mattsayers148

Excellent job CH! It looks really nice with the natural wood color. I was actually surprised when I rigged mine that the instructions weren't too bad. I color coded the rigging to keep each size separate. Of course I referred to the Young Sea Oficer's Sheet Anchor as the authority over Corel's instructions. When rigging I also soaked the thread tip with CA. When it dried I cut a sharp angle to it, essentially making it a firm needle.

Excellent job CH! It looks really nice with the natural wood color. I was actually surprised when I rigged mine that the instructions weren't too bad. I color coded the rigging to keep each size separate. Of course I referred to the Young Sea Oficer's Sheet Anchor as the authority over Corel's instructions. When rigging I also soaked the thread tip with CA. When it dried I cut a sharp angle to it, essentially making it a firm needle.

Just getting caught up on things after(and still) a very busy year. Thanks for the kind plug by the way.
 
You are on a great path with this build by adapting things with a less than helpful instruction list. I had to rely on learning from others and my own errors, tossing the instructions to the wayside. I ended up taking a look at as many USRC's as possible, regardless of the tonnage, to get a 'feel' of what was done during this period. Then I made things to 'look and feel' right.
 
My hat goes off to you to use what's provided in the kit. The castings were, well, crude and not to scale. I found it easier to use real dimensions for each item and scratch build them all. Today with the use of computers, the dimensions often are different in real life than from the plans. So I would imagine back then as well, shipbuilders made it work and changed things here and there.
 
I would suggest to not glue the rings in yet. When you start rigging it's easier to hold the blocks and loosely run the rigging through them. Then they can be glued down and tighten the rigging once they're set. I like cog's drawing of attaching with a baton, another way could be to whip the rope to the underside of the channel. This should make it large enough to hold it in place and not look too bulky.
 
Excellent job!

Excellent job CH! It looks really nice with the natural wood color. I was actually surprised when I rigged mine that the instructions weren't too bad. I color coded the rigging to keep each size separate. Of course I referred to the Young Sea Oficer's Sheet Anchor as the authority over Corel's instructions. When rigging I also soaked the thread tip with CA. When it dried I cut a sharp angle to it, essentially making it a firm needle.

Excellent job CH! It looks really nice with the natural wood color. I was actually surprised when I rigged mine that the instructions weren't too bad. I color coded the rigging to keep each size separate. Of course I referred to the Young Sea Oficer's Sheet Anchor as the authority over Corel's instructions. When rigging I also soaked the thread tip with CA. When it dried I cut a sharp angle to it, essentially making it a firm needle.

Super sweet detailing, Matt.   Logos on the wheel....? I'm taking up knitting and hopscotch.  

Nicely done, Ken. Good addition those braces on the cabin. It would have been hard to get that roof flush and a tight fit

Made some nice progress this weekend, lots of photos below.
 
Matt, thanks for the kind words! You probably actually think I'm nuts for sticking with the kit materials, but it's an interesting challenge to my way of thinking. Plus, I don't have anywhere near the metal-working skills you do (yes, I know there's only one way to change that). It's too late on the rings, I already glued them in, so we'll just see how that goes. Also, I did use Cog's advice and knotted some small strips beneath the channel blocks; seems to have worked nicely.
 
Building the cabin,  you guessed it, involved overcoming flaws in the kit. First, the kit only provides fore and aft bulkheads to build the cabin around, with only very thin planking to wall it in. That seemed like a bad idea to me. So I added longitudinal bulkheads to provide a solid surface all the way round.
 

 
The same problem exists for the roof, which again they expect you to plank in with no support. Uh uh. So I added some roof braces.
 

 
Of course, the height of the shoulders on the kit-original bulkheads didn't match, so that the fore bulkhead was higher than the after bulkhead. So I sanded a camber into the fore bulkhead to accomodate this, figuring it was probably a realistic choice anyway. I also started adding windows and planking.
 

 
After some trial and error I got the whole cabin built and planked. So little extra wood is given in this kit that I literally finished this with nothing to spare. I couldn't have afforded to break one single piece. I think it came out nicely, although one part of the roof planking is slightly cockeyed. It's only visible to the camera lens under harsh light, though. I like how the color balance came out, I wanted to cabin darker than the deck so it would stand out.
 


