Racehorse by Halfdan - Sergal - scale 1/47 - Novice builder

[Halfdan]

Hi everyone

 

I have been contemplating about whether or not to stick to the instructions and materials provided with the kit, or to start “freestyling”. I am not at all happy with the look, quality and measurements of the messing decorations provided with het kit. At first I was planning to use them anyway, but I might as well just take my time, get creative and build them myself.

The first “ornament” I will be focussing on is the structure/windows of the captains cabin at the stern. The last few days I have been looking at photographs of 18th century sail ships to get some inspiration. But the ones I found are way  too intricate for my skill-level. I am searching for a design with simple and clean lines. The example I like the most, so far, is the one on the Black Pearl (see pic below). This one has a “simple” structure and few frills and seems managable to build. It won’t be an exact copy, but I will use it as a starting point. I plan to use a mix of styrene and wood.

I do have a question about the window frames; I don’t want to use the ones from the kit because they do not have the right shape and size,  so I’ll try and make them myself as well. But I’m a bit lost at how to do this and what materials to use. Therefore I am asking whether anyone has experience with this and if it would be possible to share how they made windowframes?

 

Thanks a lot!     

 

 

[Baker]

How I did mine

 

Clear plastic sheet. 

Make grooves with a thick needle ()vertical, horizontal or diagonal.

 

The grooves can be filled with thinned black paint. And / or filled with plastic sprue.

 

result

 

If it fails the first time you try this (with me too)
practice, practice, practice

8 hours ago, Halfdan said:

or to start “freestyling”

Good idea, always more fun.

[Bob Fraser]

I see what you mean, you'll need to cut out the window parts and put the plastic ones in their place, keeping the rest of the metal stern. Go careful and slowly!

Like Backer, scored lines and black paint on plastic sheet is how I did the Mississippi windows in simple square windows.

Or you'll need to make the inner window frames and use something like Microscale Micro Krystal Klear (other products available!) to fill in the gaps.

Don't forget you'll need to put a colour wash behind them to show them off. I recall some doing black or dark blue behind the panes.

Enjoy the "freestyling".

Bob

[Halfdan]

3 hours ago, Backer said:

How I did mine

 

Clear plastic sheet. 

Make grooves with a thick needle ()vertical, horizontal or diagonal.

 

The grooves can be filled with thinned black paint. And / or filled with plastic sprue.

 

result

 

If it fails the first time you try this (with me too)
practice, practice, practice

Good idea, always more fun.

That looks very nice Backer, you really have a keen eye for detail! Thanks a lot for sharing 👍🏻And it seems a very doable solution too.

 

 

[Halfdan]

1 hour ago, Bob Fraser said:

I see what you mean, you'll need to cut out the window parts and put the plastic ones in their place, keeping the rest of the metal stern. Go careful and slowly!

Like Backer, scored lines and black paint on plastic sheet is how I did the Mississippi windows in simple square windows.

Or you'll need to make the inner window frames and use something like Microscale Micro Krystal Klear (other products available!) to fill in the gaps.

Don't forget you'll need to put a colour wash behind them to show them off. I recall some doing black or dark blue behind the panes.

Enjoy the "freestyling".

Bob

Hi Bob

Thanks for your tips, I will definitely keep them in mind.

The thing with going “freestyle” is that suddenly everthing is possible. I will have to test a lot with different materials tho... It’ll take me a bit longer but I don’t care. I’m enjoying the process. 

I was thinking about using coloured (greyish) transparant sheeting to use for the windows. I’ll see whether I can create the illusion of depth that way. And if it doesn’t I can always ad a colour wash. Tomorrow I’m going to hobbyshop and I plan to buy enough stuff for testing.

I’m going to read your build log of the Mississippi cause I’m sure I can learn a thing or two from you 😉

[Halfdan]

Hi again

 

So I made a mockup of the structure of the captains cabin at the stern.

 

I used 2 mm thick foamboard and cut out the window openings and glued the foamboard onto 4 mm balsa wood. At first I tried to cut the window openings out of the balsa wood but that was no succes. Cutting the balsa in the direction of the grain is easy but as soon as you go vertically or diagonally the edges of the plank look like rats have been knibbeling on them.

Then I took 1 mm foamboard and transparant plastic sheeting (about 0,5 mm thick), and cut out the shape of the windows. I tested with the (coloured) transparant sheet over the white foamboard but the white came through too much so I decided to paint the 1 mm thick window cutouts blue and then glued them on the 4 mm balsa wood in the slots made in the 2 mm foamboard. This way the windows lay a bit lower than the surrounding structure and so I would have room to create windowframes.

In order to give the structure a wood look, I planked the whole thing, I used half width planks for the window frames.  There is a picture below of this structure but it doesn’t really show how sloppy the windows (transparant sheeting) looked after spilling too much glue from the planking. So, since I am just experimenting, I decided to paint the windows grey. And then I painted the structure black as shown below.

The final result looks pretty rough but it’s just a prototype. The mockup is way too high and a bit too wide. I also think it looks like a piece of a “medieval-torture-barn”. I do like the macabre vibe tho. I assume that life at sea in those days was more often miserable than jolly and so I am going for an overall darker vibe. But not as medieval as the mockup.

