Canute

It makes sense to do so with these cutters. Shallow draft, packs a punch.  It will be interesting to see how the bulwarks get reinforced. And increasing armament to 12 3 pounders. Bravo Zulu, little squirrels!

Tom, looking good. On your deck, is it black plastic or some other color? I've used a medium to dark grey for the base coat on the plastic. Flat black may be too stark. Light sanding to expose the grain will work well. Some have used an india ink in isopropal alcohol wash to highlight, too.

Spales, eh. Great idea; I'll have to make a few. Can't have too many clamps.

Long as that idea wasn't copyrighted, use it. The first rule of war is "If in doubt, cheat!"

Oh great, Cap'n Steve, the Borg. You will be assimilated...

Folks, thanks for all the capsule bios. Screen handles now make more sense.

Well, a minor doubling back on myself. I've been busy digging out of the snow we had here in WNC, so I hadn't looked at the launch since Sunday. I was contemplating the port sheer plank and noticed it looked like a hockey stick on the hood end. How'd that happen, I opined.   I looked at my first 3 molds and realized I hadn't faired them after adding the cherry frames to molds 4 thru 15. If you look at the first and third photos in #50, you can see, in HD, that they aren't faired in yet. Frame 1 left a crimp in the sheer plank worthy of one of those hand planking benders. So, this afternoon, I "handled" that little issue. All nicely faired in.

The port garboard turned out much better; fits into the rabbet better than what the photos show. So, I'm hoping to get the planking started this weekend.

Augie, awesome milling and joinery. Up to your usual high standards, sir.

STSCM, good luck with the build. It's a Chuck Passaro kit, so parts and instructions should be excellent. And MSW is a great resource, too. As you've already seen.

Nihil illigitimus carborundum! Don't let the bas**rds grind you down. (With apologies to Virgil and all those other old Romans )

Matt, are you steaming/boiling or just pressure fitting your planks? I presume the latter, since you're zipping right along and using CA.

The rabbet seems to be good, although your joint at the stem is in shadow. I used a steel binder clamp to hold the hood end of the planks in the rabbet. Don't want to leave my finger prints where they shouldn't be.

Keep on truckin'.

I've had a Stylus for a number of years. It's handy for me; used it to rough shape the Bounty Launch stem before final shaping with sanding sticks. The lithium ion battery has held up very well. Does sound like my dentist's office, but then all my Dremels sound like that.

Jonny, sorry to hear that.    Hope you're happy with the fix, but I have a teensy suspicion this "faux pas" will fester and you'll be replacing that bowsprit.

The tread-heads, aircraft modelers and, more recently, model railroaders use rivet decals from  http://www.archertransfers.com/index.html

Check them out if you need strings of rivets.

I use pieces of plastic bags as my glue "palette" and like Jay a round toothpick or an unbent paper clip. As that old ad said, "a little dab will do ya". Neatness does count!

Nice looking work, Joe. Like your photos.

Sanding or dipping in white vinegar (mild acetic acid) will both do a good job of prepping the brass for a good primer, like Keith suggests. You still may end up retouching the paint after flexing the etch brass after attaching it to your model. Use a very fine brush fir that.

Don't think that's correct about Mamoli being out of business. They were shut down due to a fire last year, but are back in operation. I just can't cite exactly where I read it here on MSW.

Yeah, tough life for a squirrel.

Like we keep saying, this ain't no race.    Read a little, converse with the squirrels, talk to Junior, mull your moves before launching off a tree branch, Rocky.

Ah, schmeckt zehr gut!    Although, you might have enjoyed a Bitburger Pils with what looks like sauerbraten.     But, that's just me. Three years in the Eifel affects you that way.

Matt, I really like the lines of the Ranger. I'm pulling up a chair in the front row to watch this build.

I'm the newbie here, so all I can say is WOW. Your workmanship and perseverance is superb. My hat's off to you. Cheers!

Jonny, any model train shops near you? They may have some brass wire in stock. We have an outfit called Detail Associates (DA) that makes round brass wire. If my ciphering is correct, 1mm equals .040 inches and  DA carries that size. They go all the way down to .006 inch wire.There are other brands, too. Maybe try a local hardware store, too.

Staring at the screen like that does a number on your eyes. Back when PCs were new (mid 80's), we had monochrome amber screens. I had to do data entry for my unit's weapons scores. If I spent more than a half hour doing that, I'd get bleary eyed. The other Weapons officer wore his sunglasses to do entries, it bothered his eyes so much. The CO thought we were daft, but our inspection results were always top notch, so he humored us.

Matt, my Italian Gramma did that kind of beautiful work. I have 2 pieces for putting under lamps, inherited from my Mom. Sis got all the rest of the handiwork. That is some beautiful work!

And as Keith says, it makes a lot of sense that Captain Bligh would carry the barricoes that way. They keep liquids in, so they can also keep salt water out. I work with a lady who crochets. Maybe I can talk her into doing something like this.

Scott, excellent work installing all those knees.And nice camera work, shooting through the gunports.