David Lester

I have begun to add the topmast and top gallant stays. Beginning with the mizzen mast, I remembered why I was going to rig stays to each level of masting before adding the next. Luckily I had decided not to glue masts and mast caps in place so although more awkward than it ought to have been, looping the backstays over the mast head was not difficult.
 
I used 0.6mm rope from Ropes of Scale on the mizzen backstays and 0.7mm for the stay. The stay was served to 30mm below the level of the mouse (I don’t propose to serve any ropes finer than this) and finishes in a thimble which is attached by a lanyard to another thimble tied to an eyebolt on the main top. Both stay and backstays are set up but not finally tensioned until all the masts are completely rigged.
 


 
I started to rig the main topmast. The breast backstay and the first of the standing backstays are rigged using 0.7mm rope, again not finally tensioned, but I have run out of 5mm deadeyes so can’t continue until supplies arrive from CMB. Shifting backstays on the main mast are shown in both the AotS Diana and the Caldercraft rigging plans but Lees says that they would not generally be seen as they were only used when sailing. However, I am minded to fit them as I think that they do add something to the model.

The topmast stay and preventer stay are fitted: the stay from 0.8mm and the preventer stay from 0.7mmrope. Both are served to 30mm below the mouse. The stays lead down through 5mm blocks fitted to the foremast and end in a long-tackle block. The falls are set up with a single 5mm block hooked to eye bolts in the deck each side of the foremast, the stay to the port and preventer to starboard.


While waiting for more fittings, I have made a start on the fore topmast. The breast backstays are fitted first using 0.7mm rope with a 5mm block seized in the end. The tackles are rigged with 0.25mm thread tied to an eyebolt in the forward channel passed through the block of backstay and ending in a 3mm block. The fall is spliced to a second 3mm block hooked to another eyebolt abaft the first and is threaded through the upper 3mm block. The fall is tied off to a timberhead.

It was at this stage that I noticed that I had rigged a shroud where there should be a backstay.

I wondered about carrying on rigging with one backstay less but decided in the end to do the right thing as far as I could. It would have been impossible at this stage to remove the last two pairs of shrouds and replace them correctly so I did the next best thing and carefully cut out the 9th shroud all the way to the mast head where I don’t think (hope) that this fix will be noticed.

Cutting out all of the ratlines and retying them was a step too far so the new ratlines were tied in to the existing ones.

the offending shroud removed  and ratlines restored but looks like a good clean up is required now.
 
Thanks for the likes and for looking in
David
 

To those who dropped in or gave likes, thank you for your interest and support.
 
Knocklouder, thank you again for your ongoing interest and your kind comments.  I am happy with the result.  I proved to myself that I am capable of doing a double planked, bright finished boat and I thoroughly enjoy every opportunity to look at it.
 
Below are the remaining beauty shots.


A heart stopping moment was when I installed the aft deck vents backward (open face forward).  A fast chisel and touch up urethane were aided by the fact that the vents almost completely covered the damage by slightly altering their fore and aft position.


The name pays homage to the Admiral’s lofty perch as Nana to the grandchildren, and to her love for Cape Cod where we have vacationed for many years.  The custom decal came from a local printer, using a file I emailed to them.

See, there really is a starboard side to the boat.
 
Thanks for viewing.
 
Steve

I have always struggled making rope hanks. I've tried every method I can find on this forum and on YouTube, but it always boils down to the same problem. Every method seems to work for me until that point at the end when it calls for "a small dab of glue." Well, for me diluted PVA glue never seems to hold and a small dab of CA glue never seems to hold the whole thing together either. So I end up using enough glue to hold everything together, but the result is usually the glue wicking into the line, darkening and hardening it and it generally looking terrible. The best I have ever been able to do is to try to minimize this effect, which means that at least half of the hanks I make for every model end up in the garbage and I'm only somewhat happy with the ones I do use.
 
So here is the result of my experimenting yesterday and I think it just might be a good solution to my problem. I was trying (for the umpteenth time) the method outlined by Tom Lauria in his YouTube video. I was having the best luck with this method of any of the others I've tried, but still having the glue problem at the end, so here's how I adapted his method to try to avoid the glue problem.
 
