David Lester

I expected to be now concentrating on my Agamemnon, but it seems the ship modelling gods had something else in store for me. I have been asked by someone to build a Mayflower for them.
 
This is not a model that I would have chosen for myself, as I'm not particularly interested in 17th century vessels. My favourites are late 18th century. Nevertheless I'm happy enough to build it for someone else. Keeps me off the streets.
 
There are several Mayflowers available, but I settled on the Model Shipways version, as I tend to like their kits generally and Chuck Passaro designed this one, so it seemed to me to be the best option.
 
I don't tend to complain too much about cast metal parts. Usually I find they can be made to be acceptable with a little filing, paint etc. But I don't think I've ever seen anything as bad as these cast metal crow's nests that came with the kit. In the instructions, it shows wooden components which appear to be quite acceptable and which I assume is how the kit originally shipped. However, I was surprised by what I found which look like something my grandmother would have baked tarts in. These just won't do.
 

Not only do they look horrendous, but I don't know how I would be able to use them. It's difficult to see in the picture, but there is almost no lip or overhang on the upper rim, yet it's necessary to mount deadeyes and futtock shrouds. I just don't see how I could do that. Also, much of this ship has a natural finish, so painting these things to blend in would be almost impossible.
 
So rather than starting at the beginning, I decided to get this problem behind me first and I set out to design and build something that I could live with.
Here is what I have come up with:
 





I simplified them slightly. The plans show 16 brackets of about 1/32" wide. I was having quite a bit of trouble with that, so I reduced the number to 12 and made them 1/16" and I found that worked better for me and still looks ok.
 
The crow's nests on the replica Mayflower II have closed sides, and I believe it was the idea for this model too. However, I'm going to leave them open. I experimented with closing them in and wasn't happy with the look. Also, all of the other kit versions of the Mayflower have open sides, as do many other ships of this period.
 
There isn't a lot of glue surface on the upper ring and there's going to be a bit of tension on it, so I added four pieces of brass rod that run through to the bottom, which should give it a bit more structural integrity. You can see one of them in the picture above, but I don't think they will show up when all the bits and pieces are in place.
 
So, now I can relax, knowing that I have that little problem solved and go back to the beginning.
 
David
 
 

Good Morning,
I've been working on the rigging and here is the halyard for the main yard tie.
 
On rare occasions, I've been known to demonstrate forethought and I'm happy to report that this was one of those occasions. I threaded the lanyard through the ram's head block and the knight before I glued the knight in place! It would have been much more difficult to do after the knight was in place. Then with the line loosely in place, I glued the knight to the deck and snugged up the lanyard.


I notice that as I get older, it's taking less and less to delight me!
 
David

Good Morning,
I've been working on the rigging and here is the halyard for the main yard tie.
 
On rare occasions, I've been known to demonstrate forethought and I'm happy to report that this was one of those occasions. I threaded the lanyard through the ram's head block and the knight before I glued the knight in place! It would have been much more difficult to do after the knight was in place. Then with the line loosely in place, I glued the knight to the deck and snugged up the lanyard.


I notice that as I get older, it's taking less and less to delight me!
 
David

Completed assembling the main rail.  Needs a little more sanding, but trying to be careful not to over do it.

Added all of the fake stanchions to the fore deck and shaped to the hull.  I tried to cut them all to the same length with a kerf saw and mitre box, but there was some minor variation.  So, I sanded across the tops to make sure everything was even so the main rail will sit flush.
 

r
Tim

Good afternoon,
I appreciate all the likes and look in's, thank you!
 
Taking a break from the Saturday afternoon chores, Red Sox are playing the Yankees on TV, will Aaron Judge hit #61?........
Back in the day, Pedro Martinez would have just drilled him in his backside....old school.  
Fresh cup of coffee in hand, Niagara could use an update.
 
On to the Fore and Main Course yards.
They look naked compared to the other yards without its blocks yet.

As I've done with all the yards, I start with a small pin in the back and a corresponding hole in the mast.
Helps with grip/stability...maybe.......in my head kinda stuff.....my goblins. 
All ropes and blocks are fitted after I've established that contact point. 

All essential blocks are stropped.
Think I've become a master in the art of CA glue. Not perfect by no means but serves its purpose. 
These do get a light brushing of black paint once attached to the yard to try and hide any glue shine. 
Don't get me wrong, not using gobs of the stuff. Just feels like I'm cheating, hide my shame. 

