Royal William by ken3335 - FINISHED - Euromodel - Scale 1:72

[Greg the peg leg sailor]

Ok have warm pint on me😆

[ken3335]

Hello Everyone,       

 

I've just finished the refurbishment of the stern, I'm delighted with the result and will follow up with pictures and report today when I get the chance.

 

I was so pleased with the result that I gave myself this reward, and yes Greg it tasted great even though it was WARM.

 

Ken

 

[ken3335]

Hello Everyone, 

 

Here's the result of the refurb. You know what I was doing so this is just checking out through pictures how it turned out. The glazing in the windows I did the way Bill suggested, a blob of glue on a cocktail stick and twirled it about inside the frame, it worked well and will be how I do it in the future. The painting was not too difficult, just awkward but the stern has regained its lustre and I reckon I've got it pretty close to how it was before the incident, I recon Nelson couldn't tell the difference.

 

Just so that I feel I've made progress with the build I've also put on the middle wales. I stained these dark oak to give them contrast against the hull. I'll paint the main wales black and put in blackened dome headed nails in both wales.

 

The finish on the hull has come out pretty good and at the moment I'm leaning towards just a poly finish, showing the wood.

 

 

Ken

[Sjors]

Amazing.....👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

 

Sjors

[ken3335]

Hello Everyone,

 

Just a little more progress, bit by bit it's getting done.

 

I have now finished the upper strakes, nothing of interest to report there. I then did the side fenders, I always try and find an easy way to do things and the fenders were no exception. They are made from 3x5mm walnut, I felt that these would be extremely difficult to bend to the shape of the hull, some builders make up templates and cut them from larger stock to shape, most soak them for a long time, but that would still be difficult to bend. I decided to use 3x2mm strip instead, using two, layered for each fender, sticking one down and then the other on top. Being much thinner they were easy to bend to shape without any soaking or aids and when done and sanded you would be hard pressed to tell that they weren't one piece, it was simple. I stained them a dark oak again for the contrast. 

 

Photos shows the results.

 

I'm sorry to say that I'll be doing much less building for a few weeks so there'll be fewer posts. I'm a keen club cyclist and until recently still raced as an amateur so you will understand that whilst the Tour de France is on I will be giving that my full attention.

 

 

Ken

 

 

 

[Sjors]

We wiil watch the Tour together Ken 😀

 I'm a 🚴🏻 Also.

But your work is as usual......very nice.

 

Sjors

[Dilbert55]

Happy Trails

[ken3335]

Hello Everyone,

 

The tour isn't on for another hour so I've got a little time with the build.

 

I copied the plans again, This time to try and sort out the cast ornamentation. I managed to identify and place it on both the plan and the hull. I realize that it's not a simple task, it's again pretty nice casting but nothing will fit together without quite a bit of work, again I'm unsure of the best way to tackle this part but I'll chip away at it.

 

Nice picture Dilbert, looks like a great place to stop for lunch, boats and bikes what's not to like.

 

A couple of bike pictures as I'm in that mood. I'm usually one of the idiots waving big green hands at stage finishes and one of me crossing the Alps to get to the race, but I have to carry my own luggage. 

 

Sjors,  I'll put a Victory beer on ice for you.

 

 

Ken

 

 

 

 

[Sjors]

Thanks for the beer Ken.

The only time when i get on a bicycle is when i stay in town...with no wind and a lot of sunshine.

So you know now that i don't ride the bicycle much in Holland😝

 

Sjors

[ken3335]

Hello Everyone,  

 

I've managed to squeeze in some building time whilst watching the Tour so here's the latest progress report.

 

This part is about my experience with the castings along the side of the hull. They ended up looking very impressive, better than I had first expected and once again I'm pleased with what Euromodel had done here especially with old technology.

 

I first copied the relevant part of the plans to help identify and make sense of the many cast parts. The casting was crisp and very good indeed needing little cleaning. Most of the pieces needed adjusting to make them a good fit, on some I cut out the figures themselves and fixed them into position separately. Once the fit was established I cut out the gun ports in them. I found doing all this difficult as the many parts needed to be accurately held in place without glue so that the cutting and filing resulted in a good fit.

