Well, here goes. This post is the beginning of what I hope will be a useful and much participated in shared projects thread on the Model Shipways Phantom.

I know that there are a few other members that have ordered the kit – I hope that we can learn from each-others’ experience and advice.

As I mentioned in my post on the scuttlebutt forum, what I have done so far is shape the hull and carve the “caprail step.” I am using Chuck Passaro’s guide, but I added one step to carving the step. After marking and scoring the line 1/8” below the caprail I made cuts perpendicular to that scored line. The cuts were about ¼” apart and at the same depth as the scored line (1/32”). I found that these cuts enabled me to remove the material without splitting the wood.

I will attach a photo to show where the extra cuts were made (marked in red), although they were made before the step was carved. (I failed to take a picture before carving the step.)

~Clayton

Just bought my Phantom kit last week, awaiting it in the mail. Wanted to first amass a worthy tool arsenal, but the deal on modelexpo expires end of Sept. My work area is still a pipedream (my g-friend won't allow any place but the attic)... this isn't all that bad...all I need is a space heater for the winter and some serious furniture moving. It's unfinished, but i relish the idea of my own isolated tinkering area (need to get away from the old lady sometimes ;) ).

Anyway, the kit should arrive this week, and once golf season officially ends in upstate NY (any week now), I will optimistically begin a new hobby that should promise years of enjoyment and frustration.

Ah yes, waiting on the ship myself. My work area will be limited to where I can clean enough space to play. We don't have a spare room or anything for me to take over. In the meantime I guess I will go back to reading, gaming, and programming...

Christian

Work space is something of an issue for me as well. I have a desk and a couple of shelves in the bedroom, which is okay until my wife wants to go to sleep. Apparently the bright light and my grumbling are enough to keep her awake!

Last night I decided to make an adjustable waterline marker so that it will be easier to draw the lines for the copper. I can't decide if I should paint (prime) all of the hull or leave the part that will be coppered bare wood. Any ideas?

I would probably go with priming the entire ship, then do the plates. Reason being is that you are going to need to wait for the primer to dry anyway, and then you don't try to get ahead of yourself with doing the copper while the rest of it is drying. Just my thoughts.

Christian

You make a good point Christian. I had not looked at it that way. One concern I have though is that the copper tape might stick better to wood than paint. I have a few modeling books, but none of them recommend one way or another.
~Clayton

well you have to figure that the reason you prime a part for painting is so that the paint will stick to the object. The same would hold for the copper plates. By priming it before you put on the plates you are helping to seal the wood together so that the copper plates have something to stick to. Its been a bit frustrating when putting tape or foam to bare wood in that not all of the adhesive has something to stick to and you can damage the wood when the tape peals off, the primer helps this.

Christian

I bit the bullet last night and decided to paint to just past the waterline, and to copper up to that. I received and email from Chuck Passaro indicating that he did not paint under the copper tape.

It seems to be going okay. I opted to use individual plates, but chickened out and did not trim them down to 1/8” wide. I am hoping that the plates being a little larger than scale will not overwhelm the model.

I made a few mistakes in starting the line of the plates, but the overall effect seems pleasing.

ETA for my boat is 4th Oct by UPS Ground. So I'll be able to start at that point.

Christian

Excellent. I hope that everyone elses' kits will arrive soon! I am having a great time with mine so far...

I dunno, but when i looked there were a ton, yesterday when i went to check the status of my order, there was only like 3, today there is 45 again. guess its a well sold, well stocked model. I need to charge my camera so I can take pictures along the way. It'll be fun.

I hope that this means that there are lots of people out there that starting the kit. Perhaps we will have more people join the discussion.

I am glad that the pictires are of some help. I don't know that I am doing anything the best way - but it seems to be working.

I hope that you-guys do take pictures and post them. I look forward to seeing how everythng goes once you recieve your kits and get started.

After reading all the post on this model I've decided to bite the bullet and just today ordered it. Over the years I've built plastic models such as the Constitution and did some customizing like making my own rigging and ratlines, put "oil lamp" lighting with batteries inside the hull; a wood whalenboat (I think was a Model Shipways) and just finished the Skaonnet Daysailer (MS) to get back into the swing of things. My eyes are set on the Benjamin Latham but thought I'd better do something on the easier intermediate level -- ergo, the Phantom.

Looking forward to exchanging ideas, helpful tips, photos with other Phantom modellers.

One tip I'll offer -- in reading the Latham directions I note you need small pins for hold parts as they dry. My wife is undergoing acupuncture so I asked her to bring home some needles. They much thinner than straightpin and should work nicely.

Stoneybrook (Ric)

Use Deft, a lacquer based sanding sealer. It dries in an hour and is ready to sand. I use it on all wood parts except decks and mast poles, whether they are subsequently painted or not.

Use it out of the can for hulls. For small parts, get a bottle of nail polish remover, the kind with the little brush attached to the inside of the cap. Empty out the nail polish remover and clean the inside and the brush. Fill it with Deft and keep it handy to coat and sand all the small parts without ever having to clean your brush again.

I just ordered the Phantom, so I'll be joining the fleet.

I was a little reluctant at first, but I couldnt pass up the credit for the purchase price. Pilot boats arnt my favorite. They are usually not designed to sail anywhere; just to stand off harbor entrances in any sea or weather conditions in relative comfort and wait for a clipper ship to arrive. They are, however, a welcome sight after a long voyage, and a good repository for old sea captains like me.

I do wonder how it got its name. Probably from the clipper captains. I can just hear them grumbling when the weather gets real nasty "wheres that damn pilot boat?"

I have been wonering about the name and history as well. There is a topical history that comes with the kit instructions - not much though. Does anyone know of a good book or refrence for this boat?

