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usedtosail

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Everything posted by usedtosail

  1. usedtosail
    Thanks guys. Fernando the instructions are still very hard to follow. They include planking instructions which I found hilarious. Since the last update I have glued the end pieces in place after shaping them, then faired the frames. I used battens to set up three planking bands per side. I think I'll be OK with the middle and bottom bands but the top band will need some spilled (spelling?) planks to fit up to the tops of the bulwarks supports. I soaked some planks for the bottom and middle bands and clamped them to the frames to dry. In between the start of the planking I have started cleaning up the blocks supplied in the kit. They are all rather large (7 and 10mm) so they are easy to work with. I started by drilling second holes for each supplied hole so I could simulate the sieves. I used the mill with a starter bit to index from the old holes to the locations of the new holes, started the new holes, then finished them with a regular drill bit. This gave me very good results in the opposite sides of the blocks. I then used a pointed chisel to carve the simulated sieve between the two holes on each side. I sanded the blocks so they would be more of an oval shape. Once they are all shaped I will put them into the block tumbler to soften the edges a bit more. This first block I shaped too much but you can see the sequence I followed. Here are better shaped blocks. I still have a bunch to do but it helps fill the time while waiting for things to dry.
  2. usedtosail
    I started bow first, bottom up - bowsprit, lower yards, topsail yards, etc. At each level I went fore, main, mizzen. I don't know if this is the best sequence but it worked for me. Have fun with the rigging. I had a blast.
  3. usedtosail
    Nice yards you got there Dave, including the one emerging from under the leaves. Happy New Year to you and your family.
  4. usedtosail
    Thanks Ken and Kirill. Ship, good luck with your build. I do hope you will be starting a build log here. Ken once you passed me your build log was very valuable to me.
  5. usedtosail
    Glad everything went well Jay.
  6. usedtosail
    That's good news about the dentures. Now you can really enjoy all the holiday goodies.
  7. usedtosail
    Thanks. I am pretty sure I tapered that section but only slightly. I made the shoulder small enough to fit through the mat cap hole. It looks bigger on the plans I think but the difference is hard to see now
  8. usedtosail
    So I pulled out the plans to check on the studding sail booms. They do show the dimensions for the fore boom on sheet 6: Maybe you meant the main boom, which they do not show. In the Anatomy of Sail Constitution book, which is not always the best reference for this ship, they show two sail plans, with the 1800's version showing the main studding sails, and the modern sail plan with just the fore studding sails. So I guess you could go either way.
  9. usedtosail
    Hmm guys. Now you got me thinking...maybe someday I will.
  10. usedtosail
    Thanks Anthony. Your build log is one that got me interested in this kit. The links to info on these boats has been very useful too. The deck spacers seem to be well secured with just glue, so I glued the rest of them on. The two pieces on the ends are two of the four end pieces that help form the rabbet at the stem and stern. These have to be shaped with pretty severe bevels, so I started on the two front pieces before I glued them in place. I will finish the bevels as part of the fairing of the frames. Now to do the back two.
  11. usedtosail
    I think I read that the main stunsail booms are stowed inside the ship. I have the plans put away but I will try to see where I got the dimensions for the fore boom. While waiting for glue to dry on the Santa Lucia build, I made up a 1/10 scale model of the case I am going to build. This was useful to see the proportions of the case and some of the construction techniques I will need to build the full size one. I have ordered the acrylic for the full size case through my brother in law, who owns a machine shop. They are cutting each of the pieces for me so I wont have to deal with large sheets that need to be cut.
  12. usedtosail
    Thanks K. I think it will be a fun build. I glued the frames into the keel after filing the shims that I added to some of the slots. I glued the middle three first, then the aft three, then the bow three. With each group, I placed the keel stiffener in position to hold the frames square to the keel. Once all the frames were in glued in place, I glued the keel stiffener down to the frames and the keel. I used some metal blocks as weights to hold it down. Everything fit very nicely and the keel is nice and straight. I also glued the two end frames to the keel that are above the keel stiffener. When all that dried, I glued a few deck spacers to the tops of the frames, using binder clip plank clamps to hold them tight to the tops of the frames. I am not sure just having glue here is going to be a strong enough joint, but I will see how these three come out. I may put some wire pins to help hold these together if they seem not secure enough.
  13. usedtosail
