Chuck

It always happens to me too. I keep a heavy flat weight on it. Several large heavy stones. This helps but there is still warping at times.

Dont forget your rabbet strip between those. That changes everything and you would be surprised how much the shape changes. So avoid tweaking your stem until after you can test with the rabbet strip in position. Chuck

You will be catching up to me soon.!!!! Looks very good.

Yes but it makes the cedar too deep a yellow for my tastes. Its beautiful but not my preference.

Actually I did. The issue with basswood is the fact that it is just too porous. It looked better than any finish I ever tried on Basswood but the end grain just soaked up too much color and still turned very dark. Almost black. But this is a basswood frame treated in the exact same manner as I described above. Its not bad at all. What you cant see is the end grain....that is what was a deal breaker for me. The surface quality is also far inferior to Yellow cedar. I actually forgot the most important photo for comparison. In the photo below, the gel stain was applied to the planking as well. This is the color it will be and you can see a vast difference in the surface quality and the lack of grain structure. It doesnt look so grainy. In addition, the figurehead....this is the cast resin TAN figurehead. The one that I beheaded and turned facing forward. I also tested this and applied the gel stain directly to it without any prep work at all. Then I buffed it off with a small brush. In this case it was applied with a brush as well. I kept a dry clean brush handy and after I applied the gel stain I buffed it off immediately. Now it matches the treated yellow cedar perfectly. You can hardly tell it isnt wood at all. That was so simple. So much better than painting and trying to get it to look right. Yellow Cedar is more expensive than basswood but about 1/3 the cost of boxwood. I am sold on it. Look at the difference in surface quality between the basswood above. This finish mimics the warm golden orange color you see on contemporary models that used English boxwood and shellac....I hope. That is what I was shooting for. I have a lot of paint touch up on the wales and the red gun ports to do. They are pretty banged up but I wont bother until after the hull is planked.

I am so thrilled with this camera....anyway, it enables me to accurately reflect the color of the yellow cedar. So now I can finally explain what is going on with my model. You may have noticed in the many images of this log that stem appears slightly different in color than the hull planking. It is a very subtle difference. This is no accident. The Yellow cedar is not the best wood for your typical stain applications. The brighter and lighter hull planking is what the Cedar looks like with just some wipe on poly. About three coats of that above the wales. I like the natural look of the cedar very much as shown on the hull planking. I think its beautiful and I could live with it just fine. But because some folks prefer a darker medium tone, I started experimenting on some scrap wood when I built my longboat. I bought probably $500 worth of various stains. I tested them vigorously. Most failed the test miserably. All "penetrating" stains.....every last one of them, failed. Just like when you stain basswood, it was dark and blotchy and just awful. I tried 4 brands. DO NOT USE A PENETRATING STAIN ON YELLOW CEDAR!!! Then I tried about 4 brands of gel stain. I bought 3 or 4 colors to test from each brand. Once again, every last test was a dismal failure. But then I tried this one color......from one specific brand of gel stain which is non-penetrating. It is Old Masters - fruitwood gel stain. After about six tests with this particular color and only from this brand.....I tried other brands and other Old Masters colors....it was horrible. But there was something very different with this particular color. The surface of the cedar was sanded with 320 grit sandpaper. Three coats of wipe on poly was applied. This was allowed to fully dry overnight and its very important that you give it a day. That will look like the untreated planking above the wales....very beautiful. But then with a soft lint free cloth, apply some fruitwood gel stain. The longer you let it sit on the wood the darker it will get. I wiped it off and buffed it clean after only about 1 minute. It is not penetrating so you will be able to wipe it all off which tones the wood just a bit to your liking. I do about a six inch area and wipe it off. Then do the adjacent area. The two areas blend together well without worrying that the overlap will be darker. I let this dry overnight....and applied another coat of wipe on poly. The result is a slightly darker wood that actually resembles boxwood a lot closer. I like the color a lot. Not Costello boxwood but it looks like the real English stuff. The color of many contemporary models. It evens out the color and looks great. So yes, if you dont like the really light....more yellow color of Cedar, You can change it to look like the swatch/mock-up in the photos. My stem was also treated like this and its why it appears different than the color of the planking. I have also sanded it and reapplied on the stem many times and it came out very even and you cant see where I did that touch up. But remember.....I tested so many brands and colors. This is literally the only one that worked with really really good results. I also simulated some treenails on that mock-up. So once I get the planking all completed and add the treenails, I will coat the external planking to match the stem. All things considered, I think this was a very successful although expensive experiment. I wanted to save you guys that time and money. Also save you the chance of ruining your model. So make a mock-up and test with this Brand and color of gel stain and decide for yourself. Compare with the contemporary model of Minerva in the Rogers collection below.

I was going to do that but after a few days I realized my phone's camera just wasnt good enough. So I splurged on a new Cannon. I am very happy so far with it. Chuck

Just trying out my new camera guys. Really crisp photos now I just have to get the color and settings correct.

