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usedtosail

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Everything posted by usedtosail

  1. usedtosail
    My dad helped build those Sperry gyroscopes.
  2. usedtosail
    After a week of relatives visiting, I finally got some time in the shop the last couple of days. I finished thinning down the rails and primed them with diluted gesso. I am going to paint the top and sides of the rails green but I will leave the bottoms white. I fit the gudgeons to the stern post and the pintles to the rudder, then blackened them along with some nails. The upper gudgeons and pintles will be painted white, but I blackened them because I find the paint sticks better and they have the same texture and the lower ones. I also started priming the rudder.
  3. usedtosail
    Congrats to your daughter. I am glad you liked our part of the world. Lake Winnepasauki is nice but Newfound Lake is our piece of heaven.
  4. usedtosail
    Beautiful job, Frank.
  5. usedtosail
    I have cut out and attached the two rails from basswood sheet. I was able to make these in one piece and managed not to break them as I shaped them. I started by cutting out the pieces oversize then sanded the inside curve to fit. I used a compass to mark the outside curve using the inside edge as a guide. I then cut this out a little oversize and sanded the outside edge to the line. I then glued them onto the hull using medium CA, and will do a final sanding once they are dried. The port side especially needs to be thinned a little more. I will then prime and paint them the same green as the trim pieces.
  6. usedtosail
    So here is how the trim pieces came out. I touched up the green paint on the ends and I still have a little touch up of the white paint near them at the ends. I have the templates made for the rails so now I need to cut them out of 1/16" basswood sheet.
  7. usedtosail
    Thanks Fernando and Popeye. After gluing the other side lower trim piece on, I added the two upper trims pieces. These I was able to clamp as I glued them so they were a bit easier to add. I sanded the ends of the trim pieces to be flush with the stem and stern post, so I have a little touch up to do on the green paint. Then I will make and add the rails along the tops of the bulwarks.
  8. usedtosail
    I gave the hull bottom another coat of black paint, then removed the masking tape. I had just one spot at the stem that I had to touch up with white paint. I gave the trim pieces three coats of green paint so now I was ready to start adding them. I started on the port side because I plan to display this model from the starboard side, so this was a good side to practice on. I glued the first trim piece under the port scuppers using medium CA. I started at the forward scuppers and worked my way back to the last scupper, trying to keep the trim piece in a fair line and right under the scuppers. I then glued the forward part of the trim to the stem, using a clamp at the end to get it tight at the stem. I trimmed the aft portion to fit into the stern post, then glued and clamped the aft section. I was really concerned how this was going to come out but I am pretty happy so far. We will see how it looks after I take the clamps off later.
  9. usedtosail
    Nice save Jay.
  10. usedtosail
    I have applied three coats of diluted black paint on the hull bottom and I will probably add one or two more. I also primed the four trim strips, which will be painted green before gluing to the hull. I stuck them in a chunk of balsa wood to hold them while they dried.
  11. usedtosail
    Weather has gotten much nicer but I have found time in the shop anyway. I stained the deck planks with some Oak stain and I really like the look. The plans say to paint the deck red/brown but that is too much paint on the model for me. With the interior set for now I painted the top of the outside hull with 4 coats of diluted white paint. After that dried I masked off the waterline and painted the edge white to seal it, so I am ready to paint the bottom of the hull black. I also bent the four trim pieces that will go on the outside of the hull with a plank bender after soaking them in water. They will be primed and painted green. I through out the 2mm square wood that came with the kit for these as it was very splintered when bent. I am substituting some 3/32" basswood for them which is slightly bigger than the supplied strips but much better quality. The sheet wood I ordered for the top rail arrived today so I will be working on that soon too.
  12. usedtosail
    It has been rainy here so I been spending a lot of time in the shop. I drilled the hawse holes and the hole for the bowsprit. I had to locate these holes from the various isometric views that are provided instead of real plans. But they look right so that's all that matters to me. I painted the insides of these holes and the scuppers with a grey paint. I gave the inside bulwarks another coat of white paint too. The bowsprit hole is still a little rough but I will clean that up when I add the bowsprit later. You can also see that I marked the waterline on the hull. This wasn't too hard to locate as they do have a side on view that shows it very well. I drilled a hole in a block of wood at the right height and put a pencil in the hole to mark it. Worked very well. I will be staining the deck then painting the outside of the hull next - white above and black below the waterline. Then I will be adding the two trim strips - one just below the scuppers and one between that one and the top rail. I ordered some 1/16" basswood sheet to make the top rails, making them in one piece for each side. That is the plan anyway. The trim and top rail will be painted green, as well as trim on the deck pieces, so I ordered some green paint too. I separated the laser cut pieces that make up the hatch coverings. Most of the parts are slightly oversize so that they can be fit to the openings, but oddly the side pieces for the two largest openings are too short. The provided dimensions on the plans for the openings are larger by about half a centimeter than these pieces. A bit disappointing but I can use the longer two for the smaller opening and make new ones for the larger opening, as they are simple rectangles.
