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usedtosail

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Everything posted by usedtosail

  1. usedtosail
    Kmart, well to the connie club. I look forward to following along with your build. Don't hesitate to ask questions, but it has been a few years since I was at these steps. Tom - go for it, and please start a build log when you do. i'll follow along with yours too.
  2. usedtosail
    So the work on the topmast standing rigging is completed. All of the ratlines have been added to the topmast shrouds, and the breast stays have been redone to start at the topmast top. I apologize for the pictures, now and in the future, as the cluttered background makes it hard to see details. I do have a backdrop I can use but it in another room and I don't want to keep moving the model in and out. I was going to stop and take some good pictures after the topmast rigging was done. but I ended up just continuing on with the flying jibboom rigging. Here are pictures of the in progress and completed topmast standing rigging. And here you can see the start of the jibboom standing rigging, specifically the outer traveling and fixed guys, and outer martingale stays. I attached the flying jibboom to the bowsprit cap by drilling a hole through the boom into the cap, then gluing it in place with a piece of wire in the holes. This seems to have made a nice secure attachment, and I then placed a U shaped piece of wire over the flying jibboom as more of a decoration than an actual support. The metal bracket in the middle I glued to the end of the jibboom, so there is a good attachment at that end too. I wanted this to be well attached in case I bump it later.
  3. usedtosail
    Yep, I made the same attachment, using another brass tube with a tight fit into the tube on the serving machine. The other mod I did was add a handle to the crank:
  4. usedtosail
    Great job Ken. She is just beautiful.
  5. usedtosail
    Coming along nicely Maturin.
  6. usedtosail
    I like the comb jig to hold your grating pieces. They look great (or should I say grate).
  7. usedtosail
    Thanks Gary. I completely got those wrong. I have the breast backstays on, but have them coming from the lower mast heads, not the topmast heads. I will have to take them off and redo them, but that is not a problem as I have had to redo many things as I have gone along. I have the AOS book but haven't been using it as I don't think it is very accurate, but in this case it is. The MS plans don't show the breast backstays in relation to the other standing rigging, but the picture of the breast backstay on the plan shows the loop at the top and does say to go around the topmast head.
  8. usedtosail
    Thanks for the likes, guys. Topmast rigging continues with the mizzen topmast. I added the topmast shrouds, stays and backstays, and next I need to add the sheer poles. I also have started adding the ratlines to the fore topmast shrouds. Easier than the lower shrouds but still will take some time.
  9. usedtosail
    Yeah Rich, that looks good to me. Nice job.
  10. usedtosail
    Wow, I wish I could do ratlines that fast .
  11. usedtosail
    I added the main topmast stays which were a little tricky. They have a mouse on top like the other stays and go through bullseyes on the back of the fore mast, then down to bullseyes on the deck. I had placed the eyebolts for these bullseyes a while a go while outfitting the deck, but failed to add hook the bullseyes to them. These eyebolts are inside the fore pin rails so I found it impossible to get enough room to hook them. I then tried suspending the bullseye with the hook down from a loop of thread, which allowed me to get them hooked with tweezers from underneath the pin rail. The problem now was how to keep them hooked while I threaded the lashing between the bullseye on the end of the stay and the bullseye on the deck. That loop of thread turned out to be the trick, as I just looped it around some of the belaying pins in the pin rail and clamped it, which not only held the bullseye hook in the eyebolt, but also held the bullseye up so it was easier to get the lashing line through it. I was able to thread both stays without them coming unhooked. Here is the result. You can see how close to the pin rails these are. And here is an overall view with the stays in place. I finished up the main topmast shrouds last night and have two of the four mizzen shrouds in place. I had to remove the fore futtock staves because they were too low and the catherpins would have interfered with the fore topmast. I was able to carefully cut them away from the shrouds, but I did have to cut off all the small bullseyes and tie them to new wood pieces. I installed the fore and main topmast futtock staves last night, and am working on the catherpins for these shrouds.
  12. usedtosail
    I think you did a great job on those canopy frames Dave. I didn't even attempt to make them, rationalizing top myself that they wouldn't have been on the 1812 version. We'll have to call you SolderDave for a while.
  13. usedtosail
    Just beautiful, Dan.
  14. usedtosail
