King Of The Mississippi by John Gummersall - FINISHED - Artesania Latina - Scale 1:80

[John Gummersall]

Finally,,,,, final pieces of wood arrived and last sections of the upper railing complete.   Here is where I am going to "call it".   It is done, granted it is not museum quality work, main thing is that I had fun along the way...  To anyone wanting to build the King, I would say be prepared for a long haul.   There a many pieces to this beauty.   Only real difficult part of this build was the circular stairs.   They take some time to get them right.  Everything else in the model is pretty straight forward, just a lot of it.   Especially those 2nd and 3rd floor railings.    Building them really got old after a while.

 

Anyway, below are some of my final pictures along with the King in it's final home.   The final home shows my cardboard as a background.  Kind of have to ignore that.   In reality, behind the case is a mirror.   Without the cardboard, the picture ends of me taking a picture of me.

 

On to the next model 🙂

 

[GrandpaPhil]

Congratulations!  Well done!

[Bob Fraser]

Really nice and clean lines, I like it. I think every build of this model has been different - your own stamp on a model makes it yours, not just the way the manufacturer wants you to buid it.

"Without the cardboard, the picture ends of me taking a picture of me."

So there's a mirror behind - don't blame you for covering it, I hate picrures of me too. 😄

Looking forward to your next model.

Take care,

Bob

 

 

[Moab]

A real beauty. Congratulations!...Moab

[Henke]

It has been a pleasure John following your build from start to end. Well done! I hope there will be a log of that build as well.

 

Regards Henrik

[J11]

Fabulous piece!! Congrats!!

 

[John Gummersall]

Thanks for all the comments..... I appreciate them.    I am moving on the the Endeavour J class Americas Cup yacht.   I have always admired the real boat, and now looking forward to building the model.

 

john

[Kevin101]

Hi 

I am just starting to build this  (I have had the kit for years) and have just started reading your guide. The instructions advise three types of glue 

white aka carpenters - I was going to use aliphatic resin for this 

contact aka shoemakers

quick drying 

just wondered from your experience what are the best makes for each of these 

also 

[Auger]

She looks great! Congratulations. 🍾🥂

[John Gummersall]

Kevin101

 

I just saw you note from june..... ugh... sorry I never got back to you....   You probably have already chosen your glue, if you want my opinion I use Gorilla Wood glue and CA glue on all my models.    There are a lot of folks that would cringe at Gorilla Wood glue as they say it expands when drying.   I starting using Gorilla Wood glue with my first model (before I realized what others were saying about it).  I have not had a issue with it and on my 3rd bottle.   Most modelers seem to prefer Titbond Wood Glue.   I suppose my next bottle will have to be Titebond just to see if I can tell the difference.   The other glue that comes in very handy is CA glue.    There are three types of CA glue (thick, medium, and thin).   I use the thick CA on parts that have to stick together relatively fast.   All the railings on the King were done with thick CA glue as it would take forever using the slow drying wood glue.   I really like the "thick" CA (it is not really that thick) as has a long bottle life and does not seem to dry out.  I have fully used every bottle of thick CA glue.    Best part about the think CA glue is that it is easy to work with.   Thick enough to stick on then end of a toothpick.

 

On rare occasions I have used the thin CA glue.   It is much harder to use than the thick (as it runs all over the place), and it tends to dry out.   Using thin CA glue you are constantly clogging the glue tip.   The one use for the thin CA that I have found is when you have a couple parts that have a very thin seam that you want to bind together.   Just pour a drop on the seam, and it will seep into the seams and lock them tight.

 

A few hints on both CA glue and Wood Glue.... use as little as possible.  A little goes a long way.   If you use too much it smears onto the wood, it seems even if you wipe it off right away, some glue remains on the wood.    No problem if you are going to paint  the wood, but if you are going to stain the wood, the part of the wood will not stain evenly.

 

In regards to CA glue, if the tip of the glue does get clogged,  Acetone nullifies CA glue.   Soak the glue tip in some Acetone overnight and in the morning, it will be completely clear.   Good as new.

 

Anyway, as I have mentioned earlier in the log I am by no means an expert builder....  So take what I say with a grain of salt....  but I wanted to at least give you my thoughts.

 

[Paul Jarman]

Brilliant job,

I am getting close to finishing this kit myself. Yes, the spiral stairway was the hardest part to get right.

Paul

[Jeff5115]

Great job and a beautiful model. I am in the early stages of building this model (2nd build for me) and your build log is terrific. Reads like an instruction manual for others to follow. Ironically my next build is the Endeavor J Class so I look forward to watching your progress on this build as well.

[John Gummersall]

Jeff5115...

 

Thanks for the comments..... Not sure I intended this to be an instruction manual as I am by far no expert builder, but I did want to point some of my mistakes (pain) I had along the way.   Other ship logs I have read over the years only some of the steps that lead to a fantastic final product.   They do not show some of the "pain" endured during the build.   To me that is not very helpful.   I much prefer reading logs where the mistakes are listed and the solutions.  I know I learn much more from the folks that make mistakes are are brave enough to expose them. 

 

Good luck on your completion of "The King"...