Jerry's Admiral

Hi Everybody: A lot has transpired since my last post. What I really should say is that a lot of time has transpired since my last post because there have been many days that I could not even think about building my Bounty. I still love the idea of working on this model but unfortunately my job (I am an 8th grade history teacher) has taken up more time that I would like. The beginning of every school year is always very difficult as the administration continuously makes changes to which we have to adapt; this takes a good deal of time. It has never been easy but for some reason this year seems tougher than most. I can find very little time to spend on Bounty and that is a shame as my ambition is still great. Jerry has been very patient with me (I guess he still loves me) but I could see that he has seemed bored many days as he gives me instructions as to what to do and very little has been achieved. We both sat down and discussed the situation and decided to take a new track. Bounty will no longer be my build exclusively but will become a family project with instructions still to come from Jerry but he will also partially work on the project. Up until now he has been reluctant to do much as this was to be MY build. I know by asking Jerry to do some of the work the boredom will disappear. I have learned how to do some planking and how to apply the copper plates. I did some but must admit, if Jerry hadn't done the lion's share we wouldn't be where we are today. The hull as well as the rudder is completely planked and copper plated and we are ready to proceed with wales, stringers and strips. Since Jerry is very bad with colors, it'll be my pleasure to do the painting. I really hope I spend some quality time with Bounty as I truly believe it'll be a very nice model when completed. Here are some pictures to show OUR progress and I hope I haven't disappointed anyone by asking my hubby to contribute more of his skills. Charlene

Hi Shipyard Sid and my other partners in this wonderful hobby.... You are so nice to lend me the encouragement that you have and believe me, as you shall soon see from a couple of photos, I used plenty of filler to finally arrive at a smooth underlay suitable for the final planking. After much discussion with Jerry, who wasn't totally excited with what I plan to do, I'm ready to begin the second "coat." My hubby thinks I'm taking an easy way out and skimping but he fianlly gave in. I intend to mark the waterline with a strip of styrene which is something I remember Jerry did with his Victory. I will then plank the hull with the kit supplied walnut from the waterline up and copper clad the hull from the waterline down to the keel. I did mention this before but wanted to mention it again to rub it in on Jerry. Here are a couple of photos as promised. Thanks again, Charlene

I appreciate your encouragement, Jparsley....Though the results were mocked by my hubby, I am happy to get where i got because I now have the ambition to go further. True, it's not a perfect job but when I get through with a super walnut planking job and great copper plate application, Bounty will look okay. Jerry did admit that his first strip planking was worse than mine but I think he was jazzing me since he probably forgot I saw it. Thanks again, Charlene

Hi Dr. Per... Thanks for your comments. I think you ought to kow that Jerry explained beveling, tapering and chamfering with respet to the planking and I decided to take the easy way out. My bad. Jerry, in fact, was upset and suggested that I redo the planking in some areas. I figured that since I'm going to cover the first planking with another layer of walnut strips or copper plates I could get by (very bad attitude, i admit) with wood filler and sanding. I really had a strong argument over this with Jerry but since i was recovering from my medical situation, he relented. I promised him that any future build will be planked correctly, the way he has always built his models. Thanks again for your views; I appreciate your attention to my project. Charlene

First of all I want to thank Popeye and Dr.Per for their kind posts regarding my recent medical issues. I'm happy to say that I have returned to work (I'm a teacher) but I still find it difficult to sit too long working on Bounty. But over the past few days I did manage to get more planking done and after a discussion with Jerry I have decided to stray from the directions of the kit. Jerry was able to purchases copper plates from Heinz who decided he wasn't going to copper plate his HMS Victory. The HMS Bounty did have a copper clad hull even though the Amati kit only provides a two layer wooden planking version. The copper plates that Heinz sent us are close enough to scale so I have decided to complete the first planking with the 6mm x 1.5mm supplied strips and then I'm going to bash a bit. I will copper plate the hull from the water line down to the keel and walnut plank the hull over the first planking from the water line up. This ought to be interesting. Jerry said that my first planking job so far is a real mess but what does he know? Just kidding.....It is a mess and will probably require a quart of wood filler to smooth things out to provide a good base for the walnut above the water line and the copper plates below the water line. I'm anxious to get more done and pray that I continue to feel good enough to continue. Once again I sincerely appreciate all of you who have wished me well. Charlene

