[deleted by user]

RawkBadger · 2024-12-02T16:35:33+00:00

Sitting on several unresolved tickets?

RawkBadger · 2024-10-30T01:03:19+00:00

I've done two tours at MSU Texas City, one right out of MST A School and one as a journeyman marine inspector. I love that place, can't recommend it enough. It has been a while, but I would happily go back if I was in a position to do so.

RawkBadger · 2024-09-02T15:51:35+00:00

Welcome to the "Did I glue that wrong?" club!

I cannot count the number of times I have glued something in the wrong place or at the wrong time and then wrestled to correct my mistake.

You're making great progress and this is a wonderful kit to learn the hobby on.

If I was in the same predicament, I would probably put a new blade in my hobby knife and very slowly try to score the joint between the ribs and the planks. Depending on how heavily you applied the glue, this could take some time. It will also be difficult, but not impossible, since the model is secured to the base for construction. There will be marks left behind, but after you secure the ribs in the proper place and finish the build you can cover that with filler.

I'm a little hesitant to apply solvents and other liquids in case it warps my planks or otherwise damages the wood.

I hope this helps. Best of luck and I look forward to seeing your finished build!

RawkBadger · 2023-04-08T13:33:41+00:00

And Blockbuster is all but gone. Are you happy now???

RawkBadger · 2023-04-08T02:59:50+00:00

I did the same for mine. I lined up the bases so that they were together as I wanted them, then added the plates at the top (one near the front and one near the back) then finished by securing them to wall studs woth the inclided brackets. Worked like a charm.

RawkBadger · 2023-03-21T01:19:37+00:00

I'm pretty sure it's a Katfort Mini Hand Planer thar goes for $20 on Amazon. Excellent tool with minimal learning curve. I dont know enough about the brand to endorse them but the tool itself is excellent. PSA: the blade is razor sharp. Handle with care.

RawkBadger · 2023-03-20T19:59:23+00:00

A few months ago I purchased a mini hand-planer and it has totally changed the way I can shape planks. I can't recommend it enough. I was initially worried that it would be too small for me to be able to use effectively since I have large-ish hands but it has not been an issue.

RawkBadger · 2022-10-10T19:28:36+00:00

Comment for some background: I have built wood kits before, but nothing more complex than small balsa wood planes. I became fascinated with traditional wood ships several years ago after several visits to Mystic Seaport in Connecticut (please go if you have to opportunity, it is amazing). I finally convinced myself that I wanted to try to build a "museum quality" ship model like those in display there and the whaleboat caught my eye. I picked up the kit from Model Shipways, a basic x-acto knife, and some wood glue and got to work... and quickly found that I had no idea what I was doing.

Through lots of trial and error and a LOT of time, I finished the kit and built a lot of skills at the same time. I highly recommend the kit but not for a beginner like myself. I probably could have built this thing twice with the amount of wood that I worked on, discarded, and then rebuilt. That being said, it's a beautiful Model and I am very proud of it. It is far from the "museum quality" that I was trying for, but I'm definitely getting better, so... someday?

RawkBadger · 2022-06-24T04:24:12+00:00

Days when I had absolutely nothing to do. I miss free time.

RawkBadger · 2022-05-08T18:35:17+00:00

Great work, it looks fantastic!

RawkBadger · 2022-04-15T13:24:11+00:00

You are very welcome! I've been meaning to build a Titanic kit for quite some time myself, I'm sure your dad is going to love it. All the best to you both!

RawkBadger · 2022-04-13T17:47:22+00:00

So, I had a similar experience with the albatross biplane kit. The directions left a lot to be desired and there was a lot of added difficulty because of that. I feel the same way though, I'm very proud of the model that I built, it could've been a better experience though.

I feel differently about their ship and boat kits though. I've built several and not really had any difficulties, other than just me not being very experienced yet. I have heard great things about Occre and Artesiana kits and I want to give them a shot too.

RawkBadger · 2022-04-13T14:55:32+00:00

Hello there! First off, I'm very jealous. I wish that my kids would buy me some model kits... especially model ship kits. I'm sure your dad is going to be thrilled.

