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usedtosail

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Everything posted by usedtosail

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. usedtosail
    Sorry Jonathan.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. usedtosail
    That's a nice detail Jay.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. usedtosail
    Those railings are really beautiful.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. 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.
  15. usedtosail
    What a great display for this excellent model. It really is a fantastic build.
  16. 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.
  17. 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.
  18. usedtosail
    The kit provides a couple of square laser cut pieces that you are supposed to plank over and glue on top of the deck planking for the hatches. Instead I left the hatches unplanked when I planked the deck. I used the table saw to cut a rabbet into a 1/8" square strip of wood then cut out the four sides of the hatch coamings. I am using 45 degree angle joints for this which I know is not right but that's what I did. Here you can see my hatch coaming on the right hatch with the supplied hatch cover piece on the left. I then cut strips of wood for the hatch cover and glued them into the rabbet on the coamings. I used 1/16" thick strips so they would be flush with the coamings. I then gave everything a coat of oak stain and wipe on poly and here is how they came out. I then started making other deck furnishings like the pump and the deck pin rails. For these I made the posts by first beveling the tops of each one using the disk sander. I sanded four 45 degree bevels and then sanded the top at 90 degrees to get a flat top. I then used the table saw to cut a decorative groove in all four sides. I then glued the three posts together and used the mill to cut the slots for the pin rails to fit into. I also drilled four holes in each post to make two sheaves, instead of just drilling two holes as the plans showed. I used an X-Acto knife to carve away a bit of wood between each set of vertical holes and a thin round file to create the illusion of a sheave. Here I have 3 of the six done on this side. I did the same with the holes on the other side, then cut then to length on the band saw. I cleaned them up, stained them and gave them a coat of wipe on poly. I will add a pin to the bottoms and drill a hole in the deck for the pin when I add them to the deck, so they don't pull out later when I rig them. The sheaves are used for the yard halyards. I have the pump made but I will wait until I add it to the deck to get a photo. I am now starting to work on the head rails, always a fun adventure.
  19. usedtosail
    So it turns out the sheaves are on the main deck not the lower deck so I will have no problem rigging the lines through them. After I finished adding the rest of the rails and staining them, I glued the ladders in place. I glued the sheave covers to the hull and drilled through them for the sheaves. I assembled the gun port lids and glued them to the hull too, along with the transom decorations. I am in the process of making the hatch coaming and hatch covers, which will be added next.
  20. usedtosail
    Thanks Jonathan and for the likes. I have all the rails on the outside of the hull now. I only need to touch up the paint on the ends where I sanded them flush with the hull. You can also see that I have started the rail on the inside edge of the fore deck. It just needs to be stained. I will be adding similar rails to the to stern upper decks. The ladder is not installed yet but it is just there to see where the rail needed to end. I learned from Popeye's build log of this kit that the Corel model has covers for the sheaves in the hull that are lion heads. He ordered them from Corel but I decided to try my hand at making them from Sculpey. I rolled some out to a thin sheet then marked off the dimensions of each one with an awl. I then used the awl to draw a lions head albeit a pretty abstract one. After the Sculpey baked for 90 minutes I was able to separate the individual covers. The drawing was there but hard to see, but once I painted them gold I could see the lions head pretty well. Anyway here is what they look like after painting. I will glue these to the hull and then drill through the hole in them into the hull for the sheaves. I am not sure how to secure the lines in these holes when it comes time for rigging. I don't think I trust just gluing it into the hole. Maybe I can tie a small piece of wood to the end of the line and slip it into the hole, then pull it tight to the inside of the hull? You can see in the above picture the display cradle which is provided in the kit, although I had to adjust the lengths of the dowels between the ends to get it to fit right. I painted it black to hid the edges of the plywood. You can also see the ladders and jack staff pieces now stained and ready to install. I have started making the gun port lids and jack staff opening cover.
  21. usedtosail
    I completed the new ladders and here they are on the right with the old ladders on the left. Now they need some oak stain before adding them to the decks. I am going to add the jack staff between decks before I add the ladders, so I made it and will stain it too along with the slotted trim piece that goes on the bottom of it. I continue to add the upper rails to the outside of the hull. I have to do these one or two at a time so it is taking some time.
  22. usedtosail
    I finally attached the rudder to the hull. Because the tiller was already attached to the rudder I could not attach the gudgeons to the hull and slide the pintles into them, so I glued them to the pintles after gluing the pintles to the rudder, making sure they were all aligned. I was then able to slide the whole assembly onto the stern post and glue the gudgeons to the hull. I was a bit skeptical but it worked very well. I then made the upper rails. The lowest of these is bent around the bow but the others are just straight sections on the sides of the hull. I bent the two rails and then painted them and two straight wood strips with a red and white pattern, as on the replica. I first painted all the rails white, then masked off the white sections with 1mm wide pieces of masking tape that I wrapped around the top and bottom of the rails. I mixed up some red paint with some black to mute it a bit, then painted the areas between the tapes. After removing the tape pieces, this is how they looked. I still had to do some touch up painting on some of the edges between read and white but overall it worked pretty well. I have the bent rails glued and clamped on the hull now so the next post will show them on the hull. I also made some ladders for between the decks. For the first try I used the Byrnes saw with a regular blade to cut 1/16" slots in the ladder sides for the steps. This worked OK and the shortest ladder I made this way came out good. The other two ladders are taller and the spacing between the steps looked off a bit. I then used the mill to cut the slots, cutting both sides at the same time. I glued the sides down on a piece of wood so that they made an A shape (sorry I should have taken a picture) and then milled across both sides in one pass. After making the four slots for the steps I soaked the wood in alcohol and removed the sides. After they dried I cleaned them up with a square file and glued the steps in. I'll have pictures of them in the next post also.
  23. usedtosail
    Lars, Nice work for only your second model. I built the Mamoli Beagle many years ago and I remember how much fun it was but it was also very challenging.
  24. usedtosail
    That's an a awesome model and case
  25. usedtosail
    I attached the three lower rails to the hull. Since I couldn't clamp these I used medium CA to attach them. This was not without consequences though. I had to clean up excess glue along them in places and touch up the finish around them. I think they came out OK. I also painted some of the decorations for the transom and hull. Most of these are plastic pieces but once painted they look pretty good. The next step will be to attach the rudder then make the upper hull rails.

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