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The interesting thing is, you can really, really see how damn neat you build 
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HMS Alert [1777] 1:48 POF by serikoff. (Two hulls: skeleton and fully rigged)
It’s a shame that AI often fills in details with nonsense or just makes things up when it doesn't see or understand the logic of the scene (in this case, the carlings are actually the same thickness as the beams, but they just happened to fall into the shadow). But overall, it’s a really cool idea! Thanks for the praise—hearing it from you makes it doubly gratifying!
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Just flawless! nothing more, nothing less. Amazing job and a bunch of smart solutions you kindly share with us. Appreciated!Chapter 27. On the Decks (Part 5)
Аnchоr Windlass.
2/
I lost practically a week to COVID and couldn't do anything. To avoid wasting all that time, I worked concurrently on 3D modeling the decorative elements and the figurehead for the *Victory*. So, let's continue with the anchor mechanism. Because errors in the kit parts mean the assembly for the first hull differs slightly from the second, I am building them one after the other rather than in parallel like the other components. The photos show all the stages, so without further ado:
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This time, I experimented with blackening. I had noticed that, over time, neon-like spots would appear in isolated areas—resembling the sheen of gasoline on wet asphalt (something I’ve shown before). Upon investigation, it turns out that internal processes continue within the electroplated copper; the blackening solution's reagents cause something to leach out, though wiping the surface with alcohol helps remove it. So, this time, I tried degreasing the parts before blackening. I started with an initial 18-minute soak in a 1:5 solution of blackening agent and water. After rinsing, and without letting them dry, I brushed off the residue while the parts were still submerged in the rinse water. Next, I transferred the wet parts directly into a 1:3 solution for 9 minutes. Immediately after rinsing—and again without drying—I dropped them into alcohol. Only then did I dry them off. Finally, I removed the surface film and polished the pieces using a soft attachment at very low speed. This produced a more pronounced metallic luster. The copper didn't turn quite as black as it usually does with my standard method, but the polishing action compensated for that. I’ll be monitoring the results to see how things change. My test pieces (anchors) had already started turning blue again, so the alcohol wipe was only a temporary fix. Acting on advice from an AI, I coated them with Danish oil and Tung oil. I applied the oil with a cloth and buffed it dry after just a few seconds. The AI claims that a microscopic layer remains, sealing out oxygen and preventing further changes to the parts. We’ll see! I’ll make a separate post about this after a couple of months of observation. On the plus side, applying and wiping off the oil doesn't alter the color or sheen; everything looks exactly as it did before. So, if this helps prevent blue spots, I’ll definitely be oiling the blackened metal. Here is the result after the blackening process. It’s a shame the photos can’t quite capture the true color, but I really like the texture and the hue. The interplay of lively sheen and deep shadows creates a sense of depth, preventing everything from blurring into a single black blob—something I really dislike.
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For storage, I use dental crown boxes (for those who don't know, I am a prosthodontist)
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Next is the ratchet mechanism itself, featuring an octagonal beam for the anchor rope...
Blender ?
True story
....in that case I will keep my ships far away from any AI programsThe interesting thing is, you can really, really see how damn neat you build
.Brilliant as always Sergey. You guys stay safe.
Cheers Grant
There is a edit-option on the left bottom of your post ………
Then you can make adjustments to your text and save it.
Regards, Peter
Thank you very much. I’m glad to see you here; it’s been a while.
No, this is just an image generated using AI; that was mentioned a couple of posts back.
Thank you very much for your interest and your kind wishes. Don’t be too hard on yourself—you’re doing a great job!....in that case I will keep my ships far away from any AI programs
Brilliant as always Sergey. You guys stay safe.
Cheers Grant
Thank you very much. Please don’t worry—it’s just one of the ways my name is inflected in different countries, so you didn’t make a mistake.
Chapter 27. On the Decks (Part 5)
6/
Аnchоr Windlass of the 2nd hull.
Where the procedures are similar to those I’ve already covered, I won’t go into detail; instead, I’ll simply show the final result, as seen in the photo above.
