ccoyle

Here are the post sanding picks.  I know this borders on sacrilege to the purists out there... but I gave it a first pass using my really cool Dremel/rotary tool extension and a 60 grit tip on slow speed.  The extension allows you to hold it like a pencil and really lightly and specifically cover areas. 
 

 
  After I evened out the hull in general terms, I gave it more traditional sanding with 150, 220, 400, and 600 grit. There are a few slight gaps that I filled in with glue/sawdust (which is why they show up a little darker) or "Wonderfill". 
 
 
 
 
 
Next steps are to carve out a new rabbet line for the second planking layer, then I'm going to draw out the planking plans with pencil onto the light wood so I can scale out the necessary tapering and (possibly) stealers. 
 
 
 
 

Meanwhile, the planking has progressed pretty nicely. As I mentioned before, I've decided to go with stealers so that I can just use the planks from the kit rather than cut wider ones for the stern. Honestly, I'm not that confident in my ability to get them perfectly straight along the length of the hull and don't want too many gaps to fill.   Here's my exercise in stealers at the stern - cutting card stock to measure and use as a template, then fill in the plank.
 
 
 

 
   Meanwhile, this little plank that meets the transom and the stern post is pretty tricky. It took me several tries to get the card stock measured, then another couple of tries to translate it to wood.
 
 
 
 
 
 
    From there it was filling in the hull from the keel and the gun ports.  Of course by the time I got to the middle my measurements were off and I needed a couple more stealers.  Despite not having a completely cleanly planked hull, I'm pretty happy with way it turned out.  This is all pre-sanding of course, and I'll also need to thin out the area near the keel and stern to create a new beard line and rabbet. 
 
    
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  

When I put together the ship stove I added a temporary vent that is removable. The actual vent needs to be measured and inserted through the quarterdeck into the stove after assembly.  The realistic vent caused me quite a bit of consternation in determining exactly how to make it happen. It's a very visible piece, so needs to be a good representation.     I'm not particularly adept at silver soldering, but that was pretty much the only way to go here. There really isn't any kind of glue that works well for small metal bits - and JB weld or other epoxy is just super messy.  At any rate, I cut a small brass tube at a 45 degree angle, then reassembled it 'backward' to create a 90 degree vent.          This took me a few tries before I got it right, and got it to stick.  Each time I tried to either sand down the newly soldered vent parts or cut the vent to size, it would break off and I'd have to start again. The vent cover was a really tricky little bit.  I drilled to small holes into a circular piece of brass and used cut off straight pins as mounts.            After measuring to the quarterdeck I sized out the brass vent, then blackened it (which only partially worked). I ended up having to give it a light coat of matte black paint, then the same metalizer as used on the stove.           

Glued on the rabbit strip and chiseled and sanded the bearding line.

 
When that was dry I glued in all the bulkheads and filler blocks.

@Ian_Grant I like the wooden dummy.  
 
I’ve just finished the first step on the 32 pounder cannons.  I noticed that the cannon pins were too narrow to sit well onto the carriage side panels.  So I looked at my HMS Belona book, and it’s clear Heller dropped the ball on the design of their gun carriages, as the vertical panels are supposed to be closer together at the front of the gun.  But no matter, we’ll do our best with what we have.
 
 

@Ian_Grant Thanks.  What’s really helped me getting started was joining the local boat building club, https://metromarine.org/static-division/. These old timers have been a godsend on this project, for example helping me to scribe the waterline for copper removal and providing the styrene strips and loaner hooked scriber for marking the planks, see below.   First twenty 32 pdr carriages now together, cannon just placed for fun, will glue the cannons on separately after the carriages are filled, sanded, primed and painted.   The club also loaned me tiny drill bits to drill out the gun barrels (I may leave a few with their red tompions in).  The injection moulded cannons are terribly finished, with holes above the breaches (visible below) that need to be filled and sanded before priming.  Heller was smart to have the 32 pdr cannons as the first step in the instructions, as you can practice on these and make your mistakes because only the barrel is visible.  
 
Here’s my work station.  The standing desk from IKEA is a great help as you can adjust the height to suit how your back feels and if you’re sitting or standing, and it’s hand crank so no motor to break down.  And the magnifier lamp is a must have for my 50 year old eyes.  You can see my DragonForce DF65 r/c sailboat to the left, which was my introduction to the model boat club, and their racing division and the national association https://crya.ca/df65/.  Of course the ponds will be frozen soon, so that’s one reason I returned to model kits, to stay active in the club and to keep my renewed interest in boat models.
 
