thomaslambo

thanks for the comments and likes, fellows. Squirrel Whisperer, your wish is my command... 
 

This is my take on Cathead's stem blocking. I cut the part outlines from the parts sheet, marked them to show where the planks should fall and clamped them onto the stem. These are for the sheer strake and next few planks. I have a second set for the lower planks.
 

Sitting with the Admiral eating breakfast this morning, she asked how the Launch was going.   I said I had to bend the ends in boiling water and affix them. She asked why I wasn't using the blow-dryer to bend the ends. Hmm, the Darlin' is on to something here.   So port side plank #2 is hot air bent.
 

One kind of overall shot. I'm tapering the edges by sanding the inside edges to tighten up the outside edges of the planks. Another Maestro Chuck technique.
 
Matt, I've been thinking about that spread issue. Methinks the cherry frames don't sit as tight to the forms as they should, hence the spread. I may tack glue the center seat or affix a light weight spreader clamp across the thwarts. Think light but strong. 

Dimitris,
 
Really nice work on the pin rails.  And the white caps on the Bowsprit adds contrast as well as matching the other white pieces on the main deck and hull...well done 

Al,
 
I would agree with you...but actually I think you know I was joking    
 
I'm putting more focus on nice detail then Historic accuracy.  
 
As an example; I think we all know the Bounty had copper plating on the hull the day it left on it's doomed voyage.  The records clearly note the Royal Navy had the hull plated as part of the re-fit.  But I have no intention of plating the hull with copper because I think wood looks much nicer (assuming I don't trash the planking job)    

Keith,
 
I admire your honesty....it's funny, sometimes mistakes/disasters can lead to other innovative ideas and results   
 
I've seen a few other Bounty builds that had a single Launch on the main deck as well, and I really like the look...less crowded and more streamlined (the heck with Historical accuracy)    
 
Al,
 
You're very kind to be sure....and it's a pleasure collaborating with you on this build my friend    

Nils, thank you so much for nice comments...you sir are an inspiration yourself and I follow your builds with wonderment
 
 
Steve and Matt,
 
What can I say, you guys were the ones that pulled me over to the dark side...true masters of detail 
 
Your Launches are amazing...and half the fun of this hobby is researching and learning about these incredible ships   
 
Now the fun begins...planking the main deck and the hull    

After I had completed coppering the hull, I mounted it to two bronze pedestals.  I can't seem to find photos. 
Over the years, the ends and part of the top changed color.  I thought that maybe the walnut had been dry before I stained and coated it with acrylic.  I stripped the acrylic off and soaked the walnut base in lemon oil then tung oil regularly over months  All surfaces looked the same. I then stained the surface then coated it in acrylic  All surfaces looked the same. Two years passed and then it occurred again.  
 
Here is what I'm talking about
 

 
I posted the issue I was having.  The reply was that sometime woods have issues in the transverse or ends of the boards.  So I stained over the acrylic on the ends, let it dry and coated it with acrylic after 2 year it was still fine.  I read that some where that this technique is used for woods that don't stain evenly.
 
While I was waiting the last two year period, the ship was in a construction cradle and I had time to think over a concern that I had struggled with for several years.  I was always concerned about the stability of the ship using only the two pedestals.  I was worried about the straightness of her keel and of the ship model rolling side to side and breaking her mount, yards, masts, god knows what.  The model had always felt solid in the pedestals and had been in that mount for over five years without issue.  Still I had always been concerned, taken measurements of the keel to the base, never seen any movement.  The hull is very heavy due to all of the filler block and double planking.
 
Then I came across two posts where the models had rolled off the pedestals, With one the damage was fairly severe to the hull.  Both had serious damage.  That was enough for me.  I really liked the pedestals, but wasn't going to risk my model over it.  I saw several examples, new and hundreds of years old, where rods were used at mid-ship to help support the ship and keep it from rolling.  Then I saw an admiralty model where a cradle was used at mid-ship with the pedestals.
I really like the look, so I made my own.
 
I used Brazilian Cherry.  Beautiful, but hard, wood.  I learned that I'm not good manually using a jewer's saw to cut the wood.  After 5 hours to cut the top out and sand it down.  I gave up on the manual saw and ordered the proxxon saw. I mounted the wood jewler's saw blade and the other three cuts took me about 15-20 minutes each!  I really like this saw.
 

