usedtosail

Thanks George. I can't wait for you to start either. Well. here is the white stripe terminated at the quarter galleries. I am glad you got me to do this. Assembling and rigging the gun deck cannons continues. Here are the first two, completed with rope coils. I made up this jig to make the flat rope coils. I wanted them more oval shaped than round, so I used some brass rod to get the shape. I make the coils so they are close to the top of the rods to make it easier to get them off. I am using Dullcote lacquer to fix the shape of the coils, which is mostly successful. The coils do hold the shape but it takes a small bit of CA to hold them together. These coils are only a couple of turns because I would think the tackle lines wouldn't be really long. And here is the present state. I still have to secure the breaching lines on the two right hand cannons and then add the tackles. It is too nice a day here to go back into the basement, so maybe later tonight I will get back to it.

Nice job Matt. I love all those details.

I can't wait Steve for your interpretation of the Connie. I am sure there will be some great surprises (in the good way) along the way.

OK George, first thing I did last night was mask off the area behind the last gun ports for the white strip. Each side got a first coat. This was after I removed the masking tape on the starboard side for the pilaster extensions. Then it was back to those first two cannons for the gun deck. The girl got her first two teeth tonight. I glued the barrels and quoins to the carriages in the little jig I made, then added caps over the trunnions using black paper strips. I glued the guns into place using CA on the pins and white glue under the wheels. I am really happy how well those pins hold the guns in place, as I don't have to worry about them coming loose as I work around them. It is a little tricky getting them in place and flat to the deck, but some gentle bending of the pin gets the job done. Once in place, I drilled holes for the eye bolts on the ends of the breaching ropes and for eye bolts for the side and training tackles. The eye bolts on the breaching ropes were pretty hard to get into the holes, as they are short and wanted to twist in the tweezers. But after many attempts I was able to get them glued in. The other eye bolts were much easier to glue into place as they didn't have any line on them yet. I was then able to hook the tackles to these eye bolts and those on the carriages. This also took some practice as it was hard to keep enough tension on the tackle after the first hook was place while trying to get the second hook in place. Again, after a number of tries it got easier. Once the tackle was tightened the hooks stayed in place nicely. This is the first time I have made these tackles up before installing them and I found it much easier than trying to thread the tackle lines with the blocks already in place. I was also happy to see that I had enough distance between the blocks on the tackles, which was helped by adding the eye bolts towards the center of the area between the gun ports, which is how they are on the real ship today. I was also happy that the angle of the two barrels look about the same. Hopefully this will continue as I put the rest of them in place. I still have to figure out how I want to finish those tackle lines, but I have some ideas I want to try out first. Two down, 14 yet to go.

Really nice job, Popeye. I'd say I am sad to see this build end, but I am dying to see what you have in store for those other ships waiting patiently for your return.

Nope, that is exactly what I needed to hear, George. I will be extending them now. I think I was being a bit lazy.

Whoo Hooo! She be looking beauuuutiful! Congratulations. I love all those accessories you added.

Looks like a great new start. Take your time and don't hesitate to ask questions as you go.

Thanks George and Tim, and the likes. I finished adding the styrene trim strips to both quarter galleries. I glued most of them with CA glue, using strips of masking tape to hold them, but about half the time the strip would come up when I removed the masking tape. I then switched to Hypo cement for these styrene strips, and what a difference. These stayed down after holding them for a few seconds, so no tape was needed. They seem much more secure too. I then used masking tape to extend the tops of the pilasters into the roof block and painted these areas white. I was going to use wood for these extensions but I did not like the way they were raised from the rest of the quarter gallery. Here is the completed port side QG: I also decided not to extend the white stripe on the side of the hull to the quarter galleries, so they will not extend past the last gun port. I would be open to other opinions on this point, though. Here is the starboard side, which I am still painting the pilaster extensions: While that paint is drying, I have started to rig the cannons on the gun deck. I first made a jig to help assemble each cannon before placing them on the gun deck. I have a piece of wood that is the height of the cannon at the gun port, so I can set each cannon up at the same angle. I also have a hole in the base that I can use to drill a hole underneath the carriage for a pin that will go into the deck for each one. I can also use it to judge the size of the breaching rope as I make them. I am using rope I made with the ME rope walk for the breaching lines, which is pretty easy to work with, except that it wants to unravel. I use CA on each end, which also helps me thread it through the ring bolts on the ends and on the carriages. I first seize a ring bolt to one end, then thread the other end through both ring bolts on the carriage, then seize another ring bolt to the other end. I then open up the strands in the middle and slip them over the cascabel of the barrel. I may be making these ropes a little too short, but I will see how they look after I install a couple on the gun deck. here is the jig with a couple of guns in the works: I only have 16 of these guns to rig, but working up against the walls of the gun deck will be interesting. I'll have updates of that as I go along.

