husky1943

Good Morning everyone,
 
I was looking at Snoepert's interpretation of the Sovereign of the Seas, and it got me to thinking....isn't displacement a wonderful thing.  I mean, in looking at such gorgeous ships as the Sovereign of the Seas, Le Soleil Royale or the Vasa, it's hard to believe that these top-heavy girls could even float, much less glide over open ocean.  Reminds me of when I was on a carrier.  I think that she weighed like 90,000 tons or something like that, and yet she could handle anything (even the edges of Hurricanes!)  Amazing.  However, these older boats must have been very impressive to see pull into port with all the gilding and ornamentation.  Better still, you talented people that render real works of art that show in miniature how beautiful these vessels truly were.  Beats the heck out of virtual reality!!
 
I guess Ya'll's talent left me awestruck for a moment. 
 
Ciao for now
Rob

Hey SomethingIsFishy!  Well, have you posted anything on the builder's log yet?  I am building the same thing, and I wanted to compare notes!  So far, I am using the plastic masts, and if I had to do it all over again, I would have replaced them with wood.  The biggest problem I have is trying to makes the lines nice and tight and straight without pulling the mast all over the place and keeping all the other lines tight.  Annoying at times.  Good luck with it and get some photos up on the site.
 
Ciao for now
Rob

Good Morning everyone,
 
I was looking at Snoepert's interpretation of the Sovereign of the Seas, and it got me to thinking....isn't displacement a wonderful thing.  I mean, in looking at such gorgeous ships as the Sovereign of the Seas, Le Soleil Royale or the Vasa, it's hard to believe that these top-heavy girls could even float, much less glide over open ocean.  Reminds me of when I was on a carrier.  I think that she weighed like 90,000 tons or something like that, and yet she could handle anything (even the edges of Hurricanes!)  Amazing.  However, these older boats must have been very impressive to see pull into port with all the gilding and ornamentation.  Better still, you talented people that render real works of art that show in miniature how beautiful these vessels truly were.  Beats the heck out of virtual reality!!
 
I guess Ya'll's talent left me awestruck for a moment. 
 
Ciao for now
Rob

Hey SomethingIsFishy!  Well, have you posted anything on the builder's log yet?  I am building the same thing, and I wanted to compare notes!  So far, I am using the plastic masts, and if I had to do it all over again, I would have replaced them with wood.  The biggest problem I have is trying to makes the lines nice and tight and straight without pulling the mast all over the place and keeping all the other lines tight.  Annoying at times.  Good luck with it and get some photos up on the site.
 
Ciao for now
Rob

Good Morning everyone,
 
I was looking at Snoepert's interpretation of the Sovereign of the Seas, and it got me to thinking....isn't displacement a wonderful thing.  I mean, in looking at such gorgeous ships as the Sovereign of the Seas, Le Soleil Royale or the Vasa, it's hard to believe that these top-heavy girls could even float, much less glide over open ocean.  Reminds me of when I was on a carrier.  I think that she weighed like 90,000 tons or something like that, and yet she could handle anything (even the edges of Hurricanes!)  Amazing.  However, these older boats must have been very impressive to see pull into port with all the gilding and ornamentation.  Better still, you talented people that render real works of art that show in miniature how beautiful these vessels truly were.  Beats the heck out of virtual reality!!
 
I guess Ya'll's talent left me awestruck for a moment. 
 
Ciao for now
Rob

More progress on my journey

It has become the golden era of decoration
This vessel must have been the eight wonder of the world

I have started to work further on this project and now I have the complete set of parts there will be nothing stopping me

Further work has been done to the mid deck. I have painted the wales and forecastle walls .

Hi ,
This is my first attempt to show my progress on the forum. Excuse me if it is a little grey.
First off I am delighted with the kit supplied by De Agostini in magazine form although it is a bit annoying that we must wait for the monthly delivery.
I have built thee RED BARON in the same manner and it came out pretty good.
The SOS is the first undertaking of this scale and I have built two previous wooden kits: One from Holand and it was a BOTTER boat and the other is the PORT JACKSON supplied by Modellers Shipyard.
I would like at this stage to sincerely thank Fifthace and Tomick at this stage for the advice on many aspects of the build, I have certainly become the wiser after reading their notes and photo's
I am posting the photos of the work I have carried out so far on the SOS for any comments or suggestions.
 
