Thermopylae by popeye the sailor - Sergal - 1:124 scale

[usedtosail]

Nice looking masts, popeye.

[popeye the sailor]

thanks Tom  

[rafine]

Nicely done Denis.

 

Bob

[popeye the sailor]

thanks Bob    OK........so my cross trees don't make me look fat........GOOD!   my first attempt at making them {it wasn't on this build}......I'm not too happy with.  if I ever get back to said build,  I might change them.  the day did not go as planned..........

 

I had left the bow railings on the desk,  in the event during the week end,  I felt up to some play time.   I didn't.   so,  the day began with getting then done and out of the way.   one of the railings.....I forget which one,  had a pin that was out of place.   in trying to fix it,  the pin broke.....so a new one was cemented in it's place......that is,  after filing down the stub of the old one.   the first strand was strung on,  when I realized I would not have enough to do the aft railings.   getting a short length of light cord from the garage,  a fresh bunch of wire strands was extracted.

both railings were strung and cemented.......I found a pair of tweezers that do the trick with straightening out the rungs.......these actually came out looking better.   I may be getting used to this lilliputian modeling    after a bit more tweaking,  they were given a coat of paint.

I made a special sleeve to keep the wire in.......I kept out two for the aft railing.  capping off one end of a plastic tube,  it works perfectly.

the bollards need to be prepped and painted.   in assembling them,  the pins to insert them in the base,  are too long and stick out the bottom.   they need to be filed down first.  once filed,  they were stuck on a piece of tape,  that I had laid out.   the lonely one on the right broke,  so the base needed to be replaced.......good thing I have the extra parts panel,  that I ordered from Cornwall.....I have the part to fix it.

you can see how flimsy the bases are.......made of that thin stiff plywood.   why that particular material was chosen,  is anyone's guess.   the panel I'm talking about can be seen at the beginning of this log.......if you recall,  the parts for the structure in the background,  is on the same panel.   I started to make the fife rails........and the bow fife rail....but I got distracted.........I began thinking.........     I wanted to do something on the trawler.........but that wasn't it      I was befuddled    something that will make a lot of sawdust .......  looking at my desk.......I don't know where I had left off   I know I had the bow rail somewhere..........

 

[popeye the sailor]

Boy!!!  didn't I leave a pile 'o puss on my desk..........huh!!!   that has since been moved to one side of my desk.   I had an inspection by the admiral today......she was not happy!   the Wharf got a number of violations.......including the improper compilation of wood!   I promised that I'd have the place ship shape in no time.......she said I had better     so what did I do......I added another boat to the table!    I have been doing a bit of work to the Boulogne Etaples of late,  but I spent yesterday afternoon doing a little on 'ole Thermie.   most of the day yesterday,  I was out getting our car inspected.........nailed it!......got my sticker and I'm legal.   I came home.....ate lunch.......and dove in head first!   the first thing done,  was to fix that stripe I painted on the rub rail.  it was a bit of a process,  but I think it passes muster.

the railings are cemented on the aft cabin roof.  it's not cemented in place yet......still not sure if it's a good idea

the bow railings are cemented in place as well.......I dumped the way I was making the bow fife rail.   looking at other ideas.

the bollards are now in place on the deck (s)

[popeye the sailor]

for the bow fife rail.......I kept it simple.   it will span from railing to railing.

still need to drill the holes.....     I'm not sure it's good......but I caved.   the aft cabin is now cemented in place.   I will adjust the mizzen mast somehow.   the ship's wheel and steering box is in place as well.

...and it wouldn't be fair not to show the bow.   I made sure they were good pictures  

there's still more to go on the deck.........I painted the bilge pump and winch .....the last thing I did.   today,  I didn't do anything.........spent most of the day updating  the Thermopylae log on Weebly,  and was in and out running errands.   I'm hoping to be able to sit back and play tomorrow.   perhaps I can get something done on all three ship projects!    thanks for look'in in!

[src]

That all looks so good Dennis, it always amazes me how much you get done in a day. I am happy if I can get a pair of shrouds done.

