genericDave

Update on the dories...
 
I've got all 4 dories built, but only one is "finished".  I found that it was easiest to cut all the pieces for the 4 dories at once and do the basic assembly and painting in an 'assembly line' process.  However, once it gets to adding the rail and final details...that takes some work.  So I'm doing the last few steps one-at-a-time.  
 

 
I decided to make the thole pins from brass rod and leave them unpainted to match the rest of the metal on my build.  These should probably be blackened, but since I'm leaving all the other metal pieces as raw brass, I think it makes sense to leave these as brass as well.  
 
Compared to the prototype, I used thinner stock for the seat support rails and for the seats themselves.  I also positioned them lower, which should help to keep things nice when stacking these on the deck.  The rail on the one finished dory was made from 1/64" thick sheet material.  
 
Obviously the dories aren't finished and I haven't built the racks to hold them, but I think they are looking good sitting on the deck!
 

 
 

Update on the dories...
 
I've got all 4 dories built, but only one is "finished".  I found that it was easiest to cut all the pieces for the 4 dories at once and do the basic assembly and painting in an 'assembly line' process.  However, once it gets to adding the rail and final details...that takes some work.  So I'm doing the last few steps one-at-a-time.  
 

 
I decided to make the thole pins from brass rod and leave them unpainted to match the rest of the metal on my build.  These should probably be blackened, but since I'm leaving all the other metal pieces as raw brass, I think it makes sense to leave these as brass as well.  
 
Compared to the prototype, I used thinner stock for the seat support rails and for the seats themselves.  I also positioned them lower, which should help to keep things nice when stacking these on the deck.  The rail on the one finished dory was made from 1/64" thick sheet material.  
 
Obviously the dories aren't finished and I haven't built the racks to hold them, but I think they are looking good sitting on the deck!
 

 
 

Dave,
I am no expert but they look good to me. They are the same size as mine 😄!
 

It's looking really good. The Cabin and wheel house look good . I think Im over thinking mine. You have a Good Build Log. I'm probably gonna be looking at it Alot for A while until i have mine finished .   Great Work ! 

Dave
 
just had fun catching up.  I love the work you did on the deck equipment, and am envious of your working with a machine to make the gears.   I plan to get there some day.  I totally failed on two attempts for mass producing 6 dories so I am very interested in how you go with glue up.
 
I noted a question you floated on location of the anchor box.  I wanted to share an image from the deck plan done by Phillip Eisnor off the modelshipbuilder website. the box is trapezoidal and against the water way.  1940 nova scotia archive photo confirmed that location. Where is the chain???  From reading a bit my understanding is because it was so heavy they would not have too much due to capacity of the winch and you didn't move it around much.  Looking at the photos on the nova scotia archive they wrapped the port winch and went to the chain box. maybe one or two shots.... and  perhaps used only for harbors and banks [ shallow rocky bottom ....added chain weight]  .  The other side I believe would have been rope [ chain to lay on the bottom then rope to winch] I believe and could have gone deeper. Some other schooner models in Lunneberg show that as well, one with a very large coil of anchor line center starboard.   I love your work trying to make the cat head work.  I believe there is another line line perhaps dory tackle that with added hook dropped to snag after the ring breaks water.  The tackle lifts the ring and pulls it aft by its angle to the rail height...flukes still in water ...then the cat head chain is made around it.  then the tackle with hook slides down shank to pull up fluke.  A Spoon [ oar like] holds the fluke off the hull and then levers it up on to the rail where it is lashed.  tackle then goes back ready for dories or unloading fish boxes.  if any one seeing this can help make it more right please jump in......this is the learning part that I love.  Barrels.....in the 1940 archive photos there were three fixed ones and they were about that size, but more straight sided...I wonder if they were steel???  They were laid horizontal in a rack a little forward of the main cabin.  They were thus closed in so no need to ream out and make hollow.   My question is what was in them?.      they needed drinking water and they needed fuel for the winch engine, maybe kerosene.    Sardine barrels were different I think...more like your photo, surely would have been loose, standing up rigged in and out of the hold etc. salt barrels ??        we all have so much to learn...how do you fish for cod and what do you need on a schooner in 1917?
 
cheers  
 
Jon 
 
 
 
 

Absolutely Fantastic!!! You skills and attention to details are wonderful. Amazing!!!
 

Derek,  planking looks great!  From your photos it looks like you did a great job with the planks that have to twist going up to the stern post (those didn't line up great for me on my build).  It already looks great, but once you get the hull painted, I think the shape is going to look perfect!

Work continues on my dories.  I've got one completely finished, and the other three are built, but need their rails, splash rails, etc. installed.
 
As a diversion, I've been looking into sourcing some barrels.  I've seen some builds that build a structure to hold barrels (which looks amazing), I've seen some that add barrels tied to the cabin, and some that don't use wooden barrels at all.  I'm not really wanting to build a structure with barrels, but I'd like to tie a few to the cabin.
 
I bought a few different sized wooden barrels from Model Expo, and they arrived today.  I think the size looks OK, but I'm not happy with the finish.  They are pretty dark, and I'd like something a little more 'raw' that I can stain to better match the colors on the ship.
 
So...a few questions for those Bluenose experts out there...
 
Do these barrels look about the right size?  Am I horribly out of scale?
 
Does anyone have a good source for wooden barrels that are unfinished, ready to be stained?
 

Ok...a very productive weekend!  I feel like I'm back in business and making good progress.
 
