mrshanks

The secondary guns come with large superstructure, and the AOTS and the Tamiya instructions differ. According to Tamiya this is where the Paravanes are stored, but the AOTS states they are in closed magazines, which I expect the quad doors are for.
 
The door and the ladder configuration is different between the kit and reference, so I went with the reference and sanded down the door and will move the ladders and again add stanchions later.
 
I have also included extra rivet strips and handrails around the bottom of the turret ring from a set of cut down hand rails from spares.
 
The red things are a panel that is included by Tamiya as a decal, and there are two hatches no mentioned by tamiya. When painted it won't matter.

One bite at a time. Big bloody elephant

Its a matter of access Cog, I don't want t lose detail under paint. I did up the gun tubs that go on top of the main guns. The Tamiya piece is 1 piece. The pontos is 14pieces.

Hello Doug..
Thank you so much for letting me know that my log has helped you somewhat.  It's good to know that my efforts have helped somebody.  I don't mind maintaining a log as it also provides me with a chronological record of my work.  I'm getting into the home stretch now and I believe that I'll finish this model in a month or so.  I hope you have a great weekend.
Here are some more pictures to bring my progress up to date.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Best,
Jerry

Carl, more like side-tracked. My model RR club has me building several wood and card buildings in Z (1/220) and G (1/24) scales. Most club members are all thumbs with regard to building almost anything. Sad.
 

Almost went blind with these, even with good magnification and lots of light. Don't know how Piet did that SIB.
 

This will end up about 20"/.5 m wide. It is huge! Will have a waterwheel on the right side. Kit instructions were vague. No wonder this guy went out of business. I'm shingling the roof now. Shakes! One at a time. Tedious.

Lots going on in our life, so slow progress on my projects.  I'm just finishing the last of the frames, and completed the Hahn-style jig last night.  The frames have not been faired or sanded in any way.  Just to test the fit, I set the whole frames in the jig.  i was surprised that the tops of the frames fit snugly and accurately into the notches on the jig with no trimming or adjusting!  Very well designed.  Once I finish the last frames I'll need to check them against the plans and trim/shim so they match exactly.  If that part isn't done right, fitting the keel on the frames will be impossible.

Thanks so much for the tutorial Zoran, this makes things much clearer,  I have been away from here for awhile and just noticed this. I will try your methods and keep everyone posted.
 I will join you with the coffee, I have just completed an extra long birthday celebration so a beer is not really sounding that good yet  

Thanks again for all the encouraging comments and "likes". Progress seems to have been slow, but that's because I've spent a lot of time waiting for resin and/or paint to dry!.  A minor update tonight:
 
After a third coat of resin, the hull was wet-sanded with 120, 240 and 360 grit sandpaper and is now ready for finish coats. That left me with something of a chicken and egg dilemma. Should I apply the colour to the bottom of the hull before commencing clear coating, or should I clear coat the top/sides to a finished state before applying the bottom colour? I’ve seen it done both ways, so I figured it didn’t make a critical difference in the end.
 
I decided that my approach would be:
Apply bottom colour Apply one clear coat over everything (mainly to protect the bottom colour from lifting with the masking for the next stage) Apply waterline boot-topping stripe Apply graphics Apply remainder of clear coats (to a total of five coats)  
I decided on a copper bottom colour as this is fairly typical for these boats. I marked the waterline as indicated in the plans and then used Tamiya masking tape to define the “wet edge”. Regular painters tape and some scrap paper completed the masking job and I was away.  I started with two coats of white automotive primer, with a very light sand afterwards, and then applied three coats of  Krylon “Premium Copper Brilliance” from a rattle can (as per my earlier trials), with a light wet sanding with 360 grit after the first coat and 600 grit after the second coat.
 
I decided that I was happy with the result and unmasked her this evening. There is a little bit of fairing required to remove the raised edge along the ‘wet edge”, but otherwise it looks okay – certainly a big improvement on the white plastic!
 

 
The photo shows the sanded resin with a whitish appearance. This will disappear with the application of the clear coat.  Here’s a couple more shots to show overall progress.
 

