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

[Coyote_6]

Did I mention that is pretty wood?  Or the light is very complimentary, but either way that looks very nice with the poly.

[ccoyle]

53 minutes ago, Coyote_6 said:

Did I mention that is pretty wood?

 

Master Korabel do include nice woods in their kits. Not a lick of basswood to be found.

[ccoyle]

A bit more progress. I'm not a huge fan of the brass moldings supplied in the kit (heck, I'm not a fan of PE brass in general) -- if they're not left bright, then they need to be prepped, shaped, primed, and painted before adding them. After that there is still the risk of chipping paint off of them.

 

 

Following the construction sequence in the instructions takes us to the quarterdeck railings next.

[ccoyle]

The quarterdeck rails . . .

 

 

. . . and taffrail are now done.

 

[Coyote_6]

A beauty with those rails. Definitely not basswood! 🤣

[Ronald-V]

Really fine work! 👌

[ccoyle]

Well, it's been a mixed bag of results today. First, here's a shot of the finished quarterdeck rails, along with the completed skylight.

 

 

The skylight includes plastic inserts for the 'glass'. Since the model has no interior to gawk at, I painted the backs of the inserts black.

 

After this, I started work on the gratings, and this is where things got super annoying. First, the combs for the gratings fit VERY tight, which makes them stay together nicely when assembled but makes the actual assembly process needlessly frustrating. Second -- and here's a word to the wise -- the combs provided in the kit DO NOT produce the same spacing as seen in the photo-illustrated instructions! So, if you refer to the photos to count the number of combs to use for a particular grating, then assemble the combs and trim them to the 'proper' size, you get a grating that is TOO SMALL!! Ask me how I know this. 😡

 

I am presently taking a mandatory mental health break. 😑

[ccoyle]

On 8/23/2025 at 5:14 PM, ccoyle said:

I am presently taking a mandatory mental health break.

 

Back from the break! And first -- time for a little sleuthing! I had a very sneaking suspicion about the reason for my troubles with the grating combs, and sadly, this photo proves my suspicions were well-founded.

 

 

This photo shows a random selection of combs. The middle section is aligned, as is demonstrated by the needle sitting neatly astride the combs. BUT, as you can plainly see, if you go about five rows above or below the needle, the grooves are suddenly all wonky.

 

And wonky grooves, my friends, make combs that don't mesh together!

 

Somewhere in my stash of Long-Forgotten Leftover Parts, I have some Model Shipways combs. I don't remember having had any issues with them -- might have some Amati combs leftover somewhere as well. Heck, the MS combs may have come from Amati -- you know how that supply chain operates! I will have to hunt those combs down and see how they work.

 

Stay tuned!

[ccoyle]

"Curiouser and curiouser!" I found the MS combs in my stash. The MK combs have 1mm slots, while the MS combs have 1.5mm slots. And here's where it gets whacky -- gratings made from the MS combs will fit perfectly inside the kit's coamings, but gratings made from the MK combs will not. 🤔 Seems like maybe somebody pulled the wrong combs from the shelf when they packed the kit?

 

Stay tuned!

[Coyote_6]

As Arte Johnson used to say... "Verrrry interesting!" 🧐

[ccoyle]

12 hours ago, Coyote_6 said:

As Arte Johnson used to say... "Verrrry interesting!" 🧐

 

Hopefully this will not all turn out "verrrry dumb!" as Arte also used to say!

 

Great pop culture references like these remind me of just how young some of my coworkers are -- these would sail right over their heads!