GLakie

glad to see your back Augie........and even happier that you picked up where you left off without skipping a beat     looking very nice!

A fully rigged Titanic.  Who knew? 

thanks Nenad 
 
that's the tough part.......all the little parts need to be done first....I'll be knock'in things off left 'n right       wait till I tackle the communication wires 

Great to see these.  Never imagined there would be so much rigging on a steamer.  Appreciate you pointing out all these details.

Killing work, my friend. I enjoy looking

Great pic of Dali... or maybe that's Brian the Extraordinaire.   Excellent work on Her Majesty.

Thank you all for likes and supporting comments

Tonight started with making forgoten cat stopper. I used brass wire 0,5 mm, much better than Cu wire 0,5mm. Harder, but still can be shaped in desired direction



after painting



Let's finish another

First I made all shackle and drilled neccessary holes ( 0,5 mm), with "dry" testing.



Outside finished





And after cementing, inside also finished



And new "look and feel" of Her bow and fore deck


 

 
She was extreme satisfied, and asked me when we will meet next time. Toorrow, I said, go sleep now
 
I didnt tell her that She looks now ( before bowsprit rigging) as Salvador Dali 
 

 
Just can not resist ...
 

Bob,
 
your build sequences look clear, straight foreward and very well executed. You`ve got a real "gem" of a cutter on your slipway...
Would it be worth a thought to do the hull below the wales in lapstrake planking ? (like Lee had Chosen for his cutter "Alert" )
 
Nils

Some progress to report. I completed the prep for planking by adding the square tuck stern piece and fillers and then painting the ports. I opened my last ever bottle of Pollyscale ATSF red for the ports.
 
I then did the first layer of the wales, which was pretty straightforward. Now, it's on to the topside planking.
 
Bob

I just looked in my pictures folder,  and I found these two that I had imported before recharging my camera.   rigging the decks needed to be done at this stage.    the stern section was rigged with back stays.......then the funnel lines were added to the boat deck.
 

 
then the A deck and the boat deck was cemented together
 

 
I have other pictures,   but they are still in the camera   I'll post them later 

ohhhhhh.........getting use to being back at work again,  is a complete drag!   what was worse....it was above 90 degrees all week end!    I'm glad it's over,  and I'm on my 'week end' again 
 
they do come with difficulty levels Greg.......but,  like wooden kits,  they are not clearly defined.   I started this medium with an expert level wooden kit,  but i've found equal enjoyment with advanced beginners kits.  the one big hurdle that the plastic kit has to maintain with wooden kits though,  is the ability to mimic the wood appearance.   plastic kits do command more attention towards painting prowess,  and the ability to weather finishes.   complexity of plastic kits,  can be noted by the number of parts and how much detail is included into the finished model.   both mediums have enjoyed the benefit of photo etch and resin.........as long as aftermarket can satisfy both mediums,  then folks will find them equally as enjoyable.

Welcome back Augie. Looking great, as always.
 
Bob

I've owned the Byrnes Table Saw and Disc Sander for almost a year and have enjoyed their form and function from the first day. I have added an iGaging Woodworking Digital Scale and Readout, miter gauge stop, and a cross-cut sled to the table saw.
 
Thank you to all have posted review comments and photos on the tools they use. They have informed and inspired me (and I'm sure many others) during the purchase and use of our tools.

Hi Mates,
 
Thanks for the "likes" If I don't feel ok about the splicing, I start over and i will do as Mark suggests (:-)
 
Michael

very nice progress Larry 

You're doing a splendid job on her Michael! Nice bit of splicing work.  

Nice work on the pin-rails Tom. Your perseverance is paying off handsomely!  
 
Cheers

Welcome home Augie.... Did you catch the one with your name on it ????? :D
 
frank

Tom,
 
Your work and patience are to be recognized.
 
Thanks for sharing
Dan

I have been working on the U shaped main pin rail, which is a deviation from the kit supplied rails. I am using plans from the Constitution CD for this rail, which makes it easier to fabricate the pieces, at least. This U shaped rail is a distinctive feature of the Constitution over the other frigates of the time, so I really wanted to include it. I used the supplied rail for around the fore mast, only because I have no information on how it might have been different in 1812. I am also going to be adding the spider rail on the mizzen mast instead of the supplied rail, for the same reason as the U shaped rail. The Revell plastic kit includes these details, but the ME kit is the modern ship so does not have them.
 