After trying to make the windowframes myself I now realise that I am not going to be able to achieve the look I want that way. May plan is to make them look more like church-windows. I will try once more by scratching the plastic sheet and coloring the grooves with thinned paint (as suggested by Backer), but I also ordered some laser cut windowframes from a hobby-shop just in case.  

On top of the structure I will add a roof, like the one shown on the picture above of the stern of the black pearl. That’s way the mockup is too high, there is no more place to add the roof.

 

It’s nowhere near what I want it to look like but I’ll get there.

Thnx for reading!

[Halfdan]

Hello again msw,

 

finally I made some mention worthy progress.

 

I spent a lot of time deciding upon the ship’s colors and on trying to figure out how to make the aftercastle.

 

Finishing; I applied 5 layers of thinned dark oak varnish with soft sanding in between layers. For the colored stripes I intended to use black but after giving it some thought I wanted something less “boring”. I could not make up my mind between green and blue so I did both. I started with a layer of thinned blue followed by a layer of green and did this twice, so four layers in total. 

 

Aftercastle; I decided upon a simpel layout with limited bling. I used foamboard, woodfineer, brass wire and L profiles, pre made windows and a plastic transparant sheet. I tried making the windows myself but I could not get them as clean and detailed as the pre made ones so I used the latter instead. The whales and the painting stop naar the stern, this is where the aftercastle will be fitted and cover the unpainted part. The castle is not completely finished yet as I plan to fit it in a later stage, I’m worried about damaging it while working on other parts of the ship.

I also ordered some ornaments that I might add.

 

So far the build is going pretty smooth without too much difficulties. I did spent a ridiculous amount of time glueing the whales on tho, persistence is key! 

Next up are all the structures, ladders, etc on the deck. 

[Halfdan]

Completed the aftercastle.

The empty space on the side panels will be filled in with ornaments I ordered online. But for now I can move on and start focussing on the next step.

 

[Baker]

Nice windows, good work 👍

[Halfdan]

Hello msw, I hope everybody is well.

 

It’s been a while since my last post so I thought I would show some pictures to keep you up to date.

I have not yet encountered significant problems or issues. I have however experienced some annoying setbacks, like having to rebuild and install all posts (on the railing of the ship) because I made the first ones out of a 4x4mm beam while 3x3mm looks a lot better, etc…

The only thing I could not manage to assemble were the messing shroud holders that are attached to the hull. I wasted 3 hours on them and then decided to throw them as far as they could fly. Instead I bought the ones from Amati (see pic below) and they were much better and a lot easier to assemble.  

I also spent a lot of time on the aftercastle but that’s because I made my own version. In total I made about 10 versions of which I have posted a few before. But I’m happy with how it turned out and I think it fits the ship better than the one provided with the kit. It is however not complete yet. But all in due time.

 

I bought the kit at a price of €90, but wit all the extra wood, varnishes, paint, glue, messing ornaments, etc… I have easily spent another € 90. This is not necessary tho, (except for the glue and some tools of course), if you follow the instructions, everything you need is provided. All parts are of oké quality, except for the messing parts, they were absolutely rubbish. Maybe this differs from kit to kit but mine were of poor quality (bended, size off, ….).  

 

You’ll see on the pictures that I tried to bring back the same color as the stripes on the ship onto the deck. This is probably not for everyone but I personally find most of the kits you can buy have boring colors (if they have any at all). I know this isn’t historically correct or what not but I have to look at my model when it is finished and I prefer aesthetics above historically accurate.

 

I still have lots of work. I am not looking forward to rigging the ship but that’s because I’m unsure about it. I have two knots in my repertoire if you will, one for tying my shoelaces and another for my tie. I’m affraid none of those will be needed tho. Luckily rope and deadeyes are cheap so I can practise as much as needed.

 

Thanks for reads, likes and follows!

 

 

 

 These are godawful. (mantua)

Use these instead : (amati)

[Halfdan]

Hi msw, yet another update. 

 

The hull is nearly finished, just need to add two more poles on the foredeck to secure the bowsprit. 

The first "rigging" part, constructing the bowspirit, went really well. Better than anticipated. This, http://www.animatedknots.com/knotlist.php?LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com , helped a lot! I'm actually looking forward to the rest of the rigging now. 

I ran the thread through wax because I read that this helps with manipulating it. Most recommended are beeswax and microfiber wax (eg renaissance wax). I didn't have any of these so I used Mr Zogs sex wax (surf wax). It didn't do any harm but it also had little effect on the thread, besides making it smell good, so I ordered microfiber wax instead. It is still due to arrive but next time I'll be able to share my experience with this. Btw, do you have to wait inbetween wax layers or can you just pull the thread through a few times in a row?  

 

I will put the masts on the ship one of these days, but I have no clue about what ropes to tie first and the manual doesn't mention anything about this. What order would you guys recommend? 

 

Thanx for watching and possible answers,

your friend Halfdan

 

 

 

        

  

 

I tried making the cross section on the bowsprit as firm as possible so I added a little pin and adjusted the cross section so it would fit on the bowsprit better. (I do apologize for my poor terminology, it's a work in progress  )