Landlubber Mike

Time to put some cannons in.  Going back to the concept of putting together shapes a cannon consists of a cylinder sitting on a rectangle.  For the cylinder I opened up an old cell phone charger cable and pulled out the black wire.  For the rectangle I found a nice dark veneer and cut strips.  I still had to thin it a bit to fit the cannons in the gun ports. Good to be aware of sizing on this part.


Here it is with all the carriages glued in. 

If you can get a hold of or build this tool I highly recomend it.  It really helps keep my length cuts consistent.

Here it is with cannons.

One of the last parts the hull needs is the channelsnfor the rigging.  This is the piece chain plates and deadeys attach to on real ships.  For this I cut a piece of veneer, drilled four holes and glued it to the side of the hull where the backstays will attach.  This piece will be used for those back stays.  
Starting to get into masts and rigging.  More to come.

Thanks John - that makes sense.  Not sure why I didn't think of that ?

Wow, it's been two years since I last posted.  Between work, kids and working on my larger models, time has really flown.
So when I dusted the Challenge off, I decided I wasn't happy with the hull.  The shape was a little boxy, and when adding the decks, I realized I didn't carve the hull deep enough so my bulwarks were non-existent.  I also thought that the red stripe (which I made from redheart) was a bit out of scale.  After sleeping on it, I decided to redo the hull...
It took a few weeks, but I like the results.  I set up a second blank to do two at once and have the option of just picking the best one and use the other for practice or trying out techniques (or bottling both), but the first one came out pretty nicely so I might just stick with it.

Wow, it's been two years since I last posted.  Between work, kids and working on my larger models, time has really flown.
So when I dusted the Challenge off, I decided I wasn't happy with the hull.  The shape was a little boxy, and when adding the decks, I realized I didn't carve the hull deep enough so my bulwarks were non-existent.  I also thought that the red stripe (which I made from redheart) was a bit out of scale.  After sleeping on it, I decided to redo the hull...
It took a few weeks, but I like the results.  I set up a second blank to do two at once and have the option of just picking the best one and use the other for practice or trying out techniques (or bottling both), but the first one came out pretty nicely so I might just stick with it.

Made a little more progress yesterday in attaching the red stripe.  I thought about using thread, but decided to go with some redheart wood instead which I'm using on some of my other builds.  
 
Took quite a while - I shaved off the thinnest sliver I could off my Byrnes table saw, then used a combination of razor blades, x-acto knives and sandpaper to get the end product.  Redheart is a fairly strong wood, but when you are working with pieces at 0.15mm in thickness, it's hard to get a 70mm length without it splitting.  All in all it came out fairly well.  I need to touch it up a bit, and clean the ends at the stern, but am fairly happy with how things ended up.
 

Right now I'm in the process of working on the cap rails and other hull features.  I've also given thought on the bottle to use.  I was originally going to use a growler - it has the advantages of giving me lots of extra room, and is horizontal which would make insertion a lot easier:
 

 
 
I took a look at the various bottles I have been collecting, and it looks like the ship would fit perfectly in this tequila bottle.  The problem is that there isn't going to be much room to maneuver the ship around in the bottle after insertion if I use the hinged-mast method given how long the bowsprit and main mast are.  I wasn't planning on using the hinge method so that helps at least - i just need to figure out how to get it done.  I've seen the dimple and draw string method, but if the bottle is upright, that makes things a little more complicated.
 

 
 
Decisions, decisions

I'm not a big fan of paints, which I think are too heavy, so I am using stains on this build.  The white for the upper hull is General Finishes "Whitewash" and the green on the lower hull is Minwax Express Color "Emerald."
 

 

 
 
For the deck, I ended up taking a piece of maple that I sanded down to about 0.2mm in thickness.  I stained it darker with General Finishes "Colonial Pine."  To make the caulking, I applied Gesso, then used a blade to scribe the lines, which I then stained and wiped with General Finishes "Antique Oak."
 

Initial Hull Construction
 
The hull is made from basswood, with the bulkheads made from 0.4mm plywood that I feathered into the hull.  I have never been very good at painting, so I decided to split the hull along the waterline.  I also added a cutwater and rudder.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is my first scratch SIB build.  I built the Hannah SIB from the Amati kit last year, and since then have acquired and read a number of the SIB books that are out there.  The Amati kit was a good introduction, but I felt there were too many limitations with the heavy use of photo-etched parts.  So, rather than do another kit, I thought I would take the plunge and scratch my next build, especially after getting inspired by people like Daniel and Igor and the many other great modelers on here.
 
