JeffT

Increasing the depth of the slots in the keelson turned out to be a quick job.  I used a combination of a #17 X-Acto blade (a small chisel with exactly the right width) and a #11 X-Acto blade for some cleanup.  Then I mounted the dead flat (DF) frame using the method Toni describes.
 
You can see the frame is about 1/16" closer to the rabbet than it was before deepening the slot.
 

A merry Christmas indeed! I look forward to watching your project come together.
 
Cheers!

Welcome!

Welcome back!  And merry Christmas ☺️

Cheers guys,
 
I have been playing around with the machine, and here are some of the results. I have cut a dozen or so sets for  Alert kits, and designing 'fittings', such as 64th and 72nd scale open and closed heat blocks, and 64th and 72nd scale ladders, all in pearwood.
 
Not sure about the ladders, as the steps are already cut to length, so am wondering if I offer these with an option for the customer to ask me to do the length they need (to fit in the combings) and I do the steps to order, is that a good idea? I have already made the steps in 1mm incremental lengths. Do these look OK?

I also got my set today. Great Christmas gift! Jack does some great work. It took 6 days to get this from China.
Amazing! Thank’s Chuck for finding Jack, and thanks Jack for your skill to make these parts.
 Tim 
 

Received my boxwood carvings today from Jack.
 
They are even better in person!  
 
These are truly works of art!
 
Shawn

Post 48
Gun rigging (Part 2)
 
 The breeching ropes are at last attached, and scuffs on the iron work touched in.
 

4005(2)

4001(2)
It is time to fix the guns in place along the bulwarks.
A small dot of pva is applied to the trucks to fix them to the deck, and the breeching lines can then be attached to the bulwark.
 

4023
Quite fiddly getting the eyebolts into the bulwark holes without marking the paintwork or even worse the gun blackening.
 

4024
The eyebolts also have to be orientated to allow the Breeching line to hang properly.

4028

4015
The Breeching lines are not glued down and it’s quite nice not to have to fight them to get them to drape naturally.

4013

4025(2)

4026(2)

4029
 
I’m quite pleased with the look of her, but now onto those side tackles, 24 tackles to make up, - what joy. 🙄
Happy Christmas to my fellow MSW members, and thank you to those who have shown interest in my build over the past six months.
 
 
Gun Rigging (Part 3)

In this post I am making up the Side tackles, again jigs are required to ease the pain of making up these fiddly little items.

4036(2)
The Alert Book indicates 5” double* and single (hooked) block combinations for the side tackles. These equate to 2mm blocks at scale.

 
*I seem to recall that only single blocks were used on small guns such as six pounders, so that is what I will use.

 
The tackle line is given as 2” circumference with 30’ length

This scales to 0.25mm ø with a length of 143mm.



Making up the tackles

 I am using Syren Boxwood 3/32” blocks (2.38mm) to give me a little leeway over the tiny 2mm blocks given that hooks must be attached.

 

4033(2)
For the hooks I am using Syren 3mm black plastic hooks, something Chuck no longer supplies, but they are ideal for tackle rigging at small scales, much neater than the equivalent 3mm brass etched versions.

 
For the tackle lines I am using Syren 0.20mm line which will provide a visible contrast to the heavier Breeching lines.

 
The blocks are rigged using a third hand tool, and the tackles are completed on the ‘Gun’ jig.

 
 Each tackle assembly takes me around 20 minutes to complete. For the full set around eight hours of work are required, but it feels a lot longer than that.

 
Side tackles are difficult to get looking right; often on models the blocks look over-scale and with the necessary addition of hooks there is only a short space between the two blocks, which makes the tackle arrangement look unconvincing.

 
There is a particular issue with Alert where the securing eyebolts for the tackles are placed in the faces of the shot garlands, reducing the distance between the tackle blocks.

 
In practice with guns run out the tackle blocks are quite close together as apparent on this shot of a twelve pounder on the Quarterdeck of Victory.


12 Pounder gun, Victory Qtr Deck.
I much prefer this look of secured tackles rather than stylized cheeses arranged on the deck.
The Royal Yacht Squadron it ain’t.

Getting a loose frap arrangement at model scale is very tricky, so my approach is to frap the lines and arrange the line ends in a loose coil.

This too is somewhat stylized, but it is my option at this scale.

Once made it is fairly simple to attach the tackles to the guns. and making up separate coils completes the job.

 
 
B.E.
24/12/2019
 

Hello dear friends,
thank you all very much for your kind words,praise and comments, that is a great honour for me and i do appreciate your support a lot.
Yesterday I finished ladders on shrouds, this is always so boring work for me, but this time I have decided to do it in the beginning....