Ric, I like the acupuncture needle idea! I have been using small t-pins, but they tend to split smaller parts. I will have to try your meathod...

Bob, so you would use the deft under the copper tape? I will have to get my wife to save her next nail polish remover bottle - great idea.

~Clayton

Hmmm both of those sound like good ideas, maybe i'll have to hit the local med supply for some of those needles. the Deft might be easy to come by from home depot. this is good info to have before i start my model that is currently in Texas somewhere.

I found a couple of sites that have acupuncture needles that seem inexpensive. Would a guy need the guide tube to be able to use them?

$4.95 Sterile Disposable Acupuncture Needles. Features a metal spiral handle, insertion tube and individually packaged in boxes of 100. (http://austinmedical.stores.yahoo.net/milacneed.html)

$3.00 Acupuncture Needles - Silver handle without guide tube, 100 (http://sinicave.com/pd_acupuncture_needles.cfm)

Thanks for the tip(s) Steve; I am going to order a box and give them a try. It is a cheap enough experiment.

Has anyone received their kits yet? Last night I completed coppering one side of the hull, and I plan to finish the other side tomorrow night.

It seems to me that the tape may snag/lift with a little bit of pressure in the wrong direction. I am considering spraying the entire hull with a satin poly to seal the copper tape and the paint. I know that the paint should be 'flat' but it seems too dull.

~Clayton

Sounds like there's a lot of anxiety in awaiting the arrival of "the new baby". I've been checking the tracking status and my Phatom should arrive tomorrow -- just in time for a 4-day weekend!. I've cleaned up a corner of my room, got my tools in order and have informed my wife I only have 6 months to complete the model in order to get get it "free". She liked the "free" part, but she also knows how I work and how easily I get distracted onto other projects. We'll see. Have been reading the downloadable docs and have various photos by others printed in large format and hanging about the room -- inspiration! Good luck to us all....and let's keep passing along the helpful tips and cautionary pitfalls.

Ric (Stoneybrook)

Bwahahahaha. Mine arrived a day early *nya nya* :banna: I already started cutting out my templates, other than that I got nothing. I just printed out the Guide by Chuck Passaro and i've been reading my Jackstay. I did inventory all the parts and everything seems in order. Tonight i'll start looking at shaping that hull down to its proper dimensions. Off to an interesting start.

Christian

Hey all, finally received my kit, situated my work area, and all set to start; but.......after ordering my key tools:

*columbina vaccum vise
*clamps, chisels, squares, etc...

....................the primary tool i plan to use on my frist step of hull sanding and shaping ( an electric hobby drill is backordered on modelexpo)......

Jeez!! Will I ever get started???????
(just about researched and prepared to my fullest sanity)


Corey

Well, I finished coppering tonight. As you can see the larboard side is much smoother. It was recommended to me that I “burnish” the plates with the backside of a fingernail to smooth them out. This worked very well, and the difference can be seen.

I was also told that a good idea is to rub (from bow to stern) the plates after they are all on with fine steel wool. This should smooth them out and remove oily fingerprints that might show up as the copper tarnishes. Have not bought any steel wool yet though…

I am still considering sealing the hull with some sort of aerosol poly. I keep snagging on the individual plates as I handle the hull.

Looking forward to seeing everyone else’s phantoms as they progress!

~Clayton

My Phantom was waiting for me on the front stoop when I got home from work. After letting to dog out (first things first) I popped open the box and gave it a quick lookover. I too was surprised at the size -- I thought the hull was a lifeboat and they forgot to put in the "real" boat hull. Live and learn. Then I checked the parts list and tools. Everything's there. Read through the Jackstay last night. I have a 4 day weekend to get started. I'll post photos of my progress. I'll try to work slowly, deliberately and with accuracy, however I have a photo of my next challenges hanging over work area to keep me moving forward -- Benjamin Latham Grand Banks Fishing Schooner. Good luck and Godspeed to us all!

Ric

Yes, use the Deft Lacquer Sanding Sealer under the copper plates. In fact, I use it on all wood parts, except those you might want to stain first. I use it whether the wood is subsequently painted or not. Deft is just a sanding sealer. It seals the wood and allows you to sand to a much finer profile before painting, thereby preventing subsequent coats of paint from raising the grain. It’s of no use to sand bare wood much finer than 120 to 150 grit, since the first coat of any paint or clear coating will automatically raise the grain to a 120 to 150 grit profile, (make it fuzzy). Of course, after applying a couple coats of Deft, just sand with 120 or 150 grit under the copper plates, since the plates will cover it anyway.

I like Deft Lacquer Sanding Sealer for two reasons. It dries in 30 minutes to an hour, and it has a very fine filler powder in it that imparts a sort of antiqued satin look to wood if the wood is not subsequently painted. Clear varnish and urethanes are just too shiny and slick. It is available at Home Depot.

While I’m thinking about paints, Floquil has a very interesting article on scale painting, which can be downloaded from their website. Its basic premise is that the smaller the scale, the flatter and grayer the color. This is because the mind does not fully perceive a 2 foot long model as a small version of the real thing. It perceives it as being the real thing, but far away, and the farther away something is the flatter and grayer the color is. A full size locomotive may be shiny black, but when modeled in HO scale, shiny black looks wrong. A flat or semi flat very dark charcoal looks right.

For black hulls and black parts on a model ship, I love Floquil’s lacquer based “Grimy Black”. It’s in their “Railroad Colors” series. I know, you’re thinking “I’m not putting anything called Grimy Black on my ship,” but I’ve tried every black made and this one just looks right. Try it. I have yet however, to find the perfect white.