David Lester

Very nice looking Mayflower, Bob!

Ok  well I finally got some time to giv'er lol .It has been quite the experience  before Christmas  the family  was all sick but we are all better now. Then the rodents moved in turn the place up side down lol.
  So I decided  to finish  making  the shrouds and deadeyes.  Slow process, but at least some movement.   I am so happy .


I used a line to help line things up and soon  had the plates and one shroud on the foremast. I made the other shrouds  and moved the string . 



I am still having the time of my life.  Trying to learn how to build ships right is so much fun I can't believe I never got started before I did. 
  Thanks so much for all the help . Don't  mean to be a pest  lol but I still have so much to learn and so little time  giv'er  I am up to 70 know lol. Just  an old man having fun being 14 lol.
 Don't mean to butt in on others logs but some of them are so fantastic  I just blurt right in. Ok
 Hopefully  can get some more shrouds done and then and then  yes rat lines. Let the song  begin.lol 
 I am liking this model once again  lol
Bob M.
 

I have decided to attempt to make the beak out of wood. I traced the outline of the plastic piece onto paper and cut some planks to match. I put a bit of curve in the top piece as well. I have a thin plastic cutting mat that I put the pattern under. That allowed me to match up the pieces and glue the edges with gumming up the pattern. I still have to sand it down once the glue dries completely.
 

 

 

 
I’m pretty happy about how it’s going so far. Once the glue cures completely, I will sand it down and trim to fit. Of note, once I started down this path of modifying the beak and started looking at different models and pictures I realized that this beak doesn’t match the existing replica at all. I may try to duplicate it but since no one knows what the original looked like anyway, I may not lose sleep over it either.  
thanks for looking.
Dave

Good Morning,
 
Bill, those models look great. Just saw your post now; we've been away for a couple of days.
 
A Saturday morning update -
 
Lately I seem to have the attention span of a gerbil and have been working on all kinds of different things.
 
First, the four vent pipes:
 
They're made out of 1.5mm brass rod, bent into shape. I wanted to indicate the joints. First I tried some Evergreen styrene strips, .01" x .02" but it was much too large to be in scale. Then I tried some rigging thread. By trial and error I discovered that both .5 mm and .25 mm lines were too heavy. I settled on ordinary sewing thread and it seems about right.

 


Next, I was concerned that the supplied piece of dowel was not going to be quite right for the funnel. Taking measurements from the on-line 360 tour, I discovered that at 16mm diameter it was spot one. It was just a matter of flattening the sides to about 12mm. Finishing the funnel is probably next in my peripatetic approach to the details.
 


 
The biggest challenge for me has been the four metal ladders. The ones provided are brass and are not bad quality, but don't look anything like the actual ones on the boat. It took me several attempts, but I have come up with something that I think is acceptable and are a pretty close approximation of the real ones.
 
The three that mount on the deck house have curved tops, flat sides and round rungs. So I used some 1/64" x 1/16" brass strips for the sides. I made a small saw kerf at about the place where I wanted it to bend, and then just bent it using two pairs of pliers. It buckled a little, so using my best blacksmithing skills, I just hammered it flat. It's not very elegant, but once painted gray, it's going to work just fine. The rungs are .5mm wire.
 
I'm really bad at soldering, but I discovered that one of the secrets is to hold the parts very firmly. I made two parallel grooves in a piece of wood. Once I had the holes drilled and the wire rungs inserted, I just placed the sides in the two grooves and gave the whole thing a tap with a hammer to seat it. This worked really well, and it wasn't too difficult to solder each rung in place.
 
The ends of the rungs are snipped off and they've had some cleanup ready for paint. I think these will work, and besides, it's the best I can do, and once I know I've reached that point, I can live with it.
 
The fourth ladder that mounts to the wheelhouse doesn't have a curved top and I'll cut it to length when I get to that point.
 

 
The final item for today is the railing that extends out from the wheelhouse on both sides. These pieces were easy to make and I added the detail to the back side to match that of the real boat.
 

So that's it for now.
Again, many thanks for checking in, likes etc.
David

Small update this morning -
 
I've been working on the wheel house.
 
The first thing was building up the depth of the roof -


Then the assembly was quite simple. The walls are made out of very thin plywood and I didn't like the idea of the exposed edges, so I applied a narrow strip of Tamiya tape over the joints, which both hid the raw edges and more or less replicated the look of the real thing.
 

