Phantom by hopeful - Model Shipways - Scale 1:96

[russ]

David:

You are using the term wales. Is that what the instructions call them? I would call them bulwarks. I just want to make sure we are talking about the same thing.

 

Russ

[hopeful]

Yes you are correct. Bulwarks, not wales. Thanks Russ! Corrections made.

 

Hopeful aka David

[JPett]

Ahoy Hopeful

 

Very nice, The tip to only thin the bulwarks to 3/32 for now is a good one, thx

 

Was there a reason to toss the copper.  

[hopeful]

Hey JP,

 

Thanks for looking in. Tossing the copper because I have too many other things going on at this time. I will paint the hull below the waterline with a good copper colored acrylic paint.......a feux copper bottom. Actually, the plans give the build the alternative to use copper or paint. 

 

BFN,

Hopeful aka David

[hexnut]

This is looking great, super clean. The same thing I said about your Sultana, the precision with which you work gives it the aura of a much larger scale.

 

A possible alternative to paint may be 'bare-metal foil'.   http://www.bare-metal.com/bare-metal-foil.html   I've used their stuff quite a bit for car and airplane models, the foil is very thin and self-adhesive.  They make a nice copper.  IMO, better in scale then the thick plates. It comes in 6"x111/2" sheets. With burnishing, seams are just about invisible if you want them to be.

[russ]

The Phantom kit comes with the adhesive copper tape.

 

Russ

[Pete38]

David:

 

Just catching up again with your build. 

 

Real nice job as usual, keep up the great work

[gulfmedic1]

Hopefull

what is the distance from bow to mid deck

[hopeful]

HI Mates,

 

Time to post an update to my log.

 

 

Bob M (hexnut): Thanks for looking in and for the information regarding “bare metal foil”. Going to put the web address in my diary.

 

Russ: Nice to hear from you. You are correct when stating the kit comes with adhesive backed foil. I am definitely going to save it for future use.

 

Scott (gulfmedic1): Sorry for not getting back to you sooner re the dimension you requested. Please refer to the drawing titled “Arrangement & Lines”. The dimension from the step to the out board edge of the stem is 123.0mm. As the stem is 3.0mm, the hull measurement from the step to the bow is 120.0mm.

 

Post 8 of my Phantom build log:

 

Objectives:

 

Construct the water ways from bass wood, and size the deck material provided in the kit to ensure the two decks fit correctly. There are two decks separated by a step. The step is located just aft of amidships.

 

Also roughed out the cap rail at this time.

 

These components will be added to the vessel after the outside of the bulwarks have been correctly sized and the hull painted.

 

Photo 28

 

First step was to make patterns of the waterways and decks. I made the templates of low tack tape.

 

 

 

Photo 29

 

After removing the tape I fixed the patterns to 1/16” bass wood with scotch tape. Next I scribed the outside edge of the templates with a #11 blade transferring the shape of the templates to the wood and removed the tape.  The outside edge of the template is now the correct size of the outboard edges of the water ways and fore and aft decks.  

 

Photos 30-31

 

 

 

Shows the finished forward water way and deck. The water way is 1/32” thick. The part is very fragile, but I wanted to make it a one piece component out of wood.

 

 

 

 

Photo 32

 

Shows the completed aft deck and waterway.

 

 

 

Photo 33

 

The cap rail, made of 1/16” bass wood, was made in one piece following Chuck’s method explained in his practicum.  The part will be made more narrow and thinner (1/32) after it is attached to the top of the bulwarks.

 

 

Next steps

1. Carve and sand the outside of the bulwarks.
2. Affix the rudder
3. Paint the hull, rudder,  and interior of the bulwarks

Thanks for checking out the build. Questions, advice, and constructive remarks are appreciated.

 

Cheers,

Hopeful aka David

 

“Standards set are standards met”.

Edited June 4, 2013 by hopeful

[gulfmedic1]

David

thanks for the info and thanks for being so detailed, it has helped me greatly following your build.

awsome work by the way

[gjdale]

Nice work David. Looking very sharp!

[Pete38]

Very nice work. Great eye for detail...Looking great!!

[hopeful]

Hi,

 

Pete, thanks for your encouragement. I continue to be as slow as ever, hahaha!

 

Grant, Thanks for looking in on my build. Your build is light years ahead of what I am doing.

 

Scott, there are a lot of differenf ways to approach varius cahllenges when building a vessel. Take a look at all the Phantom builds on the forum and you will have a wealth of ideas to consider as you build your Phantom. Let me know if I can assist you in any way.

 

BFN,

Hopeful aka David

 

"Standards set are standards met".