Amazing work Michael. Drilling those holes so precisely in something that you have already put so much work in would have scared me to death.

Steve, those supplies in the boat look awesome.

That is a really cool way to display the Launch. Nice work.

Great looking sacks and the bread is very realistic. Well done.

Looks great Popeye. Happy Birthday to the admiral, too.

Thanks Tim, George, Rich and Steve, and the likes. We were away last weekend and a few work related activities this week, so only a small amount of progress this week. I added all the pilasters to both quarter galleries, then focused on the port side gallery. I was able to use the supplied middle window, but I ended up making a new window for the rear one. I used the same method I used for the transom windows, first gluing the window frame strips to some paper, then making the mullions on the table saw and gluing them to the outer frame, then sanding off the paper when it was all dry. Here are the two windows dry fit in place before painting. I painted them white and also painted the roof caps black with white sides. I first tried doing this free hand, but ended up cutting masking tape to the curve and using it to paint the white portion. Here are the windows and the cap in place on the port side, after gluing and trimming the floppy disk material to the backs of the windows. I started adding some styrene strips for trim on the pilasters and underneath between the bottom block and the faring piece. I am matching these up to the two trim strips on the transom. I am also going to try adding a strip along the tops and bottoms of the windows after they are all installed. I started making the front window using the same method. Finally, I made up a ladder to go into the hatch on the gun deck. I usually make these by hand by marking the locations of the stairs on the sides then filing out the slots for them. This time, I used the Byrnes saw to make the slots, using the miter gauge to change the angles very precisely from one side to the other. I made this task much easier and the ladder went together very easily. I have to do a little work on my daughters car, but then I can get back to the workshop later today, so more progress coming soon.

Nenad, the ship looks great. I really love that gold detail you have added.

I hope your garage door opener is disabled, Rich

Great looking ship, Rich. You should be very proud.

More progress on the quarter galleries, but first - I knew it was going to happen! The Sculpey stars were just too fragile. So, I experimented with some 1/16" sheet walnut that I had and was able to make two new stars using wood, which I like much better. I was able to taper the legs like they should be and thin them down to about 3/64". One of the figure's heads also went missing, but I was able to replace it with a small piece of wood I had left over from the transom trim, after painting it gold. I installed the roof and bottom blocks after giving them a few coats of primer and black paint. After they were installed I started measuring for the headers and sills, and realized the angle at the front between them was too severe. This was caused by the transom being more angled then shown on the plans. Well, I am not going to redo the transom at this point, so I trimmed back the bottom block. I first tried removing it with alcohol, but it would not budge and I didn't want to ruin other pieces in the process, so I took a very sharp scalpel and carved them back in the front. I then used a sanding stick to clean them up. You can see there was a little collateral damage to the hull where the front of this piece used to be, but a little filler and paint will take care of that. Now two of the three the supplied windows will work in the opening. The front window is still off in terms of angle, so I will most likely make up new windows to use instead for those. I made up the header and sills for the windows and one trim piece of the top. There should be another trim piece for the bottom. but there is not room for it, so I am leaving it out. I think the gap between the roof block and bottom block is a little too small, but the pieces had to line up with the knuckle in the transom at the bottom and the back of the quarter gallery at the top. I painted the headers, sills, and trim piece and glued them in place, and cleaned up the paint on the bottom block and hull. I also filed and sanded the fairing pieces into shape, but don't have a picture of them yet. I made them more angled than the current ship has, but they are more like the picture in Chapelle’s book of the 44 gun frigate plans. I painted these last night so I will glue them next. After that I will make the pilasters between the windows and fit the supplied windows, then make the new ones. I am also going to try to adjust the location of the white stripe in front of the quarter galleries.

