USS Perry by EricWilliamMarshall - BlueJacket Shipcrafters - Scale 1/96

[EricWilliamMarshall]

1 hour ago, Keith Black said:

please provide details of your photograph

 

2 hours ago, BobG said:

Now, tell us about your photo...what is it?

There is a water-soluble dye called walnut crystals. I mixed up some to dye thread/scale rope for the smuggler’s model I built recently. When the water evaporates from the cup, the dye leaves a thin coat which cracks when throughly dry.. So I waited for that to pass and took a close up photo of the crazed dye dried to a translucent plastic cup. You are seeing the bottom of the plastic cup from the top looking down. And there is a light source on the far side of the cup to provide the red glow.

[EricWilliamMarshall]

The new set of copper plates have finally arrived from the folks at Bluejacket Shipcrafters! So I will shift back to hull plating shortly.

[EricWilliamMarshall]

First hurdle with the new copper is matching the patina of the old set to some degree. In retrospect, I should have stopped earlier and then mixed the old plates with the new. I’ll fix that as soon as I fix the time machine. ( The current model, uselessly, only moves forward at the same rate as reality.).  I gave the new plate a hot soak in vinegar and salt. Then I put them the toaster oven for 15 minutes. ‘Season to taste and then serve!’

[EricWilliamMarshall]

And now the long task of making little rectangles from the sheets.

[EricWilliamMarshall]

I’m still chipping away at the copper plates. I’ve fussed over the coloring of the plates and mis-trimmed a number of the plates, so I went back cleaned up the edges of the plates with the rotary tool where I left a bit of a tab. 

[sjanicki]

Looks very good! 

[Hubac's Historian]

Nice, clean work Eric.  Will you go back to New London a week from Saturday?

[EricWilliamMarshall]

19 hours ago, Hubac's Historian said:

Will you go back to New London a week from Saturday?

Yup, I will be making the pilgrimage to the Joint Clubs Northeast Ship Model Show & Conference. And you?

[EricWilliamMarshall]

On 4/21/2022 at 3:26 PM, sjanicki said:

Looks very good! 

Thanks again - I’m still following your sage advice regarding the plates!

[EricWilliamMarshall]

The coppering of the hull is done except for the rudder. Little by little. The little irregular-shaped bits took vast amounts of time. I’ve started to spend quality time with the instructions again since I haven’t had to refer to them for a few months.

Edited May 9, 2022 by EricWilliamMarshall

[EricWilliamMarshall]

On 4/22/2022 at 5:02 PM, EricWilliamMarshall said:

I will be making the pilgrimage to the Joint Clubs Northeast Ship Model Show & Conference.

I squeezed in as much as I could to my visit to the conference. I hit Mystic Seaport, Battleship Row, H.P. Lovercraft’s grave and the USCGC Eagle. Sail Master Melissa Polson presented at this year’s conference and is seen here shipside answering questions. Here are some action shots of Dan Pariser aka @shipmodel and Rich Lane (https://richardlaneart.com/) teaching the finer points of rigging and applying copper leaf respectively. 

 

[Hubac's Historian]

Tremendous job on the plating - the patination looks very good!

[EricWilliamMarshall]

3 hours ago, Hubac's Historian said:

Tremendous job on the plating - the patination looks very good!

Thank you for the kind words. (And nice to see at the convention although we didn't chat much!)  And for everyone's likes!!
As for the plating, I still see the errors, glitches, etc. but for my first attempt at copper, it looks better than it ought to.
I have to say copper is a wonderful material to work with (at least in this context).

[EricWilliamMarshall]

Rudder work: after a few attempts and redos, I might be happy enough with this one.

[EricWilliamMarshall]

I now have a newly acquired tool - the Ultimation Slicer which came to me via the latest Northeast Ship Model Conference raffle. 
 

Pros:

• Solid platform, which can be mounted.
• Cuts cleanly!
• Plenty of leverage.
• Plentry of visibility.
• Blade doesn’t make contact with metal but instead with self-healing cutting matt material.
• Blade beveled on only one side
• Adjustable fence for full range of cuts
• Detailed etched protractor for making cuts of exact angles.
• Fence tightens firmly in place.

