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HwereDear log,
 
The following is the work done so far for the decking.  Decking was so much easier than the planking but it still had a few challenges.  Though I opted to put in the hatches before the decking, that choice did cause a few problems.  First, the plans' drawings of the hatches were not right on.  If I was to do this again I would do all of the decking first and then put on the hatches.  The problem was that the hatches were not sized to the planks, thus I had to do a little fitting of the planks "around" the hatches.  This caused a little bit of a problem laying the planks up by the bow.  Granted most people probably won't see this, I know it's there.  For those of you following, I would suggest that you measure out or lay out planks on a flat surface first and then make you hatches fit withing the decking planks.  Go the full width of the deck planking, not half way.  It will just make the lines cleaner.
 

Here is what I am talking about for the hatches and deck planking.
 

Some people use pencils, some use colored glue, some use artists charcoal.  I first tried the charcoal but I found that it often rubbed off on my fingers and I ended up chalking the top of the deck.  So I used sharpies to color the side.  I used the finer point sharpied to color the top edge of the wood and the fatter one to color the sides.  If you follow this, pay attention to just ink the edge of the plank, right were the horizontal and verticle sides meet.
 

I'm pretty happy with the decking.  The sharpie seemed to work pretty well for me.  I even managed to put in the deck section cuts.  I used a flat edge exacto blade as I did each plank.  I don't suggest you try to cut the pieces after you put in all of the planks.  You could end up cutting into the plank next to it.

Moving on to the next step, the decking.  First was to make the grating covers and other covers and doors.  Below was my progress.  The worst part about this step was the lack of instructions and suggested wood sizes to use.  The instructions said to use scrap wood, which was not a problem, except, which size scap?  So I took my best guess and went for it.  Hopefully I won't regret it.  The other sad part.  I ran out of pre-cut grating before I got to my last one.  Now I have to order more
 

I added a little angle to the top side of the grate walls.  I thought it would look better than a simple cut piece of wood.
 

And finished with two of the three grates.  Yeah, I have a little super glue cleaning up to do.

Okay ship log, finally got the outside planking on, sanded and painted.  I primed the bottom of the hull with a gray first.  I think my gray was too dark, it took 5 coats of white to cover it up. A tad bit frustrating.  The gray certainly showed the mistakes / beauty marks I made as well as any wood imperfections.  I tried to use the best wood I could from the kit, but obviously not.  The yellow ocra was watered down so it was more of a painting stain and not as sharp as the yellow ocra I put on the metal parts of the transom and side windows.  Used 2 light coats to get the texture that way I wanted it.  The black molding took quite a few swipes with the blade, too bad you can't really see the cuts in the wood in these shots.  I was quite surprised to see the wood actually curl up as I ran the blades over it.  Kind of hard with the naked eye too.  Overall, I'm pretty pleased with it.  Next comes the deck.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Made sure to put all of the rope holes in the sides of the hull as well as the anchor bumper and chesstree now so the glue would not mess up the paint if I did this later.

Thanks guillemot & Keith.
 
Your right Keith, I'm trying to get as much done as I can before Monday night. After that it might be a long time before I have both hands healed & working again.
 
Started on the jib boom bobstays. After learning from others here on MSW I want to do things more the way they should be. Decided that I would serve (?) (- please correct me if my terminology is wrong)- the lines. Wrapped around the jib boom & seized them.

Progress on Fore & Main masts. I don't like how thick & fat the belay pins are in the kit. Tried thinning them down some. I like them better but wonder am I really going to want to do this with every one of them for the rest of the build?
 

Tying & seizing blocks. Very difficult for me to do. Maybe this will be easier after the surgeries. For some reason the camera makes the paint look way more rough & crude than it looks by eye.
 

The angle of the mast is close to correct in that picture (within a degree or two). The mast is set at 15.5°. It looks more extreme because the ship is not level.
 
I made a couple of jigs to set the masts once I get to rigging:
 

Progress has slowed down again now that the weather has turned nice. Plus I managed to get the flu followed by conjunctivitis. Having a kid is a great way to get sick.
 
Apparently I used the wrong stock when I made the engine access hatch. It ended up being 1/32" too small in both directions. Instead of making it completely from scratch I just glued on some 1/32" stock to bring it to size and then transferred the hatch covers to a new top. After a coat of paint it's unnoticeable.
 
I also added the stowed pump arms to the engine access hatch. Those are the smallest pieces I've had to make so far. The arms themselves are 1/64" in diameter (~0.015") and are about 3/32" apart. I also had to make two sets because the plan callout for the arms was scaled about 30% bigger than it should be. It worked out for the better because I stained the first set the wrong color.
 
To break up the monotony of working on the deck details I've been concentrating on getting all of the rail details done. I have all of the cannon eyelets and rings installed and have finished all four of the cleats where the mooring lines go through. Various cleats go on next followed by some strips in the cannon openings and the ladders.
 

I installed most of the cannon eyelets today. There are four (two on each side) that get installed on the fore side of the stanchions. I'm not sure how I'm going to drill for them. I may just drill a little crooked and push them into proper position. The basswood is pretty forgiving in that regard.
 

 
I also put a coat of primer on the trucks for the cannon. These things are tiny but still seem too large to my eye but I am not changing them. They seem to fit in the gun ports with a bit of sanding on the wheels to make everything flat.
 

One out of scale and squished cannon that doesn't fit into the opening quite right mostly done. The castings in this kit are far from precise or well done. Lots of flashing and everything has shrunk or there is some mold shift.
 

 
Three more to go. I have the carriages glued up for the other three. All that's left is to install the trucks, paint, and add a set of eyelets and rings. I'll probably have to massage everything a bit to get it down to size so it fits in the gun port without touching.
 
I don't think I could do one of those models that have dozens of guns onboard!
 