Nicely done......great looking puzzle. Do you have a link to that one. I would love to build that puzzle. Where did you get it? Chuck

I actually chisel out the big stuff. Less mess. Easier to breath. Then I sand with 120 grit to clean it up. Chuck

You got that right....If this looks familiar to you guys building the model shipways Confederacy kit.....my design, it should. This is the Chinese pirated version by Snail, a banned company from China. If it isnt nailed down they will rip it off. They have no morals at all. Snail is one of the worst companies out their with the owner blatantly stealing. This is the guy who ripped off the Triton plans as well. So he will certainly be prowling to get his hands on the plans for Winnie. These guys are members of other forums who promote Chinese pirated kits. So even if you have friends over there, I know many of you are dual members of these sites. Please do not share the Winnie plans with any members of those other sites. Build it for yourself only....and if your friends are interested, have them sign up here to join the group. Dont share them. The owner of Snail has made this comment about it and where they got the plans on a Chinese website....not to hijack this thread. But its nuts. I give it six months before the Winnie shows up in China. So please do not share or post these drawings....stick to the scroll saw. Here is what he said pasted right from the Chinese forum..."Thank you for your continued care and attention watching our kit developments. This time, we want to produce a 1:64 appearance (non-full rib) federal sailing ship. This legendary kit is developed according to foreign drawings by a master kit designer in America. We reproduce it for you" Compare with my design below.....yet some sites and forums believe it isnt a copy and this is OK......so please do NOT distribute these plans at all. If the Winnie plans get out and I see this happen, then yes it will probably be the last project I develop.

That looks great Ryland. Its so great to see you up and around. Patti and I have been thinking about you and we were quite worried. Time to slow down and get more shop time in. Hope to see you guys real soon. Chuck

She is looking really good. Great progress.

Awesome...time to start putting that stem together.

No sorry I cant supply those.

Nope but that shouldnt stop you from getting that stem put together and sanded with the proper bevel. Maybe another week or so.

That looks pretty darn good. Once you clean up the rough spots with some fine sandpaper and apply a finish it is goong to look famtastic.

A small update after a lot of work and elbow grease. The fairing cap is completed. I am calling this the fairing cap only because it is an aid to help you fair the bulwarks inboard to a consistent thickness. It is 3/16" wide and 1/16" thick and sits atop the sheer. It really finishes off the sheer nicely. It will be completely covered up so it doesnt matter what type of wood you use. You should start in the waist and lay down a length of stripwood along the sheer first. Keep it flat and level and make sure the outside edge is flush with the exterior hull planking. Then work your way towards the bow and stern adding the laser cut hance caps if you bought them....and then finally finish it up with more 3/16" x 1/16" strip along the quarter deck and at the bow. At the bow because it is curved, you will need to cut it from a 1/16" thick sheet. I pressed this on top of the sheer and simply traced the outboard shape of the bow up to the bollard timbers. Then I drew another line to indicate the inboard edge so the piece would be 3/16" wide. Cut it out with a sharp #11 blade. Once done, you can fair the bulwarks inboard. This will take a while but its best to get it done now so all of that dust and mess falls away rather than collect inside your hull. One thing to consider while fairing....look at your gunport sills as a gauge and try to keep them consistently deep from bow to stern. I am about 95% of the way faired which is good enough for me at this point. Now I will start lining off the hull so I can plank below the wales. Notice how clean and free of laser char the bulkheads are inboard in comparison to the photo below which shows the hance fairing caps. Nice and clean. That sheet laying on deck is just scrap and helped me keep my knuckles from getting scraped up on the top of those bulkheads as I faired inboard.

You are welcome. I am waiting on a large order of Cherry from Ethan as I write this.

I wish Jim Byrnes had these.....just thinking out loud....

The paper cutter does work but its a real pain when you want accuracy. It really doesnt work perfectly, especially with the thicker stuff. It messes up the edge of the strip too. Cutting a 3/64" wide strip is not easy. You would need a Guillotine Shear cutter that jewelry makers use. They are expensive. With the paper cutters, it will want to pull the sheet in so if you want a perfect 1/16" or a 1/32" wide strip 12" long that is not the way to go. If you can settle with less accuracy and curling then its fine. I may have to buy a good Guillotine shear in the future but when you need 100's of these strips for kits and parts, its not an efficient way to go. Much better to buy 250 strips from K & S bulk wholesale. I dont think Model Expo or Bluejacket can stand in front of a paper cutter making brass strips, LOL. They use far more than I do. I just talked to K & S on the phone....its not the tarrifs. Its just low demand. Nobody is doing the crafts and models like they used to. They are still doing the tubes and other parts. They just discontinued making these because nobody buys them. For you tool guys...This is what I will eventually have to get. But probably a bigger one. They had about 250-300 of the three sizes I use left in the warehouse so I just bought them all. That should last me a few years....Worth it for me as it would take hours to cut those.

So I shipped out about 30 sets of the first installment of laser cut cedar parts over the last two weeks. Many of you have probably received them by now. Has anyone started to assemble those stem parts yet? I would love to start seeing some build activity in those build logs. Anyone start yet? I used Titebond to glue the stem pieces together. I am eager to see some progress from the group. Shipped out 30 sets but only half of those have started a build log. I would also love to see some more of those lurkers start a log as well. Nudge ....nudge.... Just doing a little prodding!!!! Chuck

That is looking excellent!!! Just as its supposed to at this stage of the project.

Yes you can.....and for the record, I used 6mm ply for my model. Its all good. You may of course have to check and tweak the slot size because all 1/4"/6mm ply is not actually 1/4" or 6mm. It doesnt matter though as long as your slots are snug.

Yupp....everyone is stopping MFG which is so weird. Chuck