genericDave

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.

Ingenious bit of modeling. The finished product looks good. Nice work.
 
Russ

Dave,
I like how you give the windlass some character with the natural wood and the brass guard. Well done!
 
Dave B

That windlass turned out very nice. I like the natural brass over the gears.

Welcome back!  I'm glad to see another Model Shipways Bluenose log come back to life!  I've been going through some withdrawal since Jerry finished his.
 
I noticed you're also building the Fair American, and you have the 18th Century Longboat in the wings.  I promise I didn't intentionally copy you, but I'm about halfway done with my Bluenose, I've got the Fair American kit on the shelf, and I received the 18th Century Longboat kit for Christmas.  So, I'll be pretty glued to your build logs for while!

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.
 

 

This last week has been spent playing around with new toys to try and overcome a problem.
 
I recently started work on the windlass and machinery.  The first piece I worked on was the countershaft assembly.  My very first step was to clean up the metal casting provided by the kit.  This piece is basically a rod with two gears on it.
 
Naturally, I broke this piece while working with it.  I snapped the rod.
 

 
I cut the gears loose from the rod, and I am holding on to those as a safety net - I can always drill holes through them and slide them onto my own brass rod.
 
But...I just got a new Proxxon MF70 mill and I've been looking for things to try and make with it.  I decided to take a stab at making replacement gears using the mill.
 
The larger gear is 1/4" in diameter, so I started with a 1/4" diameter aluminum rod.  I used a 3mm bit on the mill to do most of the work, and a 1mm bit to cut the 'teeth'.  I used my drill press to drill a hole through the center.  The rotary vise for the Proxxon made cutting the teeth pretty easy once I figured out the # of degrees between cuts.
 
It took 4 tries, mostly because I was still learning how to use the mill, but I did manage to make a usable piece.  It isn't perfect, and the teeth are different than the kit-provided piece, but I think it actually looks cleaner and more precise than the cast piece.  Once this is painted, I think it will look fine!
 
I was very happy with the level of precision on the Proxxon.  It cut through the aluminum easily.  I'm sure it might have a tougher time if I were doing something larger (and the Proxxon is very much for model work, not larger-scale machining like you'd do with a bigger mill).  All the milling was done manually (turning dials) since I'm still waiting on the motor mounts for my CNC conversion.  (Although I have gotten all the electronics working and the control software halfway written).
 
Anyway, I haven't actually made any progress on the ship, but I've managed to make a gear, and I've very happy with that accomplishment for the week!
 

 

 

 
 

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.
 

 

Thanks Russ!
 
Over the last week or so, I've gotten the bowsprit bitts/samson post and the engine box completed.
 
The bowsprit bitts and samson post were pretty straight forward as the kit provides the key piece as a laser-cut item.  
 

 
The whole thing went together pretty quickly.
 

 

 
The engine box gave me a bit more trouble.  My first attempt was fine until I got it painted, then I notices a few too many imperfections in the wood.  I tried to fix them with some filler and repaint, but wasn't happy with the results.  The second attempt failed during assembly - I wasn't able to get it square enough.
 
My third attempt was successful.  This time I made a much more rigid internal frame for the box, then used 1/16" sheet material for the 'walls'.  The lift out door on the side was simulated by cutting one of the side panels halfway through (so it remained one piece, but looks like two).
 

 
The smaller part of the box was built similarly, but I left some open space on the inside frame since this piece has three holes in the walls.
 

 
The holes were made by drilling holes then using needle files to square them off.  They aren't perfect, but it is what I was able to do with the tools on hand.
 

 
The entire thing was primered and airbrushed white.
 
I decided to try and simulate the hinges on the top.  I used some thin brass strip I had on hand and some thin brass rod.  These were soldered together.
 

 
Once soldered, the three pieces were cut apart and each piece was cleaned up.  I filed away a lot of the solder (I always make a mess when soldering), and trimmed the brass strips to be shorter and tapered.  I touched them up a bit with some brass paint to make the color a little more consistent.  They were then glued on to the roof of the engine box.
 
I also simulated a small handle/latch using some thin brass wire that came with the kit.
 

 
I noticed after I glued it on the deck that despite all my attempt to double-check things, I managed to screw something up.  I glued the smaller portion of the engine box so it lined up with the outboard edge of the larger box.  It should have been even with the inboard edge.  I don't think anyone would notice this once the ship is done (except for me or another Bluenose builder).  So, rather than rip it off and risk damaging the deck, I'm going to leave it.
 
