Cathead

Thanks for the kind words Eric!  One of the things I love about this forum is the support and encouragement that keeps me motivated and helps me to improve.

Honestly I'd considering getting some cookbooks from a library if you can. Online recipes have gone down the tubes, full of unnecessary padding and online search no longer rewards quality. 
 
So glad to hear of continued progress!

I agree, having a pleasant workspace that you want to spend time in is an under-appreciated aspect of modeling (or regular work, for that matter).

One of the things I love and occasionally fear about this hobby is the opportunity for constant learning. It can be both maddening and rewarding to recognize a need or desire to improve on something one's already done! You're doing a great job of keeping this balance in stride and your work looks great!

I've been working on the hardware to the bowsprit: chocks and blocks. I'm not using the PE chocks supplied by the kit; making my own wooden ones. At the same time I'm borrowing a technique from Delph (Derek) on the problem of placing 3 blocks on the bowsprit: one on the bottom, one on either side, and how to get the spacing just right. Derek has a smooth solution that I've copied:
make 3 blocks like this:

Then thread them like this:

Then it's a simple matter of wrapping the larger line around the bowsprit and sliding the blocks into position. Incidentally, I, apparently have an older version of the Speedy kit because, as you can see, the blocks are of the rudimentary type. I thought I can live with that, but I can't. I'll leave the ones on the bowsprit, but I've just placed an enormous order with Chuck P. for something that looks better for the rest of this craft. 
The other interesting thing is that Chris Watton has no record of selling me a kit; which makes me wonder how I bought it in the first place.
Tom
 
 
 
 
 
 

One last photo for the week.  I drilled the interior scupper holes.  This was a bit nerve wracking.  I hadn't anticipated how easy it would be for the 1/32" x 1/32" waterway strip to split while being drilled.  I wound up starting with a much smaller drill bit and then using three more progressively larger sizes to only take a slight bit of material off at a time.  I made sure to turn the pin vice really slowly.  If the waterway split, the split part was still attached at one end.  I took a sharpened toothpick, applied a tiny amount of wood glue, and glued the fragmented sliver back down.  I had to do that with three of the holes.  The splits are invisible.  Glad I'm done with that part!
 
Also, I'm not sure of the properties of wood in general, but I'm curious if my boxwood, which I've had for 9 years in an inside climate that has a humidity of around 25% most of the year, splits easier because of that.
 
Erik

Thanks for the comments Glenn and Mike.  My build is 100% boxwood.  When I bought all the wood, and started the project back at the end of 2015, no one was really using Alaskan Yellow Cedar yet.  As far as making the eye bolts, at least since I have a large amount of wire now, it's no big deal to discard the less-than-perfect ones as I get up to speed on how to make them.  lol.
 
Mike, I used a small round diamond file with the same technique you mention above.  It seemed a pretty intuitive way to get the small notch filed from the hole.
 
Erik

Yeah, there is no way to push the eye bolt into boxwood. Fwiw, I use a rat tail needle file to make the groove, channel or notch for lack of a better word. I don't push and pull the file. Rather, I push the file down into the hole, holding it down with my finger at an angle and turn it.

I think you’ll find lots of us didn’t drill the interior ones. Easy to mess up and gouge the deck, they are largely hidden by the cannon anyway. 
 
The eyebolts get easier, tiresome but easier as you lock onto a process that works for you.  12 cannon, 7 eyebolts and two rings each plus 4 more and two rings for the bulwark per cannon, you lave a lot more in your future. If you’re using Alaska Yellow Cedar you’ll find you can push the bolts into the wood. Mike’s is all boxwood. 

This week I decided to mix things up a bit, taking a break between making the backstay plates and the chain plates.  I made the 22 eye bolts for the hull exterior and cap rail top.  While I have every manner of small diameter wire -  lead, brass, copper, phosphor bronze, steel - down to .002" diameter, I didn't have the type of wire best used by ship modelers for these types of things.  So after some research on this forum I ordered both 24 and 22 gauge Hillman Group dark annealed wire.  I must say, trying to make 22 identical eye bolts was more of a challenge than I thought it would be!  I never did get to a point where they were consistent.  That said, I selected groups that were close to identical to one another to fasten in the same area.  I figure if the port side eye bolts are slightly different than the starboard, a viewer would never know since you only see one side of the ship at a time.  I followed what Mike (Stuntflyer) had done in his Cheerful build log, and filed a little channel around the holes so the eye bolts snug down a bit.
 
I also drilled the scupper holes in the outside of the hull.  This was pretty straight forward, other than when I went to photograph the model I could see the bright wood on the inside of the bulwark.  I wound up taking a fine brush and painting the interior black, followed by running a pencil around the plank edge of the hole.
 
My next step will be to drill the scupper holes on the interior bulwark/deck area.  Does anyone have any advice or wisdom on that?  Am I drilling all the way through the interior planking?  I know I need to make the holes so they notch into the lip of the waterway at deck level.
 
Erik

I'm following an interesting build log, great work Steven 👍

learn Australian (i think 😉)
And history (👍)

Well, you learn something new every day (if you're not careful!).
 
