GuntherMT

I tried to use some of the Model Shipways rigging line from the AVS in my Carmen build, and I thought that stuff was just horrible. If you manage to make good looking rigging out of that stuff without pulling all your hair out, then you have super powers that I do not possess. Good luck, certainly paying attention here!

If I've learned one thing while watching this amazing build (great painting btw), it's that I am never, not in a million years, going to get this kit.

Kind of hard to tell on the stains with the lighting in the pictures to be honest, but I like the lighter colored deck and I'm not sure I see much (if any) difference between the un-stained deck and the one on the left, other than consistency, but that could be simply due to using a single piece of planking for the test sample vs. the many pieces in the deck. I think the differences between the different planks on the deck look good though, so who knows.

On glue, I've tended to use almost nothing but Titebond wood glue (although I'm using quite a lot of CA - Zap-A-Gap medium on the stuff I'm working on right now) so far. If you get a nice thin coating on both pieces and let them tack up just a little, it grabs quite nicely in just a couple of minutes as long as the pieces don't have lots of tension on them requiring long term clamping. Glue seems to be one area where everyone has different preferences, but the consensus that I've picked up here is that as long as whatever you are using works well for you, then it's the "right" glue to use.

Nice first post in your log. Look forward to seeing this, as you appear to have a very meticulous approach which should serve you well. To add to your points in squaring up the bulkheads, also check that they are centered side to side, as some models do not have the slots centered, and in the case of one that is loose like you indicate this is, you can easily get them off-center. On the 10 picture limit, I've posted plenty of times with more than 10 pictures in a single post, so I don't think that limit really exists.

I think it looks very striking. I'm a terrible person to ask if it's "right" though, as I'm less than two months into this hobby, and I've seen all kinds of different 'looks' on decking and trenails. There are some great tutorials on planking that talk about various ways of doing it right here on the forums in the planking subforum - look in the stickied posts and read all of those tutorials/guilds, and go with what you personally like the best, in my opinion.

I hope the mahogany resting place has a very prominent place of honor in your home, it certainly deserves it. Look forward to the next one!

Hi Keith, Am I allowed to say Wow in response too? Because wow.. that's a post! Actually I started the Carmen on August 15th, and found this site a week or so later via a referral. So yea, it's been less than two months believe it or not. Seems longer indeed. I haven't actually taken Chuck's blocks out of the packaging yet to compare them to be honest. Rigging is still a long ways off, so I put them all into a parts bin with the rigging line until they are needed. Maybe I'll do a comparison this weekend. As far as rope walks, I'm considering a serving machine, but I don't think I'm going to go into the rope-walk area, as sourcing the thread and figuring out how much and what types of thread in order to make different sizes of rigging just doesn't sound like fun at all to me. Scratch building isn't in my near, or even reasonably far future. The early portion of those builds that requires extensive research, as well as laying out all the parts and cutting them is not only something I don't really think I'd have the patience to do, but I also don't have any sort of reasonable workshop or tools to be creating my own bulkheads or frames, etc. So for a while I'm going to be sticking to kits. Obviously I'm not above changing the kits to some degree with better materials, I really haven't "scratched" anything (I don't really think shimming stuff counts), or even really needed to make any serious replacement parts. I have decided that an empty pair of gunports on the AVS is entirely unacceptable, so I've orders materials to rectify that little problem so my AVS will have 8 long guns, instead of 6 (hopefully, if they'll fit). On the photography, I'm using an old (as in from the late 90's I think?) Cannon Powershot S3 point and shoot camera that's working pretty well, but it has some serious limitations. This goofy hobby may make me finally break down and get a DSLR, as I've taken more photo's in the last two months than in the last 10 years. Every time I look at Dubz photo's I drool a little bit over his picture quality (not to mention his build quality). Thanks very much for the lengthy note and comments. My reaction while reading this really was 'Wow'. I tip my hat to you sir and look forward to the future here on MSW as I continue to pour ridiculous amounts of money into silly little wooden boats. Also thanks to all the others who have clicked like on various things in this log, they are noticed and appreciated!

Thanks Brian. You chose a much more difficult kit than I did for a first build. The Carmen is not only much simpler than the Niagra, it's also much smaller, and mistakes are not as visible as on a larger kit I believe. Keep at it and you'll get there, and if it's too much, set it aside and tackle something simpler to get your skills up, and don't be afraid to tear down and redo stuff. I've done a fair amount of that even on the Carmen. As far as stealing it, the Carmen now lives at my office, which is in a secured building, so I'd recommend against the attempt. Carlmb - thank you for the kind words.

