fmodajr

Nice to see you back working on this beautiful ship model! Frank

Michael, Very impressive model. Love the weathering look and feel of the ship! Frank

Thanks for chiming in Tim! Appreciated! I am disappointed with the quality of my last 2 photos. I am traveling now, but when I return home I will re-take them. As far as this years show, unfortunately, I will not make it in time. I am currently working, as a side project, on the ship's base. Time to remove the steel base with a nice wood one. Then I have to start working on the case. The case has to take into account the oars, so the size will be what it will be. Lol! I will have it all done for the 2024 show for sure. On the home stretch now. After the flags and tassels, the most time consuming item will be the 59 oars I have to make. Not looking forward to that!! Happy Holidays Tim. I will not make the December meeting. Going to Florida to bring my 83 year old mom back up North for the holidays! Thanks, Frank

Hello, As stated above, I did not like the flag material supplied with the kit. With the help of other ship model logs on this site and also investigating on the Internet, I decided to make new flags using the transfer paper method. First step was to scan the flags that came with the kit into my computer as a pdf file. Unfortunately, my printer was not big enough to scan the large flags. So I took a trip down to my local Staples and they were able to do the job. Next step was to buy 11 x 17 Transfer Paper, which I was able to do on the internet. I tried printing the pdf files onto the transfer paper using my printer, but after a few trials, I gave up. I was not able to match the colors correctly. My printer kept making the red too dark. So I took my pdf files and transfer paper to my local MinuteMan Press store and they were able to print it correctly. I made 4 sheets of the normal (top) side and 4 sheets of the mirror image for the bottom side. (I was able to create a mirror image pdf file on my computer). Photo of some printed flags on the transfer paper. (The smudging around the flags was from the original fabric supplied by the kit) At Joann Fabric Store, I bought some thin muslin cloth for the job and ironed it flat Per instructions from the Transfer paper company, I laid a heat resistant silicon pad on top of a butcher block. Then placed a piece of the cloth on top and ironed again Before starting the transfer, I lined up the normal (top) and mirror image sides of the image and punched out some holes with a paper punch so that when I did the transfer on the back side, things would line up. Laying down the normal print side, I set my iron to the hottest setting and ironed the top of the paper (image side facing the cloth). I found out that for the ink to transfer, I really had to press down hard on the paper while moving the iron around. I was instructed to iron for 60 seconds, but I had to do it for a couple of minutes to get it right. Photo of top side transferred onto the cloth. The photo shows the alignment circles on the cloth Next step was to place a piece of parchment paper on top of the silicon pad and flip the cloth over (Top side down). The reason for the parchment paper is so the side facing down will not bleed out the ink onto the pad. With the top side flipped down, I took the mirror image transfer paper and aligned the holes and repeated the ironing process. Success! Photos of some completed flags. The small tiny gold "Fleur de Lis" symbols came out perfect. (Hard to see in the photos). And both sides lined up perfectly. Sorry about the poor quality of the photos! Next steps are to cutout the flags and mount on the model. Thanks again for the "likes" and for visiting. Frank

Bob Garcia, Thank you for your kind comments. Love your caption "Measure once, Cuss twice" Lol! Nothing can be more true! Tim, Thank you also, and yes, the transfer paper worked out well. I will shortly post the photos! Michael D. As always, when I am in trouble or confused, the first place I go to is your log of the Reale! That is where I first heard about transfer paper! Also, I have been practicing your method of making tassels! Thanks for stopping by! Frank

Hello, I am behind on my postings, so catching up to where I am currently. Painted and rigged up the two anchors for the ship Installing the port side anchor My thinking was to have one anchor hanging and the other shown in the stowed position. However, I messed up earlier in the build. I had glued the swing arm (shown in photo below) in the position shown. For the anchor to be stowed, the swing are should be swung back towards the stern and then have the anchor stock sitting in the open space. I tried to pry off the swing arm, but gave up before I caused any damage. As it is I have to re-align the cannon, which I knocked up a little. So I settled for both anchors hanging off the sides. Have to re-align the cannon!! Painted and installed the stern lantern Assembled, painted and installed the cooking pots My next step is to install the flags and tassels To me, the flags supplied by the kit are not that great. The top side looks good with vibrant coloring, but the back side is all faded and washed out. Top Side: Back side: So I researched other methods of making flags, utilizing the methods used by other modelers on this website and with the help of the internet. I believe, after a lot of trial and error, I was successful in using the transfer paper method and reproducing the flags to look better. In a couple of days, I will sort out the photos and post the method I used. Thanks as always for stopping by. Frank

Thanks Michael and Tim! Appreciated! The launch is not glued to the davits, but just held on by the lashing ropes. (Just in case I have to remove the launch temporarily to install the oars!) Yes, not too far from the end!! Frank

Hello, Finished up work on the boat launch. Painted upper section Ship's blue Top platform made from walnut and painted the ship's blue Oar pins and bow anchor block added I made the 12 oars from the plan sketch. Rudder and Handle added Mounted and tied to ship model Next step is to finish the cooking pots and install the anchors at the bow. Thanks for stopping by! Frank

Thanks Michael! Building the launch is a nice little diversion! I will be re-visiting your log soon to try and learn about making the tassels. Best, Frank