I noticed that the real wheel house has one operable window, while the rest are all stationary, so I tried to replicate that with the cross bar in the one window. You can't see it in this picture, but I also added an actual steering wheel, which you can see when looking straight one.
 
I also built what is referred to as a cargo scow. I assume it's designed to be towed across snow/ice. It has curved ends and sits on runners. For some reason the kit shows this component as a simple box.
 
 
It's shown below along with the hatch, both of which are not installed yet, but just sitting in their approximate locations.
 

You can also see two of the six gooseneck vents which are not included in the kit. I bought some from Cornwall Model Boats and cut them down to size -

 
I also made the three water outlets, which are not included in the kit, using the valves which are not needed for the vents.
 

To make these I used some 1mm brass rod and some brass tubing just big enough to fit the brass rod and the stem of the valve.
 
That's it for this morning. I'm currently working on a number of the other small deck details.
 
Thanks again for checking in!
 
David
 
 
 
 
 
 

Good Morning,
 
Bill, those models look great. Just saw your post now; we've been away for a couple of days.
 
A Saturday morning update -
 
Lately I seem to have the attention span of a gerbil and have been working on all kinds of different things.
 
First, the four vent pipes:
 
They're made out of 1.5mm brass rod, bent into shape. I wanted to indicate the joints. First I tried some Evergreen styrene strips, .01" x .02" but it was much too large to be in scale. Then I tried some rigging thread. By trial and error I discovered that both .5 mm and .25 mm lines were too heavy. I settled on ordinary sewing thread and it seems about right.

 


Next, I was concerned that the supplied piece of dowel was not going to be quite right for the funnel. Taking measurements from the on-line 360 tour, I discovered that at 16mm diameter it was spot one. It was just a matter of flattening the sides to about 12mm. Finishing the funnel is probably next in my peripatetic approach to the details.
 


 
The biggest challenge for me has been the four metal ladders. The ones provided are brass and are not bad quality, but don't look anything like the actual ones on the boat. It took me several attempts, but I have come up with something that I think is acceptable and are a pretty close approximation of the real ones.
 
The three that mount on the deck house have curved tops, flat sides and round rungs. So I used some 1/64" x 1/16" brass strips for the sides. I made a small saw kerf at about the place where I wanted it to bend, and then just bent it using two pairs of pliers. It buckled a little, so using my best blacksmithing skills, I just hammered it flat. It's not very elegant, but once painted gray, it's going to work just fine. The rungs are .5mm wire.
 
I'm really bad at soldering, but I discovered that one of the secrets is to hold the parts very firmly. I made two parallel grooves in a piece of wood. Once I had the holes drilled and the wire rungs inserted, I just placed the sides in the two grooves and gave the whole thing a tap with a hammer to seat it. This worked really well, and it wasn't too difficult to solder each rung in place.
 
The ends of the rungs are snipped off and they've had some cleanup ready for paint. I think these will work, and besides, it's the best I can do, and once I know I've reached that point, I can live with it.
 
The fourth ladder that mounts to the wheelhouse doesn't have a curved top and I'll cut it to length when I get to that point.
 

 
The final item for today is the railing that extends out from the wheelhouse on both sides. These pieces were easy to make and I added the detail to the back side to match that of the real boat.
 

So that's it for now.
Again, many thanks for checking in, likes etc.
David

Topmast Shrouds
 
The shroud pairs and individual ones (odd number) were made up same as the lower ones:
 

 
A simple jig like that found on countless other build logs was made up with 2 pieces of wire to fit into the upper and lower deadeyes to keep their spacing per the plans and the same to each of their neighbor’s:
 

 

 
 
Once the shrouds were in place it was just a matter of reeving the lanyards thru the deadeyes and securing them:
 

 

 
Next on the to -do list is rigging the Futtock Shrouds, the Catharpans (hopefully) and the ratlines.

Turnbuckles…

I used 1/16” OD Aluminum tubing and copper wire to build dummy turnbuckles. There is no mention of turnbuckles in the instructions. I wanted to try to add this detail and tried to get them small enough to be of proper scale. 😆


Used needle file to cut both sides of tubing. 

Used Copper wire to fit through the tubing. 

Turnbuckle body is held in place with a touch of CA glue. 

