That’s indubitably the best way!
Edit: Though now I think about it, I wonder why you waste good building time reading my sesquipedalian drivel.
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HM Armed Cutter Alert (1777) - Vanguard Models - 1/64 - Completed Build
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That’s indubitably the best way!
Edit: Though now I think about it, I wonder why you waste good building time reading my sesquipedalian drivel.
I'll admit I enjoy reading other people's posts because in doing so, I find nuggets of information and techniques that might enable me (a rather novice builder) to solve a current problem and help me move forward with my build or employ in future builds.
I started a build log and very irregularly post to it but I found that to stop what I'm doing in order to snap a few pics and write up a blurb that few folks are going to read is more of a distraction. However, I'm very thankful and appreciative for those who maintain a very detailed build log such as yourself, Smithy. And as I've posted before, I enjoy your wit and wordsmithing.
...henry
I started a build log and very irregularly post to it but I found that to stop what I'm doing in order to snap a few pics and write up a blurb that few folks are going to read is more of a distraction. However, I'm very thankful and appreciative for those who maintain a very detailed build log such as yourself, Smithy. And as I've posted before, I enjoy your wit and wordsmithing.
...henry
I’m sorry, Henry. I also apologise to any other watcher who has taken my comment personally. What I was really interested in was the general idea that these forums lead us to watch and then become demoralised by the excellence that we find. Not that you’ll find any excellence here on my build log, although I’m frequently told her that it’s a work o fart.
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"last kit"? "end a long career of model making"?Thank you as always, for your concern Allan. I’m very sorry to have wasted your time. You see, the thing is, I don’t even care enough to look at the photos to see what you mean.
To me, it is only a toy boat, not a museum piece for reference, it doesn’t matter to me anymore that blocks are upside down or some lines are simply tied onto the nearest easy place. I lose no sleep about the lack of clove hitches in the ludicrously widely spaced rat lines (which nobody has noticed).
I realise that other people have other priorities and I have held different opinions myself in the fairly recent past concerning the value of ‘authenticity’, but in the words of the philosopher Mr C Gable “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.”
I just want to get it finished to a standard that will impress the casual observer and not offend me too much. Why? So that I’m not defeated by the last kit I ever make, but end a long career of model making by achieving at least those limited goals.
I'm confused. Didn't I read, not too long ago, some very enthusiastic posts from you detailing a planned diorama of a derelict vessel?
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Er.. What do you want me to do about that?
Ouch. Cranky much?
I think your Alert looks fantastic. I hope you do get back to Emma, I was drawn in by the idea and the possibilities.
Brass pin, Araldite, fantasy truss and CA.
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Ah!
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A work of art Smithy.
I must say those ratlines look awesome mate, I'm hoping when I do them on Endurance they don't look "knotted and glued", you seem to
have accomplished a very realistic look
Question: What's with the red rope?
I must say those ratlines look awesome mate, I'm hoping when I do them on Endurance they don't look "knotted and glued", you seem to
have accomplished a very realistic look
Question: What's with the red rope?
That side is the best one for ratlins. The other side is baggy pants.
The red rope? Maybe it’s a signal like a guy with a red bandana in his starboard pocket? Maybe the Captain is a Freemason? Maybe it marks the spot from where the cabin boy fell to his death? Maybe it was a signpost to guide the landlubbers in the crew who couldn’t tell right from left, still less starboard from larboard? Maybe I’m colour blind? Maybe they ran out of brown? Maybe it means that tomato ketchup is the preferred condiment on their salt horse burgers? Maybe it’s a warning to the Captain that if ‘e don’t give up his sinful ways, he won’t last very long? Maybe it’s the mark of a Unit Citation given for turning up on time on a Monday morning? Maybe I cut my finger? Maybe it’s a bus stop for Aylesbury, Oxford and Slough? Maybe it’s a conversation starter? Or finisher? Maybe the artist declines to explain the art so that the viewers might find their own meanings? Maybe I’m teasing? Maybe I’m sworn to secrecy on pain of instant death? Actually it’s …aaaaaaaagh!
