mrshanks

Looking great Don.
 

Thanks Dave. My arms are getting a workout now with the upper shrouds and tieing them off, good part is they don't have ratlines!

Wow! I just caught up and things are looking fantastic! She is such an interesting subject, and you really do her justice with all those added details. The firewood and axe by the stove are a really nice touch. Have you decided if you are going to add sails? I think they would look very good on her! Great work!

I spent the weekend working on the head rails.  Since this is a small, simple vessel, I opted for simple head rails and no figure head.  I dyed the rails black and applied a coat of poly.  The glare of the light makes the rails look shiny.  Much less so in real life.
 
I really sweated the head rails, but I think they turned out OK.  I just broke the whole thing down into individual parts and it wasn't as hard as I thought

As you can see, I fit the taffrail to the model.  I've been thinking about a name.  I don't want "Independence" for a number of reasons, so I decided on "Clio".  Clio was the Muse of History, one of the 9 Muses in Greek Mythology.  There were three British naval vessels called HMS Clio, one launched in 1807, the second in 1858, and the third in 1903.  My schooner is circa 1765, about 40 years earlier than the earliest British vessel..  I think the name is historically appropriate.  In the photo, I simply typed the name "Clio" using New Times Roman font on a black background and sized it appropriately.  The final "Plaque" with the name is 1/4" high by 11/16" wide.  The problem is that the white "Clio" is kind of muddied in the computer printout, and the background black is actually gray.  I have two questions:
 
1) What do you think of the name "Clio" for this vessel?
 
2) Is there a way I can have a tiny laser engraved plaque or 3-D printed placque with the letters in relief so I can paint my own white and black to give me a clearer name plate?  Shapeways does 3-D printing, but I don't do CAD!

I've been working on some smaller, fiddly things.  I glued the cap rails to the bulwarks, staining only the edges.  I need to attach the various parts to it before staining the rails black.  I completed the timberheads and the upright timbers that sit on the rail and frame the gun ports.  I also tried to blacken the brass mast hoops that came with the kit.  For some reason, I couldn't get them to come out right and they looked terrible on the masts!  What to do?
 
I came up with a solution courtesy of Gene Bodnar ( here's a link to the webpage that explains his technique:  http://www.modelshipbuilder.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?4024 )
 
Basically find a dowel of the proper size and wrap a few turns of waxed paper around it and secure the wax paper with tape/  Cut out a piece of brown grocery bag paper as wide as the space between the tape and coat it with white glue using your fingers.  Carefully roll the paper around the waxed paper-coated dowel, making sure to smooth the wrinkles as well as possible.  5 or 6 turns around the dowel should work.  When dried 24 hours a I put a coat of water based poly on the surface to harden it.  I removed the roll from the dowel (the waxed paper keeps it from sticking) and cut thin hoops from the role.  I carefully removed the inner waxed paper from inside each hoop and gently sanded the outside surfaces.  I coated heach hoop with Dull Kote lacquer to darken and harden each hoop.  The photo shows the hoops on the mast.  I think they look pretty good, resembling wooden mast hoops!  Better than the corroded appearing brass rings from the kit.

I took a little time to work on this build today .  I'm using the rigging plans for "Halifax" so there three pair of shrouds per mast fixed to the channels rather than 4 as in the kit.  The 4th shroud is secured to a cleat.
 
I made the chainplates from 20 gauge copper wire doubled up and soldered together.  After blackening, I'll drill holes for the nails that will hold the chainplates to the wales.  The channels are made of boxwood, as is the chainplate cover strip.  there's a decorative profile cut into the channels and the cover strip.

Don,
 
Your ship is exquisite. I especially love the name plate and deadeyes that Mike did.  Isn't technology great.

Thanks Dave. I was hoping you would say that, as that is what I use also and have had no problems yet.

The chainplates were blackened and the deadeyes stropped.  They were then mounted on the channels, with the chainplates nailed to the wales.  The coverstrips, which cover the chainplates and "lock" them in place have not yet been added.

I glued the channels in place.  I've read in a couple of sources that the stress on the channels by the shrouds is upward and inward.  Knees were sometimes used to counter the forces, but were planed atop the channels rather than underneath.  Here is a photo of Robert Bruckshaw's HMS Brittania with the knees on top.  I cut out some boxwood knees and set them in place in the second photo.  It IS a different look, but there is historical precedent, I guess.  Anyone have comments?

