Chuck

Lovely...

You cant fully judge with the hull upside down. It is more important to view the hull right side up as it will naturally be. You will be able see the run more accurately. If the run dips or if what appear to be dents which is an optical illusion caused by the run of the strakes or tape. Flip it over!!!

Looking really nice…you are on a roll.

Its really easy...simply drill a small hole just big enough to accept whatever size fishing line you are using. Then insert the fishing line into the hole. It should be a press fit if you drilled the correct size hole. No glue is needed. Then take a sharp straight razor or even a #11 blade and slice it off. But dont make it flush to the wood. Slice it so it stands proud just a little bit. Here are some various examples on the coamings and on the keelson. I also use this method for treenailing but in that case I do slice it off flush with the planking. See below. You can select black fishing line or even a dark brown for treenails. The trick is just not going too large. I believe the treenails below are 10lb or 15lb....I have to look back. The bolts can be larger at 25lb...30lb...or even 40lb for larger keel bolts. For example look at all the bolts in the frames. They are I believe 30lb black fishing line.

Thank You!! She is slowly filling out with details as I work my way aft with deck fittings. The main bitts are just forward of the main mast. This is shaped and assembled from more laser cut parts the same way as I have designed the others throughout the project. See below. With the main bitts the sides were glued together first as they come in two parts. This was before the char was removed. The char was removed and the top "timberheads" were carved and shaped as before. Then the cross beam was glued to them after it was cleaned and shaped. The ends need to be filed on the top and bottom to match the profile while being cleaned of char. I also beveled the extreme edges on each side. To finish it up I added simulated bolts with 30lb black fishing line according to the plans. I have placed the bitts on the model but not yet permanently. I will do that later. The bitts were painted bulwark red as on the contemporary model. As more fittings get completed I am still thinking about painting the belfry bowsprit step red as well. Time will tell...what do you guys think? Mast coats and elm tree pumps are next up.

Just an FYI Blocks and Rope are now fully stocked!!! Next up will be some testing on ship's wheels and other goodies. Things are starting to work out nicely in production. Happy modelling!!! Blocks are $5.75 per package as opposed to $9.50 per package from the other guys!!! Why pay 50% more when you can buy the original and best with no tariff or international shipping to the USA.

Lots of dust on the model...maybe today I will clean it all up. Anyway...the bowsprit step/Belfry was up next. At this point none of the fittings are glued on deck. I am not yet sure if I will paint it red or leave it natural. The contemporary model has it painted red but the paint is so worn and light on that model it all pretty much blends in to everything else. So I will wait until all of the fittings are made to determine whether I paint this. I know the heel of of bowsprit inboard will be painted red so I will wait to see if painting the bsprit step red would be too much. Here are most of the elements laser cut for the bstep/belfry. There is a bunch of faking it on this fitting but in the end you wont be able to tall. First I cleaned these Cedar pieces of laser char. Dont be shy here. It will all come off and look clean but takes time and care. I used some 220 grit and 320 grit sanding sticks and even a sharp #11 blade. You can see one side of the bstep all cleaned of char. The other has yet to be cleaned and shaped. You must finish the top and match the shaped timberhead. For this a sharp blade was used to make a series of "stop cuts" and then basically carve the two sides that needed shaping. This was after char clean up. The center where the bowsprit will be stepped was cleaned and assembled. Note the aft side of the step. I have inserted a small laser cut square to simulate the tenon of the bowsprit. Its just easier and cleaner this way. Leave it standing proud a bit. The forward side sill has a nice deep mortice for the actual tenon of the bowsprit. Then there were the belfry elements. This includes a length of twisted square wire. This will be proved. Yes this is commercially available. You must use the plan to shape it which is shown. Then blacken it. The other elements are also shown. Moving along...the step is now completed and drilled with simulated bolts. Once again these were black fishing line (30 lb). Note the laser etched seam which should go on the outside if each side piece...dont mix up the side pieces when assembling. I also drilled the holes for the wire belfry. That wire was blackened. The stock for the bell was completed at this time. Some laserboard elements simulate the ironwork. I glued the top on first and then the two faces. Some 24 gauge wire was inserted into the ends of the stock. But you can attach this to the wire frame anyway you wish. I knew it would be a challenge to drill through the frame for most so once again this is simplified. I just filed some slots on the inside of each frame of the twisted wire at the height needed. I used the plans to establish where. These tiny grooves were enough of a slot to slide and glue the belfry stock in position. Its pretty secure. Its not under any pressure so it should be safe and secure. Before doing so however, I added the handle to the top of the bell stock. I just bent it according to the plans. I used 22 gauge blk wire. You can add a tiny length of rope if want to. I have decided not to as they always seem to hang left or right or curl up and that annoys me. The bell was simply glued to the underside of the stock. Then it was glued within the frame as described. There is a little bit of cleaned up needed as my fingers must have been dirty. But this is the result. And finally shown on deck but not glued in position yet. The companionway hood is also not glued in position yet. No hurry with that. This completes the fcastle deck fittings. Now we start the gun deck fittings. Ignore the dust!!! Comments and questions are always welcome!!! Chuck