Hello, Started work on the boat launch for the ship. I am about half way done. I was able to build around the milled core shape supplied by the kit, after some rework. Made and inserted the keel and planked the outer side of the core. Installed the ribs on the inside of the core and painted the inside the ship's red. Planked the lower parts in the stern and bow and installed the mast step in the center. Planked the upper bow area, installed the benches etc. The light wood that is visible still from the core, will all be covered up and hidden when the top planks are installed soon. Started to paint the hull the same ship's white and will paint the upper part the ship's blue that I have been using. The next steps are to fabricate the upper top planking for the oar locks and finish the trim. Shape for the oar locks base planking glued onto the walnut wood ready to be cut. I hope to be finished with the boat launch in the next couple of weeks. Have to decide how many items, like the oars etc to place in the launch. Thanks for stopping by, Frank

Michael, Echoing Marc's comments, beautiful work! Please tell me you are building a case to protect that model!!!! Frank

Beautiful! What a difference in how the bowsprit area looks. Much more authentic! Nice rework! Frank

Thank you very much Allan for your kind thoughts. Yes, Gerard D put a lot of hard work into his research and drawings i'm sure. I've been trying hard to incorporate some of his research into my model, when I can (due to my skill level), but am not always successful. I always appreciate his comments and also others when it is constructive. Lol, it seems that when I look at every model i've built previously, I am always wishing I did some aspect of the model differently!! Thanks again for stopping by! Frank

Lol!! thanks Michael. Yes, wife is already complaining about buying another piece of furniture to put the model on. She is hoping I start doing ships in a bottle! Been keeping up to date with the water shortages and weather on the west coast. Hoping things work out for you. We are in a severe drought here in Massachusetts also. Hopefully we'll get some rain soon. Best, Frank

Thanks for your kind comments and for stopping by! If I can accomplish half of what I see you do on your log, it would be a success !! Thanks, Frank

Thanks for your nice comments Tim! Appreciated! Slowly getting into the home stretch! Talk soon, Frank

Hello, Just about finished up on most all of the rigging for the Reale. I took some photos of the finished rigging. Was going to post photos of each step, but thought that would be repetitive, so I tried to take photos of the ship from different angles at the finished stage. So I've tried to lay out the steps needed to finish this project in the order I would like to do them. 1. Build and install the long boat 2. Finish the cooking platform area 3. Rig and install the anchors 4. Work on how to install the canopy over the rear royal seating area, while not obscuring the detail of the royal area. Maybe furling the canopy towards the back? Will have to think about this. 5. Learn how to make and install the tassels. 6. Install all the flag poles and flags 7. Finish the stern lantern 8. build and replace the steel base with a nice wooden base and mount the ship to the wood base (before installing the oars). 9. Build the bottom of the overall case enclosure 10. And finally finish and install the oars. As always, thanks for stopping by for a look. Frank

Gratings much improved Michael! Very intricate stern assembly. Nice job fIguring everything out! I hope all is well. Frank

Small update. Spent time carefully taking apart the upper blocks of the fwd shrouds and flipping them per the suggestion above. Also Finished the shrouds for the mainmast. Tied the loose coils on top of the upper blocks as suggested above. I am also almost done with the Foremast and mainmast backstays and will post those soon. Mainmast Shrouds: Reworked formast shrouds As always thanks for stopping by! Frank

Michael, Nice to see you resuming work on the ship! Lots to digest here on your latest post! Looks beautiful! Frank

Hello Gerard, Thanks for the help and assistance. Appreciated. I spent last night re-rigging the double blocks I had made for the main mast shrouds with the smaller part downward, as you suggested. I was successful and agree they will rig up better. I then carefully took apart one of the fwd shroud blocks and reversed that block also. I think I can re-rig the fwd shrouds carefully, one at a time without ruining it. thanks again for the photo. When I zoom in on the photo (bad eyes lol) it gets fuzzy. But if I understand you correctly, tie the running line on the chain under the lower block, then run the line up and into a coil fastened near the top of the upper block! That’s what I will attempt to do. thanks again for the help Frank

Michael, as always, great to hear from you. glad you are all well. Wife and I attended a wedding for her niece in Seattle (wedding postponed for 2 years) and numerous people picked up the Virus despite precautions. Thankfully we are on the mend. Yes, Chuck’s fiddle blocks assemblies are great. And redesigned single blocks are even better. Although they are not entirely accurate (see post below by Gerard) I like them better than what is supplied in the kit. Hope to see some more posts soon from your wonderful build. thanks, Frank

Thanks for the tip and for correctly reminding me to make sure the coils are not circular, but have a droop! thanks for stopping by!

Thanks Clark. Feeling better now, but still have a bad sore throat. Hopefully near the end of the virus. Yes, I saw on your log you ended up doing a simple circle coil. I might end up doing the same. A agree there is not much room there!! thanks Frank

Hello, Been away on vacation for a while and then got hit with the virus! Anyway, back onto starting to rig the fwd shrouds. I wasn't too happy with the kit supplied double blocks, so I ordered some double block kits, that have to be assembled, from Syren Ship Model Company. Time consuming to assemble and finish, but I'm happy with the results. The middle row is glued on top of the top row and then the bottom row is glued on top of the middle section Glued Assembly Next step, the most time consuming, was removing the rectangle section, removing the char, and shaping and rounding the edges. Finally stained the blocks and blackened the toggles The double blocks rigged to the toggles Shrouds fastened to the toggles and blocks of fwd mast starboard side Port side fwd shrouds fastened View of Fwd shrouds from bow So, I am looking for some opinions or thoughts. The kit calls for the excess lines in the photo below to be coiled or wrapped and fastened to the blocks. I've seen photos of different models with this being done. On the wonderful Youtube dramatization from the G. Delacroix group, it seems to show the lines tied off with no coils. Thanks for stopping by, Frank