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Leave it to you Shaz to contribute to the lunacy.

Ok I can buy that, But tell me how AL makes more money by creating a kit Called the Harvey and calls it a Baltimore clipper of 1847? There was never such a thing. All the Baltimore clippers were gone by then. Why waste the time fabricating a history that did not exist? Why design the model with outhouses on the foredeck? Does your ship have them? And why make those outhouses so incredibly large that the doors are twice the size of the main cabin doors? I am not a purest by any stretch. But this is crazy.

Andy I am sure you are also proud to be the first to post on page 86.

Augie - Seems to me it wasn't that long ago you were talking about how close you were to finishing this build and I was suggesting that you would stretch it out until you reached 80 pages! LOL well you blew past that with no problem at all. I guess the new goal is 100?

Richard - It is just my opinion, but I think a build log helps keep you going. You have a huge wealth of support. While it is true build logs get abandoned. I believe more get finished because of the log. I am sure you have seen all the praise and suggestions that come with each post. We all know the effort behind each step. Of all the groups I want to think well of my efforts, this one means the most to me. I know I have said it before, and probably it was in this forum. But I have at least 3 kits that met a Viking burial. The cause of this was Frustration. Failure, and not knowing what to do or how to do it. This has changed because of 2 things. One is this forum and 2 is my local club. My skills have changed immensely because of this. I still have much to learn. Frankly I have only finished 1 real ship. But now I know I will finish my current project. Because I have a group of friends on this forum to turn to for support and guidance. The best example of this I can offer is the current discussion on my Harvey log. I had what for me was a disastrous event. I had no idea how I would recover. I had put the model away and resisted the urge to give up and burn it. I confessed my fears at a local club meeting. And I will let you read my log to see the results. I am now excited to try the new solution and move forward. I also know now that I should have confessed my worries on this forum sooner. I should also tell you of the wonderful friends I have met in person because of this forum. Not sure I would have had the experiences I have had without being encouraged to do a build log. Besides the subtle pressure to post something and show progress makes up for the brief time away from building it takes to be on this forum. Ok, I know I have laid it on pretty thick and I hope you will forgive me for it. But it is all true. We have an incredibly impressive group here. I enjoy every min of the time I spend with these people both virtually and in person.

Augie - Are you calling some of us Polygamists? I only have one model project going, but I do have a few more started...

Dave - I am with you. I would like to know if the ship actually existed. I might still buy the Kit because I like it. But don't try to sell me something without telling me the truth. I am more experienced than I was many years ago. Back then I bought the AL Harvey because of the interesting history and the good looks of the model. I also did the same with the San Felipe. As Elroy says I might have bought them anyway, but tell me the truth!

Richard - Have you started a build log? I would love to see your work as it progresses. My next kit is going to be the Syren. I already have her plans hanging on my wall to keep me motivated. Like Augie I use the #11 blade. I bought a box of 100 Excel blades some years back and I have been very pleased with them.

So Mike what do you think you will do now that you have a once over with the kit? Replace the cannons? make wooden galleries? How do you think you will modify it?

Thomas - Have you decided what you are going to use for wood on the deck? Are you going to replace the kit supplied wood? Looks great by the way. As to the vise question have you looked at the Amati Planking vice? I use mine almost all the time. I like it much better than the Model Expo solution. Thiers is all wood and doesn't work nearly as well.

I know the new part is wider in the arms than the kit part. But once bitten twice shy. I want some strength in this new part. Beside now I have a story to tell to fellow modelers when she is in the display case. Now a question to those who read this - Do you have suggestions on how I clamp this together for the glue to set? Let me tell you what I have done so far. I have removed the Cat heads and run a piece of lumber from side to side thru the cat head holes. Then I took several rubber bands of proper length and ran them on the outside of the hull from one side to the other. Looping over the stick coming out of the Cathead hole. This has done a reasonable job of holding the bulwarks in place. Now I need something to clamp the new knee and the 2 sides of the hull at the point where everything comes together. Suggestions?

Well friends I have made some progress in my delicate repairs. By the way I hope Jim is listening. Every step of the way I am saying "Thank you Jim, Thank you Jim". I am not sure I would have attempted this without his tools. And by the way to all you scratch builders - I have now tasted the dark side. I can see the appeal. But the answer is an absolute No!. Fabricating parts from plans and from scratch. Wow! So here are the steps taken so far - 1. Carefully remove the Cap rail back to the point of the break on the starboard side. remove equal amount on both sides. Also use my trusty Jim Sander with 400 grit to carefully sand everything clean and level. 2. Do the same for the cross piece at the bow that split along the grain. This also requires some finesse with a #11 blade and my wife's finger nail file. 3. Using tracing paper create a paper template of the Cross piece and of the caprail. 4. Take the knee to my Jim Saw and slice off a piece just a smidge thicker that the old part. 5. Glue the template to the Knee slice. 6. Again with the Jim Saw and Sander reduce the piece to the template and sand the template off. (this step includes numerous times of dry fitting to the model) Here are the results!!!

Good Topic. I for one would be ok with a Kit that had the colors wrong. What's a little paint? But when you create a completely fictitious ship! I should know unfortunately I own 3 of them - Harvey, Ajax, San Felipe. I think you have 2 different groups here - Models with no real history or the history is so bad it is impossible. And poor quality or poorly designed kits. We have plenty of examples of each. In the 2nd case Chuck is going to have to invest in a Cloning machine. I see his new online store getting lots of business. Has anyone done a Web search for Baltimore Clipper? What is unfortunate here is how often the false Model of the Harvey comes up!

