• Win a Free Custom Engraved Brass Coin!!!
    As a way to introduce our brass coins to the community, we will raffle off a free coin during the month of August. Follow link ABOVE for instructions for entering.

San Francisco cross section [COMPLETED BUILD]

Well, here I am with a continuance of my efforts at the San Francisco cross section. I hesitate to log this build as there is a beautiful finished build of this ship on this site. However I thought it might be acceptable to show progressive steps in building the kit. If it seems too redundant just drop me a note.

sf1002.jpgsf1003.jpgsf1003.jpgsf1004.jpgsf1006.jpgsf1007.jpgsf1008.jpg
 
Hou are doing great, and keep in mind no log is redundant. A lot of people are looking at it and learn from it. Last bit not least it is a nice review for yourselve when it is finished, a trip into memory lane.
Keep up the good work.
 
I agree completely with Maarten - Thanks for sharing with us your project in this log
 
I’ve been lurking and learning here for some months now but felt compelled to break my silence and say hello to my neighbor Sideliner. I live in McKinney, Texas so we truly are neighbors.
I was just looking through and admiring your log of the Occre kit Xebec since I have that one waiting in the wings. I’ll be following this one as well and it appears to be off to a great start.
 
Landlocked
Great to hear from a neighbor. Feel free to ask if you get stuck on the xebec. I enjoyed building it. My favorite so far.
 
OK. I have a few more pics on my build of the cross section of the San Francisco. Putting on the sanpelly planks was an experiment in adhesives. Started with contact cement, changed to regular wood glue an went back to contact cement. Took a small area , brushed on the contact cement, let it set for a few min. and laid each plank. Downside is that you need to get it straight or its hard to move around. You can see where I tried to make and install the chain plates. What a mess. Will be stripping off and installing ready made chain plates, if they ever get here from the Land Down Under. Cutting gun ports was difficult for me and you can see where I had to strip away some planking to resize a gun port. Need to be careful marking dimensions on the curved hull. Be sure to assemble one or two canons so you can get the height of gun port correct. I marked the gun port dim with ink and then pushed pins thru into interior to make sure of correct height. When assembling the canon make sure you are using correct diameter brass wire. I used up small diameter and had to use larger wire to mount wheels. That meant I had to drill out dia of wheels. Just me not following instructions.. Currently working on gun tackle. Found that using 28ga annealed black wire works best on those tiny blocks. Guys, I know I am in many cases preaching to the choir with these notes but I think it will be helpful to first timers. I have had a lot of help from other builders on this site..

sf1010.jpgsf1012.jpgsf1013.jpgsf1014.jpg
 
sideliner said:
Hello
It is good to be back from medical issues that kept me from sitting at work bench. Hope to locate a previous build of the Artrsania cross section as a guide. I really missed building scale models. See you soon as I get started.
View attachment 149184
Click to expand...

Hallo @sideliner ,
we wish you all the BEST and a HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Birthday-Cake
 
Well I am returning after some unforseen delays. Could anyone with experience on this kit tell me if the guns should be rigged before preceding with mast rigging? Also would it be a good idea to glue the gun carriage wheels to the deck at this time. And further more is it really possible to rig guns on lower deck as shone in pictorial.
 
Hello, sideliner, I think, the guns should be rigged first. You will have more room to work in. And, yes, I would be suggesting to 'pin' guns to the deck. However, if you are careful enough to glue the trucks without the use of excessive glue then, you can try. Personally, I use a slightly different method, one end of the brass pin inserted into the front axletree (in the middle) and another into the deck. This way, IMHO, it is invisible and tracks are free of glue.
The lower deck cannons would be difficult to rig, but you can try at least using the 'breech' line.
 
Thanks, Jimsky. Your suggestions will help. In the meantime I found JeffT's log and I am devastated. A couple of options left for my build (1) Remove top deck to allow install of mid deck cannon. (2) Do not install lower guns. (3) Shelve the kit and move on to next kit on the shelf. Rigging the guns is a nightmare for me and I am not sure it is salvageable. I just lack the skill to rig guns with such small block and eye bolts. Wish the kit builder had added a few more directions. Have to think on this for a few days.
IMG_0347[1]ch plates.jpg

IMG_0346[1] eye.jpg
 
Perhaps Terry (marter1229) might have some suggestions. He is experiencing something similar.

I don't understand why the AL instructions have you install all of the decks first. It is just too tight to do this easily. I happened on another build log that convinced me that the instructions were for reference only. I suggest trying to simplify the gun rigging on the lower decks as much as possible. Possibly make the rigs off the model and glue them to the sides of the guns. The eyebolts that go into the hull don't show up between the ribs of the hull so possibly just simulate the rigging.
 
I have built kits made by AL. and with any kit, you should always try read full instructions ahead of build to see if they have steps out of sequence.

My OcCre cross section had building all decks to top then installing items below decks later like ladders which is much easier to do before installing decks above them.

We all learn by trial and error, and I have lots of errors in my few builds mostly completed.

Also, don't give up, finish and learn from practice to help make next build better, the kit often is only seen by you and only you know of errors made, others who may view the kit will never see what you know is wrong!

This is supposed to be a fun hobby, so don't get frustrated by issues you can't control, or errors made you can't fix.

Some wisdom I have learned and still need to learn to live by myself. If frustrated, stop for a day or two and work when you fell better about it.
 
OK. After a short time out I have decided to soldier on and make the canon on middle deck work. I keep forgetting that the kit instructions are sometime just an outline of the build. I promise that I will walk through my next build before starting, to locate an such traps. Thanks, guys for the encouragement. :)
 
Well I said I would soldier on. Some 6 months later I have finished Little did I know how frustrated I would be during this build. Like others have said, I should have spent much longer planning and reading the skimpy instructions. Most of the guidance is with color photos which leave many decisions to the builder. Well that is all my grumbling. This will be my last ship rigged model.. Fore and aft for me:). I am enclosing a few pics. There are at least two much better logs for this cross section. if anyone is planning on this build.. My next effort will be the schooner POLOTSK. And yes I got the one in English not Russian.
IMG_0373[1].jpgIMG_0376[1].jpgIMG_0384[1].jpgIMG_0388[1].jpgIMG_0393[1].jpgIMG_0396[1].jpgIMG_0400[1].jpgIMG_0406[1].jpg
 
Congratulations also from my side
So I am looking forward to see your Polotsk - this time I hope with some more often progress reports, if possible
 
Please accept congratulations from my side as well! As Uwe mentioned, we are looking forward to your Polotsk build log.
 
Outstanding work.
1 down 9 more sections to go, and you can put them all together to build a ship. Probably won't float though.
Just kidding with you, I always love admiring cross sections. That's where the mysteries are revealed.
 
CO_Cowboy said:
Outstanding work.
1 down 9 more sections to go, and you can put them all together to build a ship. Probably won't float though.
Just kidding with you, I always love admiring cross sections. That's where the mysteries are revealed.
Click to expand...
I liked seeing your chronological log of your progress up to the finished cross-section. Nicely done all around. Rich (PT-2)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top