bryanc

Ruined deadeye assemblies. Insurmountable Problems!? I’ve hit a snag which might mean completion of my build might be in jeopardy. Or at least won’t get any higher than deck level. The photos will reveal the problem; all but three of the eight deadeye assemblies have been rendered useless. Getting the deadeyes into the brass fittings proved all but impossible, and while I thought I had got one side complete, three of the four just snapped off! You can see the remains in the photo. Has anyone any inspired ideas, or does anyone know of a source of replacement parts so I can at least have another go?

Hi Tadeusz, Well I can't argue with your jigs, given the high quality of work you're producing! Bryan

Hi Joel, thanks for that, and yes, that is the £50.00 one I was referring to, and I'd love one, but just can't justify the expense yet, hence the much cheaper alternative. Its already proved its worth by holding the ship fast while I fiddle with deck fittings. Bryan

This addition is something of an aside, and, at the risk of looking foolish I thought I'd share it. Like, I suspect, many others, there is an abundance of tools I'd like to possess but simply cannot justify the purchase price. One of the primary ones being a keel clamp. One of the better ones is the lovely one costing a little short of £50.00. Well, I was in Aldi this afternoon, actually went specifically to have a look at one of their "specials", a table vice, which I thought could maybe pressed into service as a keel clamp, and with other uses. The vice edges are rubber sheathed to protect the object in the jaws. I bought one. Getting it home I thought perhaps it was a waste of money, its quite a robust thing, die cast aliminium and weighty with it. However I tried it; I was pleasantly surprised. Have a look at the photo just taken. Its bulky and its use will be limited, but I can see it proving useful for some tasks. Its available as a clamp mounted thing that clamps to a table edge or similar or a suction mounted one. And why am I making such a fuss? Well it costs less than £7.00!! bryanc

This addition is something of an aside, and, at the risk of looking foolish I thought I'd share it. Like, I suspect, many others, there is an abundance of tools I'd like to possess but simply cannot justify the purchase price. One of the primary ones being a keel clamp. One of the better ones is the lovely one costing a little short of £50.00. Well, I was in Aldi this afternoon, actually went specifically to have a look at one of their "specials", a table vice, which I thought could maybe pressed into service as a keel clamp, and with other uses. The vice edges are rubber sheathed to protect the object in the jaws. I bought one. Getting it home I thought perhaps it was a waste of money, its quite a robust thing, die cast aliminium and weighty with it. However I tried it; I was pleasantly surprised. Have a look at the photo just taken. Its bulky and its use will be limited, but I can see it proving useful for some tasks. Its available as a clamp mounted thing that clamps to a table edge or similar or a suction mounted one. And why am I making such a fuss? Well it costs less than £7.00!!

Thanks Tony, and you're right of course, and you put it all very succinctly! As for the finish, right again, I'm the captain; it’s my ship to finish how I please :-) Bryan

The Build Continues! It’s been a while since I've continued the build log, I’ve been a bit busy with other things, and have experienced a lot of problems with this! However I'm soldiering on (or is that sailoring?). Enormous problems with my ham-fistedness and lack of patience, but I'm learning, and enjoying learning which is more important. The main wale proved tricky, the planking used just wouldn't take pins, it was really hard wood! Plus I made such a mess of it, when in desperation I tried superglue that wouldn't stick either, too much wood glue saturating the planking perhaps. I did win in the end, but it was a major battle. My ham-fistedness (together with some really brittle laser cut sheets) meant split components which had to be painfully glued together, before I could use them. I've also discovered that somehow the deck has ended too high up the bulwarks. No real problem in itself, but it’s going to be an issue when the cannon are put into position, they will foul the gun port openings, so will either have to be set back further on the deck, or wedged at the rear somehow. Of course I'm now close to another decision; should I paint the lower hull white or not bother? I don't actually like the finish I've seen on other modellers ships, but having said that, on mine the paint would cover a multitude of sins! Then there's the rudder, that’s proving a challenge to! I had it successfully mounted on its hooks and eyes, but had to remove it for some reason, now simply cannot get it to cooperate again. Oh joy!

Well that was an easy assumption to make, please don't worry! Bryan

Hi tarbrush, good of you to comment. I did as you suggest, and am sticking with my original clear satin varnish. In fact I've now done it, and it looks OK except for one "plank" that despite being smoothed down completely, the varnish seems to have "highlighted" one edge of the plank and it gives the appearance of being raised. I think maybe there was a minute gap that the varnish soaked down. I'll post pics next time, but I think I'll have to live with it!

Thank you Brian, good of you to make the observation. However the work isn't that great, I'm learning a lot, but still making mistakes!

Hi Tony, I hope we're not talking at cross purposes here. It seems unlikely that such similar kits differ, but my constructed bowsprit assembly has lugs that fit the deck planking holes exactly (see pics). And those holes are present in the precut false deck as you can see earlier on. Having said that I can see the sense in positioning the the assembly c/w bowsprit on it, exactly to suit when the time comes, so I'll keep my options open! Bryan

Hi again Tony, And thanks for the continuing support! I take your point entirely about the treenails. At full scale the nail heads would be the size of saucers! I won't at this stage contemplate trying to emulate them, though maybe on a larger scale ship! The deck finish? I have some Rustins Clear Satin varnish which I used on the Albatross, and it looks perfectly good, that will be used again, after a good sanding down. The hull planking continues and I'll post some pics when I've gone a little farther down the hull, but I cannot pretend I'm finding it easy or am satisfied with it. The two holes in the deck (which I took a ridiculous amount of trouble matching up from the false deck to the deck planking) are the locating holes for the bowsprit bit assembly, which, much to my bewilderment, is located off centre, as indeed is the bowsprit! Of course your Sherbourne is the same - I've just been admiring it, the build is far better than mine, which, I suspect, is down to more patience! Thanks again, Bryan

Continuing… The second planking continues, slowly. But whilst waiting for some planking to bend (they were soaking), having previously already painted the inner bulwarks, I started the deck planking. It went so well, and I was enjoying it so much, I went on to complete it. It raises issues for me regarding how it should be painted (or stained) and finished to look most authentic. I have searched through the website and got many ideas, but I wondered what the accepted way of finishing the decking is.