Till the next post,
Snoepert

The gaff topsail is set and it draws. I made two little changes to the kits instructions.
 
The tack was led from the sheave on the outer part of the gaff directly to the block on deck. I couldn't make any sense of that block which the kit fastens on a long line from the inner end of the gaff leading the tack towards the deck. According to the KISS principle I left it off.
Another block was added because I didn't want to lead the sheet directly onto its belaying pin. By leading it through a block on deck I could half the pull on the pin and had an arrangement similar to the sheet and the tack.
 
After setting the sail I made a sailor go to the topmast to illustrate the difficulties one would have working on a topsail lashed to the topmast (don't ask me how the poor sailor got there and back). Now I think more than ever that the topsail set flying, as the kit does, would have been the sensible solution for a racing machine.
 

lower corner with sheet attached
 

top halliard (the slim hook is a leftover Caldercraft part)
 

mast foot with additional block for the sheet
 

the sail is set and the simplified leading of the tack clearly visible
 

this working station looks scary even under calm harbour conditions

The fifth one, from Ancre.fr,  and I forgot, I have a  sixth book , containing  almost 550 pages about the construction with photos.
 
I did not think that there would be comments on this first post. So, thank you. Occasionnally I like to consolidate the experience  of the last years.
 
Some peoples saw the construction of the V3.0_74_ 1/24 in the MSW1.0 forum.
For those who did not see the other models, there are :
 
V1.0_ 74_1/192, to give you an idea about the diameter of the figurehead, it is about ¼ of the diameter of a small finger.
 
V2.0_ 74_ 1/48, this model is represented at port during winter. (Here in Quebec, this year it  will probably the year with the most snow the way it is looking today)
 
V3.0_74_ 1/24, this model is made from many kinds of domestic and exotics woods.
 
V4.0_74_ 1/24, Depending of the content of the fifth book, a choice will be made to see which 74 will be represented. The only kind of exotic wood I still like to buy is a orange amaranth which smell vanilla when we sand it. But it is to use for ship modeling. For this build, 100% cherry wood will be use. I beleive that cherry wood is a suitable wood for our activity. In the last build I done, a 64 guns, cherry wood was also use. Among the comments, only 1 people, from France, did not like the choice of cherry. Some are very strict about customs. Somebody wrote in another forum that the only scale you can use 1/48 and that the only woods you can use is pear wood and boxwood. To stay polite, I will say that I think in life we need to see broader horizon.
 
In the structure there is no problem, it is only in the outside planking that, careful  choice must be use to select the grain. If this rule is well applied, then I would say that cherry wood is perfectly suited to use for model ship construction.
 
What did I learn working at different scales; the bigger the scale the easier the work, and the reason is pretty simple : it is easier to work a piece of wood if we can hold it with all the hand fingers instead of only 2.
 
What is the best tool I tried?  It is not for any reson if the jewelers work at  a higher height, closer to their eyes, it is to see better the small parts. Height adjustable table is probably one of the best tool. To have the part at the good height makes the work easier  and also the work can be done  with less effortsthus inducing less fatigue.
 
 It enters in the category of the when ‘’you try it, you keep it.’’ Mike found probably the best source to buy an adjtable height table : IKEA. To make it simple, you can buy 3 kinds : 2-3 height position, handle height adjusting and electric adjusting table.
 
In the small category, my  prefered 2 tools I like to use are the scalpel with #11 blade. This tool is a great mystery in itself. Even if it is the best small knife available, most people on this forum prefer to use  the commercialised hobby knife : Exacto. I guess to understand you need  to compare side to side the performance, then  you can see that an exacto blade is far from being as sharp as a scalpel blade.
 