The boats look great, Rich.

This is going to be great Jay. I think having a cross section along with the full ship model is brilliant and will make a great display.

I painted the strips on the backs of the quarter galleries then started making the blocks that make them up. I made extra copies of the plans for these and glued them to some manilla folder material, then cut them out to use as templates. I made these blocks pretty much the same way as I made the filler blocks at the beginning of this build. I used the jig saw to roughly cut them out then the disk and belt sander to get them close to the final shape. Then some sanding blocks to finish them up. For the inside curve on the top pieces, I used these sanding blocks, whose radius was just about exactly what I needed: I also made some flat pieces that go under the roof blocks. I made these oversize, then glued them to the roof blocks and gave them a final sanding to blend together. I then soaked the blocks in Isoporpyl alcohol and separated them. After the alcohol dried, I gave them a light sanding them primed and painted these pieces. Here they are right after I separated them: I still have a few more coats of paint then I can start installing them. I still have to make the fairing blocks, which you can see at the top of the last picture. I will get them very rough and do the final sanding after I fit them in place when the bottom block is installed. I will do the same with the caps for the roof block. I also cleaned up the supplied window frames, as I am going to try to use them, but will make my own if they prove too hard to work with. They look pretty nice, though so I am hoping to use them. Thanks again everyone for all the kind words and encouragement.

Thanks George, Steve, Jay, and Gerty, and the likes. I really appreciate the feedback. I does make this more fun knowing people are watching, but it is a bit terrifying at times too I was able to get the top strips trimmed and the bottom strips made and glued on. These had to be curved too to fit the bottom of the quarter gallery backs and joined to the top strips at the ends. A little wood filler was used at the joints and inside one of the top strips, but I was able to sand it all out without too much damage to the stern decorations. In fact, the only damage inflicted was at one point I noticed one of the points of a star sitting on the very edge of the workbench. I knew if it fell on the floor I would never find it and would have to make a new star to match the other one. I put a small drop of glue where the point should be and VERY gingerly picked up the point and managed to get it back into position without dropping it. Whew! It blended back into the rest of the star too. I will prime and paint these strips before adding the quarter galleries.

Cheating? Na! I call it brilliant. I am glad your wife is home and feeling better.

Thanks Steve, Tim and George, and the likes. I finished the rudder chains on the other side, which went a lot faster. I was going to fill the air ports with white glue to make the clear plugs, but found this Micro Klear stuff, so I filled them from the back using a small paint brush that has some sort of swab on the end. I let these sit upside down while the stuff dried. It is a bit runny, so if I put them right side up the stuff would ooze out. Since I put it in the back, it would harden enough before it traversed the length of the port. I let them dry overnight and they were nice an clear the next day. So then I had to make the two strips that cover the ends of the quarter gallery backs. I should have made these at lot earlier, like the instructions say, and certainly before I added the stern decorations. I am really concerned about messing them up now. Oh well. I had to trim larger strips down to size for these trim pieces and then soak and bend them to fit. The upper bend is really tight, so I worked on that one first, which took about three resoakings to finally get it so I could fit the strip all the way inside the curve. Then I bent the second curve, which goes the other way, which was a bit challenging to not take out the too much of the first curve in the process. I finally got each piece close and while they were still supple, I glued the top curve in place with CA and held it until it dried. I could not use clamps because of the stern decorations. I then added CA to the bottom curve and held that part in place. Overall I think they came out well, but I still need to trim them and add the bottom pieces, which are straight. Then I have to sand the edges of these to be flush with the transom without hitting any of the stern decorations. We shall see how successful that will be. I guess I haven't said this in a while, but any feedback, especially criticisms are always welcome. Thanks.