Awesome work, Thomas. Even though your little torpedo boat destroyer seems to be fighting you every step of the way (we've all done those!), she is coming together beautifully.

I especially like those perforated "steel" upper decks!

DITTO!

Hi guys! Great work on all that PE Thomas. Really enjoying everyone's progress.

I'm calling my lifeboat done. It took a while on the crew figures but I think they were perfect for the boat. Even the bosun is molded just right to hold the tiller. The figure set includes 14 figures with half in common uniform for British and American sailors in the 1812 War time frame. Most of the crew are wearing Tarpaulin hats which were almost as common as the shorter round hat. The other half are in working slops. The same manufacturer also makes seated Royal Marines. I painted the figures based on illustrations from the US Navy's historical staff depicting enlisted uniforms from the 1814 Battle of Lake Erie. I wish my painting skills could do them justice.

I finished adding the final details after installing the crew. I also wanted to try and tighten up the lines if I could. I came up with the idea of suspending the spar to put more tension on the lines since it was only connected to the mast pulley. I put a paint brush under each side of the spar and taped them to the tops of two spray cans. the weight of the boat provided the tension to straighten the lines. I ran a drop of thin CA glue down each line and let it dry. This stiffed the lines and made a big improvement. I wouldn't recommend this method for heavier applications but it worked for me.

Anyway, here are my final photos. I apologize again for my photo quality.

John

Hi guys again. I'm having trouble locating the campaign gallery. Has it been set up yet?
Thanks
John

Hi John,

Wow, I was liking your boat before, but those Bluejackets really bring it to life! Outstanding, creative work as usual!

Great finish to the boat John and the figures in action look superb.

cheers
Michael

The gunboat is superb! The figures you added make it come alive, and give a better feeling of the boat's size - something that is lost when just the scale is stated. Each figure is an individual. Well done.

Fantastic Work John! Lovely little kit

John - really great work on this boat. What scale is this? I'm always amazed and admire someone's ability to work at such small scales.

Thanks everyone for your kind comments. I had a lot of fun building it and now I can finally say I completed a build this year!

Robert, in regard to your scale question, the box says 1/72 scale. However the first group of figures I was going to use, 1/72 American Revolution Colonial Soldiers seemed way too big for the boat. The oars included in the kit were as long as the boat, ~ 18-20 scale feet long, which seemed too long for me as well. The figures I used are 1/100 scale (18mm) wargame lead miniatures. They fit so well I wonder if the manufacturer had this kit in mind. In either scale, it's a small boat. A little over 3 inches long. I'm considering getting another kit and doing a fishing boat or pirate skiff. I have 6 figures in working dress and the bow carronade left from the set.
Thanks
John

The small German M 50 minesweeper is done. Launched with little fanfare as I can say the dockyard was glad to see the back of this one. The ComBrig kit had excellent resin mouldings, just awful photoetch.

Here he sails, the sign was cut out of the box lid.




cheers
Michael

Great result Michael, I like your ship a lot

We just need a campaign gallery to post pictures now - I already contacted the moderator about it...

Cheers

Thomas

Ahoy Next is me steaming through the finish line! This small vessel was very demanding to my skills as it is very fragile. I´ve made one big mistake: At the beginning I didn´t drilled the mast holes properly into the resin hull. Very often (and I mean very often) both mast got loose during construction, painting and even more bad during rigging) and had to be fixed again very carefully. I also didn´t choosed soldering the brass mast parts together but just to glue them with CA-glue. All connections therefore broke one or two times, too.

I spended some oars from my spare parts to both lifeboats and made the flag out of a whinebottle´s leadfoil.

But now everything is accomplished and the lady looks very elegant to me and she will get a separate plexiglass case and an honorable space in my office´s desk. Enjoy the last pics:























It was a pleasure for me and I will watch with interest the other efforts!

Cheers

Thomas

Great outcome Thomas! I know how you feel about the masts. I certainly had to reset a few times both front and back. In the end I didn't think they would stand up to rigging so I left it.

Cheers
Michael

Michael,

My compliments - even without rigging, that is one clean, smooth build. I like the sign cut out of the box lid too - a creative and effective solution!

Thomas,

You have tamed that crazy photoetch and brought the model to your usual impressive conclusion. Outstanding work!

Interesting take on that elevated deck, by the way -

I had assumed that the open planking was steel grate. Wood is so much more attractive!

Thank you very much Michael

Hi Tim,

Thank you very much but I can assure you this will stay my only build of the Arquebuse class . Slowly I can dare to tackle ENCORE´s Premium Edition of the USS Olympia too, eh?

The planking were ordered to paint wooden according to the instructions. From the few pictures I saw I also assume it was a wooden deck.

Cheers

Thomas

Thomas, I did a Encore USS Olympia build a few years back - I'd love to see your interpretation of that kit!

Michael and Thomas,
Superb work gentlemen. Great detail work. You both have the talent of an artist and the patience of a saint. I know I probably will never tackle a resin kit but it's been a pleasure following your work.
Well done.
John

Thanks Tim,
It was a challenge working in a small scale again. I may re-visit the rigging, especially if can find an idea of how it should look.

cheers
Michael

Cheers John,
the Combrig resin is pretty good, no different than styrene except you get way more detail. Unfortunately with this kit most of the key elements were etch and it was very demenading of my patience.

thanks

Michael

Michael and Thomas - Wonderful work on the models !!!

Thanks Robert, I am glad you like it.

cheers
Michael