Opium Smuggler 1806 by EricWilliamMarshall - FINISHED - Authentic Models - Scale 1:75 - Schooner

[EricWilliamMarshall]

I have jiggered the mast and added boots. I think I have recovered from the earlier issues. 

Edited March 30, 2020 by EricWilliamMarshall

[VTHokiEE]

Well done, it’s such a great feeling when you overcome issues like this. 

[EricWilliamMarshall]

I’ve fixed rudder. I’m prepping the cloth for this model’s set of sails/experiments. I’m also now thinking about string. The kit contains two tiny amounts in two sizes in white only with instructions to dye white to a darker color as needed. 

 Of course, I’m unsure how much to dye, since I haven’t figured what goes where and in what amounts. So  I’m thinking making rope, although I’ve never done that.

 

 Since the photo on the cover of the box is my current go-to reference - I noticed that some is the rope is wrapped with smaller string (making it served rope). I’m curious about that as well. Where that is used, how to do it well (and labor intensive is it if folks feel the need for serving machines!)

[ccoyle]

8 hours ago, EricWilliamMarshall said:

I noticed that some is the rope is wrapped with smaller string (making it served rope). I’m curious about that as well. Where that is used, how to do it well (and labor intensive is it if folks feel the need for serving machines!)

Okay, now you are asking questions that are above my pay grade! 😉

[EricWilliamMarshall]

19 minutes ago, ccoyle said:

now you are asking questions that are above my pay grade!

Hahaha!!

[Retired guy]

Hi Eric you ask me a question  "Richard, how did you get into the metal working side off things? 

It started back when I was at school 1971 and some of the courses I really liked was metal work, wood work and TD (Technical Drawings) and I did very well in each one of them so the school sent me to a Technical college when I was 14/15 to learn more did well there and ended up two years later getting an 5 year apprenticeship in Fabrication and Welding, the company which hired me sent me to the Engineering Industry Training Board for the first year so did not report for work but was sent back to the Technical College were they had a building with metal work shop. lathe and milling shop, electrical shop and fitting shop, it was brilliant you still had to clock in/out same as if you went to work, were not to miss days, then after that finished another think which helped was for five years we were sent to the College each Friday (when college was open) to learn metallurgy, math and half the day of doing drawings.

So this is how I got into metal working side of things  

 

Regards

Richard

[EricWilliamMarshall]

Wow, what a great prep for one of your retirement hobbies!  I’ll say again, which is what everyone else says, beautiful beautiful work. If I do a Bluenose build, it will be cause of you. 

[EricWilliamMarshall]

I'm not going to use the printed fabric. Although it looks nicer as a smaller photo.

 

[EricWilliamMarshall]

I started on the sails, while I think about my rigging. I'm using cotton fabric (I bought extra as part of my last build) that I painted with water-soluble varnish (so think cheap acrylic matte medium). If I do that before cutting, I have less loose threads. I played with using cyanoacrylate glue, but this works about the same and is cheaper and easier (a double win!) 

I then scored the fabric with metal. In this case, the back of a scissor blade.  Last time I used white gel pens for the seams, this time the scoring looks good to me, especially at the smaller scale. 

[ccoyle]

Those are a great improvement on the original kit sails.

[EricWilliamMarshall]

Chris, Thanks for the kind words!!
Jersey City Frankie has some great insights and work on sails he started on his HMS Victory (the build log was formerly here: https://modelshipworld.com/topic/9359-hmsvictory-by-jerseycity-frankie-–-heller-–-plastic-1100-–mostly-rigging-and-sails/ note: the link is broken and that log is no longer to be found). I've run with his idea in a slightly different direction. 

As Chuck mentioned before, this is an older kit. But the folks who made it, really tried to make an all inclusive, 'we got you covered'-kind of beginner's kit. But the bar for kit quality and builder knowledge is higher now on average.*  Long story short, so much of the kit can obviously be improved on, that it begs even a novice, such as myself, to look about a bit and think, I could do better. (Or at least, my efforts may be as poor as the kit's offerings!). It has prompted be to try things that were not in my original plan.

Which was something like:

   'oh, this is a simple kit';

   'I'm a simple builder';

   'I just bang it out and learn a wee bit along the way and build my first wood ship, having finished a wood boat.'

Not a clever plan, but suitable for an after-work, after-family, scrap-a-few-hours-together-to-waste approach to this hobby.


*to clarify, the experts of every age have done and will do extraordinary work and I assume the same may be true of top of the lines kits from yesteryear, with beautiful expensive wood, etc. My point is on average, I would wager that laser cutting, brass etching, vastly improved printing and research means better kits across the spectrum. I would also wager the average builder builds skills, knowledge, etc. at a fast rate than pre-internet, pre-MSW, pre-Amazon, pre-cheap tools, etc. So I posit that 'hump' of the bell curve for quality of both kits and builders has moved closer to 'quality' end over time. I invite comments my elders, the more wise, etc. (actually, everyone, to be honest!)

