rafine

I've been out of touch for a while, but just got a look at your progress, Augie. It's simply great. Into the homestretch!

Bob

Thanks so much, Paddy, Rusty and Chuck. Ill be taking a couple of weeks off, but I'm looking forward to doing the exterior planking when I return.

Bob

Thanks very much, Thomas.

Bob

Many thanks, Russ, Pete and Mark. Planking on a cross section is really fun -- no spiling and no bending.

Bob

I've completed the interior planking up to the lower deck clamps. I've also done the treenailing up to that point. Lastly, I put on one coat of Wipe-on Poly for some protection. I will do additional finish coats later. 

Next up will be the wales and the exterior planking from the keel up to the wales. With the frames now quite rigid with the addition of the interior planking, I will do some more fairing on the exterior before doing the planking.

Bob

Good looking gratings, Rusty.

Bob

Everything is looking great, Marius. I'm using real treenails on this build, but I've used the fake ones with filler on other models. It works just fine. I would go with a filler that hardens and can be sanded.

Bob

Great looking blocks, Grant.

Bob

Beautiful looking work. The beams look perfect.

Bob

Wow. You guys are much too kind. I really enjoyed reliving the build through the reposting and I'm delighted that others got some enjoyment as well.

I have no other photos, Christian.

Brian, when has any modeler not believed that they could have done better.

Bob

Final installment on the rebuilt log. The yards and running rigging and the final details:

The yards, like the masts, were made from dowels with the eight sided sections built up. The blocks were commercial items with some shaping. Specialized blocks such as long tackle blocks were made from strip wood. The rigging line is tan linen line that I have had for some years. The sequence of construction and rigging was fore to aft ( opposite to how I do the standing rigging, but also to give the greatest access), and lower to upper on each mast. The most difficult task was running the main jeers through the jeer bitt sheaves and attaching to the bitts. In hindsight, it wold have been much better to have made that attachment at a much earlier stage of construction before the bitts became very difficult to reach.

The final details included the anchors and their bouys and rigging, the entry ropes and the installation of the swivel guns and the elm tree pumps.

In summary, this kit, although it had numerous shortcomings, provided a unique opportunity to build a fully framed boxwood model without the necessity of cutting all of the framing. For me, without power tools, that was a critical plus factor.

Bob

Great work Len and great to see the log back.

Bob

Thanks to all. Christian and Grant, I had already come to that conclusion and had done the lower deck clamps before continuing with the planking. The result is that I will only have to adjust one plank up to that point.

The bad news, Paddy is that there are lots of treenails. The good news is that you lern some tricks to make it easier as you go along. Very much like ratlines.

Bob

Get better soon. Best wishes.

Bob

Thanks very much, Ron.

Bob

Thanks so much,Pete.

Bob

Thanks, Mark. I don't remember how long it took me to do the ratlines on this one, but I'm sure that I was glad to be done with them.

Bob

Thanks,as always, Robert.

Bob

Thanks, Paddy and Mark. Paddy, I'm not really sure about the size of the tree nails. The bamboo was reduced to #33 on the draw plate, whatever that works out to.

Bob

This installment covers the completion of the mast installation and standing rigging.This work began with the installation of the topmasts and their pendants, shrouds, ratlines,stays and backstays .It continued with  the jibboom with it's horses, thimbles and traveler and also the bowsprit horses and netting. It finished with the topgallant masts and their shrouds, stays and backstays. As with the lower masts, the work proceeded from the mizzen forward.  The last photo shows the model with the masting and standing rigging complete.

Bob

Planking is now underway. I began by installing the keelson and then did the limber strakes and limber boards. I also did the ceiling out to the first thickstuff. All of the planking was done with boxwood. After installing and trimming the planking, I treenailed it, using bamboo skewers and a Byrnes drawplate. I found the hardest thing to do was to split the bamboo skewers into pieces small enough to go through the drawplate. The treenails will show better when finish is applied to the planking. Interior planking will now continue out to the lower deck clamps.

Bob

It looks real good to me, Mark -- but what do I know.

Bob

It's looking sweet, Paddy. Keep it up.

Bob

Amen to patience and persistence using bamboo skewers. I'm learning that , as well.

Bob

Seeing your beautiful work with the red heart is making me rethink my wood choices for work down the road.

Bob