USF Confederacy 1778 by WalrusGuy - Model Shipways - 1:64

[WalrusGuy]

A small update before I commence on carvings. The cove and final moulding strip below the lights are installed. The cove was a very tricky and frustrating part to sand and shape. Just looking at it wrongly made the wood split, crack, and chip. I ended up using filler in the chipped parts and painted it black. Here are some photos:

Edited April 15, 2022 by WalrusGuy

[Gahm]

The end result looks very good! Careful work and perseverance clearly paid off!

 

Thomas

[Moonbug]

   Nice work.  I think each additional bit that you add to the transom and that area shows off how well your hard work and attention on the letters has paid off.  

[BenD]

That's looking mighty fine @WalrusGuy!

[Retired guy]

Very nice Harshil 👍

 

Regards

Richard

[BobG]

Incredibly beautiful work, Hershil!

[abelson]

Just stopped by to review your log. I see you haven't posted for awhile. Maybe the ship is in dry dock. Anyway, hope all is well. BTW, I recently started work on the US Brig Niagara.

[WalrusGuy]

22 hours ago, abelson said:

Just stopped by to review your log. I see you haven't posted for awhile. Maybe the ship is in dry dock. Anyway, hope all is well. BTW, I recently started work on the US Brig Niagara.

Hi Steven. Yes I took a break from modeling as life got a bit busy. I hope to resume the build in a few months. Thanks for stopping by!😁 

[datadiscovery]

Did you ever finish your Confederacy? If so, I'd sure like to see some pics. Thanks.

 

Pete

[captain_hook]

Nice progress and clean work. Did you use the supplied basswood for planking?

[WalrusGuy]

On 10/2/2022 at 9:38 PM, datadiscovery said:

Did you ever finish your Confederacy? If so, I'd sure like to see some pics. Thanks.

 

Pete

Hi Pete! I took a pause from modeling for a few months so the build did not see any progress for a bit. I plan to resume the project in the coming days. Stay tuned! 

 

On 10/8/2022 at 7:00 AM, captain_hook said:

Nice progress and clean work. Did you use the supplied basswood for planking?

Thank you! Yes, I used the supplied basswood for all planking and moulding. 

[datadiscovery]

O.K., WG. Thanks. Looking forward to it!

Pete

[WalrusGuy]

It's been a while since my last update! 

 

I am back to model building, and have made a bit more progress. I planned to continue working on the quarter gallery and carvings, but after some failed attempts, I decided to start on the decking to get my feet wet again before diving into the deep end!

 

The margin planks are now glued in place. I decided to scratch build some of the pieces as there were 1 mm gaps in the scarph joint when using the supplied ones as shown below. 

Here are a few photos of scratch-building the planks:

Some more photos the margin planks installed:

 

I was inspired by @wernerweiss's build to have a black and white checkboard pattern instead of the wooden one as the instructions suggest. I used a card template for the overall shape before printing out the pattern on card stock and gluing it on a 1/32" sheet:

Here, the checkboard pattern is not glued to the false deck. It will be permanently glued once all the decking is done and sanded to avoid any mishaps on the card stock.

Edited November 13, 2022 by WalrusGuy

[wernerweiss]

Hello Hershil,

 

thank you for following my suggestion for the chessboard floor pattern. But check the forward edge of the template....it runs along the aft bulkhead, and the aft bulkhead must not sit too close to the hole for the speaking tube to allow enough distance for the deck coat at its base.

 

I look forward to the progress of your model, and in the next days I´m going to upload the next pictures of my model which were taken just yesterday....

 

Strange that you had problems with the margin planks.....

 

Greetings

 

Werner

[datadiscovery]

Good to see you back at it, Hershil. I look forward to following your progress and you completing this beautiful model.

Pete

[captain_hook]

Looking forward to see your progress. She looks beautiful. Are you going to build some Interieur for the cabin? My Badger is placed aside as I‘m busy with the Coureur but I hope to build up her cabin as well when I resume the build next year. But I fear that there won‘t be enough light coming trough the tiny windows to see anything of the Interieur later.

[wernerweiss]

Hello at all,

perhaps somenone can help me with a problem that occured today. I had already written a few words and uploaded the next pictures of the Confederacy, but before submitting the post I saw that a few pictures appeared turned upside down. I don´t have any idea why; in my general Confederacy file they do not appear "overhead", so what shall/must I do? Strangely in other forums this does not happen......

