Chuck

Third time is a charm. I redid them a few times to add a whole bunch of detail filks would need. I think they are good to go now. Hours can easily be spent in prep work like this before and sawdust starts being made again.

I havent done much more work on the deck fittings but I did manage to complete the base for the case...you probably saw that in the other topic. But in addition to that and catching up with making blocks I managed to complete the templates for the quarter deck. I am thinking and planning way far ahead. I thought I would share them with you. You guys know that I will be planking the quarter deck like the Amazon contemporary model. These templates will make the job much easier. They contain all of the reference marks and locations for the Qdeck fittings, and even the deck planking. You wont have to line off the qdeck or f'castle. The deck planks are all worked out with the appropriate taper. The deck beams are shown so all you have to do is fold the template along any deck beam and you have an instant tick strip to transfer to each deck beam. In addition, the carlings are all added in red so they can be added etc. Its really a cheat sheet for positioning everything when we work on the Qdeck. But thats not why I posted the pictures. These will hopefully give you a really good idea well ahead of time of how much of the lower deck can be seen by going with this set-up. There are only the bare minimum of qdeck planks added to accommodate the guns and deck fittings down the center. This leaves very wide "runways" which are open and give you a really good look at the lower deck. Its also much more balanced than planking half the qdeck in its entirety. Note how we can leave the open area the entire length of the qdeck unlike other "lesser" kits that havent properly details the great cabin windows, etc. The same will be true at the bow and f'castle as most commercial POB kits dont ever model the gun deck all the way up to the stem. They usually have an ugly bulkhead that blocks most of the forward part of the gundeck and manger area. This makes our Winnie project look a lot more correct and similar to an actual POF or contemporary admiralty model. And one last fun photo under the qdeck......with so much open on the qdeck planking there is enough light getting down to the gundeck so you can see everything clearly. I am also testing the height of that capstan which fits perfectly.....😄

That looks great. I would however think again about leaving the seat edges gold. Before I read your post I thought you hadnt finished it yet. It looks like you forgot to paint it rather than add a gold detail on purpose. But its all coming together lovely. Chuck

That is quite nice. Well done.

Nicely done!!

Beautiful Rusty. I love the color and how the golden parts of the frieze pucks up the color of the carved elements . It all came together well.

Nicely done on the ropewalk. Yea you should open up the eyes so they are hooks. Just a little so you can tie the thread on one end. Then instead of four lengths of rope to be tied you can jst walk back and forth with the one length to put as many strands in as you want. Then tie iff the end. It works so much quicker. Try making 100 lengths of rope per day. Not as much fun but the results are quite consistent. Well done.

Probably pretty difficult. If you dont buy any laser cut parts you will need everything... Scroll saw, Table saw, just to name a few. If you buy the laser parts for each chapter then you will only need to mill planks from wider sheets. So a table saw like the Byrnes saw is an absolute must have.

Nicely Done. The capstan looks great. I still go back and forth about painting it. I see you chose not to simulate the caulked seems between the deck planking. its really coming together.

Nice work on the cheeks and hair brackets. Have you ever modeled those before? They are tricky and you pulled it off well. These are just like on the contemporary model. Nothing was simplified which is why you should be very happy with those results. chuck

That looks beautiful....Exceptional detail on that prototype. I wish you the best of luck with these kits. Chuck

Beautiful work Rusty.

Beautiful!!!

Looking great...the last plank is no different other than it feels really good when its done.

Great news!!! Just dont go too hot or bake it too long. It will melt your rope into a sloppy liquid goop. it works great and its actually how polyester thread is made and fixed. But on a huge industrial scale of course.

That looks very good indeed. Well done.

I think you should make one and find out....Thanks for the kind words. 😀

Thanks. I dont have a clear picture of that so I just went with wood. One could try it as it would be interesting. I havent seen that done. Actually I dont think this particular Contemporary model has railings around any of the companionways. That is also an option. Many didnt show them at all. Some only show the railings around the companionway on the quarter deck. I am not sure why but I suspect safety wasnt a priority except on those companionways that were used by the captain and officers. If a common sailor fell down the ladderway it wasnt a huge concern for the admiralty....LOL.