 

 
Next I will apply a coat of clear over the entire boat before re-masking for the boot-topping. This painting lark is a slow process….

Thanks for all the kind comments and the likes. It's been a while since I updated this, but not because I haven't been making progress - it's just that this is a slow process!  Anyway, here is a little update of sorts.
 
Fibreglassing the Hull
 
Having declared a win with the trials, I commenced the process of glassing the entire boat. Although the instructions say not to bother glassing the bottom of the boat as it is plastic (Sintra), I decided to take the precaution of glassing it anyway.
 
This is a slow process overall as it is necessary to work on only one surface at a time and to allow it to fully cure before proceeding to the next surface. Here is a couple of in-progress shots of the first phase – applying the glass mat with the first layer of epoxy resin. It followed much the same path as the trials (happily).
 
I began with the bottom, cutting the glass mat slightly larger than required. In hindsight, I could have trimmed this much closer prior to applying the epoxy. The resin was applied by pouring a small amount into the centre and spreading outwards with a rubber squeegee. Care needs to be taken to avoid any drips landing on the overhang and sticking itself to the hull sides – don’t ask how I know this!
 

 
The sides were next:
 

 
Here is a close-up of the side, showing just how much of the weave of the cloth is visible at this stage. Remember, trust the process!
 

 
Once the epoxy had cured (overnight) the cloth was trimmed back using a single edged razor blade:
 

 
It’s not clear in the above photo, but I found that with a little caution I could run the blade right along the adjoining edge, making final clean up with some 80 and 120 grit sandpaper that much easier.
 
Speaking of clean-up, this next shot shows the side after it had cured, been trimmed and lightly sanded with both 80 and 120 grit. The purpose here is to remove any high spots and create a smooth (but toothed) surface for the next layer of resin.
 

 
As you can see in this photo, it looks pretty ugly. There were quite a few “blemishes” where the cloth may have lifted slightly during the initial coating. Remember, trust the process!
 
Once both sides had been done, the transom followed, and finally the deck. All went pretty much as shown in the above photos, though perhaps with fewer flaws as I gained experience.
 
Then it was time to apply the second layer of epoxy. Again, it was a case of doing just one surface at a time, keeping that surface as horizontal as possible to allow the resin to level and not overflow the edges.  As per the trials, the second coat was applied with a stiff brush, care being taken to ensure that the “oopses” from the first phase were filled in by firmly stippling the area with the brush until the oops disappeared.
 
I didn’t take any “in-progress” shots of individual panels, but here are a few on completion of the second coat of epoxy. At this stage, the epoxy has fully cured but no clean up sanding has been done. This will be carried out prior to applying the third coat of resin. However, I thought it useful to post these overall pics to show just what a difference the second coat of epoxy makes. It has almost entirely filled in the weave of the cloth and the “shiny-ness” gives an indication of what is to come.
 

 

 

 
It’s very difficult to take pictures of a highly polished and reflective surface, but I think you can get the idea. And yes, you can see a slightly uneven “wavy” effect on the surface – this will come out with the between coats sanding. Hopefully, one more coat of resin will be sufficient prior to commencing the finish coats of spar varnish. If not, we’ll keep going until it is!
 
It will be a little while before the next update as I'm travelling for work over the next couple of weeks.
 

That looks great Dave.  Nice job getting them tucked in there.

I installed the two custom fitted strakes at the stern to eliminate the "tail" that stuck up there.  It turned out OK, and restores a better sheer line to the aft planking.

Slow going on the planking.  The hull dimensions are weird.  Rather than be significantly wider at he stern, I'll actually have to taper some planks after adding a stealer to start an upward run of the planks.  There is also a little "tail" that points upward at the sternpost.  I custom cut some planks to eliminate it.  So at the stern I have to add a stealer, and then taper planks to make up for it so the planking matches the sheer of the wales.  UGH!  Not my favorite part.

Planking is going slowly, because the 1/32" thick planks are much tougher to fit than the veneer second planking in most kits.  I found cutting veneer thickness planking on the Byrnes saw difficult because when ripping, the veneer would slip under the fence, due to it's thinness.  I will have to figure out a mod so I can use the saw for that purpose.
 