 

Greetings Werner

Edited November 14, 2022 by wernerweiss
writing fault

[wernerweiss]

Hello at all, 

meanwhile I got the answer to my problem. I learned that the reason why pictures which appear upside down when posted is that these pictures were taken with the smartphone held upside down.....it is a matter of the rotation data.

But what I also learned in this context is that in another forum in which I am registered all pictures are uploaded and posted unrotated.........

 

The solution for my problem I finally found in this post here in the forum:

 

 

Edited November 15, 2022 by wernerweiss
additional text

[WalrusGuy]

On 11/13/2022 at 5:24 PM, wernerweiss said:

Hello Hershil,

 

thank you for following my suggestion for the chessboard floor pattern. But check the forward edge of the template....it runs along the aft bulkhead, and the aft bulkhead must not sit too close to the hole for the speaking tube to allow enough distance for the deck coat at its base.

 

I look forward to the progress of your model, and in the next days I´m going to upload the next pictures of my model which were taken just yesterday....

 

Strange that you had problems with the margin planks.....

 

Greetings

 

Werner

Thanks for the tip, Werner. I'll trim the aft end of the tiles a bit so that the hole has more space. 

 

On 11/14/2022 at 2:31 AM, datadiscovery said:

Good to see you back at it, Hershil. I look forward to following your progress and you completing this beautiful model.

Pete

Hi Pete, it's good to be back! It'll take a few more days for me to get back to the groove so I'm trying not to rush things. 

 

17 hours ago, wernerweiss said:

Hello at all, 

meanwhile I got the answer to my problem. I learned that the reason why pictures which appear upside down when posted is that these pictures were taken with the smartphone held upside down.....it is a matter of the rotation data.

But what I also learned in this context is that in another forum in which I am registered all pictures are uploaded and posted unrotated.........

 

The solution for my problem I finally found in this post here in the forum:

 

 

My solution to this is uploading a screenshot of the image. That seems to work fine so far, but glad you found another solution! 

 

Harshil 

 

[WalrusGuy]

On 11/14/2022 at 3:33 AM, captain_hook said:

Looking forward to see your progress. She looks beautiful. Are you going to build some Interieur for the cabin? My Badger is placed aside as I‘m busy with the Coureur but I hope to build up her cabin as well when I resume the build next year. But I fear that there won‘t be enough light coming trough the tiny windows to see anything of the Interieur later.

Thank you for the kind words! Hmm I haven't given much thought about the cabin furniture. Right now I'm leaning on leaving it plain but let's see if I change my mind 😁 

[WalrusGuy]

I forgot to mention in my last post, I made some modifications to the build stand so that the ship is more stable when working on her. It's not the prettiest but works great 😁

I also ended up painting the cap rail at the stern black as the different shades of basswood was still bothering me. Before, I felt like it would be too plain with all black. But after painting it, I like this look much more. 

Lastly, I started working on the hatch coamings and gratings. The corners were cut to 45 deg with a sharp blade (just to where the deck would be) and then rounded with sandpaper and files. The top edges were chamfered to 45 deg with the plane, then rounded with sandpaper.

 

Here are a few photos of where I am currently at (nothing is glued on the false deck):

I am thinking of painting the coamings black after seeing Chuck's Winchelsea, but I will think about it for a couple more days while I work on the bricked platform.

 

Harshil

Edited November 21, 2022 by WalrusGuy

[wernerweiss]

Hello Harshil, 

Very fine and clean woodwork.....wish these coamings were on my model 😃

For my taste, I would not paint them black, too much contrast to the companionways if you intend to paint them in "oak".....but that is of course up to you...

 

Werner

[wernerweiss]

Hello Harshil,

 

some remarks on the brick platform for the stove.

 

In the building instructions it is made of provided wood strips which are grooved, glued together and painted to resemble bricks.....I didn´t like that at all and looked for an alternative. I found a silicone casting mould for brick walls for rail modelling. The "bricks" cover an area of 72 x 49 mm and imo meet the size, so I made a cast and was content with the result. The rest was cutting to length and width, painting red and "washing" with grey.....

 

 

[WalrusGuy]

12 hours ago, wernerweiss said:

Hello Harshil, 

Very fine and clean woodwork.....wish these coamings were on my model 😃

For my taste, I would not paint them black, too much contrast to the companionways if you intend to paint them in "oak".....but that is of course up to you...

 

Werner

Hi Werner,

 

Thank you for the compliments!! From my eyes I see the black going well with the wales, but I can see how the contrast may be too much. I'll ponder over it some more.

 

7 hours ago, wernerweiss said:

Hello Harshil,

 

some remarks on the brick platform for the stove.

