Medway Longboat 1742 - 1/2" scale - by BobG - FINISHED

[Chuck]

Thats looking good Bob.  You are in the home stretch!!😃

[BobG]

Thanks very much for your kind words, Bob, and thanks also to everyone else for the likes. 

 

6 hours ago, BobCardone said:

Wow, she's looking fit, trim and elegant! You have great skills and have done a fine job, I'm looking forward to your future projects. Any ideas yet?

 

Oh boy, I've begun mulling this over and I still haven't made up my mind. I've got several ships on the shelf that I bought along the way in the past two years...probably too many!...and that's actually making the decision process tougher for me. What I have come to realize is that, when I bought these models, I was looking not only for ships that I liked but also kits that I thought would not be way over my head. What I didn't know then is how my choices would evolve as I've seen more of what others are building and my skills increased a little. It's a tough decision because I realize that time commitment for a new build can range from a couple of months to a very long time. I spent 6 weeks just building my Indian Girl Canoe by Midwest! So I know I'm slow!!

 

Here are a couple of kits that I have that I am considering:

 

Pen Duick by Artesania Latina: I love the lines of this historic racing sailboat but I'm not so sure about the quality of the supplied materials and the instructions are very limited. This would also be a good boat to learn to use my airbrush on too.

 

Pride of Baltimore II by Model Shipways: I think this historic ship is stunningly beautiful with it's sleek lines but, like the Pen Duick, I don't think all the materials are of the quality she deserves to built with and the instructions are not the best either. I've been spoiled by the Alaskan Cedar used in the Medway Longboat and the excellent instructions.

 

I like all of Chuck's Syren kits and I know they are high quality and the forthcoming north sea, fishing vessel, Zulu, by Chris Watton and his new Vanguard Model Company, is high on my list but won't be available for about 3 months as I understand.

 

Lots to think about....

 

 

 

Edited April 4, 2020 by BobG

[BobG]

5 hours ago, Chuck said:

Thats looking good Bob.  You are in the home stretch!!😃

Thanks very much, Chuck. The quality of your model makes me look more skilled than I actually am!

[BobG]

I'm just a couple of feet from the finish line getting ready to make the final lunge! 

 

I added lines to the two grapnels and made coils for them and I coiled rope around the windlass and finished the rope with a eye seized on the end. Now I just need to make the oars and finish the display stand.

 

 

 

 

[BobCardone]

50 minutes ago, BobG said:

A moment to savor...

 

[BobG]

18 minutes ago, BobCardone said:

A moment to savor...

I'm going to have to get a much smaller bottle to whack against her hull!

[Nunnehi (Don)]

Beautiful, just beautiful! Well done, Bob!

 

Don

[BobG]

43 minutes ago, nunnehi said:

Beautiful, just beautiful! Well done, Bob!

 

Don

Thank you so much, Don. It was your log that spurred me along when I was slowing down. How's your build coming along? 

Edited April 5, 2020 by BobG

[gjdale]

Looking fabulous Bob. The “refreshment” is well deserved!

[BobG]

4 hours ago, gjdale said:

Looking fabulous Bob. The “refreshment” is well deserved!

Many thanks, Grant. I appreciate your compliment. I've just got a couple of small things left to do.

 

I was just looking over your Da Vinci Flying Machine build log and your Chris Craft log. Both of them are museum quality models and your workshop is to die for! I look forward to following your Medway Longboat build when you eventually get back to building her.

 

I hope you and your family and friends are safe and well down under.

 

All the best,

[Nunnehi (Don)]

16 hours ago, BobG said:

Thank you so much, Don. It was your log that spurred me along when I was slowing down. How's your build coming along? 

Bob,

 

I'm glad I could have been some small help, I'm going to use yours now to help guide me with the rigging. Your close up pics really show some fine detail that I haven't seen elsewhere and explain a lot. My build is temporarily on hold as I got distracted (easily done as I have a roaring case of ADD) working on another project that had been sitting on a shelf half finished from several years ago. Its a Billings Calypso that, while crude compared to Chuck's offerings, is building into a nice model for the mantel. Should get this done quickly and will back to the good stuff soon.

 

Don

[EricWilliamMarshall]

On 4/4/2020 at 11:07 PM, BobG said:

I'm going to have to get a much smaller bottle to whack against her hu

Hahaha, although the large bottle might make you care less... She looks great; congrats!!

[BobG]

20 hours ago, nunnehi said:

working on another project that had been sitting on a shelf half finished from several years ago. Its a Billings Calypso

The Calypso is one of my favorite ships ever and has special meaning to me. I might just have to search for one of those models at some point. I'm sure you've looked at the build log that Leukutus started on her recently and I'd love to see a build log of your Calypso too. 

[BobG]

13 hours ago, EricWilliamMarshall said:

Hahaha, although the large bottle might make you care less... She looks great; congrats!!

Thanks, Eric. I'm thinking a shot or two of good tequila might be a good celebratory salute to her while just touching a dab to her bow as well! 🥃

[EricWilliamMarshall]

9 minutes ago, BobG said:

I'm thinking a shot or two of good tequila might be a good celebratory salute to her while just touching a dab to her bow as well! 🥃

I second that!! Plus I’m sure tequila kills virus cells on contact!