Steven

Amusing; close, but no cigar!
Named after lord Melbourne (?) Brit foreign Secretary, who took his title from the village of Melbourne in Derbyshire.  
Melbourne means the place of Melde
Melde is Chenopodium Album, commonly known in UK as  Fat Hen, and was cultivated in the Middle Ages as a vegetable and eaten a bit like spinach.  Note:  there are dozens of Melbournes in Britain, as the stuff grows everywhere
 
It could have been worse.  He might have taken the title of Lord Fat Hen!
 
sorry to have hijacked your thread, Steven.  I’ll climb back under my flat stone
andrew
 

Thanks, mate. We must see if we can get to your place in the not-too distant future. A bit difficult at the moment, but certainly haven't forgotten.
 
Steven
 
* Sorry, straight over my head. I thought Melbourne was named after a famous foul-mouthed opera singer , or perhaps a dessert (Aussie joke - google Dame Nellie Melba) .

Here they are with a bit of shading. Not sure if you can see the difference between these and the way they were in the earlier post, but to me they look more realistic.

And I had neglected to post photos of the hatch covers up to now, so here they are. A pair for the stairs up from the owners' cabin
 

And covers for the cargo hatches - one in place, the others not yet added (so I can see the mast steps to locate the masts when the time comes).

I've weathered the hatch covers and added a bit of "rust" to the hinges, so she looks like a ship that's see a bit of use.
 
Currently I'm trying to chase up some  'acrylic matt medium' on Druxey's advice to glue the reinforcing strips to the silkspan sails. But I'm in a bit of a quandary as to the difference between  'acrylic matt medium' and  'acrylic matt pouring medium' (considerably cheaper, but perhaps not right for the job).
 
Steven

Thanks for the Maggie update Keith. Glad to hear she is progressing nicely. We’ll still continue to send healing prayers your way.
 
Google is a wonderful resource for recipes, I’ve tried several out myself with some success. And happy belated birthday, hopefully you celebrated it with a nice long nap. 😁
 
-Brian

Gary, Mark, and Keith thank you for your kind thoughts and a huge thank you to all who have prayed for Maggie and myself.
 
 It's been a couple of weeks since I posted a Maggie update........Maggie had me put away her walker last week. She still kinda shuffles but she's getting around under her on steam, even the left side of her face is getting better and meal times are less messy. Her left hand is now her major rub and affects her spirits the most due to the fact she can't knit and quilt. Continued prayers are much appreciated.
 
 Our new life has developed a rhythm. I'm still busy what seems most of the day but I am now able to catch the occasional  afternoon nap. Having just celebrated my 77th birthday naps are dang important! My cooking skills are improving, thank God for Google. It's like doing research for ships but receipts instead. Keith, I don't wanna get too good at this but for Maggie's nutritional needs I have to be somewhat accomplished.  
 
 Thank you to each and every one of you my dear MSW family,
 
 Keith 

Hats off to you Keith, it seems to me that you are doing a marvellous job. You will know you are on the home straight when Maggie starts complaining about the cooking and offers to take over.

Spent the last weekend building a new office desk/hobby desk.  Previously I had been working on a small foldout table relegated to the corner of the living room, the cramped space had really starting to frustrate me and my office computer desk was also on its last legs. I decided to solve both problems and went to the hardware store bought an 8 foot butcher block counter top, ordered some metal desk legs online, along with some under desk cabinets.  It's already so much nicer to work on the boat having some space to breath and lay my tools out.  My next plan is to eventually get rid of the cheap pdf hobby organizer rack I am currently using and expand with something more permanent and with more useful organizational space.   Only thing I see that needs improvement is some better lighting. 
 

 
Back to the Beagle.
 
I started on the ships boat carried on the deck, these little boats are harder to put together than I was expecting and I made quite a few mistakes that I will try to improve on the other 3 boats.

 
I have also started on the cannons, I am doing a pretty simple rigging for them since they aren't really the focus of a boat like the Beagle.  Next step is to get them fastened to the deck.

Thanks again Allan,
What a great suggestion which puts my decision in an entirely different light. I'm going to give your approach a try.
 
 

Hi Ken
IF you do decide to change them, it would probably be easier to unrig the lines and open the upper holes then re-rig rather than removing the blocks and reinstalling.   
Allan

Thanks Allan! I appreciate the explanation and the sketch which does make it much clearer.  You are correct, I've installed all the blocks thus far the same way - upside down. As you say, it is a small detail, and I'm not sure if I will go back and redo them, but I will give that some thought, Regardless, I will make the change going forward.   

Nice neat work! 
One small thing, some blocks look to be upside down so the lines are running under the sheave and over the tail rather than over the sheave and under the crown.
Sketch may be more clear than words.  You can see that on a real block there is no room for the line to run under the sheave.  For our purposes and scales these openings are usually just another hole drilled as the line covers it as it runs down but still the line should be in the upper holes.
Allan

 

Based on Thukydides guidance, I've started to redo the deadeyes.  Doing so did mean I needed to replace several shroud lines and I am finding it less daunting that I originally thought to be working on building the mast while it is stepped.
 

 
With all the rework I've done on this build it seems like I am building her twice, but I am learning a lot and enjoying the journey.
 
 

Thanks.  Your pointers are very much appreciated and are helping to build my catalog of knowledge and repertoire of techniques.