Danmark by Dsmith20639 - FINISHED - Billing Boats - 1/75

Dsmith20639 · April 4, 2020

I recently started a build of the Danmark by Billings which I started nearly 30 years ago and then let sit idle during several moves over the years.

It received some damage during this time which I've repaired. Upon starting it up again I've noted that some3 of the wood pars aren't laser cut but just printed

on the wood and need to be manually cut out (which is a lot more work and prone to errors). Enclosed are photos of its current state. I will start on the planking

next. The instruction manual is mostly useless with the exception of the drawings.

Dsmith20639 · April 10, 2020

I cut out a few parts to start the planking process. Part 66 as shown in diagram could not be found and needed to be made from some scrap wood on my scroll saw after making copies from the full size plans. Included are copies of the instructions and diagrams from the instruction manual and a photo of the box the model came in. The small plastic package shown is the miniature nails that came with the kit for I'm assuming to attach the planking to the frame, at least that's what I plan on using them for.

Dsmith20639 · April 15, 2020

Beginning planking.

Dsmith20639 · May 11, 2020

Completed planking and addition of wood filler in anticipation of beginning smoothing of hull and painting.

Dsmith20639 · May 21, 2020

Sanded hull after application of wood filler. Painted with white primer. Wow does that bring out imperfections that were not visible before! Touched up with more wood filler then sanded a second time. Currently applying another coat of whiter primer. This may take several repeats until I get a reasonable base before final painting. Need to figure out how to get photos to load pin the correct order when drag and drop loading in bulk, then appear to be loading in the reverse order.

Kevin · May 21, 2020

the hull has come up a treat, whats the rest of the wood like after 30 plus years like?

Kevin · May 21, 2020

13 minutes ago, Dsmith20639 said:

Sanded hull after application of wood filler. Painted with white primer. Wow does that bring out imperfections that were not visible before! Touched up with more wood filler then sanded a second time. Currently applying another coat of whiter primer. This may take several repeats until I get a reasonable base before final painting. Need to figure out how to get photos to load pin the correct order when drag and drop loading in bulk, then appear to be loading in the reverse order.

bulk load the phot as you have been doing, they will auto load when you post, but in the drop box you can select each photo and insert or delete one at a time to place directly into the post

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Dsmith20639 · May 25, 2020

Taking a break from working on the hull. To answer Kevin's question, wood seems to be OK considering the age, some pieces seem to be rather fragile and

not the same quality as newer kits I have built. Now I have started to work a little on the deck. Installed item #43 (Belaying pin bench) and formed curve of

item #65 (cross tree?) was shown in diagram for rear deck. Not exactly sure where #65 goes on the front deck, I'm assuming port and starboard edges. Also will need to install railing pieces (#76) and will need to determine whether I need to drill belaying pin holes as marked on item #43's in case they are hard to access after installing the rails.

Dsmith20639 · June 4, 2020

I Added the part #65 pieces and the railing as described in the previous post.

Then I installed the deck planking and made full size copies of the deck layout for later reference when adding the deck items.

Preparing for the next step I added wipe on poly to the deck planking and while trying to figure out what I would do next on reviewing the instruction set I noticed the following diagram

which shows that the railing sticks out from the hull of the ship slightly thereby answering my question about access the the pin rails. So I realized what I had done wrong in interpreting the instruction manual and removed and reapplied the part #65 pieces to the outside of the hull instead of on the deck as I had done previously.

As a side note I found a book about the Danmark to read while I'm continuing the build. It's not a reference that can help with the build, but an interesting story about the time the ship was stateside during World War II.

Dsmith20639 · June 9, 2020

Broke out and sorted the hardware package. All the blocks (236) are black plastic as well as the port lights (98). Ordered a hand reamer to make the holes in the hull for the port lights before finishing painting the hull. Meanwhile continue work on deck structures. Discovered that the wooden parts seem to split along the grain lines when trying to cut them out with a knife going across the grain so I've switched to cutting them out using my scroll saw instead.

Dsmith20639 · June 23, 2020

Cut out parts for masts and deck structures using scroll saw. Painted and stained deck structures and temporarily placed them in position to see how they looked. Reamer I bought to make holes worked but was very slow and tedious to get just the right size when making the holes for the deck structures and I wasn't looking forward to making the 72 holes needed for the hull. I measured the port-lights and bought a 5mm brad point drill bit. Now making a correct size hole using my hand drill took only a couple seconds instead of several minutes per hole. Drilled and installed all hull port holes using copies of the full size plans for placement. Drilled holes in deck for the masts. Next will be final painting of the hull.

Dsmith20639 · July 7, 2020

Painted hull. Made masts (3) and first spar (yard) (of 15 to do). Takes a bit of time seizing each block rope. At least as I progress up each mast the spars get smaller with less blocks to contend with.It was a nice surprise to find the spars were already the correct length and pre-tapered.

