qwerty2008

Yes' I'm a big Doctor who fan. Since I named it the Byzantium and the Byzantium on Doctor Who had a weeping angle on board I decided that it would make the perfect figurehead.

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Its been awhile since my last post but i'm back. I made the mast and started on the rigging.

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Sorry its been so long since my last post. Since my last post I have made the weeping angel figurehead, there's nothing more intimidating than a twelve foot tall statue of an angel covering its eyes. the figurehead is made from Sculpty. After I took the pics I did some work on aging.

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I started work on the ship which is going to be HMS Sophie from Master and Commander by Patric O-Brian. The hull is made from some fine grained softwood I had left over from a previous project, the bulwarks are made from card.

   The HMS Sophie changed paint schemes throughout the book so I chose the one that I could make with the paint that I had.

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Mark I will try go get into town and get a halogen bulb that should work, I just changed out several of them for a friend abought a week ago I wish I would of had the foresight to take one of the old ones. For now I will start the planning for the model.

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I have decided to build a Ship in a Lightbulb. I have rigged a base to light up using parts from a cheap LED flashlight. The base is an old light fixture. the LEDs push into the light socket which is wired to the flashlights battery pack and on/off button, I have also added a sheet of thin plywood stained with some redwood stain. Sadly during the process of making the base I broke the lightbulb there is still enough of the bulb left for me to be able to size and make the model but I cannot use it in the finished product because it has a large hole in the side, incandescent lightbulbs are hard to get in California but I think I can get a halogen that will work.

     I am thinking of making the HMS Sophie from Master and Commander by Patric O-Brian.

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I installed the first bit of radio control gear, the rudder servo and the rudder linkage.

I was also wondering if I should ad another gun port on each side towards the stern where I have drawn the [?] I could then get rid of the planed stern chasers by making the two aft most cannons able to be unshiped and moved to the chaser ports when necessary. 

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The diameter is about. 3.5mm, (between 3 and 4 inches in full scale) I made it from four strands of some Nylon string that I got from Wal-Mart a few years back. I might change it later on in the build this one was just so I could see how the anchors would look when finished.

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Here is a close up of the cable.

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I broke out the rope walk and made a short length of hawser the took some more pictures. I also got a shot showing the inside of the bulwarks.

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I finished building up the thickness of the bulwarks all the way down to the deck and made the anchors. The anchors are made mostly from wood, the flukes are card and the rings will be copper.

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I got one from Harbor Freight and I found that it cuts through ¹/₂ plywood like a hot knife through butter. I absolutely love these saws.

 Nirvana it might interest you to know that Adam Savage uses a Japanese saw for allot of his personal projects too.

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Continued.

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continued.

I finished bottling it, as promised lots of pictures.

I got the hull in the bottle yesterday and will try to get the mast in today.

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I added a pin rail and stuns'l booms, unless I think of some final details I missed it is ready for bottling. If all goes well I will take alot of pictures and bottle it tomorrow.

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I finished the rigging, I would like to add some more detail to the decks but if I add to much detail I wont be able to get it in the bottle without damaging it. I also made the cradle to hold it in place in the bottle.

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I don't know anything about American ships of the line but doesn't the topmast normally connect in front of the lower mast? why is it connected behind the lower mast on the Pennsylvania? or is the pole i'm seeing some sort of flagstaff? if so disregard my first two questions.

thanks.

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Daniel I will make a wood cradle that will be glued to the bottom of the bottle, after the hull gets assembled in the bottle it will be glued into the cradle then the mast will be installed.

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I did some more work on the rigging (the foot ropes are out of scale but I couldn't get them any smaller) the topmast shrouds are complete the lower shrouds will be attached to the hull and have long strings that will be threaded through a hole drilled in the top of the mast when I install the mast I will pull the strings to tighten up the shrouds.

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I haven't got much work done around Turkeyday but I was able to make the lower gundeck cannons and the mast. The mast is made from a bamboo skewer the topmast and topgallant mast are made from bamboo toothpicks the yards are also toothpicks.

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Once it is in the bottle I will attempt to glue the decks on one by one from the bottom up then cut and remove the strings.

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Some more progress on the Victory I made the finale deck and painted the hull I also added the wales and the starboard gunports. 

   As promised here are some pics of it apart.

Lextin.