SawdustDave

I think the photo might be misleading Ed.  The braces are belayed to both sides (not a great photo).

The inner lines .... Chuck refers to them as "lifts".... I have always called them "clewlines".

I will take much better pics once I do the larger ship.  Admittedly, this was a little bit of a rush job.

Thanks mates.

Since I will be donating this smaller one for the charity auction in Fayetteville, it really is a load of my mind to know it will be finished in time.

Having never sold a model ship before....

Does anyone have a suggestion as to what amount I should set as the "Minimum Opening Bid"?

And how much would I hope to get for this one, considering the proceeds go to charity?

Now, I can turn to the "Bamboo Lady" and focus on finishing her up.

The rigging of the smaller Mayflower is complete.

Seems like I spent more time today on the spritsail yard than all the other yards combined.

All's left is two anchors and her stern  carving.

Thinking seriously about painting the hull below the wales.

Very interesting historic background.... Thanks for sharing. Beautifully crafted model.

Still humbled and speechless here. I come to this build every single day just to get my fix of re-inspiration. Like going to church on Sunday.

Can't wait to see this build in person.

Nenad.... Indeed they are fragile because of the scale. I simply made sure no heavy tension was applied to the stem end. I didn't run into any problems so far.... Made sure the top end is carrying the load.

Gret job Frank. Love the weathering. She looks a hundred years old.

Nenad.... Sure does help. Lesson well learned.

Popeye.... Can't answer about Half Moon.

Speaking of Beaufort (NC).... That is the location of the NC Maritime Museum. I met with the Modelers Club there this past Saturday and took this shot of a beautiful model of the pirate "Blackbeard's" ship.... Queen Ann's Revenge. I'm guessing this is somewhere around 1:36 scale.

Thanks for the invitation DaveB.... Just checked Google map and got nose bleed when I saw where Manitowoc is on the map.

Are they completely thawed out by May? Ha ha

Aside from that, I've got to go back to Beaufort in May to defend my title.

Beginning with the fact that I finally have a rigged yard (Lanteen)....

Creating the Parral was probably the most challenging task related to this stage.

Note the addition of the Topmast Backstays (Main and Mizzen), which I discovered had not yet been completed.

The Garnet Tackle, seen here, was another little surprise task I discovered that I had not previously completed.

All in all, this was a fairly straight forward rigging task, made much tougher by the fact that I had not done that much rigging in over three years. I think I may be beginning to get a little feel back.

Not quite there yet.... but making progress.

Thought I was looking at photo's taken from a museum tour Toni. Wow! Beautiful job on the display cases. Your ships aren't too shabby either. Thanks for sharing.

Rigging the tackles for the main and mizzen masts turned out to be a little less difficult than I expected, but will admit, they would have been much easier if I had completed this task before rigging the shrouds (as recommended by Chuck in the instructions).

Much tougher on the small ship than the larger one.

READ THE INSTRUCTIONS STUPID!

Now.... FINALLY... I can begin hanging some spars.

Glad to hear you are on the mend Adam.

Foremast looks nice. Feels good to start making her tall, huh?

Usually, all I can think of at that point is " one step closer to rat lines".... Ha ha

Cheers

Happy to share Hartmut. Of course, the tooth picks only work for very small scale..... But any material can be used just as easily.

Cheers

Here you go....

Seen here, I nip off the tip of each end and mark the length of the shank and the top end. Then cut the toothpick in half.

Make up a bundle of as many as you wish to make.

First cut.... score with Exact-o blade then shape with small file.

Next cut....score with Exact-o blade and shape with small file.

Final shaping....

Hope this helps. Pretty simple process.... Less than 5 minutes per pin.

Sorry that 4th pic came out a little out of focus, but you get the point.

Still got another 10 to make.... (need about 30)

I'll take a few step pics for anyone, if interested.

Patrick.... Not as tuff as you might think.

Just mark the end of a tooth pick, stick it in a Dremel Tool chuck and start spinning against a small file.

These are really tiny, so I had to be very careful not to break them off before finishing the shape.

Pulled out Chuck's instruction book, which I must admit, I have not been using up to this point.... my mistake.

If I had been reading Chuck's instructions, rather than just creating and building to the Plan Sheets, I would have read the last paragraph on page 38 under the heading Mizzen Stay....

"You might have thought it logical to rig the shrouds on the main mast next. But doing so would make it harder to tackle the mizzen stay"

Guess what!!!!

That's not all....

So I go to work on, SOMEHOW working out a way to rig the tackles to the main and mizzen masts, and discover that I don't have a single belaying pin in my bone yard that is the right scale for the smaller ship.

Not the first time I've created belaying pins from tooth picks....

Still trying to do everything the hard way.

So my blocks arrived, and I finally rigged all the spars for both Mayflowers....

And figured I was ready to begin hanging the rigged spars this morning.

NOT!

Jesse....Your attention to those sales remind me of Piet's attention to metal working details.

I think you are much better than you think you are my friend.

I have come to think of this crazy "hobby" we love in terms of fine art.

Having said that....Matt should feel honored.

I guess, even Michelangelo might have taken advise from fellow artists as he was chiseling away at the statue of David.

I think EdT's Young America might possibly be the Mona Lisa being created before our eyes.

If Ed is da Vinci, reincarnated as a modeler, by comparison, most of us would be Charles Schultz.

Jesse gonna give Piet a run for his money for "Best in Show".

Beautiful Jesse.... Just beautiful.

You're a hell of an artist my friend.

Are you planning to bring the SM to Fayeteville?