Cathead

Very nice indeed. If I ever build the Endeavour, or similar vessel, I will use the same technique. Thus I will have a barque on bark.

Go, CH !!!
 

Arrr ...
Precious little accomplished (again !!). CaptainSteve was absent from his shipyard this past week, as he had to house-sit for CaptainAndrew. This involved looking after the Captain's dog, cat and wide-screen TV !!
 
However, the base-stand has now been completed, and thus ...

... one further item he didst ticketh off.
 
The base-board was trimmed to size, the pedestals fitted, the edging added, and a couple of coats of subdued gloss Tung Oil applied ...

 
To be honest, Our Hero be mightily chuffed wi' the outcome ...

Work was interrupted by a visit to the in-laws last weekend, but I am moving forward. I have a deadline; I would very much like to complete this model by the end of February, as we will be travelling for most of the month of March and I would hate to leave this log, and project, hanging unfinished.
 
Unfortunately, following the work CaptainSteve and Matt has influenced me to do more than I initially intended, so we will see. I have gone from not even intending to include masts, to now wanting sails and wrapped oars. This is not good for my agenda.
 
Here is where the launch stands today.
 

 
Oars are carved with first staining. I think I will do one more coat, then wrap them. These took less time than I expected, perhaps two hours for all of them. Masts are carved and stained, with brackets attached. They are not glued in, though.
 
The metal work I was so agitated over is done, to my acceptance if not my satisfaction.

I found that the small drill bits I purchased for this project from ModelExpo do not drill through brass, even chucked into my cordless drill. This threw me for a loop as I could not pin/nail anything in place. So for the mast partners, I shaped the brass strip, then nipped off the heads of four nails (viva la France!) and glued them in place to simulate the effect. I then painted the partners with black model paint and weathered them with brown pastels. I glued them in place, and they look well enough to me.
 
As for the pintles/gudgeons, I went to a hardware store and bought compatible lengths of brass tubing and rod, then used these to make the basic structure by wrapping brass sheet carefully around the tubing using pliers. It is not perfect, but it represents the form well enough for me. They ended up slightly oversized from the plans, but I can live with that. I painted them as I did the mast partners.
 
Again because of the drill problem, I glued these onto the model. This meant I needed a good flat surface to clamp onto, so I did not add the nail heads as I did the mast partners. Now that they are solidly attached, I will scrape some paint off to provide a good gluing surface for nail heads, then carefully repaint the final result and weather with pastels. Again, good enough for me if not for a real craftsman. I do not like metal and am glad to be past this part.
 
Okay, not quite. The tiller is shaped and stained, and I will soon be attaching it with brass strip handled as for the mast partners.
 
Next up: 
- Staining and wrapping oars
- Shaping & staining spars
- Cutting & finishing sails. I am leaning toward displaying spars lowered, with furled sails, as I do not find the shape of the raised sails very attractive. This lets me show detail and full rigging without full sails.
 
I have no idea if I can complete all this in the next two weeks, but deadlines can be marvelous things for focusing one's attention.

Matt has it as well, but just to beat the subject to death, I found the quotes I was thinking of from Caroline Alexander:
 
I share in the interest of scientific knowledge, and so that neither Steve nor Matt are tempted to add more detail than necessary to their models!

A thought on the...digestive question. Given how short their rations were, there may not have been much scatological activity. From my reading of other survival account, the digestive system pretty quickly starts saving almost everything from very short rations. After the first week, perhaps, I suspect this wasn't much of a problem. I seem to remember Caroline Alexander's book on the Bounty touching on this as well, but am not certain. And I suspect that between dehydration and low rations, what was coming out also didn't need much cleaning off.
 
Also, as someone who has built a barn with trees felled & milled on-site, I agree that quick material removal is important. Granted, I used a chainsaw and bandsaw mill, but the principle is the same. It takes a heckuva lot of waste material to create even basic structural shapes out of a tree, and that's not something you do with a chisel. On the other hand, getting those rough shapes to fit together into any kind of watertight structure requires some serious and delicate shaping work. So, you know, you need some of everything. There are specialized tools even for fence-building; such as an axe with a narrow blade for chopping out pre-augered rail holes in posts.

Well, the advice squad has saved the day. I did spend Friday outdoors with a chainsaw and tractor mower, but never did I intend to resign the launch to such implements. 
 

 
Using full-strength wood glue, smeared on hull joints and sanded down, worked charmingly. Embarrassingly well, given my reluctance to follow such advice earlier. Mea culpa, as Bligh would (not) say. Above you see three views of the hull after three more rounds of sanding, staining, and gap filling. It is better. It is still too damaged and streaky for my liking, but the gaps are solid and the color is better. Acceptable, and I have moved on, already looking forward to doing it properly on my next build.
 
