KeithAug

Hi Steve - sorry about the delayed answer - I have been busy outside and catching up with friends and family - the simple answer is I didn't have a small enough mill. I might have done the cut method anyway as making 4 would have required a long slender mill with the possibility of deflection and breakage.

It has been quite a while since I last posted. The easing of lockdown regulations made catching up with family feasible and this plus various garden jobs led to little available time for boat building. What time I did get was quite disjointed and this didn't help progress. Thank you Michael, Patrick and Druxey for you comments and thank you to everyone for the thumbs ups. I made the 4 fairleads from a solid piece of brass bar .500" wide by .125" thick. I drilled a series of .0625" cross holes and then removed the central webs with a jewellers saw and needle file. The square edges were then rounded off and the resultant piece was removed from the bar. I glued this piece to a scrap of wood and slit off 4 fairleads .080" wide. A bit more filing to round the edges and then the base flange was drilled to take the mounting bolts and the roller. The rollers were turned and then the fairleads were mounted on the rails. I then moved on to the turnbuckles of which 21 were required. 16 for the mast shrouds, 3 for the bowsprit braces, 1 for the forestay and 1 for the mainmast brace. I started with a sketch. I proposed to make the body in 3 parts, two identical conical sections each with an integral collar and an axial .04" hole. The 3rd piece was a .080" length of tube to create the central boss. I then made one to check that it looked ok. I then proceeded with the manufacture of the next 20. The elongated eye was bent from .040" wire using a bending jig. The eyes were closed with soft solder. I then moved on to making the Y shaped section for the other end. I am part way through this but I don't like the results so may have to have a rethink.

Nice work Druxey --- drawing the planks on the plug is so obvious i am wondering why I didn't think of it!!! When I did my draughting training (50 years ago) at Rolls Royce we had a whole day given over sharpening our pencils to a 0.0125" thick chisel point. Bet that skill isn't taught any more.

Granddaughter still a pixie but you have given me an idea ------ never too early to start.

Love the interior fine dining views but no napkins??????

Coming along very nicely and rudder metalwork is just fine.

Patrick - i am pleased to see you back. This one looks very boat like - the designer must have been having an off day. Love the detail but hell of a lot to take in. The spiral staircases must have been hard.

Coming along very nicely Tom, much more elegant than I expected noting the humble beginnings.

A sweet little boat and nicely made. I look forward to seeing how it develops.

Coming along rather well, a very interesting vessel.

All looking very interesting Michael, looking forward to seeing it develop.

Eberhard - yes that is what I find. I am constantly out of focus because my hands naturally drift out to my normal working distance.

Eberhard - today I forced myself to use the Optivisor and remembered why I hated it so much. I admire your dedication and skill but I think I will stick to larger scales. great work and usual.

That looks just the job Keith.

Geert, thank you for the explanation of colouring the sails. I lean something new every day.

Truly wonderful.

Mark - You even made the news over here. I always think bread a butter construction is a hard trick to pull off but the hull shape turned out quite pleasing.

I think that the beaten up nature of the engine makes it more endearing but shouldn't the pallet be stained with oil? Noting how knackered the engine looks surely the odd seal or two should have gone?

Vaddoc - Exceptional dedication to planking. Are you intent on burying all this hard work under paint?

Druxey - more laborious than nerve wracking. I think the professionally made ones are very expensive but I can see why. At a number of positions the stanchions have a bracing strut - hence the third hole in some of them. The drawing is a guide rather than exactly what I made. A couple of experimental ones are displayed in the photo. I figured that to get them identical I needed a jig. I had a fair number to make, 12 in all. They are 0.6" high. I needed to accurately space the holes in the rail so I made myself a little drill guide. As per the other stanchions the braced ones were pressed in to slightly undersized holes with brass washers at their base held by a spot of CA glue. At the fore and aft ends of the stanchions the grand wires are attached to eyes mounted on the rails. The eyes were turned and milled as previously described. Tensioners are attached to these eyes - simulated from micro tube and wire. I used 0.017" beading wire for the guard rails. The wires were looped at the ends trough ferrules made from .031" bore micro tube. At 4 positions on the rail are openings for embarkation / disembarkation. These are protected by chains. I had some very fine jewellers chain which was ideal (except that the holes were so small I couldn't see them). The pin in the photo is .025" diameter and is only marginally smaller than the chain. A bit of a fiddly job to mount but with perseverence and profanity I got it done. I cant complete the rials abreast the fore and main masts until I have completed the standing rigging. Hopefully I will make better progress this week.

Not sure why you started with a kit Richard. You seem to reject and remake most of the detailed stuff - excellent as usual.

But beware, many are partially or substantially incomplete, a decent one is likely to cost several thousand dollars.

Rather a good question Tom. I often find myself looking at something on the model and wondering "how the heck did I make that". Fortunately the build log is better than my memory and usually supplies the answer.

Flying Fish the stem is made from a broken camera tripod, it already had the rack and pinion. Thank you for your comments on the build. Allan, My wife doesn't like the heat and I am a bit nervous about the alligators. Keith - I think I will take it a base at a time. Thank you to everyone for the visits and likes.

Im not really a Jaws fan but it was on TV last week and you forced me to watch it as a check om your build. I concluded that you were doing an excellent job.