NMBROOK

Hi Boyd
I have just had a very enjoyable read through your log.I must say that the stripes through different woods is the approach I would adopt should I tackle Victory.I must say that is some wonderfully clean  sharp planking and woodwork in general .I have little experience working with some of the more unusual timbers CMB seem to stock these days,but the traditional Pear,box and ebony command exorbitant premiums in the UK so I can understand your reasoning behind your choices.I really like the mellow tones you have achieved with your timber selection The best way I found when determining post varnished timber colours before applying finish,is to lay the strips out and wipe them all over with a white spirit soaked rag.This simulates as near as possible the varnished colours.To be honest,I gave up on Mordaunt as cutting Pear planks from the same strip still results in massive variations in tone,some planks even change colour half way along!!
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel 

Hi Mates,
 
Continuing onward with the carriage ropes and tackles installation.
 
After trying to install one completely assembled carriage with ropes attached, I found it to be too cumbersome and a pain in the @#&. That wasn’t going to work very well. Space was so limited and I needed to also, just below the upper blocks attach the hooks for the carriage stops. Too messy hmmm….
 
So, plan B; I completed all the rope/block assemblies for the14 carriages. Then chose to attach those to the weather deck first.  Made a small hook so basic but so perfect ha ah…
 
Sliding in the cannons, then attaching the pins to each side of the carriages will be a breeze (I think). I can then adjust the ropes and tackles for a tight fit.
 
Have not decided how to display the left over rope lengths. The Vasa museum sort of hangs the excess on hooks near the rear of each carriage side. I’m short on length of the carriages, as they had to be shortened (Corel kit weather deck too narrow).
 
As noted from the just previous post, I wanted to emulate the 1/10th assembly with the use of small wooden pins. Used tooth pics. The results are acceptable, but I find that the scaling is a bit “off” My error, but still achieved the intent. Again thanks for dropping by and the Likes and comments always a pleasure.
 
Regards,
 
Michael
 
 

Hello dear friends,

thank you warmly for your comments and kind words, I am very pleased and honored reading all the posts you wrote to me. That is a great motivation and feedback for my work.
 
This week I have started to make shrouds, all ropes are hand plaited on ropewalk and I try to make the rigging in a better way and more realistic than on my previous models.
All the ropes are also improved by weathering and impregnated.
Here you can see the result:
 




 







 
Best regards
Doris

Brillo Nigel.. I'll do that !
We're Cooking with Diesel Now      wait that's not right..
 
E
 
Hope you have a great day tomorrow by the way     an early Happy Birthday To You !!

I would have said "cooking with gas" mate,whether that is a Yorkshire saying,I am not sure?   A little coating of polyurethane on the hinges when the glue is hard will stiffen them further
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Thanks for that Nigel.. I don't feel sooo bad now
 
I was just up in the build room and did a little trimming of the hinges.. all going according to plan for the moment anyhoo ! I gave them a little more dilute glue to hold them more securely in the open position.
I've just cleared off the Photo Table too so 'we're sucking diesel' as they say over here (more Irishism there.. translates as 'We're really moving now'  .. hmmmm could be a book in there somewhere, wot with Eamonn-ism's and Irish-ism's, would imagine there are a few Yorkshire-ism's too (years ago I read all the James Herriot books ) )
 
Stay Well Bud
 
Eamonn

Only page 2 mate?     I used the search facility to find Caroline's log   I am sorry to hear of your trials and tribulations,but glad to hear you have found a solution   I look forward to the pics  
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel 

Hi Again Folks.. Jeeez I had to go to the bottom of the 2nd page to find my Ballahoo Log
 