 

Bobstays placed
 
 Cheers 🍻 

Good Morning,
 
Bill, those models look great. Just saw your post now; we've been away for a couple of days.
 
A Saturday morning update -
 
Lately I seem to have the attention span of a gerbil and have been working on all kinds of different things.
 
First, the four vent pipes:
 
They're made out of 1.5mm brass rod, bent into shape. I wanted to indicate the joints. First I tried some Evergreen styrene strips, .01" x .02" but it was much too large to be in scale. Then I tried some rigging thread. By trial and error I discovered that both .5 mm and .25 mm lines were too heavy. I settled on ordinary sewing thread and it seems about right.

 


Next, I was concerned that the supplied piece of dowel was not going to be quite right for the funnel. Taking measurements from the on-line 360 tour, I discovered that at 16mm diameter it was spot one. It was just a matter of flattening the sides to about 12mm. Finishing the funnel is probably next in my peripatetic approach to the details.
 


 
The biggest challenge for me has been the four metal ladders. The ones provided are brass and are not bad quality, but don't look anything like the actual ones on the boat. It took me several attempts, but I have come up with something that I think is acceptable and are a pretty close approximation of the real ones.
 
The three that mount on the deck house have curved tops, flat sides and round rungs. So I used some 1/64" x 1/16" brass strips for the sides. I made a small saw kerf at about the place where I wanted it to bend, and then just bent it using two pairs of pliers. It buckled a little, so using my best blacksmithing skills, I just hammered it flat. It's not very elegant, but once painted gray, it's going to work just fine. The rungs are .5mm wire.
 
I'm really bad at soldering, but I discovered that one of the secrets is to hold the parts very firmly. I made two parallel grooves in a piece of wood. Once I had the holes drilled and the wire rungs inserted, I just placed the sides in the two grooves and gave the whole thing a tap with a hammer to seat it. This worked really well, and it wasn't too difficult to solder each rung in place.
 
The ends of the rungs are snipped off and they've had some cleanup ready for paint. I think these will work, and besides, it's the best I can do, and once I know I've reached that point, I can live with it.
 
The fourth ladder that mounts to the wheelhouse doesn't have a curved top and I'll cut it to length when I get to that point.
 

 
The final item for today is the railing that extends out from the wheelhouse on both sides. These pieces were easy to make and I added the detail to the back side to match that of the real boat.
 

So that's it for now.
Again, many thanks for checking in, likes etc.
David

Good Morning,
 
Bill, those models look great. Just saw your post now; we've been away for a couple of days.
 
A Saturday morning update -
 
Lately I seem to have the attention span of a gerbil and have been working on all kinds of different things.
 
First, the four vent pipes:
 
They're made out of 1.5mm brass rod, bent into shape. I wanted to indicate the joints. First I tried some Evergreen styrene strips, .01" x .02" but it was much too large to be in scale. Then I tried some rigging thread. By trial and error I discovered that both .5 mm and .25 mm lines were too heavy. I settled on ordinary sewing thread and it seems about right.

 


Next, I was concerned that the supplied piece of dowel was not going to be quite right for the funnel. Taking measurements from the on-line 360 tour, I discovered that at 16mm diameter it was spot one. It was just a matter of flattening the sides to about 12mm. Finishing the funnel is probably next in my peripatetic approach to the details.
 


 
The biggest challenge for me has been the four metal ladders. The ones provided are brass and are not bad quality, but don't look anything like the actual ones on the boat. It took me several attempts, but I have come up with something that I think is acceptable and are a pretty close approximation of the real ones.
 
The three that mount on the deck house have curved tops, flat sides and round rungs. So I used some 1/64" x 1/16" brass strips for the sides. I made a small saw kerf at about the place where I wanted it to bend, and then just bent it using two pairs of pliers. It buckled a little, so using my best blacksmithing skills, I just hammered it flat. It's not very elegant, but once painted gray, it's going to work just fine. The rungs are .5mm wire.
 
I'm really bad at soldering, but I discovered that one of the secrets is to hold the parts very firmly. I made two parallel grooves in a piece of wood. Once I had the holes drilled and the wire rungs inserted, I just placed the sides in the two grooves and gave the whole thing a tap with a hammer to seat it. This worked really well, and it wasn't too difficult to solder each rung in place.
 
The ends of the rungs are snipped off and they've had some cleanup ready for paint. I think these will work, and besides, it's the best I can do, and once I know I've reached that point, I can live with it.
 