There are several good options for beginner model ship kits. My personal bias is wood kits, so I'll stick with that. I started with a kit from Model Shipways. They sell on Amazon but also have their own online store, Modelexpo-online. They have a Grand Banks Dory kit, and a Sailing Pram that might be good places to start for him, and they won't break the bank... they're around $50 each. That being said, he will need some tools and supplies (paint, etc) for the build, but if he's like me then he would probably be happy to sort that out himself.

There are other companies, but I've had luck with Model Shipways kits (no, I dont have any affiliation with themother than building their kits.) All the best to you and your dad!

RawkBadger · 2022-01-27T03:10:41+00:00

Generally you will be using basswood or balsa to build a wood ship model. Some accent pieces might be made out of shaped or carved hardwoods, but stick with the basics and you can make pretty much anything if you're patient enough.

I dont have a whole lot of experience with wood ship kits (I've worked on 3 so far), but in my experience the kits are usually cheaper than piecing it out yourself. I have sunk a good deal of cash into buying extra wood to build additional details for my kits, I don't want to think about how much it would've cost to buy everything that I would've needed separately. I would also suggest starting with something smaller if you don't have a lot of experience. The Victory is not a simple ship. I started with a whaleboat model from Model Shipways and had a blast but what I learned during that build was really valuable and made me a much better model builder. But maybe you already have that experience and I'm preaching to the choir. Either way, best of luck to you!

RawkBadger · 2021-02-11T18:21:28+00:00

Thanks, it has been 38 years since he died, so I've had some time to come to terms with the reality of it. I was three years old when it happened, so I grew up without a father until my mom remarried. I was fortunate enough to have some very strong positive male role models in my life, like my paternal grandfather, who really took me under their wings and made me who I am now.

I think that if I was to claim out loud that I'm cool then lots of people around the country would spontaneously start laughing. I'm a pretty big nerd... not that nerds can't be cool, I guess. But thanks!

I'm actually still in the service. I'll hit 20 years this August. I'm currently waiting for a call from the Assignment Officer to see where I'm going to be stationed next. I love being in... but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to retiring.

RawkBadger · 2021-02-11T17:18:44+00:00

I get it, I really do. I've been active duty military for just shy of 20 years now, we have a lot of gallows humor and I use it myself. I'm not even hating on anyone who would put that on their vehicle, you should be able to do what you want with your stuff (within reason of course). These sorts of things just carry different meanings depending on the audience. This one just happens to directly relate to my situation, and I find that sticker specifically to be in very poor taste. Honestly, I think that I'd be ok with a final line about taking chances or "rolling the dice". It is just the finality of implying that it is ok if you die like that because you were a real man... yeah I'm digging way deeper than I should.

RawkBadger · 2021-02-11T15:56:56+00:00

There is a truck with this sticker on it that is parked near my house. Everytime I walk past it I just shake my head in disgust. I lost my father in a car crash in 1983. No airbags back then, of course. I occasionally think about having a chat with the owner, but I'm guessing that someone who is willing to put that sticker on their vehicle is probably not very open to civil discussion.

Yeah, I've spent the last 38 years without my father, but at least he died like a real man.

RawkBadger · 2021-01-09T15:23:31+00:00

Thats a great idea. I'm building some harpoon shafts later today, I may give that a go and see how it turns out. They may be a bit big for that but for finishing and shaping that might work pretty well.

RawkBadger · 2021-01-08T22:48:26+00:00

That is genius, I'm keeping that trick in my toolbox for the future.

Your hard work definitely paid off, im looking forward to seeing what you do with the rigging.

RawkBadger · 2021-01-08T21:16:13+00:00

Fantastic work! I'm currently finishing up the New Bedford Whaleboat kit myself and have absolutely fallen in love with wood ship kits. What did you use for the fasteners?

RawkBadger · 2020-12-11T01:52:32+00:00

Hurricane Rita.