Sam

[popeye the sailor]

thanks Sam......and all who hit the like button    with a lot of these furnishings made earlier,  it doesn't take long to add them to the model.   sometimes it's quite startling,  to see all that progress in a short amount of time.  what really stunk,  was it took me a couple of days {with all the other crap I was doing} to update that Weebly log.   what I have left now,  is to update the Boulogne log on Word Press.......but that will be easy {only two updates so far}.    I've done these logs on every build I've done since 2009........sounds crazy,   but the feedback I've gotten from them has been quite positive and helpful to those inquiring.  

 

it's good though that it doesn't infringe on my build time too badly.......I still manage to enjoy      onward and upward! 

[Piet]

Wow Denis, you did a lot of work since my last visit. Nice progress, looking very good.

[Omega1234]

Hi Denis

 

You're really cracking along now.  Looking really, really good!

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

[Greg the peg leg sailor]

G'day Denis 

It's going great guns and it's bloody marvelous. 

I see that you have the motor still going flat out. Be careful of the exhaust. It might get too warm for you😆😅😊.

havagooday 

Greg 

[popeye the sailor]

thanks for the good word gents.......and to all who hit the like button,  an big thanks as well.     this week was a tough week for modeling.........I simply couldn't get much of it.   I even ignored the lawns,  which I will need to mow next week for sure.......  today,  I had to run to the neighboring town to rescue our future daughter in law........her car wouldn't start.   she told me that someone there tried to jump start her car.........I did it and the car started right up    I think someone doesn't know how to jump start a car....hmmmmmmm.

 

hope I can have another update on her soon.......she's not leaving the other table.   only if she's being moved to my desk    

[Omega1234]

Hi Denis

 

Life gets in the way, sometimes!  No stress though.  

 

But, I'm like your future daughter in law....wouldn't know the first thing about jump starting a car😳.  Gotta admit, I thought modern cars couldn't be jump started???

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

[Nirvana]

Jump started a 2017 Dodge today with help of my 2016 Mazda 6. All cars can be "jumped"

[keelhauled]

just catching up.  Great progress!  She is really taking shape

 

Marc

[Nirvana]

I have the "Thermo" awaiting,  but seeing this great built I wonder if I ever will get it going. The scale is convenient for displaying.

[BANYAN]

Some great progress Denis; you'll be finished before you know it   I am away on hols at the moment o only get to check in occasionally.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[src]

Dennis, you'll get there.

At least the other person didnt do any damage to the electronics.

Sam

[popeye the sailor]

thanks for all the nice comments every one....and the likes as well    jump starting a car isn't any different than starting an older car.   on the car your jumping......pos on pos / neg on neg.....on the jumper car pos on pos / neg on any metal part of the engine {some cars come with hooks or eyelets for engine removal....or use a mount or bracket}   I raise the idle of the jumper car for about five mins....should be long enough to start the car.   of course it's a good idea to insure you have good connections.......I have the feeling the person who tried to start her car did not.   when connecting the cables...neg last.......when removing cables....neg first.  you don't want to create a voltage spike......that's when you run into problems

 

I'm sure Per...if you were to start this kit,   you'd do just fine.......just go scratch  

 

always glad your checking in Pat...no matter what the medium   

 

follow the direction above Patrick......you'll be jump'in 'em like a pro  

 

thanks Lawrence.......making the transom cap rail was not to tough to make......I still have to make railings that go around there.

[Old Collingwood]

She is looking really really nice denis.

 

 

OC.

[popeye the sailor]

hello there OC .....thanks for the good word     I haven't forgotten about 'ole Thermie.........working on the fife rails at the moment.  should have some kind of update soon.....thanks for look'in in!

[vossiewulf]

Finally got a few minutes to catch up a bit. You're making great progress Dennis, wish I was moving that fast. She's going to look great, and I especially like the little creative solutions like the fancy toothpicks that make perfect railings.

