_SalD_

Glad to have you on board for another ride into the great unknown, Grant!
 
A small update here (although not small in time spent, which was 3-4 hours of eye-crossing work).  I added a back rail and then lashing to all the places where the tiny stanchions contact the rail.  Almost made me want to go tie some ratlines.  Almost, but not quite!  😃 
 
The lashing is 136D 6/0W fly tying thread.

Moving right along the next few steps were pretty straight forward.
Sheerpoles were glued in place.

Main stay was served and installed around the masthead.....

....down to eyebolts on the deck

Fore stay was served and installed.  The futtock shrouds were also installed on the fore mast and I chose to make the these shrouds with 28 gauge wire glued to the crosstrees and set in a hole drilled in the mast.  I'm not sure I would recommend doing this and just use thread as called for in the instructions because keeping the wire straight proved to be a challenge. 

Wire futtock shroud 

Overall state of the rigging to date.

 
 
 
 

Thanks druxey.  I ended up redoing the lashing between the hearts because the first time i did it I tightened the stay so much I put a rather drastic sag in the fore stay.  oops!

Part 2
 
Trying to follow all the Superdetails listed in the instructions I decided I would try making the heart blocks for the Inner fore topmast stay. Cutting out two circles from scrap wood and with a little drilling, sanding and filing (and cursing) I finally came up with two blocks I was happy with.

First block tied to the bowsprit.

Lashing the two blocks together.


Completed Inner fore topmast stay

Happy with the way it turned out.

I’ve been a little delinquent in my postings so this will be a two part post which will be somewhat longer than my usual posts so I apologize in advance. 
 
Once all the lower rigging was completed and the futtock shrouds were installed the topmasts were mounted.

The Topmast shrouds were installed the same way the lower shrouds were except for the way the deadeyes were held in place.  These deadeyes were pinned to a piece of card stock that I had used for the lower shroud ratlines.  The line spacing on the card stock just happened to be at the right distance for the deadeye spacing.  After pinning the deadeyes to the card stock it was clamped to the crosstrees. The shrouds were then seized around the deadeye.

I should also mention here that I chose to use a smaller diameter (2.5mm) deadeye for the upper shrouds than the 3.5 mm diameter deadeye that was provided with the kit.  I just liked the looks of the smaller deadeye for the upper shrouds.  The lanyards were then reeved through the deadeyes and rattled up.

Completed shrouds.

The ratlines for the fore topmast shrouds were tied the same way the lower ratlines were done.


The Fore topmast backstays were added next. The deadeyes were tied to the stays the same way the lower shrouds were done using the twisted wire spacing guide.  Lanyards were then reeved through the deadeyes and tightened.

 

Part 2
 
Trying to follow all the Superdetails listed in the instructions I decided I would try making the heart blocks for the Inner fore topmast stay. Cutting out two circles from scrap wood and with a little drilling, sanding and filing (and cursing) I finally came up with two blocks I was happy with.

First block tied to the bowsprit.

Lashing the two blocks together.


Completed Inner fore topmast stay

Happy with the way it turned out.

Thanks druxey.  I ended up redoing the lashing between the hearts because the first time i did it I tightened the stay so much I put a rather drastic sag in the fore stay.  oops!

Thanks druxey.  I ended up redoing the lashing between the hearts because the first time i did it I tightened the stay so much I put a rather drastic sag in the fore stay.  oops!

Part 2
 
Trying to follow all the Superdetails listed in the instructions I decided I would try making the heart blocks for the Inner fore topmast stay. Cutting out two circles from scrap wood and with a little drilling, sanding and filing (and cursing) I finally came up with two blocks I was happy with.

First block tied to the bowsprit.

Lashing the two blocks together.


Completed Inner fore topmast stay

Happy with the way it turned out.

I’ve been a little delinquent in my postings so this will be a two part post which will be somewhat longer than my usual posts so I apologize in advance. 
 
Once all the lower rigging was completed and the futtock shrouds were installed the topmasts were mounted.

The Topmast shrouds were installed the same way the lower shrouds were except for the way the deadeyes were held in place.  These deadeyes were pinned to a piece of card stock that I had used for the lower shroud ratlines.  The line spacing on the card stock just happened to be at the right distance for the deadeye spacing.  After pinning the deadeyes to the card stock it was clamped to the crosstrees. The shrouds were then seized around the deadeye.