I also want to point out the swiveling work stand which I purchased from Model Expo, and absolutely adore for this work. With the bolts tightened down, it holds any position desired and makes fiddly work much more pleasant. I have used it on previous builds but want to give it full credit here as a marvelous piece of equipment. Note the piece of felt stuffed in the vice grip to protect the hull/keel surface.
 
I did find one annoyance. For forming and gluing in the thwart risers, I used the same style of metal clamp shown in the instruction, as they are the only ones that can reach that far in AND are strong enough (clothespins, even reversed ones, did not hold). However, these clamps left noticeable dents in my otherwise finished hull. I have not yet attempted to sand them out, but it may be necessary. This was bothersome to say the least. I could not have inserted a protective spacer as the jaws do not spread that far.
 

 
On to the next stage. Thwart risers and such are attached, and I have begun on the main floor. Careful notching was required to get plank 2 around the main-mast step. I also felt the need to install two small pieces of scrap cherry framing at the bow end of plank 2 (both sides) to support the tip, as it was otherwise hanging in mid-air. The bright piece of wood you see at left is just a temporary spacer holding the unglued plank 2 away from the rest, so the notch and support can be seen (the hull is tiled at 90 degrees in this photo for best light).
 

 
The finished floor.  I felt that a few of these pieces did not match up well, and attempted to shape them with mixed success. Some really wanted to flex out of position. I used CA to install these quickly, as no clamp can reach in here and I would be at this all week with wood glue. The instructions call for thin wood spacers, but I was afraid these would glue themselves in, so used pins gently inserted into the hull instead. Worked wonderfully.
 

 
On to the next dilemma. Upon test-fitting the thwarts, I discovered that the hull seems to have formed wider than desired, I assume due to pressure from the ribs spreading outward. In the photo above, every thwart is inserted fully to starboard, and you can see that toward the middle the hull is progressively too wide for them.
 
I assume that I will need to warp the hull back into shape for the gunwales anyway, and am considering gluing in all the thwarts on one side first, then somehow squeezing the hull into shape before gluing the other side to hold it all in shape. 
 
The consideration here is that doing so means installing the quarterdeck beneath the glued-in thwarts. I am afraid that installing that floor first, as called for in the instructions, will make the hull too rigid to flex back into shape. 
 
I remember reading someone's launch log talking about forming the hull back into shape, but cannot find it.
 
As you can see, I am not trying for the ultra-realistic weathered look, more of the slightly model-like "pretty" look. So far it is fitting reasonably with my goals for the project.

I plan on doing the whole thing stained. I like the look of natural wood on a ship model more than an authentic paint scheme. Also, our house's interior is mostly wood, as are the cedar bookcases on which this will be displayed (built from wood cut & milled on our property), so the natural finish will fit in well. I do intend to finish it with some form of varnish, as I saw another Bounty launch build do (cannot remember which now), which both I and Mrs. Cathead found very attractive.
 
In other news, I am rather put out with a problematic discovery. I had finished sanding the hull and applied my final coat of stain. When I checked the hull the next morning, I found that the wood filler I had used had either dissolved or fallen out overnight, as there were suddenly many gaps visible between the planks again. It was as if I had done almost none of the filling work that consumed many hours. It looks rather shoddy to my eyes, and this second coat of stain seems to have brought out more of the flaws in my planking than I expected. I think it looks wretched at the moment and have not yet brought myself to take a photo to share with the support network here. 
 
I do not think I have the patience to start over with a different gap filler, and I am fairly certain only a real ship modeler will notice the small gaps and uneven finish once the rest of the model is completed. Virtually all lay visitors are likely to coo over it. This is what I am telling myself. I will think it over until the weekend, and in the meantime will start bending the 'tween frames into place as that does not affect the exterior one way or another.
 
But the discovery led to a Bligh-worthy rant, at least in my head. 

Work was interrupted by a visit to the in-laws last weekend, but I am moving forward. I have a deadline; I would very much like to complete this model by the end of February, as we will be travelling for most of the month of March and I would hate to leave this log, and project, hanging unfinished.
 
Unfortunately, following the work CaptainSteve and Matt has influenced me to do more than I initially intended, so we will see. I have gone from not even intending to include masts, to now wanting sails and wrapped oars. This is not good for my agenda.
 
Here is where the launch stands today.
 

 
Oars are carved with first staining. I think I will do one more coat, then wrap them. These took less time than I expected, perhaps two hours for all of them. Masts are carved and stained, with brackets attached. They are not glued in, though.
 