I started by cutting the three rail pieces. I copied the plans and cut out templates for the rail pieces, which I glued to what I thought was 1/16" birch plywood because I knew these pieces would be prone to split. For the two lower rails, I glued two sheets together so I could cut them out and shape them at the same time. I then soaked these in alcohol to separate them, which worked great. I used sandpaper and a rounded file to get the final shapes after cutting the rough shapes on the scroll saw.
 

 
I then made the posts to hold these rail pieces. Here I deviated from the plans some. For instance, the plans show three separate sections for each post, with each section between the rails and sharing the holes in the rail. At this scale, I was pretty sure there was no way this would be both strong and straight. So, I made the posts as one piece, with the rounded parts the same diameter as the rest of the post, instead of larger as shown on the plans. It would not have been possible to slip the rails onto the posts if they were larger. I also used a thinner piece of dowel for the posts than shown because there is almost no wood left on the rails on either side of the holes if I used the larger sized dowel, as you can see on the above template.
 
I made the posts on the lathe by marking off the round sections and using s diamond file on edge to round them, then some fine sandpaper to clean them up. I moved the dowel for each section so I was always working close to the chuck, to avoid breaking the dowel while turning it.
 

 

 

 
It was now time to drill the holes for the posts in the rails. I first drilled the four holes in the top rail, using the template as a guide. I then used the top rail itself as a guide for the holes in the bottom two rails. At this point I realized I was not working with plywood, because both of the bottom pieces split. The holes were still rather large for these pieces too. So, I decided to make the lower pieces a bit more like the top piece with more wood around the holes. I traced the top rail onto the plywood then shortened the ends and cut them out individually on the scroll saw this time. I sanded them down a bit and drilled the holes, and was successful on one of the them. I had to remake the second, and again it split, although this time it was while dry fitting it to a post. For the final and successful try I traced the shape onto the wood, drilled the holes and made sure the poles slid in easily, then cut it out and shaped it. Here are the pieces, although the bottom piece was the last one that split. You can see the hole on the left is too close to the edge. By drilling the holes before cutting out the last piece, I could adjust the edge slightly to make sure the hole was centered more accurately.
 

 
I also drilled the holes for the belaying pins in the top rail, then dry fit the rails and posts. I am pretty happy with the look so far. I am going to try to glue them up without taking them apart again, but we will see. I even added a few belaying pins to see how they would look. I had to shorten them by about a 1/32" to make sure I could fit a piece of line under them.
 

 

 
And for full disclosure, here is the bone pile of broken rails.
 

 
I still have a bit of work to do on this piece after gluing. I have to sand down the tops of the posts to be flush with the top rail, and even up the bottoms of the posts. I think I am going to drill post sized holes in the support pieces before I plank the deck and glue these posts into the support pieces, then plank around them. Otherwise I would have to glue these thin posts to the decking, and even with some wire through the deck for extra support I think it will be too fragile later on when rigging. There are also six sheaves between the two bottom rails shown on the plans, which I am attempting to reproduce. They are a bit small, but I have some prototypes made that may work. Of course, I will let you know if they work or not.

looking awesome Nenad.......nice work on the cat heads 

Likewise from me!

She looks splendid Augie!  Welcome back! 

Has taken about 6 weeks to enjoy our vacation and then address some domestic and minor health issues.  But I've finally gotten the shipyard up and running once again.
 
Decided to finish up the guns on the QD.  There are only four 4 pounders due to the layout of the open decking.  Once again, the brass cannon were supplied by Chuck's Syren company and they're a perfect fit for the kit-supplied carraiges.  No need to detail the construction process again.
 

 

 
I need to finish up one railing on the QD before I move to the bow planking.  Will be operating on a reduced 'summer schedule' for a time......but it feels great to be back 'home'.
 
Here's hoping the summer has been going well for all those here up North. It's been fun following everyone's progress.
 
 
 
 

Your head rail is coming together very nicely! The middle rail is clearly one of the more challenging parts, and yours looks very good!
 
Thomas