US Brig Niagara by 6ohiocav - FINISHED - Model Shipways - Scale 1:64

[MEDDO]

Wonderful work!  Looks great in the case.  Not sure if you mentioned already but have you thought of the next project?

[Sea Hoss]

Wow! great ship to model and you did it proud...As far as this being your first wooden ship model, all I can say is can't wait to watch your next one! For my first "larger" and more complex model, it came down to "Syren" or "Niagara". I still want to tackle the Niagara in the future. The display also came out great and enhances the total look, great work. 

 

[ccoyle]

Beautiful -- congratulations!

[Canute]

Well done, Darrell.

[Tigersteve]

Looks great! I enjoyed watching this from when I first joined MSW. 
Steve 

[mtaylor]

Congratulations on a beautiful build.  Looks quite at home in the case.

[GrandpaPhil]

Congratulations!  Well done!

[Dwight]

 Looks like you got a new camera too !

 

 

[Srodbro]

Very nice build. Enjoyed following. 

[mikiek]

I'm proud of ya man! Just saw the gallery pix. Can you give me some pointers on taking photos? 😃 I thought they were of a real boat at first.

[tom kinglake]

A very impressive piece of work - congratulations! I'm in the very early stages of the Amati Mercury brig kit at present, and I know your pictures are going to be a great inspiration for me as I progress through it.

Best wishes,

Tom.

[6ohiocav]

All,

Thanks everyone for all of the comments. I know I have said this many times before, but I attribute the success of this project to the many build logs that I reviewed and the suggestions and recommendations of my fellow modelers

 

Mike,

I think the key to photographs of model ships fall into three categories. Granted, I have no skill in photography and took my shots with my I Phone 8. But these things helped I think.

 

1. Paint choices. The key to authentic photos is the paint choices. I read somewhere on this site years ago that we should avoid bright colors. I muted all of the paints I chose. I added drops of flat black paint to my reds and greens. It does not take much, but it dulled the sheen and I believe gave the ship a more realistic look. I used flat black for the hull. I strongly recommend all modelers to consider doing the same.

 

2. Lighting. The close up shots of the deck were taken on my bench with a single soft bulb light. I turned off all of the other lights in the shop. The light was set up behind my left shoulder. The single light in a darkened room dulled the light and created more life-like shadows. The photos in the display case were taken under LED strip lighting, with the shop completely dark. I used the soft light option on my lighting system.

 

3. Zoom. I zoomed my phone in as far as I could, which allowed me to take the photos from some distance. That allows more of the shot to be in focus.

 

I would like to think I planned all of this in advance, but honestly, the photos just turned out pretty good. Trust me, the photos make the model look better than it is.

 

Mike M.

I have not yet decided what's up next, but I have some choices. I have a partially completed Corel Wappon Van Hamburg that I acquired from a family in the area after the patriarch and shipwright passed away. I have to repair some of the planking and deck, and will de-mast the ship and start over with the masts and yards and rigging. The many carved figurines need stripped and re-painted (Yuk) as well. Unfortunately, I only have the plans, and a loose box of parts that I am not sure even go to the Wappon. So there will be a lot of scratch work. This thing at 1/50 scale is a monster. I will have to build a larger bench. I plan on starting a restoration log on the project.

 

I also have a few kits on the shelf to chose from as well. My son is begging me to build the MS Constitution. Plenty to keep me busy.

 

I am getting ready to transport my Niagara and its display case to my office for its final destination.

 

Again, thanks all.

 

 

Edited April 27, 2020 by 6ohiocav

[J11]

Outstanding craftsmanship all the way around! Beautiful ship with exquisite detailing. Congrats!!

 

         

[6ohiocav]

Thanks Johnathan. I think I will take a drink.

[abelson]

Fantastic model. I can only hope mine turns out as well.

[6ohiocav]

Steve,

 

Thanks for the kind words. It is a great kit. I hope that this log helps you with the many challenges you will face. Feel free to reach out to me anytime.

 

Good luck in your build.

[abelson]

On 3/27/2018 at 10:16 AM, 6ohiocav said:

BRACES

Moving along to completion. The last major rigging task is the braces, and boy was this more difficult than it needed to be. Sixteen blocks needed to be seized, most to the shrouds, some to the tops on both masts, and SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE BEFORE I DID ANY RIGGING.

**** WARNING**** TO ALL NIAGARA BUILDERS – SEIZE THE BRACES BLOCKS EARLY.

All of the blocks on the upper shrouds could have been attached while my masts were still on the bench. It would have been so easy!

Instead, I had to strop a set of 1/8 and 5/32 blocks with long lines, seize the lines to the block, snake the line through a mess of rigging to wrap around the shroud or bar on the tops, pull it through away from the model, tie a seizing, then pull the tail and with tweezers snake the block back through the rigging lines up against the shroud, then reach through to tighten the seizing lines, apply a spot of glue to freeze the knot, and if that is not hard enough (or stressful), then insert an x-acto knife and cut the ends off as close to the knot as possible, without cutting something else.

This took me the entire weekend. I kept smacking yards, back stays, and shrouds with my hands, my tweezers, my pliers, my knife, my kitchen sink…. You get the picture. Thankfully, everything except a couple of ratlines held up.  The 4 blocks seized under the lower top on the foremast were by far the hardest. There were at least 8 rigging lines and back stays to work around.

As soon as I get everything done on deck, and insert the hammock stanchions, I will rig the braces, (last thing) since that will completely encapsulate the space between the masts. 

Here are some photos. The knots are not up to par, but only in close up pictures. From afar, you can hardly see the blocks.

Good pickup on the blocks for the topgallant braces - Detail 6-A incorrectly shows them on the straight crosstree.

[Thukydides]

Congrats, it looks great.

[cardensb]

Impressive build log.  I recently began the Niagara MS kit myself. 

I am using your shopping list for the shortage of blocks, etc... It almost makes me want to not buy another complete kit again with the amount of stuff just not used or not enough of in the first place but I think I have two more unopened boxes of kits in storage.

I share your thoughts on trying to avoid painting when possible and have embraced the exotic woods.  I highly recommend bloodwood for inner bulwarks, coamings, etc... It is hard to bend at the bow if the bow has a harsh curve but thinning the planks and heating them seem to work. The Lumberyard in Ohio is my go to place for pre-milled stock.  I don't know what type of saw they use but they do a better job than I can on my table saws and bandsaw.

I also love ebony for a lot of the pieces like the rails, wales, and thr such.  It does not bend well either.

Your harvested cherry is beautiful, I bet it hurt to paint some of it.  I have a block of cherry I harvested about 20 years ago for my dream scratch build.

I also like how you tried to make jigs for repeat work and used power tools.  I enjoy the individual filing and shaping sometimes by hand but other times, I really do wish i had a shorter tol rest for my lathe to turn spars, masts, etc...

I have your build book marked and am learning from your work as I go.