Right Then.. Well I have my camera back, and I installed the doors onto the Dog-house earlier today, had much success with the Diluted Wood Glue brushed onto the black paper for the hinges (it did the job of reinforcing the paper which had effectively delaminated when I applied the CA glue directly to it, I couldn't take any photos of the 'delamination' of the paper but it was catastrophic and totally unexpected.. think soaking paper in water for an hour or so, that's how bad it was  resulting in my having to sand the CA residue from the doors/frame and repaint.. my next attempt was with the very thinly cut brass strip, this went well to the point where I had to bend the wee strips to simulate the Open Hinge.. suffice it to say getting the same amount of bend into each tiny piece was Taxing (to be polite!!!) as there was absolutely no give in the strips once they were in place.. my meagre tools and ability weren't up to that task I'm afraid, these wee beasties were SMALL  ^_^
So it was back to the paper and the dilute wood glue and so far so good! WOOHOO (I hope)
 
I'll have photos tomorrow (Honest )  after I trim the sticky-out-bits of the 'hinge' off and neaten things up.. not to mention clean my Photo Table off (it magically turned into a resting place for various rubbish whilst not being used due to an absence camera.. strange how that seems to happen)
 
Thanks for stopping bye folks. see ye all tomorrow with some exciting photo-ma-jiggers !
 
Be Good
 
Eamonn

Hull planking completed....
Decision time....Painting her white below the water line.
As much as I dread painting over that beautiful bamboo grain....gonna do it.
The Question in my mind is whether to use the true water line as shown in the last two pics....or.... Should I follow the up-sweep of her wale at the stern in order to include the gun port lids in the painted area?
Seems like I've seen it done both ways.
Any thoughts for the old man?

Not much to show for two weeks work....huh?  Not gonna say how many times I removed the wales and repositioned them.
Port and starboard are now planked and tree nailed down to below her water line. 
Golden oak stain and a single coat of wipe on poly applied.
 
Gun port lid hinge straps have been tree nailed to simulate bolts.
 
After much study of other Mayflower models, I have decided to paint her below the waterline.  That decision led me to have to go back to the stern and move the two gun port lids down about an inch in order for them to align below the transome wale and be painted white.  No photo because I must, now, return to the stern and tree nail all.
 
 

Productive weekend....
First pic is for Popeye.....the re-shaping of the transom issue is resolved.
 
Next pic is a collogue of steps showing the method I used to create the short stansions seen in the mid-ship upper deck port.
This was necessary because I opted to plank the inward bulwarks, which is a another slight deviation from Chuck's plan sheets.
 
Finally, I was pleased to see the bamboo planking looking as nice on the side of the hull as it did on the stern area.
Tomorrow morning, I will tree nail the area seen here just to see how that is going to look.
 

I think the final verdict is pretty clear.......... Walnut or Bamboo?
What say ye mates?
 
PS....Popeye, I had not completely fixed the re-shaping of the transom on the port side at the time I took this shot. It has, since that time, been taken care of and came out just fine.

So here's the large bamboo tray I found.... 16" x 16" square.  There's another 16" width counting the four side rails.
 
Another interesting discovery....after ripping the two surfaces on the table saw, I get some really neat scrap pieces which, after studying them for use, I determined they are a perfect thickness for deadeyes.  Played around with making a jig to cut them into perfect triangles with a little holding jig....then drilling holes and a little bit of finish shaping.  I think I am going to like them better than the results I've been getting from the walnut.   Got to play with this some more before I decide.
 
So, the stern has now been sanded back down to a point I can begin applying the bamboo planks.  Also did some re-shaping of the transom because Popey's sharp eyes pointed out a little cervature problem (thanks mate).....
 

Turning back to MF#2 this morning....
While browsing Walmart several days ago, I ran across this amazingly beautiful bamboo serving board....completely struck by the beauty of the grain, I could not help but invision it as the hull of a ship.  So this morning, I experimented with ripping the outer surfaces from two edges and creating planks.  I think I love it!  The edges are so clean, and the bending quality could not be any better.
 
So, since the stern is the only hull surface I have used walnut planking thus far, I have decided to simply re-plank the stern with these bamboo planks.  In fact, I was going to have to re-do that job any how after discovering (as usual) that I had made an obvious error in the original planking with regard to the location of the gun ports.