The fourth ladder that mounts to the wheelhouse doesn't have a curved top and I'll cut it to length when I get to that point.
 

 
The final item for today is the railing that extends out from the wheelhouse on both sides. These pieces were easy to make and I added the detail to the back side to match that of the real boat.
 

So that's it for now.
Again, many thanks for checking in, likes etc.
David

I too have a long way to go on my soldering skills,  or lack of them.
I did ok on a 1:48 scratch built tug on my first attempt at soldering rails but failed miserably on a 1:72 plastic LCT kit. But on the plastic kit I used polystyrene rod and glued it. Came out pretty good. I think I will try that again for the ladders. Also I'll try gluing brass rod pieces.
    Bill

Dave, My crows nests are finished.  They look like the might be a bit thick (scalewise)but I think they will be OK once installed

Small update this morning -
 
I've been working on the wheel house.
 
The first thing was building up the depth of the roof -


Then the assembly was quite simple. The walls are made out of very thin plywood and I didn't like the idea of the exposed edges, so I applied a narrow strip of Tamiya tape over the joints, which both hid the raw edges and more or less replicated the look of the real thing.
 

I noticed that the real wheel house has one operable window, while the rest are all stationary, so I tried to replicate that with the cross bar in the one window. You can't see it in this picture, but I also added an actual steering wheel, which you can see when looking straight one.
 
I also built what is referred to as a cargo scow. I assume it's designed to be towed across snow/ice. It has curved ends and sits on runners. For some reason the kit shows this component as a simple box.
 
 
It's shown below along with the hatch, both of which are not installed yet, but just sitting in their approximate locations.
 

You can also see two of the six gooseneck vents which are not included in the kit. I bought some from Cornwall Model Boats and cut them down to size -

 
I also made the three water outlets, which are not included in the kit, using the valves which are not needed for the vents.
 

To make these I used some 1mm brass rod and some brass tubing just big enough to fit the brass rod and the stem of the valve.
 
That's it for this morning. I'm currently working on a number of the other small deck details.
 
Thanks again for checking in!
 
David
 
 
 
 
 
 

David, thanks for chiming in! There is so little information on this kit and no build logs. I found, now, two people who have built it but just have a finished product to show. 
I agree with the combination media idiocy. Why!?
I will try your idea with the paper backing. The backside will be hard to see once the sprit and rigging is installed. I will also use your ideas for the “Y”-shaped thingy (all sailors are cringing at this landlubber’s use of lingo) and deadman. 
The grating isn’t glued yet. Just trying to keep multiple pieces together with two hands. I think I will need to shorten the wooden keel bit to match the length of the grating/beak assembly. 
thanks for looking. 
Dave
 

So, here are some pictures of my progress.
 
I wanted to replicate the steel cladding on the hull and wasn't sure how to do it. I ordered some thin foil, but unfortunately when it arrived, it was much too heavy to manipulate, so a thought occurred to me, and here is the result:

I used masking tape. The beauty of it is, it will stretch in more than one direction. I don't know what the longevity of it will be, but to be honest I don't care. I'm old and realistically, how long does anyone need this thing to last?
 
I represented the nails, or rivets, or whatever they should be called, with a mechanical pencil with no lead in it. It was the ideal tool to make the round indentations. They don't show up too much from a normal viewing distance, but just enough.
 

First, I built up the raised area
 

Then tapered it.
 

Then I applied the masking tape, trying to duplicate the actual pattern, and used multiple layers to get the effect needed.
 
Next up was the deck house. This was actually a bit trickier to position correctly than I anticipated. I planked each of the four walls first and after a quite a bit of swearing, got everything more or less square and secure.

The plastic port holes are going to look just fine. They need another coat of paint, of course, and I still have a bit of "corner work" to do.
 
The roof had me concerned for a moment, It's a one-piece sheet of thin plywood, which is intended to be planked. My concern was how to treat the edges. On the real boat, there is a nice overhang on all sides, which is finished with a bullnose. There was no real overhang with the provided roof and I wasn't sure how to treat the edges, so I decided to discard the plywood roof and thin planking, in favour of using heavier 1/16" x 3/32" planks for the centre area and 1/'16" x 1/4" planks for a frame. It was easy to give the 1/16" stock a nice looking bullnose.
 