Making the hood for the fcastle companionway it is pretty straight forward but you have to be careful to align the sides properly before adding the top planks. It is all laser cut. Here are the pieces. The two thick squares are crucial to its fit when completed. They are laser cut slightly wider than the coaming. You need to sand the sides until the square is a nice press fit inside the coaming as shown below. Then you can glue the two squares together to form an "L". This "L" is the proper width if your squares were a nice fit in that coaming. Then clamp the two side panels to them so you can start gluing the thin cover boards to it that form the roof. The one thing you must be sure of when clamping the sides onto this fixture....dont glue it to the fixture!!! Its just used to properly align the two sides the correct distance apart. In addition, the two sides are no the same height. One side is longer than the other....the starboard side is longer. This is because of the deck round-up. So when clamping them to the fixture you must make sure the top edges are lined up and even. See it below in relation to the squares on the mat. The bottom edge shows each side being a different length. But the top must be squared up and even. Then start gluing the cover boards onto the sides. One at a time. But as you proceed, you must bevel the side as you are placing them on a rounded shape. But dont over-do the bevel. You dont need too much. When you are almost done with the boards, the last final board is laser cut wider and at an angle to compensate for the bottom of the hood being at an angle. When its all done you can sand the sides flush which were slightly longer than needed to clean it all up. Then its time to test its alignment on the model. It sits on top of the coaming...not within the coaming. Look at it from dead on and from the side. Make sure its straight and vertical and leaning to one side when viewed from the bow. Make sure it is not leaning when viewed from the side. You can sand the angle of the bottom of the hood to adjust any leaning. Once satisfied, move onto the next step. Now its time to cut small lengths from a 1/8 x 1/64" strip. This is glued half onto the inside of the hood with the other half forming a nice lip. This will be inserted into the coaming when done. It should fit perfectly if your two squares and fixture was the correct width. I am guessing that this hood was portable and removable. So you dont even have to glue it in position if you have a good fit. You can leave it natural or paint it bulwark red. Its your choice. I have painted it red to continue following the look and color scheme of the contemporary model. The seams and joints and nails do show through after painting it but its very subtle which I prefer. Mine is not glued in and it will prove useful as I may be removing it from time to time as it may get in the way of doing other work up there. Now onto the bowsprit step....and belfry.

Heres the link… https://www.amazon.com/stores/EPABINA/page/A1C50E56-00C9-494E-AADD-520D80BCC2A8?lp_asin=B0D2618676&ref_=ast_bln&store_ref=bl_ast_dp_brandLogo_sto Chuck https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0D2618676?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

Thanks guys…yes things are finally getting into a routine again. My sons wedding in a few weeks will be the last bit of excitement. That old pinball machine was left by the previous owners. It works but needs a bit of love repair. The lights arent working on the back part but other than that its all good. A nice distraction. And yes another pet project should I need one. I am Hoping the kids will take it off my hands so it becomes their project. Chuck

Work continues on the model. I am working on the hood for the fcastle hatch currently. But I realized I hadnt yet posted an image of my new workspace for building the actual models. This is probably the largest work bench I have ever had. Its actually a ping pong table. LOL BUT its a pleasure to have such a large uncluttered surface to build on top off. Speedwell at 3/8” scale is a very big model but it looks puny on my bench. Oh and these new and inexpensive LED lights from Amazon are a real treat. I have them on the forward side of the table and they can be manipulated in so many ways. Its also very bright (up to 6000 lumens) and can be adjusted in intensity and other colors etc. In addition I have about 30 green cutting mats many are large and many are small. I bought these for when my local club members come by for a workshop. So everyone gets a cutting mat. But in the meanwhile I can cover the whole front side of the space to keep everything safe and clean. So now I can start being productive on my models again….until I am compelled to beat my high score in pinball. Which isnt that high actually. Chuck

BTW...I don't intend to stop making chapter sets for the Winnie beyond chapter 2. So all is good. I would never stop making them if someone has begun the model or bought most of the chapters and just needs a few more to complete the project. So you are good to go should you not sell this or even for someone buying this. In fact all chapter sets in Cherry are currently in stock. Chuck

Looking really good. Glad to see you back at it.

Very interesting stuff. Thanks for sharing.

That looks very good JJ. She is shaping up!!