I wrapped the line five times around three nails - two at the top, with a narrow space between them and one at the bottom. The distance apart is the length I need excluding the loop that goes over the belaying pin; in this case 3/8".
 
Tom outlines a perfect oval with a series of closely spaced nails, but I found it's not necessary to do that. The hank comes out more or less the same with the three nails as it does with several. Many methods only use two nails anyway, one top and bottom. However I found it necessary to have a space at the top, hence two nails at the top.
 

Then I wrapped a length of matching sewing thread around the coils at the top and tied a knot. I'm not worrying about the loop for the belaying pin at this point. This knot around the coils ensures that they will not come apart and it's actually easy to get a small dab of CA glue on this knot without touching the main line. The glue only has to hold the knot; the thread is holding the coils.

When the CA glue was set in a couple of moments, I trimmed the threads off, leaving just the knot.
 
Then I pulled one of the long ends of the line underneath the coil at the top and up through the centre -
 

Made a loop out of it and pulled the end back through underneath the coil at the top -

And then, just like Tom Lauria did, I secured the loop with a drill bit in a previously drilled hole and pulled the loop snug against the drill bit -

Here I took a length of matching sewing thread in a needle and stuck in down through the middle of the line on one side of the loop and through, at least part of, the coil below -
 

Then I transferred the needle to the other end of the sewing thread and did the same thing on the other side of the loop -
 

This ensures that when I tie the two ends together, the knot will be on the back of the hank -

Then I just tied the sewing thread into a knot on the back side of the hank. Just like before it's easy to put a small dab of CA glue on this knot without touching the main line.
 

When the CA glue sets, it's just a matter of trimming off all the lines -
 

This hank cannot come apart because the coils are tied together in a bundle and the loop for the belaying pin is sewn directly to the hank. There's no glue visible on the surface and the sewing thread is completely invisible. I think this is the best hank I've ever made and the process didn't end up with the garbage men wondering  "what's with all the gluey coiled thread coming out of this house?"
 
So that's my good news for this weekend.
 
Happy Thanksgiving to the Canadians out there! ( or should I say "Happy Hanksgiving?")
David

Thanks everyone,  for the three logs I followed  thank you . For all the likes and comments  thank you.  
 Now if you ever want to build one go ahead they are insanely  fun frustrating and when done it will be a nice gift.
  Now that's it is done  it is hard to say good bye lol . 😆  Really glad it's done. Would I do .. another .. I put it to you this way,  when I finish all my models that I have I think about it lol. 😏. 
 So now it's  done for me. Was going to mark it as finished  had to go back an learn how 🤔  when I got hear it was there 😆 🤣 😂  Thanks  @ccoyle.
   @Glen McGuire, @gjdale, @Glen McGuire, @Landlubber Mike thank you.  I APPRECIATE IT.  I looked at your logs for hour and hour's . Basically that's how I pulled  this off thanks it was fun. To any I missed  thank you. NOW back to the Mayflower  😆 😆 
 

Ok , Did you guys hear the scream of joy. Yes the Hannah is in the bottle. I made a little video  of putting it in, you can hear things bending to the point of breaking. When it finally slipped in, you can hear a big sigh of relief.  I glued it in places , let it dry good then the fun began. Started pulling the out the lines all felt good,then snap frist pull line broke. Then the other one broke.
 I could see one sail off and the rear mast was bent badly  😢.  7 hours later  I got it the point where I could live with it . Hannah is going to love her Hannah  can't wait to give her the ship 💗 💓 
  The water was  made by painting the bottom of the bottle with super glue , then  blue, then I scratched the blue and then painted the white.
 Then I scratched some fish lol just made little marks on the bottle, then painted it black to show up good.  Looks like sharks at the back and a couple  of whales on the front.  I LOVE IT!
  So now I have to clean it up ,glue on the bottle...easy fix. Now I needto come up with a stand.
 
