Piet

Thanks to all for visiting, your comments and likes, it's all much appreciated. I finished the two "knechten" yesterday. I first thought of carving a few simple Dutch woolen hats for these two guys but then I went back and decided to make the jester's hats. But from wood? I pondered that idea for a few minutes and figured to give this Skulpi stuff a try. After fussing with it for some time, feeling like having two sticky left hands and all thumbs I finally produced two passable hats. At least they are not too bad for a first try with clay modeling. After I cemented these hats back on the knight's heads I added beards and hair, painted that black with India ink. I may have to trim the beards a little but that can come later. Instead of painting the hats in a checkerboard pattern, as is custom, I just split the colors in the middle of the hats, green and red as used on the ship. Doing it checkerboard was getting to be too challenging. So, today I mounted both of the knechten to the heavy pulley posts on the forecastle deck and now the ropes run freely behind and in front of them. That'll make them happy It does liven up the forecastle a lot, I'm happy with the result. This'll be the end of the knight head saga and go on to something else. Don't know yet what. In the meantime I am still working on that little experiment and am coming close for the reveal Well then, here are the pics of the knight heads, proudly scowling at the crew. Both knight heads pinned on a small board for a glue and paint drying fixture. I used cotton for the hair and beard again and also did some touching up on the hats and the beards before cementing them onto the pulley posts. I may still trim the beards some, if possible. Here they are, proudly supervising the forecastle crew. Cheers,

Lovely shape, beautiful colors in the wood. The "bliksem straal" (Dutch for lightning bolt ) really stands out. Cheers,

Is that brass Paul? It kinda looks like iron / steel. Very nicely done! Cheers.

I'm always afraid that these dowels may warp over time and therefore hesitate using them. Have you or anyone else encountered warping of DIY store dowels? I have been gluing up slats and make my own dowels just to prevent that. It's a lot of extra work but it eases my mind. I still have many mast pieces and yards to make for my VOC model you see, that's why the question. Cheers,

Drastic measures Dave but once the smoke clears it'll be magnificent. Working off ship will surely be a lot easier. Looking forward to the art going on it. Cheers,

Hull looks very nice from Palm Coast, Florida Popeye Dennis - but you are closer to it and will do whatever it takes to make it look perfect. Cover the bow then uncover the bow, now I am curious to see what you're coming up with. Whatever it is it'll be just great. We do like surprises Cheers,

My guess is that they would handle the life boats manually in case all power fails. Sorry for not being helpful, I'm an airplane guy, no life boats, just inflatable slides and rafts Cheers,

Beautiful hull planking Klaas and very nice detail work, lovely looking ship. Cheers,

Wow Kevin, that's a very busy bow area and what a fine looking sprit sail yard. Small steps at a time is fine with me, leave those giant leaps to others Cheers,

Yup, blocks are looking mighty great. ummm tiny Cheers,

That's a mighty fine looking hull Popeye Dennis. The low spots will fill in, not to worry. Uh oh, bow work?? Cheers,

Great idea on slotting that tweezer JesseLee and the rudder looks very good. Hope you're feeling better soon. Cheers,

Nice work Dave. Cheers,

Now that's using your nagen on the rudder Mark. Nice clean straight cuts, well done! Yup, my jeweler's scroll saw is in hand's reach too, very useful tool. Nice work on the metal straps. Wasn't there a post where someone used blackening stuff that also blackened silver as well as soft solder? Paint works fine with the proper prep. Cheers,

Thanks everybody for visiting and your likes. Today was rather productive in the shipyard. I decided to forego yard work and finish the head railings. I cemented the scrolls to the little carvings and then to the head railings with CA. I painted them last Friday so it went rather quickly. It did dress-up the bow area quite nicely. That gave me the chance to carve the knight heads for the forecastle pulley bits. This is version 4 and now I made sure that they are small enough to allow a free run of the ropes going up to whatever they are to control They will be 4.5 mm side to side and front to tear. I tried to give them a helmet but screwed up with that try. Hey, you gain one and you lose one. It took 2 hours each and they are not finished yet. Thinking about what to put on their heads now that the helmet idea augured in (airplane talk for biting the dust, not working out) I think of given them a mustache and a beard. How about a jester's hat - you know the one with bells on droopy thingies on the sides? So, more work on these little heads, I didn't foresee having so much trouble with this. But then again they are half my thumbnail in size. Okay, here are a few pics from my archive to show what was accomplished today. The start of carving the first version 4 knight head. The next one is roughly sketched on on a piece of boxwood. The semi finished numero uno knight head version 4. As you can see it's far from being acceptable but a mustache and chin beard may hide a lot of sin A side view to show that we may have enough free run for the ropes going up. Cheers,