Thanks guys. Kent I hope you are on the mend. I really cant make any more battlestation kits because it was given away as a limited edition. All 25 went fast and are being built which is great but they were signed and numbered. I doubt the guy who got kit number 7 of 25 would be very happy with me if I suddenly made another 25 kits. But I could be wrong. chuck

I am actually in a comfortable position with my inventory so I could start spending time working on the model again. I cant tell you how good that feels. I am not doing any heavy stuff yet...but its a start. I had time to finish rigging those last four cannon on the port side. That alone was a great thing to have completed. That actually finished up chapter 8. Its a good thing because chapter 9 is where the real fun begins. Its basically all about those fun little deck fittings. So I started slow.. There are four ladders to be built. Two leading to the poop, and two leading to the fcastle deck. These were made exactly like the others we have made for speedwell. Everything is laser cut. I just cleaned the char and assembled them. One note however...because of the deck roundup, the ladders leading to the poop deck need some tweaking after being built. The bottom of each side was left a tad longer so you can sand the inboard side shorter. You will need to do this so your ladder doesnt slant when you place it against the bulkhead. You want it vertical with the columns of the bulkhead behind them. So that inboard side will need its bottom edge shortened slightly. Its the little details. Here is the shorter ladder up to the fcastle deck...and you can see the guns that I finally finished rigging. Those are my Swiss Pear color 3D printed blocks used for the guns this time. I switched them out to try both colors. I think I will fully rig her with the Swiss Pear blocks now that I see them on the model. In addition, I also finished the stack for the fire hearth...I had built this a while back when I made the fire hearth but it must have gotten lost during the move. So I made a new one...I will also include those parts in chapter 9 in case anyone loses theirs as well. Nothing difficult here...fake it till you make it. We wont be using a real coaming here. Its just a laser cut boxwood square basically. Sand the char off and apply some WOP. Then center the hearth stack where the laser etched reference is and you are finished. I also knocked off the top edge all around this simulated coaming. No hard edges for me!! Here is what the stack looks like on the model. And here is an overall shot of the progress to date although I have some paint touch-up to do and some dust clean-up. But its really nice to making some progress again. Next up I will be finishing up the fcastle deck fittings.

Looking fantastic.

Very nice barrel…well done

Its coming along nicely!!!

Oh you will soon find out…LOL. I can tell stories about some folks that would make your head spin. I had a guy that was so excited to get my blocks that he tore open the package at his mailbox at the end of his driveway. He actually admitted this…the blocks flew all over his front lawn. He couldnt wait to get to his shop or even in his house. What a dummy. So he emailed me and asked if he could replace the two packages….literally $11. I said sure and they were in stock and he could reorder them. He got all mad and wanted me to ship them for free at my expense. He reported me to paypal and everything. Long story short…he did not win that dispute. people are crazy!!! They think every company is Amazon and they will get an immediate refund or new product. LOL Its insane out there as a retailer. I have dozens of stories like this. You will soon find out.

No I didnt refund him. But I almost did…i was literally just sticking them back on the shelf when I noticed it.

Ok I feel compelled to share this story with all of you. Just when you think you have seen it all… I have had customers who were so cheap and dishonest but this takes the cake. And he WAS a member of this site. This guy bought a crap ton of one size of rope. Literally a hoard of it which I hate. 18 packages of .030 brown rope which takes a long time to make and costs a pretty penny. This Guy is building an Occre kit which I hate as well. They literally put only two sizes of rope in a kit which is garbage. So instead of buying a handful of many more different sizes to rig his model he insists on following the crappy kit…Instead of figuring out what the proper sizes should be. This happens a lot with Occre kits which wipes out my inventory so nobody else can buy that size until I make more which takes time. I had a guy do that yesterday with .012 tan rope. Anyway…I digress. So this guy contacts me and says he bought the wrong size and wants to return it all for the next smaller size. A pain in the butt but OK…no problem. But he insists that I mail him the correct size right away and not wait till I get the return. OK…I will actually do this for folks I know but luckily I said no this time. So today I get his return package of rope. Can you believe that this guy took the time to coil up and switch my rope for what I can only suspect is the crap that came with the Occre kit. He literally restuffed my packages …all 18 of them and thought nobody would notice. look at this…LOL…can you guess which rope is real syren stuff and which is the crap he tried to return? Some people are evil…it was not a good master plan. Its not even a close color to my rope. well…no more soup for him.

That looks just perfect...I am so thrilled all those window inserts worked out. Chuck

for seizing and serving my rope....use Gutterman Mara 120 threads. BUT If you can find it....better still is their Mara 220. Use the colors 682 and 263....a perfect color match. Its looking good. https://www.wawak.com/thread/thread-by-brand/gutermann/gutermann-mara-120-poly-wrapped-poly-core-thread-tex-25/#sku=gtdx263 https://www.wawak.com/thread/thread-by-brand/gutermann/gutermann-mara-120-poly-wrapped-poly-core-thread-tex-25/#sku=gtdx682