 

Ok, 1 down, 9 to go. 😄 The omission of the breeching ring when I thought I was done was a boo-boo. I think I’ll have it on the eye when I put it into the carriage! I also painted all the metal after it was installed. The blackened annealed wire actually looks anemic when next to a black painted piece. So all the metal on the ship is painted or all not. What do you all do/think?

Hi All,
 
The mood just hasn’t been there to get back into the hull of the ship, so I turned to the cannons. I cleaned up the cannons and I think they turned out satisfactory. The carriages… that’s another thing. I ordered some carriages from Syren for the smallest cannon he makes (which is a 6 pounder I think). Anyway, his cannons measure about a mm and some change longer than these do from MS. I’m going to build one and see how these guns fit.

So, while on the gun topic, I had lots of correspondence when building the Lady Nelson regarding breeching rope, rings and tackle. Given both ships are 1:64 scale… is the difference between a 3 or 4 pound cannon and a 6 pounder going to have real differences in the size of the breech line and rings and eyebolts etc. that will be visible on the ship at this scale? I’ve got lots of different sizes of wire to make things from if it makes a difference. I don’t have much information on anything other than breech line size for a 6 pounder.
 

Well my second ship is finished. And I really like it, I can see the difference between the two ship ,the Santa Maria  was fun but frustrating because it was my first and I had to learn lots.The second ship was not as bad mainly because of the help I received here at MSW. So thank you all, to the  moderators who had to fix all my mistakes,thanks for changing things when I need too.
  To @mrcc thanks for the tip on 
GAC 400, every time I use the product I will think of you buddy, .also to the people who take the time to do the logs @maaaslo all though his is a card model of the Pinta, his details helped me to see where things go.And  @igorsr his log was a big help for running all the rigging lines. Thank you all so much!!!!
   So I took the Pinta up stairs for a couple more pictures before I put it in the display case.  I had to take picture before I put it in the case because the reflection was bad.
 It looks great beside my Santa Maria though.
  So my friends thanks for all your help so great full for showing me how to build ships, for all the like and comment's 
  You see this log is all ready mark Finished,  thanks @ccoyle.
 Well this one comes to a close , I promise my niece Hannah I would make her one so that's next. I have started the Mayflower  but when I finish the Hannah I want to make LA Nina  so I can finish the fleet of Columbus  ships . Ok thanks all who ever posted in my logs.
  So THANKS FOR EVERYTHING!!
Bob M.
 




 

Well I am going to call this ship Finished.! 
I tightened all the rigging lines, then added the rope coils, flags and temporarily put the sign on  I need to put it in the display case before making the final decision on where to put it 🤔.  I just finished today and will put it in the display case later .
   I have lots of people to thank, and will post one final time when she is in the display case  with the Santa Maria,  I can't wait.
   Thanks all of MSW for putting up with my typos . As I move forward  I will try to leave the computer stuff to my son, who comes to my aid often lol, and just stay on course building ship lol
  I added some pictures, and will clean the shipyard up, got an email from MSW to clean up my work shop. How did they know lol 😆 
  All my thank yous and the final  FINISHED stamp that I will put on when the Pinta gets to her final resting spot. I just want to show her off a little first. I am very happy with the way it turned out. On to the next one lol.






I forgot this  one lol

Completing the rigging
 
Kind of you to say Glenn, although I would defer to some of the real experts on the forum (and I don't normally suffer from modesty!). Anyway, I'm hurrying this along a bit as I'm keen to clear the decks before setting off for the Antarctic next week.
 
The rest of the running rigging went smoothly for the most part and the process was almost identical to the description in my Speedy log. The only really tricky task I found was rigging the main topsail yard braces. These are set up with brace pendants on the yard and a pair of 3mm blocks on a long strop fitted round the mizzen mast, just above the crossjack. The space between the latter and the mizzen top is very tight so I'd fitted the blocks before I'd even stepped the mast. However I realised too late that the standing ends of the main topsail yard braces had to be seized to the strops between the blocks and the mizzen yard. Hopefully this is clear from this shot and the following close-up:


The only way I could find to do this was to twist the strop round so the blocks faced aft, i.e. away from the crowsfeet and other obstructions on the fore side of the mizzen mast. It was still tight, but I did eventually manage to a seize a brace just behind each of the two blocks then twist the whole affair back round to the other side of the mast after which it was comparatively simple to take the braces up through the brace pendants on the topsail yard, back through the blocks stropped to the mizzen, then through the top to belay on the mizzen bits.
 
