jwvolz

Crossed the fore lower and topsail yards over the weekend, with halyards, trusses and  lifts installed. Everything hanging loose for now. Also got the breast stays rigged. 
 
 
 
 

Over the last few weeks I have been making a few of the small boats, Barge + Cutter due to my building works.
 
These have been a little tough, due to the size, the planking was painful, more so the amount of time my fingers need to be cut off,, oops.
 
 

Here's a handy chart of shotgun pellet sizes for reference if anyone chooses to use those to represent cannon balls.
 
 

Here's a handy chart of shotgun pellet sizes for reference if anyone chooses to use those to represent cannon balls.
 
 

Carriage sides cleaned up.
 

9 pounder carriage in its jig (right).  I stained the jig a little darker so you can differentiate jig from carriage.  I'm not sure it helps.   12 pounder slide carriage in its jig (left) with gun mounted for size.

started on the hammock rails / stanchions.  drilled a hole in the bottom of stanchions for a small piece of wire to attach to the main rail, 

Thanks Tim for your very kind words.
 
I finished up the bulk of the gun deck planking last night, except for the three planks that will go down the center over the seam of the two pieces. First, here is the starboard side piece after planking and a first scraping/sanding, but before trimming the edges.
 

 
After the edges were trimmed and it fit into the hull, here is the two pieces together, after filing out the hatch openings to fit the finished coamings.
 

 
Now for the treenails. I taped the two sides down on the work table. I had added alignment marks so I could get them to line up outside of the hull. I then used some masking tape to mark each line of butt joints, and drilled one #74 hole in the planks that did not have a joint at that beam. I then took the tape off and drill two holes at each butt joint, one on each side of the joint. I also drilled holes at the ends of the planks at the hatch openings. I did not drill holes at the plank ends on the edges of the deck pieces, as the beam locations at each end are actually just off the pieces.
 

 
When all the holes were drilled, I filled them with oak putty, which is different than wood filler. It is more oily and stays pliable. It looks horrible when it first goes on though:
 

 
Here is the putty I am using:
 

 
I then scraped and sanded the excess putty off. I don't leave it sit on the wood too long, as I think it might stain it after a while. The putty stays in the holes nicely though, which is why I like it better than filler. I then gave the decks a final sanding with medium then fine sandpaper. The first picture is with flash and the second is natural lighting which shows a little more detail:
 

 

 
I then pre-stained the decks, after wiping them with a tack cloth. Here is how they look with just the pre-stain:
 

 
After 15 minutes, I wiped off the excess pre-stain and gave them a coat of oak stain:
 

 
I am happy with the way they came out, and will use this same finish on the spar deck when I plank that.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Hi everyone, new guy here, my name is Joe. I've been lurking for about a month and thought it was time to post the build log of my 95% completed Model Shipways Prince De Neufchatel. This is my fourth wooden ship build, with MS "Elsie", Mamoli "Portsmouth" and Corel "Unicorn" being the others. 
 
I started this way back in 2000, and it has languished off and on in my attic while I've built plastic aircraft models and such. I've been re-energized to complete it and have accomplished a lot over the last few months. Since I haven't completed a build since 2000 my wooden ship skills are a bit rusty, but it's slowly coming back. 
 
I've made a number of changes, right or wrong to the kit, most obviously changing the kit carronade carriages out for scratch sleds; just think it looks better with carronades, and more likely as well...
 
I see a lot that I would do differently if I were starting over today, but that's all for the next build. 
 
Meanwhile, here are some photos of where she stands today. Standing rigging is nearly complete, with a few back-stays, and one side of the topmast ratlines to go. A few running lines are up. 
 
I'm really looking forward to being part of what seems like a great group here at MSW. 
 
 
 
 

Hi everyone, new guy here, my name is Joe. I've been lurking for about a month and thought it was time to post the build log of my 95% completed Model Shipways Prince De Neufchatel. This is my fourth wooden ship build, with MS "Elsie", Mamoli "Portsmouth" and Corel "Unicorn" being the others. 
 
I started this way back in 2000, and it has languished off and on in my attic while I've built plastic aircraft models and such. I've been re-energized to complete it and have accomplished a lot over the last few months. Since I haven't completed a build since 2000 my wooden ship skills are a bit rusty, but it's slowly coming back. 
 
I've made a number of changes, right or wrong to the kit, most obviously changing the kit carronade carriages out for scratch sleds; just think it looks better with carronades, and more likely as well...
 
I see a lot that I would do differently if I were starting over today, but that's all for the next build. 
 
Meanwhile, here are some photos of where she stands today. Standing rigging is nearly complete, with a few back-stays, and one side of the topmast ratlines to go. A few running lines are up. 
 
I'm really looking forward to being part of what seems like a great group here at MSW. 
 
 
 
 

Hi everyone, new guy here, my name is Joe. I've been lurking for about a month and thought it was time to post the build log of my 95% completed Model Shipways Prince De Neufchatel. This is my fourth wooden ship build, with MS "Elsie", Mamoli "Portsmouth" and Corel "Unicorn" being the others. 
 
I started this way back in 2000, and it has languished off and on in my attic while I've built plastic aircraft models and such. I've been re-energized to complete it and have accomplished a lot over the last few months. Since I haven't completed a build since 2000 my wooden ship skills are a bit rusty, but it's slowly coming back. 
 
I've made a number of changes, right or wrong to the kit, most obviously changing the kit carronade carriages out for scratch sleds; just think it looks better with carronades, and more likely as well...
 
I see a lot that I would do differently if I were starting over today, but that's all for the next build. 
 
Meanwhile, here are some photos of where she stands today. Standing rigging is nearly complete, with a few back-stays, and one side of the topmast ratlines to go. A few running lines are up. 
 
I'm really looking forward to being part of what seems like a great group here at MSW.