And now, a bit of a sore subject... I’ve been working on these two anchor mechanisms for three weeks—it’s been one of the most challenging stages of the build. I’m glad I decided to use the pre-made supports for the ratchet mechanism (included in the kit) rather than building them from scratch; the ones I made from scratch for the second set caused the most trouble. Things just went wrong with these components from the very start and stayed that way until the end. Under other circumstances, I would have redone everything, but given the complexity and the massive amount of time already invested, I decided to leave them as they are. I work using 3x-magnification binocular loupes, so I notice every single flaw—and there are more defects on these few parts than on the entire rest of the model combined. I also experimented with a blackening technique, which turned out to be quite poor—the finish proved extremely fragile. I redid it three times, yet there are still spots where it has chipped away. I’ve decided to just accept these chips; I’ll treat them as if they were intentional—meant to simulate rust. Furthermore, I made a miscalculation and ended up with the knee too short, so I had to glue on extra pieces. In theory, these areas will be completely hidden by the rigging. In another spot, the milling bit tore out a chunk of the wood, which also required patching. Elsewhere, a drill bit slipped, damaging the surface near one of the shackles. The shackles themselves were prone to deforming—the bolts couldn't be made long enough, and they refused to seat properly into the holes. But the real climax came when I tried to make a slight adjustment to the position of a piece—and it cracked clean in half, right along the grain and along the path I’d drilled for a pin... I thought that was the end of it. And this happened to a completely finished part I’d spent days working on! Luckily, it split in such a way that the back side stayed intact; I flooded the break with PVA glue (you absolutely cannot use CA glue in a situation like this), and because the fractured edges fit together perfectly, the seam is barely noticeable. In short, everything that could possibly go wrong with these two stanchions did—and then some... I took photos of it all and felt pretty miserable. But I’m not going to show them to you, because 90% of these issues are either invisible to the naked eye or would only be visible from an angle underneath—which is impossible to see, given the deck and the hull sides. With my level of perfectionism, you can’t imagine how hard it is for me to come to terms with all this... but I’m definitely not redoing it; laziness and common sense have won out in the end, hahahah.
Next up is the fabrication of the ratchet mechanism—hopefully, I’ll be done with this stage; it’s proven to be quite a difficult part for me...
6/
Аnchоr Windlass of the 2nd hull.
Where the procedures are similar to those I’ve already covered, I won’t go into detail; instead, I’ll simply show the final result, as seen in the photo above.
And now, a bit of a sore subject... I’ve been working on these two anchor mechanisms for three weeks—it’s been one of the most challenging stages of the build. I’m glad I decided to use the pre-made supports for the ratchet mechanism (included in the kit) rather than building them from scratch; the ones I made from scratch for the second set caused the most trouble. Things just went wrong with these components from the very start and stayed that way until the end. Under other circumstances, I would have redone everything, but given the complexity and the massive amount of time already invested, I decided to leave them as they are. I work using 3x-magnification binocular loupes, so I notice every single flaw—and there are more defects on these few parts than on the entire rest of the model combined. I also experimented with a blackening technique, which turned out to be quite poor—the finish proved extremely fragile. I redid it three times, yet there are still spots where it has chipped away. I’ve decided to just accept these chips; I’ll treat them as if they were intentional—meant to simulate rust. Furthermore, I made a miscalculation and ended up with the knee too short, so I had to glue on extra pieces. In theory, these areas will be completely hidden by the rigging. In another spot, the milling bit tore out a chunk of the wood, which also required patching. Elsewhere, a drill bit slipped, damaging the surface near one of the shackles. The shackles themselves were prone to deforming—the bolts couldn't be made long enough, and they refused to seat properly into the holes. But the real climax came when I tried to make a slight adjustment to the position of a piece—and it cracked clean in half, right along the grain and along the path I’d drilled for a pin... I thought that was the end of it. And this happened to a completely finished part I’d spent days working on! Luckily, it split in such a way that the back side stayed intact; I flooded the break with PVA glue (you absolutely cannot use CA glue in a situation like this), and because the fractured edges fit together perfectly, the seam is barely noticeable. In short, everything that could possibly go wrong with these two stanchions did—and then some... I took photos of it all and felt pretty miserable. But I’m not going to show them to you, because 90% of these issues are either invisible to the naked eye or would only be visible from an angle underneath—which is impossible to see, given the deck and the hull sides. With my level of perfectionism, you can’t imagine how hard it is for me to come to terms with all this... but I’m definitely not redoing it; laziness and common sense have won out in the end, hahahah.
Next up is the fabrication of the ratchet mechanism—hopefully, I’ll be done with this stage; it’s proven to be quite a difficult part for me...