Elizabethan merchantman - photos

Modeling Subjects Ships
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My Revell 1:70 Mayflower is coming along. The hull has been assembled, two days ago it was primed, and today it got its ground color, then an over color, and finally an oil paint wash. It will have to dry for some time, now.

This is my first ship model in a very long time, and I’m learning. Revell’s large Mayflower is a great kit, but comes in a shallow, flimsy box. The hull halves were distorted, the beakhead bent, masts bent ,etc. I managed to get the hull together, although with a bit of torque to the hull.

I’d post photos but I have to figure out how that works, first. I also have a bit to do on the hull, blacking the ironwork, etc.

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The hull is almost complete and its time to start rigging! The forward sheave post is inside the forecastle, with the fore halyard and lift rising out of an opening in the forecastle deck. It has to be set up before the deck can be installed.

Brian Lavery’s rigging plan for Susan Constant shows the plan here, but I’m wondering how high the halyard would rise (half up the mast? not even out of the forecastle?) and what type of thread - maybe something sturdy, given its use?

[edit] Now I see - the lifts need to be at least long enough to allow the yard room to lower to the deck, so its calculation based on the mast size. But it does look that the “rope” size would be sturdy enough to support the weight of the yard, and it does not look like it would be tarred.

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Here are some shots, thanks to my friend Marc, whose hosting them. Sorry about the light quality!

The masts are painted and dry fitted at this point.

Here is a detail of the stern, showing the new ribs where the poop cabin was. The deck has not been glued, and the leaded glass windows need to be installed.

Here is a detail of the bow. The plastic ship’s bell was removed and a brass HO or S scale locomotive bell will be hung in its place. Then the cap can go on.

This is my first ship build, and I can see where I need to improve in a lot of areas, so thanks for all the advice and direction.

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Woodburner…

Maybe looking at these will help?

http://gallery.drydockmodels.com/mayflower

Jeff

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Oooppppsss…Forgot!

She looks fantastic!

I love the photos…Lighting is just fine IMHO!

Jeff

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Great going so far. Can you tell us how you painted the hull, did you use a stain?. It looks most conviencing.

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Jeff, Thanks for the link and comments, the photos are really great!

Dick, the hull is painted with a yellow ochre (I used model railroad paints, since thats what I normally do) made from acrylic “depot buff” followed by a wash or two of acrylic Tester’s wood mixed with reefer grey. Then it was given a turp and oil wash of burnt umber mixed with small amounts of black and white to grey it a bit. I wiped the paint off with a paper towel, and Revell’s planking detail did the rest.

I discovered that acrylic paints put into still wet oil/turp washes will absorb pigment, giving a neat weathered effect, although I didnt really use it to good effect here.

The upperworks are mineral red, engine black and a greyish color made from reefer grey and wood. The yellow stripes are HO scale switcher safety stripe decals, with a clearcoat, and a very thin oil/turp wash afterwards to tone them down. The weathering at the lower part of the stripe is a grey felt tip art pen with a q-tip wipe. I also used the pens to mark iron work, etc., and you can mix colors to create rust, patina, etc. The masts are Tamiya wood deck tan, PollyScale engine black, and a washes and wipes of railroad tie brown, all acrylics.

I have a long ways to go and want to do a better, finer and less thick surface on the next ship, but this one is a lot of fun. The thing I have to get better at is decking

Thanks, Jim

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Keep it up Jim…She’s gonna be fantastic!

And ‘More Pic’s as you progress please!’

Jeff

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Nice work!

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Jim

That is very nice.Your wood effect is super.Keep us up dated on your build.

Rod

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I had to look twice on that ‘wood’ hull- WOW! I look forward to seeing her finished.

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I went to see which Mayflower model I had and found that it was an Arfix model. Does anyone have an idea if this is a reasonable example of a generic, small galleon of the late 16th/ early 17th century?

Thanks for your comments,

Richard

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The Airfix Mayflower is a nice kit. To my eye, at least, it’s thoroughly believable. It differs quite a bit from the Mayflower II, but Professor Baker, the latter’s designer, would be the first to emphasize that any reconstruction of a ship from that period involves so much guesswork that there’s no such thing as a “definitive reconstruction.”

The term “galleon” is a little tricky. We discussed the problem in another thread recently; here’s the link: /forums/1/723445/ShowPost.aspx#723445

As the term was usually applied, no reconstruction of the Mayflower qualifies as a “galleon” because she wasn’t a warship. The only plastic kits on the market that do fit the usual definition, to my knowledge, are long extinct: the Imai “Spanish Galleon” and the two Airfix versions of the Revenge. (One was a tiny little kit that originally was sold in a plastic bag; the other, about 18" long, is a basically sound one, though rather basic in terms of detail. It’s been out of production for quite a few years, but can still be found.)

The word “galleon,” however, was used so casually that it would be unreasonable to put too fine a definition to it. I’ve run across the term “merchant galleon” more than once.

