Flying Fish by gak1965 - FINISHED - Model Shipways - 1:96

[MrBlueJacket]

10 hours ago, gak1965 said:

 I have three nice brass pedestals from BlueJacket, but they have very deep slots, so without some kind of change, there will be a gap between the keel and the bottom of the slot. Question, do people generally prefer to put some kind of spacer in the pedestal (i.e. a pice of wood the fills the gap, presumably painted brass) or do they try to cut the tops of the pedestals down so that the keel hits the bottom of the slot?

 

A Dremel with a cut-off wheel will cut the brass nicely. I have seen them cut straight across, but also seen them cut at an angle to match the hull. Take your choice.

 

Nic

[mbp521]

On 11/8/2021 at 10:55 PM, gak1965 said:

Because I am getting near to this point, I have a couple of issues that I want to bring up. As has been said a number of times, the castings for this kit are really awful. Fortunately the pump is not bad, but I have a suspicion that I'm going to replace a bunch of the castings, including the capstans, fife rails, and the figurehead. Just for reference, here are the capstans, water tank and the figure head. The capstans don't look too bad, but the tops are a mess. The water tank is genuinely horrible and the figure head is, I don't know ho to even say it. 

George,

 

I have several Model Shipways kits, both finished and ones still in boxes. In my opinion, MS puts together a fantastic kit, it is a shame that they can't seem to get better quality fittings than the Britannia ones they ship out with their kits. I'm sure it is to keep the cost down, but I would be willing to pay a little extra to have quality fittings included.

 

As for the recent progress, you are doing a fantastic job! I really enjoy following along on your journey. One of these days I'll get around to digging my Flying Fish out, dusting her off and finishing her. However un-authentic it may be, I love the half moon detail on the water closet. Nice little touch to make the model your own.

 

-Brian

[timjina]

On 1/6/2021 at 4:13 PM, gak1965 said:

A bit unrelated, but the case for my US Brig Niagara arrived from BlueJacket.  I need to find a glazier to buy and install the glass, but it will be nice to protect the ship (photo below).

 

You don't realize how big these things are until you get a case the case. The ships are so delicate, but the cases aren't.

 

[timjina]

Hi beautiful work........ Have you thought of using either 3mm clear acrylic or perspex for your ship instead of glass. I use Acrylic sheet all the time I always have some in stock and can cut it on the table saw without travelling to the Glass people. It's cheaper and lighter.and the overall look is the same with the same transparency. All the best from Australia ,you're doing some good work.

[ClipperFan]

2 hours ago, timjina said:

 

George, that is simply a wonderful model of the War of 1812 Lake Erie Brig "Niagara!" Beautifully done.

[gak1965]

3 hours ago, timjina said:

Hi beautiful work........ Have you thought of using either 3mm clear acrylic or perspex for your ship instead of glass. I use Acrylic sheet all the time I always have some in stock and can cut it on the table saw without travelling to the Glass people. 

Thanks! I don't have a table saw and this one is now moot, but worth checking when the Fish is done. The hardest part was that only one branch of the small hardware chain we use stocked large enough sheets to meet the needs of the case, and even then it was only on stock sporadically.

[gak1965]

1 hour ago, ClipperFan said:

George, that is simply a wonderful model of the War of 1812 Lake Erie Brig "Niagara!" Beautifully done.

Thanks! I am still hoping to sail on the real one once the pandemic abates and they start up again on Lake Erie.

[ClipperFan]

1 hour ago, gak1965 said:

Thanks! I am still hoping to sail on the real one once the pandemic abates and they start up again on Lake Erie.

George, it will be so nice when we can all get beyond this pandemic and see a return to normalcy.

[gak1965]

22 hours ago, mbp521 said:

George,

 

I have several Model Shipways kits, both finished and ones still in boxes. In my opinion, MS puts together a fantastic kit, it is a shame that they can't seem to get better quality fittings than the Britannia ones they ship out with their kits. I'm sure it is to keep the cost down, but I would be willing to pay a little extra to have quality fittings included.

 

As for the recent progress, you are doing a fantastic job! I really enjoy following along on your journey. One of these days I'll get around to digging my Flying Fish out, dusting her off and finishing her. However un-authentic it may be, I love the half moon detail on the water closet. Nice little touch to make the model your own.

 

-Brian

Thanks for the complement!

