OK, I'm back!

Had to get the cattle off the mountain before hunting season started. !#*& trigger happy jack asses, they all think they're Jedediah Smith. Even on Private property some of the ranchers still lose a few.

Oh by the way! Don't bother getting any of the acupuncture needles. Even .4mm needles still bend to much to be used for the soft basswood. Something about the metal those needles are made of makes them too soft. My wife's sowing needles are the same diameter as the .4mm acupuncture needles but for some reason the sowing needles are much stronger. This is something that a metallurgist could explain, but it just isn't really important to me right now. I did find that if the wood was soaked in water, the .4mm needles would work ok on the softer wood. This might come in handy down the road when planking up a hull with the wet wood so as to help hold the form on the hull while drying.

I'm way behind on the Phantom. I've got the keel installed and ready to start the copper planking. Sure do appreciate you guys blazing the trail. It's been interesting to see what progress you've made and the tips and techniques I can pick up from you.

Thanks a bunch. I'll be following some of your suggestions.

That is the great thing about this forum; we can all learn from each other. Keeping up with posts on this thread have encouraged me to keep working on my build, and to do the best that I can.

Steve - welcome back from the mountains! Keep us updated, I would enjoy seeing some pictures.

~Clayton

I was beginning to wonder if I would be able to complete the caprail. It took me four attempts with manila folder patterns/prototypes to get the rail just the right size. I cut it out of one piece of 1/32" basswood, and and glued it on oversized and then sanded it down. That was a VERY good suggestion from Chuck’s practicum. Had I not cut the rail oversized I don’t think I could have glued it on exactly right. As it is I had to make two attempts at gluing the rough rail on.

Is anyone else painting the caprail? I used the light brown paint that came with the kit – and it contrasts nicely with the white bulwarks. I am considering painting the roofs of the deck structures the same color. Any ideas on that?

Also got the rudder complete and on tonight. I followed Mike’s method (from 7 posts previous) for the pintles and gudgeons except I used copper tape. Then I painted the tape once it was on.

Things are starting to look good! :walk:

You guys are doing a SUPER JOB!!Keep up the great work!!Clayton,you must be learning alot!! :coffee: Walter

Hey Walter. Yeah, I am learning a great deal as I work on this build and from all of the posts people have been making in this thread. This is a lot of fun and the Phantom is a great confidence builder; not a bad kit to start the hobby with.

http://cpassaro.home.mindspring.com/spritrig.gif

I agree..everyone is doing a great job on the phantom. You are all progressing very quickly with your models. I do want to point one thing out to Mike and Clayton that I hope will save both of you some grief later on though. The cap rails you added look really clean and crisp. A fine job. BUT.. Look at the plans where the bowsprit is inserted under the caprail. You will see that there is an iron band that secures the bowsprit outboard. The ends of the iron band are glued to the stem on both sides. Both of your caprails extend too far out over your stem. The folks taking my ship modeling class all did the same thing (including me!) and I am thinking about revising my guide to include a little "NOTE" about it. It will give you a lot of trouble later and you wont be able to add the iron work without removing it. It will be easy to sand the caprail down if you didnt attach the splash rail yet. See the photo above. I hope this helps.

Chuck

Chuck, thanks for the heads-up! Your are right, my caprail protrudes out too far over the stem. I am glad that I read your post before beginning on the splashrail. I appreciate any comments/notes that you might have at any time. I know that it has been said before, but I will say it again. Thank you for the guide (practicum?); both for writing it and making it available. This build simply would not be the same without it.

I have been keeping a Phantom Album (http://shipmodeling.net/photopost/showphoto2837.html) of incremental steps on this forum. My hope is that others who are new to the hobby might find this useful, especially if they are building the Phantom.

If I recall correctly you mentioned in your guide that you blew out part of the deck/waterway while drilling a hawse hole. I found that I could not even drill them out because the bulwark is not tall or deep enough. Is this what happened to you? I am afraid that I simply did not carve the deck far enough down.

Also, I wonder if you could explain how you are pasting your pictures right into your posts? I am sure that it is simple but I just cant figure it out.

Thanks again for the help!
~Clayton

Clayton, I am glad to help if I can. My bulwarks were the correct height but I just drilled at the wrong angle. I remember that it was very late after the rest of the family was asleep. I just made the hole at the wrong angle and gouged the deck pretty bad. I should know enough to stop working when I get so bleery-eyed. If you dont have enough height you could adjust the angle of your hawse holes. Drill them at an upward angle from outbaord to inboard.