One point where I departed slightly from the plans was in belaying the mizzen topsail braces. Unless I misinterpreted them, the plans show these reeving through blocks at the aft end of the lateen yard then running forward at quite a sharp angle to belay on the mizzen bitts. I chose to belay the braces on the quarterdeck rail near the transom, where the near-vertical line from the lateen yard seemed more natural. 
 
I've just got a bit of tidying and touching up to do, and a few more rope coils, but I'm not sure I'll get all that done before disappearing to the frozen wastes so here's a few shots of the almost complete model. I'll do some proper shots and a fuller write up when I get back, and also give some proper thought to her display.





 
HMS Sphinx is calling!
 
Derek
 
 
 
 
 
 

Anchors
 
Not much time in the workshop recently. I've been working on the anchors for a while and eventually got round to finishing them.
 
Much of the work was the same as for Speedy, except this time the whole of each anchor is made from MDF. The shanks in particular needed a good session with a file to chamfer the edges, probably best shown in the close-up photos below. I used Admiralty ironwork black as a base then lightly brushed on some iron metal powder.
 
The stock came in two halves that clamped neatly round the shank. However as they were laser cut from a sheet they were only tapered in one dimension rather than two. To cut the second taper as neatly as possible I worked out the angle needed then cut a small wooden wedge the top edge of which sloped at said angle. With the wedge sitting in a vice on the Proxxon mill, the required angle was shaved off the anchor stock, one half at a time:
 

Double-sided tape was sufficient to hold the stock on the wedge. 

The bands on the stocks were the usual shrink tubing, the puddening from dark line and the bolts are made from bristles stolen from a hair brush (Shhh!!!).
 
I made the anchor buoys using mostly the same method I employed for Speedy and other ships (link here), but this time I tried to make the end result neater. I made the wooden body of each buoy on the lathe as before, but instead of making eyes in the rope slings before fitting them to the buoy, this time I did all the fitting on the buoy. This enabled me to make each eye as tight as possible around the two rope bands circling the buoy. As before, I drilled two 0.9mm holes right through the buoy to accommodate the rope bands and put a touch of thin CA in each hole. Once the glue had set I started attaching the rope slings. I had to use a needle to get round the bands, and everything was so tight and awkward I ended up using light rope so I could see what I was doing:

Obviously I dyed it once I was happy with the end result.
 
Here's one of the buoys attached to an anchor ready for fitting to the model. Also shown are the two cat blocks. Here's how I made the blocks last time. The only difference this time was I discovered I had some 1/4" triple boxwood blocks I got years ago from Syren and never used. Rather than make my own as I did before I cheated by milling off one side of each triple block to create a double . 

Here's the starboard anchor rigged, then a closer shot showing the cat block:
 
 

Apologies for the focus. 
 
The finish line is rapidly approaching. I'll update the log shortly to show progress on the remaining rigging tasks.
 
Derek
 

Finished dry fitting all the masts, top and trees. Here are a few pics. 


Below are the lookout rings on the fore top gallant mast. I used my new micro torch I got for Christmas, made some rings from .020” diameter copper wire and soldered away. 

 
Then I wound some .008” diameter rope around the ring to finish it off. 

Had so much fun I did it all over again for the main top gallant mast. 🤪😁
 
After I finish up putting all the blocks, eyes and assorted other components on the masts I will start to work on the channels. 
 
Tom

Hello everyone,

I have wanted to get into model ship building for a while now but could never really figure out the best way to start. I have fond memories of my grandfather’s ships on the shelves in his home and saw building one as a means to connect with him in that way. 