[hopeful]

Hi Mates,

 

A bit of progress to report.

 

Post 9 of my Phantom Build Log:

 

Task was to thin the bulwarks on the outboard side of the vessel.  The inboard side of the bulwarks were thinned in a previous step. The final target is to thin the bulwarks to 1/32"....thin.

 

One can thin the baulwarks by carving and finish sanding. I used that method on the inboard side of the bulwarks. For the ouboard side I used sanding sticks, #80, #120, finished with #180.  The height of the bulwards on the outboard side are 1/8 inch. Following photos are for reference.

 

Photo 34

 

First step was to bend a few battens to the form of the hull. The battens are some left over deck boards from another project. The battens are 4.0mm wide and 1/16" thick.

 

 

 

Photo 35

 

Shows the battens pined to the vessel on the port side. The battens are placed 1/8 inch from the top of the bulwarks.

 

 

 

Photo 36

 

Shows the bulwarks thinned to 1/16". Note the shelf formed adjacent to the batten and below the bulwark. The step will be rounded over later.

 

 

Photo 37

 

Shows both the bulwarks thinned to 1/16" on both the starboard and port sides of the vessel. They will be thinned on an angle to 1/32 just before the cap rail is added to the vessel.

 

 

Next I will remove the battens and round oiver the ledge creaded by sanding the bulwarks followed by adding the rudder and painting the hull.

 

Thanks for looking in on the build, much appreciated.  

 

Cheers,

Hopeful aka David

 

"Standards set are standards met".

Edited June 17, 2013 by hopeful

[gjdale]

Nice progress there David. Very neat work.

[gulfmedic1]

David

so you used the Batten as a guide to keep a straight line to make the step. aswosome seems to make that part of the build much easier

[Blue Ensign]

I like what you are doing with this kit David, you're doing a fine job.

 

Cheers,

 

B.E.

[boys12345]

Recently started the Phantom and have appreciated your details and photos.  Will help me greatly in this first build.  I did have a couple of questions if I may. On page one you mention that the vessel length is 10. Yet your ruler shows about 9. I realize these kits arent by any means consistant but my hull right out of the box measures 9 5/8 " and needs to be carved down to around 9 1/4 to match the blue print scale. (mostly at the stern end)  i assume you had alot of carving and sanding at the stern to get it countoured to the right shape ?

 

  Also I noticed you had the stern propped up when adding your water line.  Was this to get the keel at a level angle and the proper line  ?

 

  Thanks in advance for your reply and for a great build document ....     

[FlounderFillet5]

Hey David,

 

Great looking build so far.  I remember your build logs from MSW 1.0 being great and very helpful, Hopeful.  Keep up the great work! 

 

-Max

[JPett]

Ahoy David

 

Beautiful work and excellent technic. Learning a lot here

 

Can I ask why you would round the top of the wales, or am I misreading that

[hopeful]

Hi Mates,

 

In response to those looking in on the build:

 

BE: Always nice to have to look in on the build. Thanks for your comments, much appreciated.

 

Boys 12345: Have fun building your Phantom. Thanks for your comments re the dimensions of the vessel between the perpendiculars. I appreciate your attention to detail.  The vessel, per the "Arrangement & Lines" drawing is 9 7/16" measured from the outboard edge of the transom forward to the outside edge of the stem.  Minus the width of the stem, your 9 1/4 measurement is ultra close to mine; within a 1/16".  Yes, I too had to remove a fair amount of the hull blank at the stern end. As to the placement of the waterline, I do not think the drawing is correct. The waterline per the drawing seemed to high at the stern. I checked how Chuck placed his waterline on the vessel in his practicum and followed his example which was higher and I felt  more correct. Yes, I did add the wood strips under the stern end of the vessel (photo 22, page 2) in order to lower the waterline in that area.  Again, your attention to detail is impressive. Am Looking forward to following your build. BTW, the dimensions were amended on page one of the build. Thanks!

 

Max: Nice to hear from you. Thanks for checking out my build and for your encouragement. Checked your log a few days ago. Very nice work on the deck furniture. Your build is going to be sweet when finished, laid deck and all, wow! 

 

JP: I always appreciate your questions, they make me think!  The plan drawings show the whales as being curved. Why I don't know. Another portion of the drawings shows no curve in the wale. I'll have to ask Chuck his opinion as to why the wale is curved. Stay tuned, JP!

 

Have completed some additional work on my build and will post the results today.

 

BFN,

Hopeful aka David

 

"Standards set are standards met".

Edited July 26, 2013 by hopeful

[SkerryAmp]

You are doing an outstanding job on that build David!  Very nice work so far!

