Pride of Baltimore II by jcoby - Model Shipways - Scale 1:64

[russ]

I guess the lighting may make it look different.

 

Russ

[Blue Pilot]

Thanks for doing such a great log! 

 

I have been away from the hobby for some time but coming back now. In fact I could not recall my log in name so I started a new profile.  It may have been lost in the crash I guess, along with my own build logs.  I wish I had your craftsmanship and skill she looks great!.  In my own POB II build I am working on planking the hull.  After  a long laps of time, wood once again is flowing out of the box and onto the hull.  In part do to your log inspiring me.  I have been trying to decide if I want to do the deck in full strips or something more realistic as you did.  However, I cant seem to get my head wrapped around the planking layout.  Your pictures of the deck are so clear I think I see how you did it but if you are willing I would love a few details such as length of each plank.  It looks like you pattern staggers its length by the next bulkhead starting at the bow?  Also is that the Ipswich Pine stain on the deck?  I like the color. If you don't mind me shamelessly stealing your ideas I am thinking of doing my deck like yours?

 

Keep up the fine work, cheers!

Edited May 9, 2014 by Blue Pilot

[jcoby]

Thanks for doing such a great log! 

 

I have been away from the hobby for some time but coming back now. In fact I could not recall my log in name so I started a new profile.  It may have been lost in the crash I guess, along with my own build logs.  I wish I had your craftsmanship and skill she looks great!.  In my own POB II build I am working on planking the hull.  After  a long laps of time, wood once again is flowing out of the box and onto the hull.  In part do to your log inspiring me.  I have been trying to decide if I want to do the deck in full strips or something more realistic as you did.  However, I cant seem to get my head wrapped around the planking layout.  Your pictures of the deck are so clear I think I see how you did it but if you are willing I would love a few details such as length of each plank.  It looks like you pattern staggers its length by the next bulkhead starting at the bow?  Also is that the Ipswich Pine stain on the deck?  I like the color. If you don't mind me shamelessly stealing your ideas I am thinking of doing my deck like yours?

 

Keep up the fine work, cheers!

 

Sorry to take so long to respond. I've been in England for the past 10 days on vacation.

 

Thanks for the kind words. This is my first ship build. I've learned so much doing it.

 

In regards to the deck:

 

Make sure your planksheer is 100% correct and symmetrical. I used a set of calipers and tried to get everything to within 1/64" (0.015" or so). The planksheer supplied in my kit is actually about 0.200" too short at the very end. All of the locations of the stanchions are correct. There is a gap that is hardly visible once everything is fully installed. I don't know if they have updated the kit to fix this yet or not.

 

I installed all of the coamings before planking.

 

Also make sure the bulkheads are fully faired and free of twist before you start. If you want, install a couple temporary strakes on the hull to help stiffen things. I had to add material to 3-4 of the bulkheads to get them true.

 

I stained the strips (it is the Minwax Ipswich Pine color called for on the plans) first. Be sure to use pre-stain. Basswood does not take stain very evenly.

 

I glued the stained strips to the construction paper (using wood glue). I then cut them free from the paper with the down side cut flush and the top side cut a bit proud. Leave one end a bit long so it can be wrapped around to simulate the caulking between boards. You want to use a construction paper somewhere around 0.006" thick to get scale accuracy.

 

I used CA glue for all of the planking since I only get an hour here or there to work on the ship.

 

I installed the nib strake and then the wider two center strakes being 100% sure these pieces were even and true.

 

For the decking pattern I just kinda winged it. I couldn't find any pictures of the actual deck that clearly showed the pattern. I decided that boards in the 20-30' range would probably be used and that excessive joints would be avoided as much as possible. Even if shorter boards were actually used it would cut down on the number of joints visible and keep the deck from looking too busy.

 

This led to having planks that are 5.75" long or so (4 bulkheads I think?). I decided on a 4-stagger (that is the pattern repeats every 4 boards). You could also do a 2 stagger or a 3.

 

I started next to the center strakes and worked my way fore-aft working one row at a time. If the distance between coamings was less than the 30' then I installed a full length board even if it would have a joint according to the decking pattern.

 

To cut the nibs I used a deck board to mark where it intersects with the nib strake. I then tapered the board to half width from the mark and traced taper onto the nib strake. I used a small square to make sure the nibs were staying even. You can adjust the width of the board or the taper to move the nibs around a little bit. I then used a small saw and an xacto knife to cut the nib strake.