Dsmith20639 · July 21, 2020

Completed fore-mast and its spars.

robdurant · July 21, 2020

I think this may be the first build log I've seen of Danmark - I remember years ago thinking that it would be rather wonderful to make this kit, but I never have... She's going to look even more splendid when done!

Kits certainly have come on a lot since these were made. I made a Billings Blue Star 25 years ago or so (ABS hull), and the parts for the superstructure were all cut out by hand for that too - at least the lines seemed to be in the right place which was more than I could say for the next kit I built back then. Tedious, but perhaps that brings a greater sense of satisfaction when you get to the other end.

Thanks for sharing your progress with us all.

Dsmith20639 · August 10, 2020

Completed main mast and its spars.

Dsmith20639 · September 1, 2020

Completed Mizzenmast and spars.

Dsmith20639 · September 11, 2020

Built and installed 114 turnbuckles. While placement isn't perfect, I'm looking at it as a learning experience. Hope to do better next time.

Though I don't foresee building another ship model using this many turnbuckles for lines.

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Dsmith20639 · September 24, 2020

Continuing with build, working on all deck structures prior to installing masts.

Dsmith20639 · October 7, 2020

Further progress, installation of masts to follow.

Dsmith20639 · October 22, 2020

Topmast and Topmast Gallant Shrouds with ratlines added to all three masts.

robdurant · October 23, 2020

Stunning work. What a handsome ship!

Dsmith20639 · October 29, 2020

Thanks for the kind complement. It looks OK from about 3-feet but any closer and you can begin to see my many rough finishes. Having Parkinson's makes doing fine details a bit of a challenge. Hopefully I'll improve on my subsequent builds. Currently continuing work on rigging following member alpayed's rigging plan for the Danmark he was kind enough to provide to me. Only exception so far was the above deck shrouds which I thought would be easier to do before mounting the masts.

Dsmith20639 · November 5, 2020

Completed standing rigging on foremast.

robdurant · November 10, 2020

Those stays look nice and evenly tensioned without pulling the mast out of true. I'm just getting to that stage on my build and I always find that stage a little daunting. More shrouds to put up first for me, though.

robdurant · November 10, 2020

On 10/29/2020 at 4:04 PM, Dsmith20639 said:

Having Parkinson's makes doing fine details a bit of a challenge.

I'm truly sorry to hear this. I hope you're getting a lot of enjoyment out of the build in amidst the fine detail challenges and added frustrations... I'm certainly enjoying looking over your shoulder as the ship progresses.

Dsmith20639 · November 13, 2020

Stepped main mas t and installed all its standing rigging.

Dsmith20639 · November 21, 2020

I stepped the mizzen mast and installed its standing rigging. Installed lower yard on foremast and added fore lower yard lifts.

I tried to secure the lines to the belaying pins the standard way but found it to difficult to accomplish with my skills at this scale so I am securing the lines by inserting the line thru its appropriate hole in the pin rack and then inserting the belaying pin to hold the line in place. Some of my standing rigging lines are not as taut as I would like. I've read where it is suggested to install all the lines but not to glue them in place until you have adjusted the tension in each line, but was afraid that my previous work would become undone and a mess. So I glued the lines in place as I went along. When I tensioned later lines it resulted in the loosening of some previously installed lines. I installed the lines in the recommended order so I think that helped to reduce the problem somewhat. It looks like installing the running rigging is going to be more difficult than the standing rigging as the plans provided so far are not clear to me. When I did the Constitution cross section, the instructions , though terse, at least showed how to run the ropes thru the blocks in the proper order. But I guess if I don't get it 100% correct, I'll probably be the only one that sees it that will know. I had to temporarily remove some of the boat davits because they were getting in the way. Will add them back when the rigging is complete.

robdurant · November 22, 2020

She's coming on nicely. And I'm sure you're right about who notices what... we're often our own worst critics.

I'm afraid I can't offer much help with the running rigging but you seem to be making good decisions so far. You'll be on the home strait before you know it.

Dsmith20639 · December 5, 2020

Completed installation of the running rigging with the exception of the (I believe) halliards as it was getting to congested for my tastes and the kit was lacking the number of double blocks as shown on the plans. I made a few minor errors as well but the rigging is so complicated that no one I know would notice the errors and missing components without studying the plans. The running rigging that controls the sails was not included as I chose not to install sails. I think its beyond my abilities to put sails on a model of this complexity. I will try to take better pictures before completion as the lines being either black (standing) or white (running) are difficult to see as they tend to disappear into the background in the photos, maybe a medium gray background will make ir possible to easily see both. Next I will install the ships boats with davit tackles, the anchors, etc. and do some final touchups before calling it done.