 

 

-Adam

[hopeful]

Hi mates,

 

Adam (SkerryAmp): Thanks for looking at the build and for your comments, much appreciated.

 

Post #9 of my Phantom Build Log

 

Task was to paint the hull, bulwarks (exterior and interior), and the rudder. As mentioned, I will not be adding copper plates to the hull below the waterline.

 

The acrylic paint scheme is black, copper over black to the exterior of the hull and bulwarks, and egg shell white to the interior of the bulwarks.

 

First step was to reapply the waterline to make sure that the pencil line is dark. I then painted gesso everywhere paint was going to appear.  After the gesso I applied ¼” wide Tamiya tape at the upper hull side of the waterline. I use Tamiya tape because it is thin, has a cut edge, and is very sticky.  Bob (bburlman) recommended I use Tamiya when I built my first vessel. It works far better than masking tape or blue tape.

 

As I am using acrylic copper paint to represent copper below the waterline I painted black as an undercoat prior to applying the copper color.  Process was gesso, black, and copper colors below the waterline. Copper over black is much deeper and richer in appearance.

 

Photo 38

 

Shows black color applied over gesso. I gently rubbed the black paint with number 400 steel wool before apply the copper color.  I used the wool to eliminate paint brush strokes and cut the gloss of acrylic paint. Note how the tape line is revealed after using the wool. Paint tends builds up along the waterline and needs to be smoothed out.

 

 

Photo 39

 

Painted the copper color over the black undercoat and removed the tape to show the waterline.

 

 

 

Photo 40

 

Next step was to apply tape over the copper color as close to the edge of the paint as possible prior to painting the black color above the waterline.

 

 

Photo 41

 

Hull painted black and the tape removed to show the completed hull. The rudder was painted away from the hull and then added for the photograph.

 

 

There was a very, very fine raised line where the two paint colors met.  The line is visible to the eye and obvious to the touch and must be leveled out to look right.  I used number 400 steel wool to accomplish the task. Now the paint colors blend beautifully into one another. Do not use sand paper for this task. The fine line to be removed is measured in microns.

 

Thanks for looking in on the build. Comments and questions always welcomed.

 

BFN,

Hopeful aka David

 

“Standards set are standards met”.

 

 

 

Edited July 26, 2013 by hopeful

[gjdale]

Beautiful job on the painting David - looks superb!

[Pete38]

Love the paint colors. The copper turned out just right.

[SkerryAmp]

Paint job is top notch!   Nice color and lines!

 

 

-Adam

[hopeful]

Hi mates,

 

Thanks Grant, Pete, and Adam for your kind remarks re the paint job of my Phantom hull. I appreciate your looking in on the build. Good to know I am not alone in the world of ship building!

 

Post 10 of my Phantom Build Log

 

I am trying to get a bunch of steps finished prior to laying the fore and aft decks and waterways.  This, hopefully, will lessen the chance of damaging the decks.

 

Objectives:   First cut a slot in the bulwarks at the stem for the bow sprit, and second too test fit the cap rail to the top of the bulwarks.

The bow sprit is to rest on the stem and pass through the slot in the bulwarks and into a square hole in the samson post. Locating the bows sprit in this manner ensures that it is placed at the correct angle. A cast metal samson post combined with the windlass is provided in the kit. The builder has the option of using the kit supplied metal sampson post and windlass or making one from scratch at 1/96, yikes!!

 

Photo 42  

 

The metal samson post has small round legs. I drilled two holes in the deck and pressed the posts into the deck, no glue used. I started the slot with #11 blade followed by a needle file. Shows slot being cut with a tapered/square needle file. The slot is the same width as the bowsprit.  

 

 

Photos 43, 44, and 45

Multiple views of the bow sprit positioned through the slot in the bulwarks and through the Samson post. Note that the bowsprit slot is just a tad lower the bulwarks.

 

 

 

 

Photo 46 and 47

 

Photo shows the cap rail resting on the bulwarks. As you can see, I have a bit of work to do to ensure the caprail is too scale in terms of width and thickness, etc. 

 

 

 

Thanks for checking the build. Comments and suggestions always appreciated.

 

Cheers,

Hopeful aka David

 

“Standards set are standards met”, hopefully!

[gjdale]

Very neatly done David. Your meticulous work is a pleasure to watch.

[Mirabell61]

Dirk
I see  I would have been wise to sight the build of your Phantom first, most of my questions with the Alert`s presentation got answered, never the less an admireable model, beautifull lines, and an  ambitious scale you have Chosen. It shall be a pleasure to watch the coming build sequences

 

Nils

[SkerryAmp]

Looking good!!