Matle

Grinnell & Minturn California line house flag + American clipper, I suppose it is Flying Cloud

Grinnell & Minturn California line house flag + American clipper, I suppose it is Flying Cloud

Well, it's not cold all year round - that picture was taken in September, in Nome where, or so wiki tells me, the temperature ranges between 40 and 70 °F (5-20 Celsius) in September.
 
Otherwise they were imitating local clothing, wearing furs: http://libweb5.princeton.edu/visual_materials/maps/websites/northwest-passage/amundsen3.jpg

Well, it's not cold all year round - that picture was taken in September, in Nome where, or so wiki tells me, the temperature ranges between 40 and 70 °F (5-20 Celsius) in September.
 
Otherwise they were imitating local clothing, wearing furs: http://libweb5.princeton.edu/visual_materials/maps/websites/northwest-passage/amundsen3.jpg

Hi,
After a long break, I go back to modeling. 
Meantime, my workshop was twice flooded with water from a broken pipe 
fortunately there was no damage tools, machines and models. 
I am working on equipment today installed a fife rail, pin rails along the bulwark, 
windlass, pump and winch as also deckhouses, skylights  and companionway.
 

 
Tadeusz

Louie, maybe the carriages double as spacers for consistent positioning?

Hello friends, continuous passing images, materials I am using are, for frames laminated board 5m/m, for false keel special board aviation 5m/m, for the keel, stem and stern have used Cuban mahogany.
greetings Liberto

Hello friends, continuous passing images, these correspond to the preparation and placement of the carriages supports the guns are made of pear wood. greetings Liberto

THE HOLY TRINITY 1769/1805
Hello friends:
 For the realization of this project it has been party copies or drawings of undoubted authenticity period, and corresponding to their status in 1797 just before the Battle of San Vicente. In that battle the Holy Trinity was badly damaged and is not known with certainty the repair works made in the stern and the bow.
The plans necessary for the model that is being made (scale 1/72) are the work of our colleague Chimista, based on the original plans of 1797, supplemented by drawings of the raised bow and stern facts at their discretion from the side view of the helmet, as well as other planes of ships of 112 guns of the corresponding period, plans of the Naval Museum of Madrid
The drawing of the comb or taffrail is a conjecture of the author of the project based on forms that appear in the side view.
As you can imagine this project is the result of several months of hard research work, the plans have been revised, corrected, and drawn, trying at all times as close as possible to the image that could offer this iconic ship in time between the last reform which was submitted in the Carrack 1797 and its sad end at the Battle of Trafalgar 1805.
I give sincere thanks to our partner Chimista for the trust placed in me to carry out this new project ... I try to keep up.
greetings Liberto

Hello friends, continued moving images.
greetings Liberto

I base the rigging mainly on this image: http://digitaltmuseum.no/011014219978supplemented with numerous photographs of 4-5 still sailing vessels. There are some variations between the vessels in the details, but the overall rigging is quite similar. In addition Gjøa has recently been moved into a permanent indoor museum along with a partial restoration - the new fore rig seems identical to the linked contemporary picture.
 
There are two chain bobstays. The lower terminates in a tackle with double blocks, and can be re-tensioned with a lanyard, which I belayed on the rail on the windlass.
 

 
The dolphin striker was fabricated from a 1 mm brass rod tapered in each end, with a fastening bracket, fairlead and eyes cut and filed from brass sheet and soldered. The ball on the tip is a blob of solder, formed on the iron and carefully slipped onto the rod, careful not to heat too much to make it flow. The whole thing was painted white, as will be most of the iron work on the bowsprit and mast (for ref. caldercraft matt white). Chain martingales were "shackled" (read twisted copper wire with a little solder) to the aft eye and attached through a hole in the cat timbers in the other end. I used epoxy there. The front chain was attached to an eye in a band around the tip of the jib boom.

 

 
 
Whisker booms were made from 0.7 mm brass. The two hooks were made from a single piece .4 mm brass bent to shape and soldered to the boom. Where the two pieces attacked, I file the pieces flat (removed 1/3 of the material) for a good surface to solder and keep the diameter down. They were not attached to the cat timbers, as seen on some recent images, but through the rail a bit behind them. This appears to have been corrected on the real thing in the latest restoration as well. I haven't added any shrouds yet as I will wait until after the stays and anchors.

