HMS Mercury 1779 by GrandpaPhil - Shipyard - 1/96 - CARD

[Bill Morrison]

11 hours ago, GrandpaPhil said:

This is the 1:96 scale kit.  It’s part of the Northern European Sailing Ships Part 2 collection.

Thank you.  I have the HMS Cleopatra kit so I am following your build log carefully.

 

Bill

[GrandpaPhil]

You’re welcome!

 

Working on getting the interior bulkheads ready and installed:

 

Work is going a little slower than it would because I am laminating the structural card pieces on basswood.

 

I am having a lot of fun with this model!

[GrandpaPhil]

The interior bulkheads are on:

The doors:

The stern covering:

The Mercury is farther along than what I have pictures of.

 

The interior doors are finished and installed.

 

The bow hull is covered.

 

I’m currently working on cutting out the main deck bulwarks, which includes the gunports.

Edited July 27, 2022 by GrandpaPhil

[GrandpaPhil]

For anyone interested in building the Shipyard 1/96 HMS Mercury, there is a very nice lasercut detail set available directly from Shipyard models: https://shop.model-vessel.com/index.php?id_product=323&controller=product&id_lang=2

It looks like it runs about $17.

Edited July 29, 2022 by GrandpaPhil

[ccoyle]

45 minutes ago, GrandpaPhil said:

For anyone interested in building the Shipyard 1/96 HMS Mercury, there is a very nice lasercut detail set available directly from Shipyard

 

Yeah, those are a new thing. I just read about them yesterday in my FB feed. They also sell separate sets for blocks, yards, and sails (with an additional set for studding sails). The blocks set is the one that will put a dent in your wallet, and if one buys all of the available detail sets, the total price really ain't cheap -- but at least it's an option.

[GrandpaPhil]

@catopower kindly told me about them (thank you very much, by the way!).

 

I usually scratch build all that stuff anyway.  I learned how while building my Prince de Neufchatel and found out that I really enjoy it.  

I’m almost to the fitting phase now.  I’ll be making all of the eyebolts and double blocks for the guns soon.

 

I’ll carve the guns from dowel rods like the ones for my last three ships.

 

I’ll play the rest of the fittings by ear when I get to them.

 

Edited July 29, 2022 by GrandpaPhil

[catopower]

3 hours ago, ccoyle said:

 

Yeah, those are a new thing. I just read about them yesterday in my FB feed. They also sell separate sets for blocks, yards, and sails (with an additional set for studding sails). The blocks set is the one that will put a dent in your wallet, and if one buys all of the available detail sets, the total price really ain't cheap -- but at least it's an option.

Hey Chris, your "cheap" is showing! 😀  In the world of ship modeling, $130 for all the accessories, detail sets, blocks sets is nothing. You made similar comments when I was sharing photos of my HMS Wolf kit.  Anyway, how often do we spend money to buy kits or accessories to simplify construction, etc? (Don't actually count me, as I spend way too much on ship modeling! 😊

 

 

GrandpaPhil, I'm watching and learning!

[ccoyle]

30 minutes ago, catopower said:

Hey Chris, your "cheap" is showing! 😀

I know, I know. I'm getting too accustomed to spending $20-30 for a complete airplane combo (kit, frames, canopy). 

 

40 minutes ago, catopower said:

In the world of ship modeling, $130 for all the accessories, detail sets, blocks sets is nothing.

But it is something compared to a typical card kit. But -- it is an extremely nice kit and accessories, and that much is certain. I'm gonna have to try one someday.

[GrandpaPhil]

10 minutes ago, ccoyle said:

I know, I know. I'm getting too accustomed to spending $20-30 for a complete airplane combo (kit, frames, canopy). 

 

But it is something compared to a typical card kit. But -- it is an extremely nice kit and accessories, and that much is certain. I'm gonna have to try one someday.

Just remember, the Shipyard 30th Anniversary combos are only $85 after shipping, from Age Of Sail, lol.  
 

And they come with 3 models.

[catopower]

Chris, maybe we can take up a collection for you? 😉

 

[GrandpaPhil]

I do have to say, they are some of the nicer ship kits that I have ever seen, in any medium.