 

After every run I'd take the calipers and look for any variation accumulating. Simply adjusting how much pressure is on the strake during installation can make up to a 0.010" difference. That really adds up over the width of the deck. Pay special attention to where the widest point is. That strake will be pretty visible if it isn't 100% even side to side.

 

Be sure to pay attention to the stock provided. Some of it tapers pretty heavily towards the ends.

 

If you have any other questions or need pictures that I haven't posted earlier in the build log I'll do my best to help.

[Karleop]

Hola Jcoby

 

I already bought the same kit but havn't started it yet because now I am involved in the building of BB Vasa.  But I´m sure your log will be very useful for me in the next future.  By the way, your building looks very nice, congratulations.

 

Saludos from the Gulf of California,  Karl

[MEDDO]

Very nice build here, jcoby.   I really like the Pride.  I do like seeing her when I visit Baltimore but she is away quit a bit. (Which is good)

[Blue Pilot]

Thanks for the very detailed response.  I am even less sure I can handle it now  I still have time to decide as I am still planking the hull.  She looks great

[jcoby]

Thanks for the very detailed response.  I am even less sure I can handle it now  I still have time to decide as I am still planking the hull.  She looks great

 

I must have explained it poorly then! It's really not that hard to do. It's just critical that everything is even side to side in order to have everything come out the same.

 

Depending on how many strakes you have done on the hull you might want to stop and add a couple stiffening blocks between the 2nd and 3rd and 4th bulkheads. Mine actually distorted aft about 1/16" from the pressure of the hull planks. If you are actually steam bending the planks (I installed them dry or with a quick soak in warm water) you probably won't have any problems.

 

Oh–and I just thought of one more thing. You may want to install the pads for the various pieces of deck furniture (the winch and rails) as you plank. I didn't and it's a complete pain to retrofit. But be warned: the winch was not the correct size in my kit! I adjusted the pads inward to match the winch instead of trying to fix the winch or make a new one.

Edited May 17, 2014 by jcoby

[jcoby]

Not much progress to report. I made the port ladder. This took far longer than I expected. It's only about 1/4" long but it took over an hour (and two or three attempts) to make.

 

 

I also put the first coat of paint on the gun carriages. They look a bit too monochromatic to me. I think i will add some black to the wheels and dry brush some grime onto the carriages.

 

[bdr449]

Dear colleague! A great job, but I think that when such performance lafetv guns better remake. They will spoil the view model

[Bill Hime]

Jcoby, Just checking in, hope all is well

 

Warm Regards,  

 

Bill

[jcoby]

Jcoby, Just checking in, hope all is well

 

Warm Regards,  

 

Bill

 

All is well. I generally don't work on her too much in the summer. I spend most of my free time out in the garage. Once it gets cold in the fall I go back to the Pride.

 

I've spent a few hours here and there trying to get the never-ending little deck pieces done so I can finish up the hull and get it mounted to the stand and painted. It's one of those things where you make seemingly no progress other than finding more things to work on until one day it's ready to start permanently mounting pieces.

 

At some point I need to decide what to do with the rigging line. The MS supplied line is frustrating. It's slippery, stiff, and full of kinks from being on the flat bobbin. I haven't found a way to straighten it out. Hanging with weight doesn't seem to do much and it's some sort of plastic so any sort of heat will destroy it.

 

I may make line or buy it from Syren. I'm not sure which yet. 

[jcoby]

Jcoby, Just checking in, hope all is well

 

Warm Regards,  

 

Bill

 

I've had nearly zero time to work on the PoB II. About all I've been able to do is spend a bit of time working on the transom trim since my last post. It's not true to the plans and the plans are not true to the real ship. I'll probably adjust them a bit to make them a bit smaller and true to the real ship.

 

I'm looking forward to getting back to working on it. I'd like to finish up the last few bits of deck furniture and get the hull painted and mounted to the cribbing/stand so I can start on the masting and rigging.