While I have absolutely no prior experience with model building nor wood working, this hobby does fit my skill set to some degree by involving fine motor control. That said, what some of you produce is beyond comprehension. 
 
A few months ago I joined this forum after purchasing the Model Shipways 3 kit combo, and had great intentions to start a build log of the first model. That didn’t end up happening, but I did finish the first build over the holidays.
 

 
I offer a huge thanks to both Prairie Sailor and Tigersteve who I took many ideas and much inspiration from (I hope my blatant plagiarism is acceptable) and whose build logs I found invaluable. I’m more than open to any critique or ideas for improvement. 
 
Next up is the Norwegian Sailing Pram which I am only just getting started on. SkiBee’s build log has already become a valuable reference point. 
 

 
That’s really what I wanted to say, I’m excited and happy to be here and pushing myself to actually become involved here because I’ve used the site as a resource and wanted to say (both broadly and specifically) thank you. 
 
A Wonderful Wizard,
Os

Hello,  a small update on the painted one. The 3-hole violin blocks are on but not snugged up. The holes seem smaller and the rope is 3x the size of the holes lol, but they are on . The sails I like,  it was fun attempting something  new, I need to refine the process but I like the GAC 400, just got to learn better techniques but happy with my first attempt.  One thing I did wrong was I painted the sails,  before I knew about  GAC. You are supposed to use the 400 then paint the sails ,it shows up when there is light behind the sails, but they look good to me when there is no light source behind them. I will just position  the Pinta  in the corner of the display case and no one will ever see the light coming though it.
  The rigging  and seizing  have come to a halt because I forgot to install the ,Maneuvering  racks laths on the main deck and bow, and the Manoeuvre holder laths on the stern.  Two different names for the same part. Must have to do with where they are on the ship.. Easy fix, but I got to cut the 2x2 ,then paint them, let them dry and then I be good to go.
 I am having so much fun, my head is spinning with all these ideas I get from looking at logs. Not sure which model I will "crack" open next hint hint. lol.
But I will finish the Pinta first. Then decide which way to go from there.  So far the only thing I don't like about this hobby  is computers and spelling lol. 🤔 
As for the rest of it   I am in for life it's so much fun

I had to hang my sails to see  how they would look, now all  I have to do is  the rigging,  then some straighting up ,flags and done.  Been a wonderful  journey on this one. Hopeing to improve on my computer skill, but that's harder than learning how to build ships lol.
Thanks for the support and suggestions along the way, greatly appreciated. I will try to improve my ability to navigate through the forms. Pretty soon I will be done my second ship, 6 more to build before I can buy a new one lol. 
   I think my Pinta  is going to look cool beside my Santa Maria, but I will do three or four other models before I start the Nina, one never know . Thanks so much everyone.   

Today I used the GAC 400 on my sails with what I think are great results. Thanks so much for the tip. Reading the logs , or should I say looking at the pictures in the logs you come up with SO many ideals, you see one oohh I got to do that ,then you see another one and says I should have done that lol 😆 
   The GAC  400 was easy the way I did it,  was brush on a good coat  on both sides of the sails. Then shape them into what I thought would look like wind. Then let them dry.  I also work on my sign , I just have to find a pearl for it.
 

Only 7 more belts to go. I will be taking off the next few weeks from ship modeling for some much-needed fun family time, then I'm back at it! See you all then!

I've been working in a very disorganized way, turning my attention from the stern to the bow to the hull and back again. Here are a few pictures of what I've been doing.
 
Here I've added the gallery windows and have done some more painting on the hull.
 
I created this elaborate system for organizing and painting the windows, but if I had it to do over again, I'd have just glued them in place unpainted first and then painted them after. Despite my careful application of several coats of white paint, once in place they still needed touch up and I had to file away paint from the corners of the muntins. So I ended up effectively painting them in place anyway, and it was surprising easy to do. Cutting in around the edges was not hard. I think I could have saved myself a lot of wasted effort.

