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Old 10 January 2023, 12:46 PM   #1
joe100
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Joes Scale Model World Part III

At the suggestion of a friend here, I thought I’d share a couple of the more recent models I’ve been working on.

After one year and one week of work, my scratch-built HMAV Bounty is finished. The model was made entirely from boxwood and brass, fully planked. The rigging is copper wire and the sails and flags are made from silkspan. The base is made from spalted tamarind and the sea is carved and painted boxwood. The model was built from original drawings made by the RN.

The model contains several thousand pieces and was built to a scale of 28’ to 1” or 1/336. The hull is carved boxwood with individual planks are held to the hull with approximately 1,500 tree nails which were inserted into predrilled holes. Paint, as always, is from ScaleColors.

HMAV Bounty was a small collier purchased by the Royal Navy in 1787 for a botanical mission to Tahiti. Bounty, originally named Bethia, was built by Blaydes Yard, Kingston-upon-Hull, England and modified for her mission by the RN at Deptford Yard.
The ship was sent to the South Pacific Ocean under the command of William Bligh to acquire breadfruit plants and transport them to the West Indies. That mission was never completed owing to a 1789 mutiny led by acting lieutenant Fletcher Christian. The mutineers later burned Bounty while she was moored at Pitcairn Island.

I have spent years reading about and studying Bounty, her crew, and her mission, and I’ve even been fortunate enough to acquire pieces of the real ship herself. If you’d like to see more of my work, I keep all of the model photos here: www.josephlavender.com











This is the ship I’m currently working on, IJN Kongō, 1944





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Old 10 January 2023, 12:51 PM   #2
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Joes Scale Model World Part III

It’s amazing how intricate and detailed these are and still under 6” in length.

Great work!! Did you build the bases they’re on as well?

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Old 10 January 2023, 12:53 PM   #3
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You are a truly gifted man, Joe.
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Old 10 January 2023, 12:53 PM   #4
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Very nice.
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Old 10 January 2023, 01:09 PM   #5
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Amazing


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Old 10 January 2023, 01:40 PM   #6
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Amazing!!!
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Old 10 January 2023, 02:15 PM   #7
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Joe, you have amazing talent and patience, here’s to you my friend
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Old 10 January 2023, 02:43 PM   #8
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Those are incredible, you have amazing talents and vision (AND FOCUS)!!!
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Old 10 January 2023, 02:53 PM   #9
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Incredible!!!
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Old 10 January 2023, 03:15 PM   #10
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Thanks everyone!

Bounty was a slog, each plank was nailed into place, and it took something like 2000 tree nails in the end, and most were covered by other details.
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Old 11 January 2023, 12:08 AM   #11
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Joe I've always loved your threads showing the models you build. They have amazing detail. I'd love it if you would show where you work on these and the tools you use. You must have some real interesting lighting and magnification systems. Keep posting your work when it's completed.
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Old 11 January 2023, 12:26 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Brenngun View Post
… I'd love it if you would show where you work on these and the tools you use.
I second this … a behind the scenes look would be fantastic

There are some truly gifted folks out there and you are one of them Joe
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Old 11 January 2023, 12:36 AM   #13
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Beautiful my friend keep up the amazing work! =)
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Old 11 January 2023, 12:59 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Brenngun View Post
Joe I've always loved your threads showing the models you build. They have amazing detail. I'd love it if you would show where you work on these and the tools you use. You must have some real interesting lighting and magnification systems. Keep posting your work when it's completed.
+3 on the back scenes. Also how about a pic of how you display them. Awesome work!
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Old 11 January 2023, 01:20 AM   #15
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Most impressive
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Old 11 January 2023, 01:23 AM   #16
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Now that’s just ridiculous, in a good way.
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Old 11 January 2023, 04:09 AM   #17
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What, you couldn't build it inside a bottle???

Just kidding, it is incredible, detailed work you do and your pride in it shows.
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Old 11 January 2023, 06:55 AM   #18
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Thanks folks!

I have an entire studio for this work. One section is for woodworking, another for part fabrication which includes extremely small lathes etc, a section for photo etching (a messy chemical process), a section for glasswork, and a section for painting. The ceiling is artificially low at 6’9” which allows me to have every cord, cable, and rotary tool cable, airbrush hoses etc all suspended from the ceiling. Anything I need, I just reach up. This keeps the mess of tangled trip hazards at bay.