    "cutting a groove along the outer edge of the keel, is a great alternative {I'm sure you've done it}." Yep - just this week in fact....
  14. usedtosail
    Great planking Denis. Those garboard planks can be tricky.
  15. usedtosail
    I finished carving the rabbet into both sides of the keel and put it back into the build board. I added some 1/64" wood strips to the loose slots and used clothes pins as wedges while the glue is drying. If you look carefully you can see the rabbet.
  16. usedtosail
    I separated the keel, frames, and frame stiffener pieces from the laser cut sheets and dry fitted them. I am using the build board I made for the Constitution build, which holds the keel nicely. There are a few frames that are loose in the keel slots even with the stiffener in place, so I will tighten them up with some scrap wood in the slots. I marked the locations of the bottoms of the frames to define the line of the rabbet that I am going to carve into the keel. I then took the frames off the keel and used a ruler and French curve to draw the rabbet lines on both sides. Before I start carving up the keel, I practiced on some scrap from the laser cut sheet. I am using a small flat chisel to make the groove initially, then a riffler file to clean up the slot. On the areas where the line curves up at the bow and stern, I will use a large flat file to taper the wood into the rabbets. This is a double ended boat, so both the bow and stern are going to be planked like the stern normally is on a larger ship.
  17. usedtosail
    Thanks Ed. Those mandrels are a nice way to accomplish this. I will have to remember to make some when I have some down time.
  18. usedtosail
    One more question if you don't mind Ed. When you put the round band over the octagonal center section of a yard, how do you get the band to fit snug to the faces of the octagon? Thanks.
  19. usedtosail
    After finishing the USS Constitution, I wanted to build something just a little simpler that would not take me another 5 years to build. I had a few kits on the shelf to choose from and I was leaning toward a Cris Craft runabout as something really different. But then my son, who has recently bought his first house, asked me to build something for his mantel, and when I showed him the kits I had he liked the Santa Lucia. I got interested in this kit in the first place for a couple of reasons. First, I am half Sicilian and my grandmother on that side loved the song "Santa Lucia". Second, after seeing the build logs of this kit on this site (AnthonyUK and FernandoE), I really liked the look of the boat. I found a kit on the web at a reasonable price and bought it a few years ago. Here are some shots opening the box. I don't know how old this kit is but the wood still looks pretty good. There are a lot of brass fittings and the laser cut keel and frames looks pretty good too. The blocks are huge and very ugly, so I am going to try to make new ones or if that fails I will buy some new ones from Chuck. I know very little about this boat so I am just going to follow the limited directions in the kit and see how it goes. There are 3 sheets of plans which are all in Italian. At least the other instructions are in a bunch of languages, including English. Next up is getting the keel and frames cut out and cleaned up.
  20. usedtosail
    K, I do believe the extra bulwarks were added sometime after 1812. I used the Hull model of the Constitution that is in the Peabody Museum in Salem, MA as a guide for the 1812 interpretation that I did, as it is a contemporary model of the ship from that period. Also, the Blue Jacket Constitution kit is an 1812 version, and has the rail just above the gun ports as shown in KHauptfuehrer's build log: I hope this helps.
  21. usedtosail
    Those parrels are tiny compared to the yards. I have to start using smaller beads.
  22. usedtosail
    Thanks Steve. I really enjoyed documenting the build with this log, as it made me really think critically about what I was doing. I think the model came out better because of that, as well as the great advice I received along the way. A couple of final pictures for now. This is the dust cover I made from corrugated cardboard poster boards. That front cover can be opened as it is hinged at the top so I still have access to the model if I need to take measurements or show it off (ha ha). The ship will stay in here until the actual case is made in the Spring. In the mean time I am in the process of designing the case and will start a new model soon - the Panart Santa Lucia Sicilian barge. I'll start a build log for that shortly.
  23. usedtosail
    When I made those fittings for the yards that Henry shows I used strips of basswood that I filed the shapes into, then cut them to length and just glued them to the yards with some spots of medium CA in between areas of wood glue. Some final filing after the glue dried and they were fine.
  24. usedtosail
    Thanks again. I have taken some better pictures and put them in the gallery. Here is one of them.
  25. usedtosail
    Thank you very much Chris, Michael, Steve, Fright, Geoff, Popeye, Henry, Captain Steve, Rob, Jay, Maturin, Kenneth, Tom, KMart, and Bill, and those who hit the like button. I really appreciate the comments. I have not had time yet to take good pictures but I am hoping to be able to do that this week.

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