Easy enough, following the plans as towards placement. 
All blocks and rope are from Syren. 

Below are my attempts at making a cluster block. 
I wrestled with these. I really focused on keeping these lined up with each other. Keep them straight with each other and the yard itself. 
It took a "one step at a time" approach and took most of a weekend to make the eight sets needed. 
These get brush with black paint as well once attached. 

Looking ahead.
Once the course yards are done, I'm looking at stepping the masts.   Never thought I'd say that!!!!!! 
But before that, I want to look over the super structure one more time. 
There are a few things I want to get done before I start attaching ropes. 
Anchors, davits...the like.

We're getting there. 
Be good
 
Tom E 
 
 
 
 
 

I have been working to fix the stern issue that was pointed out by @Retired guy.  I truly appreciate the keen eye and willingness to offer constructive feedback!  As I started to assess the problem and develop a solution, I determined it was best to just remove everything and start from scratch.  I learned a valuable lesson to measure all the parts and compare to multiple points on the plans.  It turns out that the bulkhead outlines on the Laser Cut Wood Pattern Plan do not match the bulkheads on the Plank on Bulkhead Construction Plan.  I built the stern off of the ship, as I had broken off the tail piece of the keel earlier.  I used the Plank on Bulkhead Construction Plan for all of the dimensions and when I reattached the stern, it turned out to be wider than bulkhead N, causing the flair out toward the stern.
 
So, I ended up adding strips to bulkheads L, M and N to bring them to plan dimensions.  

I cut a new tail piece and bulkhead O from a 3/16 thick sheet and then glued in the stern blocks.  After shaping to the plans and adding the transom pieces, I reattached the assembly to the ship with a little different reiforcement than I had originally used.  I had removed the waterways back to bulkhead L, so I recut and installed those.  Finally, I cutout and shaped new side pieces and added the stern fake stanchions.

After all that was done I double check that the hull was faired from front to back and made some minor adjustments with sanding or adding strips where needed.  Had I done that earlier in the process I would have realized the mistake with the stern!  So many lessons learned and much happier with the results!  On to the the main rail...
 
Tim 

Apparently, all of the deadeyes on the original Mayflower were elongated ones, which they appear to have used on the Mayflower II as well. It's the ones on the main and fore stays that I was referring to; they're quite a bit bigger and have five holes, like in this picture below. I didn't even contemplate making the smaller elongated ones for the shrouds from scratch. But I did experiment with the larger five-hole ones for the stays, but as I mentioned abandoned that plan.
 
There don't seem to be many options to buy such deadeyes either. I haven't seen any of the five-hole ones anywhere. Both Cornwall Model Boats and Ages of Sail have some three-hole ones, but they're too triangular and don't look quite right for the Mayflower. Bluejacket does have elongated three-hole deadeyes, which look pretty good. I could have used them, but instead I just chose to use the kit supplied ones all around.
David

Yeah, I noticed that they're black on the Mayflower II. The colour of these lines always confuses me. For example when I visited the Constitution I noticed that those ones are black too. I may be wrong, but the rope didn't look tarred to me - it just looked like black rope. So were the originals left natural, or were they natural then tarred, and are the current ones simply black rope in an effort to simulate tarred ropes. Similarly, I have the same questions about the Mayflower. On the Victory, however, they're currently all natural.
 
So I'm not really sure what's the "correct" way to do it. I've done them both ways on my various models, but for the Mayflower, I think I'll leave them natural.
David 

Bulwark Stanchions…
 


Cheers 🍻 
 
 

Hi All -
Standing rigging is finished:




For the deadeyes on the fore and main stays, the kit provides large standard three-hole deadeyes, but the instructions indicate that five-hole deadeyes with a tear drop shape would be correct and suggests making them. I tried that but had trouble getting them to look good enough. No matter what, they still looked too rough to my eye, so in the end I opted to use the less correct, but better looking standard deadeyes.
 
I did add serving to the lines in the usual places. I wasn't completely sure it it's correct for a ship of this period, but the pictures of the Mayflower II replica appear to have it and I had the the serving machine and decided to include it.
 