 

 

 

 

 
 

Another week... some progress but not a lot... so many things going until my retirement date in just 2 and half months!
I finished up the veneer on frames to give the open side a more finished look... the plywood frames didn't look right.
I used contact cement to glue the pieces, it helped the veneer to conform to the shape of the frame:

 
I used a wood block to press each piece down and got a pretty good adhesion to all the pieces:

 
Some light sanding and removal of some excess glue and I have exactly what I was hoping!
I nice "finished" look:

 
I think I will age and weather it similar to the rest of the hull... that's for later!
On to the wales, that's next!

Finished up a couple projects and am back at the Bounty!
I started installing the wales... straightforward and no problems, just some extra work at the bow & stern, as expected.
Still need to add a third row on the port side:

 
Also, laid out and attached the foot rails at the bow and started laying it down the port side:

 
Hoping to make some more progress over the weekend.
 

What a great looking boat and a really good present for you Dad. This takes ' Its the thought that counts' to a whole new level. Looking forward to your progress on the Bounty.

Hey everyone,
 
I’ve gotten the main rail glued into place. At this point, I haven’t added any filler or have done any sanding. I will do that when I get further along.
 
Bill
 



 
 
 
 
 

Pat, thank you for your support and again for all your helpful links.
 
 Mark, thank you and I agree.
 
 Brain, thank you for tagging along and your continued support. 
 
 MCB, thank you!
 
 Glen, thank you for stopping by and thank you for the complement. 
 
 You make me laugh Mr. Keith, there aren't enough diplomas in the world to remove my 'Scarecrow' stain. 
 
 Gary, that from one of my heroes means the world to me. 
 
 Rob, thank you so much. I have no idea how many times I've gone to and through your Great Republic build rigging phase for insight and inspiration. 
 
 A great big thank you to all for the likes and thank you to all for dropping by.
 
 
 After months of inactivity and setbacks, I'm finally making progress! 
 
 Initially, stropping a single block was taking me almost 10 minutes, I'm down to two minutes at most with one minute being average. In time one develops techniques, fingers learn their respective rote, and a rhythm ensues. Therein lies the pleasure of the task for without that pleasure stropping some 400 to 450 blocks would become a burden destined for failure. I'm far for from completion but I'm out of the gate at a good clip.
 
 I'm currently working on the foremast and respective yards. The foreyard takes 18 blocks, the topsail yard, 14 and the topgallant yard, 7. I've attached some blocks to the foremast but many remain needing to be attached. The topsail yard needs to be painted, foot rope strung, and blocks glued in place and all the foreyards need to be sealed.  
 
 At this scale, compromise is a necessity. I'm not using eyes and hooks, once the wire is wrapped round the block I twist the wire at the end and snip to length required and glue in the block's location. The reasons I'm not using hooks and eyes are, scale, my clumsy left hand, and tight working quarters. If I used hooks and eyes and during the final rigging stage a hook stretched or came unhooked, it wouldn't take but about fives times of that nonsense before I lost it. So to negate that outcome I'm just gluing the little buggers in place. I wish I had Eberhard's skills but alas.......
 
 I'm pleased with the scale of the blocks in relationship with the surrounding components and the coloration of the blocks. 
 
 In my next post I'll go over the way I'm stropping blocks and how they're installed in detail with 8 x 10 black and white glossy photographs. I would have done so now but my camera needed to be feed right after the attached photos were taken. 
 
 Thank you again to each and everyone of you!
 
 

 

 

 

 

Next, the black hole on the ship is what went where the forward torpedo tubes went. I’m going to speculate and put a ventilator here. I’ll put sun sail over it. 

I'm gonna call her finished.......if I mess with 'er any more,  I might ruin her.   life preservers,  flags,  and general touching up    enjoy!  I photogged her on the new table for the PT boat.......it's a bit low.......might serve well for sailing ships.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After sitting overnight, the fix looks like it worked pretty well.  HUGE sigh of relief!  

However, I’ve still got a bit of minor repair work to do.  The forward davit on the middle whale boat came loose.  Also, one end of one of the lines from the dolphin striker popped off.

I will tidy those things up and get to working on the display base.  Home stretch!
 

This time I photographed the top BEFORE globbering it up with paint, more or less so I can show how I built it up using planks imitation of how the real one may have been built up. I read somewhere (probably Lees') that around about this time the Royal Navy authorized the tops to be built up in two parts, to be assembled aloft. This makes some sense, as it's basically two "leaves" with the cross-members bolted into position and pinched between the crosstrees and a set of upper sister-crosstrees. Of course I glued them because tiny bolts are not feasible. Later, I will add blackened pin-heads and "iron" (black paper) reinforcements per the original, which hopefully will make them look better, as I still do not like the white paint. I've also worked on the sprit and jib-boom, adding bees, cleats and iron banding around the cap. 
 