The metal work I was so agitated over is done, to my acceptance if not my satisfaction.

I found that the small drill bits I purchased for this project from ModelExpo do not drill through brass, even chucked into my cordless drill. This threw me for a loop as I could not pin/nail anything in place. So for the mast partners, I shaped the brass strip, then nipped off the heads of four nails (viva la France!) and glued them in place to simulate the effect. I then painted the partners with black model paint and weathered them with brown pastels. I glued them in place, and they look well enough to me.
 
As for the pintles/gudgeons, I went to a hardware store and bought compatible lengths of brass tubing and rod, then used these to make the basic structure by wrapping brass sheet carefully around the tubing using pliers. It is not perfect, but it represents the form well enough for me. They ended up slightly oversized from the plans, but I can live with that. I painted them as I did the mast partners.
 
Again because of the drill problem, I glued these onto the model. This meant I needed a good flat surface to clamp onto, so I did not add the nail heads as I did the mast partners. Now that they are solidly attached, I will scrape some paint off to provide a good gluing surface for nail heads, then carefully repaint the final result and weather with pastels. Again, good enough for me if not for a real craftsman. I do not like metal and am glad to be past this part.
 
Okay, not quite. The tiller is shaped and stained, and I will soon be attaching it with brass strip handled as for the mast partners.
 
Next up: 
- Staining and wrapping oars
- Shaping & staining spars
- Cutting & finishing sails. I am leaning toward displaying spars lowered, with furled sails, as I do not find the shape of the raised sails very attractive. This lets me show detail and full rigging without full sails.
 
I have no idea if I can complete all this in the next two weeks, but deadlines can be marvelous things for focusing one's attention.

Matt has it as well, but just to beat the subject to death, I found the quotes I was thinking of from Caroline Alexander:
 
I share in the interest of scientific knowledge, and so that neither Steve nor Matt are tempted to add more detail than necessary to their models!

Matt, you can add a hunneybucket, just leave it empty. No Pooh in your hunney.

Work was interrupted by a visit to the in-laws last weekend, but I am moving forward. I have a deadline; I would very much like to complete this model by the end of February, as we will be travelling for most of the month of March and I would hate to leave this log, and project, hanging unfinished.
 
Unfortunately, following the work CaptainSteve and Matt has influenced me to do more than I initially intended, so we will see. I have gone from not even intending to include masts, to now wanting sails and wrapped oars. This is not good for my agenda.
 
Here is where the launch stands today.
 

 
Oars are carved with first staining. I think I will do one more coat, then wrap them. These took less time than I expected, perhaps two hours for all of them. Masts are carved and stained, with brackets attached. They are not glued in, though.
 
The metal work I was so agitated over is done, to my acceptance if not my satisfaction.

I found that the small drill bits I purchased for this project from ModelExpo do not drill through brass, even chucked into my cordless drill. This threw me for a loop as I could not pin/nail anything in place. So for the mast partners, I shaped the brass strip, then nipped off the heads of four nails (viva la France!) and glued them in place to simulate the effect. I then painted the partners with black model paint and weathered them with brown pastels. I glued them in place, and they look well enough to me.
 
As for the pintles/gudgeons, I went to a hardware store and bought compatible lengths of brass tubing and rod, then used these to make the basic structure by wrapping brass sheet carefully around the tubing using pliers. It is not perfect, but it represents the form well enough for me. They ended up slightly oversized from the plans, but I can live with that. I painted them as I did the mast partners.
 
Again because of the drill problem, I glued these onto the model. This meant I needed a good flat surface to clamp onto, so I did not add the nail heads as I did the mast partners. Now that they are solidly attached, I will scrape some paint off to provide a good gluing surface for nail heads, then carefully repaint the final result and weather with pastels. Again, good enough for me if not for a real craftsman. I do not like metal and am glad to be past this part.
 
Okay, not quite. The tiller is shaped and stained, and I will soon be attaching it with brass strip handled as for the mast partners.
 
Next up: 
- Staining and wrapping oars
- Shaping & staining spars
- Cutting & finishing sails. I am leaning toward displaying spars lowered, with furled sails, as I do not find the shape of the raised sails very attractive. This lets me show detail and full rigging without full sails.
 
I have no idea if I can complete all this in the next two weeks, but deadlines can be marvelous things for focusing one's attention.

Matt, you can add a hunneybucket, just leave it empty. No Pooh in your hunney.

Matt has it as well, but just to beat the subject to death, I found the quotes I was thinking of from Caroline Alexander:
 
I share in the interest of scientific knowledge, and so that neither Steve nor Matt are tempted to add more detail than necessary to their models!

