Jack12477

No need for CAD skills, Dan.  I us CorelDraw as do many others.  It's all 2-D work.  

I'll pull up a chair as well if you don't mind.
 
I'm still waiting for my packages from Chuck. Our postal services are natoriously slow here in RSA.
Chuck shipped them within hours after I placed the orders, AMAZING service from Chuck.
 
Wish you all of the best with your build, and Yes, do get the white towel. I will be getting one as well :D
 
Deon

Martin, if you ever saw my feeble attempt at carving you would understand completely.
 
There are two ladders between the upper and lower decks.  The fore ladder is located under the fore hatch and the aft is uncovered because it is protected by the quarter deck.  In order to install the fore ladder, I had to pry off the fore hatch.  The ladders are simple structures.  The key is NOT to do what I did and reverse the direction of the treads.    With the hatch replaced, it is almost impossible to see the ladder.
 

 

 

 
There are two range cleats in the upper deck bulwarks for the fore braces and the main course tacks.  These are fastened through the side of the ship by two bolts.  I considered doing this except the bolts would have gone through the frieze.
 

 
The knees to the gangboards are also installed into the upper deck bulwarks.  The aft knee is for the fixed gangway and the five fore knees are for the gangboards.  The aft knee has an athwartship arm of 2'9" and the other knees have an athwartship arm of 1'5".  
 

 

 
 
 
 

Mike,  Y
 
Yes!  I know sailors are a superstitious group, so I can see how that would extend to those of us that build ships.  The White Towel might be the secret!     One great thing about jumping into the Cheerful build now is that I can learn from other's endeavors.  Between that and The White Towel, I'll be unstoppable!
 
I'm glad to have other folks following my build.  It helps me motivate!
 
Erik

Oh... white for the towel... that explains a lot.  Mine's green.          Anyway, count me in Erik.

Erik, guess I'm the first at the table to watch.

Yes, one should not say that too loudly in an airport !

Welcome to the party Mobbsie.  Pepsi is fine - I tend to drive them also (perhaps too much).

The first thing that happened was the outhaul rigging on the spritsail topsail yard came apart just as I started to rig its blocks. The white glue did not hold and because the threads were all trimmed off, there wasn’t much left to hold on to. Trying to reattach the outhaul while the yard was on the model was a b*tch.
 
I then checked the blocks on the eyelets and they too fell apart when I applied a little tug– all that effort, poof. Screw it, I went back to CA glue which I know holds. I only use a very fine amount. Let’s see what else happened - a couple of eyelets pulled out of the hull and Spritsail yard (used too little glue), I got tangled up in the rigging near the tip of the jib boom and tied things together that should not have, learned to speak that would make a pirate blush (luckily I’m not married so was anyone around to offend and my cat didn’t understand me or maybe just didn’t care), and did I mentioned that I was involved in a fender bender (rear ended at a traffic light – no one hurt, just damage to my car).
 
But I finally got it done save for finalizing the haul line tie-offs.

Let me stop here for a moment and talk about glue. I had been using a very fine drop of CA glue on my knots but per a lot of build logs and builders of high respect, the recommendation was to use 1:1 diluted white glue because it didn’t stiffen or discolor the thread. So I started to use the diluted white glue.
I made and installed the rigging on the spritsail topsail yard, the blocks attached to eyelets that are to be attached to the hull for the spritsail topsail yard stays, as well as the tackle for the stays. Then the trouble began.
 
I was having difficulty working with the fine rope trying to tie the eyelets to the blocks so that the knots wouldn’t large and/or bulky. These too took multiple tries before I could complete them. OK, I completed all the parts and was ready to assemble the rigging.

Well done, Grant! All nicely done, especially the metalwork.

Nicely done Grant,  the Swivels and Yokes are looking really good, nice bit of soldering as well.
 
The Channels and Pedestals have come out well and I am looking forward to seeing them grace the boat.
 
Keep going mate, not long before completion. Have you decided what your going to display her in, Glass or Poly.
 
Be Good
 
mobbsie

Nice job on the home-made cannon and hardware Grant! 

Thanks again for all the kind words and "likes".  Some more progress to report....
 
Swivel Guns and Channels
 
The Swivel Guns were made from 1/4” square Ebony stock, turned on the lathe and once again using the compound slide to achieve the taper. The only difficulty encountered was due to the very small size (19mm long and 3.8mm in diameter at the widest point, narrowing to 2mm at the narrowest).  I copied the plan into my CAD program and painstakingly took off measurements for all the re-inforce rings............and then cut them by eye!
 