I shimmed a bunch of the bulkheads on my AVS for the same reason giantdog, and I believe that it's the right way to proceed. Worst case is you end up sanding the shim all back off. Take a look at the early parts of my current AVS build if you'd like to see pictures of the shimmed bulkheads and how they ended up fairing.

Agreed, superb job on the boats.

Looking good. I plan to tackle the Niagra at some point in the future, so watching this (and all the other Niagra builds) with great interest.

Rick, thanks for that tip, I will have to remember it for the future. Dave, that's exactly what I did - I shimmed almost every bulkhead at the bottom after getting the tops aligned to the keel. I think I detailed that in the log, and it worked out nicely. When fairing, I simply faired the bulkheads down until the highest bulkheads were showing original bulkhead material instead of shim to get the final fairing level to something near the original bulkheads size (i.e. to prevent the bulkheads from being too 'fat'). Currently I'm still working on the stern, and having some difficulty getting things to line up to where I'm happy with them, but plodding along, so nothing really new to report today. Getting close to one of our periodic releases at work (software update release) so less time to tinker with the ship (I'm actually taking a short break from work at home right now, then will get back to it tonight). Still expect to finish up the stern in the next couple of days, hopefully with nothing planned on Saturday I can muddle through it and have something to post for an update. Thanks all,

Looking very nice. I like the stitching together of the pictures to form a progress 'movie'.

Alistair, I have nothing to blame but my own ham fisted handling of the ship for breaking the extensions. While holding the hull to work on the stern (or the waterways the first time) I simply applied too much pressure with my holding hand instead of keeping the holding pressure to my fingers that were not against the extensions. Thanks for the likes and following along everyone,

I'll bring you some more at the meeting in a couple weeks.

So took last night off as I worked late and was tired, so didn't feel like I should tackle the other waterway shaping. Tonight I shaped the second waterway, and then placed both waterways on the sub deck. In the process of trying to hold one of them tight while the glue took a set (really have no idea how I would get a clamp on these, so I used CVA with CA at the points that didn't want to stay down on the deck) I managed to break my first bulkhead extension. It didn't break all the way off, and broke right at the top edge of the waterway, so I was able to just inject some CVA between the extension and the outer planking and hold it there for a couple minutes to repair it. I then placed the first of the transom planks using an oversized plank so that it could be trimmed down after. And then I completed the transom planking down to the bottom of the wale. While trimming the transom planks, I managed to break another bulkhead extension. This one is on the quarterdeck, so no real way to repair it right now. I'm just going to try to be very careful and not finish breaking it (like the other, it's cracked, not broken completely off) before I get the upper planking in so I can glue it to the outer planking. I trimmed the basswood planks I had previously placed a little bit short of the transom planking, as the plans show that I need to add a short 'false plank' section out of walnut at the stern end of those planks as the basswood will show from the stern. I am not going to try to place those walnut pieces right now, but will wait until I can see what is actually exposed and how best to do it.

Fantastic looking, and great details!

Hi Robert! I somehow have not seen this build before. Looks like a nice ship to model, and I look forward to seeing it progress. 1:35 is a nice scale too, don't think I've seen a ship of this type in that large of scale before, only the ships boats, and the gunboats. Looking great so far, and nice save on the keel.

Nicely done so far. I really like your painting method on the decorations, and thanks for explaining it.

That's fantastic work on the blocks/pulleys. However, I'm pretty sure this may be an indicator that you are crazy.

Lovely work on the hull, looks great!

Nice idea on the brass for the rudder. Looks good.

Thanks Russ, So I seem to be making a habit of doing stuff wrong and then having to fix it. This one was annoying, but not damaging at least - after my update I was staring at the plans again, specifically the planking cross section, and it dawned on me that the 1/16" measurement for the bevel on the top of the waterway is measured from the outside edge, leaving the bevel running from the spirketing plank to the deck plank with no 'flat' visible on the waterway at all. I had measured from the inside edge, meaning that I was leaving a flat area between the spirketing plank, and the beginning of the bevel. So, another hour or so later, I've completely re-beveled that port waterway to a new mark, 1/16" from the bulwark edge. Time for bed now before I find something else wrong!

Hi Vivian, You said you waxed the false keel. I've never seen anyone mention doing that before, what is the purpose if I might ask? Thanks!