Chuck

Its happening all over....They are pretty much stopping production all around for the smooth all-cotton Corrodonant threads. Most people are buying the acrylic and poly stuff now for crochet. Its a shame. Its too expensive to make and fewer and fewer people are enjoying that hobby now. The remaining companies who do sell it have a poor quality product as well. Lizbeths and Aunt Lidias are a fuzzy lumpy mess. Valadini is very fuzzy with limited sizes etc. The remaining stuff from DMC is too soft and loosely laid up. The most promising 100% cotton product I found was Aurifil. If you insist on an all natural product give this a try. Use the size 50 wt, 40wt, and 28 wt. Stay away from the 12wt thread. Its expensive and is too fuzzy. But the other smaller sizes are pretty good. Over the last few months I have bought and tried every commercial source because my current supplier has raised their prices by 40%. So the market at least in the US is getting tough. Import taxes have killed this cotton/linen non-synthetic product. Its mostly made in Europe. You can buy Anchor crochet thread in Europe however. It used to be very good. Dont know if they also stopped making some sizes. Its put out by DMC as well, but not available in the US. I have contracted with another custom MFG of threads, this time in Upsate NY. You tell them what you want and they make it. Core spun..Mercerized.....what percentage of cotton.....what percentage of poly ....what color pantone swatch to dye it, etc. Unfortunately you must order a ton of it as usual. They said their straight up cotton or linen will be fuzzy too!!! Samples proved this was the case. So I have ordered a cotton/poly test run in four sizes. So far the results are excellent. Here is an example of my first test with the stuff where I developed the recipes to make all the rope sizes I need to offer. No fuzz.....it feels more natural than pure POLY like Gutterman. It doesnt unravel at all. So I may switch to using this "Syren" Brand thread or at least offer both in the near future. I sent Rusty some to test on his Longboat project. We shall see. So for the time being I am sticking with my current supplier.

I could always cut you some the size you need. Just contact me via PM and we can figure out how large they need to be scaled up to. Its a minor detail that will save you plenty of time indeed and they do work pretty well. Chuck

Yes I believe that would be a step too far!!! Its mostly covered up and will also weaken the frames considerably in my opinion. I would guess they were nailed together.

That looks very good Ben. 😃

The fan doesnt matter.....its wider because now others can use it for projects that have more planks. Just use nine of the planks. I think you might be misunderstanding how the fan is used. Just cross them out with a pencil if its distracting.

Yes you have some issues there. There are some wavy planks with inconsistent widths along their run. Did you divide all the frames equally? It looks like there are some very unequal spots.....that will be very problematic if you didnt have pre cut planks.

But your model isnt of the Medway Longboat. But Yes, eventually I will make those stands. But right now I want to concentrate on catching up with my other inventory of blocks and rope. I also have to finish writing the instructions. Once thats done I will start making stands. You can flip the laser etched words so they are on the inside and cant be seen though..... Chuck

Sure thing!!!

IMPORTANT NOTE for rigging package: When I rigged the longboat I had more than enough brown rope with about half a package left over when completed. This rigging package also comes with one package each of .018 and .025 Light brown rope. When I completed the rigging I had a bit left over of both of these sizes as well but not that much. BUT....I realize that some of you use a lot more rope than is needed because it can sometimes be hard to judge accurate lengths for some. So if you are one of these individuals, dont worry about the dark brown rope.....BUT you should absolutely order an extra package of .018 light brown and .025 Light brown rope when you buy the rigging package. You will save on postage buying it up front at the same time. I mention this only because I will not be sending out additional packages of rope for free for anyone that runs out of the rope. I had plenty left over and one package of each should work just fine.....for most. Having said this.....Rigging packages are now in stock and ready for shipping. Click here

Nicely done Sam.....you did a wonderful job and made it your own!!! 😃

I absolutely will...yes

You guys should look at the mini pamphlet that David Antscherl wrote on making sails. Using silkspan there is no sewing. Although I would use individual panels at this scale. I dont think I am going to add the sails but I may make one just to show one method for making them.

