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Tom E

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Everything posted by Tom E

  1. Evening, Hope everyone is well. Weekend is in view. Absolutely no commitments, no work, no responsibilities this weekend. Just have to get thru Friday. I see some quality ship building. We'll see what ultimately happens, ya know....life happens. Any who, Let's start off right with an update. Rigging continues. With all the shrouds in on the fore mast, I wanted to tie off some lifts, sheets and clew lines running from the yards. All along I wanted the black standing rigging in first, then install what limited running rigging I plan on installing. I wasn't quite sure if the rope should go over or under at the pin rail. Tried for a pleasing look. Coils will be added later. I seem to prefer wood clips while rigging. Heavy enough, yet light enough that if I hook it with a shirt sleeve, the whole boat doesn't go flying. All along I've been following the plans as towards rigging. Some of the below lines I did adjust on the pin rail so as not to foul with any other lines further up the mast. Seemed logical. Both sides of course. With all of that in place, the royal backstays were installed. There's some fuzz on my ropes. Admittedly, this ship does not have a case yet so it does get dusty. It really isn't as bad as it looks. Both sides of course. Minus some braces and ratlines, the foremast rigging will be done. Be good, Tom E
  2. Evening, Hope everyone is well and warm. It's been a cold snowy and icy week of work. Too exhausted to build, but I think an update will suffice. With the fore lower shrouds in place and the sheer poles installed. I wanted to get the Tye and Halliard for the topsail yard rigged in before moving onto the rest of the shrouds. My thinking, it will be easier to do first, before setting in the topmast and topgallant stays. In the end it was all fiddly but was more difficult in my head. The set up will be fully installed on the pin rail with a rope coil done later. What you do to one side, you do to the other. Ship building at its simplest. With things falling into place, I could move onto the topmast backstays. Just worked my way down that side of the ship. I would alternate when installing shrouds. Set two on one side, then the other. I never favored one side, finished it, then do the other side. Tried to be as symmetrical as I could. The topgallant backstays could then be set in. Once both sides where completed, it put a fair amount of tension into the rigging running to the bowsprit. This was by design. The royal backstay will be installed next. Be good, Tom E
  3. Evening, Cold snowy New Hampshire night. A good 5-6 inches has fallen since lunchtime. Needless to say, the ride home was slow and long. But, home safe, chicken parm is in the oven. Niagara needs a small update. For some reason I re-visited the Cutter and yawl. I need to start cracking on these things. I originally built the cutters when I started this kit, well now it's time to incorporate them. These will make an appearance later on. With the foremast main shrouds installed. I wanted to get the sheer poles going. My alignment on the deadeyes in the shrouds has some wobble, but not too bad. I would say I've done worse or better but can't. This is the first time I've gotten this far with a ship. Working my way up the shrouds. Both sides will be done. Learn on one side, then repeat. Below is the current state of affairs. Stay warm, Tom E
  4. Happy Holidays!!! Hope everyone is well. Stuck at work right now. I have no doctors working today, my OSHA training is done, and I really want to be in the shipyard right now. I have to stay until at least noon because I have to monitor the triage line. One good thing, the coffee is free at work. Anyone have a good excuse to get me outta here?!?!?!?!? Tom E
  5. Evening, Hope everyone is well. Niagara continues. With little projects getting done off ship. I decided to start rigging the lower shrouds. It's time. No ratting just yet though as these go in. I want to see where the halyards and lift lines end up beforehand. Just to see what it will look like. I think we all have our own way of setting deadeyes. Set first with my little wire gauge. I call it my "bug". Pinch with a third set of hands and tension said shroud. These are kit supplied deadeyes. Tie off with two knots. Set in the lanyards. These are tied off above the deadeye. Learning moments abound!!!! Rinse and repeat. Constantly checking tension thru out the entire model as one shroud is set in. Every little pull of any line will have a reaction somewhere else in the rigging. Thats the battle!!! As the shrouds get set in, a lot of loose/extra lengths of rope is being eliminated. The model is large enough where there is a fair amount of open space to operate as I fill in other rigging. I don't know how many times I've whacked a yard or something else backing out of the model as I set something. It's a miracle this ship is still standing! Be good, Tom E
