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usedtosail

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Everything posted by usedtosail

  1. usedtosail
    Here is some of the progress from today. Dingy is now tied down to the deck with the oars. And I added the gammonings to the bow sprit with polyester rope that I made yesterday. I also made the knight heads for the fore deck and the euphroes for the crows feet, as well as a bunch more rope for the standing rigging.
  2. usedtosail
    The dingy is finally compete. I finished painting the hull today, so now I just need to lash it to the deck. I have also finished the oars for the dingy and the topmasts and flags poles. Here is the bow sprit with the collars for the main, fore, and fore topmast stays. Next will be adding the gammoning lines to hold it down. Since I took this picture I have actually replaced these collars with new ones made with new polyester rope (see below). I had made all the rope I need for the standing rigging, which was mostly made from nylon thread, but I recently bought some polyester thread that Chuck Passano suggested to use and I made some rope with it today. It came out so much better than the nylon rope that I decided to use it for all the rigging on this model. I have started making the rope I need for the standing rigging and will soon start on the running rigging. It's mud season up here in New Hampshire so I have lots of time on the shop these days, so I have been able to make a lot of progress.
  3. usedtosail
    Thanks Popeye. I almost made it to the vaccination before I got sick. Since then I have gotten both shots so I have a lot of immunity now. How about you, did you get the Fauci Ouchi yet? Thanks for the kind words on the crows nests. They are far from perfect but I am OK with that. Yes, the vacuum formed ships boat hull was supplied in the kit. Based on the scale it just looked too small to me, as did my first attempt on the dingy. The Cutter kit from Vanguard was fun to build, even though I did not use any of the interior parts because they were the wrong scale, but the hull seemed just right for a dingy at this scale. Here is what I have been working on. The dingy interior is just about done, with the floorboards and seat support installed and the interior stained. The seats are cut and are drying after staining in the alligator clips, along with the cradles that came in the mini kit. I also made oar locks from brass rod that I soldered and blackened. Here I have touched up the solder with some black paint. I made oars which will be painted white on the shafts but the blades are stained. Finally I have been cleaning up all the blocks supplied in the kit, first with a file to round them, then a block tumbler to soften all the edges. Here I have stained them all. I have also gone through the plans and developed a rigging plan, which is basically a list of all the standing rigging and running rigging lines in the order to add them, along with the line and block sizes needed. I find this makes it a lot easier to keep track of the rigging as it progresses.
  4. usedtosail
    She looks great. Nice job and have fun with the rigging. It was my favorite part.
  5. usedtosail
    Not so fast Louie. I still have to add the interior details to the dingy, starting with the ribs. Second coat of oak stain on the masts and crows nests. I did finish making all the rope I need for the standing rigging (I think) including the lines for the deadeye lashings and bow sprit gammoning.
  6. usedtosail
    The dingy is coming along. I finished planking and here is how it looked before sanding and before the plank ends were trimmed at the bow. Not great but I could work with it. The next thing I did was to cut the transom off and finish the planks at the previous bulkhead. This gave it more of a dingy shape. I also added wood filler to the outside of the hull and sanded it back to get a smooth hull. I then removed the bulkheads as described in the instructions which went much better than I expected. After a little re-gluing of planks here is how it looks now. I next have to sand the inside of the hull and start adding the flooring and seats. The flooring covers those bits of MDF that are still in there. While waiting for planks to dry I finished building the lower masts, crows nests and cross trees. I gave them a coat of oak stain today. I have also been making the rope I need for the standing rigging which is mostly shrouds and stays. The kit rope is not very good so I am pretty much making all my own rope for the rigging.
  7. usedtosail
    More planking on the dingy, now from the keel up. The thin pear strips are really nice to work with as they bend easily after soaking in hot water for 1 minute. Another nice feature in this mini kit is that there are openings in the bulkheads that allow me to use those thin clamps to hold the planks flat to the bulkheads while I curve the ends of the plank. I filed flats in the main mast and glued the cheeks on. I had first used the cheeks as a guide to glue the crosstrees to the underside of the crows nest, then used the crows nest to get the cheeks in the right position. I assembled the fore crows nest but the middle ring was very wavy, so I soaked the whole thing in alcohol to separate the pieces, then reglued them, this time using a piece of wood as a gauge to set the height of the middle ring as I glued it to the supports. It came out much better. I have roughly shaped the fore mast but the top portion needs to be thinned down a little more before the crows nest and mast cap will fit. Once that is done I can add the crosstrees to the fore crows nest and the cheeks to the fore mast.