 

That's the good part, now the not so good. I had made the hull as near to the plan as possible thinking that was the right thing to do, however when I offered up the castings along the waist I saw that they did not match up with the plan by a fair amount!  The lower trim of the casting should have lined up with the centre of the gun ports, my castings were not the same as the plans but were too deep by about 5mm and ended up level with the lower edge of the gun ports. It was not possible to reduce their height, I had the choice of putting them on as they were or adding to the height of the sides. Not knowing how raising the height would effect the rest of the castings I mounted them as they were. With that wonderful thing called hindsight I should have, when building the hull made the planking higher then, after putting on the castings sanded it level with them. I can live with it as they look good and only those that are in the know will notice anything wrong.

 

I painted all the castings gold and painted the hull behind them black before fixing them into place. I scraped the paint away from the glue contact surfaces so that a good bond would be made. After they were fitted I rubbed a little filler into the joints then touched up the paintwork.

 

I fitted the rail capping using 4 x 1 mm strip, using my soldering iron to get the curved ends, again it worked well.

 

I also touched up the red port linings as they were looking a bit jaded and cleaned up the hull. I also couldn't resist putting on a first coat of diluted poly. I wanted to see how it would take after all the glue that had been spilt on it before deciding whether to paint bellow the water line or not.  The good news is that it went on perfectly with no staining issues, just a lovely even colour of the wood, looks great so the decision is made, natural wood finish. There are no pictures of this stage yet, I'm waiting until it's properly dry before I handle it.

 

I have decided not to use the stand provided so got I nice piece of mahogany to use as a plinth, I'll sort out some columns as well to stand it on. I know I should have arranged a fastening in the keel for this at an early stage but I'm sure that I can come up with something pretty secure.  Watch this space.

 

 

Ken

 

[ken3335]

Hello Everyone,

 

Not really an update but look what's just arrived. I found it going for a good price on EBay and of course I needed a new toy. 

 

The first thing that I'm going to make are two columns for mounting RW to a plinth. I'm going to make them from a broom handle, I'll drill out the centre and pass  a tent peg through both these and the base, these are quite long and will go about four inches into the keel. The keel is 7mm thick and is good quality ply so should be plenty strong enough. I have a friend who will loan me his router for putting a nice edge on.  

 

 

He who dies with the most toys,   WINS!

 

 

ken

 

 

 

 

 

[rony]

Very nice work.
How much does such a machine cost?

[ken3335]

Hi Rony,  Welcome to my log.  I paid £80 on EBay for this, it is a Proxxon mini lathe, it's almost new and has the addition of the metal three jaw chuck not just the standard collets.  

 

 

Ken

[rony]

It is not expensive at all, here in Israel there is no such machine and ordering from abroad will cost me a lot of taxes in Israel.

[ken3335]

Hello Everyone,    Thanks all for continuing to show an interest in my log and for the many likes.    Only a little progress but even the smallest amount keeps me moving forward.

 

I have more or less completed the stand it just needs the pillars fixing in place. I routed the edge and made the pillars on my little lathe, I'm sure you can see what I've done, I think that it came out ok for a late decision alternative mount.  The picture shows it and the hull having just been varnished, satin poly, and is outside to dry. Next I'm going to paint the lower wales and top strakes black before tackling the head rails.

 

Ken

 

[ken3335]

Hello All,    The finished mount worked out perfect, the pillars and rods were epoxied in and everything feels very solid, the final touch was the brass nameplate. 

 

You'll notice that I photographed it in front of my garage, I painted the door a few years ago when after a few beers I felt in an artistic mood. As you'd expect it causes quite a few comments.

 

 

Ken

 

 

 

[ken3335]

Hello Again,         A few snaps of todays work, painted wales and upper strakes.

 

 

Ken

 

 

[ken3335]

Hello Everyone,     Another small update.  Today I nailed the wales to simulate bolts. I used Amati 7mm dome head nails which I first blackened. I think that it adds a bit more character to the hull sides, not that it needs it.

 

I followed Mark's example and got the bronze mast bases that he used, as Mark said he couldn't make them any better. They were from the Amati fittings range and all three together only cost just under £1 from Cornwall Model Boats.

 

 

Ken

 

 

 

[Dilbert55]

Ken, what did you use to blacken your nails?

