Vivian Galad

Great work Jesse!

Inner planking is completed now including sweep ports and holes for fixed blocks. Now I am standing before deciding whether to paint inner planking red or left it in its natural state.

Hi druxey,
I know about this problem. This situation describes David Antscherl in his book of Swan model (the picture from your post is propably from this book). But on the other hand, I have no reason to disbelive informations which was published by Lees and Petersson (both books I own).
Standing rigging is finished, the rudder is in place. Now is the time to prepare the sails.

Continuing.

Many thanks.
All about 600 pcs reef points are in place. Now the only thing left is to attach the sails on the yards.

Thank you guys for very nice comments and likes.
I added all strenghtening belts and bolt ropes with cringles. For the finishing of the sails, it is only necessary to add the reef points.

Hi everyone - a little more progress. The sides of the ship between the wales was painted yellow ochre.Then the lower line of gunports(the ones with lids)were lined. Then the upper planking was started & the bow deck and beakhead bulkhead were planked. Next will be finishing the planking aft of the waist & adding the wales. After all that,I may go ahead & put a finish on all that cherry. Haven't decided whether to use polyurethane or Danish oil - will do some experimenting to see what looks good.
 

 

 

 
Mark
 

Great work Jesse!

Thanks Bob! While I`m here,the bow entry doors are done. They were made sanding the edges of 3x3mm timber & glueing them together. The hinges were kit supplied items. There was nothing behind the doors to keep them in place,so I added a strip of wood on the inside to glue them to.
 

 
Mark  

Great work Jesse!

Somewhere I read that the pins are like Braille... I guess it is true, I quite enjoyed reading these lines ..
 

 
The polished left side.. After waxing the pins are well noticeable..
 

 

I finished the ratlines. Did them on the futtock shrouds too.
I failed to give enough detail. After tying off the lines the watery glue is brushed on and let dry to seal all the line ends where they are tied and hitched. Shape as needed as the glue gets about half-way dry. When the whole thing is done I water brushed them to thin down any areas where the glue may show on the knots and hitches. You want them to look like you just tied them. After all this I usually do another light brushing of water with a drop or two of paint to match the original rope color to mask any glue washed look to them. This is a very light wash. I immediately dry it by lightly pressing front and back sides between my fingers where space allows this. I try to have cut pieces of cloth like handkerchief material around my fingers. You can also use cotton swabs in hard to reach areas. I have chosen dark brown instead of black rope for my standing rigging so I had a drop of black and brown in the wash. This can sometimes slightly tighten it up when the wet ropes dry. I learned this from my flagpole ropes outside. You can also use a stain for this if you want instead of the water/paint wash. I don't like it as well because to me the ropes turn out looking more wet/oily looking from the stain. The water paint wash leaves them flat and dry looking like regular rope. I know some will think this overkill but I love the final resulting look.
 
Jesse
 

well hello Clare     this was a very fun build.......well worth bringing back.   it's a novelty.......got the whimsical fantasy stuff,  but it has plenty of scratch building,  leaving one wide open to do whatever you want.   these fantasy projects are good to start with.......especially if one wants to break into scratch building.   one really can't goof up too bad.......and if you do......you don't feel so bad      buy a cheap boat kit...and have at it.   I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to learn.
    thank you very much for the kind comment     I found this to be a really good subject.
 
along the journey building this model,  I acquired some interesting pictures from folks,  and what I found on the net.   Sjors and Anja sent me this one,  I believe.

through the advertising,  the only colors to be shown were red,  yellow,  blue,  and green,  the only female in the group.
 
the orange fellow came out when the crispy M&M's came out.   only one is not shown......although way back in the early days,  the color was shown as a male gender.........in an odd twist of fate......or got caught in the 'Spaceball's' teleporter.......he became a she     {it's Ms. Brown}
      
the gaps here were pictures of the characters....but I just realized I can't post them like this.......they're copyrighted     these pictures were given to my wife by John {Jim Ladd}.   he and his wife were making a trip to the states and he asked me if we'd mind some company    I was floored........honored to have them come for a visit     he took pictures of the model....we talked shop.....Pam and Phyl entertained each other,  and we all had a great chat afterwards.  customs between our countries are very different.....they are two very fine folk!   this is a store in the Singapore airport

if we had a store like this around where we live,  I'd never see the admiral    

10-4-2012
 
I had a bow light......can't remember if I ordered it,  or I didn't add it to one of my models.    I put it to good use right here   

the record player was cemented together and painted





....gotta have the wiring.........the hard part is yet to come.....I need to make the stylus. 
stylus made    