Fortunately when I was positioning it, I was using the inboard hole on the smaller box and the samson post as reference points, since the windlass/machinery touches both of those.  So really, the small box is in the right place and the larger box (which nothing else connects to) is just out of position by a small amount.
 

 

 
I don't think there is anything else I can work on to procrastinate - I've got to start in on the windlass and machinery.  It shouldn't be difficult, and it will be similar in process to a lot the work I did on some Model Airways WWI aircraft a few years ago (which use a lot of cast pieces to build up the engine).  My fear is that there is a lot of potential for detail with this stuff, and my ability to toss stuff and start over will be limited by the use of cast metal pieces.

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.
 

 

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.
 

 

This last week has been spent playing around with new toys to try and overcome a problem.
 
I recently started work on the windlass and machinery.  The first piece I worked on was the countershaft assembly.  My very first step was to clean up the metal casting provided by the kit.  This piece is basically a rod with two gears on it.
 
Naturally, I broke this piece while working with it.  I snapped the rod.
 

 
I cut the gears loose from the rod, and I am holding on to those as a safety net - I can always drill holes through them and slide them onto my own brass rod.
 
But...I just got a new Proxxon MF70 mill and I've been looking for things to try and make with it.  I decided to take a stab at making replacement gears using the mill.
 
The larger gear is 1/4" in diameter, so I started with a 1/4" diameter aluminum rod.  I used a 3mm bit on the mill to do most of the work, and a 1mm bit to cut the 'teeth'.  I used my drill press to drill a hole through the center.  The rotary vise for the Proxxon made cutting the teeth pretty easy once I figured out the # of degrees between cuts.
 
It took 4 tries, mostly because I was still learning how to use the mill, but I did manage to make a usable piece.  It isn't perfect, and the teeth are different than the kit-provided piece, but I think it actually looks cleaner and more precise than the cast piece.  Once this is painted, I think it will look fine!
 
I was very happy with the level of precision on the Proxxon.  It cut through the aluminum easily.  I'm sure it might have a tougher time if I were doing something larger (and the Proxxon is very much for model work, not larger-scale machining like you'd do with a bigger mill).  All the milling was done manually (turning dials) since I'm still waiting on the motor mounts for my CNC conversion.  (Although I have gotten all the electronics working and the control software halfway written).
 
Anyway, I haven't actually made any progress on the ship, but I've managed to make a gear, and I've very happy with that accomplishment for the week!
 

 

 

 
 

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.
 

 

Thanks Russ!
 
Over the last week or so, I've gotten the bowsprit bitts/samson post and the engine box completed.
 
The bowsprit bitts and samson post were pretty straight forward as the kit provides the key piece as a laser-cut item.  
 

 
The whole thing went together pretty quickly.
 

 

 
The engine box gave me a bit more trouble.  My first attempt was fine until I got it painted, then I notices a few too many imperfections in the wood.  I tried to fix them with some filler and repaint, but wasn't happy with the results.  The second attempt failed during assembly - I wasn't able to get it square enough.
 
My third attempt was successful.  This time I made a much more rigid internal frame for the box, then used 1/16" sheet material for the 'walls'.  The lift out door on the side was simulated by cutting one of the side panels halfway through (so it remained one piece, but looks like two).
 

 
The smaller part of the box was built similarly, but I left some open space on the inside frame since this piece has three holes in the walls.
 

 
The holes were made by drilling holes then using needle files to square them off.  They aren't perfect, but it is what I was able to do with the tools on hand.
 

 
The entire thing was primered and airbrushed white.
 
I decided to try and simulate the hinges on the top.  I used some thin brass strip I had on hand and some thin brass rod.  These were soldered together.
 

 
Once soldered, the three pieces were cut apart and each piece was cleaned up.  I filed away a lot of the solder (I always make a mess when soldering), and trimmed the brass strips to be shorter and tapered.  I touched them up a bit with some brass paint to make the color a little more consistent.  They were then glued on to the roof of the engine box.
 
I also simulated a small handle/latch using some thin brass wire that came with the kit.
 

 
I noticed after I glued it on the deck that despite all my attempt to double-check things, I managed to screw something up.  I glued the smaller portion of the engine box so it lined up with the outboard edge of the larger box.  It should have been even with the inboard edge.  I don't think anyone would notice this once the ship is done (except for me or another Bluenose builder).  So, rather than rip it off and risk damaging the deck, I'm going to leave it.
 