The other one is the proportional divider. This tool comes back occasionally on the forum. The last time I saw comments about this tool, I observed that  there is still a lot of education to do about this tool. I am far from being sure that everybody understands the real uses  of this tool. But the nice thing about this forum :  is that forum is a great educational tool.
 

Thanks Fright!  Again, I really appreciate the tip AND I do agree that I am standing on the shoulders of giants around here.  I have learned a lot.  Indeed, I went onto the Hobby Lobby website, and they had a pack of 70 eyepins for $1.50!!!  I think they were already black, too.  And thanks for the illustration.  I actually use a sharpie!   
 
Ciao for now
Rob

Here's a pic of my eye pins that I purchased. I spray them flat black and have to touch up sometimes - the pro's use a blackening agent. You can find the 'eye' in a several mm sizes. The length runs about 1"-2". Just snip where you need to and SAVE the pins! They can come in handy. I used them to fabricate my baffle on the stove's smoke funnel. Also, check out the book, "Anatomy of the Ship: The 44-Gun Frigate USS Constitution" by Karl Heinz Marquardt.  It's not a 100% accurate, but darn close with some excellent clear diagrams that one can follow.
 
 

Thanks Rob - no genius but good listener! LOL After reading a lot of tips and suggestions by other modelers on sites like this, it will help things along with modeling. I've come a long way because of some great advice by some very talented people. 

Fright, you are a flippin genius!  I had no idea that "eye pins" even existed.  I have been making myself, and this would be a great time-saver!  Oh, you just made my modeling day!
 
Ciao for now
Rob

husky1943's right.  The masts don't go as far down as the keel.
 
Take a look at Model Expo for some proper brass pedestals.  You need about a 5mm wide notch for the keel.  They come with a drywall screw which would fasten to a block of wood in the bottom of the hull, which looks like what you want to do.  You might want to consider a good-sized block to give some mass (ballast!) to the hull.
 
I recommend that you read some of the Revell Connie build logs.  Some good info in them.

Racer - Definitely  reinforce that seam! I ran a bead of CA glue down the seam and, after that dried, I ran a thick bead of Testors tube glue. A couple of reasons why I did this:
1) I planned on drilling holes and run lighting wiring from my base through those two holes in hull. I also glued down metal washers over those support holes to have a good, solid base to tighten down my nuts on the bolt.
 
2) When you go to add your two decks into the hull, you have to put pressure by carefully bending the hull open to 'pop' the decks in. This puts pressure on the hull seam - mine slightly cracked (thank goodness, only the glue) when I had to reinstall my gun deck because I forgot to hook up a vital link in my lighting. Be safe - Make sure that seam is reinforced!!! 
 
Here's some other things to think about ahead of time. Many people, and I took their advice, recommend using metal eye pins instead of the plastic eye bolts that come with the ship. If the plastic part snaps (especially with rigging) due to the tension for lines, it will be a nightmare to correct. I found eye pins really inexpensive on Ebay and at HobbyLobby.
I wish you good experiences with this kit and I look forward to seeing your work along the path. If you need help/advice, there are a lot of very talented people in here that will help shine light on your work. They certainly have helped me get as far as I have with my build of this wonderful ship. Cheers!!!

Paul,
  My compliments, Sir.  It might be your first build, but it sure doesn't look it!  Wonderful job!  No wonder you are gaining an audience here.
Rob

Rob, it's looking good so far.  Great job and look forward to learning from your build!
 
Ciao for now
Rob

Gaetan,
 
I, along with everyone else on this website, look forward to another masterpiece.  Bon Chance, mon ami!
 
Ciao for now
Rob

Hey Peter,
 
Love your build. It is beautiful.  Wow, what a view you have!
 
Ciao for now
Rob

Rob, it's looking good so far.  Great job and look forward to learning from your build!
 
Ciao for now
Rob

Howdy Dan L,
 
Welcome to a wonderful website and welcome back to the hobby.  It is a very friendly, supportive, smart and TALENTED crowd around here. 
 
Ciao for now
Rob

Wow, beautiful boat, Tim!  Imagine...someone is going to inherit that some day!
 
Ciao for now
Rob