USF Confederacy by Zarkon - Model Shipways - 1:64 Scale

[Zarkon]

Hey all!

 

Happy holidays and new year!

 

I added the molding strips to one side of the hull and wanted to share some pics.

 

I tried my best with it.  I did stain them first before gluing them on.  Now into the other side to repeat the entire process!

 

Thanks all for reading!

 

Jeff

 

[wernerweiss]

Hello Jeff,

 

Sorry, but it seems to me that the upper moulding strip coming from aft ends ABOVE the level of the caprail, and why did´nt you glue the caprail in the waist first? So you had to interrupt the run of the moulding strip....

 

Greetings 

 

Werner

[wernerweiss]

1 hour ago, wernerweiss said:

Hello Jeff,

 

Sorry, but it seems to me that the upper moulding strip coming from aft ends ABOVE the level of the caprail, and why did´nt you glue the caprail in the waist first? So you had to interrupt the run of the moulding strip....

 

Greetings 

 

Werner

I had a look in the instructions.....yes, the caprails along the waist are not glued before the planking of the inner bulwarks is finished. Concerning the moulding strips I chose a different sequence and glued the moulding strips together with the channels, thus avoiding removing them where the channels are placed.

[Zarkon]

@wernerweiss

Hey! Thanks for the feedback!

 

I did check the instructions too, and it does specify to add the molding first next to the waist.  I did check the laser cut cap rails to see how far back they are cut to match up with the molding pieces.  The instructions say, to place the molding pieces correctly, place a 1/16" strip ontop of the waist and make sure the molding strip sits evenly with it.

 

I also checked the instruction photos and it also shows the molding strips sit slightly back, not up to the edge of the waist.

 

I think you have a good idea of adding the channels along with the molding strip to make sure it has a nice curve.  Also doing so won't make you cut out the molding strips where the channels will go.

 

I might do this with the other side, but i haven't decided yet.  I can be a little clumsy and if I have channels sticking out from the hull, I might accidentally knock them off! Haha!

 

Thanks for your input!

 

Jeff

[wernerweiss]

Hello Jeff,

 

whenever I can help you....

 

what I want to say is that the upper molding strip runs just 1/16" lower than you glued it, so that it sits on the outer edge of the lasercut caprail, see picture...

 

[wernerweiss]

Generally, imo it is much too early for details like the moulding strips......I would rather FINISH the planking first - hull, inner bulwarks and the decks. Details like the moulding strips (together with the channels) come much later.......

[Zarkon]

@wernerweiss

Hello!

 

I wanted to let you know that I have not glued the cap rails on yet.  Gluing the cap rails is on page 118-119 in the instructions and I'm on page 42.

 

  I wanted to make sure that the molding strips would be at the correct placement, so I cut out a cap rail and a volute laser cut piece and test fitted them to the model. I also placed (not glued) the 1/16" strip ontop of the waist as well to check the lower molding strip.

 

This next pic shows the cap rail in place along with the waist piece.

 

This pic is where I have overlapped the volute piece over the top of the cap rail and ontop of the molding piece I glued on earlier.

 

It seems to line up with the molding very well!  I think I have the molding pieces glued into the correct position on the model.

 

On page 39 of the manual, it states that finishing the wales/molding/painting is optional at this point of the build if the builder wants a break from planking.  I sure wanted a break from planking! Haha!  So that's why I continued with the optional steps before continuing to plank the hull.

 

Thanks for your feedback!

 

Jeff

[wernerweiss]

Hallo Jeff, sorry, it seemed to me that the caprails were already glued to the waist pieces....I was wrong.

As another builder of the Confederacy I will furtheron follow your build log with interest....

 

Best regards

 

Werner

 

 

 

[Zarkon]

@wernerweiss

 

Thank you for your thoughts. I do appreciate the critiques, especially from someone who has finished The Confederacy!

 

By the way, you have a great build log of her and you did a fantastic job.  Your Confederacy is excellent.

 

Jeff

[wernerweiss]

3 minutes ago, Zarkon said:

@wernerweiss

 

Thank you for your thoughts. I do appreciate the critiques, especially from someone who has finished The Confederacy!