  6. Morning, Titanic sorely needs an update! Sorry Admittedly, and as explained before, this is kind of my "secondary" build right now. I am so tantalizingly close to finishing my Niagara build. Whenever I try to work on something else, I feel guilty about "ignoring" Niagara. Modeling goblins Anywho, some work has been done. With the hull pretty much done. Decks need some attention. First, carve up the decks to fit the wooden deck upgrades. Tentatively went about removing items per the MK1 instructions. Kind of my first large subject where I'm removing material to fit upgrades. In the end, I think I did ok. No serious injuries to model or fingers. The deck fits really well. Before I can attach the wooden deck there are PE pieces all over to attach. Once these pieces are in, the entire deck structure will be painted white. The deck will cover most and any "peek thru" will be white. First time working with wooden decks. It really does enhance things. Well worth the investment, so far. Once the base structure of the deck is in place, deck furniture would be next. Slow and steady tortoise Tom E
  7. Hi Tim, Appreciate the kind words, thank you. The Ultra rope is from Syren Ship Models. They are one of the sponsors listed on the side of the MSW main page. One of the moderators, Chuck Passaro is the owner. He makes aftermarket rope, blocks and other goodies. My entire model has his rope and blocks. In my opinion, a fine upgrade from some of the kit supplied stuff. Tom E
  8. Evening, Thank you, Steven and BD! Thanks, MSW for all the likes as well, I see you folks watching!!! Hope everyone is well. Another Monday done. Niagara continues. With the Bowsprit done, time to move on to the stays running from the main mast to the foremast. As seen before the main and its preventer stay are attached. Moving upwards has the Topmast stay and Its preventer stay installed. Per the plans, these attach to bullseyes in the deck near the fife rail. The plans show to eyebolts near the fife rail for the fore main mast course yard, but no mention of eyebolts for the stays. Looking for an acceptable "fix", I attached them to either side on the outside of the fife rail. I probably missed somewhere in the plans that mention these, oh well, senior moment, I guess. While some areas are drying, I've started to attach the fore lift and sheet ropes. Most of these are static lines and once attached they should be done. Not going overboard here. The one's I can attach are, holding off on others until later. I've got fuzzy ropes! Alot of these ropes have been pre-installed on the mast for a while. Feels good to actually attach some and see how it looks. The below photo may look like there's some twist but that's the angle. Rope coils will be added later. The topgallant and royal stays will be next. We're getting there. Be good, Tom E
  9. Morning, Hope everyone is well. Beautiful cool fall morning. It's just begging for a good old-fashioned hearty breakfast. The breakfast that sends you back to bed for a nap. Coffee and tea. Egg, potato and green pepper omelet's, bacon, sausage. You can't do these types of breakfast too often. I would get a stern finger shaking from my primary care doctor as my cholesterol shoots off the scale! Anywho, With the main and Its preventer stay in place, I will work upwards but still just rigging items that are on the centerline of the ship. The topmast stay and Its spring stay are next. Only working on the center line rigging as it seems logical. The lower shrouds can still be moved out of the way. Easier to work with an open field of view than around in place rigging. While working on one set of stays on inherently starts to tinker with the next set. I've noticed a firmness forming in other ropes already in place. But a pleasant firmness. Everything so far, including the bowsprit rigging, has a pleasant tension to it. Not too hard, not too lax. It is a balancing act when tensioning off ropes. Constantly checking other ropes to see how they react while I apply pressure to whatever rope I'm working on. Feel like I'm missing something. Or is the usual for me, I'm over thinking it. Below is her all dressed up for company coming over. Show her off a bit!! The spanker boom makes a rare appearance. Below is a little show and tell. The wrinkled old hand is mine. But, with a genuine Stanley Cup winning ring from 1970 with the Boston Bruins hockey team. A friend of mine, her grandfather, ran the old Boston Garden from the 1950's thru the 80's. Back then, he would have been considered the GM. They knew all the old Bruins and Celtic players. Pictures of them with Bill Russell, Bobby Orr, Larry Bird, Reggie Lemelin. The ring is no bigger than my high school ring. The rings these days look silly, gawdy. Thats as close as I get to 15 minutes of fame, and I'm cool with that!!!!! Go Bruins!!!! Tom E