I rebuilt the chain plates that were lost a couple months ago, and got them installed, then moved on to the anchors.  I made some notes back when I built the catheads about how the anchors were going to be hung from the side of the ship.  I found a great drawing on page 399 of Chapelle's The American Fishing Schooners 1825-1935.  Those notes ended up driving how I set everything up.  I might have made some choices that are not actually correct, but the layout I ended up with made sense to me, so I ran with it.  (Of course, I know nothing about how ships actually worked...never learned anything about ships until I started building models.)
 
As many do, I left the starboard anchor disassembled and on the deck.  I cleaned up the cast metal anchor pieces and painted them black.  I made the tapered wood 'bars' from some 3/32" square stock and stained them to match the other wood on my ship.  I saw in the plans that sometimes the anchors were attached to chain, other times attached to rope, so I went with rope.  I'm using some of the rope from Syren Ship Model Company that I ordered a while back (I ordered a full set of replacement line for all the stuff provided in the kit).  Even though this anchor will be left disassembled on the deck, I added a little black rope to the 'bar' so it wouldn't look quite so bland.  A little bit of extra rope was left coiled up.
 

The port side will have the anchor hung from the rail.  I started by using some chain to secure the end of the anchor to the anchor pad.
 

Next, I made a chain/rope combination like I saw in the drawing I found.  This has a hook one end of the chain, with the other end of the chain secured to some rope.  The hook will go into the cathead.  The chain will loop through the ring on the anchor, then swing back up so the rope can go through the sheave on the cathead.  The rope will then be tied off on the belaying pin next to the cathead.
 

This was hooked in place, the used to secure the anchor to the cathead.  
 


I'll add a rope coil to that belaying pin later when I'm adding final details.  Obviously these little catheads don't have actual sheaves, so I just ran the rope over the end of the cathead.  
 
I ran the anchor's rope through the hawse pipe, wrapped it around the winch, and left a little extra rope coiled on the deck.
 

While I was at it, I went ahead and installed the chain box, and filled with some left over chain.
 

So, I'm now done with chain plates and anchors.  All I have left before masts are the dories, which should be fun - kind of like little mini-builds in themselves.  I'm excited to back at it, and looking forward to getting those dories going during the upcoming three-day weekend!
 

 
 
 

Well, it has been a long time.  I wish I could say I've made tons of progress, but it has been a crazy few months.
 
Back in January, I was on a roll.  After finishing the winch assembly, I jumped right into chain plates.  The Bluenose has 20 chain plates, so I decided to prepare them all at once.  I cut strips of brass and made a jig to help my get the holes drilled on my little Proxxon drill press.  
 

This worked really well, and very quickly I had 20 brass strips with decent looking holes and filed tips.
 

 
These were then painted black, and I started the process of installing them.  This required drilling some holes in the main rail and creating a 'slot', being careful to make sure I stayed on the outside of the bulwarks.  I attached the deadeyes (after staining them) using wire.  I got through all 10 on the quarter deck.
 

This all happened within a few days of my last post.  Before starting in on the chain plates for the fore deck, I decided to take a week off.  Then disaster struck.
 
We have a service that comes and cleans every other week.  For years, they have cleaned around my work bench.  This time, they decided to actually clean my work bench.  The remaining 10 chain plates were lost.  I'm guessing they got 'wiped' onto the floor and vacuumed up.  This was incredibly demotivating, and I decided to take another week or two off.
 
Fast forward a few weeks, and we were starting a remodel of our house.  This included all new floors (I've wanted to replace the carpet in my office/ship-building-room for a while so I stop losing tiny pieces in the carpet).  Since they needed to replace all the floors, I had to pack up my entire workbench for over a month.  The ship was carefully wrapped up to protect it from dust (our entire house was covered in dust for weeks), and stored in one of the 2 rooms that wasn't being touched - a bathroom.  It was a little unnerving to have my ship sitting in a bathtub for weeks, but it survived.  I decided to hold off on starting the build back up until ALL the remodeling was done in order to avoid issues with dust.  The whole process took about 2 months.
 
So finally, today, I have everything set back up.  The workbench is unpacked.  Power tools (mill, drill press, scroll saw) are back in my make-shift shop (a walk in closet in my office).  I'm ready to dive back in and re-make those 10 chain plates.
 
During this break, I crossed the 1 year mark on my build.  I thought I'd be further along by now, but I've kept detailed notes on my progress and I see where the time went.  Since future builders of the Bluenose may stumble across this build log, here's how the last year went:
 
Build started April 1, 2016. Framing (keel, rabbet, bulkheads, fairing, stern blocks) - 16 days. Planking the lower hull (up to the deck) - 28 days. Planking the bulwarks, scrapers, transom - 11 days. Planking the deck - 24 days. Cleaning up the hull (hawse pipes, mooring chocks, etc) - 6 days. Painting the hull - 68 days. Rails (main rail, buffalo rail, monkey board) - 34 days. Hull details (rudder, name plates, scroll work) - 41 days. Deck structures (cabins, hatches, companionways, etc) - 28 days. Aft deck details - 4 days Fore deck details - 4 days Machinery (engine box, countershaft, windlass, hoisting, etc) - 31 days  
The first big stall came with painting, which took over 2 months, mostly driven by waiting a week or so between coats.  The second big stall has been my chain plate disaster/remodel.  
 
So, here I am, 1 year into this build, ready to dive back in.  I have just a few things to knock out (chain plates, anchors, dories) before I start building the masts, which obviously leads to rigging.  My best guess right now is that I have 8-12 months left.
 
