Paul! Too right! I won't bet against you. As I was predicting using 50-60% I thought - really?While I am generally not first in line to criticize kit offerings (because my expectations are pretty low) - it seems like the best we can say is that the parts came in a very nice box.
50-60%? I'll take the under and offer odds.
Pete! I'm just following in the footsteps of giants. I learned a lot from your work in particular. I am excited to make this sow's ear into a silk purse. I know I can count on you and my other shipmates on SOS to help me get there!Mamoli or not, I've always managed to achieve something to be proud of out of it. I'd be kit bashing whatever the mfg. I like scratch building and detailing stuff. I like the research and finding the ship at some particular iteration that the history and research reveals and create what that. If past is prologue, I gather you do as well.
Pete
Sorry for being a bit late, but here’s my sincere Congratulations, Chuck.What ho, shipmates!
I don't know why, but I remain amazed at how time flies. Thank all of you for checking in on this log. I promise to get started sooner rather than later.
So, "What's the hold up?", you may ask. Well, there was the 50 mile ultra marathon and the end of the semester and a trip to Ireland. All of that took up way too much time. And since Brad @BradNSW was interested in how the ultra went, I'll spend a post on that experience.
I've been a cowboy all my life. I've also been Superman and Batman. One of the things cowboys have is big belt buckles. They earn them. Earning a belt buckle was near the top of the bucket list I have been constructing in my head lately. So, how does a 60-year-old man earn a belt buckle? Since I know nothing about bull riding or bronco riding or barrel racing, I needed to find another way. Turns out that you can earn a belt buckle if you complete a long race. My particular race was the Frisco Railroad Run in Willard, Missouri. The race has several options 8K, 13.1 miles, 26.2 miles, 50 kilometers and 50 miles. You can earn a buckle at 50 km or 50 miles. The 50 K buckle is smaller than the 50 mile buckle, and what's the point. 50 km is only 32 miles. Hardly more than a marathon and I've done a few to test my grit.
You should know that my usual training regimen for a marathon is to do nothing. Why train if how fast I can run has nothing to do with it? I complete a marathon from time to time to test whether I can compel my body to complete the race. It's all a test, for me, of whether I have the grit. So I smoke 4-5 cigarettes, drink a pot of black coffee, and get up and do it. With the ultra, my admiral made me train. So, I spent 5 hours one Saturday and got about 20 miles under my belt. Then a couple of weeks later I spent three hours. Training complete. Now 50 miles.
You should know that I talked about it and so did my admiral (spoiler alert she finished 3 hours before me). So, at 4 a.m., I started.View attachment 520740
About mile 21 here's what happened:
View attachment 520741
By the time I got to the turn-around (mile 25) I was fading. The balls of my feet were burning - blisters!I could also feel the pain of the toe-nails I was going to lose. Some of you know what I'm talking about. About mile 31, I started to negotiate - how could I cheat? It took about 5 miles to figure out that cheating was not feasible. Also, I wouldn't have been able to live with myself. It was about then that I felt a searing pain on the bottom of my right foot. It took a few strides before I understood that the blisters had exploded. Once I knew what had happened, I felt ok. I also started negotiating again. The race organizers gave runners an option to downgrade their race. So, having completed 50 km, all I had to do was get to the next aid station and wait to be driven back to the start. But I had talked about it. And when I talked about it I talked about 50 MILES. Nope. No way. I could never live with that. That negotiation lasted until about mile 44 when the blisters on the left foot burst. About that time, I understood what commitment was about. I had been suffering since mile 31. I learned that suffering is choice. I decided to choose to accept that the pain was part of the journey. Every painful step was a step closer to fulfilling the commitment I made to myself. So the last 6 miles were cake. (And if you believe that, I have some excellent swamp land for sale with no snakes
Here's a video of my finish. My admiral, the Lovely Renee is handing me the belt buckle.
View attachment 520742
I've been wearing it everyday.
View attachment 520743
Thanks for letting me share this with you.
Blessings. Peace. Gratitude.
Chuck
You give use a nice looking inside your suffering and thoughts during the run. As a long distance runner/walker/biker/climber I can fully endorse what’s going on in your mind and play’s tricks with you. Only the smoking ……
But that’s a choice, the same as not stopping at 50km but go for the 50ml. 
. Enjoy the build and there will be plenty of Chuck mods and additions to the kit no doubt. Have fun. Cheers Grant
Martin! I get the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang reference! One of my favorites as a kid. Nothing better than a flying car - which we all should have had by now
Thank you for checking in Peter! I know you have been quite busy with your masterpiece!Sorry for being a bit late, but here’s my sincere Congratulations, Chuck.
Thanks for sharing.
And nice to see you had the time to open the box and get ready to start.
Regards Peter
Grant! Thank you for checking in! Too right, my friend! Looking forward to the build - I'll let you in on a secret - I assembled the false keel yesterdayGood morning Chuck. At least the box is open now and the action can begin.
One really does wonder who makes these objects and why do they have to be made so out of proportion
I'm just glad there are alternatives out there!Ha, you dug deeper into shipmodell than i had , allthough i use that site quite a lot, so , cheers ! I'll put a line out on the french sites to see if i can find any deckfish, we'll see what comes back. I will have to get the series by W&R , i can tell !Martin! I get the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang reference! One of my favorites as a kid. Nothing better than a flying car - which we all should have had by now
Your L'Aigle is looking great! BTW, the plans I mentioned are free. Here's the link https://www.shipmodell.com/index_files/0PLAN_ATLAS3.html The plans are at GM14-0744 - 0747.
As to the Winfield and Roberts book - there are a total of 3 they compliment Winfield's British Warship series. L'Aigle is not in the book I mentioned. I'll check the other one that I have called "French Warships in the Age of Steam. "
I have been able to find additional pictures of the Sphinx model and I found pictures of the Meteor model. Although both predate the Darien class of steam frigates, they are useful in understanding how these ships looked - paint scheme, rigging and what I can see of the deck. What I'm really missing is information about the actual deck plans for any ship in the Darien class and there were 14 of them. L'Orenoque was in the final group which included Groenland, Montezuma, Panama, Albatross, and Labrador. Perhaps some of your compatriots can help?
Blessings.
Chuck
I found it required waaay more patience and time than I had originally allotted to the task.
be prepared with a lot of the afore mentioned and an ample supply of very sharp scalpel blades. Go at the tabs from alternating sides to cut them through. NOT from one side exclusively!Some of the paddlewheel sections look really delicate.Cutting through the plywood tabs holding the laser parts in place is a real challenge, especially with the more fragile parts.
Cutting through the plywood tabs holding the laser parts in place is a real challenge, especially with the more fragile parts.
What ho, Pete and Martin! Too right about getting through the plywood. Pete, thanks for the helpful advice! Happily, I was working on both sides and you confirmed the right way to go about the work of removing the parts. Getting the thick parts (5mm) out was a bit of a chore. On the other frets (do we call them frets if it's wood?) the work was easier and quicker - once the front side was cut the cut on the backside released the parts completely! Yes, the wheel parts are delicate. I think I'm glad that they are on a thinner fret so I won't have to try to muscle through the laser tabs.
Martin! Thank you! These images are extremely helpful! The deck plan of the 450 steam frigate New Yorck and the illustration of the Darien's deck plus the other images we've found have confirmed that the very busy deck of the kit is pure fiction. Excellent! The idea of a large pilot house somehow got into the kit designer's head and he went with it. But it was never a part of this class of ships. Unfortunately, the kit is designed with a huge square hole in the middle of the deck which is meant to be covered by the pilot house. No problem - I'll get by