The chain plates look good Dave. Do you use silver solder?

Just surfing along ona slow day...
 
Great looking model, Don!  Beautiful detailing throughout, and your ship's boat is a model within the model.  Really excellent work!

Lawrence: Thanks for stopping in and for the kind comment. Your Golden Hind is looking great.
 
Hubac's Historian: Great of you to drop in and Thanks for the gracious comment

Good Morning All,
Well, I've finally finished painting the hull. This took quite a bit more time than I anticipated. My problem was the line at the top of the wales where the black meets the yellow. The lower line where the black meets the white was easy to tape and achieve a decent result, but not so easy at the top of the wales. The wales is thicker than the planking above it, with a ledge. I wanted the top of the ledge to be black, not yellow, but taping to the 90 degree transition was very hard to do. I must have made four or five attempts and no matter how carefully I thought I was taping, I always ended up with an unacceptable result. It occurred to me that if i could tape flat on the yellow, just a fraction of an inch above the transition point it would be easier to get a clean tape line and perhaps it wouldn't be noticeable to the eye that the line was just barely higher than the top of the wales. So I ran a slightly dull pencil along the top of the wales and it placed a parallel line on the yellow, above the wales  barely 1/16 of an inch or so. I taped to this line and it worked like a charm. The eye cannot easily detect what I have done and the result, while not perfect, is acceptable.
 
We're off to a family reunion this weekend. You know what they say - "Family isn't a word, it's a sentence!" If I survive, I'll be back with more updates.
 
David

Christian:
 
Thanks for your nice comment.
 
This model requires precise placement of the "wale" planks, and that in turn requires intricate side-bending of the finish layer planks (some of mine had a "S" shape by the time I was finished bending them!).  I used steam, clamps, and a hair dryer plus a plank bender.
 
At the bow, I started with bow-to-stern planks, and then finally let the planks turn upward and worked out to the bow again.  You can see it in the attached picture.  The only place I used stealers was at the stern, where it really flares out.
 
Thanks, David Robinson

She looks great, you are doing that fine name of yours justice . I'll be watching for more progress

A beautiful little ship you have built. Just one question - would the ship`s boat be stored on deck where you show it? Seems like it would be a bear to work around taking up one whole side of the deck.
 
Mark 

Thats a beautiful mediteranian boat Don,
very nicely built, well done !
 
Nils

Hi Dave, Thanks for the comment you made me chuckle with that one. How is the rope making going? Mine came to a halt when I broke the machine, Alexey sent me a new part so I hoping to up and going soon.

Good to hear from you EJ, Thanks so much. This was my first ship's boat I've built and was amazed how much time it took.

Great work, Don.  We've come to expect it from you.

Excellent job on the ship's boat Don! She came out very nice and looks great on board your Trabakul!

Good Evening All. Thanks for all the visits, comments and likes it is all really appreciated.
 This post is about the final stages of the ship's boat, I won't bother you with a bunch of chatter and explanations, however, if you have any questions please ask. I will be happy to answer, even though it maybe just made up.
 Here we go:
 





 
 There are a few flaws but as they say "she is good enough for me and the girls I go with".
 Next up is the bowsprit
 
 See You soon

Got the hanging knees and one pair of diagonals in for the gun deck, as well as one of the beams.  Added a comming for the opening for the pump hoses, painted (mostly) one side of the ship and made a template of the gun deck to test fit the location of the hole in the gun deck for the mast.  Suddenly this thing looks much bigger.

 
One issue is looming, however.  As we all know, the main mast tapers slightly from the seat to where it comes through the spar deck.  The kit comes with mast rings to cover my imperfections where the mast pierces the decks.  The good and bad news is that the openings in these rings decrease in size to match the change in mast diameter as it tapers - largest diameter would go on the berth deck, smallest on the spar deck.  Good news: makes it look more realistic; bad news: unless I step the mast before I install the spar deck and slip the smaller ring for the gun deck on (before installing the top) how do I get the ring on the mast and seated on the gun deck - file the opening larger?  cut a slit into the ring and spread it over the wider foot of the mast???