I have my own web space where I host the pictures. You could also put them on one of the many free spaces on the web for photo albums. Yahoo has them for instance. Then I link over to them in the post. Click on the insert image button on top of your post and copy the web address in the pop up window that appears. Then click OK. It works well.

Chuck

Chuck thanks for the tips. I will try drilling out he hawseholes as you suggest.

To practice inserting a picture in a post I will include a picture of how NOT to make the forward portion of the caprail.

~Clay

http://scaleships.googlepages.com/caprailtoolong.jpg

Clayton and Chuck,
I was going to do the splashrail last night but I was starting to get "bleary-eyed" as Chuck put it and never got to it. I'm glad I didn't after seeing my mistake on the caprail. Good thing there is enough there for me to sand off so I should be fine. Although I am making progress and learning a LOT, I am not happy with the quality of my "joiner" work. I have rarely worked with wood, never on fine joint work and never, never on such a small scale. I guess the challenge makes it fun. I've discovered I hate painting the small stuff and waiting for it to dry.
I'm almost done with the deck hardware and expect to be rigging by next week. That could be the straw that breaks this impatient, hammer-thumbed camel's back...
I've attached my latest picture. I really wish I had redone the caprail...live and learn.
Mike

Mike, your Phantom is looking great. I am mildly envious of the time that you must have been able to spend on it. I find that usually have just one, sometimes two, evenings a week to work on my build.

I plan to start on the deck fittings and structures this week (after reshaping the forward caprail!). You (Mike) mentioned painting small parts. Have you tried “Blacken It (http://www.kitkraft.biz/catalog/Blackenit-p-2862.html )” to color brass parts? I almost bought a bottle the other day, but after reading the warning label I was not so sure that I wanted to use it. How are you painting the small parts like the eyebolts and cleats?

This “black wire” keeps being mentioned, but I have not been able to find any to buy. Do any of you know what this is and how to get it? I thought about blackening brass wire, but it seems that it would be easier to use wire that is already black. The owner of my local hobby shop had no idea what I was talking about.

Clayton,
My evenings are pretty free after 9 or 10. I usually work an hour or two a night, after all, sleep is highly over rated. This weekend I spent about 6 hours total.
I have not tried to blacken the parts although the website "Ship modelling for dummies" shows how it is done in a video. I have been using my black Sharpie. A couple of coats works very well. I used it on all of the cleats, eyebolts and the traveller. I painted the fife rail with thinned black paint that came with the kit. I used the black wire that came with the kit for the guards around the stovepipe and for the belaying pins on the caprail.
As for wire, I've found several different colors and guages at Michael's Craft store. For the two lights I used a paper clip. If you have brass wire, try using a black Sharpie to blacken it. It works and it is pretty permanent.
Note: making the moldings around the window of the skylight was a real tester. I almost wished I had cut it out of manilla folder and glued it over the blackened "windows." I'm not happy how it looks but since it is my first model, I am trying to not let it bother me.
Mike

I cheated on the chainplates and deadeyes. As you can see from the attached picture I used 24g black wire to make the chainplates. (Thanks for the tip Mike; I picked some up at a Michael's craft store.) It may not be technically correct, but it won’t be too obvious on the final product. After bending a loop in the wire I ‘popped’ the deadeye in, the glued it with CA. Then it was easy to drill a hole in the caprail for this relatively small diameter chainplate. It is impossible to see in the second picture, but I left the chainplates full length and CA’ed them to the hull.

The fairleads were easy to do, following Chuck’s instructions. I also followed his suggestion for bending the splash rail and using wire for the belaying pins.

Next: structures! I am looking forward to that. Mike (imforgvn) I was going to reference your pictures of the structures that you completed, but they are not in the thread tonight. I wonder if that is because I am on dial-up at home?

Clayton,
Your "cheating" was well worth it. The chainplates look great. I must be nuts because I actually enjoyed drilling 3 tiny holes in tiny strips of brass to make mine.
I've experienced a pretty major setback and don't know quite what to do about it. I drilled the forward mast hole too far to starboard and too far aft.I was thinking of filling the hole, relocating it and patching the old hole with left over decking. My second thought was that it is my first model, it isn't too far off and no one will notice it except me. So, I'm going to toss a coin to help make my decision.
As to the picture, I tried to post it but an error came up saying I had already posted it eslewhere. I had to rename it and put it in another folder to get it uploaded (it should be here now). I still can't figure out how to upload pictures other than the ones that I attach to the post. Any suggestions?
Mike

Mike,

Thats exactly what you should do. Move the hole and patch up the existing with some left over decking. You can always place a coil of rope from your running rigging over that patch and noone will ever see it. It will be there as a constant remionder until yoyu finish the rigging though. Things like this have happened to me and that was my solution. Looking at the mistake until I managed to cover it with a rope coil will annoy you to the end so prepare yourself for that. I want to mention that it is looking terrific though and you should be proud of your results either way.