I made a mouse from wood for each of the stays. I always find them pretty easy to do. I drill a hole about 1/4" deep into the end of a small dowel and then shape the mouse on the dowel with an xacto knife and sand it smooth. Then I just cut it off the dowel. 
 
Now it's on to the ratlines:

Thanks again for your comments and "likes."
David
 

Hi All -
Standing rigging is finished:




For the deadeyes on the fore and main stays, the kit provides large standard three-hole deadeyes, but the instructions indicate that five-hole deadeyes with a tear drop shape would be correct and suggests making them. I tried that but had trouble getting them to look good enough. No matter what, they still looked too rough to my eye, so in the end I opted to use the less correct, but better looking standard deadeyes.
 
I did add serving to the lines in the usual places. I wasn't completely sure it it's correct for a ship of this period, but the pictures of the Mayflower II replica appear to have it and I had the the serving machine and decided to include it.
 
I made a mouse from wood for each of the stays. I always find them pretty easy to do. I drill a hole about 1/4" deep into the end of a small dowel and then shape the mouse on the dowel with an xacto knife and sand it smooth. Then I just cut it off the dowel. 
 
Now it's on to the ratlines:

Thanks again for your comments and "likes."
David
 

Hi All -
Standing rigging is finished:




For the deadeyes on the fore and main stays, the kit provides large standard three-hole deadeyes, but the instructions indicate that five-hole deadeyes with a tear drop shape would be correct and suggests making them. I tried that but had trouble getting them to look good enough. No matter what, they still looked too rough to my eye, so in the end I opted to use the less correct, but better looking standard deadeyes.
 
I did add serving to the lines in the usual places. I wasn't completely sure it it's correct for a ship of this period, but the pictures of the Mayflower II replica appear to have it and I had the the serving machine and decided to include it.
 
I made a mouse from wood for each of the stays. I always find them pretty easy to do. I drill a hole about 1/4" deep into the end of a small dowel and then shape the mouse on the dowel with an xacto knife and sand it smooth. Then I just cut it off the dowel. 
 
Now it's on to the ratlines:

Thanks again for your comments and "likes."
David
 

Hi All -
Standing rigging is finished:




For the deadeyes on the fore and main stays, the kit provides large standard three-hole deadeyes, but the instructions indicate that five-hole deadeyes with a tear drop shape would be correct and suggests making them. I tried that but had trouble getting them to look good enough. No matter what, they still looked too rough to my eye, so in the end I opted to use the less correct, but better looking standard deadeyes.
 
I did add serving to the lines in the usual places. I wasn't completely sure it it's correct for a ship of this period, but the pictures of the Mayflower II replica appear to have it and I had the the serving machine and decided to include it.
 
I made a mouse from wood for each of the stays. I always find them pretty easy to do. I drill a hole about 1/4" deep into the end of a small dowel and then shape the mouse on the dowel with an xacto knife and sand it smooth. Then I just cut it off the dowel. 
 
Now it's on to the ratlines:

Thanks again for your comments and "likes."
David
 

Good Morning -
I'm into the rigging in earnest now. In the past I have always tended to start with the bowsprit and work my way to the stern. The instructions for this kit however suggest installing the bowsprit and then moving the the mizzen mast and working forward, so I decided to try that and see how I like it. So far, so good.
 
The instructions suggest starting with the mizzen shrouds and then adding the mizzen stay before adding the lower main shrouds, so that's what I did. The logic makes sense - this way you can fix the stay to the main mast without the main shrouds getting in the way.
 
One problem I did encounter however is due to how small and flexible the mizzen mast is. It isn't very robust. In order to get the slack out of the lanyard on the stay where it meets the main mast, it tended to pull the mizzen mast too far forward and, of course, there is no backstay on the mizzen mast to counteract this. I ended up undoing all the lanyards on the mizzen shrouds, securing the lanyard on the stay where I was happy with it and then redoing the shrouds, starting with the aftmost one and pulling it taut, then finally, the other two shrouds. This seemed to solve the problem and the mizzen mast is now stable and in (more or less) the right position.
 