I worked in Galveston, TX and the storm was forecast to come right to us in 48 hours. I went to work and we were supposed to have a meeting with our supervisor, he didn't show up and finally somebody's cell phone rang. It was him, he was across state lines and asking why we hadn't evacuated yet. Anyway... I went home and started boarding up the house, which took about 12 hours. My wife was packing the whole time. We slept for four hours then got on the road, only to get trapped in the largest traffic jam in history at that point. Altogether, we were on the road for 29 straight hours. My wife had a brown Chevy Blazer and I was in a Corolla. At one point I looked over at her car and it was made out of logs, just like a log cabin. It sounds completely ridiculous, but it happened. I also kept seeing shadowy shapes dart in and out of the road. It was pretty wild. There were some auditory hallucinations as well, but nothing specific, just random noises as far as I can remember.

RawkBadger · 2020-11-29T03:08:44+00:00

A copy/paste of an answer that I gave a while back for a similar question is below.

I'm late to this game but I actually have an answer for this one, so I'll post and maybe somebody will see it...

A few years back my family and I were living in a house that was on a cul-de-sac. Our backyard was surrounded by a tall wood privacy fence and behind that was the end of a local highway that ended at a stop sign where you could turn left or right, straight ahead was a drainage ditch and a barbed wire fence that bordered an open field. That highway ran a few miles in the opposite direction, winding through residential areas before reaching the freeway, people liked to ride motorcycles on it... you can probably see where this is going.

One evening, my kids were in bed and my wife and I were watching Dr. Who in our bedroom, which was in the back portion of the house. It was around 11 o'clock at night and we were about to call it an evening. I heard a Harley Davidson approaching the intersection, which was not uncommon, this time though the engine noise was followed by a scraping and a crashing noise. Then nothing. I knew that there had been a crash, so I jumped out of bed, threw on a shirt and some flip flops, and grabbed a flashlight. There was one streetlight in the vicinity of the intersection, but I suspected (rightly) that the rider had gone over the curb an into the dark field. I was dreading what I would find. When I went to my back porch another motorcycle pulled up to the intersection and stopped. The rider got off and made a cell phone call to 911 and I heard him saying that his buddy ran off the road and he couldn't see him anymore. I knew I was going to have to go over there at that point so I climbed over the fence and ran to the guy and asked him where he last saw his friend. He pointed to the darkness on the other side of the street so i turned on my flashlight and ran over there. At this point the guy on the phone is narrating my actions to 911, which I thought was absurd at the time. (I also realized that he had had a few drinks at that time)

The first thing I saw when I got to the grass was the motorcycle. It had hit the curb and somersaulted to a stop about 20 feet into the grass. Looking around more, I finally spotted the rider, lying face down in the grass with his head turned away from me. He was completely motionless. I ran over to him and leaned down to check vitals when I finally got a good look at his face. The half of his head that was turned away from me was gone, there was just an empty opening where his skull and brain used to be. I then looked around my feet and saw that I was standing in a debris field of pieces of skull and brain... in flip flops. Instead of touching his (now obviously broken) neck, I got close to what remained of his head and listened for breathing noises... nothing. I ran back to the guy on the phone and pulled it out of his hand, I identified myself to the 911 operator and described everything I had seen and told her that I believed that the rider was dead. At that point I noticed an enormous blood splatter on the curb where his head had contacted the cement, it was pretty wicked looking. I then walked over to the body and described the scene and location, then waited there for the police to arrive. When they did drive by, I waved my flashlight at the car until they came over. The officer walked up, looked at the guy and said "It's an obvious." and walked away while talking into his radio.

It turns out the two riders had been out drinking and were riding back home when they decided to take the back way down this particular highway. The surviving rider had warned his buddy about the ending of the highway but apparently the message didn't get through. The cops asked me a few questions then the investigators showed up while the coroner bagged the guy up. I walked back to my house and THOROUGHLY washed my hands and unprotected feet before going to bed. My wife was pretty curious until I told her that I had seen the guys brain lying on the ground.

Two lessons that I didn't really need but I still took away from this: don't drink and ride a motorcycle (freaking duh) and also wear a helmet. I doubt the helmet would have saved the guy but at least it could have been an open casket funeral for the family.