Most of the tools used here are just extremely small, high torque versions of most power tools. The wood saw I use has a 2” blade but enough torque to spin a small moon. I can cut the most dense hardwoods and not even break a sweat. Tweezers, I have probably 15 different kinds, different materials. I also make my own tools too, if it’s a specialty application, not too unlike watchmaking,
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Old 11 January 2023, 07:23 AM   #19
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Joe stop teasing man. Pics or it isn't real

Joe this is so many levels above buying a Revell kit and building a car. I would really love to see your studio and tools. It would be a super cool look into your world if you're willing to share with us. Maybe even a short video tour. I do have a couple other questions for you. What triggers your interest in selecting a subject to model? Once you've decided on a subject what steps are in the preparation and how long does that normally take? What's the significance of the One Shilling coin?
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Old 11 January 2023, 08:05 AM   #20
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Gorgeous.

So, you can make that but Rolex can’t make a watch.
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Old 11 January 2023, 09:02 AM   #21
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Beautiful work Joe. Thanks for sharing them.
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Old 11 January 2023, 09:17 AM   #22
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Very impressive and I admire your attention to minute detail. I would encourage people to check out your site for more info and examples of your excellent work.
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Old 11 January 2023, 09:34 AM   #23
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I have no talent whatsoever for such intricate work, and always get smile from your threads, Joe! Thanks for posting!
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Old 11 January 2023, 09:48 AM   #24
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Very impressive, Joe! Thanks for sharing, as I always enjoy these threads. Just looking at the images is helping me relax.
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Old 11 January 2023, 10:15 AM   #25
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I’m a fine artist and this is truely amazing amazing work. Love these threads. Thanks
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Old 11 January 2023, 10:33 AM   #26
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Simply incredible! How??

Thanks for sharing!
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Old 11 January 2023, 10:36 AM   #27
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Joe, I looked at your website hoping there would be a for sale section.

Would you by chance be willing to do a commissioned piece?


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Old 11 January 2023, 10:40 AM   #28
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Wow, is all I can come up with..

Those are museum pieces
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Old 11 January 2023, 12:05 PM   #29
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Quote:
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Joe stop teasing man. Pics or it isn't real

Joe this is so many levels above buying a Revell kit and building a car. I would really love to see your studio and tools. It would be a super cool look into your world if you're willing to share with us. Maybe even a short video tour. I do have a couple other questions for you. What triggers your interest in selecting a subject to model? Once you've decided on a subject what steps are in the preparation and how long does that normally take? What's the significance of the One Shilling coin?
Thanks!

I need to take some pictures of the studio, I don’t have any that do it any justice. Things are usually pretty clean, but we just installed a separate AC/Heating system so I’m independent from the rest of the house. This is helping with the issue of having to have it colder than the rest of the house because the heating caused by some of the equipment. Photo etching creates quite a bit of ambient heat. Once I get it all put back together, I’ll take some photos after all the painting is done.

Choosing a subject is easy, it’s just whatever I want to see! The only issue is that I usually have to plan out what I’m going to build for the year, so I can create the phot etched brass parts. Photo etching is messy, hot, and dangerous. It takes a couple weeks to create the negatives, and etch all of the prices. For Kongō alone, there are over 2,500 individual photo etched detail pieces. Very few of these have been applied so far though. So I make all of the PE parts at once for the whole year. This year I’d like to complete 3 ships, IJN Kongō, HMS Vindictive 1918, and the Italian battleship Littorio, 1941. So far I’m on schedule.

The next step in preparation is the research. I have well over 1000 books in my library, most on single ships or single classes of ships, and sheets and sheets of plans. However, for Kongō, I didn’t have what I needed so I ended up buying 6 more books to make sure the model is as accurate as possible. After that it’s down to making the base and case, then starting on the ship herself.

The shilling is a good indicator of size since it’s exactly 1” or 25mm, and I like the design. I was told its worth a couple hundred dollars US, so I can’t lose it! I also collect items from these ships, pieces of them, documents etc. My study is literally a maritime museum, and I loan items to museums from time to time. I have physical pieces ofHMAV Bounty, Bismarck, Tirpitz, SMS Königsberg, SMS Seeadler, Titanic, Olympic, SS United States, HMS Iron Duke (Battle of Jutland), HMS Rodney and much, much more. I also collect items from Sie Ernest Shackleton. Things that he used on his Antarctic expedition. My Shackleton collection is the most significant part of of the “stuff”.
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Old 11 January 2023, 12:09 PM   #30
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Joe, I looked at your website hoping there would be a for sale section.

Would you by chance be willing to do a commissioned piece?


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I usually don’t do commission work. It takes the fun out of it. A ship like Bounty represents a year of work, so selling her would be tricky. Most of the other ships represent 3 to 5 months of work, and it’s just too hard to get close on the numbers.
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