Sea Witch by xcountryx - Scientific Models - first build

[cog]

If you need to pieces of wood, planks, you can put them in hot water for a few minutes and bend them, careful, into shape

[xcountryx]

Do they hold the shape after they dry?

[cobra1951]

Do they hold the shape after they dry?

 

Yes they do when fully dry

[xcountryx]

Thanks guys ill give it a try

[cog]

P.s. For future reference: Do not use it on multiplex (glued) woods. They won't stand it. You'll end up with loose layers

[historyguysteve]

Allow me to give you a small piece of advice based on experience. Start planning on pin rails. Scientific usually does not provide references or material for in board pin rails, and as it turns out YOU WILL NEED THEM. The best time to figure out where they go, how to make reasonably accurate pins and get it all installed is right about now in the build. What you want to avoid is getting all of the deck furniture in, some of the lower masts and realize you have exactly no place to tie off rigging.

   just trying to help  

  thanks

  Steve

[ScottRC]

I am so glad to see this build log, for I have this same kit that I really want to start in the near future.  I will be watching with full interest.  

Scott

[Bill Morrison]

Mike,

 

Did I understand correctly that you would like a set of plans for the Sea Witch?  If so, I have two, and I would be willing to send one set to you. I have two kits of this ship, one with the old balso hull and one with a pine hull. The plans are identical.  Please let me know.

 

Bill

[mtdoramike]

Mike,

 

Did I understand correctly that you would like a set of plans for the Sea Witch?  If so, I have two, and I would be willing to send one set to you. I have two kits of this ship, one with the old balso hull and one with a pine hull. The plans are identical.  Please let me know.

 

Bill

Thanks for the offer Bill, but no, I built this model years ago and thought I had kept the plans, but I must have thrown them away when I finished it.

 

mike

[Bill Morrison]

Mike,

 

My pleasure!

 

Bill

[xcountryx]

Sorry i havnt worked on the ship lately but will have time tomorrow. History guy you mentioned pin rails could you explain a lil on that. Im new to all this.

 

At the moment the ship is like it was in the last pic. The stain turned out nice on the hull but the deck wasnt as dark as i would like it mayb another coat before i move on not sure yet. Also i dont have spare parts like most layin around so i went ahead and glued the stern and rudder on i may paint the pintel and gudgeons on. Either that or i saw a few metal shavings in the parts bag i might be able to come up with somthing but either way it glued on. Maybe my next model will be different.

 

On the other hand i picked up a nice lil challenge last night. It was one of those 3d puzzles by bepuzzled. Kinda cool pirate ship. But boy did that thing take me like 2 hours to do. (I dropped it once lol). But it turned out nice. And it was about 6inchs long and about 5 inchs high. Something fun to do.

[xcountryx]

What is a pin rail?

[EJ_L]

A pin rail is a strip of wood that looks like a shelf that holds the belaying pins in place for rigging to attach to. Similar to the bits in use but located along the sides of the ship instead of out on the deck.

[xcountryx]

Oh ok they call them channels on the instructions. Those do get put on in the next few steps

[historyguysteve]

Hi 

  Sorry i did not respond sooner

   As EJ_L suggested above, pin rails are shelf structures that hold belaying pins so that the rigging aloft can be secured at deck level. Channels are OUTBOARD of the hull and provide a place for the shroud/ratline s to be secured.On Sea Witch you have to construct pin rail INBOARD of the hull roughly in the same place as the channels. At this scale (roughly 1/287) you can use actual sewing pins as belaying pins. The first pin hole should be roughly even with the leading edge of the mast. Simply place a ruler across the hull lined up to the hole indicating mast location, Fore and Main only the mizzen is a special case, place a reference mark on the inside of the hull. The pin rail should have about 12 pins evenly spaced (the real pin rail had about 23 belaying pins)  The pins should be long enough to protrude below the pin rail but not so long as to go into the deck. As for the actual construction of the rails itself .... use your common sense- thick enough to be strongly secured to the hull thin enough to be realistic. 

A very good very inexpensive reference is Charles G Davis (a famous model ship builder who actually captained sailing ships) Ship Models and How to Build Them. Sea Witch is on the cover and many of the references are to a ship contemporary of that era.

  I hope this helps 

[xcountryx]

Is that what all the pins are for in the bag of small parts?

Ive been away for a lil bit but bak at it today. At the moment im putting on the coamings and then the top rails.

 

Now that i look at the instructions it shows pin rails but doesnt say when to put them on. I will be putting those on right after the top rails go on

[xcountryx]

Well channels and pin rails went on today. So far so good. I started working on the deck houses. I also went ahead and used a few decals they dont look as bad as i thought they would. We will see as i get more into it. Im sorry for not haveing a pic in a while i will get one up tomorrow. Other then that fairly pleased with how its looking!

[Bill Morrison]

On 8/19/2016 at 7:38 AM, historyguysteve said:

Looking forward to following you on  this journey. These Scientific kits are waaaaayyy underrated. They  are inexpensive, reasonably accurate (with even a little research and basic modelling skills they can be made very accurate indeed), and they are a great display size. Looking forward to seeing a completed ship model, which, as it turns out, is the best ship model.

   steve

I agree fully! I have seen fantastic models made from them, and they offer ships no one else offers. They manufactured an accurate Thermopylae decades before Mantua. Their Sea Witch and Sovereign of the Seas are good to great, and their Sea Witch is better than the larger Lindberg plastic kit. They are also fun and quick to build.

 

Bill

[rshoker]

What scale is the Scientific Sea Witch? I know the marine models a is 1/96 th scale. Thank you, Randy

[ScottRC]

Its an odd scale.  1:120, but I seem to recall questions about a variance. I was going to look into it once I started mine.