I should also mention here that I chose to use a smaller diameter (2.5mm) deadeye for the upper shrouds than the 3.5 mm diameter deadeye that was provided with the kit.  I just liked the looks of the smaller deadeye for the upper shrouds.  The lanyards were then reeved through the deadeyes and rattled up.

Completed shrouds.

The ratlines for the fore topmast shrouds were tied the same way the lower ratlines were done.


The Fore topmast backstays were added next. The deadeyes were tied to the stays the same way the lower shrouds were done using the twisted wire spacing guide.  Lanyards were then reeved through the deadeyes and tightened.

 

Part 2
 
Trying to follow all the Superdetails listed in the instructions I decided I would try making the heart blocks for the Inner fore topmast stay. Cutting out two circles from scrap wood and with a little drilling, sanding and filing (and cursing) I finally came up with two blocks I was happy with.

First block tied to the bowsprit.

Lashing the two blocks together.


Completed Inner fore topmast stay

Happy with the way it turned out.

Well done, Sal!

Part 2
 
Trying to follow all the Superdetails listed in the instructions I decided I would try making the heart blocks for the Inner fore topmast stay. Cutting out two circles from scrap wood and with a little drilling, sanding and filing (and cursing) I finally came up with two blocks I was happy with.

First block tied to the bowsprit.

Lashing the two blocks together.


Completed Inner fore topmast stay

Happy with the way it turned out.

So the cabin was cleaned up, things re-glued and touched up with some acrylic paint.  Then it was CA'd in place and firmly fixed - the idea being to pre-drill for the brass stanchions.  Shown below are examples of a stanchion, a tiny eye (intended for jack rail installation) and a brass belaying pin of some age.  The pin is close to scale - representing about 2' ... perhaps a typical belaying pin is around 18".  The brass has a natural patina and will eventually be brown in color.
 
  Again, smaller scales will be henceforth 'right out' - although some are able to manipulate super tiny things ... they built Swiss watches, didn't they?
 

 
  After drilling stanchion holes, it occurred to me that the cabin on the original has 'grab bars' on the sides ...  dang, its going to be hard to install them with the cabin already fixed to the deck.  Once again, I didn't quite think everything through .. so step one was to mark the attachment points (such as they will be on this model) with mechanical pencil.  I started to measure the places, but ended up doing it 'by eye'.  Then bent pliers were used to push a straight pin (but bent, due to the odd angle) into the wooden cabin for the brass eyes.
 
 

 
  Next came hand drilling with a pin drill, also bending the fine drill (but not enough to break it) a bit to deepen the starter hole.  This is painstaking, so rather than had all the stanchion holes (shown later) by hand, I used a rotary tool.  Still, one has to be careful not to snap a drill.
  
 
  A small dab of old Gel CA was put on a pair of attachment points.  The advantage of using 'old' gel CA is that it takes longer to set-up, thus allowing time to fiddle and drop stuff, reposition, try again ... the picture is 'upside down' because I'm working that way with the hull in my lap.  Like what was said in Pirates of the Caribbean, "Down is up."

 
 
  Now getting the second eye on was a pain.  When the rail is to be placed on a corner, the eyes can be installed first, then the rail slid in and cut to length.  Here the panels on the cabin sides (as built and re-glued in place) limit sideways rail movement.  I suppose I could have left the eyes 'proud' of the panels, slid the wire in, cut, the push everything down.  But I didn't think of that at the time.
 
  Fiddling these small bits in a tight place produced a fair share of 'dang its' and gol-darn sumb-witches ... to be expected.  What Ben Franklin said about getting a Constitution through Congress (comparing it to bringing a child into the world) might be applied to model ship building ... "half improvise and half compromise".
 
  Next more old CA was applied - in this case (with one hand holding the camera and the other trying to keep the glue bottle steady) there is too much on the joint - so he excess had to be wiped away with a bit of absorbent material.

 
  Now a dental tool applies a bit of accelerator (the tool was dipped into a small amount of it in a nearby cup).  and BAM everything locked-up nicely.  I suppose new gel CA would not have as much working time ... so just let a bottle set on the shelf for a year (like I did) and its still quite useable by this technique.