 
 
 
 
 

Looks good. Nice work on the plank.

Hi Tom. Welcome to MSW 

Welcome to MSW Tom 

Hello Tom!  It will be great to see your build log.
 
John

welcome 

welcome!  Glad you will be doing more then spectating!  I look forward to seeing some of your creations.

Welcome!

Welcome aboard! You have so many interests to dabble in, I wonder that you have time for work! I look forward to seeing your projects.
 
Cheers!

I have been a member here for a few years, but treating it more as a spectator sport than I should.  I’m hoping to post the beginning of my first builder log within a week or two, so thought I should introduce myself. 
 
I have been a model builder off and on throughout my 7 decades on the planet. I built lots of plastic models as a kid (mostly airplanes but also a few ships) and an occasional stick and tissue glider, as taught to me by my dad. My first wooden ship model was a solid hull America built in high school. I still have it, but it has not survived the decades well at all, and thus my most recent build was the MS kit yacht America (which I think is no longer available from MS).
 
Fast forward from high school to my late 30s, and I got back into the hobby of model building, first with three RC gliders. Revell’s 1:96 plastic Constitution followed, then a plank on bulkhead Bluenose (Artesania Latina), a canoe (Midwest), Endeavor (America’s Cup J Boat, an Italian kit), Brig Niagara (Model Shipways), and more recently Model Airways Wright [Brothers] Flyer and Yacht America. Somewhere along the way I finished a half-built Sopwith Camel (Hasagawa), after the father of a good friend of mine sadly passed away mid-build. Current build: BlueJacket’s Spray, the tiny boat Joshua Slocum soloed around the world.
 
My builds tend to take a while, since there is a lot of competition for my time.  I still work, slowly transitioning to part time (trust & estate lawyer), I am an avid cyclist, and my wife and I enjoy traveling, hiking, kayaking, biking, pickleball, skiing (especially XC), reading, and hanging out with our young adult kids.  And living in Spokane, Washington, we are of course avid Gonzaga basketball fans!

Welcome, good to see you here😁

Greetings,
and 

welcome!  I look forward to seeing your work
 

Welcome and thanks for joining in! The Mercury is a beautiful kit subject, as is Pegasus. And, as you probably already know, we are very fortunate to have the designer of both kits, Chris Watton, as a regular contributor here, sharing updates on his new designs coming from Vanguard Models. look forward to seeing your work!
 
BTW, sharing photos is not difficult. Use the "choose files" link in the bar at the bottom of the reply window. Click on the files you want to upload. Each one will appear as a preview. When you're ready to add one to your post, simply click the "+" on the preview photo, and the pic will be inserted into your post.
 
Cheers!

Hi all,
I joined eighteen months ago but have never posted before on this forum, though in that time I've had a lot of enjoyment and inspiration from just browsing around various build logs.
I've been interested in ships and ship models all my life, ever since my father gave me the Revell HMS Bounty kit for my tenth birthday in 1962 (he made it for me as well!), and although I went on to make lots of plastic  kits as a kid, it wasn't until the 70's that I thought i'd try my hand at a wooden model - the Billing Boats 'Lilla Dan', (which I did finish, and which still exists, but which I'm less than proud of!)
A few years after this, another Billing kit, 'Toulonnaise', but this one I ultimately abandoned, despite quite a lot of sporadic work over a period of time.  
Then, two years ago, and for no particular reason, I decided to buy myself the Caldercraft 'Granado' kit, and which I was very impressed with! I finished it in 6 months, and went straight into the Amati 'Pegasus' kit, which I wasn't able to work on quite so regularly but nonetheless is now on its home stretch (running rigging and some small jobs to complete).
I've now become so hooked on ship modelling that I've just treated myself to another kit - this time the Amati 'Mercury' brig - and I intend to alternate between working on the new model, and finishing off the Pegasus when I feel like a break from hull planking!
I started work on Mercury a couple of weeks ago and have just completed the first planking, so I think before I go any further, now is the time to try making a build log of it. When I've worked out how to post pictures of it, I'll make a start on the log.

My laser machine arrived Friday, so the weekend was spent sorting out new workshop, which still needs finishing. However, I did use the machine, and I am very happy with the cutting and quality. I have cut another 12 complete sets of Alert parts (pearwood version), and parts fit together perfectly. It was one of the better machines on offer, though, with a top quality laser tube that's made in Germany. 
 
I did one set of Speedy 3mm MDF with part numbers laser etched in each part, and this seems to work very well. As I am no longer having to pay for a sub contractors time, I can now do this.
 
Still a lot of learning regarding the laser etching side though - tried a Speedy deck and completely nuked it! Still, I am very pleased I made the investment.