The two kits you definitely want to avoid, if you’re interested in what the ships in question actually looked like, are the big Revell “Spanish Galleon” and “Elizabethan Man-of-War.” They date from the mid-seventies, a particularly dark period in Revell’s history when the company was fighting to stay in business. Those two kits, as Revell took pains to emphasize in its trade advertising, were designed for interior decorators rather than serious modelers. (According to Dr. Graham’s fine history of Revell, the “research” for them was done in the library of a Hollywood movie studio.) They have identical hulls and many other parts - and neither, by most reasonable definitions, qualifies as a scale model.

Woodburner - that’s a beautiful model. The “wood grain” effect is spectacular, and the removal of the uppermost deck level gives the ship a completely different - but eminently believable - character. The only suggestion I’d offer so far would be to come up with a different method to mount the finished model. That stand provided in the kit just doesn’t do it justice.

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Thanks for all the comments, they are really encouraging especially since this is my first ship build. I hope I can do a better job on the next one! I’m away from my desk this week for business, and am looking forward to getting back home and going onto the next step, which will be rigging, starting with the fore halyards.

Professor, I’m glad you find the lower stern acceptable; because this particular kit had been badly stored and damaged, I took the opportunity to lower the stern, something I probably would not do on a kit in better condition. It did turn out well, which is credit to William Baker - and a great relief, too.

The planking detail credit is all Revell’s - its beautifully done and the oil wash just lets it show up to its best advantage. I’d really like to build this again, and work on my skills to do this really right.

The Airfix Golden Hind, on the other hand, will need a bit more sugury and modifications. I’ve already removed the carved hind, but now I see that the transom board above it is far too high and arched to be representitive of English ships in the 1570s. I think Airfix looked to Vasa for inspiration here, a nice idea and thoughtful, but unfortunately the wrong era and national tradition. So the high arch along with its “carved” coats of arms will have to go and a lower transom board with an additional rail and a low camber more like that on Matthew Baker’s “fish drawing” will replace it. The side rails along the poop deck arc upwards towards the stern - I’m wary of that, maybe only from not seeing it in contemporary images. I’ll even out the rails so they maintain an equal distance from the rail below it, again like the Baker drawings.

Glad its all coming along - I could not have gotten this far without everyone’s ideas, the Professor’s knowlage and Millard’s oil washes to look for for inspiration.

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Airfix Revenge is still extinct Professor, but the Spanish Galleon is not. It’s currently being produced by Aoshima from original molds, who bought them after Imai’s last bankruptcy. You can see the whole range in http://www.hlj.com/hljlist2/?Maker1=AOS&MacroType=NavKit&GenreCode=Nav&Dis=2

and Jim, you are doing a fantastic job, keep it going !

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That’s good new indeed, Kapudan. The old Imai sailing ship kits, in Aoshima boxes, seem to have been trickling into the lists of American mail order hobby shops over the past year or so. The whole range doesn’t seem to be available (yet), but there are some mighty nice kits on that list. I particularly recommend the 1/120 Cutty Sark, which, in my opinion, is the most accurate replica of that ship ever in kit form - plastic, wood, or otherwise.

One that’s conspicuous by its absence from the list is the Imai 1/200 U.S.C.G.C Eagle. That appears to be the only Eagle kit ever that wasn’t based on the wrong plans. (We’ve discussed that curious situation on several other threads.)

On a less optimistic note, I see that, on the Japanese site to which Kapudan kindly linked us, all of the ex-Imai sailing ships are marked either “out of stock” or “back-ordered.” I wonder just what’s going on here. It looks to me like anybody who’s interested in acquiring any of those kits had best grab it in a hurry.

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[:D]

Don’t worry professor, it isn’t another closing of production line [:)] As you see, their price is fairly high and considering how limited is the sailship builders community, they don’t have the level of admirers as Tamiya or Dragon 1/35 series do. As this is the case, hlj staff don’t stock them in their regular depot, instead they order one or two right from the company when an order is placed. It usually gets ready in a couple of weks. İndeed, the backordered Spanish Galleon you see on the link is a result of my latest order [;)]

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I would be interested in 2 or 3 “Sprues of the 1/100th figures!” that they had.

Would go great with my ‘Heller Victory’.

Sad to see any line of models go out of production.

Jeff

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I’m amazed at how you’ve made the plastic look like wood! I’m bookmarking this thread so I can try what you have done here.

Great job! Can’t wait to see it finished!

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Back on the Imai kits again - I see Squadron Mail Order (www.squadron.com) lists about half a dozen of them (under the Aoshima label). The “Spanish Galleon” and Cutty Sark are among them. Go to “search,” then specify “ship models” and “Aoshima.”

All of them except one are priced at $136.00 apiece. (The exception is one of the big Japanese sail training ships, which is even more expensive.) If you’re actually going to build such a kit and really do it justice - which, in the case of something like the Cutty Sark, would mean over a year’s work - that’s not a bad investment (compared to the prices of other leisure-time activities). I have to say that for me personally, with a mortgage, car payment, kid’s student loan, etc., etc. to worry about, and in view of the fact that I wouldn’t get to the it for a long time, it’s out of the question. But I’d urge any real, scale sailing ship model enthusiasts who can afford it to grab at least one of those kits while you can. There’s just no telling how long they’ll be available.