First I added some framework.
 

The I rounded over the outside edge of the edge pieces.

I handled the centre section, where the pilot house sits, separately.

Then I filled in the rest and it's ready to be painted and have the crazy complicated collection of things added on top.
 
Many thanks for checking in!
David
 
 

A little progress to report -
 
I finished up the planking and painted the gray on the hull.
 

 
I intend to add all the stanchions to the bulwarks as well as the waterways, both of which are missing from the kit. In order to do that, I broke off (some by accident) all of the bulkhead extensions.
 
I added the first strip of the waterways (1/32" x 1/16") to the subdeck following its contour. Without the bulkhead extensions, I needed something to place the upper hull pieces against. The waterway created a small lip.
 

I glued the upper hull pieces in place.
 


I added the second strip of the the waterways.


The bulwarks are planked on the inside, just at the stern and bow of the boat. This detail is omitted from the kit, but I wanted to add it. I have the stern done.


There is a hawse opening at the stern of the boat which I wanted to add as well, so I've cut it in, using the hawse trim (from BlueJacket) as a guide. There are none included in the kit, but I'll add them for all five of the hawse openings. The smallest ones from BlueJacket are about the right length, but just a tad too high. A gentle squeeze with a pair of pliers fixed it easily.
 

I added the planking to the upper hull at the bow and the stern.
 


That's everything so far. Please forgive how rough everything looks. I know I still have plenty of sanding and painting ahead of me.
 
Many thanks for the comments and 'likes.'
 
David

I've been working on various deck details.
Here's how I built the hatch -
 
The hatch on the boat as it is at Vancouver Maritime Museum-

The challenge with this kit is determining what size the deck details ought to be. For example, the kit provided hatch is 50 mm long, but on the plan it shows it as 61 mm long. The 360 degree tour that's available online has a measuring tool, which I am finding to be quite accurate. So, the idea is to consider all the different sizes - the kit component, the plans, the 360 degree tour measurement, and the actual model itself. It's a matter of experimenting and determining what will fit and looks about right.
 
Here's the kit provided hatch -
It's three pieces of pre-cut plywood stacked and finished off with a plastic top. Quite apart from its incorrect length, it's a bit too high as well.


Having determined what size it needed to be. (I can't remember off hand, what those dimensions are)  I used 1/16" x 1/8" stock. I built it in the same "finger joint" style of the real one, but that little detail doesn't really show up after it's painted.
 



A thin top brought it up to 10.5 mm which is pretty close to the correct height in scale.
 

I added a canvas cover using sail material from a previous kit -
 

Next up is the cargo scow.
 
Jumping ahead to these details is to give me something to do while coats of filler on the hull dry.
 
David
 
 

I'm back with a build log after a bit of an absence. I've had multiple health problems over the past year, which is in part why I didn't do a build log for my HMS Pegasus and why it took me so long to build it, being away from my shop for long periods of time. However, I seem to be in decent shape for the time being (touch wood) and am back at my workbench.
 
In my hiatus I had been pondering what my next project would be when I stumbled across this model on the Billing website, and after a little bit more research I knew I had found it.
 
This one appealed to me for several reasons:
-I wanted something simpler than my last few builds had been
-this one has almost no rigging!
-it's a Canadian boat. I haven't seen any other one available as a model, apart from the Bluenose
-it has a remarkable history - it's only the second boat to ever travel through the Northwest Passage and the first to make the trip twice - it's the first do make the voyage in under one year and it's the first to circumnavigate North America - it resides today at the Vancouver Maritime Museum, has been declared a National Historic Site and the great Stan Rogers recorded a song about it.
-there are plenty of pictures and videos online to use as a reference
-did I mention that it has almost no rigging?
 

When I was in my 20's I built (very badly) a Billing model, but I don't recall if the quality of the kit was good or bad and I had no frame of reference in any case. So this is for all intents and purposes my first Billing kit and I have a mixed reaction to it.
 
So far the good things are:
-the laser cutting is very good and the bulkheads and centre keel fit together extremely well. They're as good as I have ever encountered.
-there are quite few specialized brass fittings which are really nice and of good quality.
-while the model is simplified, there are no glaring errors in its representation of the real boat.
 