  8. usedtosail
    Planking the dingy continues, as well as assembling the main crows nest. I am using the smallest office clips as clamps and so far they are working well. On the crows nest I have added the new supports to the middle ring and glued them to the bottom ring. The top ring in the picture has also been glued onto the tops of the supports this morning. I put a weight on the top to hold it down while the glue dried.
  9. usedtosail
    I faired the bulkheads for the dingy and glued a top plank to them. These are pear wood planks that are laser cut and very easy to work with. I soaked it in hot water for a minute and it was very flexible. When it dried I started doing the same with the plank on the other side, but in the process I broke off the stem. I was able to glue it back on with CA and it seems to be holding well, so I was able to bend and clamp the other plank to dry. I started gluing the main crows nest pieces together but every time I tried to glue one of the support pieces in place it delaminated. So I made new supports from a strip of basswood. I cut them roughly to shape them glued them together into a block that I could shape and trim to the same size. When finished I soaked them in alcohol to separate them. I also started assembling the bowsprit. I sanded the dowel in the lathe then glued on oversize cleats that I will file down when they dry. I used a round file to shape the underside of the knee that fits on the tip of the bowsprit and glued it on. Now I need to make new supports for the fore crows nest.
  10. usedtosail
    Well another change of plans (Plan C?). I ordered my next kit, the Vanguard Duchess of Kingston, and while I was on the Vanguard site I ordered the 18' Cutter kit, which at this scale is about 12', which with some modification should make a great dingy. The layered version I was working on seemed too narrow to me. So here is what the kit looks like. I started by removing the base and the bulkheads from the MDF and the keel and transoms from the small laser cut sheet. I placed the bulkheads in the base and glued the keel onto them, which fit nicely after joggling the bulkheads to get everything in position. I then placed thinned wood glue in the joints and set it aside to dry. (BTW I fixed that third bulkhead from the back that was not all the way into the keel after I took the picture). I have also started working on the two crow's nests but so far I have only started to remove the pieces from the laser cut sheets. A few of them delaminated some so I had to glue the pieces back together, which is annoying. I'll show progress there as I put them together.
  11. usedtosail
    Whoops I forgot to take a picture of the boat hull stack before sanding. Sorry. Here is the hull after a few hours of sanding. I mostly used the Dremel with the small sanding drum and the two burrs shown. I also used a small flat file to shape the inner transom area and the pieces of sandpaper to finish up inside and out. It is not done yet but it is getting there.
  12. usedtosail
    Sorry Jonathan.
  13. usedtosail
    I finished the channels by gluing the external strips over the chain plates then adding some wood filler and painting them black again. Next up is the ship's boat. The kit provided a plastic hull and some wood pieces to fit on it, but I don't like it at all. My preferred method for these boats is to make them up in layers to make the hull, then add wood details inside and out. I have some plans that I scale to the size of boat needed, then glue the templates to sheet wood with a glue stick. I roughly cut out the outside shapes with a jig saw but use an X-Acto knife to cut out the center sections. I find this alot easier than using the jig saw where I have to remove the blade for each lift. I also used the X-Acto to cut closer to the exterior lines. I have since removed the paper templates and glued the lifts together, so the next step will be shaping the hull inside and out.
  14. usedtosail
    What a beautiful model Dan. I too am recovering from COVID and find the modeling time a big therapeutic help. Get well and stay safe my friend.
  15. usedtosail
    That's a nice detail Jay.
  16. usedtosail
    Sorry for lack of progress these last 2 weeks. I have been hospitalized recovering from COVID but am back home now. I think this week I will be ready to get back to work on the Half Moon.
  17. usedtosail
    With the channels in place, I cut tenons in the bottoms of the three mast dowels and fit them into the holes in the decks. I blackened the chain plates and stropped the lower deadeyes with 28 gauge wire, leaving a small space to get the chain plate through the strop. I used thin CA to hold the strop to the deadeye with the joint of the strop at the bottom with the holes aligned correctly. I used an angle gauge to set the main mast at the correct angle and tied a line to the it where the shrouds come together at the top. I used the line to mark the angles of the main chain plates then bent each chain plate at the channel with the bottom hole on the trim below the channel. I tested the fit then cut off the excess chain plate and crimped it around the strop. I then drilled holes through the chain plates into the trim and glued nails in to hold the ends of the chain plates. I also glued the chain plates into the slots of the channels. I marked the locations of the channels on a thin piece of wood that is the same thickness as the channels and filed slots to fit over the chain plates. I will paint this black and glue it to the edge of the channel to cover the chain plates.
  18. usedtosail
    Those railings are really beautiful.