Matt has it as well, but just to beat the subject to death, I found the quotes I was thinking of from Caroline Alexander:
 
I share in the interest of scientific knowledge, and so that neither Steve nor Matt are tempted to add more detail than necessary to their models!

Matt has it as well, but just to beat the subject to death, I found the quotes I was thinking of from Caroline Alexander:
 
I share in the interest of scientific knowledge, and so that neither Steve nor Matt are tempted to add more detail than necessary to their models!

That query i posted was intended as a joke. The colon is the last stop where the body holds waist until the body knows if it has enough fluids. If not it remains in place as the body will squeeze out any and all fluids which is the only useable item at this point. Once properly hydrated, the body will say get out.
 
Onto the build. I'm at the point of making several metal parts for tools out of brass. Which means blackening. I know that there are many products that do this, but I'd like to know what chemical best suits the very small scale that is used here. So CaptainSteve, what have you found that works best for the modeler? I'm looking for one that is quick, permanent and won't kill my squirrels.
 
By the way here's a hammer that goes well with my adze:)

A thought on the...digestive question. Given how short their rations were, there may not have been much scatological activity. From my reading of other survival account, the digestive system pretty quickly starts saving almost everything from very short rations. After the first week, perhaps, I suspect this wasn't much of a problem. I seem to remember Caroline Alexander's book on the Bounty touching on this as well, but am not certain. And I suspect that between dehydration and low rations, what was coming out also didn't need much cleaning off.
 
Also, as someone who has built a barn with trees felled & milled on-site, I agree that quick material removal is important. Granted, I used a chainsaw and bandsaw mill, but the principle is the same. It takes a heckuva lot of waste material to create even basic structural shapes out of a tree, and that's not something you do with a chisel. On the other hand, getting those rough shapes to fit together into any kind of watertight structure requires some serious and delicate shaping work. So, you know, you need some of everything. There are specialized tools even for fence-building; such as an axe with a narrow blade for chopping out pre-augered rail holes in posts.

A thought on the...digestive question. Given how short their rations were, there may not have been much scatological activity. From my reading of other survival account, the digestive system pretty quickly starts saving almost everything from very short rations. After the first week, perhaps, I suspect this wasn't much of a problem. I seem to remember Caroline Alexander's book on the Bounty touching on this as well, but am not certain. And I suspect that between dehydration and low rations, what was coming out also didn't need much cleaning off.
 
Also, as someone who has built a barn with trees felled & milled on-site, I agree that quick material removal is important. Granted, I used a chainsaw and bandsaw mill, but the principle is the same. It takes a heckuva lot of waste material to create even basic structural shapes out of a tree, and that's not something you do with a chisel. On the other hand, getting those rough shapes to fit together into any kind of watertight structure requires some serious and delicate shaping work. So, you know, you need some of everything. There are specialized tools even for fence-building; such as an axe with a narrow blade for chopping out pre-augered rail holes in posts.

A thought on the...digestive question. Given how short their rations were, there may not have been much scatological activity. From my reading of other survival account, the digestive system pretty quickly starts saving almost everything from very short rations. After the first week, perhaps, I suspect this wasn't much of a problem. I seem to remember Caroline Alexander's book on the Bounty touching on this as well, but am not certain. And I suspect that between dehydration and low rations, what was coming out also didn't need much cleaning off.
 
Also, as someone who has built a barn with trees felled & milled on-site, I agree that quick material removal is important. Granted, I used a chainsaw and bandsaw mill, but the principle is the same. It takes a heckuva lot of waste material to create even basic structural shapes out of a tree, and that's not something you do with a chisel. On the other hand, getting those rough shapes to fit together into any kind of watertight structure requires some serious and delicate shaping work. So, you know, you need some of everything. There are specialized tools even for fence-building; such as an axe with a narrow blade for chopping out pre-augered rail holes in posts.

Canute, have you considered boarding over TRANSOM? Based on my recent planking job, there is enough length in the strakes to extend the few 1/16ths of an inch needed to cover an additional layer. I rebuilt mine entirely because I was unsure about this, but I would have been fine either way. 
"

Okay, I just had to take photos in better light. Here she's set on the kitchen floor just inside our glass doors, with snow-softened light streaming in.
 

 

 
I like the lighter walnut stain on the gunwales, backrest, & knees setting off the darker cherry stain on the rest of the hull.
 
I have successfully resisted the urge to try treenailing anything, as tempting as it is seeing the gorgeous results of others. My goal going in was to built the kit "out of box" with nothing added, and I have largely stuck to that. Perhaps the next project I will go down that particular rabbit hole.

