Piet

Thanks Denis and Carl for dropping in and your kind words.
Not quite close for her maiden voyage Carl. I think that the biggest challenge is still ahead of me, the diorama frame and sea. I bought a piece of molding today for the base sides and to retain the sea material. I have a 1/2 inch thick panel from an old cabinet that'll serve as the base. I think I'll make it 24 X 8 inches, that'll give the ship ample room. I plan to place her in a somewhat diagonal position allowing me to add two missed shell bursts in the areas of more sea space. 
Wish me luck with it.
 
Cheers,

Very nice work JesseLee.
 
Cheers,

Thanks Denis and Carl for dropping in and your kind words.
Not quite close for her maiden voyage Carl. I think that the biggest challenge is still ahead of me, the diorama frame and sea. I bought a piece of molding today for the base sides and to retain the sea material. I have a 1/2 inch thick panel from an old cabinet that'll serve as the base. I think I'll make it 24 X 8 inches, that'll give the ship ample room. I plan to place her in a somewhat diagonal position allowing me to add two missed shell bursts in the areas of more sea space. 
Wish me luck with it.
 
Cheers,

She's coming along mighty fine, Piet. Soon she'll be ready for her maiden voyage.

wow!  nice progress Piet     look'in mighty fine!

very nice what you've done on the deck......really adds a lot of the 'subtle' detail.   how thick are the strips you used to make them?   you may need to sand them down a bit thinner,  so they don't protrude from the deck surface as much.   the layout so far looks awesome   

Looks superb! I like your neat work!

really nice progress Jesse.....stay rigging is very nice {like the mice   }

Looking great Jesse!
Tim

Congratulations on the color and texture of this model. It’s hitting all the right notes and tones, in my opinion, many builders get the color and texture issue wrong.

Thank you Peter and Carl

Solid work on the stays Jesse. Looking good

The model looks stunning Jessie. Well done.
Peter

Thanks for all the encouragement and likes! 
 
Completed the Main preventer stay, Fore stay and the Fore preventer stay. Same process as the Main stay. I did a much simpler mouse for these and can't visually tell any difference.  It was much easier to do the lanyards on the Fore stays because the location of the hearts. If only the rest of it could be this easy to get to, lol. I couldn't find any illustrations on the proper way to tie off the lanyards so I just did what I could on these.
 
Jesse

There was an article in the Ships In Scale mag. in the Jan/Feb 2012 issue by Robert Steinbrunn, where he used a sharpened piece of thin wall stainless steel tubing  held in a pin vice.  I think this system of wooden bungs was used on ships that used metal fasteners, so most earlier ships wouldn't have done this.  He was building BlueJackets 1/48 scale model of the Smuggler.  He said he made 3252 of these impressions, so it sounded like quite a job. 

Ah, another of your famous "streched" builds full of surprises and additions can't wait to see where it will lead us spectators ...

Nice going Denis, she's looking good.

hello Nils........yes!      the admiral wants them,  so I ordered some.   I tried to get some that have the southern dress and attire.   I think I did well with the first bunch,  but I think I may need a few more.  
 
hello Carl......nice to see you dropping in    not done by a long shot......you've come with plenty of time left to the project.  glad to have you following along   

Nearly finished I see ... figures when I find out you started a new build log Looking good though  

Hi Denis,
 
I see you`ve been gathering some of those period figures. They will look great on the ship....
 
Nils

hello Sam.......     I've never had a problem with stain interfering with glue.   perhaps it has to do with the different glues that folks use,  but white glue has never been a problem.   some stain does get under the planking,  but there are still plenty of bare spots.   I cut a small rag and fold it up into a small square to apply the stain......I do try not to saturate the square.   glad I don't bore.......still plenty of build time left   
 
I didn't do much yesterday to this project......I'll see what I can do today  
 
thanks for the likes....glad your all enjoying the project.

Great planking Dennis. I see you are pre staining your planks, how are you keeping the stain from flowing to the underside and interfering with the glue?
Oh, regards to your earlier comment, you never bore, (boar?)
Sam

yes....you made me chuckle.........thanks for the fine comments everyone     getting out of work @ 3:30 in the afternoon...{a little after 4:00,  I walk through the door} is kinda nice.  now if I can just get through with all the nuances that I've been fielding so far,  I might be able to think about doing something on the models again.   it's been a while since I've done anything during the work week.......always too dragged out and tired.
 
correct Lou........herringbone.   amazing how quickly the planking went doing it this way.
 
good idea Piet........for those who want to freefall,  strap on a 2 x 4..........it should work well      
 
thanks OC......all in the way I cut the planking.  I hardly made any adjustments at all  
 
thanks Michael!  I can't wait to see a finish on it!   for the calking,  I got the idea from our wonderful moderators,  John and Danny.......archive pens.   I get mine from Hobby Lobby,  and have a variety of different tips { I use three of them}.   one time,  I got stupid and left the cap loose,  and almost ruined the pen.  but I bought a bottle of India Ink,  and a couple of squirts revived the pen.

it won't soak into the wood like magic marker.   I stain the planking before I apply it to the edges.
 
I had to do a dry fit after the deck was trimmed.   I was also curious how much of the deck showed outside of the second level structure.   I like what shows  

I'm pretty sure that the center line is correct......although the dividing wall inside the structure doesn't agree.   I think it makes a nice floor pattern inside.

I may omit the window on both sides,   where the smoke stacks will be placed.  it doesn't make sense to have them showing.   I took these the other day.   thanks again for the kind comments........and thanks to all who hit the like button   

She's a wonderful looking model Denis; great job on the detailing.
 
cheers
 
Pat

thanks for the likes folks.........we're finally getting to the finish of this project.  as shown above,  the fore sail is in the process of having it's folds cemented over,  trapping a length of thread along the fold.   I usually don't do sails this way,  but the small eye loops was something I wanted to try.   usually all pleats are sewed by sewing machine,  but for two sails,  I couldn't see bringing it out {I could have brought out the Bluenose sails......I still have those to do}.   it's finished now......I drew the pleat lines on the backside of the sail.


I still wasn't sure about the catch trays.......whether I should add them now or not.   I have cut out a few more of the fish from those plastic pieces.......some look weird.  perhaps after painting,  they might not look so bad.   I did add a couple more though......I can add the fish later.

the sail was tied in place on the main mast.....I do a rope coil for it when the terminated line dries.


I meant to do this before John left.........something he suggested to me a long time ago.........like with my very first model    as you saw,  I had cut all of the plastic rope off of the life preservers.

what I usually do from here,  is first paint them red,  leaving the rope areas white {four points around the preserver}.   here,  I'm going ti try a new approach,  so I painted them totally red.

after touching up the nonconformities,  instead of the trying time of cementing actual 'rope' onto the preserver,   I'm going to try and tie it on.   the 'helping hands'  works well for this process.

after tying the last lashing,  {I used CA to cement the knots}  all the excess thread is cut off as close as I can,  to produce the finished product..........the bashed life preserver.

it doesn't take too long,  so the other one was done lickity split.

these are a bit exaggerated........even allowing hardly any loops at all is exceptable.    now I need to find some hooks to hang them on.   I do recall having some.... tiny little buggers,  they are......I don't keep them just anywhere {they would get lost}.   I have this small bin,  where I keep all the tiny punch outs and cast off parts that I don't use.......I'll see what is in there  

my 'Pandora's box'........so to speak.