Popeye.. Thank you for your kind wishes. I am feeling much better having had the surgery two weeks ago today. And I'm happy to say that i was back in the shipyard working on Bounty's hull and managed (with my mate's help) to get further along on the first planking layer. Jerry took a picture of me so that I could prove i really was back to work. Charlene

Jeff, Grant, John, Lawrence, and Michael, Thank you so much for your "Get-Well" wiashes. Some days are better than others, but my energy is slowly coming back to the norm. I will post more photos when a picture will show more than a little progress. This ship is chllenging, even with my good mate's help! Charlene

Lawrence, Heinz, Jparsley, and Brian, I thank you all for following the Bounty's build, and additionally thankful that Heinz decided not to use his copper plates. They arrived in great condition, and I know they will make the ship look even more beautiful in the end. I am recovering from a hospital stay and surgery, but some progress on the ship has been made. I will post the recent photos to keep this log up to date. Charlene

Thanks to Capt-D, Boyd, Grant and J for your visit and appreciated comments. Looks like I'm about to begin planking the hull so I hope my Mate is going to be around. This is all new to me so I guess it'll be "show me, honey" and then try on my own. Looks like fun. Charlene

Oops, I used hubby's name by accident so please disregard the first post. Charlene

So...after 4 months of goofing off I have finally been able to get back to my beloved Bounty. There was so much happening this summer regarding household renovations and such that I found it impossible to do any modelling...(The boat kind, that is.) But I believe I'll be able to stay back at it and so here are a couple of pictures of my newest work. I attached the transom and the port and starboard bulwarks in preparation for beginning the planking of the hull. I hope my instructor won't get bored because I take three times as long aasking questions before putting tool or glue to the ship. Actually, he's been pretty good about everything except for snapping the whip these past four months trying to get me to do something constructive. But, I'm on my way. Charlene

Thanks, J. I have followed the advice, and with plenty of coaching from my First Mate, have filled in with balsa wood and shaped the bow. I also sanded the aft frame 16 to prepare for planking. It was a busy week, so didn't get anything else done. I took a couple of photos just to prove I did it. Hope everyone's weekend was nice. Charlene

Thanks, John! Good to hear from another Aussie. I will have to check out your "Surprise" build. Good luck on yours, though it looks like you won't need it with all your experience! Charlene

I am having fun, J., but this is NOT as easy as it looks. I am hoping now that I am doing things permanently that I can overcome any problems I may be creating with my inexperience. I would hate to be in trouble with you-know-who. I have spent about 8 hours finishing the reinforcements, learning how to measure and cut strips for planking, and then planking. Think I'll take it easy for a few days and go back to my teaching job (HA!)

Thanks Glen and Grant for your interest and encouragement. I am gluing more support reinforcements today and will post photos when i get finished with today's work. I had to spend some time filing down openings before i could work today.

Thanks, Glen, for where to find the self-healing mat. I picked one up right away instead of having one shipped like I had to for some tools, and the two lamps (one a magnifier). And thank you to David in England and Lawrence in Canada... it's like encouragement from family as I have been following your builds with Jerry for ages, and J. with the Half-Moon! CPS_Skybolt...I hope the day's problems vanish, since I end the teaching day with 13-14 year olds! I have spent two hours tonight unwrapping the pieces and matching them to the plans. Then I had fun and frightened Jerry by putting the skeleton together. When I brought it to him, he thought I had glued it together before having him check it. Very funny face!

Thank you, Boyd. Good luck to you, too!!

My hubby, Jerry (see HMS Victory by Jerry and/or Half Moon by Jerry), said I will get lots of help and encouragement if I create a log of my neophyte attempts to buid this beautiful model. I should have named myself "Jerry's Apprentice" because I have convinced him he CAN talk me through this build. Since I work full-time, this will be a long build not anywhere near Jerry's usual speed. But after watching him work on his 3 builds, I have caught the bug and am ready to try it myself. I am very territorial of anything I create, so don't expect the beauty and precision of one of his builds. But I am also a perfectionist, so I am hoping it will turn out looking really good. Please post any comments if you think I am in need of any guidance. I know from experience my hubby doesn't know everything, even though he is usually right