jwvolz

Well, I said the netting will be next. The plan was to make a start on the long boat while doing the netting. As mentioned before I suck at multitasking. So once I started the longboat, the netting had no chance and will have to wait.....lol.
I think I spent a good 8 hours sanding the inside and out before I got cold feet and didn't go any thinner. I'm sure I probably could go thinner but when I felt it starting to flex and crack a bit while sanding, I was happy to stop. I applied some creative ways to bend the frames prior to gluing them in.
It's a fun little project but takes just as much care as the big ship. Can't let your guard down or rush it....
I also forgot to dry fit the laser cut keel prior to sanding the hull so had to make a new one once I realised to do that and found out it didn't fit...
Here are some photo's (not everything is glued on yet).
 
 

Gun Carriages:
 
Nothing revolutionary, prototype gun carriage has been completed after putting on some more coats of paint to the carriages.  Learning experience here is to use as little paint on metal items as possible, all ring bolts and ring bolts have been chemically blackened.  Cannon barrels and ring bolts have been finished with Testors clear matt lacquer to eliminate the shine still inherent to the blackened surface.  The carriage bolts are model railway/railroad track pins which have a shallow domed head, these come painted black, so the head was painted with 'dark iron' before attaching.  I had experimented with countersinking these on a spare, but this seemed a little over fussy, and also just using wire cut off wire but felt these looked too dainty.
 
Event though many of these will be obscured by the deck, I will probably build all of these as per the prototype in case glimpses can be seen through various openings.  The guns that are highly visible will likely get a little more detailing but I'll decide to what extent when all of these are done.
 

 
Its a little disconcerting when I sat back a figured out what will be needed, and this is just the upper deck.  Everything is at least now ready for assembly....
ringbolts - 336 blackened (7 per carriage, 4 per bulwark, 1 deck bolt) Domed pins - 168 (6 per carriage) 3mm rings - 112 (2 per carriage for breaching rope, 2 per gunport for breaching rope) 2mm rings - 28 (1 per gunport deckring)
 
So far 3 carriages have been built up, as the best method for construction becomes clearer, these do seem to be going together more quickly, but still not quickly 🙂  
 

Well, I've been up north for the past couple of weeks having a medical procedure, but now it's back to work on PdN. I've done the head work , which is somewhat simpler than on others that I've done. That's not to say that it is ever easy to fit the cheeks and rails, but at least there was no middle rail or eking rail to fit. Once again, the plans and instructions are very vague on details, so I just fumbled along. All of the parts were made from boxwood sheet and strip.
 
Bob

For a change of pace I went to work on the stern and quarter gallery decorations. I really liked Timmo's idea of the ochre/wood look with the blue, rather than the unlikely garish scheme Caldercraft shows. 
 
I did mine a little differently than Timmo. First, I prime all the parts followed by base painting with the Polly Scale colors I've been suing elsewhere on the build. Next I gloss coated with the airbrush, using Future floor polish, which is an acrylic polymer. Those of us who also build plastic models know how useful a product this is for gloss coating prior to decaling or weathering. Next, I applied a thin wash of burnt umber artist's oils which gave the very nice Caldercraft castings some depth. Next came a flat coat, again with the airbrush followed by drybrushing with lightened versions of the base colors to bring out the highlights. Finally, spare photo-etch runners were used to make window frames in the quarter galleries, another brilliant Timmo idea...

The stern and quarter gallery decorations are now installed, as well as the capping piece. No real issues here. The trim was made from boxwood strip, similar to the sheer rail. 
 
I guess I have to venture around to the bow now. I've been putting it off...
 
 

The lining of the chase ports and cabin lights are now installed.  There is touching up to do, and when that is complete they will scrub up pretty well.  The chase ports were reasonably straightforward.  The cabin lights less so.  The problem is that there is very little material onto which the linings are to be stuck.  My solution was to glue pieces of timber to support the upper and lower linings.  While awkward, it worked fairly well.  Here are results so far.
 
The chase ports:
 

 


The cabin lights and the supports for the linings:
 


 
 
 

The semi-finished articles:

 

 
 
 

This setup right here is paying dividends!  I set them up like this then use a blow dryer... 4 minutes later you have a laterally bent plank.  this needs to be known by all.  This is Chuck's method... Thank you man!

The three last planks I put on were laterally bent.  They went on without the slightest of issue and I hope it continues this way.  The stern needs some work

The treenailing is finished.  Here is the result.  On it is one coat of polyurethane with another one or two to come.  The bulwarks now have to be finished and painted and the frames of the gun ports touched up.
 