It's starting to look like the Agamemnon -

Here I'm adding the first of the moldings. I was a bit intimidated at the prospect of working with these brass strips and I contemplated replacing them with Evergreen styrene strips. In the end, I decided against that as they can be very hard to glue neatly and I thought they would be hard to keep in a straight line. As it turned out, the brass is not difficult to work with, is very easy to glue in place and it looks pretty good.
 

Here's the first one painted -

Here is the first stage of the bow details -

That's all for now. Thanks again for checking in.
David
 

Running rigging - mizzen lifts and lower yard braces
 
Happy New Year everyone, and many thanks for the likes and kind comments.
 
The various lifts on the mizzen mast were mostly straightforward. The peak halliard required some in situ seizing of lines to the lateen yard, but nothing too difficult:

I used three strands of Mara #150 to make the ropes.
 
The lifts on the crossjack and mizzen topsail yards were somewhat lighter - I used Mara #70 and Mara #100 respectively:
 

The photo above hides a real problem I had with the crossjack lifts. The falls are seized to the strops on a pair of 3mm blocks on a span clove hitched around the topmast, just above the cap. The falls then rove through the 3mm blocks on the yard arms, back through the first blocks then through the top to belay on the mizzen bitts. Unfortunately I'd fitted the blocks without the falls attached. The only solution was to use the finest needle I could find to thread the fall line through the strop on the end of each block, tie it off with a simple overhand knot, apply CA and trim. Needless to say the air was blue as I struggled to do this through a forest of existing lines. The result was not to a standard I would normally be happy with but in reality it's hard to spot the bodge:

Btw, I didn't follow the kit plans and fit footropes on the crossjack. Sails weren't fitted to this yard, and as a result my understanding is that footropes were seldom fitted either.
 
Braces
I started at the bow and worked aft, although I have decided to leave the main brace off at this stage as I felt it would get in the way too much.
 
The standing ends of the spritsail yard braces are hitched to the forestay, just below the crowsfeet tackle. Rather than two lines, I used one long length of Mara #70 (roughly 2.5" rope) clove hitched round the stay, which is easier and neater than tying and trimming separate knots. The falls then run forward through the brace pendants then back aft to the foretop:

Each brace then reeves through the pair of blocks under its side of the top, then down to belay on the pinrail attached to the belfry. Threading the line through these blocks was easier than I had found on previous builds, although in this shot I'd managed to push the first block out of position:
 

I used the same technique with the foreyard brace, clove hitching a long line round the main stay. The braces then lead forward through the brace pendants on the yard, back to the 5mm blocks fitted to the main stay then down to belay on the main bitts:
  
The crossjack is different in that it is braced forward, and the braces cross. The standing part of each brace is seized to the aftermost lower shroud on the main mast, at roughly the height of the crossjack. It then crosses to the brace pendant on the opposite side of the ship, and across again to reeve through a 3mm block seized lower down on the same shroud, then belays to a cleat on the deck.
 
NB Because the lines cross it's a good idea to stagger the seizings on the two shrouds to avoid the lines fouling. 

Not far to go now - I need to get my finger out and start making up some rope coils and finish the anchors.
 
 
Derek
 
   
 

Continuing with the masts, caps and trees. Starting to dry fit everything as well as studying the rigging. Definitely want to put as much on these masts while they are off the model. This makes for slow going now but will definitely payoff later provided I don’t miss a block or eye.  The picture is a bit yellowish but you get the idea. 

Here are the upper masts under construction for the fore and main. Still need to make the main top mast cross trees. 

Things are slow going but I relate more to the tortoise than the hare, at least right now. 😜
 
Tom

Hello All,
I have now finished the Shamrock V. There was really very little rigging on it, and most of it was dependent on the sails, so once they were ready to install, there was not too much left to do.
 
After making my first set of sails, I decided to have a second go and see if I could improve upon my first attempt. I had used the pounce wheel to mark the seam lines, but I wasn't completely happy with the result. Tom Lauria uses a pencil, but I found that the pencil simply looked too much like a pencil line and tended to smear with the slightest touch. So I contacted Tom and he suggested I needed to use a much harder pencil.
 