The mounting yoke is a “U-shape” atop a central pedestal.  To manufacture these, I hammered flat some 1.5mm diameter brass wire and then formed it around a 5/32” (4mm) brass rod. It was then transferred to a wooden dowel of the same diameter, squeezed tight, and then a 0.8mm hole was drilled right through the brass and dowel to take the subsequent “axle” pin for the guns. The piece was then removed from the dowel, the ends trimmed as close as possible to the cross-holes, and a 1.5mm diameter brass rod “handle” was then silver soldered to the base of the “U-shape”.  The “handle” was left extra long for ease of handling.
 
The swivel gun handle was formed by bending a piece of 0.8mm diameter copper wire to 90-degrees and then placing a “blob” of silver solder on the end.  Again, the part was left extra long for ease of handling.  Here is a photo of all the manufactured parts of the swivel gun prior to blackening of the metal components.
 

 
The pedestals for the Swivel guns were made from3/16” square Pear stock. First the corners were chamfered with a miniature plane to create an octagonal section, and then the end was drilled to receive the mounting yoke stem. The pedestals were then notched to fit over the cap rails, and finally a strip of black paper was added to simulate an iron band around the top.
 
The channels were cut from 1/16” thick Castello Boxwood, with 1/16” wide notches cut on the mill. A cut-out was also shaped to fit around the Swivel gun pedestals.
 
The Swivel guns were then assembled by epoxying the handle into a pre-drilled hole in the base of the gun, and inserting a 0.8mm copper wire through the yoke and the gun. This was epoxied in place, and once dry, the ends of the copper wire were snipped close and filed back to the just proud of the yoke surface. Some of the blackening had by this stage rubbed off, so I tried an experiment of blackening "in-situ" with Jax Pewter Black.  I have become a big fan of this product, ever since I discovered (read somewhere, can't remember where) that it is best used undiluted and applied with a paint brush (after the usual cleaning routine). It is then rinsed with distilled water. On this occasion, I washed (ie with a paintbrush) all of the metal parts again with vinegar, washed again with water, then painted on the Pewter Black again, and washed with water.  It seems to have worked well and had no adverse effect on the Ebony timber.
 
Here is a shot of all of these components, including the now assembled swivel guns. These will not be mounted in their pedestals until the build is finished, in order to protect them from clumsy hands!
 

 
Finally, here is a close-up “zoom and crop” of a completed Swivel gun – complete with scarred iron-work!
 

 
Next up, Deadeyes and Chain Plates…..

Yes, one should not say that too loudly in an airport !

Welcome to the party Mobbsie.  Pepsi is fine - I tend to drive them also (perhaps too much).

Captgino,  Greg (Burroak) Thanks.
 
Ofencer29350, thanks for the info.  The kit plans call for the boat (challoupe) to be mounted above the deck on an overhead rack which I have not constructed as yet.  Since this boat is metal and weighs about 3 oz (or about 82g) I think hanging it off the stern would make balancing the model on its stand a little difficult, centering it above the deck and over the keel would probably make for a better center of gravity for the finished model.

Yes, one should not say that too loudly in an airport !

Welcome to the party Mobbsie.  Pepsi is fine - I tend to drive them also (perhaps too much).

Captgino,  Greg (Burroak) Thanks.
 
Ofencer29350, thanks for the info.  The kit plans call for the boat (challoupe) to be mounted above the deck on an overhead rack which I have not constructed as yet.  Since this boat is metal and weighs about 3 oz (or about 82g) I think hanging it off the stern would make balancing the model on its stand a little difficult, centering it above the deck and over the keel would probably make for a better center of gravity for the finished model.

Erik, guess I'm the first at the table to watch.

I didn't know it was a plastic hull.  I think you need to figure out a way to get the chain parts off the hull.  Supposedly resistance soldering can be done on HO train rail ends with plastic ties w/o damage to the ties but I wouldn't want to take a chance with a plastic hull.
Kurt

Kurt, I have soldered wire to rail with a resistance unit, but I'd be leery of doing it on a plastic hull. If you screw up on the ties, you can hide the boo-boo under the ballast. On the side of a Connie model, well...... Recommend removing it, if you can.

Hi Jack, ( that sounds so wrong )
 
Just found your log, read through it and your certainly on a roller coaster ride of discovery mate, with the lack of instruction and guidance from the plans I think your doing a great job.
 
If you have no objections Jack, I'll pull up a pew and follow along, I don't par-take in the fall over fluid so I'll bring a few Pepsi's with me.
 
Be Good
 
mobbsie

Tom, all boats/ship (or I would say most) has a slight curved deck this to let water not puddling up. That would be bad for the crew running around. As for the kit of Connie I have no idea. Now it's time for someone else to help out.
I bowe my head for the amazing job of the orphanage.
Just wondering were you will find time for "this new hobby of your"
I know how hard it is for me without the "life"job you have. Cudos to you!