  10. Evening, Hope everyone is well. Absolutely beautiful early fall evening in New Hampshire. Warm cup of something, radio buzzing in the background, ship building happening. Update needed. Continuing with the forward stays leading from the Fore mast thru the Bowsprit to the hull. Minus braces and footropes, this will mostly wrap up what I have planned for the Bowsprit. By no means done, just it will return at a later stage. The Flying jib stay, and Royal stay are the most fragile. Once you get them mounted, they do steady up nicely. Not the best pic of the bow, but my lines look "appropriate" for the shape of the ship itself. No ropes are too close to the others and looks "square" with the hull mountings. The eyelets are out of scale. I know i know Still learning!!!! With the Bowsprit essentially in place. I going to follow down the center line of the ship as towards what to rig next. Main and Its preventer stay are next. Rigging forces in the bowsprit are already pulling the fore mast gently forward. Rigging the main and Its preventer stay are a bit of a balancing act as it's now going to start pulling back on said bowsprit rigging. A gentle touch here attaching in anticipation of more forces pulling when lower shrouds and the like are installed as well. Anticipatory forces, if that's a term. A small cleat will eventually be attached to the fore mast gently tightening the preventer stay. I'll form one out of scrap wood. As many bullseyes as possible were pre-installed. Using a "third set of hands", the stays were tensioned off to an appropriate length with the bullseyes. Nothing too fancy. Bullseyes wrapped and stropped at two points and trimmed. Be good, Tom E
  11. Evening, Titanic sorely needs an update. Life sure does happen sometimes!!! The hull is pretty much done. Just need to touch up the paint that came off some PE pieces. Masking tape was the culprit. Really just following the build order from the kit instructions. The decks will need some scraping to work the wooden decks into place. Checking the alignment of everything so far. All looks good, I think. But that's thru my amateur eyes, I'm sure others would see more. The fit at the bow looks good. All decks have PE. The trouble is finding it in the instructions supplied. I figured out that there is no order in the PE instructions. You find the area you're working on. I then tick off each piece number that's been done on the instructions with a pencil. Plus, its most likely that there are several views of the area your working on, but there spread out over the entirety of the instructions. No rhyme no reason. Once you get it figured out, things work a bit better. The white patches are just primer. I laid those down in areas where I think there might be some peak thru from the plastic underneath. Rather keep it a white color than plastic grey. My goblins Be good, Tom E
  12. Evening, Been a while. Has been one heck of a summer, but not in a good way. Back in July I caught covid. This will be my third bout of covid. I work in medicine and am probably exposed more than the normal civilian. It is what it is, I accept it, doesn't bother me. I wouldn't do what I do if I was scared of bugs!!!! Plus, I'm fully vaxed for covid plus all the old guy boosters. But this last episode really sent me for a loop. Kinda shook me to the core a bit. Not in the hospital bad, but sure close!!! But it's time to move past this. Modeling keeps me centered, but admittedly, not much has been done. Anywho.... Back to Niagara. Rigging of the foremast stays thru the Bowsprit continues. Slow and steady. Working my way from bottom of the Foremast to top. It's amazing how this ship is starting to look. Never thought I would get this far! All rope at this stage is from Syren. It's the jungle gym of rigging that goes from the foremast thru to the Bowsprit seems where one can lose control. Constantly checking which line goes thru which hole to which bullseye and lanyard. Constantly.... The Royal and Flying Jib stays are the most delicate. These cap off over the Bowsprit and end with a loop after the dolphin striker. Be good, Tom E
