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Rich_engr

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About Rich_engr

  • Birthday August 29

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Baltimore, MD
  • Interests
    Model ships, pool, archery, shooting guns, astronomy, physics, my dogs, engineering, home improvement

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  1. Worked on the main mast and topmast today. Cleats were tricky because of their super small size, but so far so good. First time tapering a mast: taped off one end of the topmast, chucked it in the hand drill, then ran a sanding block along the length... not sure if this the best way, but turned out ok. Drilled the holes, attached the eyebolts, and the lower pendant (square knot around thimble and mast, then seized). Few spots to even/level, but workable. Won't assemble the whole mast until after doing lower shrouds, etc.
  2. Not sure exactly... lol... just looked at some pics of how it's done and tried to replicate that. After my 'knot' I used a small but of CA to glue the free end, then whipped the end. Anchors will be attached/rigged as the very last thing so they don't get in the way of actual rigging.
  3. Next up with finishing the hull, etc, I installed one of the two anchors. Slight deviation on these- i used some leftover strips from the PE brass sheets, blackened/paint touch up (instead of the black cardboard provided). The rough/worn look to these fits with the overall scheme I think.
  4. The instruction manual describes the planking process. Yes, plank widths will vary slightly from one bh to the next... since the bow is curved, a lot more tapering is needed (stern needs barely any tapering, and actually widens, hence using stealers between planks). There's TONS of info on here to help with planking. For Sherbourne, the this are laser marked where to taper to aid with the fairing, and i think it calls for 12 planks (1st layer, 2nd layer was 13 for me). For this particular hull shape, zero tapering for majority of hull length midship, but quite a bit (~4-5 bulkheads or so) at the bow.
  5. Now that hull and deck are mostly finished, onto the mast and spars... Also semi-thinking of adding sails (furled on the yards/boom, etc)... haven't decided yet... if I do go with sails, have to do them before adding the standing rigging I think...
  6. Chris, Thank you! It's slightly darker than I wanted, but still ok! Tried over a dozen combinations of stains on some of the scrap pear wood to see how they'd look... unfortunately Lowes only had a few in the 8oz cans (don't need a whole quart). So it's a good idea to test paint and stains on scraps of the actual wood to see how they'll turn out! 😉
  7. I'm trying to be as clean as possible, yet I'm still fine with the blemishes (gives it character I think). That's one of the reasons why I chose to stain the hull- show of the small errors and flaws, yet blend together so it all works as one.
  8. Hull stain was English chestnut (minwax) Deck was weathered oak first followed by red oak stain (by minwax). LOTS of wipe/rub to get the look and coloring I wanted. For blackening the brass I used Birchwood-Casey (several dips in the solution, then wiped/rinsed). Solid black would be too dark, so I like the rusty steel/gunmetal look the parts took on.
  9. Back on MSW after quite a few years break from working on my MS Niagara... Decided on Vanguard's Sherbourne since it's an entry-level kit with much simplified rigging compared to the Niagara (get some basic skills in first before finishing that one). Started Sherbourne in January while taking some pics along the way. The kit is done exceptionally well- materials and instruction book are 1st rate!!! Chris does an excellent job with his products and kit designs! Highly recommend!!! So far, no problems with the build (recalling it's of the lessons I learned from Niagara, yet learning new stuff as well) Only major change from the original kit is my color scheme (decided to stain the hull and deck, and keep most wood as natural as possible, sort of a rustic/worn look to it)
  10. Hey- back from my sailing lessons/vacation!! And I passed both certifications!!!! Had THE time of my life- was pure heaven!!!!!!! Plus, we were sailing around what I believe was the Sultana- got lots of pics on my phone that I need to upload so y'all can drool over!! lol~~ Anyway, build is obviously on the back burner for now (getting re-set up since our stuff from TX came a few weeks ago and I gotta get the shop rearranged). Plus, I'm looking at boat rentals for a day so I can keep building my experience! All is well- miss you guys!!!
  11. Finally a "real" update: I've been working on the bowsprit this week (not too bad once the drawings are attached)... got most of it tapered and the hex parts shaped, but I'll probably have to redo the piece.... Last night around 9 pm I made the stupid mistake of getting a venti coffee from Starbucks, and was up until 2:30 am sanding and tapering by hand... After four hours of sanding and shaping (all the while getting covered in sawdust), I realized that it wasn't coming out straight enough (although dimensions were ok), and it was a little tricky seeing my centerline (the drawings had some verrrrry slight curve to them when I glued them on), and the tapers weren't quite even/square enough... So, tonight I'm going to mark centerlines first, then taper sides/bottom, THEN make some more copies and affix the drawings... Oh well- practice makes perfect I suppose... just no late-night coffee this time (and I have to get up at 6)...
  12. Oh yeah, forgot to mention that I may be slow in posting pics since my 6-year old laptop is on its last legs....(at least it's not running XP, otherwise I'd be screwed!). And the budget doesn't allow for major computer purchases at this time... Just gotta hang in there~~~
  13. Thanks guys! Well, I finally dove into the bowsprit this week. Sunday I went to Kinkos and made copies of the plans, then cut the drawings out and attached them to the wood yesterday. I would have done it earlier, but I was in Norfolk this week (aboard the Iwo again). Still, got back yesterday and with the help of a few beers was able to glue the drawings on. One thing I noticed is that I probably should have started to taper the bowsprit before gluing the side dwg's on, because otherwise my octagonal sections will need to be tapered in quite a bit (and could screw up their shape)... oh well- I'm still in the learning curve... darn hindsight~~~~ Probably not much shaping this weekend due to my dad coming in and Mother's day, but next week I'll hit it pretty hard.
  14. Welcome aboard!!! I like your mentality- that'll keep you going strong throughout the build! There's tons of us building the Niagara- she's an interesting one to say the least. She's also my first wooden build. Don't be shy about asking for guidance- we're all in this together.
  15. Mini-update: I think my build is going to be very slow-going since my other bench/cabinets are in storage (back in TX), and therefore I'm very limited with the amount of workspace (basically the old computer desk). Things are very cramped, and I have to keep shuffling plans, parts, the ship, etc. around to work on something... Most of my tools and parts are still in my plastic tubs from the move! lol~ Still, I'm going to make some copies of the plans for the bowsprit so I can slowly work on that. My mind is bouncing between the bowsprit and the hammock rails (what/how to do them)... Last night I tried working on the fashion pieces, but all I was able to accomplish was find a piece of scrap wood to roughly sand down to size... grr~~~~
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