend most of their time cluttering your drawers. Hope you don't mind my throwing this in. Ian M.

BTW - the method with the Birchwood Casey stuff is to clean the item, then apply the blackener with a swab, then after about a minute kill the process by swabbing with water. You can vary the degree of blackening this way. I use this on model locomotives where you can't put the model in a bath of blacking liquid! Ian M.

Carr's is UK (near Bristol) so not sure how widely available it is outside UK. If you are on the far side of the pond you may have more success finding Birchwood Casey Brass Black which is from a US company. I tend to use this now. Ian M.

Hello Martin, Nice start. Question(s). What wood are you using and where do you get it from? (I assume somewhere in the UK). Ian M.

Toly, Amazing again. I think I will give up ship modeling and take up knitting socks - I can't get any where near your standard! Ian M.

Adrieke, Good point. Didn't spot that! Doh! Ian M.

Adrieke, If you look closely at sheets one and two all the hull components have separate upper and lower parts. My assumption is that in leaving the lower parts off you get the waterline version of the model. Again thanks for finding and highlighting this excellent item for us. Ian M.

My download of the advanced set was OK. My sheets 10 and 10R opened OK. Ian M.

Adrieke and Anja, Well spotted. I have downloaded a copy. I will get the grand children involved in this. The beauty is, if anything is messed up just print another sheet. If I understand the design correctly it can be done as a waterline or full hull model. Ian M.

Thanks again Druxey. What you say is interesting and very logical. What was your last model, is it in the gallery? I would find it useful to see a photo of it to see how you portrayed this. Ian M.

Toly, I too am lost for words - Wow says it all. I am most impressed with your postings. I have added you to my list of names that I look out for amongst new posts. Ian M.