 
Now for another kit problem. The pre-cast mounting ring for the carronade has two pegs underneath that are meant for holes in the deck. No problem, right? After all, those holes are pre-drilled in the plywood underdeck, so all you have to do is plank over them, file them open, and mount the ring. Yeah, no. I didn't think to pre-test the fit of the ring until now, and sure enough one of the holes was way off. One hole was right where it should be to mount the ring dead-center on the deck; the other was over a diameter too far outboard. I had to measure and drill a new mounting hole. Below left,  you see the ring mounted properly, with the original factory-drilled hole in its horribly visible location. Below right, you see how I decided to handle this: I just filed a couple of wood scraps to look like some kind of step or brace against the ring. They'll vanish into the clutter of the deck once the model is complete, and only a serious naval historian would wonder what the heck they're for (and that person would already realize that this model is not museum-quality).
 

 
Finally, I mounted the rudder. More CA glue leaked around the edges of the iron bands than I would have liked, under the right light there's some annoying glistening along the edges. But under most conditions it's not noticeable and I think the rudder looks nice overall. I also mounted the tiller. The kit-drilled tiller hole didn't come close to matching up with the angle of the rudder, so I just cut off the rudder post and shaped a new tiller post that I glued to the top of the deck instead. No one will ever now but you, gentle readers.
 

 
I have to say, it's been really fun adding all the deck detail, this thing is starting to feel like a real ship build. I hadn't intended it to turn out as it has so far, but now I'm liking the shades of bare wood and the simple black iron fittings. I've given up on trying to match this to any specific plans or ship, it's evolved to just become a fun personal model. Thanks for reading.

Thanks Jack, Mark, Ken, David, Michael, Richard and to those who hit the like button.
 
A P Stoddart

 
This era and area(Glocester) turned out a lot of new inventions and ideas, giving way to motor power and phasing out wind power. The Stoddart Co was one of these. There was the worm drive and the Stoddart improved vessel steerer.

 
The thought crossed my mind to attempt to replicate this complex mechanism, which was soon dismissed, mostly because it all gets covered. So here's my attempt at a more realistic wheel than the kit provided part. There's over 20 pieces to this wheel which proved to test my soldering skills, I have much to learn. Maybe I should send it off to Buck to have him put the Stoddart logo on it.
 

 
This was the second rudder with pintles and gudgeons I made, having made the first rudder 1/2 as thick as it should be. Also I decided to apply Cherry Minwax to the cherry and poplar, giving it a more subtle contrast.
 

 
Onward!

Thanks Jack, Mark, Ken, David, Michael, Richard and to those who hit the like button.
 
A P Stoddart

 
This era and area(Glocester) turned out a lot of new inventions and ideas, giving way to motor power and phasing out wind power. The Stoddart Co was one of these. There was the worm drive and the Stoddart improved vessel steerer.

 
The thought crossed my mind to attempt to replicate this complex mechanism, which was soon dismissed, mostly because it all gets covered. So here's my attempt at a more realistic wheel than the kit provided part. There's over 20 pieces to this wheel which proved to test my soldering skills, I have much to learn. Maybe I should send it off to Buck to have him put the Stoddart logo on it.
 

 
This was the second rudder with pintles and gudgeons I made, having made the first rudder 1/2 as thick as it should be. Also I decided to apply Cherry Minwax to the cherry and poplar, giving it a more subtle contrast.
 

 
Onward!

Beautiful work, Matt ... right down to the scuppers in the last pic.

I agree with the Cap'n, those scuppers are a nice touch. I noticed their lack on my current kit, but didn't think I had it in me to add them. Kudos for a nice detail.

Thanks Jack, Mark, Ken, David, Michael, Richard and to those who hit the like button.
 
A P Stoddart

 
This era and area(Glocester) turned out a lot of new inventions and ideas, giving way to motor power and phasing out wind power. The Stoddart Co was one of these. There was the worm drive and the Stoddart improved vessel steerer.

 
The thought crossed my mind to attempt to replicate this complex mechanism, which was soon dismissed, mostly because it all gets covered. So here's my attempt at a more realistic wheel than the kit provided part. There's over 20 pieces to this wheel which proved to test my soldering skills, I have much to learn. Maybe I should send it off to Buck to have him put the Stoddart logo on it.
 