    First off, I want to extend my well wishes to you members in Houston and Florida. Hurricanes are a b****, don't mess with them, especially these monster storms. I was having problems with the topmast deadeyes wanting to rotate in the top, sometimes a full 90 degrees or more, because I had made the holes a little oversize to get the strops through them more easily. I should have made them with thinner slots. But, I saw this trick in xken's build log, and it worked so well I wanted to make sure future readers of this log find it. By inserting a strip of wood through the deadeye lashings before tying the sheer poles to the shrouds, the deadeyes are held in the right direction and the seizing on the sheer pole holds them that way when the wood is removed. Thanks Ken for the tip. The topmast futtock staves on the Constitution have 5 bullseyes lashed to them to guide the topG and royal shrouds to the mast top. I was going to use some bullseyes supplied with the kit, but as you see in this picture they are too big to fit on the 1/2 inch or so long staves. So, I made new bullseyes from brass tubing. I had always used a vice to hold tubing to cut it, but on a whim I bought a jewelers bench vise which provides a nice flat surface to cut on, and had much better results. In fact, I was able to cut all 30 bullseyes, with some spares, in less than an hour. And they did not crush or have rough edges like when cut in a vice. I blackened them and tied them to the staves with a single overhand knot that was fixed with glue. I also made the two collars with single blocks that will go over the shrouds on the fore topmast for rigging the topmast yard. The collars are one strand of served line wrapped back on itself and held under a single seizing. Here are the fore topmast futtock staves in place on the shrouds, with the catherpins on them too. Stay safe and have a good weekend
  15. usedtosail
    Thanks Al and Popeye - happy belated birthday. I hope you did something fun. Tim - I didn't look on the back before glueing the sandpaper to the drum, but from the front it looks like 100 or so. The paper on the shaft is finer, maybe 200 or so. I only tumbled the blocks, as the deadeyes look good out of the box.
  16. usedtosail
    She looks great Steven off the plug. Nice job!
  17. usedtosail
    So, I finished the fore topmast stay and fore topmast preventer stay. I started by making the two mice for the stays. I used my new lathe, which made the process much better than the mice I made for the lower stays. I was able to drill a hole precisely in the middle of a dowel for the line to go through, then rotate the lathe head slightly and cut a taper into the dowel for each mouse. After painting them black, I glued them to the line I had served for the stays. I then put them in the serving machine and served over the wood. This time, I used a diagonal pattern for the serving after coating the mouse in white glue, so it looks even more like the real thing then the first mice I made. Once the serving was dry, I wrapped the stays over the topmast and ran them through the bees on the bow sprit. I then seized a bullseye into each end and lashed them to bullseyes at the bow. I need to finish up the fore topmast shrouds and add the sheer poles, then I will move to the main topmast rigging (although you can see in the above picture that I have started adding the main topmast shrouds already).
  18. usedtosail
    Ken, congratulations on a very fine build. It has been a pleasure working along with you.
  19. usedtosail
    Thanks Popeye and the likes. I apologize for no update yet - I was on vacation all last week. I have started the fore topmast stay and preventer stay and will have pics when I have them in place. I would have been a lot closer if I didn't put the mice too close to the topmast last night. I really don't know how that happened. I was able to remove the serving line and reposition them, but I have to serve over them again before I can install them.
  20. usedtosail
    A very sad day. I will miss him a great deal.
  21. usedtosail

    We will miss you Captain Bob.

    1. IgorSky

      IgorSky

      Captain Bob ... R.I.P.

  22. usedtosail
    Thanks popeye, Bill and Dave. It was a real pleasure meeting you too and your son. I am working on the topmast shrouds, backstays, and stays. I have the fore shrouds in place with their deadeyes and lanyards, but have not fully tightened them up yet until the fore topmast stays are in place. I didn't like the way the burton pennants were (not) hanging, so I threaded some line through them and clamped that to the mast, then coated them with slightly diluted white glue. They look much better now, as you can see in the last picture of the fore topmast.
  23. usedtosail
    You have enormous hands, Dan! Seriously that is very good work for so tiny a piece.
  24. usedtosail
    Joe, before you pull the trigger with another seller, try calling Kat at Sherline. I just got a 15% "senior" discount on a lathe package with milling column, although I am only 62. It should arrive Wed. next week.
  25. usedtosail
    Welcome back! I can't help you with the pictures but I hope you get that worked out so we can see your progress. Sounds like you have made a lot.

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