Zvezda Black Swan 1/72

Well, if you want to buy one book, I'd recommend "The Neophyte Shipmodeler's Jackstay," by George M. Campbell. It's short, well-illustrated, and about as thorough as a book of that size can be. It's also cheap. You can buy it from Model Expo ( www.modelexpo-online.com ). If you learn everything in that book you'll be well on the way to being a knowledgeable sailing ship modeler.

Where the Zvezda designers got the idea for those posts above the gunport said I can't imagine. It's downright irrational.

Not to rain on model expo, but it can be had cheap, if used, on libris or amazon too.

I am pretty sure that those posts, or slightly shorter ones, are on the movie replica thing/ barge.

My assumption is that they provided mechanical advantage for the usual, bogus, "all the ports pop open at once" type of scene.

I recently read a decent account of the Golden Age of Piracy. Their tactics were best served with small fast ships crowded with well armed men. Their adversary were lightly armed, if at all. If they got into it with a Navy ship, they preferred to fight from land, where they might have a few cannon well situated and protected. Otherwise they'd get sunk from several hundred feet away and there'd be nothing they could do about it.

But they would have really been stretched to man a shipboard gun of any size. That takes a lot of discipline, ARRGGGHHH.

Hi again David, Thanks again for the colors on the Swan. It does look great & I am just finishing the standing rigging.Your Red Earth color was perfect. I went ahead & used the cast shrouds because my fingers & hands don't work like they used to.

  I look at my Constitution model & 30 years ago I did nice work on rigging, but not anymore.The Swan has been a super fun ship to build & I have been on it nearly 4 weeks.

This is my 1x2 in the hull for screws. Works good. I even put it in my wood ships.

David I need to ask you now about the Santa Maria stain colors, what colors did you use on yours?It a

Hi again David, I really like the look of your Red Earth paint on my Swan. I have been on it nearly 4 weeks & it has surely been fun. It went together perfectly. I am about done with the standing rigging. I used the cast schrouds as at my age rigging is a lot harder than it used to be.

    I just found the Imai Santa Maria last night & it is already mailed. I lucked into a good place last night, it is  CharliesPlasticModels.com  . Real nice individual with 4000 kits & nice to deal with. His prices & shipping are fair.

  David what colors of oil wash did you use on the Santa Maria? Again, your colors are perfect & your work is too. I have been at it for 75 years & am learning a lot from you, thanks.

     Here is my Swan.

And here is my 1x2 in the hull to screw into. It works great & I use in on plastic & plank on frame ships both. Even the wood models don't have enough to screw into. Someone on this Forum mentioned using brass tubing inside the masts to stiffen it & it works great. That has always been my main dislike to plastic ships. I even put 44 cal flattened  black powder bullets in the rear of my planes to weight them down.

      David, I will be back to pester you some more, & look at that kit place. It is in Iowa I believe.     

                                       Gene

Gene, your Swan is looking really good!  I'm impressed!

You'll be happy with the Imai Santa Maria....it's one of my favorite ship models.

As far as weathering and washes, I tend to go with dark browns, like Umbers and Siennas...the best thing you can do is start experimenting, get a few tubes and try some colors to see what you like best...I'm sure you'll find a color scheme that works for you!

Good luck, and please keep us updated on your projects!

Oh, and I will check out that website yuo mentioned!
Thanks,

Dave

wow! This is excellent!  And so beautiful!

just wont to see if a reply will bring this thred back up.

I,m not a ship builder, but I enjoyed your build so much that I went to the begiining and read it start to finish. Great work....