Update on both Mayflower builds....
MF#1 - 1:76 scale.... Finished tying all rat lines....installed preventor stay riggs for all masts.  Installed bow sprit and rigged the fore top mast preverter stay.  Looks like we are finally ready to add some yards and begin some serious rigging.
 
As for MF#2 - 1:60 scale.... Completed first planking of the hull.  Will begin working on keel and beak assembly tomorrow.  I have been spending most of my time on MF#1 the last several days.  Plan to move over to MF#2 for a few days and develop the hull and bulwarks above the decks.... possibly begin outer skin planking of her hull.

Progress on Mayflower #1....
Added channels, now ready for some shrouds.  After searched my bone yard for chain plate material, found plenty of chain, but the links were all the wrong scale....so had to create chain links with 2mm wire....each chain plate required 4 links.
 
Tried a new approach to aligning the tops of the deadeyes as they were applied.... the white thread seen below is tied in as a temporary level line - worked very nicely for me.
 
 
So, it looks like we're back to my favorite task of all (NOT)....let's tie a vew hundred clove hitches mate.
 

Thanks hlipplaa....still thinking bout that plank....not decided yet.
Joe....the plank caulking technique is a new experiment that looks like it turned out not bad. Never been a big fan of pencil marking due to lead smearing....or, I'm just not very good at that method.
Using very thin black vinyl which I took from a cheap vinyl notebook, I simply edge-glued one edge of my deck planks, then razor trimmed the vinyl flush....then finish sanded the edges before placing the plank.
Once all planks are glued in place, and tree nailed, the entire surface was sanded flush....then finish sanded....then scraped to a perfect finish.

Speaking of "re-do's"..... We all have experienced this. You take out the camera and snap a few photos for posting, and the camera's eye discovers something you had not previously noticed....or, if you had noticed, you may have thought maybe no one else would. One photo I did not post above was taken of the forward bulkhead below the forecastle, because I could see a noticeable flaw in the height of the bulkhead from port to starboard. After careful re-measurement, I found the port side corner to be 2mm higher than the starboard side corner. It showed up in the photo as the forecastle deck had a noticeable slope toward the starboard side. NOT GOOD.
So I spent the last two days ripping off the forecastle decking and squaring it up, and re-planking entirely.  This is the best I could come up with....it will just have to do.
Sometimes I feel like a newbie! Might just be an age thing.

Progress report on Mayflower #2.... 1:60th scale
I've been spending much more time on the larger build just trying to get it to begin taking shape.  All decks are now planked and tree nailed and a first finish has been applied.  All bulkheads are also complete and light finish applied.
 

Progress update on Mayflower #1.... 1:76th scale
The masts are sitting loosley at this point, thus the Mizzen preventor stay is temporarily tied off to the railing.
In the process of creating shrouds for the main and fore masts.... plan to install channels for these tomorrow.
 

My first posting of my Mayflower #2.... 1/60th scale.
Decking progress, as seen here, is moving along fairly well.  Tree-nailing for two days now.  The only thing more repetitive would be tying clove hitches....right?
The stern view....I wanted to get a little flavor of working at the larger scale.
As for my continued progress on the smaller scale Mayflower #1.... will take a shot at tying in some ratlines to the top shrouds tonight.  Should be interesting since I haven't tied a clove-hitch in over two years.  Looking at some of my old builds, I kinda like the white line on black shrouds.  To me, the contrast really pops.

At this scale, wasn't sure how I was going to tackle the tiny ships bell. Not crazy about painting a wood bell.
Came up with this....turned a small brass "phillips head" wood screw using two Dremel tools spinning against each other.
Not too awful bad....I'll take it.
No, there is no "clapper" inside the bell.

She now has her masts....although they are merely sitting loosely in place at this point.

Tops....
Over 100 pieces per top....These are, by far, the most difficult tops I've ever tried to build.

More deck trim.... Note water pump....just because I enjoy building them (builders prerogative)