shihawk

glad to see you back !!!  Lookin good .

good to see you back !!!1

In my experience ,unless you have the correct wood and tools ,buying gratings is a much simpler solution . The camera can show up a few suprises,it,s a bit like a third eye ?

lookin good Philip . From here on it really starts to look like a ship and as regards the plans keith is probably correct ,this is where the "expert" kicks in !!! You will soon get used to going it alone ?

Lookin good Bob , Great progress !!!

Boyd.

Good to see you got the build log going , makes it much easier to get advice if needed , Lookin good so far 

Thanks for the suggestion Grant . i tried several methods ,even threading with a needle ,tried CA and wood glue . I just couldn,t get anthing that i was happy with . 

George. i have tried 0.25 mm brass wire and it still don,t look right . Maybe it,s the way i,m doing it , i don,t know but some how i think it looks better with out them . It,s a pity cause i had so many plans in my head as to how i would do them ???

Mike . thats exactly what i,m worried about , pushing to far and spoiling things 

I was a bit worried about the brass rings ,thought they looked a bit oversized.  Recieved some black 0.5 wire in post to-day and have some brass ,same size on the way to try out . 0.25 was to small for the rings . It,s getting a bit OCD but i keep reminding myself it,s a learning process !!!! 

Bob have you found me yet ??????

Just in case anyone thinks i have fallen out of a gun port i thought i would let you know how things are progressing . Slowly !!!! No matter what method i tried for the rigging on the port lids i can,t find a method that doesn,t look like 2 pieces of thread ,over scaled and pushed through holes in her side . I tied white thread , tan thread ,black thread , brass wire , black wire and none look right ? Conclusion !!!   leave them off as with the eyebrows  . This build will become known ,not for the detail added but for the detail left out ????

I know it don,t look to bad in the pic but when i did 3 or 4 in a row they just looked bad  . The 2 main problems are keeping the thread taught and connecting it to the lid ring without a knot or splaches of unsightly glue , that,s why i tried wire . this is the only pic i have of my efforts as i ripped everything else off and filled the holes . Weather good , build time limited , waiting on a few supplies ,but hope to have better progress soon . 

I have to agree your planking skills are impressive , It is very liberating when you decide not to paint , and although it causes problems in that you have to scratch a lot of the smaller parts i believe in the end it is worth it .I,m delighted to have at least 1 fan !!!!!!

The only advice i would offer is from past experience , don,t waste to much time on  rigging the cannons which will not really be seen ,It can be a very frustrating process so i would keep the finer detail for the more visible one,s on the top deck , the breeching rope may be all that is necessary . As always it,s your call it depends how much detail you wish to add ???  At this scale side tackle with blocks can be difficult to get looking right . Keep up the good work , wish we had BBQ weather !!!!

Great minds think alike . I had my mind made up to use the brass but no matter where i placed them they still looked to much like eyebrows so been looking at pics of Vics on the net and most have left them off, i suspect for the same reason . If painted along with the wales they seem to blend much better but for me thats not an option . Thanks again for making my mind up for me ????

I,m looking for some advice and honest opnions are prefered !! As last post shows i am working on the gun port lids and have 4 options for the drip shilds , rigols , eyebrows ?

The top ones are the same wood as the wales , the ones nearest the steps are brass and the bottom right are the ones provided with kit , the 4th option is leave them off . All require a similiar amount of time to clean up or make ,unless i buy the brass ones  . Maybe it,s the position i have them placed but the leaving them off completely is a definate option  .ANY ADVICE WELCOME !!!

Thanks for the like on my log . I don,t know how you get that high standard of work at that scale . Great !!!!

May be rushing with pics of progress but as the better half finally set the i-pad down i thought i would use the moment ? 

I have continued work on the gun port lids and think i,m settled on my method, now need to spend the time fitting everything .I mentioned earlier about using the ply hindges provided ,but spliting them in half to thin them down ,although not perfect i believe they will do , the drip shields however i will replace and rather than buy them i will make my own from flattened brass wire ,the natural wood color of the ply did not look right against the wales !!

As you can see i tried the lid rigging with and without a liner in the hole . My preference is with the lining and it,s not much extra work , opinions welcome ???

The rest of the pics show the overall effect when dummy cannons and lids are fitted , nothing glued yet so some may be a bit of line , i still like to see the overall effect before glueing . One other thing i must mention is that i left my gunports much to deep into the hull and so when fitting the dummy cannons had to fill them out with Balsa painted matt black . In hindsight about 4-5 mm recess would have been enough to give the desired effect and i could have saved a lot of work if i had left them as they were in the kit , a lesson learned for the future !!!! some more pic while the sun still shines through my work window .

superb !!!!!!!

Tks Mike  . time has been scarce lately but hope to make some progress soon 

thanks George and Mike .Memorable in that i had to work early till late due to incoming bad weather but have just started celebrating a day late .

Managed to get hold of some diamond shaped Tulle , thanks Grant ,i now also have a lifetime supply for £3.00 .i wish everything was as cheap ?

Used as fine a black thread as i could find and threaded the tulle in place .finished with the desired effect although my work was not as neat as i would have liked but will do better on the other side .

