JamesHatch Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 Hi all, When I came back into modelling about 10 or 11 years ago, I did so with timber ships, and in the meanwhile have built ships such as clippers, Spanish galleons, fishing boats etc. I like to keep my hand in from time to time, so in this 500th anniversary year of the launching of Henry VIII's pride and joy, the Mary Rose, I thought I'd crack open this great kit that I bought back in 2005 while visiting the Mary Rose at Portsmouth. Timber ships aren't cheap to buy, but the work that goes into them does mean that they yield excellent value for money. As you can imagine, I'll not be rushing this, but I will keep this updated with progress. The model will be finished with walnut, tanganijka, lime, with Madagascan ebony for some detail work. I intend to add some colour as per the Tudor propaganda paintings, along with hand painted silk pennants etc. First of all, the heavy duty plywood CNC milled bulkhead former and bulkheads are removed from the sheets, along with various other main constructional parts such as the dummy cannon blocks and deck camber beams. This shows the model with a partial dry fit. There are some failings on this kit, such as the 2 layers of planking, both 1mm thick, which when installed will swallow up the depth of the beautiful walnut keel, so to that end, I've installed a rabbet strip along the main bulkhead former, and introduced a bearding line both fore and aft. This will allow the first lime planking to install into the rabbet and be hidden in the chiseled area next to the bearding line. Here's some pics to show what I mean: With the walnut keel now installed and dry, the 13 hull bulkheads are now installed, and the main gun deck glued and nailed into position. This keeps everything straight and square. The dummy gun mount blocks are now added and the deck camber beams fitted. The thin main deck simply can't fit into place in one single piece, so I have split this down the middle so it can be installed once this deck is planked below the upper and forecastle decks. The exposed area of this main deck is planked at a later stage, so this is good. I have hit one problem though. I bought this kit in 2005 from the Mary Rose museum, and only just noticed that the tanganijka deck planking is MISSING I now need to try out JoTikas customer service and see how quick they are at getting me some out so I can continue. More on this when I start deck planking, so give me a few days to get my timber and make a start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeroenpeters Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 Hi James, Never had the guts to try my luck with real wood. Will follow this and see if I can grow some bollocks! I trust it's a whole different discipline! The UK and Holland have a long tradition with these baby's, so maybe it's in the gene's. Who knows! Cheers, Jeroen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesHatch Posted May 8, 2011 Author Share Posted May 8, 2011 (edited) Hi Jeroen, You need to start with something a little less complicated than this, such as an Artesania Latina kit, like the San Francisco II or something in a similar vein. You're a darn good modeller, and I expect you'll treat the new methods of construction with attention to detail....y' know...measure thrice, and cut once! This would be a good starter kit, a Spanish fishing boat. This was a BIG project, for when you have confidence This was a commission build: And this was the last project I worked on before ditching wood to build again in plastic. This model is built from copies of real shipyard drawings. Seriously complicated: Edited May 8, 2011 by James H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeroenpeters Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 Hi Jeroen, ...y' know...measure thrice, and cut once! HAHA! You're overrating me! I'm from the 'don't measure and cut three times' school! I was actually thinking of starting with a wooden life boat of the Titanic (no joke...) Still, I'll lurke here and watch you first.... Cheers, Jeroen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesHatch Posted May 8, 2011 Author Share Posted May 8, 2011 coward!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wurzacher Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 Jim, please stop posting any more pictures of these models and your craftmanship. I am building on my Revell Ju 88 for over two years now, a too long time for such a great and easy to build kit. So it really get dragged down seeing you doing fantastic models with ships now, too! Is there anything you are not good in? Makes me scared... It´s hard to compare your awesome skills with my attempts to get a simple kit together. Need a rope now, and a tall tree... No, just kidding! I even don´t have a rope around here, hehe... Jim, I knew that you are in these old warships, but seeing them on these pictures is another thing. You are a very talented guy, do you know? Hope you get this replacement part for the Mary Rose! Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRutman Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 Very nice. I have always been tempted to scratchbuild an American 74 gun liner or maybe even our only 120 gun liner. Hmmmm..... J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesHatch Posted May 9, 2011 Author Share Posted May 9, 2011 (edited) Very nice. I have always been tempted to scratchbuild an American 74 gun liner or maybe even our only 120 gun liner. Hmmmm..... J Hi Jerry, Go on....you know you wanna The timber for the decking etc is now ordered and should be here soon. I need to fathom what planking shift pattern the Tudors used and pop the deck planks on in that arrangement. Nothing's ever simple eh? @Thomas, you flatter me!!! Edited May 9, 2011 by James H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesHatch Posted May 15, 2011 Author Share Posted May 15, 2011 Thankfully JoTika got my missing timber to me within 24 hours, and work could continue. The timber itself was a little roughly cut, and also not of uniform thickness or width, so some careful matching had to be done when fitting out the decks. These problems weren't too bad, and everything cleaned up pretty well, and the deck was laid using white glue (Evo-Stik PVA) For and aft decks are laid with plank edges inked with a 'Sharpie' pen to simulate caulk. You need to be swift when marking this or it will bleed....well it did with my timber! Full length planks were at 60mm, and installed with a shift system. I don't know if it was right for the period, but hey ho! When the decks were sanded back, they were varnished with matt acrylic varnish to prevent the yellowing that you get with a lot of polyurethanes. Deck camber beams where then placed over these decks to support the upper decks, and now the really fun job of sanding the bulkhead profiles begins, before I can start to plank the hull. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmayhew Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Aha (or should that be ahoy?)...so this is what shipbuilding is all about! Very cool stuff indeed. Makes PE flaps look a breeze! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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