 
 
  Now a right-side up view of how things are coming along.  The next consideration is the ladders to go from the weather deck to the forecastle (same astern).  The model being restored has flimsy rubber ladders that are not at all satisfactory.  I'm going to have to build my own using material from a parts kit on hand.  I'll have to figure out how railings will be done.  Once the first ladder is figured out, the other three will be done in the same way.  There is also some re-thinking of where all the lines will have to be routed and belayed ... that will be done much later on.

 
 
 
 

First Major Re-Do:
 
While reading ahead in the instruction booklet on installing the ‘jib stay’ and ‘outer fore topmast stay’ I realized that I installed the starboard side martingale stays in the wrong place.  I installed both the port side and starboard side stays at the same location on the jib boom (outer end).  You can see this in my post #86, picture #6.  I thought about just changing out the starboard side stay but since all the bow sprit rigging was done with the rope that came with the kit (brown) and all the rest of the rigging done after that (shrouds, main stay & fore stay) was done with non-kit rope (black) I decided to change out all the bow sprit rigging to black rope.
 
Cutting all the lines

All the lines were redone as before with black rope and now in their correct position.

 

Ratlines:
I decided to tie the ratlines onto the shrouds instead of gluing them because I had glued them on one of my other ships and wasn’t happy with the way they looked.  I used a 14” (scaled) spacing on the guideline card that I printed out and clipped it to the shrouds to hold it in place.  I started with a simple overhand knot on the first shroud followed by clove hitch knots on the remaining shrouds.  Once the ratline was in its final position I put a small drop of ca glue on the knots to hold them in place. 

When all the knots were tied and glued I went over them with a bit of black paint to knock the shine off from the ca glue.
I don’t mind a little sag in the lines because imo it gives it a more realistic look. 

There is one new thing I learnt while doing these.  I normally listen to music while working on my ships and change the style of music by how I feel that day.  Well I happened to be in the mood for some classical music the day I was working on the ratlines and I can tell you now do not try and tie ratlines to Korsakov’s  "Flight of the Bumblebee", unless you want to finish them in about ten minutes.🐝
 
New toy I bought for myself for for my birthday.  Can't wait to try it out.

 
 

Moving right along the next few steps were pretty straight forward.
Sheerpoles were glued in place.

Main stay was served and installed around the masthead.....

....down to eyebolts on the deck

Fore stay was served and installed.  The futtock shrouds were also installed on the fore mast and I chose to make the these shrouds with 28 gauge wire glued to the crosstrees and set in a hole drilled in the mast.  I'm not sure I would recommend doing this and just use thread as called for in the instructions because keeping the wire straight proved to be a challenge. 

Wire futtock shroud 

Overall state of the rigging to date.

 
 
 
 

Shrouds and deadeyes:
I have a small serving machine so I decided I would serve the center of the shrouds where they wrap around the mast heads.

Served shroud pairs

I made a little jig, made up of twisted wire, that held the upper deadeye in position while the shroud was tied around it. 

After tying the first shroud I decided that I did not like the looks of the thread (rope) that was provided with the kit.  Fortunately I had extra rope left over from a previous build that I was able to use.  I served these lines and placed then around the mast heads.  Four pairs around the fore mast head,

and two pair and a single around the main mast head.

After tying all the deadeyes into position the lanyards were threaded through them.  I used a lighter thread for the lanyards to distinguish the standing rigging from the running rigging.

Completed fore mast deadeyes

Completed main mast deadeyes

 
Personal opinion:  I don’t know how much more this kit would have cost if a little better cordage was provided but imo it would have been worth it.

Too much honor, thanks guys.
Let’s get to the painting work.
First the obligatory pre-shading.
 

 
Base coat on and decals glued.
When it came to panel lining, things got complicated.
It doesn’t work here like it does on the falcon model. The plates are only indicated there and the color is drawn into the gaps between them by capillary action.
The panels of the diorama are of course glued on and the gap is much larger. That’s why I have to carefully apply the washing color here with a fine brush.
But do it with a steady hand.
 

 
The countless squares emphasized with a light gray.
 

 
And the armor plates painted a shade of a darker gray in the corners. This way I get greater contrast.
 

 
I’m pretty happy with that and I can move on to the next round.
 