Thans Tony, thats really encouraging and I take your point about the smooth first planking to facilitate the second. Bryan

The Build Continues Planking is complete. That is, the first planking is complete! I‘m not very proud of it, but for reasons explained below, while it has to be competent, it doesn’t have to be tiptop. Much to my surprise this ship build has 2 skins of planking, the second laid directly on top of the first, the only difference is that second build also covers the bulwarks, inner and outer. Being a newcomer I don’t know how common this is. My first ship, the Albatros only had the one layer of planking. The bulwarks themselves were added, and all the bulwark tabs exposed over deck level had to be removed. This boring and lengthy sanding job was made infinitely easier with my new toy; after much research I purchased a Dremel 7700 cordless rotary tool. I like it! It made jobs like removing the tabs blissfully easy, although one had to be careful obviously. (It features in one of the images, at the stern of the ship in the shot looking downwards at the deck. It’s actually going back and being replaced, as the battery unit doesn’t sit securely in either the charger or the actual tool, which can’t be as intended). Once the bulwark tabs had been removed and sanded down to deck level, the second planking could commence. This is going to be a long job. I’ve elected to start it from the deck; up the bulwarks, then down over the outer bulwarks and down the side of the ship. One photo shows the inner planking in progress. Note my patent pending struts, under tension, helping keep the planking in position as the glue dries. All the apertures in the bulwarks; gun ports etc. have to be kept clear obviously. This is where my set of needle files came in. The second planking continues. I may well lay the deck planking at the same time when I feel the need for a break in the hull planking.

Thanks Tony, alas your advice re. the rotary tool came a tad late as I have already acquired a Dremel 7700 cordless rotary tool. Actually I'm quite pleased with the Dremel and the cost is about the same as the item you mention. Your advice re. sanding the hull with ordinary sandpaper also came too late, I submitted to the temptation and used the Dremel. You are quite right of course, and I had to use some filler! Thankfully there is a second layer of planking on this model! Bryan

Hi Tony, Many thanks indeed for the encouraging message, and the very valuable link. I've just opened that now and will have a good look - especially at the planking guides, which as you know I am currently in the middle of! I also accept I have to acquire a proper sander/driller tool (Dremel?), so will have a look if there is anything about them on the site and also of course the cheapest source of them! I'll be adding to the Lady Nelson build log very soon, it is a lovely model, but as testing as I expected! I will not be doing one for the Albatros. As I mentioned, I made so many fundemental errors in the build, its been put to one side. However I may return to it after the Lady Nelson as I expect to have picked up a little more know-how and experience post Lady Nelson. Thanks again, Bryan

My previous attempt – The Albatros by Constructo – was just that, an attempt. Because of pure ignorance and inexperience, I made many fundamental mistakes not helped by lack of proper tools, and what I now know were less than good instructions and merely adequate materials. But I don’t regret it, it was so instructive, and has encouraged me to go onward and upward rather than be discouraged. Not that my current effort is going to be fault free, far from it I expect, but at least I’m better equipped, mentally and physically. First off the Lady Nelson is a better piece of kit, mind you it should be, it cost upwards of £40.00 more, but the superior quality materials and documentation became immediately obvious as I opened the box. Having said that the ‘Building manual’ has less detail than the one with the Constructo kit, but its better written and additionally has not one, but five 70 x 50cm ‘Assembly Sheets’ which are beautifully produced and so helpful. Well I say helpful, there are actually not one but two errors in the plans, on Sheet One bulkhead part numbers 2 and 3 and the two sets of plank termination patterns, part numbers 16 and 17 are transposed which could lead to disaster, but fortunately the errors are obvious when you present the parts to their supposed locations. Note that much of what I write in this build log is going to appear naive, in-experienced and even wrong. Helpful observations would be appreciated. The Build The hull construction was completed relatively easily. I made two big mistakes which could have had awful consequences; I managed to snap the ‘walnut prow’ (part no. 21) in two pieces extracting it from the laser cut sheet! Gluing the two pieces back together seems to have worked, but it’s bound to affect its tensile strength. Secondly I completely forgot to glue the last and smallest bulkhead (part no. 10) in place before I glued the false deck in place. Thankfully I was able to tap it into place after. Ensuring the bulkheads are correctly aligned which is vital of course, is actually made much easier by dry fitting the false deck in position as the bulkheads ‘set’. In this way the deck acts as a jig. The (infamous) walnut prow, keel and rudder post were then fitted and left to dry before the false deck was finally glued in position – temporarily held in place with pins until dry. The fiddly stern counter frames were glued in place, each set allowed to dry before the next was fitted (not shown in the photos). There remains the two bulwark strips to fit (they are currently soaking in warm water to facilitate easier bending), then after a thorough sanding is done and I can say the hull construction is complete. I am under no illusion; this was the easy bit. The planking of the hull now follows, and I am approaching it with trepidation as I consider this the trickiest part of the build, which can make or break the whole endeavour!