Chuck

That is really taking shape Rusty. Looking great.

Its 3/8” scale just like the full hull model. Thanks guys for kind words. This project is essentially for my club and I will be making a limited run of about 25 kits. All of them will be given away. A dozen of them will be given away as door prizes at this years Joint Club's show in New London Ct. It will be part of the raffle at the April show. A dozen of them will be raffled along with a Preac Saw. Some of you might recall that I did a similar thing many years ago with a limited edition boxwood kit of a pinnace at a joint clubs show. This is essentially the same thing. Six more of remaining will be auctioned off here at Model Ship World. Chuck

Although time has been limited for me for working on the model, I have been making progress. I have finalized the way I will do the deadeye strops and chainplates. These are all laser cut and makes life a lot easier. Once designed the actual construction time was non-existent. It took seconds to add the strops. This was just a test run but an improved version of those I developed for the Winnie. They really do just slip right on. There will be two sizes of deadeyes and strops. The chainplates will all be the same more or less. They are laser cut and 1/16" wide and about the thickness of was brass straps would have been. You must do a little bit of work on the straps but not much. The hole for the little brass pin must be drilled through the bottom of the strap. I used a "67 drill bit. Its acrylic so this was so much easier than drilling through brass. At the top of the strap there is a little "hook" shaped on the end. This will fit into the bottom of the strop after the deadeye is placed on the channel. The width is 1/16" as I mentioned which is a tad wide for the hook to fit in the strop bottom. So this was filed narrower on both sides. This was done just at the "hooked" part of the strap which fits into the strop which you can see above. They are cut from black acrylic so no need to blacken but you may want to weather them a bit to "metalize" them in appearance. This is what they will ultimately look like on this sectional model which was really fun to make of the Speedwell. The deadeyes are my new resin 3D printed ones. These are the color of Swiss Pear. I will be using these on my model. You can see how nicely the straps and strops worked out. Also have a look at those molding strips on this sectional model. The fancy molding. This was a new test and also laser cut. I will be using them on the sectional model projects. The inboard side. The entire sectional test is completed. I just have to add and rig one cannon. That was the whole purpose of this mini-model. It is to be used to help teach building techniques for cannon carriages and the their rigging. My local club members in NJ will be using it as a quick and hopefully fun group build as a tech session taught by me. It should be fun. There will also be some gun crew figures added. This is a close up of the molding test. I know how some guys hate creating scrapers to make their own molding. This will save the guys a lot of time. I am thinking about offering these as stand along optional moldings for the big project as well. Or for any model really. There are three profiles. 1/16", 3/32" and 1/8" wide. All three are 1/32" thick. They are laser cut on Syrenite. They can be used as is but I do recommend sanding the top and bottom edges to soften them and round them off. Although the color as is looks great. I like to enhance it by wiping some Gel Stain on them and then wiping it off. It settles into the grooves and help highlight the profile. It deepened the color a bit as well. You know...just like I handle making the carved resin figurehead and stern figures look like boxwood. It takes about 2 minutes to do. Then wipe off the excess. The more coats the deeper the color depending on your preference. I think folks might like the option to buy these molding strips regardless of the project. So expect soon. But let me know if you are interested as I wont waste material and time if there is little interest. Volutes and scrolls should be easy to add to this line of products as well although every model uses a different size scroll-work. So maybe I have to thing about that. It can also be painted and as I said sanded easily.

They look great Mike.

That looks very good. Its finicky for sure but the results speak for themselves.

Nicely done. The belfry looks fantastic. You managed to get it super clean. The extra care paid off immensely.

Not easier but its really up to you. Whatever works for you. Those tend to be way out of scale and look clunky when rigged. So I prefer less fussing which looks smaller and more to scale. I feel this method also helps the rope lay more naturally.

It looks really good. Just keep those small pieces for when you remove all of tour jigs. You will see where they go later. But seriously they are not important at all and will eventually be completely covered up. Chuck

FYI… As of today the US Postal service will not ship to Canada during the strike of Canadian postal workers.. I have a few orders to ship and will simply hold them until after the strike. But if you wish to cancel the order please contact me. In the meantime, I will stop accepting orders to Canada until after the strike. Sorry but this is completely out of my hands. Fed Ex and UPS will soon follow suit.

Chapter 3 is now available. I made 12 sets for now and half are already gone. So please only buy it if you are close to needing chapter 3. There are several folks who are really in need of it. I know that many who have ordered this chapter havent even started chapter one yet. Please dont buy it yet. I will make more very soon. It is not fair to the folks who are up to this point of construction. Thank You. I may have to cancel an order so that those folks who are truly up to this stage get first crack at them. Chuck

Looking good ken

Yes up in the woods...lots of space for a shop. I cant wait to get there. Its the worst time to be trying to sell your house but I just dont want to waste anymore time. Chuck

Yupp…you know how difficult it is to clean up the shop and put stuff away every hour or so. Then when they leave I take it all back out and try to get started again.

Just an FYI. Its been crazy trying to get any work done while the house is up for sale. But I wanted to update everyone on the availability of chapter 3 parts. In-between showings of my house I have been laser cutting chapter 3 parts and have 12 sets ready to go. I am putting the final touches on the instructions as I write this. I just received the three printed plan sheets that will come with this installment as well. I am hoping to having these sets up on my site and in stock by Friday. But with a little bit of luck and fewer house showings I may have them ready on Wednesday. The house has been on the market for 2 weeks now. We have had two offers so far and yes both have fallen through. It seems that being pre-qualified for a mortgage isnt all its cracked up to be. After accepting both offers we soon discovered the buyers were not pre-qualified for the amounts they offered...LOL. So we continue to show the house. Even this close to Thanksgiving we have a ton of traffic and showings. Its driving me crazy as I have to leave the house and stop working while the buyers are inside. So I walk around the block a few times until they are gone. Hopefully the 3rd offer will be the final whenever it comes. I really want to get back to working on the model soon. Chuck

Lovely

Yes but not for a while....sorry. I am doing my best....but its a lot for one person to make all these parts and kits. Chuck

Beautiful stuff. Nicely done.

Really looks beautiful....just wait till you get those headrails on. It will be a show-stopper for sure.

Its fine as long as it isnt a copied kit. If you have the box send me a picture via pm and i will let you know if its ok. If its not a pirated kit you will be fine…in the meanwhile check the plans for the name of the ship and adjust your build log title. I can also help you with that so it meets our guidelines.

I usually go with 3/64 thick by 1/16. You could go thinner but I prefer a little more meat. I will at times go wider on larger models but 1/16" wide usually works just fine for me. If you are just ordering a few strips from Joe for this purpose, I would get both 1/32" and 3/64" thick strips which wont costs much considering you will have to pay shipping which will be the same for both thicknesses. I would go with boxwood or yes even cedar but any wood that isnt splintered will work just fine. Boxwood preferred.

Looks great Mike.

Just look at the materials list in the kit and then send it to Joe. He will give you a price.

Looks beautiful indeed. That looks nothing like a kit and really tops off a wonderful looking model. Well worth the effort. It says a lot about taking your time to get the best results.

Its looking fantastic Ben

That looks fantastic. Really nice detailing.