  19. usedtosail
    I drilled holes in the back of the channels and glued three pieces of wire in the two smaller ones and four in the larger main channel. I then drilled holes in the hull and glued the channels in place.
  20. usedtosail
    Thanks Popeye for the compliments and great information. I lucked out as there was no bleed thru that I could see so I was very relieved. I tried to get the Corel tack line decorations but was having trouble ordering from Cornwall (wouldn't take my credit card) so I decided to make them instead. Those are the pictures I am working from but as you can see I am taking some artistic license with the paint job. I like your decals and thought of trying to duplicate something like that but decided to go simpler. I tried making decals for my Cris Craft build with marginal success, mostly because there is no white on the decals so they were hard to see on the mahogany finish. I'll keep that in mind when I set the masts. There is nothing that holds them at all except the hole in the deck. You just have to be careful when you set up the shrouds and stays to keep them at the right angle I guess. I usually have my masts pretty loose that way anyway but we will see. It will be fun finishing these models together. I have made the canopy for the jack staff hole but I am waiting to permanently install it until the mizzen mast is in place, as it is a tight fit there. Based on the scale, it looks like the person doing the steering would have their head and maybe shoulders sticking up through the hole in the deck.
  21. usedtosail
    The head area is finished. Here are the upper rails in place with the knees added to the lower stem at the hawse holes. For the lion figure head, the stem had the profile of the lion laser cut into it and they supplied two plastic pieces to go on the outside. I painted the end of the stem and the lion pieces red and glued them to the stem. I added the capstan to the deck and added the cleats and kevels to the rails on the inside. Next I am adding the eyebolts to the decks and rails, and also finishing the transom knee so I can install it too. I have also starting going through the "rigging plan" which is very confusing, so I can make a list of the lines to add, what size rope to make for them, and where the lines run. The plan provided is very confusing but I am starting to make sense of some of it. The problem is mostly that all the drawn lines on the plans are the same for everything - rope lines, edges of sails, parts of sails, masts, yards, and label lines. And the only lines that are labeled are those that go to a belaying pin, to correspond with the belaying pin plan that was provided. The others you just have to find amid all the clutter. Oh well, it is a challenging puzzle which I enjoy anyway.
  22. usedtosail
    The head area is coming along. I added the planking under the supports and painted them and the supports. I then added the decorative side pieces after painting them white. The plans show two thin strips along the edges of these but I painted black strips along them instead. I also had to trim these down to fit correctly. I have the upper rails ready to add. I painted these in the same pattern as the other rails and they look to me like they came straight from Santa's sleigh. I have also been working on other fittings like the capstan and large V shaped cleats. As most parts of this model the capstan looks a bit simplified to me but I will use it as is. There is a knee on the inside of the transom which came as two laser cut pieces. I remade the knee part because the kit supplied piece had a large notch in it for the rail that I didn't use. It was also the wrong angle for the deck. I also remade the top piece which the flag staff goes through. The laser cut piece had two problems. The hole was made straight through the piece but the staff is held at an angle. I could have drilled it out at the correct angle but the other problem was that the hole was not in the right place as the flag staff did not sit flush to the transom as shown on the plans. I drilled the hole in the new one at the right location and angle and glued it to the top of the knee using the flag staff to make sure it was centered. They look white but that is just a trick of light as they are still unfinished and will be stained like the reast of the interior.
  23. usedtosail
    What a great display for this excellent model. It really is a fantastic build.
  24. usedtosail
    I added the head rail supports to the stem then glued on the head rails. Next are the planks for the head area, which on this model get put on under the supports, which does not seem right to me but I am doing it that way. I have the two outside planks glued on. All of these pieces will be painted black eventually, but for now I just painted the ends of the head rails and planks where they are glued to the stained hull to make it easier later when I paint the rest of them.
  25. usedtosail
    I finished the deck pin rails and glued them to the deck using a piece of wire as a pin. I then glued in the pump which is a tight fit between the ladder and pin rail. There are four windows that go on the side of the hull. Instead of painting black beneath the window frames I glued black construction paper onto the back of the frames. I thought about putting acetate between the paper and the frames but I didn't like the look. The first item to be installed on the head area is a decorative piece that is laser cut and fits in the opening in the stem. This piece is very fragile and there is no way I could have cleaned up the laser char so I painted it black after gluing it in place. I did break it into two pieces getting it out of the laser cut sheet, but I was able to glue each piece in place. One thing to note is that the instructions show this piece installed the other way round but it is clearly taller on one end as is the opening, so that is the way I glued it in. It did not fit the other way and I did not want to try sanding it shorter to fit.

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