 

 

[barthslb]

Hi Bill,

 

To un-kink rigging line, I use an old female hair curling iron -- I bought mine at Goodwill for $3. Let it heat up for a couple of minutes, then slowly pull your rigging line through between the heated part and the spring clamp part. You might have to run it through a couple of times, depending on how kinked your line is, but it will straighten out nicely. I built the Pride several years ago with the help of Bob Hunt's practicum. The rigging diagram on the MS iplans are pretty confusing so I opted for a more simplified version that Hunt suggests. It may not be perfectly accurate, but it looks good on my shelf, but that is what counts most to me.

[jcoby]

I started working on the PoB II again last weekend.

 

I started by installing these pieces at the bow. I can't remember what they're called right now but they hold the anchors.

 

 

After that I decided to start finishing the deck from aft to fore. I built the binnacle and installed it, the wheel house, a rear hatch, and a block for the boom. This is the second binnacle I made. The first came out awful because I tried to replicate the molding. at 1:64 scale that molding at 3/4" or so only sits proud of the binnacle about 0.011". It's not worth the effort to reproduce.

 

 

Then I remembered that I needed to finish the hull first and get it attached to the base. So I applied a primer wash (thinned about 30%). There are several cracks from the planking that I'm not happy with so I'll be filling those with a bit of filler, sanding the whole hull, applying another layer of primer and then the final layers of hull paint.

 

 

While I was waiting on the primer to try I started working on the yards. Unfortunately I've completely forgotten how to make yards so I'll have to figure that out again.

[russ]

Those are called catheads.

[jcoby]

Those are called catheads.

 

Thanks. I've been away from this model too long and can't remember half of these terms.

 

Also not pictured is me giving up on trying to install an eye on the side of the outermost aft knees. They're supposed to be used for securing the boom at port but I cannot figure out how to get them in there. I guess I could just jam in a piece of metal bent to a 90° with some hemostats or something. My drill will absolutely not fit in there.

[jcoby]

Progress continues, slowly. I primed the hull, sanded, filled low spots, sanded, and primed it again. I then mounted it to the stand and drew the water line.

 

I only have on photo of the result. The holes for the mount aren't perfect and it draws up a bit. It takes almost no force to push back down so when I mount the blocks to the final display stand I will glue or screw them down flush.

 

Next up is the green up to the waterline and the black above. Once painted I'll have to permanently mount it to the stand since the MS paint is pretty fragile stuff and tends to lift if handled too much.

 

 

Most likely I will leave the screws and outboard drive off the side of the hull. I realize the real ship has them but the castings that come with the kit are quite ugly and I feel they ruin the lines of the hull. I also don't really want fragile little things hanging off the side of the hull. They'll almost certainly get knocked off at some point.

[jcoby]

I'm still slowly making progress. I spent about an hour and installed the cathead supports (knees?). After that I added the first coat of green to the hull. I didn't stress too much about the waterline. The black will define it.

 

 

Tomorrow it'll get a light sanding and another coat or two of green. It's going to take a lot of green to get an even color.

[jcoby]

Four coats of green later and it's looking like it'll need at least four more coats with some pretty healthy sanding in between. For some reason the MS paint flashes extremely fast even though it's fairly slow drying so I end up with some buildup where brush strokes overlap unless I'm extremely careful. Washing over the tacky paint with water helps some.

 

The green that comes with the kit really needs to be cut with some light blue (per the plans) to match the blue-green that was used on the real ship. Unfortunately I don't have any light blue paint.

[jcoby]

Speaking of the MS paints, they have this to say on their site (emphasis mine):

 

These historically accurate colors have been specially formulated for model ships!

High quality acrylic based paints can be thinned with water, thinner or alcohol. They clean up easily with water, making them ideal for airbrush use. Brushed or sprayed, paints dry flat with good grain structure and a smooth finish.

1 oz. bottles.

Note: color swatch you see will vary due to computer monitor/calibration differences and the fact that the computer screen is RGB. Color description at top will give you the best idea of the exact color. Model Shipways paints are not compatible with airbrushes.

 

 

So which is it? Can I spray them or not? I'm leaning towards not.

 

I do wonder if I can thin them with thinner. Adding some VOCs would help the paint flow and level quite a bit and it would slow down the flash rate.

[Mirabell61]

Jcoby,

 

very nice ship, beautiful made hull planking, deckplanking and bulwarks

 

Nils

[jcoby]

Painting continues. I'm really regretting painting the hull at this point. I'm not at all happy with it.