[ken3335]

Hi Dilbert,  The stuff below is what I use. It's what I first bought so I can't compare it with anything else. I dilute about 2-3 part water and keep in a jar, it seems to stay usable for quite a while.  It doesn't work on everything though, good on Amati and Caldercraft nails but not on some others, is ok on most photo etch, worked well on my white meta castings, ( see my rudder hinges )  but is a bit hit and miss on cannon barrels.

 

Ken

 

 

[Dilbert55]

Thanks for the info. Damn stuff appears to be made in Canada (Winnipeg, Manitoba) but doesn't look at all easy to buy here? It's about $20 on Amazon.ca but ships from the US so comes to $39 with shipping. There's a Canadian site selling it for 6 bucks but they have a minimum order of $25. Going to check out some local stained glass stores before trying to buy online.

[Sjors]

A great builder, painter, Tour de France fan.....what else???

 

Sjors

[ken3335]

Hi Dilbert,  I got mine through EBay, I've just looked and it's selling there for £13,  free postage. That's UK though, may be worth checking out.

 

Ken

[albergman]

1 hour ago, Dilbert55 said:

Thanks for the info. Damn stuff appears to be made in Canada (Winnipeg, Manitoba) but doesn't look at all easy to buy here? It's about $20 on Amazon.ca but ships from the US so comes to $39 with shipping. There's a Canadian site selling it for 6 bucks but they have a minimum order of $25. Going to check out some local stained glass stores before trying to buy online.

Dilbert

 

I found it in a shop that sells stained glass supplies.   Those people use it to darken the lead on a stained glass piece.

 

Frank

[albergman]

1 minute ago, albergman said:

Dilbert

 

I found it in a shop that sells stained glass supplies.   Those people use it to darken the lead on a stained glass piece.

 

Frank

Here you go ... in London Ont.

 

[piratepete007]

All looking good Ken and amazed at your rapid progress. As I am always searching for something new, your comment about blackening prompted me to do some 'sniffing' around on MSW and I found a very comprehensive article which might appeal to some other builders. The article presents a wide variety of commercially available products.

Pete

 

 

 

 

MetalBlackeningnew.pdf

[ken3335]

Hello Everyone,        

 

Thanks again for your kind comments and likes.  Sjors, yes I do lots of different things, stick around and you'll get to find out, I'm a Jack of all trades but I'm afraid I'm not a master of any.

 

Todays update is the head gratings.  Again I looked for an easy way. I decided to cut it out from ply and paint it. I transferred the plan onto a piece of 2mm ply and cut it out. There wasn't enough grating material so I had to buy some, I made them up and cut to shape. I sealed and painted the frame before fitting the gratings. I know it was a sort of cheats way of doing it but I think it looks good and is probably better than I could have managed by building it up the traditional way, it was certainly much quicker.     

 

Next job is the head rails.

 

Ken

 

 

[ken3335]

Hello Everyone, 

 

I left off having just finished the head gratings, here's the continuation.

 

The rails were far more difficult to build up than they first appeared. The cast pieces needed to be bent forming what were three dimensional curves and each in some sort of relation to the others so that they eventually fit together forming the structure, this was done by eye as there was only a 2D plan. I tried heating the castings with my solder iron, the heat it gave was too localised and I managed to snap the first top rail which caused me quite a problem. I ended up using a gas BBQ lighter to heat the casting, it was trial and error, too hot and they quickly melted, not hot enough and they snapped.

 

I eventually ended up with an acceptable structure. The uprights are made up again from cast strips which needed to be cut and angled to fit between each rail, I think that they would have been easier to cut and sand by using 4x4 wood strip instead. I painted them and then fitted that beautifully cast figurehead. 

 

When viewed closely it looks like it's made up from spaghetti, but from a pace away it kooks quite good.

 

It's like everything else on this build I am managing but feel that if I were able to do each section again I could easily improve them knowing what was needed and how it should be done, I think it's called a learning curve.

 

 

 

 

Ken

 

[marktiedens]

Looking good ,Ken. Bending those thicker metal parts is a bit tricky. I ended up using a hot air gun & was quite pleased with how I could control the application of heat to bend those thicker parts.

 

Mark

[Sjors]

Nice!!!

Tour is almost finished so more building time for you and drooling time for us😄👍🏻

 

Sjors