 

i probably give MSW too much grief, as I like their kits (this is my third one, after all). The wood is decent, the non-Britannia fittings are actually pretty good and the plans are excellent. I also like that they are kind of “semi-scratch”. I feel like I’ve now scratch built enough that I will be able to tackle the next project, a scratch build of RRS Discovery.

 

i wonder if the problem here is the scale. 1:96 is just going to be harder to do well than 1:64, the scale of the other two MSW ships I’ve done. The bulk of the castings in those other kits were fine, but they were also larger and more symmetrical (gun barrels, anchors, life rings, and the windlass barrel on PoBII). Some might have benefited from simplifying, e.g. casting only the windlass barrel,and not bothering with the water tank and anchor stocks, which are easy to build.

 

Regards,

George K

[Rick310]

I am replacing the windlass that came with my Flying Fish kit (40yrs old) with a beautiful windlass from Blue jacket.  Their castings are really well done.  The rest I am attempting to make myself including the figurehead 

[gak1965]

11 hours ago, Rick310 said:

I am replacing the windlass that came with my Flying Fish kit (40yrs old) with a beautiful windlass from Blue jacket.  Their castings are really well done.  The rest I am attempting to make myself including the figurehead 

Wow. Is your kit the solid hull or the POB? My understanding is that the transition happened in 1979 (ish), so right about the age of your kit...

[Rick310]

It’s solid hull that I bought in 1980-1981. I did plank the hull but lost most of the lines when I sanded it   This is my first attempt at a wood model.  I started it when I got it but went decades when I didn’t touch it.  Back into now.  And as pointed out by others, the castings are really bad.

[gak1965]

3 hours ago, Rick310 said:

It’s solid hull that I bought in 1980-1981. I did plank the hull but lost most of the lines when I sanded it   This is my first attempt at a wood model.  I started it when I got it but went decades when I didn’t touch it.  Back into now.  And as pointed out by others, the castings are really bad.

Good luck! You should post a log...

[Rick310]

I have been considering that.

[gak1965]

Happy Thanksgiving all!

 

Just a quick update. I've been working on some smaller details. The first is the stores hatch on the stern. I put some spare stained glass material one of my kids left behind to fill the openings, and then put in the bars and the split ceiling:

 

 

 

Next, the binnacle cabinet. When you see the last two photos which include the Britannia casting for comparison, you will see why I chose to scratch build a replacement. The first pic shows the back, sides and the framing for the place where the compass sits, the second shows the completed but unpainted version next to the casting, and the final photo shows it painted with the bell. The plans say to make it bright, but the combination of the small parts and the wood I had available argued for paint rather than leaving it bright, so I went with the color of the coamings.

 

 

Finally, a couple of views of the ship, the first with only the stores hatch in place, the second showing the stores hatch, the binnacle, and the two pads I put in place, one on the carriage house that has the round hole for the mizzen mast, and the other on the main deck for one of the capstans.

 

 

Thanks again for looking in, for the likes, and the encouragement!

 

George K

 

 

[ClipperFan]

George K, I hope you had a pleasant Thanksgiving get together with family. It's truly become one of my favorites. Quite possibly because it's at heart a simple feast where there are no outsized expectations than enjoying good food and company.

Thanks for your progress update. Your personal builds are more authentic and believable than the Britannia castings, which really don't look that bad either this time.

[gak1965]

I've been doing a lot of different things but not ones that have massive impacts on how the ship looks writ large. With that said a couple of updates.

 

First, I put the ship on its build board. A standard Dremel cutting wheel did in fact cut the brass posts nicely, although as you would expect the brass got very hot in the process. So here is the ship (with some of the other things completed) mounted. Because there is going to be a lot of paint around the ship for the foreseeable future, I wrapped the board in Saran before pushing the screws through. Once I'm done, I'll just pull it off.

 

As I said, I've done a variety of detail work. As you can see, I discarded the water tank, and scratch built a new one. Here are a set of photos that show its construction and placement:

 

 

In the next photos you will see that I've built the ladder on the cabin, put the boat supports in place, added the pads around the fore and main masts, installed the capstans, several of the vents, the boomkins, and a number of the deck mounted eyebolts. The eyebolts that are supplied are way to big, and I've replaced them with 0.75 mm eyebolts (that's about a 3 inch eyebolt at scale), but they were leftover jackstay eyebolts from the Niagara and I need to buy more.

