Shotlocker

I've built many of 'em: 1/96 Cutty Sark (now a dis-masted hulk), Thermopylae, Constitution; Heller Soleil Royal (unfinished), Le Chebec (nearly finished), Thornier Armor; Imai Catalan ship and Santa Maria, small Revell Constitution, Bounty, Golden Hinde, and Chas. W. Morgan plus many steel-hulled ships, submarines, and work-type ships. I have to say that I enjoy working with that medium as much as working with wood models...just love the look of ships, always have.

Great job, Johnny. I've only done one of those Metal Earth kits - made the Hubble space telescope for our astronomer son for Christmas a few years ago. Not as much work as your Arizona but definitely good practice for fiddly bits! I put it in a shadow box for display...perhaps you could do that for yours?

Well, here are some. I'd forgotten that I filled in between all of the frames.🥴

Bill, Yes, I did build the model, actually started it back in the mid-seventies but it kept getting put aside due to many many moves. Over the years all of the hull planking became warped and, like your kit, I had to completely rebuild it...dang thing still isn't quite finished. I've modified it so much that I'm certain it only has a passing resemblance to the real ship. As for the "ribs", they're simply pieces of wood glued onto the bulwarks. One thing I suggest you do before you begin the planking is to fair in some balsa wood fillers in the bow; makes it much easier to attach the planks there. I have some photos of how I did it if you're interested. Thank you very much for the compliment and I hope you enjoy your salvage job as much as I did mine! Best Regards, Gary

Bill, You might consider finishing that model, it builds up into a nice looking ship; the instructions are terrible but there's a lot of info on this site and on the net to go to for help. Cheers, Gary

Richard, Looks like a great (lengthy!) start with the most difficult assemblies done. What ship is it? Cheers, Gary

Mike, I'm not able to assist you on your first question but concerning the second one, if it were me, I'd definitely rig the cannon before doing any rigging...lots easier to do without having to work around those pesky lines.

Plan 3 shows the termination points, numbers with arrows:

Mike, Welcome to the forum! I don't know what your general drawings 1&2 look like but here is the standing rigging plan for that ship that I used to have. Assuming it's different from what you have, perhaps it will solve your difficulty. Again, welcome! Gary

Henry, I seem to recall seeing the two sweeps you served on at the naval base in Charleston, SC, is that where you were home ported? And, yep, iron men on wooden ships. I believe our motto was something like "Where the Fleet goes, we've already been." One more comment on the first photo I posted: it was taken as we were drifting, powerless, after the tugs engine quit. Before they got underway again the two sweeps (I was on the Notable) had drifted together and collided with only minor damage. Both ships were being towed to NYC for decommissioning and then onto the scrapyard. I think there is only one MSO left intact somewhere overseas, not sure of that. Sad. They were tough little ships. Gary

Sperry, I can't testify as to what a wooden sailing ship really sounded like at sea but I can tell you what it sounded like on the wooden ocean-going minesweepers I served aboard. The engine noise was there, of course, but not terribly loud. In moderate to rough seas, below decks, the noise of the waves pounding against the hull was a booming sound accompanied by some creaking and groaning of the ships structure. Someone had drawn a vertical pencil line across two overlapping beams in the berthing compartment and it was fascinating to watch that line separate and come back together again as the ships hull flexed. Lying on the bow in calmer weather, looking down at the bow wave, one could only hear the wind and the hissing of the water as the bow cut through. Below decks, drifting at sea, the sound of the sea was a gently slapping against the hull - very pleasant and relaxing. Up on the bridge a humming could be heard from the wire rigging on the mast plus the flapping of the canvas cover over the pilot house. Not a square rigger for sure but nice anyway. Thanks for the memories and I hope I gave you some idea of what it was like. Cheers, Gary

Ron, That's some remarkably fine soldering you've done - what method do you use...resistance? Torch? Very nice work!

Sweet! Really like that creative stand as well.

Beautiful model of a beautiful ship!

Oops, Jim beat me to it!

Zooming in on the photograph and looking at the name on the bow and on the display card, it looks to me like "Duke of Abercorn", although the only ship I could find with that name was a square rigger....

uncarina, Very nice work on the photo etch. The photos of the Walrus aircraft sitting on top of that turret made me wonder if they flew it off or removed it before they fired those cannon...seems like if it was still on there the blast would shake that fragile air frame to pieces - any ideas on that? I'm not well-versed on battleship operations.

Kirby, That has to be a very satisfying build. I imagine you occasionally step back and just look at your work and feel pretty good about it. I know that I would. Great job. Looking forward to seeing it done and in place with maybe your son peeking over the bulwarks with a pirate hat and a patch over one eye and a plastic cutlass between his teeth! Gary

Interesting article: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/moving-stories-of-historys-most-tragic-ships/ss-BB1deFVe?li=BBnb7Kz#image=2

Greetings, Way back in the mists of time, when I was eight-years-old, I built the Pyro kit of the Nantucket and, despite it spending a northern Ohio winter at the bottom of my friend's swimming pool, most of it survived and I managed to keep it for all these years meaning, someday, to somehow rebuild it. Recently I acquired the Lindberg reissue of the kit and decided to combine the two models. The Pyro hull, with its raised letters, was in excellent shape so I repainted and used it. The hull at the time was molded in red plastic, pre-assembled, and painted black below the waterline; the rest of the parts were molded in tan plastic. Lindberg's kit, on the other hand, is all white plastic and I estimate that about half of the time spent building this model was spent on removing the flash and mold lines. I also replaced the flimsy spars with square brass tubing, machined a small brass bell for the front of the pilot house, turned a brass piece to replace the vent on the aft deck house, and replaced the unusable blocks for the ship's boats with handmade wooden ones (used beads for the small boat). One last item was to remove the overly thick flags from their staffs with the aim to add some more realistic ones when I find some. I've added photos of the original plans and those currently offered with the kit just to show the differences between then and now. All in all, it was fun project to get myself back into the shipyard after a spring/summer/fall of work in and around the house. Now, back to the Chebec.... Cheers!

Welcome, Dennis, you've found the best model ship-building site on the net; there's a huge amount of information here to help you out. I know the Sonoran desert well having lived for years in Tucson and Yuma. Enjoy the great winter temps! Gary

Hah, it actually made it through the race...about fifteen minutes. Noticed that it was considerably heavier when we hauled it out - had split a seam and the starboard side was half full of water below the deck. Sadly, had to scrap it. Lots of work for lots of fun!

How cool! Would've loved that as a kid! The closest I came to building something like that for our boys was when they were already grown...a Viking ship for a cardboard boat race.

Cabbie, I highly recommend Historic Ship Models by Wolfram zu Mondfeld, published 1989 by Sterling Publishing Co. The book contains detailed information on building the ships of the era you're interested in from keel to running rigging with many excellent drawings and photos of finished models. A true wealth of information. Cheers!

Jorge, I'd have sent this sooner but for some reason, because of the site or my computer, I couldn't write any text. That being said, I wanted to send some photos of the replica tall ships Nina and Pinta that my wife and I toured back in 2013. I hope they'll help with your rigging questions!