BobG

Thank you VTHokiEE, Ryland, Glenn, Justin, Grant and Don for your kind thoughts and words. My wife and I and our son are in Pebble Beach for a week. We rented a nice house with a view of ocean over the tops of the Monterey Pine and Cyprus trees. It's a stunningly beautiful area. So we'll have a wonderful, relaxing week here and I'll have ample time to continue playing my guitar too. The whole Monterey area is very special to me since I spent 2 1/2 years here attending Monterey Peninsula College after I got out of the service back in 1970-72. The memories always come flooding back to me from those days long gone by every time I return to visit the area. Those were perhaps the most transformative years of my life as I struck out on my own after having grown up in a small town in Indiana followed by 4 years in the Coast Guard. A long road trip wandering up the entire coast of California from LA eventually brought me to Monterey with $50 left in my pocket. My hair was down to my shoulders and everything I owned including my 1964 Gibson guitar was in the back seat of my '69 VW Bug when I arrived. I was fortunate to have the GI Bill available to use to go to college but I wasn't sure that I would personally fit into the college environment let alone be successful in the classroom. It turns out that my decision to try and go to school was one of the major turning points of my life. With the support of some wonderful, dedicated instructors and mentors, I ended up being an honor student and eventually transferred on to UC Davis. Those instructors saw something in me that I didn't see in myself. They supported me when I doubted myself and almost quit and, as a result, I stayed in school and new set of doors opened up for me to journey through. I am forever grateful to them for having profoundly influenced the trajectory of my life. So, although I'm feeling the itch to get back to work on my model, It will be at least a week before I return to the shipyard. Until then I'll continue to enjoy reading the forum and trying to learn a thing a two. Stay healthy and safe everyone.

I was just looking over your wonderful build again, Kevin. Those are beautiful brass fittings. Are all of those supplied from the kit?

Well, as they say, when it rains, it pours. I've had a couple of medical issues pop up and that has taken some time and attention. About a month ago I came down with an intestinal infection that required some heavy duty antibiotics and took me 3 weeks to get back to normal. Then to top it off I noticed a lump in my upper chest. I ended up having to have a mammogram and an ultrasound. The radiologist thinks it is "probably benign" and we will just monitor it for a while and do another ultrasound in 6 months. Now I know what women have to go through on a routine basis! This all came as a bit of a shock to me since I have always have been very healthy and physically fit and active in general. I'm an avid cyclist and my wife and I eat very healthy food. So all of these medical appointments along with the rampant Covid-19 surge everywhere has left me a bit unsettled. So I'll just take it a day at a time right now. I have also gotten back into playing my guitar a lot lately. I had been so focused on ship modeling in the past 2 yers that I wasn't playing my guitar much at all. I began playing again recently and realized how much I love it and have missed playing. So I'll be back on my build pretty soon. My mind has just be elsewhere for a while. Thanks for checking in. Stay safe and healthy everyone!

I've joined into following your build since I have the same model an the shelf waiting for it's time in shipyard. I'm a big fan of working with each plank until it nearly sits exactly on the hull without any clamps by prebending the plank using dry heat while slightly moistening the plank. Clamping the plank to my work table and then bending and twisting it while heating it with a hair dryer to create those compound curves near the bow works very well also.

I agree with everyone else that showing the lines between the planks and joints on wooden hulls adds to the realism of the model especially on these hard working boats.

Absolutely gorgeous, Joe! She going to be a showpiece!

I totally agree with your decision to scratch build those pump. They will look much better than those metal ones.

Absolutely wonderful! This is a lovely, interesting and colorful boat.

Very, very nicely done, Yves. I think you've already convinced me that this model should be on my tick list.

Lot of progress, vaddoc. I'm enjoying following along on your build log. I have no doubt that this will be anything but another wonderful model when you're finished with her.

Your model is looking great, Matus, and the finish line is in sight. Great photos of you and Zara hiking in the mountains too.

I have always thought this was a wonderful looking model and you're doing a great job on it, Jeff. Thank you also for your health care work. These are incredibly difficult times for all health care workers who accept the risk of their professions while being dedicated to caring for others. Hopefully, we'll put these terribly sad days behind us in the near future.

Absolutely gorgeous, BE. She's a showpiece! You've set the bar high for the rest of us who will be building this model.

Any further progress on this wonderful model?

Wonderful, Yves, I really like this model!

Gorgeous model. Congratulations!

Stunningly beautiful! I'm looking forward to your next ship model.

The servings on your shrouds look great. I really enjoy using Chuck's serving machine.

Very nice work, Erik!

Very nice work, Don, and thanks for showing us that equal space divider. It looks like a really cool, useful tool. Do you have a link to where you bought it?

Looks great, Yves!

Beautiful work and your build log is fantastic! This will be an impressive model when you are finished.

Beautiful work, Ryland. I had a heck of a time trying to make the thimbles the way Chuck does. I ended up filing off the top half of some small brass tubing so it was then opened up into a U shape. Then I cut the tubing into small sections and rolled them so they made small, circular thimbles. Your thimbles and blocks look great.

True...she'll be an unusual, impressive model for sure!

Great build log. I'm aboard for the journey...