I'm excited to finally be able to work on the ship again, and I look forward to being able to post an actual update with progress!
 

Ok...a very productive weekend!  I feel like I'm back in business and making good progress.
 
I rebuilt the chain plates that were lost a couple months ago, and got them installed, then moved on to the anchors.  I made some notes back when I built the catheads about how the anchors were going to be hung from the side of the ship.  I found a great drawing on page 399 of Chapelle's The American Fishing Schooners 1825-1935.  Those notes ended up driving how I set everything up.  I might have made some choices that are not actually correct, but the layout I ended up with made sense to me, so I ran with it.  (Of course, I know nothing about how ships actually worked...never learned anything about ships until I started building models.)
 
As many do, I left the starboard anchor disassembled and on the deck.  I cleaned up the cast metal anchor pieces and painted them black.  I made the tapered wood 'bars' from some 3/32" square stock and stained them to match the other wood on my ship.  I saw in the plans that sometimes the anchors were attached to chain, other times attached to rope, so I went with rope.  I'm using some of the rope from Syren Ship Model Company that I ordered a while back (I ordered a full set of replacement line for all the stuff provided in the kit).  Even though this anchor will be left disassembled on the deck, I added a little black rope to the 'bar' so it wouldn't look quite so bland.  A little bit of extra rope was left coiled up.
 

The port side will have the anchor hung from the rail.  I started by using some chain to secure the end of the anchor to the anchor pad.
 

Next, I made a chain/rope combination like I saw in the drawing I found.  This has a hook one end of the chain, with the other end of the chain secured to some rope.  The hook will go into the cathead.  The chain will loop through the ring on the anchor, then swing back up so the rope can go through the sheave on the cathead.  The rope will then be tied off on the belaying pin next to the cathead.
 

This was hooked in place, the used to secure the anchor to the cathead.  
 


I'll add a rope coil to that belaying pin later when I'm adding final details.  Obviously these little catheads don't have actual sheaves, so I just ran the rope over the end of the cathead.  
 
I ran the anchor's rope through the hawse pipe, wrapped it around the winch, and left a little extra rope coiled on the deck.
 

While I was at it, I went ahead and installed the chain box, and filled with some left over chain.
 

So, I'm now done with chain plates and anchors.  All I have left before masts are the dories, which should be fun - kind of like little mini-builds in themselves.  I'm excited to back at it, and looking forward to getting those dories going during the upcoming three-day weekend!
 

 
 
 

I've started my second build - the Bluenose.
 
I've had this kit for about six months, but didn't even open the box until I finished my Phantom a couple weeks ago.  The Phantom was my first build, to get me exposure to basic ship modeling and rigging.  I chose solid hull for that one so I wouldn't have to tackle hull planking.  
 
I chose the Bluenose for my second build because it still has relatively straight-forward rigging, and the hull planking doesn't require a lot of complex work.  It is also a little larger scale, which lets me focus more on detail.
 
I spent about a week 'preparing'.  I scanned in all the plans, inventoried and labeled parts, etc.  For this build, I've purchased Bob Hunt's practicum, which I'll be following only partly.  I got the practicum because sometimes I just want to sit and read how somebody tackled the build - even if I end up going my own way.
 
Knowing this was going to be my next build for some time, I've been following a number of Bluenose builds here on the forum.  Build logs from bhermann, darr, jrw1970, dborgens, mrjg, and popjack (among many others) have given me a ton of tips, a lot of inspiration, and a good deal of insecurity (you guys are soooo good at this....).
 
To get started...
 

 
All the parts were inventoried and labeled.  This is my fourth kit from Model Expo (two Model Airways planes, second Model Shipways ship), and this is the first time the wood has come labeled.  I had my caliper out ready to start measuring and sorting wood stock.  Maybe I was just unlucky the first three times.
 
Keel Assembly
 
The three pieces of the keel were cut out and assembled.  This took a few days, because it didn't go smoothly and I knew that messing this up would have repercussions.  Two major problems...first, the third piece simply wasn't the right size.  It wasn't an issue with the tab - the piece was physically taller (top and bottom) than part #2.  So, I drew on the reference lines from the plans (since I guess reference lines are there to refer to) and used those to decide how to line things up.  A little sanding, a little shimming, and I've got a keel.  It came out straight, so I'm happy.
 

 
The second problem with the keel was that while sanding off laser char on the top of section 2, I guess I went a little crazy.  Ended up with a beveled edge where it meets part #1.  I took too much off.  Solution?  Take more off!  I leveled it out, glued on some thing wood stock, and brought everything back into alignment.
 
So, the rabbet...
 
Rabbet
 
It looks days for me to get the nerve to make the first cut.  I've read everything I could about cutting the rabbet, but none of it gave me much confidence.  With my first POB build, something about carving away at the keel I just spent days aligning didn't make me very comfortable.  Most of the stuff I've read is either discussions on what the rabbet is (which was helpful), or it was build logs that mentioned how concerned they were about cutting the rabbet, but that it wasn't much of a big deal.  So I guess on the other side of this, I'll be fine...
 
I tried the 'cut out a copy of the plans and trace the lines' method, but I wasn't happy with the result.  I had little confidence that it was 100% accurate.  So, I measured the distance from the deck to bearding line at each bulkhead, and transferred that to the keel.  Then I measured the distance from that to the rabbet and marked that on the keel.  I ended up with a series of 'dots' at each bulkhead.  Then I used the cut out plans, aligned to these dots, to trace the lines.  Doubled checked against the plans, and I'm good to go.  Awesome!  I've managed to stall cutting the rabbet for a few more days!
 