Spar Deck
 
It's been a while since last post.  Came down with a bit of a case of "lazy blogger syndrome".  So to catch up, I've done the upper deck beams, bitts, and hatches, planking all the areas that will be planked.  Need some touch ups on several areas of the upper deck but will get those when I return for the deck furniture and guns.  Started on the outside hull details.
 

 

 

 

Update
 
cutting out the bulwarks, the last three of 12 freeing ports, 8 mm square, inserting the frames and stiffening out of the inner bulwarks with stanchions.
This is what I was a bit anxious about, after all its just getting started, pulling through and now I`m pleased with the result. I had extra bought a new set of keyhole files and some carving chissels. The ship has to be tilted into the correct position on my knees, and carefully avoiding contact distortion with the fragile railing sections during the process. Al uneccessary, removable superstructure parts, masting and hold sections are layed aside for doing so.
Before filing out the roughf drilled holes to square close fit, the metal plating bits have to be removed from the outer bulwarks with a sharp chissel.
Next will be to cut the holes for the mooring ropes and to place the Panama-fairleads directly behind the bulwarks and place the deck-mooring bollards 
 
Nils

cutting through the plating metal, removing the small square parts, masking, taping and positioning  of the freeing ports.

inserting and glueing in the freeport-frames

stanchions for stiffening out the bulwarks. the freeports lower side is flush with the deck
 

thank you very much Keith,
 
Update
it took me several hours to find a way in doing the freeing ports with adequate size into the well-deck bulwarks. Finally I`ve chosen a version whereby a frame will be inserted and glued into a  cut out square opening (in a close fit as good as I can get it done), and soldered-in vertical bars prevent crew being washed through into rough seas. I used a scrap dummy piece of the bulwark 1,5mm ply for doing so
 
Nils

there will be 12 of these frames

the frame will probably be flush the outer skin

Thanks very much, Sal.
 
"Finished" Fife Rail:
 

 

Thanks Bob, much appreciated 

'Had a look at my few GF 1 images and printed the stern and bow decorations (adjusting for scale) to see if I could paper cut them out and glue them in place ... given that I wasn't going to attempt intsy-teensie carving, and my freehand with inks would also not pass muster.  If presentable, I could touch them up in place with micro tip color pen.  I think I'm ahead of the game according to the picture below.  The blow-up magnifies irregularities, so just looking at the hull, its presentable enough.
 

 
  I decided to install two small pinrails near the extreme bow to hold 3 brass belaying pins (to be drilled for soon) on each side for the jib sail inhaul lines (choice of side to belay them).  The work at 1:100 tells me that that is really the smallest I shall model in, at this stage in life and skillset.  Each rail was given a little gel CA (which does not set-up so fast), then applied with fine tweezers - pushing in place to hold while the other hand daubed some 'accelerator' from the end of a dental tool.
 
  Nearly at once, the accelerator made the gel CA 'grab', but there was still a couple seconds for a slight tweak before the reaction went entirely through the join.  Then, some more CA gel was put on the underside to make a 'fillet' - and kicked with more accelerator daubed on.  This technique, done carefully, is really nice in my opinion ... and as said before, I'll avoid the 'thin CA' (except in rare circumstances) because it is too hard to control and gets everywhere on its own.  Now the center bow guard (which has had some more trimming since first pictured) represents about a 31" parapet.
 
  The bow guard is metal on the ship, so it will be painted white, I may leave the pin rails wood.
 
  It occurred to me that this would be a little high to just step over, even if going out on the bowsprit to mount or dismount the jibs would be done in port.  Other models of this ship do have it this way, and I haven't found just the right image to see just what the configuration of the original was.  If a 'scoop' in the middle was made to lower the step-over to, say, 15" (scaled)  I don't think it would look right to my eyes - also there might be a gush of sea water shooting through such a gap (instead of straying upwards), so there will be a representation of a welded step - and a corresponding landing on the front side - both to receive white paint.

 
  After installing the steps, and gluing bow decoration on, I took a profile of the bow.  The image was 'flipped' on the computer for the other side.
 

 
  Detail by detail is likely how to proceed in this 'instruction-less' project.  BTW, another technician has suddenly retired at the hospital where I work per-diem ... so there will be more demands for my time - and between now and the Holidays the Admiral has me ferrying her to craft shows on the weekend to assist her shop.  No matter, there is no 'time limit' on my own projects.  Below is another angle of the bow (the guard just sitting in place, unglued as of yet).