Moving forward... Stanchions and railing around the companionway. There are many ways to do this. Contemporary examples show wood rails....metal stanchions etc. You guys can choose once again. Painted versions are either red black or white ...even a combination of those colors. I chose wood because I dont like messing with metal work. I turned these using my dremel. Just like I do when making belaying pins. They are only about an inch long so you dont get any wobble in your dremel and it doesnt take much time to make. You only need four of these. Try your best to make them identical. I started with a 1/16" x 1/16" boxwood strip. I marked the breaks in shape in pencil on all fpur sides so I can see them as its spinning. Its basically just the center thats rounded. I leave the top and bottom square. I also shape a small ball on the very top. But you can make these as fancy as you wish. Then I painted them black and cut the bottom of each away so they were all the proper height. I pegged them into the coaming using some 24 gauge wire. The rails are just 1/32" x 1/32" boxwood strips painted black ahead of time. The segments were cut to length and added between the stanchions. I took care to get them level while not pushing the stanchions out of alignment. They are just glued in with Tite-Bond. Then I touched up the paint. Its slow and methodical work. You have to constantly check that each rail is level etc. These pieces are thin so they dont look out of scale. I see so many rails around a companionway that are so thick and out of scale. Now to add more beams and knees as I move forward...

That is just not my style. I dont like all of those little add-ons. Never did. Makes me feel like im working on a dollhouse. Its just not my thing. I am sure someone will add one before its all done. Plus I want to leave some stuff for you guys to make it your own.

1/8” thick. About 1 3/4” long. I agree with you Greg. I will be using the red capstan also. chuck

I was about to glue the column into position when I thought to check out a few more contemporary models. I was browsing through "The Legacy of a Ship Model" by Rob Napier and most of the columns were red and I really liked the look. The natural column got kind of lost which is probably why you see most them painted red or white (ivory). So I decided to paint it red....long story short and I think it looks even better. You at least now get to see it both ways and hopefully it will help you decide.

That is lookin very good. I imagine you are happy to get this messy stage completed.

Moving further forward....I needed to make one column next. All together we will eventually need 4 of these. I pondered how best to make them for a while. You see all manner of columns used on contemporary models. Round turned wood columns. Metal pillars of various sorts. Some are made of ivory, while others are left natural wood or painted red. In the end I opted for wooden pillars left in the square profile. Mostly because I know most of you dont own a lathe. But this is something you can change to your liking as well. I did manage to laser cut them to their basic shape and etch some details on both sides for more reference points. But you must still sand away the char and also use some files or even a #11 blade to shape the flat sides. In the end it turns into a respectable column. I am very happy with them. I even like that some of the char remained because it helps define the details more. These are laser cut from boxwood by the way. Finally I added that next deck beam. This is where we will start adding those with painted red sides. If you look closely I also added the knees which were called for. These will now also have there sides and bottom painted red. The column isnt glued in yet but I will do so before moving on to do more work. I will probably leave the columns natural. I am also trying to decide on the capstan.....shall I paint it red as it was seen more often on contemporary models or leave it natural? Tough decisions... But if left natural I fear it will just get lost under the deck beams and will be be very hard to tell its even there once the qdeck is planked. In the end I will probably use the red one. You can choose which ever you prefer. I also carefully opened one of the doors for this photo and also used the scale figure under the beam to show you how tight it was....not a lot of head room..LOL. Although I suspect folks were a little shorter than these more modern figures.

Yes a light coat of WOP. No warping at all. I oriented the grain up and down to miniize that which seams to work. Cedar is very stable. We shall see how it goes with cherry but I think having one layer helps that. Gluing those thin layers together is a pain and thats when I usually get warping. But a solid piece is so much more stable. Like the tops for Speedwell. I hope you get that model back soon. I would love to see some progress. Chuck