Chuck

Clayton,
I still can't figure out how to upload pictures other than the ones that I attach to the post. Any suggestions?
Mike

Mike, here is how to get pictures in the thread (from Chuck):

"I have my own web space where I host the pictures. You could also put them on one of the many free spaces on the web for photo albums. Yahoo has them for instance. Then I link over to them in the post. Click on the insert image button on top of your post and copy the web address in the pop up window that appears. Then click OK. It works well.
-Chuck"

I did this to get the forward caprail picture into a post. It worked but you have to leave the images in the original website location or they get lost. I tried this by deleting the image from my site, then re-checking this thread. As you can now see it is now a big square hole in the post..

I am going to try to insert an image that I have in one of my albums in this forum:

http://shipmodeling.net/photopost/data/706/014_phantom_fittings.jpg

**************************************************
Edit - Clayton, you were linking with an img code to the page (the page is a url code) where the photo is located, not to the image itself. Fixed it. Cheers, John

Edit - Thanks John!

So Mike, what are you going to do about the mast hole? I am curious because as I was placing the traveler last night I wondered how accurate my two mast holes are. There are so many structures crowded onto the aft deck that there is not much room for error, especially when considering the rake of the main mast.

I measured as carefully as possible, but is sure is easy to make a mistake. It also seems like my total deck length is about 3/8” longer than what is shown on the plans. Did you notice this as well?

Chuck,
Thanks for the advice and encouragement. I was leaning towards moving and patching but didn't quite know how to hide the deck repair. A coil of rope is a good idea. I was also thinking of finding a small mastiff or other large dog to have laying down on that area of the deck. What good is a ship without a dog?? Again, thanks for all your help.
Clayton, ,
I guess that does it. I'm going to repair, move, install dog/coil of rope. I can sleep now...
I didn't notice the difference in the deck length vs the plans. I will check tonight and let you know. I'm afraid everything is off a bit.
I will also try to post some pictures via your instructions.
Mike

Hey Mike, I am really looking forward to starting on the deck structures and furniture (is that the correct term for the fife rail and stuff?) The model has been enjoyable up to this point, but to me it will start to look more complete with the structures on it. Did it seem that way to you as well?

Right now it seems like I can work for two hours on little things, and when I am done the Phantom looks exactly like it did before I started. Perhaps I am working very sloooowly... HA

Good luck with the repair. I think that the dog is a good idea. Where do you find something like that?

~Clay

I must agree that building the structures and actually placing them was rewarding. I've taken it fairly slow too. When I go back and look at the pictures of the bare hull, it is hard to beleive I'm to the point that I am. It almost looks like a real ship.
As far as the dog, there are SO MANY sources on the internet for stuff. I just need to find the right sized dog. I don't doubt that I will to. Gives me something to do at 2 a.m.!

Good luck with the dog search. I am looking forward to seeing pictures of where you're at....

I wonder if anyone else besides you and I (and Chuck) is even reading this thread anymore........

I just read all the way through this thread. I should get my kit Monday (Oct 30) and think that what I have read here should be very helpful I am thankful that everybody took the time to post so much about this kit.

Daniel

Hey Daniel, welcome to the thread! What made choose the Phantom? Is this your first build?

You will have noticed that most of the people who have been posting in this thread are neophytes to ship modeling, so we have been learning quite a bit from each other.

I hope that this forum (and this thread) are a help to you - and I am sure that we will learn from you as well. If I was not participating in this thread I am not sure that I would be trying so hard or doing so well with the Phantom. Thiss has been alot of fun so far....

~Clay

u r right clayton. i am on my first build and i think i would have given up without this site. the most difficult thing i have tried(other than marriage).
i worked with my hands for 40 years and thought i was good, maybe i wasnt as good as i thought.

This will be my first build. This will actually be my first attempt at working with wood for any kind of a building project as well. I have always liked to build things and was thinking about trying some plastic models since I did that as a child and just ended up at the model expo site while I was looking up different modeling stuff on the web. The Phantom seemed like a natural choice since I could get the credit toward the next model if I enjoy building it and want to do another.

So I guess if I want to be honest I would have to say I decided to try it on a whim but I am a cuirous kind of person and ship building interest me so I think I will see it through and keep it up long enough to build some planked models after I learn a little about woodworking on my first one or two kits.

Daniel