 

 
 
Below an image showing the current state. I have also attached gammoning and blocks for the jibs and square yard fore braces (the latter are the blocks on the sides of the tip of the bowsprit).  Still have some stray pieces of rope to cut, but I haven't got a good tool to do it with (my blunt scissors produced results for the bin), so it'll have to wait.
 

Major milestone reached: I have finally finished the deck fittings. The last item, the pump, has been prepared part-by-part but will be installed after raising the mast due to fragile parts. In the meantime I have drawn rigging plans (the kit plan is far from accurate) of all the rigging and added belaying pins for all the ropes.  I will try to document the plan here so I have it saved. Here's an overview image of the rather crowded deck, the little vessel ready for rigging. I did start with the bowsprit rigging already while waiting for paint to finish on the last fittings, but I will document it in one post once finished - I still haven't installed the bowsprit shrouds. 
 

Gjøa carried three boats, one on the wooden stern davits and two on iron davits. I will probably make the boats last of all, but the davits better go on before raising the mast and its stays. Photo comparison shows the current davits are original. They have a three-sheaved pulley at the end, and simple cleats. See linked photos. 
 
http://m6.i.pbase.com/o2/55/752555/1/112920126.eNqlwtt8._M9J8794.jpg
http://m6.i.pbase.com/o2/55/752555/1/112920136.Ll21Ge2V._M9J8804.jpg
 
I made the davits from 2 mm brass, the eyelets or whatever they are called in English, were drilled and filed from brass sheet. The cleats were .4mm brass thread drilled and soldered into the davits. The pulleys were made from three pieces: one making up to two outer sides and the back which sits against the davit. The two inner 'wings' were soldered using positioning jig seen below. Holes for the sheave rod were drilled afterwards. A small positioning rod was drilled and soldered into the end of the davit, a corresponding hole drilled in the pulley which was initially glued to the davit to keep it in place during soldering.
 


 
Holes were drilled in the pin rail and the davits test fitted. They still need sanding and several more paint layers, but since the paint tended to be sheared off when inserting into the holes, I first wanted to ensure I had big enough holes in the pin rail to avoid ruining the finished things. Please forgive me for the coin trick, wanted to try it at least once. I think I should have used 1.5 mm brass rod instead, they look slightly too stubby. 
 
 

Thanks!
 
 
Summer's over, at least here, and I've done some of the last work on the fittings. 
First, the skylights. There's two of them, one just aft of the windlass and one on top of the deck house. The image below shows the design. Both are similar but the deckhouse light appears slightly larger. I believe they are original.
 
http://m1.i.pbase.com/o2/55/752555/1/112920141.taQyT3PK._M9J8809.jpg
 
I've put this off since it caused me trouble: the protective bars are raised and I struggled to get these thin enough, strong enough and straight enough: the scale diameter is about 0.3 mm and on each lid there's 10 of them in the same amount of millimeters. After three failed attempts I found a method that I was satisfied with, I'll write in detail to remember till next time.
 
The lid frames were made of brass with the openings for the windows drilled and filed. The bars were made from what the hobby shop marketed as 0.3 mm brass thread*, placed in a jig and bent together, the ends flattened with pliers for attachment to the frame - and greased with solder paste . A jig was made with grooves spaced 0.7 mm apart for the bars and the frame placed on top (upside down, photo below) with the flat areas pre-tinned with solder. Soldering was then made by simply heating the frames from the under side with the frame clamped solidly against the bars. Solder flows nicely to the soldering grease on the bars. Photos below show the frame on the jig and strapped ready for soldering. 
 

 
All except one of the 40 bars resisted my stress test, the last being superglued back.  I then made wooden frames with windows inlaid, made from hard transparent plastic, and the metal frames (first painted white) epoxied on top. The lids were then glued on solid blocks and some detail added and then painted white.
 
 
Finished result below.
 


 
 
*) the fact that the bars stuck magnetically to my pliers and the golden colour got scraped off makes me suspect I've been duped. It did solder well enough though.