 

Cons:

• The adjustable stop for repeat cuts did not work. That is to say, it was slightly mis-machined and the guide could not travel with in a couple inches of the blade. This tarnished the idea of this being the “ultimate” chopping tool. I did my tests with that assembly removed.
• The etched surface is in a low-contrast color, making it hard to see sometimes. It would be nice if the protractor was 270 degrees (or more) instead of only 180. I keep finding myself looking for a degree and staring a bare metal before look to the other side. It would also allow one to clamp exactly to angle you wish.
• Very slight play between the base and the fence. Not a deal-breaker, perhaps not even noticeable to most folks.
• No way to quickly and exactly find common angles like 90, 60, 45, etc. Again not a deal breaker, but many similar tools boast quick-set ways to select such angles.
• Two knobs to tighten the fence, instead of one.
• It is priced at $175 (US Dollars).

Edited May 19, 2022 by EricWilliamMarshall

[EricWilliamMarshall]

Unfair tool comparisons! I compared the cutting of the Slicer to  ye olde #11 x-acto blade, a sharp 3/4” wood chisel and a  much cheaper tool, Gartol miter shears. I found the Slicer to cut better than the x-acto and the Gartol. The wood chisel was just as clean as the slicer (and I hadn’t bothered to strop nor sharpen the chisel before the comparison). So if you are comfy the care and feeding of wood chisels, there is not much to be gained by the Slicer. However, if money is no issue, the Slicer is fast, easy to use and rugged. And, perhaps, your repeat cutting  depth gauge will work.

[EricWilliamMarshall]

Attached is a pdf of a presentation I gave recently at the Ship Model Society of New Jersey about wood.

Lost_in_the_woods-EricMarshall_Apr2022.pdf

[EricWilliamMarshall]

I finished a theatrical prop for Call of Cthulhu made of plaster of Paris. A material surprising easy to work with.

 

[EricWilliamMarshall]

I displayed my humble efforts at the Pennsville Township Historical Society's outdoor event. I was luckily enough to meet Edwin Leaf, author of Ship Modeling from Scratch! (Seen here with his model of the USS New Jersey.)

[EricWilliamMarshall]

Adding rails. The pre-cut shapes don’t match my curves, so I’ve cut some new ones. The tolerances for the strip wood are very close and I suggest any proceeding as per the instructions, make sure that the rail is exactly placed. I should have painted it before applying as well.

[EricWilliamMarshall]

Cap rails added.

[EricWilliamMarshall]

I’m back to decoding the instructions after a long hiatus due copper plates. I assume “Mark the location of the blocks on the cap rail caps.” refers to these:

[TomShipModel]

Your assumption is correct.

[Hubac's Historian]

Nice job on the caprail, Eric!

[EricWilliamMarshall]

I would like to tip the hat to @Chuck Passaro at Syren Ship Model Company again for the quality of his products as well as his speed!! I ordered Monday evening (5:55 pm) and I have the blocks in my hands as of 1pm on Thursday!  Thanks again!!

The blocks that come with the kit are beautiful but made of metal. They are heavy and I'm tad worried about the tension needed to keep the lines looking 'natural' (yes, a load word if ever there was one). Since I had issues with my number of previous builds, I thought it prudent to check my options before commiting all in.

[sjanicki]

You have done such a good job on this! Honestly keeping the lines tight isn't a big deal as long as you wait to cut them and tie them until they are all in place - that way you can make sure they are all properly tightened. I used clothespins as weights to keep them taught while I tied the rest 

[EricWilliamMarshall]

Thanks for the kind words and the advice!

[EricWilliamMarshall]

A quick bit of dye for the delivered blocks. 

[EricWilliamMarshall]

A bit of tail chasing as I tried to decode the instructions and redo some work. I foolishly spent an afternoon trying to look up brace holes (main and fore) in my little library to no avail.  I will also note that the overhead view of the ship doesn’t show eight “blocks on the cap rail caps” but the side view implies eight, so I went with eight. Little by little.

[EricWilliamMarshall]

This kit has brass etched windows. I didn't like the look of thses 'solid' windows (which most folks paint blue) so I drilled out the solid part and then tried to file the edges. I don't have files small enough to work those surfaces. Larger ones mangled and bent the brass.  I then spent way too much time trying to cut glass of the windows. It turns out that a regular glass cutter works best. I used glass slide slips/covers as my glass source. The first cut would go well (after a bit of initial practice). The second cut is always very difficult. Very taxing of what little patience I have.  I'm not sure if I would recommend this path for everyone but it isn't an expensive detour but merely tricky detour.

 

Edited July 26, 2022 by EricWilliamMarshall