I spent some time on the various eyelets tonight. I installed the 14 deck eyebolts and two that go on the stern knees. You can also see in the picture that the pump and fire hydrant are more bronze than the other pictures show.
 

 
I then started on the eyelets and rings that hold the cannon in place. I found some 0.011" brass wire from another kit. I wound it around a #70 drill bit but that turned out to be far too small for me to work with.
 
So i switched to a #61 and that seemed to be OK. I wound tight coils and then split them off with some small side cutters. I then flattened them in a set of smooth jaw pliers. I made 22 of them even though 20 were needed. Turns out that they go shooting off very easily and I needed all 22 of them!
 

 
After that I held the eyelet in a set of small hemostats and used tweezers to bend the eyelet. I inserted the ring and then flattened it back out. The result is passable at this scale I think. It doesn't match the plans exactly (they're about 30% too big) but there is no way I could work with a 0.025" I.D.
 
It took me as long to figure out how to make the first four as the remaining 16.
 

 
Next step is to blacken them and glue them in. I may make a jig and rig up the cannon to them before gluing.

I spent some more time getting the fore mast done. It's complete except for the cleats that go on the octagonal section at the base and completing the trestle tree at the top.
 
I took a picture of her with all of the masts and booms but it's too blurry to post. It's going to be a tall model when it's done. I don't really know where I'm going to put it.
 
I also made up some gauges that are the proper 13.5° and 15.5° to set the masts. I'll post pictures of them and how I made them later.
 
I then moved on to the pin rail and fire extinguisher and bilge pumps. The fire extinguisher are made of bronze. I don't have any paint that simulates old bronze and the gold that is included in the kit doesn't look anything like bronze.
 
So I decided to switch to plastic model paint (Model Masters and Testors). I put on a coat of gold and then dry brushed on a coat of a dark oxide. The results are a serviceable bronze look. I don't feel like the castings are very good. They seem more like blobs that sort of look like bilge pumps.
 

 
I then attached the pumps and fire extinguisher to the deck. It feels good to finally install parts onto the deck permanently! The engine controls box and pin rail are not installed (the engine controls are backwards anyways).
 

 
Next up: deck eye bolts, deck cleats, and finishing up the details on the inside of the wale. After that I should be able to start installing the deck furniture.
 
It feels like I'm finally making some sort of progress again.

Tonight I spent a couple hours working on the fore mast.
 
I started by spending 20 minutes straightening the replacement dowel that MS sent. It was bent in a S-curve that was at least 1/16" in each direction.
 
I used a set of pliers to burnish the high side while bending the dowel past straight. I ended up with a section that was within 1/32" of true. Close enough. I will be able to pull any remaining curvature out when I add the standing rigging.
 
After that I added the octagon shape at the base and cut it to the 13-1/2° angle called out in the plans. In the picture the fore mast looks quite a bit more vertical but it's only 2° less than the main mast. The lens on my iPhone makes it look much more than it is. It's not perfectly positioned for the picture either. I will use the standing rigging to set the masts in the proper location when it comes to that point.
 

 
It's time to clean up the workspace I think!

Clamps are off the starboard side, and the run of the pattern looks good. The second photo shows pretty clearly the concern I had over how the pattern runs across bulkhead #3. If I had clamped that tightly to the top it would have developed a kink. I only glued that one at the base of the pattern, where it contacts the actual bulkhead that will remain after the extensions are cut to deck level. Worked out OK.

Looks great Joe!  Glad the gunports are cooperating.
 
Just out of curiosity, did Caldercraft switch to maple for the decks from tanganyika?  My Badger had tanganyika, which was a nice wood, but some of the strips were warped and/or not very straight.  For what it's worth, I used these red pins that have a very thin needle and a small profile to keep my planks straight on the deck
 

Starboard side gunport pattern installed without issue. On the third bulkhead where it wanted to kink if I clamped too close to the top of the bulkhead extension I clamped it low against the actual bulkhead. Worked out OK. 
 
 

Tonight I shaped the bow and stern filler blocks I glued in place last evening. 
 
 
 
I also went to work cleaning up the slightly rough edge of the otherwise very nice maple deck wood. I lightly drew each strip across a piece of 320 grit sandpaper, which squared up the edge nicely. It probably wasn't completely necessary, but it made me feel better as to how tightly and smoothly the planks will lay.
 
I had originally planned to replace some of the wood on this build, including the deck planks, but Hobbymill is out to July 28 for shipping. I'll have to plan a little better next time.
 
On to the dreaded gunport strips next...

In my last update, I had made and fitted, but not installed, the main jeer bitts. They are now mounted. I have also made and mounted the main topsail sheet bitts. The other new items are the forward cranks for the chain pumps and their supports. As with the other deck fittings, the wood parts are boxwood . The cranks are blackened brass wire and the belaying pins in the bitts are blackened brass parts. As with the aft cranks, I chose to simplify them by merely bending the wire, rather than attempting a multi part assembly at this scale.
 
I'm now working on the next batch of guns.
 
Bob

fore mast stays

bowsprit ratlines, these are harder than it looks, good luck brian.

placed the foremast , some work on the bowsprit

The next step was a hard one.  Adding the wales.  I found out that I did not leave a large enough rabbit at the bow to put the end of the wale plank into.  I had to carve out a small notch to be able to get the wale in place.
 

 
With a bit of soaking in water and then steaming in my kettle I was able to form the bend of the wale.
 

 
So I think I found the "wall side" and the "room side" of the model.  
 

 
Not a bad first attempt.
 

 

... the other side of the ship...

I continue with another window, 5 walnut strips glued together, two of them are narrow than others, again credit card's plastic,  the shiny black plastic of the back of the CD cover for glass. Then all is painted in the same way.
 
I don't like the window provided by the kit.