Moving on to the main mast, the instructions suggest first adding the tackles before doing the shrouds -
 

The main tackles are now in place and next up are the main shrouds. I don't anticipate the same problem with the main stay as I had with the mizzen as there is back pressure on the main mast and it's considerable more robust than the mizzen.
That's all for now.
David
 
 

Good Morning -
I'm into the rigging in earnest now. In the past I have always tended to start with the bowsprit and work my way to the stern. The instructions for this kit however suggest installing the bowsprit and then moving the the mizzen mast and working forward, so I decided to try that and see how I like it. So far, so good.
 
The instructions suggest starting with the mizzen shrouds and then adding the mizzen stay before adding the lower main shrouds, so that's what I did. The logic makes sense - this way you can fix the stay to the main mast without the main shrouds getting in the way.
 
One problem I did encounter however is due to how small and flexible the mizzen mast is. It isn't very robust. In order to get the slack out of the lanyard on the stay where it meets the main mast, it tended to pull the mizzen mast too far forward and, of course, there is no backstay on the mizzen mast to counteract this. I ended up undoing all the lanyards on the mizzen shrouds, securing the lanyard on the stay where I was happy with it and then redoing the shrouds, starting with the aftmost one and pulling it taut, then finally, the other two shrouds. This seemed to solve the problem and the mizzen mast is now stable and in (more or less) the right position.
 


Moving on to the main mast, the instructions suggest first adding the tackles before doing the shrouds -
 

The main tackles are now in place and next up are the main shrouds. I don't anticipate the same problem with the main stay as I had with the mizzen as there is back pressure on the main mast and it's considerable more robust than the mizzen.
That's all for now.
David
 
 

Good Morning -
I'm into the rigging in earnest now. In the past I have always tended to start with the bowsprit and work my way to the stern. The instructions for this kit however suggest installing the bowsprit and then moving the the mizzen mast and working forward, so I decided to try that and see how I like it. So far, so good.
 
The instructions suggest starting with the mizzen shrouds and then adding the mizzen stay before adding the lower main shrouds, so that's what I did. The logic makes sense - this way you can fix the stay to the main mast without the main shrouds getting in the way.
 
One problem I did encounter however is due to how small and flexible the mizzen mast is. It isn't very robust. In order to get the slack out of the lanyard on the stay where it meets the main mast, it tended to pull the mizzen mast too far forward and, of course, there is no backstay on the mizzen mast to counteract this. I ended up undoing all the lanyards on the mizzen shrouds, securing the lanyard on the stay where I was happy with it and then redoing the shrouds, starting with the aftmost one and pulling it taut, then finally, the other two shrouds. This seemed to solve the problem and the mizzen mast is now stable and in (more or less) the right position.
 


Moving on to the main mast, the instructions suggest first adding the tackles before doing the shrouds -
 

The main tackles are now in place and next up are the main shrouds. I don't anticipate the same problem with the main stay as I had with the mizzen as there is back pressure on the main mast and it's considerable more robust than the mizzen.
That's all for now.
David
 
 

Good Morning -
I'm into the rigging in earnest now. In the past I have always tended to start with the bowsprit and work my way to the stern. The instructions for this kit however suggest installing the bowsprit and then moving the the mizzen mast and working forward, so I decided to try that and see how I like it. So far, so good.
 
The instructions suggest starting with the mizzen shrouds and then adding the mizzen stay before adding the lower main shrouds, so that's what I did. The logic makes sense - this way you can fix the stay to the main mast without the main shrouds getting in the way.
 
One problem I did encounter however is due to how small and flexible the mizzen mast is. It isn't very robust. In order to get the slack out of the lanyard on the stay where it meets the main mast, it tended to pull the mizzen mast too far forward and, of course, there is no backstay on the mizzen mast to counteract this. I ended up undoing all the lanyards on the mizzen shrouds, securing the lanyard on the stay where I was happy with it and then redoing the shrouds, starting with the aftmost one and pulling it taut, then finally, the other two shrouds. This seemed to solve the problem and the mizzen mast is now stable and in (more or less) the right position.
 


Moving on to the main mast, the instructions suggest first adding the tackles before doing the shrouds -
 

The main tackles are now in place and next up are the main shrouds. I don't anticipate the same problem with the main stay as I had with the mizzen as there is back pressure on the main mast and it's considerable more robust than the mizzen.
That's all for now.
David
 
 

Good Morning -
I'm into the rigging in earnest now. In the past I have always tended to start with the bowsprit and work my way to the stern. The instructions for this kit however suggest installing the bowsprit and then moving the the mizzen mast and working forward, so I decided to try that and see how I like it. So far, so good.
 