 

I also blackened some chain for the boomkins and some brass to make hinges. You can see the ones I put on the store hatch, and in one of the photos you can see the start of making hinges for the two hatches that mount next to the carriage house below the poop deck.

 

I'm going to keep working on these details while planning out the cutwater and naval hoods and then carving the figurehead.

 

As always, thanks for the likes and looking in!

 

Regards,

George K.

[ClipperFan]

George, this sketch has been traced directly from the source in the BergenSjofort Museum, Bergen, Norway. I've also referred to the Buttersworth painting to keep the sweep of the Cutwater as similar as possible. In the case of "Glory of the Seas" a Medium Clipper 265' over all, her figurehead is exactly 7 & 1/2' (90"). Since "Flying Fish" an Extreme Clipper with 220' length, her figurehead would have been proportionally smaller.

I estimated 6' which is how it's depicted. Since this is a full bodied sculpture, it's possible the fish might have had a wriggle to it, as well when viewed from above. In Duncan MacLean's simple description, he merely mentions the figurehead's paint scheme as being burnished with gold and green. Real flying fish are darker on top, lighter around the middle and the bottom. Their wings were really transparent with a lovely butterfly vein pattern. Of course, working to scale, this sculpture will be 6/8ths" or more accurately 3/4ths" so the amount of detail you can fit in will be negilgible. 

Some interesting discoveries Rob and I made with his Glory project would most likely translate to your ship as well.

As Rob pointed out to me, the sheerline moldings were mounted to the top of the upper deck waterways, which were 12" square. While her internal bulkheads were 4 & 1/2' (54") to main molding, her exterior would have been 8 & 1/2" shorter (45 & 1/2") since waterways were inset below the 3 & 1/2" decking. How exactingly you want to treat this is up to you. The naval hoods on Glory were 3 & 1/2' in relation to a 4' exterior, this same relationship would follow for "Flying Fish" would be roughly 6 " shallower. That would be around 39 & 1/2" deep. In my sketch, it turns out that positioning the tip of the naval hoods under band #2 allows everything else to line up. I suggest doing paper mock ups first to see how it all fits together.

A couple other insights from our project. The entrance of the bowsprit into the Hull isn't round, it's oblong so that this massive spar can't rotate. The entrance of the inner Jibboom is also oblong but it's also slightly narrowed at the top to fit neatly into the fancy rail entrance in the forecastle. I hope this helps you envision this more ornate bow easier. 

[gak1965]

More deck furniture. First, the patent steering gear. Not particularly visible,  but I did put the emergency tiller and the connection to rudder post in.

 

 

Next, a couple of additional items on the carriage house. I mounted the doors to the storage areas, and then promptly covered up the doors with ladders. Didn't love the castings and while the ladders are not exactly perfect, they are better and in place.

 

 

 

Finally, the main mast fife rails, pump and vent around the main mast. The fife rail castings were a mess (and needed to be drilled for the pins) so I cut the stanchions off the casting, made a wooden fife rail and painted the whole thing. The pump casting was surprisingly okay, painted it black with some gold on the outer edges of the pump wheel for some contrast, and mounted the whole thing on the main mast pad, with a bit of blacked brass strip to simulate the mounting points for the pump axles.

 

 

Working on replacing the anchor stocks and planning out how I'm going to carve a 3/4 inch flying fish!

 

As always thanks for the likes and for looking in!

 

Regards,

George K.

 

 

[ClipperFan]

George K

It's a marvel how much detail effort goes into the miniature recreation of these magnificent Clipper Ships. I appreciate your painstaking attention to detail, even if it's virtually impossible to see.

When it comes to recreating the very thin Naval Hoods, I encourage you to talk with Rob Wiederrich (and Vladimir) both who have tackled this fascinating detail on their Glory builds. As for her fairly small figurehead, Doris who's a legend in paper Ship modeling does amazing figure work. She doesn't carve her models out of wood, choosing instead to use sculpey clay. One advantage to this approach is that the figures start a little larger, than shrink once heated to be cured. Good luck! It will be exciting to watch your project continue to develop.

[gak1965]

It's been a busy week, so I haven't had a ton of time to work on the ship. However, I've done a few things that are vaguely interesting, so a brief update.