Before fitting the netting on the other side i spent some time trying to figure out what to do about the gun port lids . I had previously made a few samples from strips of the darker wood but decided that they should be made from a lighter wood and as i had  10mm beech available i took the easier method and made them from a single piece . I shaped the sides and will fit them with a small pin to hold them in place untill the glue sets 

I have tried several different sorts of hindges and rather than spend £50.00 on fancy brass ones i looked at the ply ones supplied and decided that by spliting along the ply lines i could finish up with something slimer and more realistic . i will however have to paint them . 

last pic shows the painted dummy guns yet to be fitted 

the lids in the  pics are not glued and held in place by the pin ,i won,t glue untill hindges and rings etc have been fitted  but gives some idea of the finished look .

glad you got your coppering finished .It can,t be that bad ? Like the etch set , i always seem to go the difficult route ??

Tks all . Grant thanks for the offer if but i think it,s readily available localy .didn,t know it came in different patterns.

Although it,s a long time since i posted i don,t have a lot of progress to show due mainly to wasting a lot of the limited time available trying things that in the end didn,t work out , but that,s life . 

My intention had been to fully rig the cannons on the top deck and show them pulled in , that is with the breeching rope fully extended , just for a change ! After several failed attempts  i could not produce anything that looked the part so returned to a simpliar version of a pic i seen somewhere and decided to forget about the side and train tackles ,although i may return to them at a later stage ?? 

In attempting to save time i also simplfied the cannon on the forward deck ,i may regret these shortcuts later but if i,m ever to finish this build i can,t keep getting bogged down in detail that even if seen may not be noticable ,hence my topic on how much detail is too much . My intentions sometimes exceed my abilities and frustration kicks in !!!

Next i tried the fire buckets and again after much time wasting decided i could probably live without them ?? But don,t rule them out just yet . 

On to the hammock netting and finally after a couple of false starts i produced something i,m happy with . I even checked the instructions but they just vagely suggested that they were made from wire strip  .

The simplest way i could make was from 0.75 brass wire .Once i had the basic shape i flattened the ends and the base ,then drilled the ends and a pin hole in the base to attach it to the caprail . then threaded wire through which hopefully i will be able to attach the netting . The netting provided was green and i thought to heavy so will be replaced with i think it,s called troule ,can be seen in pic 

Hope my next post on progress won,t be as long and that my new more simplistic view to the build will not come back to bite me ???????

Chuck ,you make a good point .If you start measuring and exclude everything below a certain size surely you must then include everything above that size . So i,m beginning to think it comes back to what looks right ?? eg  to-night i started thinking about the netting ,very fine stuff but as i have now decided to forget about rigging the cannons does this mean i should forget about the netting as well .( I don,t say for sure i will include netting untill i try )  . No i don,t think you can work on measurements alone although it could be a place to start from ,ruling out certain things from the beginning .  

Tks for all the comments so far and i have to agree with all and pick a few key points

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FredSC , I understand there probably is no answer ,but it,s when it reaches the point where it stops being fun and becomes a chore that i think endless detail could spoil the enjoyment of the build .

 Jp ,    To each there own !.    a very true statement and again one i totally agree with .The OCD  can be a problem at times and a help at others but where do you draw the line and decide the last 2 days where wasted making some paticular piece that when fitted can barely be seen ??

Landlocked123 , I have commented before that sometimes ,less is more ,and still believe it to be true . Your point about keeping all aspects of the build to a similiar level of detail is very valid ,it,s very easy to go overboard on some aspects, i suppose simply because they are easier or of more interest . To call my efforts Art would be pushing it a bit but i suppose very few can  build exact replicas so we all put our own artistic interpitation on them !!

Chuck  , You have summed my problem up well . I think most builders come to realise that when a  builder looks at a model they see something different from a non builder . Few of our builds will be seen by more than family and friends so in most cases we build for our own satisfaction ,so then does it matter if every t is crossed and i dotted ?? You also hit on my other concern is that crappy detail can spoil an otherwise acceptable build .

Modeller12 , Although i have considered rolled up sails on my present build i find the though of full sails and their rigging way beyond my abilities at present and possibly ever , but hats off to you and the other sail makers , Maybe some day ?

Popeye  , I to would like to make my rigging as real as possible ,but the    Overkill   is my worry . Lashings and seizings will be new to me but i am also hoping to learn a bit of the proper terminology as i go along and understand how the different parts of the rigging worked . Am looking forward to it but a bit worried .

As usual there are no hard and fast rules but i thought it was worth discussing to get a few things clear in my own head and hear others opinions . 

I,m not sure if this topic has been dicussed in detail before ,but for the last while i seem to have got bogged down in endless ,fine detailing work mainly rigging cannons and am slowly coming to the conclusion that a lot of it may not be worth the effort . Not only in the time spent but at my scale of 1 : 72 a lot of the finner detail will either not be seen or not be that noticeable . I,m just wondering if any of the more experienced or life long builders have come to any simple rules as regarding how much detailing is necessary . I coming close to starting rigging and can,t decide if i should over complicate this delicate process or if simple is the way to go ? I understand i have skill limitations which will restrict me in some ways but is it worth spending an extra maybe 6 months on a build on things that ain.t really necessary ??? I have seen some fantastic super detailed work on the site ,way beyond my abilities ,but have also seen some equally impressive work with very little detail . Is there a stage where the quest for detail starts to take away from the overall look of the build ?? especially if not done to a very high standard .