I made sure there is enough wire to reach the speakers.......now I gotta make 'em

life preservers ready to go.......

when I boxed in the speakers,  I recessed the face of them....the front........that's to come   

now the admiral knew that I was almost finished with the model.   throughout the build,  folks suggested ideas to me.........if I could fit it in,  I would.....but most of these ideas were already cast in stone,  thus some I couldn't do.   Andy gave me one though that I couldn't pass up.  he suggested that since the windows were large enough,  I should add windshield wipers on it.  I agreed,  and I started to assemble them.

these are the wiper arms....at the end are those Billing's eye bolts.   I have found so many uses for them.  the admiral saw this and she accused me of prolonging the project.   so I don't put out another spoiler alert......I'd better show you this first.   the umbrellas are in place on the model.

I tried one on the disco booth.........I didn't like how it looked.........so I changed it up a notch.   gotta have some room for the record player 


anyway.......the holes for the wipers were drilled above the windshield.

and the blades were a work in progress........just strips of brass with the rubber part painted flat black

I made up some smaller M&M circles to decorate the booth....painted the booth green and the table top chocolate brown.




the wipers were assembled and are now on the model.........two logical positions.........


I chose the position on the top.....from right to left.   the booth is decorated now....dry fitted in place on the deck.


Ha  HA.......preservers got a haircut!   the plastic rope is all cut off and real rope will take it's place.   I started doing it bu using CA to glue it on.......now I just last the rope on and cement the tie-offs


here are the main parts for the record player.......the receiver and the record player.    high end stuff we're deal'in with here  


I glued the rope on the life preservers.........the white areas are painted on the preservers.

10-2-2012
 
it's odds and ends time folks.........time to give it that lived in look      we worked late last night on the model...didn't clean up after ourselves.   left our soda cans strewn about.

note the holes in the center of the tables......now what's that all about?!?!?!?!

I know that the last session.......we kinds forgot about the life preservers.......we'll get to them in a bit.

the antenna part of the forward mast was painted a darker gray,  as was the aft mast

I saw these too in Hobby Lobby.......I thought this would be kinda interesting......a record player for the disco booth   

HA....HA.....preservers got a haircut!  ......just a really good tip from Jim Ladd {John}

more lights and radar....I'll be prepping them up

I made up a couple of decals for the forward mast.   here again,  now that I look at it,  I should have made them red and green {like the nav lights},  not red and blue.   it's the little thing one thinks about after the fact  


the light lenses were filled with the window maker

one of the light ended up on the forward mast




then the forward mast was rigged with communication wires

then it was rigged to the aft mast.......you might see small beads on it that I will use as insulators......

both sides were strung and the insulators were cemented in place

a stern light was added as well

insulators were added for the forward wires too



I bought a package of these umbrellas........they were cemented in the open position.   Ms. Green seemed to like them....she had the nerve to have me paint the poles to match the umbrellas........she's bossy  


 

9-27-2012
 
the life preservers and radar / aerial mast was next to do........




the mast was sanded to shape,  with a leading edge and a trailing edge.   two antennas needed to be made now.


the aerial set up with the wire guides.


for some reason,  I like it this way

put a ball on top and made up the aft mast


the bottom section was painted yellow....breaks up the brown


the aft mast in place

9-26-2012
 
it took a while to cover all of the lounge chairs.......I made a couple more too.






one more thing to add to the interior of the pilot house........some rolled up maps in the cubby compartment.


oh..........and a picture of the gang above the door   

now......I think the roof got cemented on   

the black box in the center is the junction box for the lights.  a hole was drilled into each side to accept the thread.





the nav lights are cemented in place now.