Finally, I got up the nerve to cut.  Here's how I did it (which may be totally wrong, but it worked...)
 
Score both the rabbet line and bearding line with a #11 blade.  I started between bulkheads I and J, and I did one  bulkhead-space at a time. Take my chisel x-acto blade, and push it into the score on the rabbet line, matching the angle for the bottom of the plank.  I cut a small (1" long) piece of plank to help with the process.  This gives me a lower 'lip' on the rabbet at the right angle for the plank.  Repeat this for the length of the section. Take my chisel and carve down from the bearding line to the rabbet line, where I hit the deeper cut I previously made.  Big chunk of wood comes out. After I've 'roughed out' the section, drop the test plank in and slide it along the cut.  It should sit at the appropriate angle against the hull, and anywhere that it doesn't seam up with the rabbet line just right gets some touch-up work. Repeat for every section, on both sides.  Sand when done.
 
Everyone was right - it isn't hard, and doesn't take that long (maybe 2 hours total spread over 2 days).  Maybe there isn't much discussion on how to actually make the cut because after you've done it once, it's no big deal.
 
I added reinforcement blocks over the joints in the keel (just seems like a good idea, and all the cool kids are doing it).  Then I started dry-fitting the bulkheads.  I've lightly sanded each of the bulkheads - removing just enough laser char to keep me from smudging everything any time I touch the parts.  The rest of the laser char should get cleaned up when I fair the hull.  Like many others, my bulkheads came as plywood.  They seem stronger, but they are a little harder to work with (cut/sand).  Each one has been lightly adjusted, along with the slots in the keel so they don't fit too snug.
 

 
Next steps will be to install the sternpost and trim the tops of the bulkheads.  I know some people chop off the tops of the bulkheads and use fake stanchions, others follow the MS instructions and trim them back so the bulkhead tops become some of the stanchions.  I'm not 100% sure which way I'll go, but I figure if I trim them before they go on, I won't risk breaking anything, and if I cut them off later all I've lost is time.
 
After all that is done, I might be ready to start gluing in bulkheads...

Cabin
 
Thanks for the compliment John!  I'm not sure that I'd agree that my build is the best, but I'll take it.
 
Bob & Dave, thanks!  I spent way too much time on the wheel box and wheel, but I wanted to be sure I was happy with the style of the deck structures before I built too many.  One thing I didn't show is that I actually tried building a different wheel from the Chuck's kit available from Syren Ship Model Company.  It turned out pretty good, but it was a little too big so I went back to the one that came with the kit.
 
The Thanksgiving holiday means I've got a five day weekend, so I decided to dive in on building the cabin.  My plan is to build all the bigger deck buildings first and get them installed on the deck.  Once those are in, I'll finally get around to applying the clear coat on the deck.  I decided to wait to seal the deck until the bigger structures were in place since I opted not to building the coamings in and plank around them.
 
The cabin took about 3 days.  I think I made it more complicated than it needed to be, but it was fun.
 
The main structure of the cabin was built from 1/16" thick sheet stock.  I used some 5/32" square strips to make some support beams.
 

 
And here's where I made things more complicated for myself...
 
I decided to build out the skylight and entrance into the structure, rather than adding them onto the completed cabin.  I started by framing out a platform to support the skylight.  I also cut out the entrance and installed the 'walls'.
 

 
I added some wide strips to provide support for the roof planking and added in the walls of the skylight.  Holes were drilled for the windows.  
 
I decided not to try and build all the fancy detail in the corners.  I'm not confident I could pull that off.  Instead I just rounded off the corners.
 

 
The roof was then planked from the center out.  Since I had built in the structure for the skylight and entrance, there was some work required to plank around those pieces.
 

 
I decided to add the molding around the roof line, but I kept it simple.  Rather than doing anything fancy, I just painted and installed some 1/32" square strips to make the molding.
 

 

 
The doors were made in two layers.  I cut some 1/64" thick sheet material to the right size, and cut out openings for the panels.  This was painted white and glued onto some 1/16" thick material that was stained to match the roof.
 

 
The skylight's panels were framed out.
 

 
After being trimmed and painted, I added some short pieces of brass rod to make the bars.  
 

 
For the compass box, I carved the box from a solid piece of basswood.  I used more of the 1/64" thick sheet stock for the cover.  It was soaked in water then bent around the box.
 

 
The roof for the entrance was actually planked like the rest of the roof, but painted over in white.
 

 
For the pipe, I decided to try and actually build it.  I cut some 3/32" brass tube to the right size and soldered it together.  I made the 'stand' from a piece of brass strip.
 

 
Everything got a few rounds of cleanup and final painting.
 
I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  There are a few spots where I could have gotten things smoother or painted better, but I don't think it will be noticeable once I've got more stuff on the deck.
 

Work continues on my dories.  I've got one completely finished, and the other three are built, but need their rails, splash rails, etc. installed.
 
As a diversion, I've been looking into sourcing some barrels.  I've seen some builds that build a structure to hold barrels (which looks amazing), I've seen some that add barrels tied to the cabin, and some that don't use wooden barrels at all.  I'm not really wanting to build a structure with barrels, but I'd like to tie a few to the cabin.
 