  13. Afternoon, Hope everyone is well. Going to be stuck at home for the 4th of July. A Doctor I work with made a trip to Italy last week, came home with the "sniffles" per him. The "sniffles" turned out to be covid. As of today, the office is now down 2 doctors and 1 tech (Me!). Irony is, I just started to relax using a mask at work this week. I was hesitant and other people did there thing, but I just kept wearing them. Sheesh! Any who, Niagara needs an update. With my "inside out" mentality approach to the rigging. I decided to get the Bowsprit rigged in. After this I'll work backwards and do the stays off the Main mast. Starting with the Fore and Preventer stay. Nothin fancy. Rinse and repeat. I've been keeping an eye on how all the other rigging reacts when I apply pressure to the rope I'm working on. Trying to maintain a proper balance to everything. Topmast and Inner jib stay are being worked in as well. The alligator clips are holding the Topmast stay as it goes thru the starboard side bee on the Bowsprit, per the plans. I'm trying to control myself in tightening things up too much. I imagine when I set in the stays off the main mast it should, in principle, tighten up the stays off the fore mast. My goblins!! Here she stands in all her glory. Wash your hands! Tom E
  14. Evening, Dinner is in the oven. Whole chickens on sale at the market. A deli style dry rub for the chicken, garlic roasted potatoes as a side. Titanic needs an update. How'd I do? Some of the flat PE pieces on the hull lost some paint from the tape job. Easily touched up. I was worried about the white areas and bleed thru. Not too bad. Kinda wonky where the red meets the black. The inner white areas of the hull that meet the deck pieces will get a touch up with the airbrush. There's PE that goes on those inside areas if memory serves me. She's starting to take shape. Be good, Tom E
  15. Afternoon, Continuing on with the paint shop. Started the Hull red area. Using Tamiya rattle cans (Dull Red TS-33). This is where the tape job became a bit more precise. Just following the kit supplied paint guide. I'll apologize now to the Titanic purists if my paint job isn't spot on. Purely just a rookie trying to produce something worth looking at. Honestly, this is my first tape job on a subject this big. Constantly have to account for the curve of the hull while maintaining a straight result. Thank goodness for reading glasses. With a layer of black paint underneath I feel like it improves the red on top. Dulls it down, but not? My goblins... Still impressed with the Tamiya rattle cans. They even out so well. As with the black paint. The red areas were light multiple layers with plenty of cure time between layers. One side at a time. Trying to do both sides produced ponding/pooling. So, I slowed the process down. Took about 4 layers per side, give or take, for results that pleased my amateur eyes. Currently resides in the guest bedroom. It laid wrapped up like an Egyptian mummy for at least a week. Final results forth coming. Model on, Tom E
  16. Evening, Hope everyone is well this Friday. Work week is over. Take out pizza in the belly, tall glass filled with ice and orange soda near by.......simple treasures my friends. Niagara needs another update. I'm continuing with the "inner" rigging. I've rigged in the Fore Course truss falls and Fore Topsail sheets. These seem to be mostly static lines. Not fully attached. I can still adjust if needed. Inevitably, filling in the Fife rail meant cleaning up the Fore course yard sling and truss. Nothing special here. Just kinda did the best I could with my amateur eyes. the Fore stay and Preventer stay have been folded over the top and out of the way. The sling itself has been tied off. That's the big wayward length of rope below the top. The sling and the like are attached at the Fife rain as well. She's getting there. Never thought I'd get this far. Be good, Tom E
