Another Halcon 1:100 scale [COMPLETED BUILD]

[Martin555.]

Hi Guys,

For some time now I have been toying with the idea of going back to making ships in bottles again as they take up a lot less space in the house and still take quite a bit of time to make, especially if you drink the contents first.LOL!!

After completing HMB Endeavour I started looking for some drawings/plans to use for ships in a bottle when my wife found this cheep Chinese kit of Halcon in 1:100 scale for £10.00 including postage and packing.

Altho it is much to big for the bottles I have I decided to look around the internet for information on it and discovered that this kit is of poor quality and the instructions are in Chinese and next to useless and the kit and dose not come highly recommended.

But you know me Like the idiot I am, I went ahead and purchased the kit knowing that this is going to be a challenge.

I did however see some Youtube videos by a Russian guy that had this kit and despite the problems that this kit has he made a really good job of making it, unfortunately I do not understand the Russian language but watching the videos gave me a rough idea of what to expect if i purchased this kit.

There are many model makers here on this site that have done an excellent job of making this ship kit.
So this will be interesting, all I can do is give it a go.

I only want to make a reasonably descent looking ship and I will be happy if it turns out half as good as the ones made by the skilled members of this site..

Anyway enough waffling.

Here are a few photos of the kit and the double sided A4 sheet of instructions In Chinese.

Martin555.

 

[Martin555.]

Hi Guys,

The sheets of wood are 1mm and 2mm thin ply wood, the component parts are laser cut and are easy to remove from the plywood sheet.
Due to the lack of instructions plus my skill level I will be making this ship my way so it may look a bit different in places.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.

So let the fun begin.

The first thing to notice is the way the frames are numbered.
On most kits frame number 1 starts at the front of the ship (Bow)
This kit however frame number 1 starts at the rear of the ship (Transom).

After cutting the little tabs off the 15 x 2mm ply frames, 2mm ply keel and the 1mm ply deck a little sanding was required to ensure a nice fit.
I dried fitted all the frames to the keel then dry fitted the deck.
Extreme caution and a very gentle hand is required as when fitting all of these parts as they are very fragile and brake very easily.
Then it was easer to glue everything in place before adding the gunwales making sure that the gun ports are not obscured by any of the frames.
Again extreme caution is required.

The two sets of capping rails and the transom was then fitted.

Forgive me if I don’t know all the names of the ships component parts.

Martin555.

 

[Tobias]

Good morning Martin, that looks like a great start.

 

[Martin555.]

Hi Tobias,
Thank you, Its all downhill from now on LOL!!!

 

[Tobias]

Hi Tobias,
Thank you, Its all downhill from now on LOL!!!

After every low there is also a high, just don't give up.

 

[Stevedownunder]

Hi Martin,
Looks like you are making quite a bit of progress, great work.

Cheers,
Stephen.

 

[Martin555.]

Hi Martin,
Looks like you are making quite a bit of progress, great work.

Cheers,
Stephen.

Thank you Stephen.
It is a struggle due the the poor quality of this kit.

Martin555.

 

[Martin555.]

Hi Guys,

I hope this build log dose not sound like I am trying to teach everyone how to build model ship, I just word my logs as though they are aimed at the new guys to this model making hobby.

Next job was planking the hull.
As many of you guys know this is not a five minuet job and requires a lot of tinkering to get a nice fit just on one plank.
I tapered the frames forward and aft to aid a smooth curve of the planks.

Again take care.

I have forgotten how many times I have super glued my fingers to this model now.



I discovered it is best to plank this model before fitting the transom, however I planked the transom after to make it all match up.
Made the kit stand but I am not sure if I will use it when the ship is finished, but it will help to use it as a working stand.


Martin555.

 

[Martin555.]

Hi Guys,

After fitting the rudder as supplied in the kit I was not happy with it so a little modification was done.
I scribed the marking line that separates the rudder from the rest of the ship and drilled and filed some small squares.

Making the rudder hinges.

After looking around for something to make them with, I found in my spares box some copper hull plates left over from a different project, so I cut a small strip of copper hull plates along the rivet line and used this to make the hinges as you can see in the photos.
Also knocked up some aft boat duvets and a couple of anchor duvets from scrap wood (they are not in the instructions) but I have seen in some photos on the internet.
I want to make this ship look old so a combination of paint and stain and some weathering might do the trick.

Martin555.

 

[Stevedownunder]

Your hinges look great Martin,

Cheers,
Stephen.

 

[Martin555.]

Your hinges look great Martin,

Cheers,
Stephen.

Thank you Stephen.
You know me I have to make things with whatever I can find due to budget restraints.

 

[Martin555.]

HI Guys,

Gave the hull a few coats of Antique pine wood stain as that is the only stain I have, sanding in between the coats.
I also darkened a few deck planks so that the deck did not look like one sheet of plywood.

Martin555.

 

[Tobias]

great result, Martin

 

[Martin555.]

great result, Martin

Thank you Tobias.
I has turned out better than I had expected.
I did have visions of binning it especially as the plywood kept on delaminating.

 

[Martin555.]

Hi Guys,
Next job was to cut out the component parts for the gratings.
Great care is required as the plywood splits easily also it seems that even a scalpel is a bit too thick and I do not have any razorblades but I did manage it.
I cannot over emphasise just how careful you have to be making this kit.


I can quite easily understand why more of these models end up in the bin than are actually built.


Again a few coats of the stain but it is not easy rubbing these gratings down in-between coats.

 

[Martin555.]

Hi Guys,

Just a quick update.
Made and fitted a few more deck fittings.
Modified the rudder tiller and the bulge pump handle.
Sorry I forgot to take photos of the making of these fittings.


I must be the lucky one as the plywood in my kit is very poor quality and fall apart as soon as you threaten it with a small file or a piece of sandpaper.


It is at this stage of the build that I have to go to my spares box to see if I have any small fittings that I can use on this model.



After fitting the belaying pin boards to the ship’s side I had to use small Brass nails for the belaying pins but forgot to cut off the pointed ends.
Hopefully by the time there are a few ropes wrapped around them no one will notice.
There is a lot of ship parts that are not supplied with this cheap kit or need to be made, but as I have said my aim is to try and make something that looks a little descent and may not be that accurate.


Next job was to make the chainplates (I think that is what they are called) the boards that hold the deadeyes to the ships side.
I just used some scrap 2mm plywood sheet from the kit.

 

[Tobias]

Hello Martin, that looks really great, good progress.

 

[Martin555.]

Hello Martin, that looks really great, good progress.

Thank you Tobias.

 

[Martin555.]

Hi Guys,
As you can see the s are supplied 2mm flat plywood sheet and require quite a bit of modification to make them look a bit better.
I then fitted them to the ship.
I have seen drawings of the s where they are fitted with chains but I decided to go with rope/string as I did not have the any of the right size chains in my spares box.

 

[Martin555.]

Hi Guys,

The Cannons are also supplied in 2mm plywood sheet so these were promptly thrown in the bin.

(A friend jokingly said the cannons in the kit were made square to match the square gunport’s LOL!!)

Made ten small simple cannons using a length of BBQ stick, and one larger cannon from a piece of wooden knitting needle.
Oh and I used a hand drill clamped in a vice.
A small strip of copper hull sheeting was used to go over the pis of the cannons.

A little bit of tinkering and then fitted them to the ship.