Armed Virginia Sloop - Lauck Street Shipyards, POF 1:32 Scale, Admiralty Style by DocBlake [COMPLETED BUILD]

I attached the channels, although they have no finish yet. As I hate metalwork, I've yet to complete the chainplates. I drilled the hawse holes and formed the parts for the catheads. They are next up to be installed. Last, I wanted to add a mainsheet horse, but wasn't sure the size. In the end I just made it as long as the partial planking on the cabin roof is wide. I'm still procrastinating with the swivel guns.

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I finally am getting to the swivel guns. I made up 5 yokes to mount the guns (one spare). I used the technique Brian Weikert described in building his MS AVS. They are then cleaned up and blackened. The yokes themselves were silver soldered using Fire Mountain medium flow silver solder paste. For cleanup I used a fine bristled brass brush chucked into my drill press. It buffed up the heat discolored brass and the silver solder nicely. 15 minutes in acetone, rinse, then 15 minutes in muriatic (HCl) acid and rinse. The blackening was Jax Pewter Black which I painted on with a small brush. 2 coats and no flaking off or crusting. The process worked very neatly. I then finished all the trunnions and blackened the swivel guns. Next comes the supports, which shouldn't be too tough. I'm still procrastinating on the chainplates. The catheads are done, but not installed. I'm getting closer to the end!

I cut out 8 rosewood gun supports. For the metal caps I used a 1/4" square styrene tube and glued strip styrene to each end. I trimmed the styrene and cut of the caps. I drilled a pilot hole in each. They were then painted gunmetal color and glued to the gun supports. I enlarged the pilot holes to 1/16" diameter and fixed 4 yokes in place. The trunnions will be threaded through the yokes and guns and fixed with a drop of CA. The 4 starboard supports will have guns, the 4 port supports will be gunless. The grips on the handles are built-up beads of CA glue which is then painted red. 164.jpg165.jpg166.jpg167.jpg168.jpg169.jpg
 
Very good result indeed. I like the appearance of this Jax Pewter Black blackener - worth a try
 
Thanks, guys!

Busy day in the shipyard! I installed all the deadeyes and chainplates and covered the from edge of the channels with some cherry to finish them off. I also glued the gun supports to the hull and assembled the swivel guns. They were mounted (temporarily) on the starboard gun mounts. There are just a few tasks left: The horizontal portion of the catheads, finishing and rigging the anchors, and making the great cabin lights. Almost done!



The ship will be mounted on the backs of some cherry seahorses fixed to a cherry base. I still need to rout a profile on the base and glue the seahorses in place. 3 or 4 coats of wiping varnish and it'll be done.


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She looks great Dave,
I just got one question. Just how many models you got going on here. HAHA! Where do you put them all. We have a large home but I have have to build more furniture to put them in order, or sell'em.
 
Thanks, Mario!

I tend to have a bit of a short attention span, so I keep 2 or 3 builds active so I can switch when I get bored, or frustrated! This build is actually from 2015. We have a pretty big house, and the kids are gone, but we are running out of room too! It's one of the reasons I'm not doing fully rigged stuff all that often.
 
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I started working on the stern lights in the great cabin. The kit includes five 3-D printed lights that look fine, but I wanted mine made of wood. My first decision was, "what color?" The kit-supplied lights are white, so I made up a mockup out of holly. Because my mockup was a little beefier than the kit parts, the white holly seemed way too much. I settled on boxwood. The first step was to cut a few strips of 1/32" thick boxwood to 1/16" in width. I then traced the outline of the kit lights on a piece of paper and covered the drawing with double sided tape. The frames are made in two layers. I laid out the first layer on the double sided tape and used CA to glue the second layer to the first. It's important that the second layer have spans that cover each butt joint of the first layer. If not, the frames fall apart. The crude drawing in the photo is the layout for the 2 layers that make up the frames. There are 18 parts per frame! They need to be cleaned up and fitted to their place on the stern, but overall I'm happy with the result. It was actually easier than I thought it would be! Two more to go.

I finished the stern lights, glued them in place and gave them a coat of poly. Only the catheads and rigging the anchor to complete! 176.jpg177.jpg178.jpg179.jpg180.jpg181.jpg182.jpg183.jpg
 
Thanks!
The model is nearly done. I had a nice wide piece of cherry to use for the display base. The four seahorses support the model on their backs! They need to be sanded and glued in place. I routed a simple cove along the edge of the base to dress it up a bit. I think that's all it needs - a simple cove versus an ogee or other more complicated shape.

I sanded the seahorses and rounded their edges. I used pins and epoxy to fix them to the base and gave the base a coat of poly. All that's left is to mount the guns, cannons and anchor.


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This is a beautiful build Doc. There are so many things I like - the brig-like line to the hull (which I regard as one of the most graceful out there), the painting with wood which is hugely appealing, the variety of deck fittings and planking, all the detail you paid meticulous attention to and lastly, the photography which really sets the ship off to its maximum effect. Well done!First Place Metal
 
Dear Doc
Congratulations, you have reached a beautiful result !!!
I was also interested in learning about your professional construction methods as well. Looking forward to the next model
 
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