[catopower]

I love the fact that because of the way they're designed, many of the kits feature some of the internal spaces, like the great cabin, and the space under the forecastle. Though it just means more stuff you have to detail at 1/96 scale(!).

[GrandpaPhil]

Main deck outer bulwarks on:

[JohnAB]

These card kits really tug at my imagination. I’ve been modelling planes, automobiles and ships for 40 years, plastic. Not so much over the past 10 years. Now I’m a full time carer for my wife I need something to occupy my mind. I’m taken to build the Pegasus from Victory/Amati. But your Mercury certainly intrigues me. Good luck GrandpaPhil looking forward to the next episode 👍👍👍

[GrandpaPhil]

I have had a lot of fun with card kits (and card modeling in general).

 

The Shipyard 30th Anniversary combo sets are very nice.

 

All of the Shipyard kits are very nice.

 

I don’t think I have ever seen the level of detail in these kits, from any other kit manufacturer (at least from the ones I’ve built), in any medium.

 

If you try one, you won’t be disappointed.

 

Card lends itself very handily to ship models, both for kits and for scratch building.

 

Also, there is not much difference between scratch and kit building with card ships (the same applies to wood ship models as well).

 

So, it is an easy jump to scratch building if that is where your inclination lies.

[Richmond]

On 7/29/2022 at 9:32 PM, ccoyle said:

 

Yeah, those are a new thing. I just read about them yesterday in my FB feed. They also sell separate sets for blocks, yards, and sails (with an additional set for studding sails). The blocks set is the one that will put a dent in your wallet, and if one buys all of the available detail sets, the total price really ain't cheap -- but at least it's an option.

I wonder if these detail up sets are the same as the ones GPM used to produce and have just been rebadged ? - I have the GPM detail up version for this kit.

Edited November 13, 2022 by Richmond
Error

[captain_hook]

Very nice and interesting. When I had first heard of card modeling I thought of something kids build in kindergarten like a car or a small cubic house. But I was surprised about the complex paper and card models that are available today - churches, planes, ships, trains etc. Some of the even don‘t look like paper models when they are finished. BTW are card models endangered to warp by high air humidity?

[GrandpaPhil]

Yes, they will warp with high humidity.  I seal mine periodically throughout the build.

[GrandpaPhil]

I have never seen GPM’s upgrade kits, but I am seriously looking at the Shipyard rigging fitting sets for this and my Victory (1:98).

 

Rigging fittings at 1/96 scale are almost too small for my tooling.

 

I probably could make them, but Shipyard has very nice complete sets.

 

Plus, their research has been most excellent, as is their plan sets.  So I am sure that they are complete.

 

And then I can scale their fitting set up 50%, duplicate it and use the fittings for my future Winchelsea build too.

 

PS: from what I’ve seen of the their Victory kit, it looks as completely detailed out as the their Mercury and it retails for less than $40 at Ages Of Sail.

Edited November 13, 2022 by GrandpaPhil

[catopower]

On 11/12/2022 at 10:01 PM, Richmond said:

I wonder if these detail up sets are the same as the ones GPM used to produce and have just been rebadged ? - I have the GPM detail up version for this kit.

 

I too got the GPM "Super Detail Set" for HMS Mercury, same as HMS Enterprise, and I also have the new Shipyard detail set for Santa Leocadia and looked closely at the contents list and images of the Shipyard set for HMS Mercury. There is overlap between the GPM and Shipyard sets, but the GPM sets are more complete.

[GrandpaPhil]

I got an idea from a conversation at work today.

 

My buddy collects action figures and was talking about the LED lighting for his display cases that he installed recently.

 

I looked at it and realized a variant of it might work for the interior of a model ship.

 

This model is a prime candidate for lighting because of its design and phase of construction.

 

I’ve seen some of the interior lit models on this forum, and in museums, and they are beautiful.

 

I’d kind of like to have one.

 

If it works out well, some of my future models will also get lighting.

 

I’ll make the final decision when I get back to construction on this model.