I bought a few different sized wooden barrels from Model Expo, and they arrived today.  I think the size looks OK, but I'm not happy with the finish.  They are pretty dark, and I'd like something a little more 'raw' that I can stain to better match the colors on the ship.
 
So...a few questions for those Bluenose experts out there...
 
Do these barrels look about the right size?  Am I horribly out of scale?
 
Does anyone have a good source for wooden barrels that are unfinished, ready to be stained?
 

Thanks Russ!  I've just started working on the 4 'real' dories, and I'm feeling hopeful that they will turn out usable!

Work continues on my dories.  I've got one completely finished, and the other three are built, but need their rails, splash rails, etc. installed.
 
As a diversion, I've been looking into sourcing some barrels.  I've seen some builds that build a structure to hold barrels (which looks amazing), I've seen some that add barrels tied to the cabin, and some that don't use wooden barrels at all.  I'm not really wanting to build a structure with barrels, but I'd like to tie a few to the cabin.
 
I bought a few different sized wooden barrels from Model Expo, and they arrived today.  I think the size looks OK, but I'm not happy with the finish.  They are pretty dark, and I'd like something a little more 'raw' that I can stain to better match the colors on the ship.
 
So...a few questions for those Bluenose experts out there...
 
Do these barrels look about the right size?  Am I horribly out of scale?
 
Does anyone have a good source for wooden barrels that are unfinished, ready to be stained?
 

So, I started in on the dories...
 
The kit provides 1/64" thick laser cut pieces for each of the 8 dories as well as a little jig you can assemble to help make the boats.  I'm only planning on using 4 dories on my ship (two stacks of two instead of two stacks of four), so I figure I've got 4 extras to play with in case I mess up.
 
I built the jig and started trying assemble a dory.  I had a heck of a time.  Even with the jig, I couldn't get the pieces to line up and stay in place while I glued them.  It wasn't any fun and I quickly realized that making 4 of these was going to be an unpleasant experience for me.
 
So, I decided to ignore the kit's parts and scratch build a dory.  The plans indicate that the kit's dories are simplified - they use a single sheet for each side while the actual dories used three lapped planks.  It seems like I could make some frames, attach them to the bottom, then glue on the three planks.  Certainly more complicated than the kit's approach, but I think it could be more fun.
 
I started by scanning the plans for the dories into the computer.  I used some illustration software to lay out the five frames, the bottom, and the pieces for the bow and stern.  I simplified the frames a bit - the plans show the frames are made from two pieces that overlap in the middle.  i'm going with one solid piece for each frame.  That should be easier to work with and a little more sturdy.
 

I cut out one set of the templates and glued it to a sheet of 3/32" thick basswood.  This will make the frames a little thicker than they should be, but I'm worried that if I go thinner they will be too fragile.  I used my little Proxxon scroll saw to cut out each of the pieces.  Most were pretty easy, but 'frame C' took three tries.
 

Once all the pieces were cut, I scored the bottom piece to simulate individual planks and marked the location of each frame.  I glued all the frames on using PVA, and glued the bow and stern in place using CA glue.  Even without the planking on the sides, it was already starting to look like a little boat.
 

I used a sheet of 1/64" thick birch that I had laying around for the planking.  I cut three strips for each side and installed them from the bottom up.  Each plank overlapped the lower one by a little bit as shown on the plans.  With pieces this small, I ended up getting glue everywhere, but since the whole thing is getting painted, I'm not too worried about it.
 

Next I added the other details, like the battens at the bow and stern and the thwart support for the seats.  Everything was primered and painted, then I installed the seats and a cap rail.  The plans call for the dories to be a cream or buff color, but I've seen a few other Bluenose builds that used a greenish-gray, and I liked the way that looked.  So I painted the outside with a greenish-gray color.  I went with tan for the inside, and painted the seats and cap rail white so they had some contrast.
 
I didn't do a very good job cutting and fitting the cap rail, so that is something I'll definitely have to rethink on the next one, and I'll probably go with thinner material for the next rail.   I also used material that was too thick for the seat support rails and seats.  I'll need to switch to a much thinner strip next time, and probably mount the seats a little lower (they ended up too close to the cap rail).  I also realized at the very end that I had forgotten the cleats.
 
I didn't bother adding the spray rail, thole pins, or oars as this was just a prototype.  By the time I got that far, I had proven this approach would work while also making enough little mistakes that I won't end up using this first dory.  So no point in 'finishing' it.
 


I dropped my prototype dory on the deck to see if the color choices work, and I'm pretty happy with how they work.  The dory stands out, but doesn't look out of place on the deck.  I also set the dory on the original plans and verified that the size turned out correct (always a concern when you're scanning in and manipulating plans - one small scaling problem and the size can end up off).

After the templates were designed and printed, building this dory took about 3 hours.  Since I need four of them (and this one was just a prototype that won't actually get used), that means I've got about 12 hours of dory-building ahead of me.  But I found this to be much more fun than building the ones provided by the kit, and I think they will look a better than the kit's dories once I sort out a few issues.
 
And now I've got a three day holiday weekend and my wife will be out of town, so I hope to get all four built in the next few days!
 

Well, it has been a long time.  I wish I could say I've made tons of progress, but it has been a crazy few months.
 
Back in January, I was on a roll.  After finishing the winch assembly, I jumped right into chain plates.  The Bluenose has 20 chain plates, so I decided to prepare them all at once.  I cut strips of brass and made a jig to help my get the holes drilled on my little Proxxon drill press.  
 