 

 




 

Hi all,
here are some pictures of the work in progress. As you can see, I'm not too good at taking pictures..
Standing rigging is near complete (still need to do the ratlines, and pin racks). I finished the running rigging for the main mast and started eh fore mast. Still a lot to do, touch up paint on blocks, more details etc..
And I'm still exploring ways to remove the fuzz on my lines..
Stephan

I painted and glued on the knees and it is time to work on the rudder. I cleaned it up then realized I finally have to place the frieze, especially on the transom. I printed out the PDF from Chuck's revision and gave it a couple thin coats of hair spray for protection. Then I cut it out and use some adhesive spray to place it on the boat. I taped a cutout of the transom frieze on so I could paint around it. Then I completed the metalwork on the rudder with gudgeon and pintle. I also shaped the handle. Before I can continue, I have to figure out the best way to draw the waterline on the boat.

All of the guns are now installed and rigged. A  big "thank you" to RustyJ for graciously providing me with the 1/8" Syren blocks that I needed to complete the gun rigging (they were out of stock). This is a perfect example of the generosity and friendship that make this site the great place that it is.
 
Bob
 
 

I have not had much chance to work on the model over the last week or so, but here is some progress on treenailing the upper planking.  I have used Tamiya masking tape to provide a guide for each column.  I first establish one vertical column using the tape, then from this, use a pair of dividers to make sure each successive piece of tape is the same horizontal distance top and bottom.  This makes each piece of tape vertical and of course parallel.  A pin is then used to mark to positions of the nails.  This helps avoid the 0.5mm drill bit slipping and mistakes to be made.
 

 

 

Well done Sjors. Congrats on the finished model. 

The second planking is just about finished.  Two planks remain to do but these will be straight forward.  Next week we will be taking our two little granddaughters away for the school holidays, so boat building comes to a stop.
 
The whole business proved to be far more difficult than I anticipated.  I'm not sure that doing the holes for the sweeps was worth the trouble.  They have lids that may be open or closed and it would have been easier to just glue a 'closed' lid over the position of the opening.
 
Once the last two planks are glued I will coat the lot with with 50:50 PVA and water.  The box wood (or whatever it is) is very soft,  and this I hope will harden it a little so the it may be sanded back without damage.  Here is progress.
 

The top planks are still to be done ....

 

The gap between the planks here is larger than I would like, but once the sanding is complete and a couple of coats of polyurethane are on it, it should turn out OK.  There is also some touching up to do - unfortunately these photos magnify every mistake.

 

 

 
 

Tigersteve and cog, thanks for your likes and for hanging in there.

The Bowdoin is finished.  From the keel laying in June 2017 to completion in May 2018 my first build was a great experience, more than I could ever have hoped.  I learned a lot on the trip but I would never have reached port without your willingness to post your spectacular work and share your journeys.  I’m so glad I discovered and can be a part of NRG and Modelshipworld;  a truly special community.
 
Above and below are Bowdoin in the fresh air before retiring to its permanent home.
 
Thank you
 
Steve
 







 

First off, thanks everyone for the likes and comments, my apologies for not responding sooner.  I haven't been able to keep up with everyone else's builds as much as I would have liked.
 
Been tinkering with a number of items that I want to get a head start on hopefully avoid pitfalls later.  I'm leaning toward getting as much work on the hull planned out or complete before the cannons get installed and the upper deck can go on - although that will still be a while because I needed a break from gun carriages.
 
Trimming the bow height:
Way back I'd mentioned that I took the approach to build the bows up higher than I would likely need to allow for the unforeseen.  I have now shaped these to be much closer to where I think they will end up, less a little finishing.  The bulwarks at the bow appear to be parallel to the whale, just like the rails, which was used as a guide.  This was an exercise in reconciliation as of course various small (or not so small) errors have crept in along the way.  This proved not too difficult, the only hiccup was found when dry fitting the deck, to ensure that the height of the bulwark is symmetrical on both sides, some shims were added to the top of some of the forward bulkheads.  The error is unlikely to be in the kit cut bulkheads, but more likely a combination of small discrepancies in my positioning of the position of the whales, waterline etc.  You can see in shots below the discrepancy in the height of the foremost gunport, this was a result of positioning the ports to be of equal height off the deck, which was clearly not fitted as well as it should have been.  These add about .5-0.75 of height on the starboard side, but the very small 'twist that this will introduce will not be noticeable.  The sheer rail at the bow has also been added.
 

 
Headworks:
Have been doing a lot of thinking about how to approach the headworks, clearly a rather challenging area.  Frankly, the kit supplied parts are a little disappointing being rather grainy and splintery, with some questionable dimensions.  The main rail seemed to be the place to start, and after a lot of experimentation decided to build this and the false rail together rather than in separate pieces - mainly because it seems sturdier, and less challenging as the false rail is rather lengthy and thin at this scale.  The main rails were cut from 2mm castello, and a profile introduced using a scraper to simulate the various features of the genuine article.  Curved, tapering shapes have to be the hardest to get right, especially with fine details and there were many time consuming rejects which painfully got me up the learning curve until I was happy.  The AOTS side elevations were scanned and manipulated digitally to correct for the angle to get the appropriate shape.  Caution!  I think the placement of the slot for the boomkin is not shown correctly on the AOTS side profile, I adjusted this looking at contemporary models - the revised position matches closely with the kit part which does provide some comfort.
 