 

First, I built the railing that goes on the carriage house. It's built of 24 gauge brass wire. The stanchions have a loop made at the top that I threaded onto the railing and then soldered in place, giving the joints the appearance of a ball joint, which is what I was trying to do. It was then painted, trimmed and glued into place

 

 

 

I didn't like the anchor stock castings, so I scratch built wooden ones, with blackened brass strips to represent the iron work. 

 

 

Finally, I worked on the area around the foremast. Step 1 was blackening some chain that I purchased from Bluejacket that is a more reasonable scale for the anchor chains. I then used the wire that I put in the place to route the chain through the hawse holes, the chain keepers and over the windlass. Before I did that, I made the guides into the chain lockers by wrapping blackened brass strip into an almost complete circle. This was mounted in front of the main house, leaving a small opening for the chain, and I drilled a hole inside the circle made by the strip. Once I had the chain over the windlass, I put some of it in the drilled hole, glued it in place, and made the cover with a circular section of copper tape, which sat on the port like the metal lid it is. Finally, as with the main fife rail, I cut the stanchions off the Britannia castings and scratch built a new fife rail which is painted to match the main fife rail. You can see all of this in the photo below:

 

 

A couple of questions for the cognoscenti. I've assumed that the belaying pins in the 1850s would have been of wood. Am I correct? The pinrail is coming up soon, and the plans say it should be bright. So far, all of the pins on this ship and the Niagara have been on painted pinrails, but if the wood is bright, I need to paint all of those brass pins some color that isn't completely out of whack with the bright color. Alternatively, I suppose that I could paint the pinrail some sort of brown color and color the brass pins at the same time.

 

Another question is the spacing. It's not clear from the plans if the pinrail had holes unformly across it's entire length, and only filled the ones that were needed, or if there is a set of holes/pins that follow the (approximate) pattern shown on the belaying plan (i.e. the main pinrail has two sections around the main and foremast with closely spaced pins, and a couple of pins in specific locations. Has anyone who has gotten further figured that out?

 

As always thanks for looking in and the likes! I realize I've been at this slightly more than a year, and this is post number 201. Hopefully, by this time next year it will be complete.

 

Regards,

George K

 

 

[mbp521]

George,

 

Just catching up on your build and your work is beautiful. I’m glad to see that I am not the only one that is not a big fan of the britannia fittings. The only ones that kept from this particular build were the forward and aft bells, windlass and the pump, the rest I scratch built as well. 
 

Great job on the railing. I made several attempts at soldering the wire railing and finally gave up and fabricated mine from wood. I used the same wood stanctions that I used on the main a forward fife rails and built up a wooden handrail. Although it’s not historically accurate I found the results came out rather nice looking and match up with nicely the aft top rail. 
 

As for the spacing on the pinrails, I ended up drilling holes all the way down the entire length. I spaced these all at 3.5mm and it came out just about perfect. I then just placed the belaying pins in their locations according to the plans. I did skip drilling the holes in the middle of the pintail where the gangways are. I used the same spacing on the fife rails as well. 
 

Keep up the great work. Looking forward to more updates. 
 

-Brian

[ClipperFan]

On 12/19/2021 at 1:35 AM, gak1965 said:

It's been a busy week, so I haven't had a ton of time to work on the ship. However, I've done a few things that are vaguely interesting, so a brief update.

 

First, I built the railing that goes on the carriage house. It's built of 24 gauge brass wire. The stanchions have a loop made at the top that I threaded onto the railing and then soldered in place, giving the joints the appearance of a ball joint, which is what I was trying to do. It was then painted, trimmed and glued into place

 

 

 

I didn't like the anchor stock castings, so I scratch built wooden ones, with blackened brass strips to represent the iron work. 

 

 

Finally, I worked on the area around the foremast. Step 1 was blackening some chain that I purchased from Bluejacket that is a more reasonable scale for the anchor chains. I then used the wire that I put in the place to route the chain through the hawse holes, the chain keepers and over the windlass. Before I did that, I made the guides into the chain lockers by wrapping blackened brass strip into an almost complete circle. This was mounted in front of the main house, leaving a small opening for the chain, and I drilled a hole inside the circle made by the strip. Once I had the chain over the windlass, I put some of it in the drilled hole, glued it in place, and made the cover with a circular section of copper tape, which sat on the port like the metal lid it is. Finally, as with the main fife rail, I cut the stanchions off the Britannia castings and scratch built a new fife rail which is painted to match the main fife rail. You can see all of this in the photo below:

 

 

A couple of questions for the cognoscenti. I've assumed that the belaying pins in the 1850s would have been of wood. Am I correct? The pinrail is coming up soon, and the plans say it should be bright. So far, all of the pins on this ship and the Niagara have been on painted pinrails, but if the wood is bright, I need to paint all of those brass pins some color that isn't completely out of whack with the bright color. Alternatively, I suppose that I could paint the pinrail some sort of brown color and color the brass pins at the same time.