The instructions suggest starting with the mizzen shrouds and then adding the mizzen stay before adding the lower main shrouds, so that's what I did. The logic makes sense - this way you can fix the stay to the main mast without the main shrouds getting in the way.
 
One problem I did encounter however is due to how small and flexible the mizzen mast is. It isn't very robust. In order to get the slack out of the lanyard on the stay where it meets the main mast, it tended to pull the mizzen mast too far forward and, of course, there is no backstay on the mizzen mast to counteract this. I ended up undoing all the lanyards on the mizzen shrouds, securing the lanyard on the stay where I was happy with it and then redoing the shrouds, starting with the aftmost one and pulling it taut, then finally, the other two shrouds. This seemed to solve the problem and the mizzen mast is now stable and in (more or less) the right position.
 


Moving on to the main mast, the instructions suggest first adding the tackles before doing the shrouds -
 

The main tackles are now in place and next up are the main shrouds. I don't anticipate the same problem with the main stay as I had with the mizzen as there is back pressure on the main mast and it's considerable more robust than the mizzen.
That's all for now.
David
 
 

Good Morning -
I'm into the rigging in earnest now. In the past I have always tended to start with the bowsprit and work my way to the stern. The instructions for this kit however suggest installing the bowsprit and then moving the the mizzen mast and working forward, so I decided to try that and see how I like it. So far, so good.
 
The instructions suggest starting with the mizzen shrouds and then adding the mizzen stay before adding the lower main shrouds, so that's what I did. The logic makes sense - this way you can fix the stay to the main mast without the main shrouds getting in the way.
 
One problem I did encounter however is due to how small and flexible the mizzen mast is. It isn't very robust. In order to get the slack out of the lanyard on the stay where it meets the main mast, it tended to pull the mizzen mast too far forward and, of course, there is no backstay on the mizzen mast to counteract this. I ended up undoing all the lanyards on the mizzen shrouds, securing the lanyard on the stay where I was happy with it and then redoing the shrouds, starting with the aftmost one and pulling it taut, then finally, the other two shrouds. This seemed to solve the problem and the mizzen mast is now stable and in (more or less) the right position.
 


Moving on to the main mast, the instructions suggest first adding the tackles before doing the shrouds -
 

The main tackles are now in place and next up are the main shrouds. I don't anticipate the same problem with the main stay as I had with the mizzen as there is back pressure on the main mast and it's considerable more robust than the mizzen.
That's all for now.
David
 
 

I brief update.
 
I've added the bowsprit and the deadeye/chainplate assemblies.


I've also added the boat. I don't actually take any pictures of its progress. It's built using the standard MS approach and building it proved to be as unpleasant as all of the others I have done over the years. So I have done nothing to immortalize the experience. At least there was only one of them. The Charles Morgan had seven! I don't know why I dislike building these little boats so much, but I just do.
 
The shrouds are attached to the masts and are ready to be finished. For such a small vessel there seem to be a lot of them - five on the foremast, seven on the main mast and three on the mizzen.
 



Thanks again for checking in, likes etc.
Much appreciated.
 
David

Good Morning -
I'm into the rigging in earnest now. In the past I have always tended to start with the bowsprit and work my way to the stern. The instructions for this kit however suggest installing the bowsprit and then moving the the mizzen mast and working forward, so I decided to try that and see how I like it. So far, so good.
 
The instructions suggest starting with the mizzen shrouds and then adding the mizzen stay before adding the lower main shrouds, so that's what I did. The logic makes sense - this way you can fix the stay to the main mast without the main shrouds getting in the way.
 
One problem I did encounter however is due to how small and flexible the mizzen mast is. It isn't very robust. In order to get the slack out of the lanyard on the stay where it meets the main mast, it tended to pull the mizzen mast too far forward and, of course, there is no backstay on the mizzen mast to counteract this. I ended up undoing all the lanyards on the mizzen shrouds, securing the lanyard on the stay where I was happy with it and then redoing the shrouds, starting with the aftmost one and pulling it taut, then finally, the other two shrouds. This seemed to solve the problem and the mizzen mast is now stable and in (more or less) the right position.
 