  17. Evening, An update is in order. Overdue in my eyes! Don, To answer your question, yes, I'm very pleased that I bought the upgrade set. I'm using both the kit supplied PE and the MK1 together and it really improves the overall kit. You know what you're going to get from Trumpeter, the MK1 just gives it that extra something. The resin pieces can be tricky. I did not use the MK1 supplied rudder but have started using other resin parts. With the white areas taped off, the black paint was next. I purposely did not tape off what will be the hull red area. I want a coat of black underneath it. I did lay small lengths of tape well below where the red paint will start. Acts like a guide for the black pain. Thin light coatings. No heavy spray with time to set before the next layer. Using Tamiya rattle can flat black. Photos outside give it a shine. Ignore the central propellor. It has been removed for its separate bronze/copper paint. One side was done at a time. Four light coats per side. In total, it took me a week. Plenty of time drying. The Tamiya spray paints really level out quite well. Make big projects like this just a bit easier. Be good, Tom E
  18. Hello MSW!!! Sheesh, feel like I have to re-introduce myself. It's been so long!!! Sometimes In our chosen hobby, we can lose the breeze in our sails once in a while. It's usually something external that reignites the modelling itch. Received the latest Nautical Research Journal this week. That woke it up!!!! One of the promises to myself.... get this, and my Titanic build, up to date. Both masts have been stepped and glued in place. I tried my best to get the rake just right. Albeit not perfect, but not bad. I used a white glue. It gave me the most time to play with the angle and the like before it set in. For some reason I don't have a pic of the glue dry, but it is barely visible. Per the plans. The angle of the masts is roughly 11 degrees for the Main and 7 for the Fore. I did the best I could. One the masts were set in and secure. I continued with setting the "internal" ropes. Those being ropes that terminate at the Fife rail. I imagine it would be a beast to get to these with shrouds already set in. The Fore Topsail yard lifts were first. Secured with blocks and eyebolts already in the deck. Rinse and repeat, both sides are done. I can then move forward with setting other ropes to the fife rail. All rope is from Syren. I have both the old stock of Syren rope and some newer Ultra. The Ultra rope is beautiful, but being a stubborn New Englander, waste not want not. The older stock will get weaved in. Once my "inner" rigging is done on the Fore mast. I want to move on to the Bowsprit. Get that rigged in and work my way fore to stern setting ropes. Glad to be back!!! Tom E
  19. Morning, Hope everyone is well. Good old-fashioned snowstorm today. A wicked Nor'Eastah!!!! Self-imposed snow day for this guy, I'm sitting this one out. My power was out earlier but has since come back on. Calling for 8-12 inches in my area, and 2-3 feet just south of me in Vermont in the Green Mountains. Coffee in hand and before I head to the shipyard, thought an update is in order. The hull is fully primed, and I let it sit for at least a week before moving onto the white parts of the hull. My painting order will be the white first, black, then hull red. In the pics, you may pick up on some "ponding" of paint. The Tamiya rattle cans really level out quite well when dry. I apply very small fine layers of paint over the course of two to three days. Once I figured out to paint one side at a time and not the whole area at once. The ponding of paint disappeared. The white areas where then taped off. In my mind, it seems it would be easier to cover white paint with black paint instead of vice versa. Nothing fancy as towards the tape job. I probably over did it. It's not perfect, but neither am I. Inside and out where taped off. I will touch up the white areas inside the hull with an airbrush before I start installing decks. Decks are being done off model right now. Spring is coming.....correct? Tom E
  20. Morning, Chores underway, sipping on my coffee, Titanic needs an update. With the PE for the hull attached, decks under general construction. The hull needs to be painted. As mentioned before, I'm using Tamiya rattle cans for the hull. First thing first, I started with a Tamiya fine grey surface primer. Inside and out. Very fine multiple layers. No need to rush this. It may look "blotchy", but it levels out nicely as it dries. The propellors are not fully attached. They just need a coat of primer. They easily come off for painting later. The pics won't lie. That is not the current weather in western New Hampshire in February. I was able to get the hull done before the winter weather moved in. Rattle cans I try to keep outside, airbrushing I do inside. Just haven't been updating! Wash your hands! Tom E
  21. Hi Evan, Thanks for those tips. I'll explore all of those avenues. Plenty of scrap decking to experiment with from the "sheets" they come in. I saw your build pop up just the other day. Really fascinated with what you're doing to the kit. I'll be quietly watching in the background. Thanks, Tom E