This worked really well, and very quickly I had 20 brass strips with decent looking holes and filed tips.
 

 
These were then painted black, and I started the process of installing them.  This required drilling some holes in the main rail and creating a 'slot', being careful to make sure I stayed on the outside of the bulwarks.  I attached the deadeyes (after staining them) using wire.  I got through all 10 on the quarter deck.
 

This all happened within a few days of my last post.  Before starting in on the chain plates for the fore deck, I decided to take a week off.  Then disaster struck.
 
We have a service that comes and cleans every other week.  For years, they have cleaned around my work bench.  This time, they decided to actually clean my work bench.  The remaining 10 chain plates were lost.  I'm guessing they got 'wiped' onto the floor and vacuumed up.  This was incredibly demotivating, and I decided to take another week or two off.
 
Fast forward a few weeks, and we were starting a remodel of our house.  This included all new floors (I've wanted to replace the carpet in my office/ship-building-room for a while so I stop losing tiny pieces in the carpet).  Since they needed to replace all the floors, I had to pack up my entire workbench for over a month.  The ship was carefully wrapped up to protect it from dust (our entire house was covered in dust for weeks), and stored in one of the 2 rooms that wasn't being touched - a bathroom.  It was a little unnerving to have my ship sitting in a bathtub for weeks, but it survived.  I decided to hold off on starting the build back up until ALL the remodeling was done in order to avoid issues with dust.  The whole process took about 2 months.
 
So finally, today, I have everything set back up.  The workbench is unpacked.  Power tools (mill, drill press, scroll saw) are back in my make-shift shop (a walk in closet in my office).  I'm ready to dive back in and re-make those 10 chain plates.
 
During this break, I crossed the 1 year mark on my build.  I thought I'd be further along by now, but I've kept detailed notes on my progress and I see where the time went.  Since future builders of the Bluenose may stumble across this build log, here's how the last year went:
 
Build started April 1, 2016. Framing (keel, rabbet, bulkheads, fairing, stern blocks) - 16 days. Planking the lower hull (up to the deck) - 28 days. Planking the bulwarks, scrapers, transom - 11 days. Planking the deck - 24 days. Cleaning up the hull (hawse pipes, mooring chocks, etc) - 6 days. Painting the hull - 68 days. Rails (main rail, buffalo rail, monkey board) - 34 days. Hull details (rudder, name plates, scroll work) - 41 days. Deck structures (cabins, hatches, companionways, etc) - 28 days. Aft deck details - 4 days Fore deck details - 4 days Machinery (engine box, countershaft, windlass, hoisting, etc) - 31 days  
The first big stall came with painting, which took over 2 months, mostly driven by waiting a week or so between coats.  The second big stall has been my chain plate disaster/remodel.  
 
So, here I am, 1 year into this build, ready to dive back in.  I have just a few things to knock out (chain plates, anchors, dories) before I start building the masts, which obviously leads to rigging.  My best guess right now is that I have 8-12 months left.
 
I'm excited to finally be able to work on the ship again, and I look forward to being able to post an actual update with progress!
 

Thanks for the encouragement everyone!  
 
I got the remaining 10 chain plates re-made today, and hope to get them installed over the next few days.  I think I can finish this build before the end of the year, then on to whatever is next.  I was chatting with my wife the other day, and explained that I'd love to build the 18th Century Longboat next (kit already in the closet), followed by the Syren (which would be my first ship with guns), then maybe the Constitution (which she loved - an excuse for a trip to the east coast), then maybe the Victory (also something she loved, an excuse for a trip to the UK).  After that...probably scratch builds?
 
Is it bad that I'm only 2/3 done with my 2nd build and I've got the next 5-10 years of ship builds planned out?

Ok...a very productive weekend!  I feel like I'm back in business and making good progress.
 
I rebuilt the chain plates that were lost a couple months ago, and got them installed, then moved on to the anchors.  I made some notes back when I built the catheads about how the anchors were going to be hung from the side of the ship.  I found a great drawing on page 399 of Chapelle's The American Fishing Schooners 1825-1935.  Those notes ended up driving how I set everything up.  I might have made some choices that are not actually correct, but the layout I ended up with made sense to me, so I ran with it.  (Of course, I know nothing about how ships actually worked...never learned anything about ships until I started building models.)
 
As many do, I left the starboard anchor disassembled and on the deck.  I cleaned up the cast metal anchor pieces and painted them black.  I made the tapered wood 'bars' from some 3/32" square stock and stained them to match the other wood on my ship.  I saw in the plans that sometimes the anchors were attached to chain, other times attached to rope, so I went with rope.  I'm using some of the rope from Syren Ship Model Company that I ordered a while back (I ordered a full set of replacement line for all the stuff provided in the kit).  Even though this anchor will be left disassembled on the deck, I added a little black rope to the 'bar' so it wouldn't look quite so bland.  A little bit of extra rope was left coiled up.
 

The port side will have the anchor hung from the rail.  I started by using some chain to secure the end of the anchor to the anchor pad.
 

Next, I made a chain/rope combination like I saw in the drawing I found.  This has a hook one end of the chain, with the other end of the chain secured to some rope.  The hook will go into the cathead.  The chain will loop through the ring on the anchor, then swing back up so the rope can go through the sheave on the cathead.  The rope will then be tied off on the belaying pin next to the cathead.
 

This was hooked in place, the used to secure the anchor to the cathead.  
 