the big crash.......a very sad time for the older members of MSW.   the tremors we had in the recent past,  were but stark reminders of how we all had to pitch in together to rebuild what we once had.  some logs never came back......those who past on,  and those whose logs were so extensive,  that rebuilding them was impossible.   one thing that shone through all the turmoil,  was how committed the Admins and moderators were in repairing a crippled site,  and how committed the members were in helping.  those who came after the big crash.........you may have heard about it in passing......but probably not much concerning the impact that it had on the site.  a lot of logs were lost...along with a good bit of information...tutorials and such.  some logs were partially lost,  suggesting the presence of a rim,  to the crater that had formed the epicenter,  of the void.   While some repaired their logs,  others were having to replace their entire logs.  sadly,  some found it to surmountable to accomplish.  
    I was in a similar predicament.......the Gothenborg,  the Gundalow,  the Nordkap....some of the ones I had to repair......the Nordkap didn't make it,  along with this build log of the M&M Fun Ship.    I've mentioned this build many times now........I've had my doubts that I could recreate it.   when I build my first model,  the Nordkap,  I started in right away scratch building and bashing aspects of the model,  so I learned this very early.  I was also entertaining an idea of how to clone hulls from the parts panels.....a much easier path,  that having to learn CAD from the ground up.  I had missed the boat with the cux 87 build......I had already destroyed the panels.  it wasn't until I started the Mary Ann,  that I took towards trying to save them.   only interested with the hull parts,  I traced out the parts for two hulls.   one I had traced a couple extra center bulkheads,  in n effort to stretch the hull,  making it longer.  that hull went on to become the Trawler Syborn.   the other one sat in a box,  waiting to be assembled.  during this time,  the admiral became enamored with the models,  liking them better than my plastic models.   she asked me about what I was doing.......and I told her about the 'experiment' {as it were}.  her next question was,  "so you make the hull......you can make it into anything you want?"  I told her .."sure".   being an avid M&M collector,  it was she,  who gave me the idea.....it took no time at all to come up with the concept for it.   some of the dispensers she had collected,  had these small packs of M&M's inside.........fun size bags.  that's how the name came about.  even the paint scheme was a no brainer....it should be colorful,  like a handful of M&M's  
    I hope I can recall everything it took to build this model.   it might not have all the bells and whistles,  but I think the pictures will fill in the gaps.   in a way,  it makes sense to recreate this log,  over trying to do the Nordkap.   I have another kit of the Nordkap.......a much older one,  so it will make a new log all the more interesting.   with the first model,  in spite of the wood being some 30 - 40 years old,  I was able to use over 90% of it.   the wood in the kit I have now is much older....it quite possibly might even be close to a first production kit.   there is no kit of the M&M Fun Ship..........a one of a kind scratch build.   I hope you enjoy the log.......it took roughly four and a half months to build.
 
5-15-2012
first the keel.......


that's the Trawler Syborn in the background,  all planked and well on it's way.
 
5-16-2012
at the time,  I had just received the new build slip from Tom.  this was the first keel to sit in it.


one by one,  the bulkheads were cemented in place.   even the main table {my only table at the time} was fairly new.......odd to see it without all the scars of time.



soon,  all of the bulkheads were in place......all except the two transom parts for the stern.


the hull frame came out rather straight......it looked pretty good.

as with every model,  sanding is the dominant part at this point.  more will be added before I'd need to get into the really tough sanding.   I will add more a bit later......I just got reminded that we have to go out.  so,  when I get back............  

Hi everyone - the hull has now been finished with polyurethane. There is a bit of variation of the color of the wood once the finish was applied, but that`s ok - adds a bit of character.
 
While the finish was drying,I made up the timberheads on the forecastle railing & they were pinned & glued in place.
 

 

 

 

 
Mark 

I love these things. So beautifully ugly. Not so much a swan as a pelican  . . or perhaps a dugong.
 
For an absolute feast of these ungainly beauties, see https://www.google.com.au/search?q=french+battleship+carnot&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=685&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwigu7mnpLrJAhXk26YKHc8_CZUQ_AUIBigB#imgrc=_
 
Which confirms me in my original impression - one of Carnot's funnels was square!

Hi Mates,
 
Started work on the first of the floors.
Once the smaller filler wood frames are installed I will have a better idea on where to omit floor planks, not to hide so much hold details
PS: Will not install framing until rocks, barrels and such have been put into place into the hold area.
 
Regards,
 

Denis, thanks, and yes I am looking at admiralty build for ideas, thanks for the advice. Some great builds there for sure.
 
Mates thanks for all the likes as well - much appreciated as always.
 
Cheers,

I did reach a milestone of sorts.  I have completed all seven frames in phase one.  The frames will be built and installed in three phases to make it easier to manage.  Phase one has seven frames.  Once the frames are all done and dry fit in the keel,  you can start adding the port framing.  The port framing is tricky but manageable.  You will be removing the frames quite a bit to tweak them and the slots for the port sills so you can get a good fit.  Same is true for the sweep port framing.  Once you have the port framing dry fit nicely,  then we can glue all the frames in this phase permanently to the keel.  Then glue the port framing in too!!!
 
I havent glued it together yet....but that is the next step.  What you see in the photo are all the frames and port sills simply dry fit port and starboard.  I will glue it all together after the Connecticut show.  Then the frames can be faired outboard...and the alignment tabs you see on the inboard side removed as well...but I get ahead of myself.   Then its onto phase two and another seven frames done exactly the same way.