  13. usedtosail
    Thanks Popeye. I finished the scuppers on the starboard side and cleaned them all up as best I could. I sanded down the margin planks where I had scraped them making the scuppers, so I am almost ready to re-stain them and stain the deck planks. I want to drill the four hawse holes through the hull before that though.
  14. usedtosail
    I finished the scuppers on the port side and started adding them to the starboard side. It's a bit tedious but getting them consistent is an effort. I will be glad when they are all done.
  15. usedtosail
    I have had some success adding the seizing to served lines but not tightening it. I could then carefully slide it into place with tweezers and tighten it then.
  16. usedtosail
    Thanks Silisurfer. Here is the tool, which I bought on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mazbot-7-Hole-Punch-Pliers-5-SIZE-Jewelry-Metal-Leather-HIGH-GRADE-HPP06-/302845942623
  17. usedtosail
    I finished cutting the four openings in the deck and sanded everything down one more time. I then marked the locations of the bulwark extensions and scuppers on the deck template. I lined three of them up with the three frames I used for the deck plank ends and equally spaced the rest based on the number on the isometric views of the "plans". I then started to add the scuppers. These are shown as half circles on the plans. I searched for half round drill bits all over the Internet but no one seems to sell them so I had to come up with a different approach. I first thought I could just drill a round hole and cover up half of it on the outside with the trim piece that goes just under the scuppers, but that wouldn't look right from the inside. So I drilled a smaller hole and used a half round file to flatten the bottom of the hole and a small round file to clean up the top half. This is working pretty well so far. About half on the port side done. Each one takes about 10 minutes to do and I will go back and make them a little more consistent when I have them all in.
  18. usedtosail
    I know what you mean David about getting the tensions right. It sounds like your system worked well for you. The results certainly show that.
  19. usedtosail
    I finished scraping and sanding the deck planks, then starting cutting holes into it. I first marked the four deck openings using the template I made, adjusting them as necessary so they were straight with the planks. I then used a razor saw to open up two of the larger openings. I cut well away from the line and removed the planks that were sawn all the way through. I then used the razor saw to cut away the frames that were in the openings. For the forward opening I used an X-Acto knife and X-Acto saw to cut along the edges of the opening, and again used the razor saw to remove the remaining pieces of frame. I also used a Dremel with a sanding drum to sand back to the line where the ends of the planks to cut were very short. I started to do this for the aft opening, but once I removed the frame under the forward plank ends I needed to glue a pice of planking under the plank ends to stabilize them, as they were now a long distance from the closest frame. Here you can see the forward opening is ready to go but more work is needed on the aft opening after the support piece is dry, and I still have the other two openings to cut out. I also decided not to add treenails to the deck for a couple of reasons. I don't know these boats very well so I am not sure they used them and also none of the pictures I have of the real boats or models show them, so I would rather leave them off.
  20. usedtosail
    Thanks Geoff and REG. Here is what I have in my notes regarding the cannons on the Constitution: Gun Deck - 30 24lb cannons Spar Deck - 24 32lb carronades and an 18lb chase gun
  21. usedtosail
    Deck planking is complete. I started scraping and sanding the deck and margin planks to even them all out. Next step is to cut the openings in the deck for the hatches, then I'll add tree nails and do a final sanding of the deck planks.
  22. usedtosail
    Thanks Popeye and the likes. Deck is almost complete - just a few more planks to add along the edges. I decided I didn't like the center plank going all the way to the stem and stern posts, so I cut out the small rectangles at the ends and replaced them with the same material I used for the margin planks. I will sand all of these level and stain them as part of the deck finishing process.
  23. usedtosail
    Deck planking continues. I apologize if this stage isn't too interesting, but I like how the shape of the boat is coming together as these planks are added. Those decks are very rounded in these boats and it is really starting to show that.
  24. usedtosail
    Started the deck planking last night. First note the high tech hull cradle I am now using - two tube socks filled with rice. I have used these before and they work surprisingly well. I have a Keel Clamper but the hull did not feel secure enough in it, so I went old school. I started with the plank down the middle of the deck. I ended up not adding filler pieces between the margin planks and just trimmed these planks to fill the gap. I then cut the two planks next to these, to help align them straight. I am using a 3-butt shift on the plank ends with black sharpie along one edge of each plank for the filler between planks. I glued and clamped these planks in place. And here is how they look after the glue dried. I have the next two planks on each side of these installed and drying now.
  25. usedtosail
    We had a nice warm long weekend here so I spent most of it outdoors. I did get a little time in the shop last night and this morning. I added supports for the ends of the deck planks around where the mast will come out of the deck. The mast is very raked so this took a little time to get right. I am in the process of adding the supports along the margin planks. Once they are all in I can start planking the deck.

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