jablackwell

Thanks Mark. The work has been finished. I just need to sort out the easiest way to get the enormous data files to those wishing to purchase them.  It will include some kick-*** videos as well! The complete works should be available in January. In the meantime here are a couple of photos of the model on the open seas.
 

Folks,
 
This is the beginning of another project I have been trying to realize for a while. I recently got the kit from Free-Time Hobbies in Georgia, as they were having a very interesting sale.

Like many of you, I watched the 2001 A Space Odyssey movie, in 1969 when it came out, fresh from the genius of Stanley Kubrick. I was just 10 years old and that movie created a life lasting impression on me. For many years, only resin kits of the various space crafts were available. Then Moebius decided to create a series of 1/144 based kits to satisfy the 2001 enthusiasts. XD-1 Discovery is the latest kit produced in 1/144 scale, not counting the enormous EVA 1/8 Pod kit that was recently released:

The enormous Deep Space Exploration vessel driven by a psychotic HAL 9000 en route to the vicinity of Jupiter, has always attracted me and when the opportunity to build that magnificent model presented itself, I jumped on it. There are multiple videos and Blogs on the Internet of very talented modelers who have completed this beautiful model. I am not planning to even come closer to their talents. Instead, I will use the model in a different way to produce a piece of art made of mixed-medias as they call it in the artistic realms. I will provide more details when we get to that stage. 
 
In the meantime, let's take a look at the kit: 

The box is very dense and literally crammed with parts: 

Lots of the parts are the same as we have to build multiple bays arranged along the spine of the vessel. The instructions booklet is simple but carefully written and clearly organized: 



On the Photo-Etched side, a few additional kits are available: one for the PODs bay and one for the main control deck. Not planning to represent the POD bay opened, I only purchased the Main Deck set from Para Grafix. Notice that even though the focus of the set is on the living area, it also provides the thrusters grills on the Propulsion Block  

Yves

I hear that!  But there is also a wonderful mix with BOTH... the infamous James Bond version:
3 ounces Gordon's Gin
1 ounce vodka
1/2 ounce Kina Lillet
Lemon peel for garnish
 
I am more of a vodka man.
 
But I digress,,,,,, I will post build images soon
 
 
 
~john
 

Ahhhhhh!  Well, that sounds like a good way to watch this build ;-) I love a good martini, but the question is this: Gin or Vodka?  It's been a while since my last post, so perhaps I owe everyone a status.
 
I am working on taking the bulkheads and sanding them down, then shaping them appropriately so that they sit on the keel board properly. I am tapping them into place and then cutting small pieces of 1x2 as filling blocks. My main line is a tiny bit curved, but the filler blocks will take care of that. 
 
Welcome to the build!   I'll post some images soon.
 
~john
 

All,
 
I present to you the completed Kate Cory!  It has been a two-and-a-half year long build, with a couple of stumbles, well, a lot of stumbles, some pretty amazing errors, and a lot of learning!  Thank you ALL for all your help in so many ways, from the simple to the complicated, from the esoteric to the obvious. Every day is one to grow by.  Without this group... I would not have gotten this one done.  Really. 
 
In this last section of the build: I completed the running rigging, added flags, and lastly rigged the whaleboats into place. I wanted to be a little different, so placed one of the whaleboats in a position down alongsides as if being lowered into the sea.
 
Obligatory images below. I did my best to stop the aperture down a lot to get as much in focus as possible. Enjoy,
 
~john

 
 
 

Rich, 
I just read up regarding FlexSeal. Nasty stuff, as it can solution can explode just by electrostatic touch.
 

Ed, I make a jig out of a paperclip the exact size I want the deadeye. This way they are all the same size.

Very nice the deadeyes look perfectly even. What procedure did you use? I usually hang the top deadeye evenly first. Ed

I'm half way through rigging the futtock shrouds. Tricky with my bandaged hands 

All,
Sorry that this post I am writing goes a little off-topic of the Fokker build log. This is in response to Nirvana, Per.  Are you requesting that aircraft build logs not be posted here on this forum?  My understanding is that this sub-group, called "Shore Leave" is for the following, and I quote:
Follow 3 This is the area that many wanted, and perhaps didn't even know it. If your topic is nothing to do
with the world of ships or ship modelling, then here is the place to post it. General chat,
Birthday announces, non-ship models, etc.

No politics. No religion. No inflammatory topics.
 
 
It appears to me that this is the place to post such a log. Have I missed something?
Thanks,
~john

Thanks...by the way, the molding in the last photo is just 3/32 wide and 1/32" thick. The etched grooves vary both in width and depth to simulate that profile.  This was rather difficult and required about eight hours of testing, cutting and retesting.
 