Thank you for that, it is encouraging. I'm a bit behind in writing, so I will try to catch up:
 
Next on the list was the chainplates, which in this case are more like rods.  Looking at this old image (http://dms10.dimu.org/image/022sA3QniuFe - a source of much information), it appears the chainplates are fastened to the unpainted wooden strake and not to the wale as they are fastened on the museum ship today. I can't see any backing brackets but this picture ( ) of a still sailing hardanger yacht (re-rigged with an extra mast) shows small backing brackets that are fastened on the lower wale - this is consistent with the original image of the Gjoa and I went for this construction.
  Chainplates are circular in cross section and made from .7mm brass rod. I soldered pieces ot brass tubing to make a hole for the bolt. Bolts were made by filing down the heads on brass pins. Backing links were made from brass sheet, cut, drilled and filed to shape. They became fairly similar, but if I have to do this again, I'd want to try to etch because it's quite a boring job.      A little jig was made with a brass tube of suitable diameter to make consistent strops - image below. The strops were made from copper thread, flattened in the ends against the plate in the jig. They were soldered directly to the chain plates, in which small recesses were filed to take the strops. I managed to make four chainplates before realizing the strops were too small to pop the deadeyes  in - note to future self, please take better measurements!     Placing chainplates and drilling holes for the nails were made with the traditional dummy-shroud method. Deadeyes were from the kit, seemingly of correct size and shape. I just polished and stained them with walnut.        The chain plates for the backstays were made in a similar fashion. Instead of deadeyes they are fitted with rings for the says. They can be seen in the image below, showing the finished result bar some touching up. I'm a bit unhappy with the joints between rail and channels, I'll have to be more careful next time. I also added a bunch of eyebolts and a rail for the staysail sheet.

Thanks Nils
 
today I spent some time straightening out the twisted port side sheet metalwork immediately below the boat deck. I used a combination of finger pressure and used the mill drill as an arbor press. I made a small brass yoke for the job.
 
By using the wide mill vice I was able to flatten most of the rotated twist
 

 
Then using the yoke I was able to take out the kinks that were in the vertical direction.
 

 

 
I am going to clean it up I noticed that the paint flaked off easily as if there was no primer on the raw metal.
 

 
The next task was to make some special clamps so that the boat deck can be re-glued to the ship. The deck is curved following the lines of the hull so the infrastructure will need to accommodate this aspect. The first part was to make a clamp fixture that attached to the hull, these are large U shaped wood pieces that are covered with 1/8th felt on the bottom and the starboard side to give a large contact on the base and starboard sides. These U shaped clamps have a 3/4 x 3/4 angle attached so that a horizontal bar can be adjusted to match the elevation needed for the boat deck.
 

 
The horizontal bar will get some additional elements that will form a series of supports under the boat deck. I am still working out the best way to accomplish this
 
The bar is locked with some 10x24 screws
 

 
Michael 
 
 
 

I base the rigging mainly on this image: http://digitaltmuseum.no/011014219978supplemented with numerous photographs of 4-5 still sailing vessels. There are some variations between the vessels in the details, but the overall rigging is quite similar. In addition Gjøa has recently been moved into a permanent indoor museum along with a partial restoration - the new fore rig seems identical to the linked contemporary picture.
 
There are two chain bobstays. The lower terminates in a tackle with double blocks, and can be re-tensioned with a lanyard, which I belayed on the rail on the windlass.
 

 
The dolphin striker was fabricated from a 1 mm brass rod tapered in each end, with a fastening bracket, fairlead and eyes cut and filed from brass sheet and soldered. The ball on the tip is a blob of solder, formed on the iron and carefully slipped onto the rod, careful not to heat too much to make it flow. The whole thing was painted white, as will be most of the iron work on the bowsprit and mast (for ref. caldercraft matt white). Chain martingales were "shackled" (read twisted copper wire with a little solder) to the aft eye and attached through a hole in the cat timbers in the other end. I used epoxy there. The front chain was attached to an eye in a band around the tip of the jib boom.

 

 
 
Whisker booms were made from 0.7 mm brass. The two hooks were made from a single piece .4 mm brass bent to shape and soldered to the boom. Where the two pieces attacked, I file the pieces flat (removed 1/3 of the material) for a good surface to solder and keep the diameter down. They were not attached to the cat timbers, as seen on some recent images, but through the rail a bit behind them. This appears to have been corrected on the real thing in the latest restoration as well. I haven't added any shrouds yet as I will wait until after the stays and anchors.

 

 
 
Below an image showing the current state. I have also attached gammoning and blocks for the jibs and square yard fore braces (the latter are the blocks on the sides of the tip of the bowsprit).  Still have some stray pieces of rope to cut, but I haven't got a good tool to do it with (my blunt scissors produced results for the bin), so it'll have to wait.
 