[popeye the sailor]

thanks Vossie..........I'm more like a bull in a china shop      it's too bad the tooth pick idea won't work on this project.........it's a good one though.....feel free to use it.  I'm sure it would work on your project.   for those whose been hitting the like button.......thanks to you folks as well  

[popeye the sailor]

I've made a little progress....thought I'd share it with you all.   I'm working on that poop deck railing at the moment....again.   since the first try was a bust,  I figured I'd try something else.   I have the fife rails roughed out for the fore and main masts.   I can't use the kit supplied ones, 'cuz the holes are already drilled for those wooden ones......the belaying pins I got would fall right through them.  

    so, here's what I have so far...

now,  I mentioned the anchors.......I put the darn things together.   definitely.......got to get some that are more to scale.   I couldn't believe it!   putting them together was easy.....that is,  until I got to the eye rings.   the holes for them were not drilled out......none of my bits would touch 'em.   I remembered that I had some old dental bits that a friend had sent me.   burned the first one out doing the first anchor...but it did drill the hole.  I found out that the anchors are made of white metal......hard stuff,  I can tell ya that     it took two of those bits to do them both!   the rings are on,  but I didn't bother to do the puddin.  check out the size.

this will give you a better sense of their size.......

another thing I noticed were the eye bolts.   here is the size supplied in the kit.......

I have two sizes of eye bolts........three if you count the ones I get from Hobby Lobby {I wouldn't use them anyway......they're too big too}.     here's what I'm going to use instead.

as I mentioned earlier....I need to get chain......there was none supplied in the kit.   the capstan and binnacle are now in place on the deck......still more deck stuff to go  

hope to have more soon........thanks for look'in in.

[src]

Nice work as always Dennis. I have to laugh, you "little bit of progress" is a weeks worth of work for me.

Sam

[vossiewulf]

32 minutes ago, src said:

Nice work as always Dennis. I have to laugh, you "little bit of progress" is a weeks worth of work for me.

Sam

Two or three for me! When Dennis gets going you best stay out of arm's reach, there's just a blur of knives, saws, little sawdust tornadoes and paint brushes. 

[Vivian Galad]

U r a busy fellow, Popeye Denis! Nicely done. I´ll be here following one more of yours. 

[src]

8 hours ago, vossiewulf said:

Two or three for me! When Dennis gets going you best stay out of arm's reach, there's just a blur of knives, saws, little sawdust tornadoes and paint brushes. 

 

 

 

LOL! That description reminds me of a cartoon character that is/was popular here in the States. The Tazmanian Devil. in a good way of course.

Sam

 

[Greg the peg leg sailor]

G'day Denis 

You're have done more in 2 days, than me in the past 6 bloody months. 

I think the anchors might be a tad out of scale! 😆😊😁

Havagooday 

Greg 

[popeye the sailor]

thanks for the kind comments........jeeze........an' I don't even drink red bull      I have my days,  like every one else......but when I can sit and play...I take full advantage    the admiral surprised me yesterday.......we were talking about kits.   I had said something about the larger kit and how expensive they were.........her reply was if I had the second {part time} job,  we coulda started a 'ship fund'.   the surprising part came when she said she hoped that I could make other hulls {ships} from this kit.   in the back of my mind,  I have ideas to clone a few other ships from this kit.....the parts panels are of really good shape,  so it should hold up rather well.   I think she likes the size......and how the model is coming out.  it's not museum quality,  but it is looking fairly nice,  and I am getting into building at this scale.   I got to try the belaying pins last night.........I think they are perfect.

the one in the front is slight longer {jest a tiny bit}......that's for the main mast.   I'm keeping the receipts for all the parts I'm ordering for this project.   should I start another,  I'll jest order more parts.   now these two rails shocked me a little......it's taken almost 1 package of pins to do them.   I want to make sure that there are enough pins to go around........I don't want to be drill'in holes when the rigging stage is in full swing.   some of the fittings in this kit is good,  but there are other parts that need to be scaled down.   with the finished models I've seen......I still wonder how these folks did it.......some of the processes with this kit are very clumsy to work with.   the kit is not impossible......for those who have this kit,  go into it with a scratch builder's mind,  and you'l do just fine.       I'm also working on another idea for the poop railing......I'm continuing with the railing concept i've been using,  but I'll give it a small twist.   I'm not finished with it yet.

we'll see how it looks when I get it done.   I'll try to put together a list of parts....numbers.....and places I got them from.   it should help future projects.

 

hello Vivian........glad to see your look'in in.   I hope you enjoy the log