Edited April 6, 2020 by EricWilliamMarshall

[BobG]

48 minutes ago, EricWilliamMarshall said:

I second that!! Plus I’m sure tequila kills virus cells on contact!

Yep, just wash your hands with it and lick your fingers!

[BobG]

I completed the Medway Longboat stand from Syren and I really like it.

 

I ended up with a slight twist in the cherry base board after I applied the veneer to both sides of it as per Chuck's instructions. I used a liberal amount of PVA to both sides of the base board and pressed the "veneer sandwich" between a flat piece of tile and marble with about 30 pounds of weight on top. There was a slight twist to the veneered, base board after I took the weight off of it though. I also had quite a bit of squeeze out around the edges that I scraped away before trimming off the excess veneer.

 

I went ahead and glued the engraved edging to the base board while pressing down as hard as I could in an attempt to flatten out the twist but it didn't work completely. I ended up with a wobbly, little "table" like you sometimes get in a restaurant where you have to place a folded napkin under a leg or two to make it stable. So I glued some scrap Alaskan Yellow Cedar to two of the legs and that stabilized the whole base.

 

I then sanded and finished the base with Wipe-on-Poly and put together the parts that actually hold the hull. I made sure that the feet on them were flat and everything was square and that they stood solidly on their own. Then I played with placing these "stanchions" on the base and placed the longboat in them so I could look at the angles I needed to sand on the arms where the stanchions touch the hull. I kept sanding and checking these angles until it looked good and then, with the boat resting on the stanchions, I moved the stanchions to where they were equidistant from the ends and sides of base while supporting the longboat. After finishing the stanchions with poly, I used CA to glue them to the base. Finally, I applied a coat of Howard Beeswax and Orange Oil polish to the veneer and it really made it pop.

 

Now I will continue to make the oars before doing a final touch up on the boat. Almost done!

 

Here's how I "clamped" the veneer onto both side of the baseboards and then two photos of the finished stand:

 

 

Edited April 11, 2020 by BobG

[Chuck]

Beautiful job on the base....yes I like it a lot too.  I may do a similar base for the Winnie although much much larger.

[BobG]

1 hour ago, Chuck said:

Beautiful job on the base....yes I like it a lot too.  I may do a similar base for the Winnie although much much larger.

Thanks, Chuck. What kind of wood is the veneer? The side I chose looks like a birdseye pattern.

 

Oh man, the Winnie is so tempting...

 

 

[BobCardone]

That's sweet, Bob!

The wood figuring is splendid, and the lighter color frame really sets it off.

Can't wait to see them together...

[BobG]

24 minutes ago, BobCardone said:

That's sweet, Bob!

Thank you, Bob. I loved building it too. I have thought about learning to make small boxes from beautiful, exotic woods and making this base gave me a taste of that. Just what I need...another hobby to pursue!

[EricWilliamMarshall]

12 hours ago, BobG said:

Oh man, the Winnie is so tempting...

Tell me about!

[BobG]

First of all, thanks for the likes everyone. They're much appreciatred.

 

I began working on the oars today. I decided to make 6 of them. Once I got the handles shaped and the blades glued on and shaped, I wondered how would I be able to paint them on both side at once. So decided to wrap a small piece 20 gauge wire around the handle so I could hang them after painting all but the short handle. I began brush painting them with thinned, Vallejo Model Air Red Paint and used my Quadhands device with a piece of brass rod clamped between two arms to hang the oars on while they dried. The thinned, red paint is quite transparent so it will probably take 10-15 coats or more to get the finish I want and then all I will have to do is paint the small handles.

 

 

 

[BobCardone]

Very clever idea! Kind of looks like a torture rack for oars though...

[BobG]

15 minutes ago, BobCardone said:

Very clever idea! Kind of looks like a torture rack for oars though...

🤣 ...speaking of torture racks, a few years ago my wife and I traveled on our own for 10 weeks in Spain. She had spent her junior year of college studying in Madrid and always wanted to go back and I'm half Spanish from my father's side of the family so it was a very special trip. We were walking around the cobblestone streets of the medieval city of Toledo one day and when I saw a sign for the Museum of Torture from the Dark Ages and, after much persuasion, she reluctantly decided to go in with me. Oh man, they had some gruesome torture devices back then! Anyone who was considered a heretic was condemned to one or more of these horrifying devices. I thought it was shockingly interesting but I'm not sure my wife has ever forgiven me for talking her into going in there with me!

[BobCardone]

56 minutes ago, BobG said:

Oh man, they had some gruesome torture devices back then!

Reminds me of the old Aurora Movie Monsters kits... I believe one of them was a torture chamber. I think Polar Lights have the molds now, and are re-releasing them.

[BobG]

Just now, BobCardone said:

Reminds me of the old Aurora Movie Monsters kits... I believe one of them was a torture chamber. I think Polar Lights have the molds now, and are re-releasing them.

It would almost be worth it to see my wife's face if I told her that a torture chamber was going to be my next build!!

[JeffT]

thats a useful tool there.

[Justin P.]

Beautiful job Bob, really great detail!   I hope you are proud of it.   That stand looks really great too...

 

Loved seeing a new use for that Quadhands too!

Edited April 14, 2020 by Justin P.

[BobCardone]

Here's an interesting link about those old Aurora kits. I guess they caused quite a controversy.

A screenshot from YouTube of the whole series together...