 

Another question is the spacing. It's not clear from the plans if the pinrail had holes unformly across it's entire length, and only filled the ones that were needed, or if there is a set of holes/pins that follow the (approximate) pattern shown on the belaying plan (i.e. the main pinrail has two sections around the main and foremast with closely spaced pins, and a couple of pins in specific locations. Has anyone who has gotten further figured that out?

 

As always thanks for looking in and the likes! I realize I've been at this slightly more than a year, and this is post number 201. Hopefully, by this time next year it will be complete.

 

Regards,

George K

 

 

George K nice work on the anchor stocks, they look very realistic. As far as pin rail holes, I suspect but have nothing to verify, that for stowage convenience, holes were probably provided across the entire length. I can say from personal observation on the USS Constitution at least, that the bright, varnished wood was much lighter than belaying pins, which appeared to be darker, dull finish, probably due to their tougher wood construction. I hope this helps.

[Jared]

On 12/19/2021 at 1:35 AM, gak1965 said:

It's been a busy week, so I haven't had a ton of time to work on the ship. However, I've done a few things that are vaguely interesting, so a brief update.

 

First, I built the railing that goes on the carriage house. It's built of 24 gauge brass wire. The stanchions have a loop made at the top that I threaded onto the railing and then soldered in place, giving the joints the appearance of a ball joint, which is what I was trying to do. It was then painted, trimmed and glued into place

 

 

 

I didn't like the anchor stock castings, so I scratch built wooden ones, with blackened brass strips to represent the iron work. 

 

 

Finally, I worked on the area around the foremast. Step 1 was blackening some chain that I purchased from Bluejacket that is a more reasonable scale for the anchor chains. I then used the wire that I put in the place to route the chain through the hawse holes, the chain keepers and over the windlass. Before I did that, I made the guides into the chain lockers by wrapping blackened brass strip into an almost complete circle. This was mounted in front of the main house, leaving a small opening for the chain, and I drilled a hole inside the circle made by the strip. Once I had the chain over the windlass, I put some of it in the drilled hole, glued it in place, and made the cover with a circular section of copper tape, which sat on the port like the metal lid it is. Finally, as with the main fife rail, I cut the stanchions off the Britannia castings and scratch built a new fife rail which is painted to match the main fife rail. You can see all of this in the photo below:

 

 

A couple of questions for the cognoscenti. I've assumed that the belaying pins in the 1850s would have been of wood. Am I correct? The pinrail is coming up soon, and the plans say it should be bright. So far, all of the pins on this ship and the Niagara have been on painted pinrails, but if the wood is bright, I need to paint all of those brass pins some color that isn't completely out of whack with the bright color. Alternatively, I suppose that I could paint the pinrail some sort of brown color and color the brass pins at the same time.

 

Another question is the spacing. It's not clear from the plans if the pinrail had holes unformly across it's entire length, and only filled the ones that were needed, or if there is a set of holes/pins that follow the (approximate) pattern shown on the belaying plan (i.e. the main pinrail has two sections around the main and foremast with closely spaced pins, and a couple of pins in specific locations. Has anyone who has gotten further figured that out?

 

As always thanks for looking in and the likes! I realize I've been at this slightly more than a year, and this is post number 201. Hopefully, by this time next year it will be complete.

 

Regards,

George K

 

 

 

[Jared]

Nice work on the deck structures George.  I don't know the answer to your question of the pin placement.  I think I just followed the design on the plans.   I am impressed with the work on the railing on your poop deck.  Looks like a challenge ahead for me.  It appears that my build is not much far behind yours.  I am trying to decide what to do about the ladders - to use the Brittania cast ones supplied in the kit or scratch build them.  I think am going to have a go at the latter and see how that works.  