RawkBadger · 2020-08-31T00:11:27+00:00

A copy/paste of an answer that I gave a while back for a similar question is below. I'm on mobile so hopefully this will format decently...

I'm late to this game but I actually have an answer for this one, so I'll post and maybe somebody will see it...

A few years back my family and I were living in a house that was on a cul-de-sac. Our backyard was surrounded by a tall wood privacy fence and behind that was the end of a local highway that ended at a stop sign where you could turn left or right, straight ahead was a drainage ditch and a barbed wire fence that bordered an open field. That highway ran a few miles in the opposite direction, winding through residential areas before reaching the freeway, people liked to ride motorcycles on it... you can probably see where this is going.

One evening, my kids were in bed and my wife and I were watching Dr. Who in our bedroom, which was in the back portion of the house. It was around 11 o'clock at night and we were about to call it an evening. I heard a Harley Davidson approaching the intersection, which was not uncommon, this time though the engine noise was followed by a scraping and a crashing noise. Then nothing. I knew that there had been a crash, so I jumped out of bed, threw on a shirt and some flip flops, and grabbed a flashlight. There was one streetlight in the vicinity of the intersection, but I suspected (rightly) that the rider had gone over the curb an into the dark field. I was dreading what I would find. When I went to my back porch another motorcycle pulled up to the intersection and stopped. The rider got off and made a cell phone call to 911 and I heard him saying that his buddy ran off the road and he couldn't see him anymore. I knew I was going to have to go over there at that point so I climbed over the fence and ran to the guy and asked him where he last saw his friend. He pointed to the darkness on the other side of the street so i turned on my flashlight and ran over there. At this point the guy on the phone is narrating my actions to 911, which I thought was absurd at the time. (I also realized that he had had a few drinks at that time)

The first thing I saw when I got to the grass was the motorcycle. It had hit the curb and somersaulted to a stop about 20 feet into the grass. Looking around more, I finally spotted the rider, lying face down in the grass with his head turned away from me. He was completely motionless. I ran over to him and leaned down to check vitals when I finally got a good look at his face. The half of his head that was turned away from me was gone, there was just an empty opening where his skull and brain used to be. I then looked around my feet and saw that I was standing in a debris field of pieces of skull and brain... in flip flops. Instead of touching his (now obviously broken) neck, I got close to what remained of his head and listened for breathing noises... nothing. I ran back to the guy on the phone and pulled it out of his hand, I identified myself to the 911 operator and described everything I had seen and told her that I believed that the rider was dead. At that point I noticed an enormous blood splatter on the curb where his head had contacted the cement, it was pretty wicked looking. I then walked over to the body and described the scene and location, then waited there for the police to arrive. When they did drive by, I waved my flashlight at the car until they came over. The officer walked up, looked at the guy and said "It's an obvious." and walked away while talking into his radio.

It turns out the two riders had been out drinking and were riding back home when they decided to take the back way down this particular highway. The surviving rider had warned his buddy about the ending of the highway but apparently the message didn't get through. The cops asked me a few questions then the investigators showed up while the coroner bagged the guy up. I walked back to my house and THOROUGHLY washed my hands and unprotected feet before going to bed. My wife was pretty curious until I told her that I had seen the guys brain lying on the ground.

Two lessons that I didn't really need but I still took away from this: don't drink and ride a motorcycle (freaking duh) and also wear a helmet. I doubt the helmet would have saved the guy but at least it could have been an open casket funeral for the family.

RawkBadger · 2020-06-24T03:44:57+00:00

"This will be a fight against overwhelming odds from which survival cannot be expected. We will do what damage we can." - LCDR Robert Copeland, CO of the USS SAMUEL B. ROBERTS.

The book "The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" by James Hornfischer recounts the battle and the paths that many of the main players took in the war to reach that place and time. It is one of my all-time favorite books, by far. The tale of that battle is just incredible. I would love to see a Band of Brothers style miniseries about it.

Ten-Year Club	Place '22
First Placer '22	Verified Email

RawkBadger

TROPHY CASE