Chuck

That is wonderful....but please lets keep the topic at hand focused on relief carving and decorative works. Thanks

Heres a close up of my planking experiment with Yellow cedar. Very tight almost inconceivable grain. holds a sharp edge and no need to stain it. There are two 1/32" sheets below it that I will cut a few carving blanks from and give it a try. I just have to find some time to do so. I applied one coat of WOP. The seams were simulated with a #2 pencil. I like it. I havent tried making frames but it is certainly a great replacement for planking....either for boxwood or even holly. It will darken over time. ALSO....its about half the price of Boxwood and Holly (give or take). A bit more than Cherry or Maple but I think its a much better wood. It really does cut like butter with a #11 blade. Hopefully the same will be true when I carve it. Chuck

So far so good. The wood is extremely flexible...I would compare it to holly but softer. I made a test piece of planking...let me take a photo of it. Back in a few minutes.

I am going to try and carve one of the blanks from Yellow Cedar. Its beautiful stuff and I just got some from my supplier. In case you want to try it check out his site. He also mills boxwood and a whhole bunch of other stuff. His prices are fantastic. So far I am more than happy with the quality and respoinsiveness of this guy. Hopefully once he gets his site up and running it will be even easier to place an order.n As far as I know, he is the only supplier of milled yellow cedar on the web. http://www.woodprojectsource.com/ Right now he doesnt have any items listed on his site as in stock because he is just finishing it up. It should be real soon because he never had a website before and I convinced him to build one. But you can contact him at any time because he is open for business. But thanks to some prodding from me he is starting off by adding the woods we prefer. But he mostly caters to local wood carvers which apparantly there are a lot of. Here is an example in Yellow Cedar of a carving and my test build of the barge. Compare with teh cherry version behind it. I really like it for what we do. Its softer than box but harder than basswood yet the color is beautiful and since I took this photo the color has deepened and it looks almost identical to boxwood although a bit more yellowish....but not an obnoxious yellow at all. Chuck

I prefer a mounting board to prevent the small thin sections from breaking while carving. Everyone works differently. But sometimes it achieves the same result. Whatever is most comfortable I guess.

It looks pretty good. But dont forget to bevel the edges of each strake so they fit really snug up against the strakes already on the hull. You can just knock of the corner of the back edge for the most part.

In this instance its Windsor and Newton Galleria acrylic paint. Yes it is thinned down quite a bit and put on in many layers like watercolor. The color is Crimson straight out of the tube. I have used dozens of coats of very thin washes until it becomes opaque. That helps me keep the paint very flat and without paint brush stokes using a round brush. Chuck

What is a stanley blade??? Pictures maybe

Michael, I am using Grumbacher acrylic paints in a tube. Specifically Mars Black. I finished the boom today and its all rigged. It was shaped the same way as the mast. I started with square stock and used the 7/10/7 ratio to convert to an octagon. Then I used my drill to round it off and put the taper on it. The jaws were added after I flattened the sides to accept them. The blocks were prepared in advance, meaning some were added to the boom ahead of time. Other blocks were secured to the mast and horse for sheets. Then it was just a matter of rigging it in place. I have only tightened the ropes around the cleats without any glue. I will leave it this way until after the standing rigging is completed in case I have to re-tension the lines. But from the way it looks I think it will be OK. For the trucks on the jaws to secure the boom to the mast, I used what I found in the shop. I had some boxwood beads laying around that were the perfect size....I might even have enough left over to give the remainder to Mike for his model. Here are some pics. Next up will be the gaff.