In my opinion I think the jury is still out on whether that was standard practice. I have seen contemporary models built with the ports painted both ways. Its just a personal decision. One must remember that you would need to be 100% confident with your planking around the ports otherwise painting the edges would reveal every flaw. That is something not worth doing for such a minor detail where contemporary evidence suggests strongly both methods were employed. This is true even if it was just a modeling convention used by even contemporary builders. I believe a builder should use their own judgement on whether "kitchen sinking" their model is worth compromising the overall look and craftsmanship of their final work just for the sake of being able to say that it was correct....assuming there was no concrete evidence that this was standard practice. Its really no different than deciding whether holly should be used below the wales to stylistically represent a painted hull. In the end its just a stylistic choice based on how much you like that look vs. any other. Having said all this, the Contemporary model of the Winnie does have the plank edges painted red as well. But yes it does look sloppy. Also note the tabbed planking into the port..... This photo shows many interesting features you may or may not choose to model. For example the thicker shear plank in the waste which does extend all the way to the stern and up to the cap rail. This feature is historically correct yet you rarely if ever see folks planking there models this way. This is a feature I plan on actually showing on my new version of Winnie. Mike just paint it the way you prefer. 😊 Chuck

.025 light brown for grapnels. Rusty....perfectly executed. I should have the rigging packages on my site to order by Monday but hopefully sooner. Chuck

Looks pretty good to me Simon....

Nice progress Jeff. That is exactly what it should look like at this stage.

It is my personal opinion that it is correct as I show it. But everyone can make their own own decision. Its a simple thing to adjust although it would be wrong for the period in my experience. In the Kriegstein example....yes the rigging is new....but the horse is not. You only need to contact the owners of that beautiful model to find that out. I dont know why everyone is fixating on this.....just do it the way you would prefer it to be. I have said dozens of times that both methods are acceptable. Yet the same people keep obsessing and challenging. Let us not forget that I am making a model of a model here......and this is the way it is presented on the contemporary model. You folks can alter it very easily. Just please stop beating a dead horse about it....literally. If you want me to say that all of you "over the tiller" guys are correct and it was never done the way it was show....I will do so if only it will put this issue to rest.

This has been discussed a few dozen times already.... Its the way they did it back then. Around 1750 they started switching to above the tiller. Contemporary models. rigging plans and paintings show it below the tiller as I did it. There are many many many primary sources that conclude beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was the case. Chuck

Working on it!!! Unfortunately other suppliers dont seem to respond and ship orders as promptly as I do. For the rigging package I am still waiting for brass strips and the mailing tubes to package them up. I am also waiting on wood to make new kits. Just waiting and waiting!!!..Urgh😢

Im waiting on a few orders to arrive.....but hopefully sometime next week.

Nope....these small workboats just had the lines belayed whereever they could. Two lines on a belaying pin etc..... Wrapped around a thwart....Belayed to the shrouds above the deadeyes or to blocks on the backstays.

That looks very good. Interesting choices. Your craftmanship is clean and crisp. One thing i would suggest after doing such superior work on the hull however would be to improve on those belaying pins. It would be a shame to go with out of scale pins in what is otherwise a gorgeous model. They look a bit bulbous and squat ... Other than that though really beautiful work.

Real nice start....looking good.😊

Looks great Ken. I cant wait to see it at a meeting up close.

Once the jib and foresail halliards were done all I really had to do was rig the flag halliard. This will complete the rigging.....once I add the rope coils to all belaying points. The flag halliard (.018 light brown) Is run through the simulated sheave on the starboard side of the ball truck on top of the mast. Both ends run down to the deadeyes where they are belayed. One to each deadeye. Then they are finished up with some rope coils so the belaying looks credible. I adjusted the tension on all lines and then finished every belaying point off with a nice neat rope coil. The flag was made in teh usual way and you will get one with the rigging package. This pretty much finishes off the model. Here are some photos. The only thing I have left to do is make a few oars. I will get to that soon. But the model is pretty much done. The grapnel was finished off with some .025 rope as well. Let me know if you have any questions. I will now try and catch up with the instructions so you guys can get this far too!!!