Blackie - I just noticed that did not answer one of your questions. If you look at the markings on the hull you will see that I have marked each of the bulkheads and you will also see that I have created 3 belts. The belts are approx. equal. I have finished the planking of the lower belt. Actually it was very easy since it did not require any stealers or tapering. It consisted of 5 straight planks. The first plank of the middle belt is going to need a stealer and possibly some tapering at the bow. I am probably going to install this plank this weekend. My primary focus is on the top belt which includes the Wale. So I must first fix the damage to the bow. Also my planks are not long enough to make the full run at the wale so I am going to have to do some butt shifting. Bob - Most of the parts were installed using Elmers (PVA) with CA spot welding. This is my preferred way of gluing. I prefer to use PVA whenever possible. When I have a part that I can't clamp or needs to set up fast I use small drops of CA. I am hoping that once I remove the cap rail there will be much less stress on the bend. This should give the knee plenty of time to bond. And if I use a new cap rail with no bending. I should be OK. Fitting the Knee into a tight space will be tricky. But the biggest challenge will be removing all the old damaged parts without breaking the bulwarks. Floyd (from the big windows 8.1 screen)

So let me stray just a bit from the discussion above. As mentioned we now live in a new house. My old shop was in the SE corner of our lot and up against the forest. It was mostly shaded by big trees. In our new house my shop is in the garage or the upstairs office. You may have heard that in Seattle we are coming up on 1 month without measurable rain! In short it has been quite hot. Which makes modeling difficult. Let me show you the solution I have crafted. and the front porch for the Sun Goddess (alias Admiral). I now have a great planking station in the shade with a mild breeze.

The cause was most definitely the gunwale rails. The Bulwarks themselves what not much trouble. Blackie - I agree with you bending walnut sideways is very difficult. I hope to not have to do it again. Also I think you are right about the knee. Mark - I think I will wet every thing down. I am just trying to figure out a good method of clamping. I am hoping there will be less stress on the new knee when I replace the rails with a piece cut to fit and not bent into place.

Bob - Yes the glue is strong. and yes I had soaked everything. but I believe it is the cap rail. It just didn't like being bent that far. The photo doesn't show it well but the cap rail broke too. And right at the max bend point. I am Still not sure how best to fix this. Frankly I am very concerned that anything I do will result in further problems. Harvey has offered two suggestions which I am going to try. The first is he has given me an sheet of walnut so that I can cut a new cap rail that will not have any bending stress. I look forward to trying that. Its the careful sanding I am uncomfortable about. But I must remove the old rail back to the beginning of the bend. Then maybe a scarf joint or similar. The second idea he has offered has me both excited and perplexed. If you look that the picture below you will see what I mean. Straight for the King's own forest He has given 2 real knees! As you noted the piece split along the grain. I am not sure what would happen if the replacement was fashioned with the grain across the bow. But these Knees are just the thing. The grain bends around the corner. One is too big but the other looks like I can fashion it to fit. This is going to take some work to figure how to get it to fit and remain strong. I also need room for the bowsprit. I am very open to ideas & suggestions.

It has been said on this forum that we should post both our successes and our failures. So let me share with you what for me has been one of my scariest moments. As you will see in the pictures to follow the cross piece (what do you call it?) split down the middle that the bulwarks have sprung. I am in danger of having the whole thing come completely off. I cannot continue planking until this is resolved. My good friend Capt. Harvey has offered suggestions and materials to address this. Now I just have to pull it off.

Well Gents I guess it is no surprise that the last time anything was posted to this log was 2 months ago. Let me quickly summarize what has occurred in those 2 months. First we sold our house and moved. I had to give up my beautiful shop and pack all my tools! I want to give a deep felt Thanks to Mike Graff who came over and spent the morning helping me. I believe I have also mentioned that the first attempt at the 2nd layer of planking was a failure. So I had to sand all of it off! The Dremel sure got a work out there. And of course there were a few spots were the Dremel got a bit carried away. I am sure it wasn't me. So there was a session with the putty and more sanding. I also had to order new planking. This is when I found that the thinnest planking I could buy was 3/64". So I HAD to order a thickness sander from Jim. I will say I had great fun running all those strips thru the Sander. They are all now a uniform thickness of 3/128". Then I started over on the planking. Here is the result. You will see that I have now finished the first of 3 bands from the keel up. So far it has turned out much better. And I am pleased with the result. Of course I have now reached the point of needing my first stealer so we will see how a feel then.

As if you needed an incentive to yack away. Congrats anyway!

I believe they were also tarred so they would slip easily on the mast. In MSW 1.0 there was a discussion about this. There was also several suggestions on how to make them. For my Bluenose I stitched them to the bolt rope. I also stained them a very dark walnut stain.

Russ is right. They will replace everything for free.

Good Luck! In my case I found that my skills and frustration could not overcome the limitations of the kit itself. But it did get me hooked into this crazy hobby. You might want to consider a better quality kit or an easier kit to get your skills up to the task.

Yes Frank sent it to me very quickly. Currently I am resisting the urge to start again until I finish my current build. The thing about Frank is every time I ask for something I often offer to pay for it. He steadfastly says no, and then surprise there it is on my doorstep. Frank has retired but I am sure you will get the same service.

My Best to Frank! He has earned his retirement. I have talked to him many times. Good luck Tom! Nice of your boy to give you a job.