 
 
 
Anyway, here's the results.  The cradle is contoured to the haul and just supports the ship while, the pedestals have large screws that are about three inches into her and holds her down.  The cradle will not let her yaw/rotate or roll.  She is locked securely in place.  The cradle also is attached to the base by pins, so It can't move either.  The base has a set of T-nuts on the bottom to secure the base down to a table  or the base of a case using 1/4 inch bolts from underneath.  She should be secure.........I hope.
 

 

 

 
Marc

Doing research on the bolt ropes.  It's sounding like earrings were wormed, served, and had leather stiched, while the bottoms had the bolts, wormed and served around a ring that sort of looks like Mickey Mouse's head.  Still looking into it.
In the mean time, I've been playing with the sewing machine and serving machine.
 
some examples of different stitching lengths widths and hand sewing mixed with machine

 

 

So I got a serving machine from Chuck!
Nice Cherry wood!
 
Before assembly
 

 
after assembly
 

 
I played around, but will need to practice to make the serving nice, but not so tight it compresses the line.
 
Nenad,
here is a problem.  To serve the bolt rope earrings or not?  As you say..maybe I'm sliding down the devil's road!  After the earrings are lashed there isn't much of it still exposed.  Also at any distance you can't really see the tan serving too well. Also, it will add considerable time for 28 or so sails. But...somtimes I do crazy things.  What do you think?  Anyone else want to weigh in?
 

Hello again, the work on the shipyard continues...I do thank you all for all the likes and comments. :)
 
Cheers
Dimitris

Hello to all, Rik-Captain Slog-donrobinson-Mike-Frank-Patrick-Greg-Jeff-S.Coleman i do thank you for all the likes and nice comments. Much appreciated!! :)
 
 A small update to my build.
 
Kind Regards
Dimitris

Keith,
 
I admire your honesty....it's funny, sometimes mistakes/disasters can lead to other innovative ideas and results   
 
I've seen a few other Bounty builds that had a single Launch on the main deck as well, and I really like the look...less crowded and more streamlined (the heck with Historical accuracy)    
 
Al,
 
You're very kind to be sure....and it's a pleasure collaborating with you on this build my friend    

I've been doing quite a bit of research over the past 4 weeks.  But I was able to make some good progress.
 
Here are three items I completed 
 
A custom built anchor rope rack installed on the lower decks. 
 
Installation of the main deck.
 
Construction of the Launch, which was a nice diversion from the primary build… motivated by Captain Al and a couple errors he found 
  Note: A big thanks to MattS and CaptainSteve for information provided on the Launch…as well as inspiration from their awesome MS Bounty Launch build logs.  
 
 
Anchor rope rack, rope coils, and the bitts and bitter end:
 
This was the last detail item I needed to finish and install prior to gluing up the main deck.  This particular item (along with a couple others) could not be installed after the main deck and hull planking was completed.
 
I definitely took liberties on where I placed the rack and bitts and bitter end …as I wanted to place them where they could be seen. 
 
I built a custom rack with belay pins to hang the ropes on.  The rack is mounted on the back side of the lower deck in the Bow.  With the rack posts secured to the keel and lower deck beam.
 
I used a jig to coil and train the Anchor ropes in a similar fashion seen on many of the 18th century ships.
 
The Anchor rope is Syren product - Light Brown Rigging Rope .062 (1.57mm). 
 
I also secured the end of the rope (the bitter end) to large metal rings (bitts) bolted to the deck beams. 
 
 
Install the main deck:
 
This took 30 minutes to glue up. 
 
I used modified binder clips that were originally intended for hull planking.  But as I was considering the best way to hold the deck in place it occurred to me they were perfect for the job (with the addition of wood strips laid across the deck, held tightly in place by the clamps on each side of the frame). 
 
In the bow and stern I used metal planking clamps (they have threaded screws that hold them in place - small pilot holes were drilled for the screws).
 
I also left the masts in place to be sure the deck stayed aligned.
 
Note, the ease of installation for the main deck I would attribute to the effort that went into squaring and leveling the tops of the frames as the keel was laid.   
 
 
Launch construction:
 
The little launch was a fun build 
 
Note; I'm not going to use the Jollyboat because I don't like the look of the stacked launches.  Instead, I'll add additional details to the interior of the launch (rudder, sails, oars, etc).   
 
I made the following modifications to the launch:
 
1 Changed the top rails to be flat to allow Oar guide pins to be installed (instead of notches in the side rails). Along with adding a three piece top rail overlay that I stained dark to enhance the look.
 
2 Added a small grading panel to the bow.
 
3 Modified the Windlass crane in the stern  (AL refers to it as a Capstan – ????).  Either way, I shortened the support arms according to some information MattS used on his Launch build.
 