Edited April 3, 2020 by EricWilliamMarshall

[EricWilliamMarshall]

I dyed the white string for the rigging darker as per the brief instructions. Not as dark as could be, but given the limited color selection in house due to virus lockdown, I’ll take it.

[EricWilliamMarshall]

I’ve started the rigging!! I mounted the blocks. Again vague instructions (actually no instructions, but an image.) There are no channels, either. The string in the kit is too thick for the supplied blocks, so I’ve used cotton thread as well. I’ve chosen a color as close as could find in the house (since we are ‘sheltering in place’:) ). This is my first stab at ‘the pair of blocks’ bit (there are no dead eyes in this kit) and the winding string about the thicker string. I used thin wire on each block to create the loops after fumbling a bit with tried thread or string.

 

Edited April 8, 2020 by EricWilliamMarshall

[EricWilliamMarshall]

More of the same! I found the winding the thread around the string taxing, especially for the in place work! 

Edited April 7, 2020 by EricWilliamMarshall

[EricWilliamMarshall]

I noticed I have be aware of any twist on the string or the blocks tangle up. I went with minimal thread wrapping (skipping the stuff I asked about earlier). 

[SardonicMeow]

On 4/4/2020 at 12:50 AM, EricWilliamMarshall said:

I dyed the white string for the rigging darker as per the brief instructions. Not as dark as could be, but given the limited color selection in house due to virus lockdown, I’ll take it.

I like how the subtle variations in color make it look more natural.

 

[EricWilliamMarshall]

27 minutes ago, SardonicMeow said:

I like how the subtle variations in color make it look more natural.

Thanks! I quite like that myself. The string had a coating which caused the dye to bead and not interact with the string. As first that bothered me, but then once I got the dye to seep in, I too noticed the variations and stopped. After poking around the internet, there a few ways to force/create such variation. 

[Cuda1949]

I bought the same model kit off ebay back in the early 90 s and it was first model I built after building many ships is bottles. I wrestled with the model but I did finish it and it sits proudly among my sib of the PRIDE OF Baltimore and the Young American. Very nice work on your part look forward to following along.

[EricWilliamMarshall]

21 hours ago, Cuda1949 said:

I bought the same model kit off ebay back in the early 90 s and it was first model I built after building many ships is bottles.

Awesome!!! Thanks for the pictures - yours are the only photos of a built-version of this model I have seen. As you may remember, the instructions are a bit light on detail. As a result, I keep staring at the box lid, trying to reverse engineer what I see. But there is only one photo to work with (admittedly, there are several copies of that photo on the box top though.)
I see you had much better success with working with the given parts than I did!
She looks very nice! Again thanks for sharing!

 

i also bought this kit in the ‘90s as well, from a cool hobby shop in the east-side of Manhattan. I cut two pieces and got scared I that would ruin the kit. The kit then survived moves, a fire, having kids, etc. until now when I decided I was fine with ruining the kit and had go.

Edited April 8, 2020 by EricWilliamMarshall

[EricWilliamMarshall]

More block work. I used 28 gauge copper wire (blackened chemically - but it wears away easily) on the blocks. My tools are a regular pair of snips, xacto blade and a regular pin (head snipped off and mounted in a pin vise). The pin is the correct diameter loop making as it fits the dyed string I'm using for the standing rigging.  

[EricWilliamMarshall]

A little bit of progress on the rigging- I’m getting a little bit faster but it is slower than I would like.

Edited April 10, 2020 by EricWilliamMarshall

[Edwardkenway]

Slow is not a problem Eric 😁. It helps as I find I don't make mistakes (as much) as when trying to push the build along. 

She's looking good now and is going to be a little beauty when she's done😊

Edited April 10, 2020 by Edwardkenway

[EricWilliamMarshall]

A wee bit more work on the rigging.

[EricWilliamMarshall]

So I finished Step 15.

Edited April 12, 2020 by EricWilliamMarshall

[EricWilliamMarshall]

The next step 

[rkwz]

She's coming along nicely indeed!

[EricWilliamMarshall]

20 minutes ago, rkwz said:

coming along nicely indeed!

Thanks for the kind words! Little by little!!

[VTHokiEE]

I can’t wait to see the sails on her! The finish line is in sight. Have you thought about a display base?

[EricWilliamMarshall]

1 hour ago, VTHokiEE said:

Have you thought about a display bas

Ha ha, I’m still thinking about a work cradle! But your query has prompted me to think... hmm... I’ll share if something clever strikes me.

[EricWilliamMarshall]

A bit of needle work.