 

 

The sloppiness around the LWL will go away when I paint the black along the LWL. The yellow and black will need at least two more coats and the green will take at least one more to make six or seven (I've lost count at this point).

[jcoby]

Jcoby,

 

very nice ship, beautiful made hull planking, deckplanking and bulwarks

 

Nils

 

Thank you! I'm learning as I go and I really owe a lot to this forum.

[GuntherMT]

Speaking of the MS paints, they have this to say on their site (emphasis mine):

 

 

So which is it? Can I spray them or not? I'm leaning towards not.

 

I do wonder if I can thin them with thinner. Adding some VOCs would help the paint flow and level quite a bit and it would slow down the flash rate.

 

I used MS paints on my AVS, and they are pretty bad.  I'll never use them again, as it takes a lot of work, and a LOT of thinning to make them be decent to use.  They are terribly inconsistent from bottle to bottle, even in the same color.

 

As for spraying, it depends on your airbrush and how fine the tip/needle is.  The MS paint can be thinned with distilled water until it is about the consistency of skim milk, and it will go through your airbrush unless your tip is fine.  The paint doesn't have super fine (small) pigments like a good airbrush paint will, which is why it won't work with finer tips/needles.

 

Use some scrap wood (like the stuff you took the laser cut parts out of) and do some test sprays and see how it works for you.  You can also add in some retarder if it's drying too quickly while spraying.

[jcoby]

I used MS paints on my AVS, and they are pretty bad.  I'll never use them again, as it takes a lot of work, and a LOT of thinning to make them be decent to use.  They are terribly inconsistent from bottle to bottle, even in the same color.

 

As for spraying, it depends on your airbrush and how fine the tip/needle is.  The MS paint can be thinned with distilled water until it is about the consistency of skim milk, and it will go through your airbrush unless your tip is fine.  The paint doesn't have super fine (small) pigments like a good airbrush paint will, which is why it won't work with finer tips/needles.

 

Use some scrap wood (like the stuff you took the laser cut parts out of) and do some test sprays and see how it works for you.  You can also add in some retarder if it's drying too quickly while spraying.

 

I'm glad it's not just me then. They're going in the trash as soon as I'm done with them. Maybe sooner.

 

The black is OK I guess. The other colors barely work. I've noticed the same inconsistency in consistency. One of the blacks was so stiff it would hold a paintbrush vertical. The other was more like elmer's glue.

 

I'll try some other things to try and get them to flow. And I'll try spraying some. If that fails I'm buying some other paints. I've got too many hours in the PoB II to ruin it with cheap paints. I'm really considering scraping off all this paint and starting over.

 

What paint brands are worth buying? I'll probably buy some black and yellow. And maybe the proper blue-green.

[GuntherMT]

I'm going with Vallejo Model Air and/or Vallejo Model Color.  The Model Color line is not specifically designed to be airbrushed, but with thinning as needed works fine.  Either can be brushed as well.  I'm sure there are plenty of good paints out there if you do a bit of internet searching.

[Bill Hime]

jcoby,

 

Been a while my friend. Your Pride is looking great! I see where your frustrations over the paint are coming from. Nothing worse when a product fails to do what it's suppose to do. My .02 cents, I would sand the hull back down, seal it, then airbrush it. That paints only going to get thicker and more uneven. You've done such great work, don't let a bad product make you feel regret every time you look at it on the shelf.

 

Bill

[jcoby]

Slow, but steady progress still happening.

 

Worked on a bit more deck furniture. I also have some of the other deck boxes built but not fully painted yet. I think have three or four more to install.

 

The fuzzies you see were cleaned up before installation.

 

And as she sits today. Still needs a bit of touchup on the black on the hull to cover up the yellow smudges. I will most likely be painting the windows onto the various furniture as  I did on the forward most one. I need to make some templates first. I'm still unsure if I'm going to install the cannons since they are so out of scale. I may just close the ports and call it done.

 

There isn't a huge amount of work left before the deck is fully furnished. Unfortunately I'm only working on her at best a couple hours a week.

 

A couple of older pics as well. These were taken before I worked on cleaning up the hull paint. I switched the black to a different acrylic and it made a HUGE difference in the quality.

Edited November 8, 2017 by jcoby

[Javlin]

That's looking real Nice Jacob