However, there are some negatives too:
-there are too many poor quality plastic fittings which come on a sprue just like it was a plastic model car kit.
-the hull and deck planking material is pretty rough and not very consistent in width.
-while I did want a simpler model, there is too much simplification with this one. Built straight out of the box it would look like one of those gift shop ship models. At 1:72 it's large enough for the designer to have incorporated much more detail.
-the plans are poorly drawn. The instruction book is all but useless, which is fine - I didn't expect it to be otherwise, but the plans are disappointing. They appear to be a 1:1 representation of the model, but they are very inaccurate. For example for some of the deck components there are discrepancies in size of up to 1/2" between the elevation and plan views. It's impossible to take measurements from the plan.
 

Nevertheless, it's going to be lots of fun adding detail and upgrading many of the fittings. I currently have big orders in at BlueJacket and Cornwall.
 
So far, I have the hull planked, in my usual "suitable for filler and paint" style. I'm a terrible planker, but I never worry about it because filler and paint are my best friends. I've used some planking from my stash, rather than the kit provided planking.
 

 
I've made two improvements to the stern area. The kit instructions would have you just cut all of the planking off even at the last bulkhead before the stern. Then you add the two stern blocks and sand them even with the finished planking, leaving them unplanked, just to be painted. I chose to install the stern blocks first and plank over them in the usual way, however I found it to be quite a difficult stern to plank.
 
Secondly, the kit provides for no opening to accept the rudder; it's meant to just butt up against the bottom of the hull. The real boat has a framed rectangular opening, so I added that detail.
 

 
 
That's where I'm at!
 
David
 
 
 

Small update this morning -
 
I've been working on the wheel house.
 
The first thing was building up the depth of the roof -


Then the assembly was quite simple. The walls are made out of very thin plywood and I didn't like the idea of the exposed edges, so I applied a narrow strip of Tamiya tape over the joints, which both hid the raw edges and more or less replicated the look of the real thing.
 

I noticed that the real wheel house has one operable window, while the rest are all stationary, so I tried to replicate that with the cross bar in the one window. You can't see it in this picture, but I also added an actual steering wheel, which you can see when looking straight one.
 
I also built what is referred to as a cargo scow. I assume it's designed to be towed across snow/ice. It has curved ends and sits on runners. For some reason the kit shows this component as a simple box.
 
 
It's shown below along with the hatch, both of which are not installed yet, but just sitting in their approximate locations.
 

You can also see two of the six gooseneck vents which are not included in the kit. I bought some from Cornwall Model Boats and cut them down to size -

 
I also made the three water outlets, which are not included in the kit, using the valves which are not needed for the vents.
 

To make these I used some 1mm brass rod and some brass tubing just big enough to fit the brass rod and the stem of the valve.
 
That's it for this morning. I'm currently working on a number of the other small deck details.
 
Thanks again for checking in!
 
David
 
 
 
 
 
 

Small update this morning -
 
I've been working on the wheel house.
 
The first thing was building up the depth of the roof -


Then the assembly was quite simple. The walls are made out of very thin plywood and I didn't like the idea of the exposed edges, so I applied a narrow strip of Tamiya tape over the joints, which both hid the raw edges and more or less replicated the look of the real thing.
 

I noticed that the real wheel house has one operable window, while the rest are all stationary, so I tried to replicate that with the cross bar in the one window. You can't see it in this picture, but I also added an actual steering wheel, which you can see when looking straight one.
 
I also built what is referred to as a cargo scow. I assume it's designed to be towed across snow/ice. It has curved ends and sits on runners. For some reason the kit shows this component as a simple box.
 
 
It's shown below along with the hatch, both of which are not installed yet, but just sitting in their approximate locations.
 

You can also see two of the six gooseneck vents which are not included in the kit. I bought some from Cornwall Model Boats and cut them down to size -

 
I also made the three water outlets, which are not included in the kit, using the valves which are not needed for the vents.
 

To make these I used some 1mm brass rod and some brass tubing just big enough to fit the brass rod and the stem of the valve.
 
That's it for this morning. I'm currently working on a number of the other small deck details.
 
Thanks again for checking in!
 
David
 
 
 
 
 
 

Small update this morning -
 
I've been working on the wheel house.
 
The first thing was building up the depth of the roof -


Then the assembly was quite simple. The walls are made out of very thin plywood and I didn't like the idea of the exposed edges, so I applied a narrow strip of Tamiya tape over the joints, which both hid the raw edges and more or less replicated the look of the real thing.
 