 

In the building instructions it is made of provided wood strips which are grooved, glued together and painted to resemble bricks.....I didn´t like that at all and looked for an alternative. I found a silicone casting mould for brick walls for rail modelling. The "bricks" cover an area of 72 x 49 mm and imo meet the size, so I made a cast and was content with the result. The rest was cutting to length and width, painting red and "washing" with grey.....

 

 

The bricks look so lifelike! Especially for the scale we are working with, this is amazing. What material did you use? And how were you able to create the texture on each brick? Thank you for sharing 😊

 

I followed the instructions and this is what I was able to accomplish:

Here are the tools used for the individual strips:

• X-acto knife for scoring
• Saw blade for a deeper cut
• Tip end of the needle file to make the grove 
• Planer to create a 45 deg chamfer on the edges

 

[wernerweiss]

Hello Harshil,

again, very clean woodwork...did you use the provided basswood or another kind of wood, e.g. beech?

 

I cast the "bricks" with moulding cement and cut/sanded it to shape to fit in the wooden frame. Then I painted it red to resemble "brick". Afterwards I painted it all over with grey (not too thick) to fill the grooves and immediately dabbed the grey paint off the "brick" surfaces leaving a rest of grey paint....I think this method should also work on your wooden "bricks"

 

(As the height of the cast didn´t match the height of the frame, I glued the cast on a piece of thick card)

 

Werner

[WalrusGuy]

7 hours ago, wernerweiss said:

Hello Harshil,

again, very clean woodwork...did you use the provided basswood or another kind of wood, e.g. beech?

 

I cast the "bricks" with moulding cement and cut/sanded it to shape to fit in the wooden frame. Then I painted it red to resemble "brick". Afterwards I painted it all over with grey (not too thick) to fill the grooves and immediately dabbed the grey paint off the "brick" surfaces leaving a rest of grey paint....I think this method should also work on your wooden "bricks"

 

(As the height of the cast didn´t match the height of the frame, I glued the cast on a piece of thick card)

 

Werner

Thanks, Werner. I'll do some testing on some scrap bricks with your method to see if it works on wood.

 

I used the supplied basswood for the simulated brick pattern. 

[wernerweiss]

Hello Harshil, 

regarding the gluing of the hatch coamings and the brick platform on the false deck I would highly recommend not to follow the instructions and plank the gun deck first.

This makes it much easier to sand the gun deck all over its length because then there are no obstacles for your sanding tool....but maybe you already thought about it.

[WalrusGuy]

On 11/21/2022 at 4:27 PM, wernerweiss said:

Hello Harshil, 

regarding the gluing of the hatch coamings and the brick platform on the false deck I would highly recommend not to follow the instructions and plank the gun deck first.

This makes it much easier to sand the gun deck all over its length because then there are no obstacles for your sanding tool....but maybe you already thought about it.

Hi Werner, nothing is glued to the deck as I was constantly thinking about things getting in the way when it is time to sand everything smooth. But thanks for the reminder!

 

Also thanks a lot for the tip on painting the bricks. It worked out for me. I did however add a few more steps in the process.

 

I first painted the entire section grey, then painted each "brick" with different shades of red and brown (by mixing the below paints in different variations). Some of this paint did seep into the grooves.

After the paint dried, I painted everything again with thinned grey paint making sure the grooves took all the paint in. The last step was to wipe out the grey paint quickly with a kitchen paper towel. For this I placed the towel on the bench and then applied even pressure on the platform onto the paper towel making sure all the surface paint was wiped off. Here is the end result:

 

 

Also, from the above photos, I ended up painting the coamings black. I really liked the look of the black against the deck in contemporary models and many Winchelsea builds and I wanted a similar look.

As usual, any constructive criticism, recommendations, or tips are more than welcome!

 

Harshil

Edited November 24, 2022 by WalrusGuy

[wernerweiss]

Hello Harshil, 

wonderful work with an amazing result - highly recommended for imitation!

With this attention to detail I look forward to your finished model!

I must admit that I was too lazy to paint the bricks in different shades.....

It is a pity that most of the brick surface is later on covered by the stove.

[WalrusGuy]

13 hours ago, wernerweiss said:

Hello Harshil, 

wonderful work with an amazing result - highly recommended for imitation!

With this attention to detail I look forward to your finished model!

I must admit that I was too lazy to paint the bricks in different shades.....

It is a pity that most of the brick surface is later on covered by the stove.

Thank you for the kind words!! Yes I am a bit sad that most of the work will be hidden.. 

 

Thanks all for the likes as well 😊