I base the rigging mainly on this image: http://digitaltmuseum.no/011014219978supplemented with numerous photographs of 4-5 still sailing vessels. There are some variations between the vessels in the details, but the overall rigging is quite similar. In addition Gjøa has recently been moved into a permanent indoor museum along with a partial restoration - the new fore rig seems identical to the linked contemporary picture.
 
There are two chain bobstays. The lower terminates in a tackle with double blocks, and can be re-tensioned with a lanyard, which I belayed on the rail on the windlass.
 

 
The dolphin striker was fabricated from a 1 mm brass rod tapered in each end, with a fastening bracket, fairlead and eyes cut and filed from brass sheet and soldered. The ball on the tip is a blob of solder, formed on the iron and carefully slipped onto the rod, careful not to heat too much to make it flow. The whole thing was painted white, as will be most of the iron work on the bowsprit and mast (for ref. caldercraft matt white). Chain martingales were "shackled" (read twisted copper wire with a little solder) to the aft eye and attached through a hole in the cat timbers in the other end. I used epoxy there. The front chain was attached to an eye in a band around the tip of the jib boom.

 

 
 
Whisker booms were made from 0.7 mm brass. The two hooks were made from a single piece .4 mm brass bent to shape and soldered to the boom. Where the two pieces attacked, I file the pieces flat (removed 1/3 of the material) for a good surface to solder and keep the diameter down. They were not attached to the cat timbers, as seen on some recent images, but through the rail a bit behind them. This appears to have been corrected on the real thing in the latest restoration as well. I haven't added any shrouds yet as I will wait until after the stays and anchors.

 

 
 
Below an image showing the current state. I have also attached gammoning and blocks for the jibs and square yard fore braces (the latter are the blocks on the sides of the tip of the bowsprit).  Still have some stray pieces of rope to cut, but I haven't got a good tool to do it with (my blunt scissors produced results for the bin), so it'll have to wait.
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 181 – Mizzen Mast
 
First, a word on the drawings made and used for all the spars.  The lengths were based on the original builders sail plan and a spar list published at the time with a few exceptions to be described later.  The diameters and other proportions were based on standard, documented practice at the time.
 
At 78' long X 29" diameter, the lower mizzen mast was near the borderline at the time between masts made from a single tree and those built up from smaller sticks – the so-called "made masts."  Longleaf pine, 3 to 5 feet in diameter and 80' to 100' feet long were available but easy to reach trees of this size were depleted by this time, requiring more effort to haul them out of the forest.  Most likely YA's lower mizzen was a made mast.  Because I wanted to describe both single tree and made mast modeling in a future book, I made this mast from a single stick.  Subject to further research, I may band this mast as would be done on a made mast.  So, making this single stick mast is described here before going on to the two other made masts.
 
Although the trimming to size of the masthead "doubling" was normally done in the second and third trimmings, I did it right after squaring the stick to the full diameter, the first trim.  Apart from the build up, this sizing method is the primary difference between the modeling of single stick and made masts.  By milling the head, as shown in the first picture, I could be sure the mast would be straight over its full length and that the doubling would be square and true.
 

 
In the next picture the centerlines are being drawn on the squared stick.
 

 
With the quarters marked, the breadths at each were then marked out from the centerline with dividers as shown below.
 

 
The indentation of the divider point was the only mark made – no lines.  The next two trimmings were done to these marks on the disk sander in two separate trimmings as described in the last part (Part 180) on the bowsprit.  In the following picture the trimmed breadths at each point are being checked with calipers on all four faces.
 

 
Adjustments were then made to bring the breadths close to the final size by filing and/or scraping.  This was the critical step in final sizing of the mast profile. 
 
To lay out the lines for the octagonal shaping, the tool described in the last post was used.  It seems easier to use by clamping it in the vise and drawing the stick over it.
 

 
In the next picture the octagon sides are being planed flat almost down to the scribed lines.
 

 
I have small model planes, but the Stanley 92 is so precise that I normally use it wherever there is room.  The octagon was finished to size, measured and adjusted, then given the fifth trimming – rounding – using files.  In the next picture the rounding is being checked using the circle template.
 

 
High spots are readily found by this method, filed down and rechecked.  The finished stick is shown in the next picture.
 

 
The step tenon was cut by trial and error until it fit neatly into the step mortise.  The mastheads are chamfered to the diameter at the hounds.  This is necessary not only for the usual safety reasons, but more importantly, so that the mast bands will pass over it.  For the same reason, the squared hounds below the masthead cannot be installed until the bands are fitted. 
 