Off to Staples I went and found a 6H pencil and this did the trick. It didn't smear at all and left a light crisp line. I still had a bit of trouble keeping the silkspan smooth and flat and I do have some wrinkling at the edges, but I know this is as good as I'm going to get it and I can live with it.
 

And here's the finished model. I didn't chronicle the rigging very much as it is as simple and straightforward as can be and the Amati plans are crystal clear in this department.
 



I don't know enough about yachts of this period to know how much of the detailing is accurate. I suspect some of the deck details are overscale, but I decided not to worry about it if that is the case. The only thing I did do was replace the standard issue wooden blocks with cast ones from BlueJacket which I think look so much better.
 
So now that my current commissions are over, it's back to the Agamemnon in earnest.

Again, many thanks for looking it and all the nice comments and likes. I really appreciate it.
 
Happy New Year to all!
David
 
 

Hello All,
I have now finished the Shamrock V. There was really very little rigging on it, and most of it was dependent on the sails, so once they were ready to install, there was not too much left to do.
 
After making my first set of sails, I decided to have a second go and see if I could improve upon my first attempt. I had used the pounce wheel to mark the seam lines, but I wasn't completely happy with the result. Tom Lauria uses a pencil, but I found that the pencil simply looked too much like a pencil line and tended to smear with the slightest touch. So I contacted Tom and he suggested I needed to use a much harder pencil.
 
Off to Staples I went and found a 6H pencil and this did the trick. It didn't smear at all and left a light crisp line. I still had a bit of trouble keeping the silkspan smooth and flat and I do have some wrinkling at the edges, but I know this is as good as I'm going to get it and I can live with it.
 

And here's the finished model. I didn't chronicle the rigging very much as it is as simple and straightforward as can be and the Amati plans are crystal clear in this department.
 



I don't know enough about yachts of this period to know how much of the detailing is accurate. I suspect some of the deck details are overscale, but I decided not to worry about it if that is the case. The only thing I did do was replace the standard issue wooden blocks with cast ones from BlueJacket which I think look so much better.
 
So now that my current commissions are over, it's back to the Agamemnon in earnest.

Again, many thanks for looking it and all the nice comments and likes. I really appreciate it.
 
Happy New Year to all!
David
 
 

I'm off work for a few days so I got some shipwork in today. 
 
Captain_Hook : I am planning on a natural holly-only model.  I might paint some parts black, like the strakes, but for now I want it all-white.  I even have been using water based polyurethane as my varnish, which doesn't yellow.  Due to holly being a bit weak and floppy I plan to use bleached maple dowels for the bowsprit and main mast.
 
Only 1 ship picture this post.  I roughed in all 3 starboard cap rail pieces.  The stem rail promised to be the toughest to fit so I glued it in first.  The other 2 pieces are fitted but since on the port side there was a bit of adjustment needed I left them fat.  Below you can see my fitting process- first a rough outline in yellow paper which I used mainly to plan out the joints.  I am unable to wrap my head around mirror images so despite having made 6 previous scarfs I still have to draw each one out.

I added the cap rail extensions onto the inner and outer bulwarks either side of the port quarterdeck/poop; they still need some trimming.
 
Here are a few pics of my workarea; I always find it interesting to see other people's workshops.  We have lived in this house for 8 years and after a brief discussion with the Admiral it was decided I would like to set up part of the basement as my work area.  There was a lot of work done that isn't apparent; I tore down the old drywall covered framing which had no insulation and rotting 2x4's set directly on the concrete slab, added 2" of XPS to the basement block walls before rebuilding the 2x4 framing with a base of pressure treated lumber.  This fixed the mold smell.  I tossed most of the flickery humming fluorescents the previous owners had put in and replaced them with lots of LED lights.  Then I pulled up the carpet over half my work area and replaced it with a big roll of vinyl flooring.  Good enough for now.

Heres the long shot.  the work area shares space with my bike trainer, beer making paraphernalia, and a family heirloom crib my mother gave me which I don't know what to do with.

Thats it!
 
Cisco