donrobinson

Hello Steve, she is looking good. You were looking for ideas and sounds like you are ready to "bash the kit" and you also said you want a luxury yacht....... Well my thoughts would be to (lots of work) remove wheel house scrap the deck house. Move wheel house back further in order to increase cabin area and to provide a nice deck on bow for sun tanning(and sipping cool ones). When rebuilding wheel house slightly lower it, increase angle of windshield  and increase length of roof to cover more of the deck. Benches on either side inside of wheel house with a table in between them, captain's chair and access to cabin area. Build a false floor with access to bilge area (storage for more beer when cooler is full). At the stern build a nice padded bench that would house the motor and also provide another area to relax and sip cool ones. With the extended roof needing support install dancing pole to provide this. a bubble machine would also be cool. Finally a ladder to allow access to the roof for those who have had enough cool ones and feel the urge to dive off risking it all. Lots and lots of work but you asked.

Very impressive EJ, you are doing a great job

Hello Steve, she is looking good. You were looking for ideas and sounds like you are ready to "bash the kit" and you also said you want a luxury yacht....... Well my thoughts would be to (lots of work) remove wheel house scrap the deck house. Move wheel house back further in order to increase cabin area and to provide a nice deck on bow for sun tanning(and sipping cool ones). When rebuilding wheel house slightly lower it, increase angle of windshield  and increase length of roof to cover more of the deck. Benches on either side inside of wheel house with a table in between them, captain's chair and access to cabin area. Build a false floor with access to bilge area (storage for more beer when cooler is full). At the stern build a nice padded bench that would house the motor and also provide another area to relax and sip cool ones. With the extended roof needing support install dancing pole to provide this. a bubble machine would also be cool. Finally a ladder to allow access to the roof for those who have had enough cool ones and feel the urge to dive off risking it all. Lots and lots of work but you asked.

Very impressive EJ, you are doing a great job

Thanks to everyone for stooping in, for your likes and of course all the great comments even You(Mike Shanks). Today is going to be a beautiful day outside so this is just going to be a quick update before I head out side to work up a thirst. Actually it is so nice I'm thirsty already!! So lets get this going
 
First up is just another way of stropping/seizing a block with a becket, here I am using the Domanoff serving machine.
 

 
As this was just for demonstration purposes I will make another one with a 7mm triple that I can actually use 
 
This is the mizzen mast with various rigging, not yet permanently attached
 
 
 
This the fore mast
 
One of the trestle trees, notice how my nails turned brown in the blackening solution. Only me and my crazy luck
 

 
I apologise for the poor picture but I was just trying to show my plumb bob for truing the masts and the proper use of a can of mushrooms, magnet and square
 

 
Here are some outside shots showing the masts stepped. Top mast is not on permanent. Checkout the rope at the bottom of the mast, I'm not sure if this is something exclusive to the Trabaccolo but it is kind of cool. I should have taken pictures of this process but it is three separate coils of 1.25 mm rope followed by two more on top of that then one more at the very top
 

 
As you can see it is beautiful day here so I am going for a shower then grabbing a cool one getting on the golf cart with some tunes and get to work watching the leaves grow. Fridge is full so come on over, supposed to be 28 today that spells cold beer in Celsius or Fahrenheit
You all have a great day and an awesome weekend
 
See You Later 

Happy Birthday Frank, I hope you are having a great day and wish you many more          

Happy Birthday Frank, I hope you are having a great day and wish you many more          

Looks real good Bob. I have never tried that drill and fill method for tree nails, yours look exceptionally good. What are you using for a filler?

It's a shame these sort of things happen in a kit but you have done a great job of overcoming a somewhat unattainable obstacle. I'm thinking you have had your share of problems for this build so the rest is going to be a smooth ride . 

Not sure if I should hit the like button or not.

Great looking build David, congratulations. Good to hear from you 

Hey Doug, I like your approach of treating this first layer of planking as it were the one and final layer. It looks good, however, there are two problems.............now that you have passed up on basswood you will find yourself with an abundance of kindling, second problem once that hull is sanded are you going to be able to cover up that beautiful swiss pear????? Nice work!