The false rail was cut from 0.6mm pear sheet and 2 were laminated together.  The panel section of the false rail was cut out carefully to be shaped later by beveling the edges before replacing back in place.  First photo below shows a little how these were built up, with the first successful but discarded prototype, and a main rail that failed scraping.  Second photo below shows the kit supplied part next to the one of the scratched final articles.  Ignoring the quality of the wood (and to be fair, I made no effort to clean up the supplied parts), the AOTS plans suggest a subtly different profile curve, and a thicker main rail which looks too thin on the kit part.  The head of the main rail was deliberately cut a little longer to allow final shaping once these are finally installed.
 

 
These were then positioned with the head of the main rail vertical in both head on and side elevations.  It was found that these were quite easy to keep in place using mini modeling clothes pins  (scale replicas of the actual clothes pins used in actual ship construction  ).  Posting a lot of photos because I would really appreciate comments and suggestions from those more experienced with this to help me avoid fatal errors!
 

 
Finally, to confirm the layout of the boomkin slot, a copy was copied and scaled from the AOTS diagram.  This shows the tight proximity of the boomkin and seat of ease.  The triangular gap at the rear of the grating behind the false rail screen is where I believe there should be another seat of ease.
 
Again - I'm fumbling my way through this following the excellent TFFM book, so please do not be shy to point out errors and mistakes!
 

 

Looking good Bob. Love those Shapeways carronades. They would have saved me all small fortune on my current build!

Looking good Bob. Love those Shapeways carronades. They would have saved me all small fortune on my current build!

Here are  the threenails finished.  Next, the gunport patterns which certainly don't fit without quite a bit of adjustment.


 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 

I've now gotten to work on various deck items. The first were the gratings and coamings for the hatches and the galley stack The gratings were done with boxwood grating kits from Syren. The coamings are boxwood strip. The galley stack was done with styrene tube. I also made the forward companionway from boxwood strip.
 
The next order of business was to begin work on the guns and carriages. For the two long guns, I used the kit brass barrels and some left over carriages from the Lumberyard. I chose to mount the carronades on sleds, rather than the kit carriages, and made these up from boxwood strip.The carronade barrels are 3D printed pieces from Shapeways, and  I am very pleased with them.The long guns and the first two carronades have now been mounted and rigged. I will be assembling the remaining guns and working aft from here.
 
Lastly, I made up the forward windlass from boxwood strip and brass rod and strip.
 
Bob

The holes for the 'treenails' are finally drilled - not difficult, just time-consuming.
 
The first photo shows the reinforcing of the deck and the main hatch. The reinforcing is comprised of six 2x4mm strips and one 2x5mm strip - total width of 29mm - the same as the exterior width of the main hatch.  However the one 2x4mm strip supplied was of very, very poor quality.  Of the one 600mm strip supplied, about 400mm could be best used as kindling; the remaining 200mm in bits and pieces along the length of the 600mm strip, was only just acceptable after quite a bit of work tidying it up. Nevertheless it was still very splintery.  The whereabouts of the 5mm strip remains a mystery.   Fortunately I had a small bit of 1.5x5 mm strip which I used after sticking a piece of 0.5x5mm strip beneath it.  At least most of the reinforcing (and a slip of the drill bit) will be obscured by the bitts and rigging. 
 
For the elements of hatch, I have substituted strip for the ply supplied.  The strips were not finally stuck down when the photos were taken. For comparison, the ply may be seen in the last photo of my previous post.
 
Now I have to fill the holes.
 
 

 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Thanks everyone for the likes
 
I did finish the starboard hull planking , I did some mistakes here erlier 
my tappering was not enuff at the start, so I got a problem with the last 7 planks
but I did get the 7 planks inn tappering to half a with 
I have to take the garboard plank more aft then I was thinking 
so its not perfekt but close and the hull is getting copper plates later 😊
 
Svein.erik

The adhesive is very strong. I have a build that is over 20 years old and there is no sign of any peeling. It is still best though to put a matte or dull coat over the plates to avoid fingerprinting. I use Testor's Dullcote. 

The adhesive is very strong. I have a build that is over 20 years old and there is no sign of any peeling. It is still best though to put a matte or dull coat over the plates to avoid fingerprinting. I use Testor's Dullcote. 

Looking great. Things get "busy" enough on deck that it will be hard to notice the narrow centerline plank.