 
 

 

 

 
 

Finished! One more notch in the belt! I hope Jon's widow appreciates the final product. Just to remind me, here's what I started with:

 
And here's what I've produced:

 
With thanks to Druxey, Tomshipmodel, Keith Aug, and especially my new brother, Keith Black for advice and following along. After this I have one more restoration/completion for yet another friend (you never know how many friends you have until you tell them you build ship models!). 

Adding these parts seems eminently doable. All of the other examples I have seen tended to have decorated cutwaters, is there any indication how the Fish was set up?
 
That is a much nicer flying fish, it's a good model to try to carve something. Way better than the pretty pathetic figurehead castings that came with the kit

Hello Michael - yes and it was very quick to make. It saves a lot of time looking for the holders particularly if I keep them in the same order. I always find I have 2 holders less than I need, but when I but 2 I am still 2 short. Thank you for the comments.
 
John / Eberhard thank you and thanks to everyone for for all the likes.
 
And so to the mast bands. At deck level I have fairly good images of the various mast fittings, but as I raise my eyes to the heavens everything becomes a little vague. The following series of shots gives a feel of what I am dealing with.
 

 

 

 

 

 
The images gave plenty of scope for interpretation - which I don't really like. However I pressed on regardless.
 
I can't make the manufacture of bands very interesting - mostly it is matter of turning internal and external diameters with small radial holes (for eyebolts) being machined on the mill. The most interesting part was sorting out tube stock, near enough in size to minimise waste. Where I didn't have appropriately sized tube my box of redundant brass plumbing fittings came in handy,
 

 

 
It wasn't an inspiring task so when a slightly more complex band presented itself it was a bit of a relief. `Such was the case with the dual band at the bottom of the main mast. Here two bands are connected by a vertical strip. I started with a 1/2 inch plumbing connector which I bored out to the desired internal diameter and then glued to a wooden spigot.
 

 
The outside diameter was then turned before moving to the mill with a vertically mounted rotary table. Using an end mill I cut away the unwanted walls.
 

 
The various radial holes were then drilled.
 

 
The application of a little heat broke the superglue bond and allowed the part to be removed and checked on the mast.
 

 
That is it but for now but I do have all the bands for the main and fore masts so the next post may be a little more interesting.
 
 
 

A short update on my progress.
 
Figure 194: The wall accessories sorted in cups.

 
Figure 195: Headrests and the wall ornaments installed for compartment #1. Note I also painted the walnut strips in mahogany color, as in instructions. This color surely fits better than walnut here. I had mentioned above that I also bought mahogany strips to use here, however I think the mahogany paint over walnut looks better. So, I am not thinking of using mahogany at the moment.
 

BUILD DAY 17 / 3hrs / (TOTAL: 45 hrs)
Headrests. There are altogether 10 pairs of them, one pair for each compartment.
I applied white glue using brush until the last step, where I used superglue to fix the loops to the back. 
Figures 183-193: Below I am adding several photos showing the process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

That's all for now!
Thanks for watching!

Figures 176, 177: Doors installed and the handles have been glued. They are now to be put aside until later. I have cropped the excess of the hinges (i.e. the copper tube sticks) from the bottom in order to stand straight. I will crop the excess on the upper parts after I have installed them in their place.  
 

 

Love your model Keith, beautiful work, beautiful.
So today while cutting a few more sheets I decided to try some joints, I was nervous about this but as you can see they are working well

This will require some means of pushing down onto frame because even though tight we have this.

 
The Puzzle joints to join panels are fine.

Dry fitted and staying together on it's own. It will just need to be sandwiched between a couple of cauls and greaseproof paper to keep it flat.

Hi, the stern platform

Forgot to mention, all laser cut sheets for this and Nisha have the part numbers etched next to each part. Not on the PE sheets though, as space was way too tight. (numbers would have had to be so small in order to fit, they would have been next to invisible)
 
Also, the bulkhead tabs now taper inwards, going up, to make the fitting of the ply sub deck easier (less bending) - and for the bottom edge of each keel, there is a slot (hidden once the pear outer keel rabbet patterns are fitted) to locate to a tab on the rear cradle. This ensures the model sits at the correct angle, and also ensures the hull doesn't slide down the stand, as both are angled relative to waterline.

The main sail housing is now fitted. All of these items have either engraved lines or slots for fitting.

 
 
After priming, all the 3D parts were painted in green, to match Erycina's outer bulwark. You can use whatever colour you like, but this sort of green was quite common for the period.


 
And of course, the steam winch. This is exactly the same sort fitted to Nisha.
 




 
 
Deck fittings ongoing.




 
 
Three chimneys on this one, as opposed to two on Nisha. This one is quite a bit larger than Nisha, and looks more purposeful, in my opinion. Both are quite beautiful though. 






 
 
The next log entry here will be the last for Erycina, in around a week.