The etched grooves on the volutes had to match as they turned into the molding and they have the added difficulty of narrowing even more until they reached the "button".  It was quite the challenge.  Here is an earlier test run....I must have made about 60 of these tweaking it each time.   Boxwood is on top....cedar is below it.  I still have to reduce the volute by about 3%.  It just a hair too big.
 

I finished the wales and black strake on both sides and painted them black.   But I still had to add the anchor lining.  Rather than use individual boards I just laser cut the shape from some 1/32" sheet.  This will cover the wales but then an additional strip of thicker wood must placed on top of this to cover the black strake.  They are all flush outboard but the strip on top of the black strake for the lining remains bright.
 
The 1/32" sheet for the lining was gradually sanded thinner as it worked down towards the bottom of the wales.
 


Now before I start planking below the wales, I have a few things to do first.  One of them is to fair inboard.  This is not a fun task and it will make a mess.  But I want to get it out of the way now so all of the dust falls through the hull rather than just fall into one that is fully planked.  
 
One thing I notice when folks build my kits (or any kit for that matter) is how they fair inboard.  They never quite know how thick to make the bulwarks.  In most cases they are left way too wide which makes the entire model look clumsy and kit-like.  To help with this on the Winnie, I designed a "fairing cap" that will be 3/16" wide.  This needs to be placed on the top of the sheer.  Then when I start fairing inboard I will be better able to maintain that 3/16" measurement consistently for the bulwarks.  Some portions of this "fairing cap" were laser cut like the area above the hances and at the bow.  For the remainder a 3/16" x 1/16" strip was used.  See below.
 
NOTE!!!!  IMPORTANT NOTE!!!!  DO NOT place the 3/16" x 1/16" fairing cap in the waste.  It is only to be used on the hance pieces and along the quarter deck.  AND in addition......along the forecastle at the bow.  Using it along the waste which I show in the photo below will make the waist too high and screw up the placement of the molding.  The top of the external planking will be the sheer along the waste and the 1/16" strip would make it too high.  I made this mistake and later removed this strip along the waist.
 

This may look odd at this point but dont worry....this "cap" will be completely covered by the fancy molding and volutes.   These wont be added to much later in the project but here is a look at some prototype "scrolls"  I worked on.  One of the things that was troubling me was how I was going to handle these scrolls.   Sure, many people can carve them and they look great.  But these are difficult for most.  I could have provided castings but then the profile molding would be impossible to match so it looks good.
 
So I have been experimenting.  This is what I have at this point and I think it looks pretty good.  This of course means that I know have to provide all of the molding for this project along with the carved scrolls.  They may not be as good as those that are hand carved or scraped, but I think they look better than most and will do the job nicely.  I still have to tweak a few things.  What do you guys think?  By the way...the top aft scroll and molding behind it is made from boxwood.   The forward scroll and molding below it were made with the same process but out of Yellow cedar.  I think the results are pretty similar although the boxwood version is slightly darker.  The Cedar version of the scroll was much more fragile to sand than the box version.  I will have to decide which to include.
 
There was no carving what-so-ever or scraping.   The scrolls and molding were laser cut.  I just sanded the sides to remove the char and rounded the sides off a bit using 420 grit sandpaper.  The notches or grooves were laser etched at various depths and I just left the char in those untouched.   I applied wipe on poly over them and it looks pretty good.  These are just test fit against the hull to see how they look.  

 
 

The model is almost complete now. I have some finishing touches to add: some coils here and there and some black paint dabs to cover up some shiny glue spots. All in all, I am pretty happy with the whole thing with exception of the stern. That part kept me in trouble for most of the project, but I am very happy with wood filler and its ability to mask some pretty tremendous errors.  The rigging was a lot easier than I had anticipated. I am still looking for a good pair of long reach tweezers with flat grabs which can get the threads from a distance. I have found that most tweezer makers have pointy tips and a very small region that will grab thread well. I am not even sure how to describe what I am looking for,,,,,
 
So, some images....
 

 

 

 

 

 
I want to thank all of you for helping out so much, some directly and some without even knowing it. Your posts and information shared on this site have been a real wealth of input and knowledge. It is greatly appreciated!  
 
My next project is already on the bench: the Kate Cory brig. This is a little larger and more detailed. I am looking forward to the added detail work, and this time, a coppered hull. I will try to post more than I did with this model... now that I know this site exists!  The Cory will be the last solid hull work for me. I am planning to go to plank builds next and want to get through a build of the Surprise. We'll see.  
 