Hey Doug, I like your approach of treating this first layer of planking as it were the one and final layer. It looks good, however, there are two problems.............now that you have passed up on basswood you will find yourself with an abundance of kindling, second problem once that hull is sanded are you going to be able to cover up that beautiful swiss pear????? Nice work!

Hey Doug, I like your approach of treating this first layer of planking as it were the one and final layer. It looks good, however, there are two problems.............now that you have passed up on basswood you will find yourself with an abundance of kindling, second problem once that hull is sanded are you going to be able to cover up that beautiful swiss pear????? Nice work!

Mike: the serving machine works good, I am enjoying it quite a bit
Zoltan: outside shots are always better, but this year with all the wind and rain we are having so far it is hard to find a day to take her outside
Eddie: Thanks, after seeing your last post in "what I received today" I may have to buy something else for those rainy days. I haven't played any sort of game in many many years, it's tempting to start again

Thanks for clearing that up Wefalck, also good to know that you are "qualified"

Mike: the serving machine works good, I am enjoying it quite a bit
Zoltan: outside shots are always better, but this year with all the wind and rain we are having so far it is hard to find a day to take her outside
Eddie: Thanks, after seeing your last post in "what I received today" I may have to buy something else for those rainy days. I haven't played any sort of game in many many years, it's tempting to start again

Mike: the serving machine works good, I am enjoying it quite a bit
Zoltan: outside shots are always better, but this year with all the wind and rain we are having so far it is hard to find a day to take her outside
Eddie: Thanks, after seeing your last post in "what I received today" I may have to buy something else for those rainy days. I haven't played any sort of game in many many years, it's tempting to start again

Thanks to everyone for stooping in, for your likes and of course all the great comments even You(Mike Shanks). Today is going to be a beautiful day outside so this is just going to be a quick update before I head out side to work up a thirst. Actually it is so nice I'm thirsty already!! So lets get this going
 
First up is just another way of stropping/seizing a block with a becket, here I am using the Domanoff serving machine.
 

 
As this was just for demonstration purposes I will make another one with a 7mm triple that I can actually use 
 
This is the mizzen mast with various rigging, not yet permanently attached
 
 
 
This the fore mast
 
One of the trestle trees, notice how my nails turned brown in the blackening solution. Only me and my crazy luck
 

 
I apologise for the poor picture but I was just trying to show my plumb bob for truing the masts and the proper use of a can of mushrooms, magnet and square
 

 
Here are some outside shots showing the masts stepped. Top mast is not on permanent. Checkout the rope at the bottom of the mast, I'm not sure if this is something exclusive to the Trabaccolo but it is kind of cool. I should have taken pictures of this process but it is three separate coils of 1.25 mm rope followed by two more on top of that then one more at the very top
 

 
As you can see it is beautiful day here so I am going for a shower then grabbing a cool one getting on the golf cart with some tunes and get to work watching the leaves grow. Fridge is full so come on over, supposed to be 28 today that spells cold beer in Celsius or Fahrenheit
You all have a great day and an awesome weekend
 
See You Later 

Good morning all, Thanks to all those who have stopped by, left likes and/or comments.
 Just a small update. Some progress such as nailing the main rail(with .4 nylon fishing line) was a bit of a waste of time. I was so happy with the results on the companion way I thought I would do more of it not realising it would be lost in the dark grain of the walnut. Although it may look like what a house fly may have left behind the nails can be seen(if you really look close) on some of the close ups. Breast hooks, knightheads and the aft rail were also completed, I replaced the kit supplied walnut with rosewood for these. Another detail that is hard to notice is the rope used to tie the hatch lids together. I finally put my Syren serving machine together and decided to serve some line for the first time and give it a try. The line served is just normal sewing thread and I used the same thread for the serving, the final rope measures approximately .5 mm and again you have to look real close. 
 

An eye was seized in one end of rope then the other end pulled through and tied off with a couple of half hitches 
 
Take Care and Thanks for stopping in.

Good Morning All, Thanks to everyone for stopping in, for your likes and comments. This a new one for me, two updates in a week, but without my vehicle(another story) shipyard time has increased. I have completed the back rails which I will show in my next post as they aren't attached yet and will complete the breast hooks today as Mike is on edge waiting to see them. For now I have nailed the companion way and made some cleats from rosewood.
 