I have a couple of those...just havent tried them yet. I am still hoping we will get some folks that will try shaping these pieces with a rotaary tool....it would be nice to have a comparison. Also You guys are free to carve any design and start a log here as long as it is for ship model related items. Carving with any tool is very different when you are working at these scales and it is a very different experience than carving full size or even double the size of these blanks. I know we have a lot of traditional wood carvers out there and once you try carving something as small as these you will see how differently you must approach it. So feel free to carve anything you like....just no folk art old men with a cane....that stuff is not relevant to carving items meant for a ship model at 3/16" or even a 1/4" scale. But if you have a trailboard or another design you want to carve for your ship model...feel free to start a log and get some input from the others. I am very happy to see more logs being started...thanks for the interest. I am also thinking about starting another area on sculpting using polymer clay for those who wish to try that medium to make more complex designs or even the same ones we are doing here. Just have to find the time to start that one up. And I will do so if you guys think there is sufficient interest in it. I am trying to develop this area more so it covers many aspects for creating the decorative elements for a ship model.....whether they are carved or sculpted. Chuck

Very well done!!!

I plan to...hopefully the gaff and boom will be rigged by then.

Mike That is looking very nice. Cant wait to see it in person. Chuck

Make a card template or paper version first. Then after it fits....trace it onto a strip or sheet and cut it out.

Thats looking great....the garboard ends just a hair past the scarf joint. I hope this picture helps.

One hand holding the drill.....the other has sand paper curled up and thats the hand you use to stabilize it. As you are running the folded paper back and forth you are keeping the stick from vibrating. Its much easier to do than it is to visualize.

Thank You so much guys. Today I finished the topmast. Its all painted and the entire mast is now completed. Rather than start on the standing rigging with the pendants, shrouds and stays....I will be building the boom and gaff first. On this model it will be much easier to rig the finished gaff and boom first before tackling the shrouds and stays. This way I wont have to reach behind the standing rigging to rig them. Especially the where the rigging is close to the lower mast at deck level.

Beautiful work. It is so nice to see you back working on the model. Well Done!!!

I figured the same Dan. The lower mast has been completed and I am now working on the topmast. To begin, I started with square boxwood stock. Then I squared up and tapered the top according to the plans using some chisels and sanding sticks. But before doing that I drilled the holes for the sheave as you can see. Once the top portion was squared off and tapered I finished up the sheave by rounding it off and cleaning it up. You can also see the 7/10/7 ratio applied to the lower mast. I am about to chisel it to an octagon in preparation for rounding it off. The entire mast was left a bit long so I have some extra to chock it in my hand drill. It was chocked and rounded off with some sandpaper. I also carefull added the taper to the rounded portion while sanding it. Then the boom rest was fabricated from a washer of boxwood 3/32" thick. Just like the mast coat it was shaped with its profile using needle files and sanding sticks. It was cut in half and then the small chocks were added around the perimeter after it was glued into position. I still have to add the cleats around the base of the lower mast as well. I made sure to make the mast hoops using the mini-kits from Syren and slip those on the mast before adding the trestle tree permanently. I was afraid that I would forget but I didnt. The trees were crafted from boxwood using the plans as a guide. It was pretty straight forward except for the fact that it must be angled properly on the mast. Once the cheeks were shaped and glued to the mast the proper angle for the trees was filed into the mast. The mast is angled or raked aft and the trees must remain parallel to the deck. So considerable time was used to establish the correct angle. Finally the cleats were added and the lower portion painted red. Then the masthead area from the bottom of the cheeks upwards was painted black. That was done after adding the mast bands and eyebolts. These will be used for the boom and gaff rigging later.

Great to see you in the shop Ryland....hope you are doing well. Enjoy the carving. One thing I did was draw in on the blank where all of my stop cuts were going to go before I started carving.

No fair....for you its just like cutting out a gall bladder. You must do that that ten times a week. But seriously, that looks very good I hope you had fun with it. I am curious how folks will think about the removal process. Dunk it in some alcohol and give it a go.

That looks very good.....lovely work. I was indeed hoping more would join in. Many carving blanks were sold yet nobody is joining in on the fun.... Hope to see more folks starting up soon.

Thanks The small barge is a project I am working on that will become a kit. So yes, you can build it once I complete it......but it will be a while.

Nothing other than gluing them to the base before carving.

Make sure you just give those vulnerable area a gently poke to make sure they are glued down good. Chuck