~johnb

All,
 
I present to you the completed Kate Cory!  It has been a two-and-a-half year long build, with a couple of stumbles, well, a lot of stumbles, some pretty amazing errors, and a lot of learning!  Thank you ALL for all your help in so many ways, from the simple to the complicated, from the esoteric to the obvious. Every day is one to grow by.  Without this group... I would not have gotten this one done.  Really. 
 
In this last section of the build: I completed the running rigging, added flags, and lastly rigged the whaleboats into place. I wanted to be a little different, so placed one of the whaleboats in a position down alongsides as if being lowered into the sea.
 
Obligatory images below. I did my best to stop the aperture down a lot to get as much in focus as possible. Enjoy,
 
~john

 
 
 

All,
 
Still working on the Syren - I haven't given up, honest!   I hope y'all have had a marvelous season and enjoyed the holidays.  With some of that luscious time off, I got back to planking the ship. It's slow going, but I am enjoying the pace, taking my time and slowly seeing it all come together. Some images of the current progress. The boxwood has been making this a real pleasure:
 
~john
 
 

And here it is...She is in her new home on the Admiral’s server!!
 
This is my final post for this already too long building blog!  See you mates around the forum!  Next build to start summer 2019!
 

 
Enjoy!!!


 
 

And finally under plexiglass. Looks too big but in fact I have exactly 2” off top, bottom and sides.
 
I got a 1769 colonial half pence to put in front of the bow. This is actually a 250yr old coin which was in circulation in the colonies when Sultana was on duty being the King of England’s tax enforcer.  (There are thousands of these coppers, and it’s a cheap coin...but the history can really make you dream.)
 
Who knows...this half pence may even have been collected under the Sultana’s watch as part of port taxes paid for tea off loaded from an East India Trading Co. ship docked in Boston!  Cool stuff!
 


Moving on...to the final destination!!!  The Admiral’s dining room!  Last pic for this blog to come tomorrow!!!
 
 

Dear @lmagna, @ccoyle, @GrandpaPhil, @thibaultron, @DocBlake, @jablackwell, @yvesvidal, @Estoy_Listo, @Bill Brown, @Sea Hoss, and @captgino,
 
Sincere thanks for your very kind kudos!  In truth, I was equally motivated by the occasional 'thumbs up' and supportive comments from you all on this forum as I was by my own shipmates at Midwest Model Shipwrights! 
 
Looking back, I would still choose the Sultana as my first wood model ship - if simply for the opportunities to think outside of the box to solve little problems, as well as develop some useful skill sets.  True, the Sultana was not a fully planked hull...but my next build will be.  Also, since rigging will no longer be an unknown terror , I can be doubly focused on approaching the planking and woodwork. 
 
My next build will be the Woody Joe model Charles Royal Yacht.  (Should be fun...the directions are in Japanese!)  That project will start in June or July, so I can focus on work, home, and trying my hand at rope making!  (Yes...I bought a Syren Rope Rocket...I'll be posting my efforts in another section of the forums when I have something to post!)
 
Thanks again, All!!!
 

Ahh, line in from Chuck. Progress can continue.
Here are the latest pictures. It is odd how the camera shows things distorted like the masts looking out of line. 
 
Jesse
 

All,
 
Here is the completed build, sans diorama for now. I'm now in the middle of cleaning out the workspace, ordering new drill bits (and other tools) and getting ready to sink my teeth into building the Syren. I think I am ready for a ship, haven gotten the plane out of my system.  
 
~john

Fabulous work!  I've enjoyed the journey! 
~john
 

Fabulous work!  I've enjoyed the journey! 
~john
 

Added a few more yards and a lot more rigging. 
 
Jesse
 

Jesse,
 
I've used this child's balloon blow-up hand pump for years to dust my models. You can pump it strong or gentle with no trouble. I bought it years ago to blow up my kids balloons.

Well folks.  The rope coils on the mast cleats were my last bug bear. They were a real pain, but I believe I started to recognize the issues...namely making them too narrow makes them twice as hard to get on. But that was the last thing.  No ships boat...would only detract what I think is a respectable first wooden ship build. 
 
That being said...she’s finished!  
 
I owe special thanks to my Admiral(!), my ship model club, and to Chuck Passaro for a great crutch in writing the Sultana practicum. Even with that, it was still challenging and I learned a lot!!!
 
So...here are the Launch Photos. I post a few more when I put her under glass in the next few days. 
 
I'm pretty proud of my first model ship...definitely not a bad result