Here I am showing how I mask it to try and get a relatively straight line.
 

Here are a couple of shots showing holes drilled and nails in place. I used .4 mm nylon fishing line. First side I cut these off using flush cutters then sanded smooth, this side I used a sharp blade to cut off then sanded. The blade worked much better and very little sanding was required, just enough to remove excess glue. Should be noted the companion way had several coats of poly on it to prevent any stains from the ca glue.
 

 Here are the results, I think the .4 mm fishing line is the right scale and looks good. With a little more practice I may do a deck someday. I also found some light brown .3 mm fishing line that I may do a test section on my Pegasus with. 
 

Here I'm just showing the steps of making cleats. As you can see they are fairly large about 10 mm so they were fairly easy to make, that's one of the beauties of working at this scale.  The first one is after rough shaping on the Byrnes disc sander and the middle one is after some fine tuning with riffler file the cleat on the right is the kit supplied one. I would not normally spend twenty minutes making a cleat but I only need two so I thought what the heck. As you can see I have two extra ones that I am willing to offer to members here before I list them on ebay 
 

Here I'm rough shaping it on the disc sander.The thing off to the right in the picture is a crepe block used to clean the sanding disc, this helps prolong the life of your disc or belt if you have a thickness sander. You can get these at Lee Valley they are cheap and last forever.
 Thanks once more for stopping in and have a good one.
 

Well it's been a month and I don't have much to show for it. Thanks to all for stopping in, for your likes and great comments. I bought an android box for my TV and have been wasting too much time watching that, great device but be careful!!. Here are some pictures of what little I have accomplished:
These are the completed demizanas and their rack
 

 
This is a before and after shot of the pedestals for the new stand I built. These are some sort of pistons that my favourite son-in-law(my only one) gave to me. I just turned them on the lathe to clean them up and size them, nothing to technical here.
 

Milling the slot for the keel, this is a piece of rosewood
 

This is all the pieces, the base is cherry. I drilled out the brass pedestals and epoxied some 1/8" brass pins in
 

And here it is assembled with four coats of poly. The brass pedestals were given two coats of spray lacquer 
 

These two pictures are showing the railing installed and the demizanas/rack installed
 

Here is a shot of one of the supporting posts down in the hold, complete with dust. lol
 

And this is how she looks this morning
 
Next up are some breast plates(I think that's what they are called) at the bow and stern then a top rail at the stern. Sorry no bow shots, there is some re-contruction going on that I am really not too proud of
Thanks for stopping in and enjoy your day

Almost there Mike, don't quit now. Looks great

Thanks to everyone for stooping in, for your likes and of course all the great comments even You(Mike Shanks). Today is going to be a beautiful day outside so this is just going to be a quick update before I head out side to work up a thirst. Actually it is so nice I'm thirsty already!! So lets get this going
 
First up is just another way of stropping/seizing a block with a becket, here I am using the Domanoff serving machine.
 

 
As this was just for demonstration purposes I will make another one with a 7mm triple that I can actually use 
 
This is the mizzen mast with various rigging, not yet permanently attached
 
 
 
This the fore mast
 
One of the trestle trees, notice how my nails turned brown in the blackening solution. Only me and my crazy luck
 

 
I apologise for the poor picture but I was just trying to show my plumb bob for truing the masts and the proper use of a can of mushrooms, magnet and square
 

 
Here are some outside shots showing the masts stepped. Top mast is not on permanent. Checkout the rope at the bottom of the mast, I'm not sure if this is something exclusive to the Trabaccolo but it is kind of cool. I should have taken pictures of this process but it is three separate coils of 1.25 mm rope followed by two more on top of that then one more at the very top
 

 
As you can see it is beautiful day here so I am going for a shower then grabbing a cool one getting on the golf cart with some tunes and get to work watching the leaves grow. Fridge is full so come on over, supposed to be 28 today that spells cold beer in Celsius or Fahrenheit
You all have a great day and an awesome weekend
 
See You Later 

Hello Nils, I just stopped by for my monthly visit and a cup of coffee and as always I am totally impressed. Wonderful work!!