Thank you very much Mark for your very kind words. We all need encouragement from time to time and if I can contribute a little and knowing that people appreciate it that's my reward. All of the builders here are an encouragement to all in their own way. That's why we look and enjoy watching their builds grow. If an airplane guy, metal worker and metallurgist can tackle something way out of his field then anybody can do it. Try and try again. Cheers to all,

Very impressive looking fleet Tadeusz. Working three ships at the same time does take time. I really enjoy your builds. Cheers,

So good seeing the added detail Tadeusz. Cheers,

Elegance in precision, very nice work Paul. Cheers,

Nice going Hennie, marvelous pics.

Thank all y'all for visiting and everyone who clicked the like button. @ David: I do have a few scalpels my dentist gave me and some other small blades but found them to be a tad too flexible for the boxwood. I have two #11 blades on the bench and keep booth of them sharp. I use one for the heavy cutting with the middle part of the blade and the other with the tip. I keep an ultra fine grit stone handy to sharpen them every so often. I'm going to place an order of a leather stropping tool with stropping powder for when I start with the ultra fine scroll carvings on the stern. Actually, I only use the first 1 or at most 2 mm of the tip for the detail carving. I find that using a hard close grained wood like boxwood works great for fine detail work. It really surprised me. @ Carl: Thank you for the kudos but it is really rather easy. Like I mentioned to David, the hard wood is the secret. First I pencil in the sketch on a wide piece of boxwood of 2 mm thick . Then cut out one outside of the scroll, then remove the centers and shape them to conform to the drawing. Here I use a 1 mm drill bit and the finest dental burs you can get. I can them shape that side to the desired width of the scroll, like about 1 mm or a tad less. Then, with my fine toothed metal cutting jewelers hand scroll saw remove the scroll from the plank and finish the other side. The trick is not to use much pressure to prevent it from breaking. In addition to actually cutting wood away I also use the sharp edge as a scraper, less pressure on the thing wood. The real scary part is polishing it with a fine bristle brush in the Dremmel. The final part is to remove the extra thickness with a fine sanding drum in the Proxxon tolol @ Patrick: Oh my, what can I say but thank you for your very kind words. Give it a try like I did. One never knows what abilities lurk in your hands and seeing what you are achieving - - - @ Ian: Thank you and I'm sorry for the boggle in your mind Didn't mean to @ Marty: Thank you. You are most kind. @ Mark: Yup, that's all - - - and a lot of patience @ Pete: Thank you as well but like I mentioned to Patrick one never knows what you can do once you set your mind to it and your work certainly should lend itself to it. Well, I guess that some of the wives on this forum don't like to be called Admiral. That's okay with me. Hopefully I can finish the two carvings for the head railings tomorrow. Just hope they'll work out and look halfway presentable. I have already put the pencil drawings on new pieces of boxwood for the large pulley thingies on the forecastle deck. This time I'll make sure they are small enough to allow the ropes free run. I'm also looking for the appropriate scroll work for the stern part of the ship. Nothing fancy with naked angels blowing trumpets or gazelles frolicking. Just some simple stuff - - we'll see what comes up. It seems that after my initial fear of carving I'm really beginning to like it. Thanks again folks for visiting, as yuns know you are always welcome. Cheers,

Don't feel sorry Cees, I had to go and look it up myself - I'm an airplane guy and don't know all these nautical terms So then, my ship books tell me that it's called the mizzen mast. Now, if I can only remember it Cheers,

Both are outstanding builds, I wont hesitate saying lovely! Cheers,

Yup, very convincing looking winches Nils, great job. Cheers,

A truly outstanding achievement with your miniature steering wheel. I also extend my sincere and heartfelt sympathy to you and your family over the passing of your dear mother in law. Stay strong my friend. Yours truly,