 

Merry Christmas,  Jared

[gak1965]

1 hour ago, Jared said:

Nice work on the deck structures George.  I don't know the answer to your question of the pin placement.  I think I just followed the design on the plans.   I am impressed with the work on the railing on your poop deck.  Looks like a challenge ahead for me.  It appears that my build is not much far behind yours.  I am trying to decide what to do about the ladders - to use the Brittania cast ones supplied in the kit or scratch build them.  I think am going to have a go at the latter and see how that works.  

 

Merry Christmas,  Jared

Thanks!

 

I scratch built the ones up to the poop, and I'm still trying to decide what to do about the gangway, carriage house and forecastle ladder, all of which are narrower than the poop ladders. The available castings are actually moderately okay, but I wonder if they are going to look out of place in comparison to the two wooden ones I've already built.

 

A Merry Christmas to you and everyone else looking in.

 

George K.

[Jared]

Thanks George.  I have been trying to make ladders the last two days.   Not decided yet whether to use them of the metal ones.  it does not take much of a cutting error to throw the whole ladder off into a twisted mess.   

 

A question or afterthought for anyone who understands railings.  The forecastle deck has an elevation of about 5 feet above the main deck.  The plans show that there is a rail on the ladder leading between these decks. but not on the aft overhang on the forecastle.  In a book I have on clipper ships, it does show rails on some of the larger clipper  ships, but not on all.  By modern standards that would be a safety no no.  It is odd that there would be a safety rail on the ladder but not on the forecastle itself.  As on isn't in Buttersworth's painting of the FF, I guess it really didn't have one (He does show the rail on the poop deck in his painting).

 

Merry Christmas

[gak1965]

6 hours ago, Jared said:

Thanks George.  I have been trying to make ladders the last two days.   Not decided yet whether to use them of the metal ones.  it does not take much of a cutting error to throw the whole ladder off into a twisted mess.   

 

A question or afterthought for anyone who understands railings.  The forecastle deck has an elevation of about 5 feet above the main deck.  The plans show that there is a rail on the ladder leading between these decks. but not on the aft overhang on the forecastle.  In a book I have on clipper ships, it does show rails on some of the larger clipper  ships, but not on all.  By modern standards that would be a safety no no.  It is odd that there would be a safety rail on the ladder but not on the forecastle itself.  As on isn't in Buttersworth's painting of the FF, I guess it really didn't have one (He does show the rail on the poop deck in his painting).

 

Merry Christmas

It could be as simple as how steep and wide the ladder is and the need for easy access. The destroyer I was on had pretty steeply angled ladders (it was more like climbing a ladder than a staircase) and you needed the rail to move quickly up or down. Otherwise you'd need to put your hand on the sides or the next rung and risk getting stamped on.

 

Merry Christmas all,

George K

[ClipperFan]

14 hours ago, Jared said:

Thanks George.  I have been trying to make ladders the last two days.   Not decided yet whether to use them of the metal ones.  it does not take much of a cutting error to throw the whole ladder off into a twisted mess.   

 

A question or afterthought for anyone who understands railings.  The forecastle deck has an elevation of about 5 feet above the main deck.  The plans show that there is a rail on the ladder leading between these decks. but not on the aft overhang on the forecastle.  In a book I have on clipper ships, it does show rails on some of the larger clipper  ships, but not on all.  By modern standards that would be a safety no no.  It is odd that there would be a safety rail on the ladder but not on the forecastle itself.  As on isn't in Buttersworth's painting of the FF, I guess it really didn't have one (He does show the rail on the poop deck in his painting).

 

Merry Christmas

Jared,

Rob discovered that "GLORY of the SEAS" in fact did have iron safety railings running clear across the Stern edge of her Forecastle. If you enlarge this photo of the ship's boy standing on the roof of the Boy's House looking forward it's clearly visible. That leads me to believe that such a common sense safety feature would have been incorporated on all of McKay's Clipper Ships. On the other hand, there's also photographic evidence that the 5' ladders to the rear Poop Deck in fact did not have Guard Rails on them, while the steps up to the Carriage House roof which were 2' shorter, did. Go figure....

[Roger Pellett]

Belaying pins:

 

Shiny brass pins look totally out of place, especially for a working vessel, and paint is likely to chip when you handle them, so what to do?

 

Blacken them!  At your scale, they are, or at least should be tiny, so as long as they are dark the eye cannot determine different shades of wood.  Blackening  also does not build up a thick layer like paint.  After they have been blackened, line them up in shallow holes drilled in a block of wood and give them a very light sprayed coat of Dulcote.

 

Roger