I've been working on the Challenge off and on for the past month or so, working on it in between two larger ship models (the Amati Pegasus kit and the Model Shipways Charles Morgan whaler).  I originally picked the generic Cutter and Gaff Schooner from the Joop van Schouten book as first builds (using other books, especially the Hille & Young book, to improve it), but then decided to find an actual ship to model.  Eventually I came across the Challenge in Chapelle's "The History of American Sailing Ships" and Laszlo and Woodman's "The Story of Sail," which had great plans and detail pictures.  Since it was very close to the generic Gaff Schooner in van Schouten, I thought it would make a good first build:
 

 

 

 
 
I also found some pictures on the internet to help with color scheme, etc., including someone's build of an AJ Fisher kit:
 

 

 

 

 
 
So, with all those resources, I figured the only thing holding me back was my (lack of) skill

Wow, it's been two years since I last posted.  Between work, kids and working on my larger models, time has really flown.
So when I dusted the Challenge off, I decided I wasn't happy with the hull.  The shape was a little boxy, and when adding the decks, I realized I didn't carve the hull deep enough so my bulwarks were non-existent.  I also thought that the red stripe (which I made from redheart) was a bit out of scale.  After sleeping on it, I decided to redo the hull...
It took a few weeks, but I like the results.  I set up a second blank to do two at once and have the option of just picking the best one and use the other for practice or trying out techniques (or bottling both), but the first one came out pretty nicely so I might just stick with it.

Wow, it's been two years since I last posted.  Between work, kids and working on my larger models, time has really flown.
So when I dusted the Challenge off, I decided I wasn't happy with the hull.  The shape was a little boxy, and when adding the decks, I realized I didn't carve the hull deep enough so my bulwarks were non-existent.  I also thought that the red stripe (which I made from redheart) was a bit out of scale.  After sleeping on it, I decided to redo the hull...
It took a few weeks, but I like the results.  I set up a second blank to do two at once and have the option of just picking the best one and use the other for practice or trying out techniques (or bottling both), but the first one came out pretty nicely so I might just stick with it.

Rough blank carved. Have to start the hull detail and carve keel section and hull contour. Also, a fellow on MSW sent me a link to a small boat building slip of which I'll build one of for my little tray. See link  http://www.hobbyzone.pl/en/boat-building-tools/105-small-building-slip.html

Continuation
Artur

Using masking tape defined the width of the black stripe.Needs a touch up in places. I don't use thin sticky black tape which can be bought from a hobby store because I  have the feeling that it can peel off at a later date.The three litre 'Grants' whisky bottle that I hope its going in! Added some reddish oxide for the waterline and tentatively marked where I think the masts and funnel will go.When I am happy with their position I will then cut up the hull,in four pieces?

In reply to 'exwafoo'  I lived very close to the Dockyard in the early 1980's and after the Royal Navy left I had the good fortune to work there on early restoration work on some of the buildings. We had full access to the Dockyard so of course explored everywhere. In the process I took quite a lot of black and white photographs some of which  I have posted here. I think where the Sunderland flying boat was parked is now the Visitors centre and car park. The' Medway Queen' looked in a sorry state then but I believe she is fully restored now.

Hi All,
Came across this demo whilst browsing. There are definitely some techniques here that I haven't seen before, and talk about minimum tools and materials! However the finished SIB is worth a look at.
Alan
 

First painting with a spray white primer.

Using 0.4 mm birch veneer cut out the raised fore and poop decks. Haven't figured out yet how I am going to fix them in place.

The Gannet figure head turned out too large so I made a smaller version .

Made a start. Had to patch some wood that I had together as she will be 22,5 cm long (9 " approx). Luckily a book on HMS Gannet has just been published so I am using it for reference...

I got the templates made so I am ready to start carving the hull.

There are the two (port and starboard) 5 inch pivot gun bases which will be on the Poop deck. They are indicated by the arrow. I made these simply by cutting a couple of wooden beads in half.

Moving on to constructing the armoured embrasures. Took a lot of measuring and trail and error before I was satisfied with them.

Checking the height for the masts and seeing what it looks like with the bowsprit.

Looks really good Onni.  For the planking and bulwarks, did you just use a single piece of styrene per side?  I thought about taking a similar approach with my current build, but I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get the piece to lay flat against the hull with all the compound curves.