PHOENIX 1787 by ccoyle - Master Korabel - 1/72 - Russian brigantine of the Black Sea Fleet

[hollowneck]

20 hours ago, ccoyle said:

I only see one other option, and that is to add material to the linings until the new material sits flush with the inboard and outboard strips.

Chris,

you may want to consider adding gunport linings; I've done this on a number of my models. 1.0 -1.5 mm thick pear will do the trick; it can appear to be scale-conforming and not reduce the size of the openings too much (the stock can be sourced from some of the "empty" laser cut patterns in your kit). This is a lot of very precise cutting and fitting work, but in my estimation it is well worth  the effort. The photo here is of my Mercury brig (Russia- circa 1820) that illustrates my point. In this instance I used boxwood for the linings to match the upper hull works (the lining edges remain visible in spite of the red lining treatment). The bulwarks planking is also boxwood, a substitute for this Amati kit's too dark wood.

Of course, you can leave the linings unpainted which I have typically done with later models I've bashed.

 

Edited February 9 by hollowneck
added text

[ccoyle]

2 hours ago, hollowneck said:

you may want to consider adding gunport linings

Ironically, the kit does include these pieces -- it's just that the bulwark patterns are supposed to overlap them neatly. If the overlap isn't done just so (as on my model), then the effect of some 'recessed' linings is created. I fear that adding additional linings, as you suggest, may make the gun ports too small. I'll have to fiddle around a bit and find what works best.

 

Cheers!

[ccoyle]

Hi, friends!

 

Phoenix will be taking another break while I work on a different project. I feel I made good progress in this recent burst of modeling activity, and I'm sure I'll return to her in the not-too-distant future with renewed enthusiasm. In the meantime, if you're interested, you can follow along on my latest not-a-ship adventure!

 

Cheers!

[ccoyle]

Just a post to show that Phoenix is back on the bench! Working on getting some veneers done -- exciting, right?

 

[Coyote_6]

Good to see her again Chris!  

[ccoyle]

One thing to be aware of with MK kits is that they only mostly fall together by themselves, but not totally. There are instances where parts don't fit as indicated in the instructions, usually as a result of error creep during the build, and some thought has to be given as to how to proceed. The keel veneers are one such instance. In the Step 46 inset, you can see that the bottom veneer, H22, is supposed to sit atop (i.e., directly beneath) the two side pieces, H21.

 

But there are problems with that suggestion. First, it doesn't match the construction sequence of the corresponding veneers on the stem. Second, on my particular build the side veneers overlapped the false keel too much, i.e., they stuck out too far, and laying the bottom piece atop them would have made that piece stand proud of the veneers on the stem. I had to choose between trimming the side pieces to allow the bottom piece to sit flush, or else trim the bottom piece to fit between the two side pieces. I chose the latter option, because it results in the exposed, thin sides of the veneers facing toward the bottom of the keel, where they won't be seen on the finished model.

 

Hope that all made sense.

 

Onward!

[ccoyle]

I got the bits of molding along the outer bulwarks added.

 

 

I then set about adding some clear semi-gloss polyacrylic to the hull, and things got a little dicey. Most of the first coat went nicely, but then the polyacrylic acted as a solvent on the paint on the wales, leaving several smudges. So first I had to clean that up. Then I sprayed the entire hull with matte clear spray to hopefully seal all the existing paint. While that was drying, I worked on painting some of the hull ornamentation. Moving on to the second coat of polyacrylic, the matte clear had done its job of sealing stuff, but somehow I had managed to get a couple of dabs of the ornaments colors on my freshly painted hull. 😡 So, I had to clean that off before proceeding. Finally got it all done.

 

Now I'm not 100% happy with the tone of the 'orange ochre' paint I had on hand for painting the aft carvings. I made several attempts to mix up a batch -- each ended in abject failure. I will probably dash off to Hobby Lobby to see if I can't find something.

 

BTW, while painting the various carvings, I noticed that they are completely different from the pieces used on the prototype model and shown on the box art. More on that later.

[tmj]

1 hour ago, ccoyle said:

BTW, while painting the various carvings, I noticed that they are completely different from the pieces used on the prototype model and shown on the box art. More on that later.

Kinda like the pictures of food on a fine restaurant's menu. They always look different than what's on the plate that the waiter brings you! 😕

Have you ever considered using shellac as a clear coat?  

[Keith Black]

 It was worth all the trouble, Chris. The hull is beautiful. 

[ccoyle]

1 minute ago, tmj said:

Have you ever considered using shellac as a clear coat?

 

Nope. Never used the stuff. Wouldn't know what to do with it.

 

So anyways, back to the carvings. I found a color at Hobby Lobby that I think will do. This is the stern piece in a test fit -- the piece still needs work.

 

 

But lo and behold! This is what the piece is supposed to look like:

 

 

And these are the quarter badges pictured along with the version shown in the instructions:

 

 

 

Now mind you, I think the pieces in the deluxe kit look better than those in the original kit -- but I'm not certain they're a more accurate representation of whatever was on the real Phoenix.  It's possible that both are equally speculative. What I do think is certain is that the monogram E on the deluxe piece stands for Ekaterina, i.e., Catherine the Great, who reigned from 1762 to 1796. I don't intend to fret much about the accuracy of the pieces and will just  forge ahead and use them.

[Cathead]

Chris, here's another question about accuracy, as a former student of Russian. In the "what it's supposed to look like" photo, the stern has what's obviously supposed to be the ship's name in Russian, Phoenix (феникс). But that first letter looks totally off; it looks like a plain "o", not the Cyrillic "f", "ф", which can be scribed various ways but must have a vertical line through it. Sometimes it looks like a sideways 8, sometimes a circle, but always the vertical line. What they show would read as "oenix" in English. It really threw me until I realized it was an incomplete f. Unless I'm missing something about 18th century Russian script, which I admit to not being familiar with...

 

What does the lettering look like in your kit?

[ccoyle]

1 hour ago, Cathead said:

What does the lettering look like in your kit?

 It doesn't. As far as I can find so far (unless I overlooked it somewhere), the regular kit had the name as part of the PE stern detailing, but the deluxe kit has nothing. I had already been thinking about how I'm going to tackle that issue. Looking ahead to the possibility of painting the name, I had already used Google Translate to make a copy of the name in Russian, with Cyrillic characters. But thanks for checking! 😉