Moving on to the main mast, the instructions suggest first adding the tackles before doing the shrouds -
 

The main tackles are now in place and next up are the main shrouds. I don't anticipate the same problem with the main stay as I had with the mizzen as there is back pressure on the main mast and it's considerable more robust than the mizzen.
That's all for now.
David
 
 

Good Morning -
I'm into the rigging in earnest now. In the past I have always tended to start with the bowsprit and work my way to the stern. The instructions for this kit however suggest installing the bowsprit and then moving the the mizzen mast and working forward, so I decided to try that and see how I like it. So far, so good.
 
The instructions suggest starting with the mizzen shrouds and then adding the mizzen stay before adding the lower main shrouds, so that's what I did. The logic makes sense - this way you can fix the stay to the main mast without the main shrouds getting in the way.
 
One problem I did encounter however is due to how small and flexible the mizzen mast is. It isn't very robust. In order to get the slack out of the lanyard on the stay where it meets the main mast, it tended to pull the mizzen mast too far forward and, of course, there is no backstay on the mizzen mast to counteract this. I ended up undoing all the lanyards on the mizzen shrouds, securing the lanyard on the stay where I was happy with it and then redoing the shrouds, starting with the aftmost one and pulling it taut, then finally, the other two shrouds. This seemed to solve the problem and the mizzen mast is now stable and in (more or less) the right position.
 


Moving on to the main mast, the instructions suggest first adding the tackles before doing the shrouds -
 

The main tackles are now in place and next up are the main shrouds. I don't anticipate the same problem with the main stay as I had with the mizzen as there is back pressure on the main mast and it's considerable more robust than the mizzen.
That's all for now.
David
 
 

Hi All,
I'm working away on the Mayflower. I've pretty much finished up the hull. I've added the moldings and completed the bow section.


The bow section is a bit tricky to get started. It would have helped if I had three hands. It's one of those situations where you can't glue one piece on until another is in place and you can't glue that one in place until the other one is in place. Nevertheless once the positions of the side pieces are established and they're tentatively glued in place, it becomes easier and easier and in the end (as the manual suggests) the whole structure is surprisingly robust.



I've also finished up the deadeye/chainplate assemblies and attached them to the channels. They aren't actually glued to the hull yet, just positioned there for the picture. I've used wire to help secure them to the hull.
 
I have left the chainplates all about one or two links long and will adjust and attache them later when I establish their correct location by the angles of the shrouds.
 



So, I now have a number of details to add to the deck, as well as some paint touch ups and then I will be ready to add the masts.
 
Thanks for looking in.
 
David

Good Morning Everyone,
I've been hopping all over the place, working away at various bits and pieces.
 
I finished planking the hull and had quite a bit of trouble getting a satisfactory finish on that basswood planking. What I have is far from perfect, but I think it will be acceptable. I'm banking on most of its flaws being hidden once all the details are added. I've attached the wales and started in on the decorative painting. I know it's looking rough at this point -




I also started in on some of the spars. There aren't too many of them for this vessel and they are all pretty straightforward. In addition to the wooldings on the lower masts, the instructions call for "wood hoops" around the masts; immediately above and below the wooldings. It suggested using strips cut from a manila file folder. I tried that and a couple of other types of paper as well, but I just couldn't get them painted to blend in with the mast. They always looked too distracting, so I have opted to omit them.
 
I'm not exactly sure what the correct method of attaching the wooldings is, but I chose to seize them to the mast, just as you would when seizing a line. It works really well and gives a very tidy result, even at the points where the line enters and exits the seizing. A small dab of glue at each point is all it takes to hold them in place -
 



The decorative moldings proved to be more time consuming than I would have guessed. There are several different ones - natural colour, white, red, green/white and red/white.
 
For the green/white and red/white ones, I painted them all white first, then added masking tape and painted the green and red portions. While this worked really well, it was pretty tiresome and in retrospect, I'm not sure that it wouldn't have been faster and perhaps with as good a result to have painted the red and green bits by eye and without the masking tape -




I've been working on the gun port lids, although I won't add them to the hull until almost the very end. My initial though was to show them closed which you can see in one of the photos above. However, my thinking changed for a couple of reasons. I'm building this model specifically for someone and I think it likely that they will find the model to be more interesting if the gun ports are open and secondly, as the flaws in my hull finish became apparent, I decided that the gun port details would be one more thing to attract the eye and help distract from the hull finish. I don't know if there is any validity to this line of reasoning, but I'm hoping there is -
 
I'm using a single piece of fine wire to secure each one to the hull, with a hole drilled between the two layers of the lid. the metal straps are ones I found in my stash of supplies.
The one in the picture is just in place temporarily to see if it works and it seems to work just fine. I'll add some glue as well when I'm ready to actually install them.
 