The next picture shows the mast slipped temporarily in place. 
 

 
The main deck opening will later be enlarged, the rake set, and the mast wedged in place.
 
 
Ed

I understand the goal is to make the new model look like an old model, and not as a new model of an aged ship (aka weathering), which is something else. Since this is basicly the same as faking antique furniture, I suggest you google just that: not for ship models but for how to make fake antiques - bitumen is regularly used for that purpose so I guess that is where that particular idea came from. Probably you can find more ideas in that department, since modellers usually are better at "weathering"

I decided to paint her as she appears now with red below the waterline, black up to the third strake below the deck, two natural strakes and green upperworks and wale. Looking at old pictures I suspect the natural wood strakes were painted white, but I like having some wood shine through and as long as I'm not sure I can convince myself that I can always paint it white later - but hardly the other way around. I also wanted to keep the rather 'used' look, and to accomplish this I will airbrush using much thinner and not using any primer.

So far I've painted the red and the black and like the results to far:






Last picture shows how long my home-made propeller made it... Not sure how to solve that.



The bulwarks have been built up and is only missing the outer planking and caprails. The latter will be green so I plan to dry-fit them, remove and paint off the model rather than mask. The belaying pin rail was reinforced with brass rods through the false frame extensions. The picture below shows the construction after filling and sanding the outside and ready for the planking.

The kit comes with quite detailed constructions with plenty of pictures accompanied with short notes on what do in half the languages of the continent. Woods of three very different colours are supplied - I can never remember the exotic names. One is light like pine, another dark like walnut and one red-brownish colour which I've taken a liking too.
 
By googling I had read rumours about Constructo's flimsy plywood, especially on this model, and wanted to proceed quickly after cutting out the keel and bulkheads. There was a small warp on the false keel already after cutting it free. I tried the method of wetting the concave side with hot water and put it into a jig. Most of the warp was gone the next day, but there was a small twist still on the aft section. This was removed by chopping away wood from only one side when removing wood to allow for the planking: the false keel will only have ½-1 mm of wood left to allow for the 1.5 mm planking on each side.
 

 
 
The bulkheads fitted neatly - only one needed some serious sanding
 
Here's a hint for future builders of this kit: if you use the kit-supplied bulkheads the lines will not be accurate for the last (or last two) bulkheads! I noticed this much much later, but I wish I'd known it here. The stern bulkhead sits too high/starts curving inwards too close to the deck, to that already the first strakes below the deck start twisting whereas on the original they don't. I'll put some pics on this later to show what I mean, I believe I don't explain it well.
 
 
The false deck is a piece of thinner ply, which is to be bent to shape and fastened. This was not problem, it was just the right thickness to bend easily but not be too flimsy:
 

 
 
 
The instructions had the deck planking as the next point, but I started planking the hull instead. Partly to make the structure more rigid, partly because I figured I would be rough with the deck while planking the hull. This is made with 1.5x5 mm strips from a the red-brown wood. The planking was a big pain somewhere below, with much forcing and twisting and bending the 1.5 thick planks in various unnatural directions they didn't want to bend. The instructions suggested using nails on every bulkhead to keep the planks in place, but I abandoned this after realizing that the thick nails would make the hull look like an inverted porcupine. CA was used at strategic locations to keep the wood in place until the casco-glue set. Here's pic of the first strake:
 
 

Thank you
 
---
 
Just to ;mention it, I welcome all sorts of constructive criticism, on the design of the vessel itself as well as on how I build the things. Being new to the craft, I hope to improve anything that can be improved. 
 
---
 
Working in parallel with several parts. I had previously left out the iron reinforcements to the stem, as I had not found info on how it was done. Now, I found this excellent picture (linkie: http://digitaltmuseum.no/011014219978)which shows the bands above the waterline. They correspond pretty well to those on the MS drawings I got a few years back, with every fifth or so band longer than the rest, so I decided to go with that. In addition, the Fram seems to have had almost an identical arrangement at the time, sealing the deal. 
 
I cut brass strips and simply glued them on with epoxy, being quite apprehensive about ruining the paintjob, which I was quite happy with. As it were, the glue ended up everywhere, but once cleaned and painted over again it turned out ok. First I brush-painted the brass black, above as well as below the waterline, and followed up with a few very thin sprayed coats of appropriate paints. No shade difference between the new and the old painting can be seen, which I was mostly afraid of. The black primer also adds some shadow definition for the red part too. 
 