 
This was the second rudder with pintles and gudgeons I made, having made the first rudder 1/2 as thick as it should be. Also I decided to apply Cherry Minwax to the cherry and poplar, giving it a more subtle contrast.
 

 
Onward!

Thanks Jack, Mark, Ken, David, Michael, Richard and to those who hit the like button.
 
A P Stoddart

 
This era and area(Glocester) turned out a lot of new inventions and ideas, giving way to motor power and phasing out wind power. The Stoddart Co was one of these. There was the worm drive and the Stoddart improved vessel steerer.

 
The thought crossed my mind to attempt to replicate this complex mechanism, which was soon dismissed, mostly because it all gets covered. So here's my attempt at a more realistic wheel than the kit provided part. There's over 20 pieces to this wheel which proved to test my soldering skills, I have much to learn. Maybe I should send it off to Buck to have him put the Stoddart logo on it.
 

 
This was the second rudder with pintles and gudgeons I made, having made the first rudder 1/2 as thick as it should be. Also I decided to apply Cherry Minwax to the cherry and poplar, giving it a more subtle contrast.
 

 
Onward!

Thanks Jack, Mark, Ken, David, Michael, Richard and to those who hit the like button.
 
A P Stoddart

 
This era and area(Glocester) turned out a lot of new inventions and ideas, giving way to motor power and phasing out wind power. The Stoddart Co was one of these. There was the worm drive and the Stoddart improved vessel steerer.

 
The thought crossed my mind to attempt to replicate this complex mechanism, which was soon dismissed, mostly because it all gets covered. So here's my attempt at a more realistic wheel than the kit provided part. There's over 20 pieces to this wheel which proved to test my soldering skills, I have much to learn. Maybe I should send it off to Buck to have him put the Stoddart logo on it.
 

 
This was the second rudder with pintles and gudgeons I made, having made the first rudder 1/2 as thick as it should be. Also I decided to apply Cherry Minwax to the cherry and poplar, giving it a more subtle contrast.
 

 
Onward!

Just getting caught up on things after(and still) a very busy year. Thanks for the kind plug by the way.
 
You are on a great path with this build by adapting things with a less than helpful instruction list. I had to rely on learning from others and my own errors, tossing the instructions to the wayside. I ended up taking a look at as many USRC's as possible, regardless of the tonnage, to get a 'feel' of what was done during this period. Then I made things to 'look and feel' right.
 
My hat goes off to you to use what's provided in the kit. The castings were, well, crude and not to scale. I found it easier to use real dimensions for each item and scratch build them all. Today with the use of computers, the dimensions often are different in real life than from the plans. So I would imagine back then as well, shipbuilders made it work and changed things here and there.
 
I would suggest to not glue the rings in yet. When you start rigging it's easier to hold the blocks and loosely run the rigging through them. Then they can be glued down and tighten the rigging once they're set. I like cog's drawing of attaching with a baton, another way could be to whip the rope to the underside of the channel. This should make it large enough to hold it in place and not look too bulky.
 
Excellent job!

Thanks Jack, Mark, Ken, David, Michael, Richard and to those who hit the like button.
 
A P Stoddart

 
This era and area(Glocester) turned out a lot of new inventions and ideas, giving way to motor power and phasing out wind power. The Stoddart Co was one of these. There was the worm drive and the Stoddart improved vessel steerer.

 
The thought crossed my mind to attempt to replicate this complex mechanism, which was soon dismissed, mostly because it all gets covered. So here's my attempt at a more realistic wheel than the kit provided part. There's over 20 pieces to this wheel which proved to test my soldering skills, I have much to learn. Maybe I should send it off to Buck to have him put the Stoddart logo on it.
 

 
This was the second rudder with pintles and gudgeons I made, having made the first rudder 1/2 as thick as it should be. Also I decided to apply Cherry Minwax to the cherry and poplar, giving it a more subtle contrast.
 

 
Onward!

Finally got caught up on your junk boat, wow! Things are looking absolutely incredible! I've found that if I make a little 'stick' man and put him on the deck once in awhile it helps me see things in perspective. I like the little windlasses and I bet if you make a stick man there's room for the little guy to run around. Great work again my friend!

Just getting caught up on things after(and still) a very busy year. Thanks for the kind plug by the way.
 