Most of the deck details are now in place - the railings, which were straightforward to build as well as the capstan, the pumps, the knights, ladders and hatches. This kit has some very poorly cast parts, including the capstan and the knights, so I made those from wood. I forgot to take a picture of the capstan before I installed it, but you can get a glimpse of it in one of the photos below.
 
The knights have sheaves in them. You would think that it would be very easy to drill two rows of three sheave holes in straight lines and evenly spaced, wouldn't you? I don't have a drill press or mill and I'm working in basswood, so it proved to be very difficult for me to do. My oddball solution was to take a triple block from my supplies and build the knight around it. It looks a lot better than my other poor attempts.
 
There are no pumps included in the kit at all, so these had to be scratch built. The instructions suggest taking a 3/16" dowel and flattening it so that it has eight sides. Again, without a mill, this is pretty hard to do free hand, so I opted to start with a smaller dowel, (1/8" I think it was) and apply strips to it. This also allowed me to more easily create the large depression in the top, by extending the strips above the top of the dowel. It would have been almost impossible for me to drill a large diameter hole in the top of the dowel without a drill press. The bracket holding the handle is 1/16" thick, and I found it impossible to cut a groove in it to hold a 1/32" handle, so I pawed through my supplies and found a billet of material thinner than 1/32" and I found it not too hard to cut a groove to accept this thinner material. (I sometimes wonder why I hang on to so many old billets, but it's surprising how often they come in handy.)
 



 
So that's where I'm at so far. Next up is applying the moldings to the hull and painting the decorative mayflower on the stern. The kit includes a cast piece, but I don't think I'm going to use it, but rather paint the decorations directly onto the stern.
 
This is not exactly on topic, but I thought I'd share it anyway. I tend to keep a very messy workspace and I've come to accept the fact that that will never change. However, I do find it annoying when I accumulate a number of various pieces of wood strips which I have retrieved from my storage area. Before I know it I have a variety of sizes all mixed up with my tools and I can't tell what I've got. I sometimes find myself heading back to my storage for a new 2' piece to cut a small bit off of, when I actually have plenty of small bits all mixed up with other sizes and my various tools.
 
So, in an effort to help with this problem, I'm trying this idea. I bought some mailing tubes and cut them in half lengthwise to make troughs and then joined them together with masking tape. It's probably a bit too soon to tell how well this will really work, but so far it's promising. To the left in the picture below is my usual utter chaos. but at least I can see at a glance what wood I currently have out.

 
Thanks again for checking it.
David
 
 
 
 

I've been working on various aspects of this build, in no particular logical order. This morning I turned my attention to the kevels.
 
There are eight kevels on this ship and I don't really care for the cast kit-supplied ones, so I set out to make some wooden ones. Here's how I approached it.
 

I could see that there are two ways to do this. One would be to create two holes or slots in the cross member at the right angle and then slide the uprights through. Since I don't have a mill or a drill press and I'm working with basswood, I knew that would be an exercise in frustration, so I decided to try a second method, which is to laminate the cross member on the uprights.
 
I drew some lines establishing the dimensions on a piece of paper and covered them with double-sided tape.
 

I placed the first upright in position and trimmed the bottom of it along the pencil line -
 

I then added the second upright and the three pieces of the cross member. There's no glue at this point; only the tape is holding everything in place.
These pieces are all 1/32" x 1/16".
 

I then glued a piece across the cross member (1/16" x 1/16")
 

Peeling the assembly off of the tape. It's quite rigid by this point.
 

Then I added a second piece across the back of the cross member -
 

After some trimming and sanding. There may be some more sanding yet to do. I'm not sure if the cross member is still a bit too thick.
 

 
I think this method is going to work. Once they are all completely covered with rope coils, they should look just fine.😁
 
Thanks for checking in, much appreciated.
 
David