  22. Morning, Another update is in order. Most lift lines, clew lines and fixed foot ropes for the yards were done off model. With these in, it pretty much represents what I plan on rigging as towards clew lines, lift lines and the like. Standing rigging will be addressed once these lines are anchored on the fife rails. Work "inside out" aspect, I think! Never thought I would get this far. I may build at a glacial pace but building none the less. All rope at this stage is from Syren. I really need to figure out when to introduce the anchors. I have a suspicion I should be installing these soon. Things like the ship's boats, Davits and rudder chains are things that will be weaved in as the rigging is set in. Usually, I "paint myself into a corner" type of situation pops up and I realize something needs to be fixed in before I continue with what I'm working on. Looking towards stepping in the masts next. Then weave all the ropes to the ship itself. I'm chewing on the idea of affixing the masts to the hull with a white glue. I feel that added stability to a mast that can move and bend while rigging should help my amateur eyes. Hopefully.... Be good, Tom E
  23. Evening, Titanic needs an update. I have been building, just haven't been posting. I have a probably very basic question about the wooden decks. I have absolutely no experience with these, I mean literally none. I'm assuming the plastic on the bottom comes off. But, can I also add a layer of extra adhesive on the bottom to ward off a deck that peels or curls up later as it dries? Or is that overkill? There is some general PE for the deck areas. I put a very basic whitewash under the PE so no grey plastic color peeks thru. Eventually, these will get a flat white airbrushed on. I also plan on airbrushing the areas where there is overlap from other pieces like decks and cranes and the like. Just trying to avoid as much grey plastic color peeking thru. Mostly straight forward. The PE strips are not symmetrical to each other. I did have to refer to the other plastic pieces that would be around these and adjusted their final placement. There's some very minor overlap from the decking. So little, one could either trim the extra wood or leave as is. I plan on removing one "plank" of decking which should do the trick. The deck itself, PE, and wood decking fit the hull quite well. Should sit nicely. The box makes a great cradle. Be good, Tom E
  24. Evening, Somewhat chilly night in New Hampshire, a wet snow falling tonight. Home from work, warm house, takeout pizza in the belly, can't ask for much more! Niagara could use in update. Work continues on the Spanker boom. Just trying to pre rig as much as possible. The good thing about rigging off model. Technically, I can only work on one mast at a time. The other is safely away from sweatshirt sleeves and elbows.... learned the hard way! A simple jig for keeping the Topping lifts as symmetrical as this rook can get. With the masts mostly done. I focused some attention to the overall deck area on more time. Check connections, general dusting. catch all the wayward bits of rope and shavings. Overall, I feel like I've been able to keep everything as lined up as possible. There's some wayward bends and curves. Always learning. The Bow area is ready to accept all the forward stays off the Fore mast. Starting to formulate a "rigging schedule". So far, I'm thinking, work from the inside out. Start with the most internal ropes first once the masts are stepped in. Lifts, clew lines, Fide rail fodder. Then, work from front to back with standing rigging. We'll see how I do! Well here she is in all her glory. Minus a few left-over lift and clew lines, which I should have pics in the next update, the masts are ready to be installed. Just wanna go over the plans one, two, twenty more times before I firm things in. Stay warm, Tom E
  25. Evening, Chores are done, dinner in the belly, football game on the tv. Niagara needs an update! Before I step the masts, I want to install the yard lifts and some Clew lines. Anything and almost everything before I step. Starting from the Royal yard and work my way down the mast. Absolutely out of control with loose ropes. But I can see the finish line as towards what lines I plan on installing. Both Fore and Main mast are being done at the same time. Learn on one, then repeat. I've started sorting out the Spanker Mast, boom, gaff and throat halliards. Identify blocks, placement then start stropping. Again, just try and pre-rig as much as possible or feasible. Be good, Tom E
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