To fit the planks I had two options:  Spiling, or tapering/heat bending.  In think the taper and bend technique is easier, but it is slow!  Here is the most forward plank in the 4th strake below the wale, ready for installation.

I think you should be ok, if you find them breaking I would just harden them with some ca and that should solve your problems

Hi Mike, thanks for stopping in. To answer your questions the dowel is 12 mm in diameter, the hole is 8.5 mm(21/64)( I did drill a smaller pilot hole first) the side walls are 1.75 mm thick and the piece sits 2.5 mm high. The tool I used to part them with is a parting tool, there are some pictures of it already but this one maybe shows a better angle of it(it is the unit on the right)
 

I am not almost finished with the boat, but am almost finished with the bowsprit. Next up are two cleats on the onboard side and bowsprit rigging. I hope these images work. Progress has been slow with everything going on lately. I hope to get back to pace late this month. We will see. Anyway, let's hope these images fit!


Until next time! Hopefully sooner than this time was.

Will my cot be on the main floor or upstairs with your wood supply?  

Wow Mike, that is awesome!! Thanks for sharing the pictures. Looks like it is going to be plumbed, good idea. You'll be set for life there, you will love it in the country I know I sure do. How many acres?

That is going to be a very nice shop and what a view! Great things will happen in there!

Well Hello Mike, good to hear from you. Thanks. Hopefully your shipyard is coming along and will be open soon.

Hello Lawrence..
Yep, it feels great to be back in the shipyard and working away on the Bluenose.  My eyes seem to be able to stand the strain of the mini works although I lose focus from time to time.  The doctor told me that would happen for about three months and then the focal point will settle in so that i can get  a prescription for glasses.  But I really am having fun.  I was able to drive to the doctor's office on Tuesday and that was another marker because for several weeks I felt like a prisoner in home arrest.  Best regards to the admiral and hope to visit with you one of thee days on Skype.  
Best,
Jerry

Thanks Ian, the kit supplied wood for the deck is cherrywood so I am thinking it should it should all come together nicely

Here is the last little bit for today the aft hatch, again there is a lack of pictures. Not sure what I was thinking this past week but it certainly wasn't about photography  
 
 

 
 in this picture it is finished but I wasn't happy with how it looked. Where top meets up with the frame just did not look finished and I never noticed the chip in the front panel until it was too late............so here is my fix
 
 

 

 
 Added a handle and another step.............it's step week   . I think it looks ok, then I sprayed it with four coats of satin varathane.
 

 
 And the ladders for both hatches, both made from all kit material. I have cleaned off that piece of dust on the one rung after seeing this picture . These also have been sprayed four times
 
 So I guess it's now time for the deck, or I could do the masts  
 
Thanks for stopping in
 
Later

Hello All, Thanks to all those who have stopped in, given likes and for all the compliments. 
 With this post you may have the idea I am stalling on cutting open and planking my deck..............you are right!! But it hasn't been a total waste I have accomplished a little. 
 

 
Here I am making the porthole covers for the forward hatch, Simply a walnut dowel drilled out, then shaped with a sanding stick then parted(the wire is held in place to stop the piece from flying away)
 

 
I apologise for the lack of pictures but here it is almost complete with covers attached. The trim is walnut from the kit then finished with cherry. The front step was an addition I added as the height of the ledge would have been almost two feet, much too high when one's belly is full of grog or probably wine in the Adriatic    
 
 
 

 
Here I have laminated some 1.5 x 5 mm cherry then cut to size for the doors. Also I have made the hinges still needing some cleaning up and paint.
 
 

 
Doors attached and working. I first tried brushing on wipe on poly but not paying attention I broke off a door. After repairing door I decided that spraying was a safer option, so it has four coats in this picture

Hi Don!  I'd cut the subdeck now.  Fitting those parts is critical, especially the centering and setting the rake of the masts.  It's much easier to do now, so even if you have to redo or make adjustments, the final planking will cover over any "modifications" you had to make!