I'll add a rope coil to that belaying pin later when I'm adding final details.  Obviously these little catheads don't have actual sheaves, so I just ran the rope over the end of the cathead.  
 
I ran the anchor's rope through the hawse pipe, wrapped it around the winch, and left a little extra rope coiled on the deck.
 

While I was at it, I went ahead and installed the chain box, and filled with some left over chain.
 

So, I'm now done with chain plates and anchors.  All I have left before masts are the dories, which should be fun - kind of like little mini-builds in themselves.  I'm excited to back at it, and looking forward to getting those dories going during the upcoming three-day weekend!
 

 
 
 

Work continues on my dories.  I've got one completely finished, and the other three are built, but need their rails, splash rails, etc. installed.
 
As a diversion, I've been looking into sourcing some barrels.  I've seen some builds that build a structure to hold barrels (which looks amazing), I've seen some that add barrels tied to the cabin, and some that don't use wooden barrels at all.  I'm not really wanting to build a structure with barrels, but I'd like to tie a few to the cabin.
 
I bought a few different sized wooden barrels from Model Expo, and they arrived today.  I think the size looks OK, but I'm not happy with the finish.  They are pretty dark, and I'd like something a little more 'raw' that I can stain to better match the colors on the ship.
 
So...a few questions for those Bluenose experts out there...
 
Do these barrels look about the right size?  Am I horribly out of scale?
 
Does anyone have a good source for wooden barrels that are unfinished, ready to be stained?
 

Work continues on my dories.  I've got one completely finished, and the other three are built, but need their rails, splash rails, etc. installed.
 
As a diversion, I've been looking into sourcing some barrels.  I've seen some builds that build a structure to hold barrels (which looks amazing), I've seen some that add barrels tied to the cabin, and some that don't use wooden barrels at all.  I'm not really wanting to build a structure with barrels, but I'd like to tie a few to the cabin.
 
I bought a few different sized wooden barrels from Model Expo, and they arrived today.  I think the size looks OK, but I'm not happy with the finish.  They are pretty dark, and I'd like something a little more 'raw' that I can stain to better match the colors on the ship.
 
So...a few questions for those Bluenose experts out there...
 
Do these barrels look about the right size?  Am I horribly out of scale?
 
Does anyone have a good source for wooden barrels that are unfinished, ready to be stained?
 

Ok...a very productive weekend!  I feel like I'm back in business and making good progress.
 
I rebuilt the chain plates that were lost a couple months ago, and got them installed, then moved on to the anchors.  I made some notes back when I built the catheads about how the anchors were going to be hung from the side of the ship.  I found a great drawing on page 399 of Chapelle's The American Fishing Schooners 1825-1935.  Those notes ended up driving how I set everything up.  I might have made some choices that are not actually correct, but the layout I ended up with made sense to me, so I ran with it.  (Of course, I know nothing about how ships actually worked...never learned anything about ships until I started building models.)
 
As many do, I left the starboard anchor disassembled and on the deck.  I cleaned up the cast metal anchor pieces and painted them black.  I made the tapered wood 'bars' from some 3/32" square stock and stained them to match the other wood on my ship.  I saw in the plans that sometimes the anchors were attached to chain, other times attached to rope, so I went with rope.  I'm using some of the rope from Syren Ship Model Company that I ordered a while back (I ordered a full set of replacement line for all the stuff provided in the kit).  Even though this anchor will be left disassembled on the deck, I added a little black rope to the 'bar' so it wouldn't look quite so bland.  A little bit of extra rope was left coiled up.
 

The port side will have the anchor hung from the rail.  I started by using some chain to secure the end of the anchor to the anchor pad.
 

Next, I made a chain/rope combination like I saw in the drawing I found.  This has a hook one end of the chain, with the other end of the chain secured to some rope.  The hook will go into the cathead.  The chain will loop through the ring on the anchor, then swing back up so the rope can go through the sheave on the cathead.  The rope will then be tied off on the belaying pin next to the cathead.
 

This was hooked in place, the used to secure the anchor to the cathead.  
 


I'll add a rope coil to that belaying pin later when I'm adding final details.  Obviously these little catheads don't have actual sheaves, so I just ran the rope over the end of the cathead.  
 
I ran the anchor's rope through the hawse pipe, wrapped it around the winch, and left a little extra rope coiled on the deck.
 

While I was at it, I went ahead and installed the chain box, and filled with some left over chain.
 

So, I'm now done with chain plates and anchors.  All I have left before masts are the dories, which should be fun - kind of like little mini-builds in themselves.  I'm excited to back at it, and looking forward to getting those dories going during the upcoming three-day weekend!
 

 
 
 

The winch machinery is complete, which finishes up all the stuff that is permanently mounted to the deck.
 
The jumbo jib boom crutch was built from the kit's laser cut parts and some wood strips.
 

 
I ended up having to add some CA glue to the joints at the top - they were flexing too much with just PVA glue alone and I was concerned they would break during painting.  Some wood filler was used to clean up the joints between the posts and the knees.
 
As I did with the windlass, I decided to break with historical accuracy a bit on the colors and finishes.  I'm making the mounting brackets and handles brass so they stand out a bit, and I'm going to paint the end caps on either end of the winch's main bar white to match the ones on the windlass.  I think all of these would have likely been black metal on the ship, but making them look a little different will make the details stand out more on the model.
 
The kit ships most of the parts for the winch already assembled on a metal rod.  I completely disassembled these so I could paint things separately.  
 