4 Covered the plywood deck edges with basswood strips as done on the Mother Ship.
 
5 Added several Belay Pins along the thwarts and top rails.
 
6 Planked the lower deck as opposed to scribing plank lines in the wood.
 
 
 
Here are some pictures of the above work….
 
 
Anchor rack and coiled ropes
 

This is the rope look I was trying to simulate
 

 
 

Note "the bitter end" connection to the "bitts" ring
 
 
Main deck install
 

Note; I installed dowels in all the frame/cross beam joins as I did on the lower and middle deck levels 
 

Modified binder clamps using wood planks across the deck to hold it down
 

 
 
 
 
 
Completed Launch
 

 

Here is a plan sheet that shows the two sections of the Windlass - the wench and crane arms.  You can see the rope that runs from the wench to the crane arm roller
 

Note the basswood trim covering the plywood edge on the floorboard deck 
 

 

 

Note; the shortened crane arm support in the stern (AL refers to this part as the Capstan).  Also the grating in the Bow.

Not much chance of that.  And yes, I knew you weren't a stickler for historical accuracy and had your tongue in cheek.  Heck, maybe Bligh would have preferred some of you modifications and ordered them installed.  Who knows?

Al,
 
I would agree with you...but actually I think you know I was joking    
 
I'm putting more focus on nice detail then Historic accuracy.  
 
As an example; I think we all know the Bounty had copper plating on the hull the day it left on it's doomed voyage.  The records clearly note the Royal Navy had the hull plated as part of the re-fit.  But I have no intention of plating the hull with copper because I think wood looks much nicer (assuming I don't trash the planking job)    

Keith,
 
I admire your honesty....it's funny, sometimes mistakes/disasters can lead to other innovative ideas and results   
 
I've seen a few other Bounty builds that had a single Launch on the main deck as well, and I really like the look...less crowded and more streamlined (the heck with Historical accuracy)    
 
Al,
 
You're very kind to be sure....and it's a pleasure collaborating with you on this build my friend    

Beautiful work Boyd. :)
 
Cheers
Dimitris

Very neat, Boyd. I like it. 

It is realy nice and real for real .:-)

Hi Bob,
 
Just gone through your build. Really nice work.  I like the way you go in detail.  I will follow your log. In my two builds, Juan Sebastian Elcano and Bluenose II I didn't do much changes and additions from those supplied with the  kit, except for a few minor things.  On my next build I will keep a sharper eye to see where I can improve the build.  Keep it up.
 
Robert

Don't think of not putting the jolly boat on the ship as being historically inaccurate.  It all depends on when you are looking at the ship in model form.  There were many times when the jolly boat (and the launch of course) were not on the ship.  If you are presenting the model as how it looked after the mutiny, then the launch would not have been on board.  On my build (for various reasons) I chose not to include green breadfruit plants in the pots.  My rationale is that I'm showing the ship as it was before they arrived in Tahiti.  I don't think anyone would criticize a painting of the Sierras in August by saying "where's the snow?"

Hey Boyd, as usual a great log and description of all the great work you've done.  While my build may have initially been inspiration for you, the shoe is certainly now on the other foot.  You set the bar extremely high.  I can't wait to see what you have planned for your deck, planking and adornments. 

Thanks Boyd. The reason I left off the jolly boat was because it turned out to be a disaster. It was NOT a creative decision on my part! 

Thanks one and all. 'Tis good to be back.
 
 
You most certainly may, Mark !! Coz every time you do, it saves me heaps of work ... and wood !!

 
Thanks. I'll give that idea a shot this weekend. I've purchased a small sheet of plywood of the same thickness as the kit-supplied frames, so I will have another go at making them, this time with a touch of diluted glue.
 
Mobbsie. That ain't styrene. In effect, I've created a solid wood hull.

Nils, thank you so much for nice comments...you sir are an inspiration yourself and I follow your builds with wonderment
 
 
Steve and Matt,
 
What can I say, you guys were the ones that pulled me over to the dark side...true masters of detail 
 
Your Launches are amazing...and half the fun of this hobby is researching and learning about these incredible ships   
 
Now the fun begins...planking the main deck and the hull    

Gentlegiant, Greg, Keith and Dimitris...thanks very much for the kind words.
 
Greg, I'm glad you can use some of my tips...and I appreciate people that take the time to read the narratives 
 
Keith, yours and Captain Al's Bounty builds is what motivated me to build this model.  I also liked the fact that you left off the Jollyboat and added details to the Launch.
 
Thanks for the many detail ideas I got from you