Progress!
 

 
Facing the dreaded spreading-hull syndrome, I decided to tackle the issue head-on. With carpentry clamps. Using the thwarts as a guide, I set up two clamps and gradually tightened them until the thwarts fit snugly. Some minor hull popping and creaking made me nervous, but she's a strong little boat. With the clamps stable, I glued in all but the aft two thwarts (to leave room for building the quarterdeck).
 
Part of this process, though not shown, was aligning two thwarts properly with the mast steps. I inserted the dowels, held them straight with a square set onto the floor, and adjusted the thwarts as needed. The slow set time of carpenter's glue allowed this to work properly. 
 

 
My gamble was correct; when the clamps were removed, the thwarts held the hull in shape. Test-fitting the gunwales proved that the original kit design is accurate; when the thwarts fit snugly, the gunwales will as well. So I glued them on, using the thick-rod-and-rubber-band method I stole from someone else (I have read so many Bounty Launch logs that I cannot keep them straight anymore).
 

 
On to the quarterdeck. I spent an afternoon reading about 8 build logs to develop my plan of attack for this, and decided to build the deck on the plans before installation. Here I stole an idea from my model railroading  background, and laid a wide strip of masking tape face up, securing it with two other strips at each end. Then I laid the rough-cut cherry frames across the tape, which holds them in place for further assembly. The tape is translucent enough to allow for tracing appropriates lines to ensure accuracy.
 
At right you see the assembled deck, with hatch cut out. I left the frames long intentionally, and slowly cut them down as needed, with a lot of test-fitting, until the deck seated properly into the hull. I used a neat little tool for notching the hatch-planks (the plan shows it done this way, though some logs have used three full planks), also from my model-railroading background:
 

 
There it is on the left; the Nibbler. It takes perfectly square chunks out of strip wood, and is invaluable for cutting precise window/door holes in buildings and other projects. This is how I did all the windows on my steamboat. On the right is another excellent tool, the Chopper. It makes perfect 90 degree cuts of stock, with frames that let you set repeatable lengths. I use this for all manner of projects, and it is perfect for decking like this.
 

 
And here is the current status. The hull is effectively done, save one last sanding and perhaps one more coat of stain. Two insets show changes I made. On top, I made new quarterknees because the kit's did not fit properly with the angles my hull ended up with. They were too short, and the aft angle was wrong. So I traced and carved new ones. The stained piece is from the kit, the unstained my own replacement, cut from the same stock as the original.
 
The other inset shows my hatch-rope, an idea shamelessly stolen from CaptainSteve. His used a tighter loop; Bligh would probably trip over mine. But I went with a design that I thought would be more visible, if not quite as realistic.
 
Apologies for the color balance on these. Outdoors we are getting a mix of rain, snow, and other in-between mess that makes the indoor light rather dim and harsh. One of these days I will take this outside for some better photos.
 
I had intended to build this without  masts, thinking it would fit better on a shelf somewhere. Fortunately, I happened to mention this to Mrs Cathead just before gluing in the thwarts, and she made it known that masts would be a good thing. So I took the extra time to align the thwarts and mast steps, which I would otherwise have not bothered to do. So very soon I will begin shaping masts and oars, and starting to feel sad that this wonderful project is now closer to its end than its beginning.

Steve, there is no rod in my kit, nor is it mentioned in the contents list. This is partly what has me flummoxed. All I have is two brass strips. Shaping them into the flat but angular hinge plates seems doable; I have done my mast partners without much bother. Shaping them into the super-tight tube needed to properly contain a full hinge, without any proper pin other than the tiny brass nails, is defeating me. 
 
I will likely go to a hardware store when I visit town on Wednesday and buy some small brass tubing/rods and play with those. But I cannot figure out how the kits intends one to do this with the materials supplied.
 
Thank you to you & Pops for the suggestions.

Yer. I ended up faking the hinges on my tool chest by just folding pieces (4mm x 2mm) of the brass strip in half and then fitting to small, chiseled-out grooves. Now that you mention it, I cannot be certain if that brass rod I mentioned above actually came with this kit, or was something I salvaged from my tool-box.
 
Nonetheless, you should be able to pick-up a small piece from any hardware store.
 
I actually have a tried 'n' true method ...
I start by approaching a staff member who is not too busy. Then I'll usually open with the line "I'm one of those sick people that makes model ships for fun !!"
From there, if you have picked the right staff member, you should be able to get the low-down on every item of stock they sell, and how it could be used in your build.
 
Take your plans with you (even if you end up leaving them in the car) ...