You are on a great path with this build by adapting things with a less than helpful instruction list. I had to rely on learning from others and my own errors, tossing the instructions to the wayside. I ended up taking a look at as many USRC's as possible, regardless of the tonnage, to get a 'feel' of what was done during this period. Then I made things to 'look and feel' right.
 
My hat goes off to you to use what's provided in the kit. The castings were, well, crude and not to scale. I found it easier to use real dimensions for each item and scratch build them all. Today with the use of computers, the dimensions often are different in real life than from the plans. So I would imagine back then as well, shipbuilders made it work and changed things here and there.
 
I would suggest to not glue the rings in yet. When you start rigging it's easier to hold the blocks and loosely run the rigging through them. Then they can be glued down and tighten the rigging once they're set. I like cog's drawing of attaching with a baton, another way could be to whip the rope to the underside of the channel. This should make it large enough to hold it in place and not look too bulky.
 
Excellent job!

Finally got caught up on your junk boat, wow! Things are looking absolutely incredible! I've found that if I make a little 'stick' man and put him on the deck once in awhile it helps me see things in perspective. I like the little windlasses and I bet if you make a stick man there's room for the little guy to run around. Great work again my friend!

Finally got caught up on your junk boat, wow! Things are looking absolutely incredible! I've found that if I make a little 'stick' man and put him on the deck once in awhile it helps me see things in perspective. I like the little windlasses and I bet if you make a stick man there's room for the little guy to run around. Great work again my friend!

Maybe this:
 

I've been working on rigging the first blocks to the deck fittings; I decided it would be better overall to do this before installing the rings. It's been easy to hold each ring in a clamp, tie the block on & glue it in place, then insert the ring into the deck. This way if I make a mistake it isn't already attached to the model. Below are the first six block/ring assemblies in place around the foremast's hole. These will be in tension vertically once rigged, so I don't care how they lay about for now.
 

 
I also assembled and installed the channels, which led to an unresolved problem. Each channel has a regular deadeye attached to a chainplate, then a block that's supposed to be tied to the channel. See below.
 

 
The problem is,  the instructions just say to tie this block to the channel, and show what looks like some kind of small stopper knot beneath that would hold the block in place. But the hole in the channel is way too large for this; the size knot it would take to keep this block in place under tension would be almost as big as the block itself, and would look ridiculous.
 
So my problem is, how do I fix this block in place? Do I somehow tie a small scrap of wood onto the line to act as a stopper? Do I try to CA the line to the underside of the channel? I've been having trouble searching for an answer to this on MSW and elsewhere, as the search terms are so vague. Any ideas?

It depends on the accessability of the rings. If you can do it afterwards, I would go for that option for the blocks won't bother you while mounting the rings. If it is very difficult to attach the blocks after gluing the rings, I would try mounting them beforehand
 
When drilling through the rail, it just depends on the visibility of the underside. If it is merely a question of the pins protruding underneath, cut the pins to the required length ... I cannot imagine  the opening in the underside of the rail to be visible ...
 
It is after all a model, so you've got some leeway with these things

I have been working on the deck fittings.Below, you see the deck with all holes drilled for the metal fittings (rings, bits, etc.):
 

 
And here you see most of the fittings test-placed (unglued) to get a sense of the deck's layout. Many of these will have small blocks; I'm trying to decide whether I should tie those in before gluing down the fittings, or afterward.
 

 
Another source of annoyance in this kit: these metal fittings have "pins" meant to fit into the deck holes, but many of them are too thick or long. For example, the stanchions which will hold safety lines have pins nearly the width of the rails, as shown in the blurry photo below. I've drilled smaller pilots holes, but am reluctant to drill any wider for fear of splitting the rail. So I may have to file down all these tiny parts to fit proper holes.
 

 
I've also had this problem with the plates and other hull fittings; their pins are so long that holes drilled in the rails would go right through. As it is, I've been desperately careful drilling pilot holes sideways through these rails without poking through. So I've been spending lots of time filing down the pins on these fittings to be narrower and pointier so I can drive them into the wood and have them hold more securely.
 
It's been very fiddly work but I think it'll come out ok. As this is the first rigged ship I've ever attempted, I don't know if this kind of thing or normal, or unique to the Corel kit. 
 
Are there any thoughts on whether to pre-rig blocks to the rings, or do it after gluing the rings in? Anything else I should be considering at this stage?