I noticed that the real wheel house has one operable window, while the rest are all stationary, so I tried to replicate that with the cross bar in the one window. You can't see it in this picture, but I also added an actual steering wheel, which you can see when looking straight one.
 
I also built what is referred to as a cargo scow. I assume it's designed to be towed across snow/ice. It has curved ends and sits on runners. For some reason the kit shows this component as a simple box.
 
 
It's shown below along with the hatch, both of which are not installed yet, but just sitting in their approximate locations.
 

You can also see two of the six gooseneck vents which are not included in the kit. I bought some from Cornwall Model Boats and cut them down to size -

 
I also made the three water outlets, which are not included in the kit, using the valves which are not needed for the vents.
 

To make these I used some 1mm brass rod and some brass tubing just big enough to fit the brass rod and the stem of the valve.
 
That's it for this morning. I'm currently working on a number of the other small deck details.
 
Thanks again for checking in!
 
David
 
 
 
 
 
 

Small update this morning -
 
I've been working on the wheel house.
 
The first thing was building up the depth of the roof -


Then the assembly was quite simple. The walls are made out of very thin plywood and I didn't like the idea of the exposed edges, so I applied a narrow strip of Tamiya tape over the joints, which both hid the raw edges and more or less replicated the look of the real thing.
 

I noticed that the real wheel house has one operable window, while the rest are all stationary, so I tried to replicate that with the cross bar in the one window. You can't see it in this picture, but I also added an actual steering wheel, which you can see when looking straight one.
 
I also built what is referred to as a cargo scow. I assume it's designed to be towed across snow/ice. It has curved ends and sits on runners. For some reason the kit shows this component as a simple box.
 
 
It's shown below along with the hatch, both of which are not installed yet, but just sitting in their approximate locations.
 

You can also see two of the six gooseneck vents which are not included in the kit. I bought some from Cornwall Model Boats and cut them down to size -

 
I also made the three water outlets, which are not included in the kit, using the valves which are not needed for the vents.
 

To make these I used some 1mm brass rod and some brass tubing just big enough to fit the brass rod and the stem of the valve.
 
That's it for this morning. I'm currently working on a number of the other small deck details.
 
Thanks again for checking in!
 
David
 
 
 
 
 
 

Ratlines Complete!!!

Onwards! 🍻

Hello Everyone,
Well, I have finished my restoration of this old model and I'm reasonably happy with the result. I have to thank Bill again for sending me the plans; I don't think I could have done it without them. I've tried to keep it as similar to the original modeler's vision as possible. I resisted the urge to replace a couple of parts that I could likely have done better and I kept the paint scheme the same, even though it doesn't correspond exactly to the plan's directions. The only two major changes I made that I thought had to happen were the addition of ratlines - I'm not sure why they had been omitted - and I redrew the waterline which now corresponds to the plans. The result here is a slightly larger yellow section.
 
Now, I will reorganize my workbench and open my Fresh Prince of Neufchatel kit and it's time to start thinking about what kit to get to have waiting on the shelf. I'm finding that I'm increasingly drawn to these American privateers, Baltimore Clippers etc, so I'm considering the Pride of Baltimore II, but my concern is that it's pretty similar to this Virginia privateer. My other thought is the Charles W. Morgan, for a real change of pace and it appears to be quite challenging. As much as I would like to build the Victory and especially since my visit to see it last September, I really don't think I'm up for another mammoth build, nor for such a massive model to have to find a spot for. So I will keep pondering and I'm sure the right answer will come to me.
 
Thanks for the likes and comments,
David



 


 
 

Hi All,
I finished my Rattlesnake model yesterday and here are a couple of photos. The rigging went very smoothly without too many red-dos. (Don, you may notice that I changed the pendants for the braces from natural to black.) This is not a very large model, but boy does it ever have a lot of rigging. The little coils that hang on the belaying pins always drive me crazy. They need a drop of glue on the back to hold them, but if you get a bit too much, it bleeds through to the front and looks terrible. Because they don't have the heft that the real lines do, they need a fair bit of fiddling with to hang half decently. Most of my do-overs involved these.
 
I'm taking a break now until the holidays are over, and I'm not sure which of my two projects I'll start on next in the new year. Either my Prince de Neufchatel or my Virginia Privateer restoration - I'm not sure yet. 
 
I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season!
 
David