 
I started by gluing the mounting brackets in place.  I used a scrap piece of brass rod to ensure they were properly aligned during installation.
 

 
Then I installed the winch's bar.  I reattached one of the end caps, then slid the bar through one of the brackets.  Next I slid the larger and smaller gears on, then slid the bar through the other mounting bracket, trimmed it to the right length, and installed the other end cap.  Finally I glued on the clutch assembly below the main gear.  The winch's metal rod was left unpainted during installation since sliding on those pieces would have stripped the paint anyway.
 

 
With everything in place, I finished up painting and installed the pawls and control bar.  I kept the bar simple.  The plans show multiple pieces, but I made it out of one piece of brass rod that was bent around the rod.  The end caps were painted white except for their gears, which were painted black so they would stand out.  The mounting plates for the pawls were painted white simply because I felt they stood out too much when painted black like the pawls themselves.  The whole thing was then glued to the deck.
 

 
The control bar was added to the top of the engine box.  Again I used a brass rod so it would stand out.  I didn't plan ahead well enough, and there was nothing but empty space inside that hole on the engine box, so I didn't have anything to seat the bar into.  Instead I simply glued the bar to the side of the engine box hole.
 

 
The final step was to connect the winch to the counter shaft assembly.  The plans suggest doing this with some thread, but I wanted to use an actual chain.  My wife owns a jewelry business, so she was kind enough to give me a few inches of very tiny scrap chain.  I felt a little bad because the chain is actual silver and I immediately dunked it in black paint.  I'll consider it a sacrifice to the model ship building gods.
 
Installing the chain was a mess.  I'm not thrilled with the results.  If I had it to do over again, I would have built the chain back when I made the windlass, and glued the chain around the counter shaft's gear before it was mounted to the deck.  Trying to get the chain wrapped around that properly, and getting glue applied, was a real challenge once everything was fixed on the deck.
 
Overall, I'm content with this batch of work, but I don't think it turned out as well as some of the the other pieces on the deck.
 

 

 
This completes my 'machinery' phase, and finishes up the stuff that is permanently mounted to the deck.  I still need to do the anchors and dories, but since those are 'portable' on the actual ship I'm treating them as a separate project.
 
First I plan to make and install the chain plates since I think putting those in after the dories are installed will be trickier.

Despite the holidays being a surprisingly busy time, I've been able to get a good bit of work done.
 
As mentioned in my previous post, I made my own gears for the counter shaft assembly by milling down a 1/4" aluminum rod.  This was completely unnecessary, as I could have just drilled some holes through the kit-provided gears to overcome the broken piece, but I really wanted to play with the new mill.  In the end all my work won't really be visible, but it was fun to do.
 
With the gears made, I was able to assemble the counter shaft.  Since the holes in my gears were larger than those in the stands (I couldn't find a smaller bit that would drill into the aluminum), I mounted the gears onto a brass tube, then slide that tube over some thin brass rod that fits the holes in the stands.
 

 
With that out of the way, I finished up the chain box.  The plans don't show this on the deck, but there is a detailed drawing of the box included in the plans with a note that it goes 'just aft of the engine box.'  I went ahead and built it, but I'll wait to glue it down until I start running the chain later in the build.  The exact positioning of this will depend on how I lay the chain.
 

 
Now I come to the windlass.  When I first started looking at build logs for the Bluenose, even before I bought the kit, the windlass was intimidating.  It was actually pretty easy...it just has a lot of little pieces.
 
I started by cleaning up the cast metal barrel provided with the kit.  I painted the whole barrel black (I'll scrape off paint as necessary to glue things on).  I know that much of the windlass was actually wood, but I've never liked the look of wood-colored paint, so I'm just going with black.  
 
One end of the barrel got some brass strips glued on.  This whole end will be painted black.
 

 
The other end requires more work.  After staring at the plans for a while, and reviewing other build logs, I still wasn't sure exactly how this end was constructed.  Finally I found a photo on the Nova Scotia Archives website that had a good view of the windlass.  I based my approach off that, but a little simplified since I'm limited by what I can do at this scale.
 
I glued on some 3/32" square strips, and added some shaped pieces to make the whelps.
 

 
Then I filled in the spaces at either end with tiny pieces of wood.  This was a lot of trial-and-error.  I didn't try to get the pieces to fit perfectly flush - I'll sand everything down later.
 

 
Once all the wood was firmly in place, I added some wood filler in the joints and sanded everything down.  Then I stained the wood to match the other wood on my above-deck structures.
 

 
The stands were made from the provided laser-cut pieces and glued together.  This let me finish up the counter shaft assembly and get the gears positioned.
 

 
The brake beam was glued onto the bowsprit bits, and the two quadrants were glued onto the barrel.  With all this in place, I positioned the windlass and glued it onto the deck.
 

 
The pawl as installed, and I added the brass rods from the brake beam to the quadrants.  The counter shaft assembly was then glued in place.
 
Finally, I noticed the detailed drawings in the plans referenced a metal shield over the gears.  I shaped this from some brass strip and glued it in place over the gears.  Since I'm leaving lots of natural brass in other places on the ship, I decided to leave this piece unpainted.  I'm sure it was black on the ship, but I like the contrast that a bit of brass gives here.  I don't want all the machinery to look like a big blob of black painted stuff.
 

 
So I'm done with the windlass.  It only took about a day (aside from the counter shaft, which took a couple weeks due to the custom gears).  Next up will be the winch machinery.