The red rope? Maybe it’s a signal like a guy with a red bandana in his starboard pocket? Maybe the Captain is a Freemason? Maybe it marks the spot from where the cabin boy fell to his death? Maybe it was a signpost to guide the landlubbers in the crew who couldn’t tell right from left, still less starboard from larboard? Maybe I’m colour blind? Maybe they ran out of brown? Maybe it means that tomato ketchup is the preferred condiment on their salt horse burgers? Maybe it’s a warning to the Captain that if ‘e don’t give up his sinful ways, he won’t last very long? Maybe it’s the mark of a Unit Citation given for turning up on time on a Monday morning? Maybe I cut my finger? Maybe it’s a bus stop for Aylesbury, Oxford and Slough? Maybe it’s a conversation starter? Or finisher? Maybe the artist declines to explain the art so that the viewers might find their own meanings? Maybe I’m teasing? Maybe I’m sworn to secrecy on pain of instant death? Actually it’s …aaaaaaaagh!
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Beautiful model!
She's looking beautiful Smithy.
Bill
Bill
What I would give to share a pint with you Smithy
Well........not share a pint, that would be creepy....................
Alas, my loyal penpal (and it’s really creepy what autocorrect makes of that word), in poison you would discover that I am as dull as a trainspotter’s anorak, with all the memorable charisma of… I'm trying to think, what was his name? You know in that one movie, the one that's like the other one but not as good? No, the other guy, the really boring one...
The trick in small scale models seems to be finding a thread that’s very noticeably thinner than the shrouds and much lighter in colour.
The knack is getting the tension right which takes practice (you should see the other side of mine) and easy knots. Forget clove hitches, use simple half hitches which allow easy adjustments. Lock them with thin CA when you have each one as straight as you can get it but not tight enough to bend the shrouds inwards.
(I initially tried to make them hang like swags or festoons but even when I more or less succeeded it looked silly, like old sagging cobwebs in a Scooby-Do cartoon.)
Yes, I understand that. I guess I’m desperate for attention or something - the guy on the soapbox ranting into the darkness of the empty street.
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I was thinking of something like a wire tie from a bread bag that could easily be added and removed when the time comes. Simply throwing out ideas. Kind of the same as my day job: I throw out a lot of ideas, but only on rare occasions does one actually gain any acceptance...Well fellows, since the holes were drilled already and the pins installed in the yards before I even took the photos, NOT doing that requires a Time Machine. You know I prefer to use hand tools and avoid expensive electronics so I’m not in the market for a TARDIS.
The pin system, if you think about, it is (perhaps) a strengthening device but the way it makes rigging the yards easier is by holding them to the mast while one lashes them there with the trusses.
I’m afraid I don’t understand your temporary lashing suggestion. Would they not be at the very point where I’d be trying to apply the permanent one? Do you have a method in mind for me to to lash the ends of the yards to the ceiling of my flat giving me the necessary access to their middles?
A three-foot high yard positioning jig with two rigid towers carrying height adjustable yardarm clamps allowing me to jack the yards up and push the boat underneath, maybe?
Oops. The bunting tosser is going to be embarrassed when he tries to raise the ensign. It wasn’t a mistake, honest. It was a practical joke played by the riggers on the signalller.
The instructions for rigging are beautifully clear. Tie a line, cross it off, tie another, cross your eyes, make a cup of tea…
I never thought I’d need these Brobdingnagian tweezers but they were invaluable at one point. I’d dropped a block and it rolled under the desk.
Photographing the whole thing makes my autofocusing camera scream and beg for mercy.
It’s beginning to look very complicated. A viewer could be forgiven for thinking that this is difficult to do. In fact, if you can thread a needle, tie your shoelaces and follow a diagram, it’s a piece of cake, er, several pieces of cake. Fair enough, it’s a bakery, but that just means there are lots of pieces of cake. None of this is difficult, even for my clumsy fingers, the effect of complexity is achieved merely by repetition. Many easy things do not add up to a difficult thing.
Work of art? If a knitted sock is a work of art then so is my model.
Nevertheless, though the doing is a bit of a chore, I’m liking the result.