 

 
I also installed the stern davits, made from cherry (what a joy to cut joints in, compared to the kit supplied wood!). The sheaves are only suggested, with .4 mm holes drilled.  A tricky job to get angles correct. The boom rest was installed after attaching the davits with dowels, fiddling around with the beam until all angles look square, then the davits were marked and mortices cut in-situ.I also simulated the leather protection on the boom rest with tissue paper, soaked with coloured white glue. 
 

 
 
I'm afraid the iphone is not very well suited for taking pictures of small things, but it'll have to do.

A belated thanks for the likes and a small update. Progress will continue to be slow as I'm spending a few hours weekly. 
 
I'm continuing the work on the deck furniture. A big problem is that the majority of available pictures show her in her present conditions. After the journey through the passage Gjøa spend six-seven decades in San Francisco, and beside a paint job or two, little was done to maintain her and time and souvenir-hunters slowly deteriorated her. After being returned to Norway she was restored, or rather rebuilt as much of the detail is now different. Apparently there were some reconstructing going on just prior to shipping her back, as told in this thread: .http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/11776-help-identifying-some-things-on-the-bulwark-19th-century-merchant-vessel/
 
Almost no images show her prior to the SF stay. I try to reconstruct her from the images that exist from Golden Gate park. I found some googling around the net but am a bit skeptical on the copyrights as I believe they might be from the old MS kit instructions so I don't want to reproduce... they can be found by googling in any case.  They show the ironworks - pump, winch, windlass (which seems to be different from the one currently on her) and the gears for driving the messenger chain. By the way, the chain will be able to drive the pump as well as the windlass. The winch for the rigging seems to be manual only though as I see no sprocket wheel on it.
 
Anyway, here the current state of the rail around the mast. I have prepared the pumps as well and am working on the metal work. Similar pumps can be seen on this still sailing yachts.  On Gjøa it could be driven by the engine via messenger chain and the junk on the left side is a guide for the pump handle and the  wooden support for the axle with the sprocket and linkage to the pump handle. I couldn't figure out the construction of the hatch so I just covered it with tarpaulin 
 

 
Two shots of the house and the finished skylight. House built by veneer on ply core. Skylight portholes made with clear plastic glued in a recess and fastened with a sliced piece of brass tube of fitting size. The engine was beneath the skylight and the driving shaft will go through a hole through the forward side of it. They still need some detailing and are only doweled to the deck but the slow going is bad for motivation so I needed to see some progress.


 
I don't like that the roof doesn't follow the deck camber but I guess that's how they did it.

Monthly update  - despite horrible weather encouraging indoor activities I didn't do a lot. Painted the upper part of the hull and started with the backside decorations. I'm thinking to put some gloss lacquer on the wooden parts as the wood looks quite shiny on the vessels still floating. Followed by matt varnish everywhere. Not sure if that will take out the shine too much but we'll see.
 
This kind of shine, as on her "near-sister" which I had the luck to see during this summer:
 
 

 
Current state of paint. Looking at this image now I think the added planks are too thick... but it'll have to do. I also made a boo-boo by cutting the stem too short - you can see the extra piece I added on top to compensate. I will have to try to hide it better (there are many good reasons to paint ).

 
And one with the stern decorations drying. Made them in several laterally bent 2 mm strip pieces.

While waiting for the paint, I started on the deck furniture. I'm trying to built after the pictures and drawings of the original. There are plenty of detailed pictures of her in her current state, but lots have obviously been rebuilt/repaired and not with 100% faithfulness to the state in 1905. I'm trying to follow the few old original photographs and fill in what's missing from the new.
 
I have more-or-less completed the deck house, the two WCs, the forward companionway, the hatch and started on the large skylight (test of concept picture below).
 

 
Trying to figure out how to make the skylight. Testing to carve out recess and using that rock-hard packaging plastic for windows and cut brass tube for the holding ring. In the third post there is a picture from Norwegian maritime modellers' club (http://www.pbase.com/maritimmodellklubb/fartoyer) on Gjøa today showing how it approximately should look except that the windows have been removed now.

 
Left to do is heavily laden with metalwork: winches, windlass, motorized pump (driven by messenger chains) and the small skylights.Not sure how to proceed, as I'm lacking tools to do especially the round parts and gears.