 

By the way, you have a great build log of her and you did a fantastic job.  Your Confederacy is excellent.

 

Jeff

Thank you very much!

[Wawona59]

Hi Jeff,  I've been following your Confederacy build with great interest.  I too have the Confederacy kit in my stash and aspire to build her someday.  However, I'm in the same boat as you (pun intended).  I need to finish my current projects to improve my skills so I can do the model justice.  I've also got a clipper ship model on hold waiting for my skills to improve. 

 

I'll be building some of my smaller, easier, kits with a plan to give them away to an interested kid at our upcoming model show in February. 

 

In the meantime, I'll be following your Confederacy build with great interest.  She's a beautiful ship and you are doing an excellent job on her so far. 

 

I hope you have a great new year 2025.

 

[Zarkon]

@Wawona59 Hi John!

 

Thank you for following my build log!  I apologize for not replying sooner.  I caught pretty much everything since before Christmas and I'm finally starting to feel better.  Like you, I had my Confederacy kit sitting away for years before I felt mostly comfortable to start her.  It was fun just looking at the box with anticipation. Haha!

 

Thanks for following and I hope you and everyone have a great 2025!

 

Jeff

[Zarkon]

Happy 2025 everyone!

 

I finally felt better enough this week to make some progress.  I have completed the other side wales and decided to put the molding on like the other side. I already described how I complete the wales and molding in previous posts, so I'll just post some pics of both sides finished.

 

Oh, I have to note. I 3D printed a new holder for the ship while she is upside-down.  I made the design in Blender after measuring the ship and where I wanted the supports to go.

 

 

I made 4 support points.  Each connection joint is a different size so that the holder only fits in 1 way.  It took quite a while to print as each piece must be able to be printed within the size limitations of my 3D printer.

 

 

Whew! Finally those steps are completed!

 

I would like to start tree nailing,  but I'll wait until tomorrow to start.

 

Thanks!

 

Jeff

 

[Zarkon]

Hey all!

 

So I have decided to tree nail the hull from the wales upward. But only the hull section that's not painted black.

 

This is a pretty slow process and I'm trying to refine how im doing it.

 

Like the instructions say, I first started on the side with the exposed hull section.  I tried to line up the tree nails with the bulkheads as best I could.

 

Here are some pics of my process.

 

I first drill the holes.

 

I place a piece of tape down to match where the ribs are, then I place a square next to the tape to try and make sure it's straight.

 

I manually drill one column at a time until I have completed 3" of tree nails.

 

It's hard to see the drill holes unless I have lower light.

 

I then lightly sand the holes with 400 grit sandpaper just to clean up the tops from loose wood.   I don't have enough an awl, so instead, I took a T pin to each of the drilled holes lightly touching just to make sure the holes are round.  Afterwards, it looks like this.

 

 

Then comes the messy part. I fill in each hole with natural wood filler (the kind recommended in the instructions)

 

I then sanded it down to remove the excess.

 

I hope you can see some of it.  I have to sand more of the excess off.

 

Sometimes it's really hard to tell if I sanded enough,  so I have to take a very lightly damp cloth and rub the hull for the tree nails to appear.  I had to do that with the pic above, but i can tell it needs more sanding.  I do think it will look really nice once it's done.

 

This will be a very labor intensive timely process.  I will try to give update as to how its going in a few days.

 

Wish me luck!

 

Jeff

[Nirvana]

On 12/28/2024 at 5:40 AM, Wawona59 said:

Hi Jeff,  I've been following your Confederacy build with great interest.  I too have the Confederacy kit in my stash and aspire to build her someday.  However, I'm in the same boat as you (pun intended).  I need to finish my current projects to improve my skills so I can do the model justice.  I've also got a clipper ship model on hold waiting for my skills to improve. 

 

I'll be building some of my smaller, easier, kits with a plan to give them away to an interested kid at our upcoming model show in February. 

 

In the meantime, I'll be following your Confederacy build with great interest.  She's a beautiful ship and you are doing an excellent job on her so far. 

 

I hope you have a great new year 2025.

 

What show in February and where in WA? Like to be there... unless it interfere with my DF95 or IOM saiing