Fortunately when I was positioning it, I was using the inboard hole on the smaller box and the samson post as reference points, since the windlass/machinery touches both of those.  So really, the small box is in the right place and the larger box (which nothing else connects to) is just out of position by a small amount.
 

 

 
I don't think there is anything else I can work on to procrastinate - I've got to start in on the windlass and machinery.  It shouldn't be difficult, and it will be similar in process to a lot the work I did on some Model Airways WWI aircraft a few years ago (which use a lot of cast pieces to build up the engine).  My fear is that there is a lot of potential for detail with this stuff, and my ability to toss stuff and start over will be limited by the use of cast metal pieces.

Lots of random work over the last few days.  I've now got everything in on the deck except all the bowsprit stuff / windlass / machinery.  
 
The galley stack was pretty easy.  Just cleaned up the casting, removed the large 'pin' on the bottom and replaced with a thinner brass rod for mounting to the deck, painted it, and glued it in.
 

 
The 'jumbo jib sheet traveler horse' takes longer to say than it took to install.  Just some bent brass rod installed in front of the hole for the fore mast.
 

 
Then came the catheads.  I thought these would go quick, but they ended up taking a couple hours.  Part of the problem was that I couldn't find any good photos/information online that showed in detail how the anchor hangs from these, or how the ropes/chains are handled.  Lots of information about catheads in general, but nothing on the specific versions used on the Bluenose.  I did finally find a fantastic diagram on page 399 of Howard Chapell's 'The American Fishing Schooners 1825-1935'.  Once I understood how this would get hooked up, I decided to build them now but not glue them in.  I'll wait to secure them until I hang the anchors in case I need to make further alterations.
 
The cast metal pieces were cleaned up.  A hole was drilled in the fore side of each one, only halfway through the head, to hold the eyebolt that attaches to the bar.  Another hole was drilled all the way through the head from the top,  This second hole will be used to attach the chain.
 
The eyebolts that come with the kit are way too big for the catheads, so I made some simple ones out of some wire I had on hand and glued them in.
 

 
The plans show some sockets on the waterways that the base of the cathead sits in.  I decided to try and simulate these.  I cut a short length of a very small dowel rod and drilled a hole through it.  I rounded off the top, and used a razor saw to cut just a thin piece off the top.
 

 
This ended up making a fairly decent socket.  It doesn't have the detail shown in the plans, but I'm not yet at a point where I could pull off that detail on a piece so small.
 

 
The sockets were painted black and glued in after they dried, and while the paint was out the catheads themselves were also painted black.  Eyebolts were added to the rail for the bar, and the bar was fashioned from the thicker brass wire provided with the kit.  
 
Turned out pretty well.  These were fitted on the ship, then removed and put back in storage until later when I mount the anchors.
 

 

 
The anchor pads were cut from some 1/64" thick sheet wood I had handy.  These were pretty straightforward, just small and hard to sand.
 

 
One last step before starting in on the bowsprit bits / windlass / machinery is to get all the belaying pins and eyebolts installed.  I had originally planned to do this later, just before rigging, but I decided it would be easier to do now before the deck is completely full.
 
Installation of the pins and eyebolts was typical - mark locations, drill holes, glue in pieces.  I was very happy with the quality of the belaying pins in this kit.  39 belaying pins and 20 eyebolts.
 

 

 
Today I'm taking some time to touch up some paint on the bulwarks, and I'm pulling everything out of the workbench and doing a complete cleaning.  Hopefully I'll be diving into the deck stuff near the bow tomorrow!
 
 

Thanks Steve!
 
Tonight I was able to get the fife rail built.  This is my second attempt.  Over the weekend I built the fife rail using the laser-cut pieces provided by the kit, but I wasn't happy with the results.  The provided pieces are very thin, and I wasn't able to get them aligned well while gluing.  Things ended up being uneven, and the whole assembly felt flimsy.
 
So tonight I started from scratch.
 
I transferred the shapes for the rail and legs onto a 3/32" thick basswood sheet.
 

 
I cut these out using my Proxxon scroll saw.  (When I bought the scroll saw, I didn't realize how much I'd use it.  This small scroll saw has become the most-used power tool I own).  I made the legs and the posts out of single pieces to make the structure more rigid.
 

 
The bar across the top was cut by hand, and the holes for the posts were drilled out with a drill bit, then squared off with a needle file.  The slot for the boom crutch was cut with a #11 blade then cleaned up with a tiny needle file.
 

 
To make the 'fancy' legs, I stuck a length of square basswood strip into my little lathe.  I'm not very experienced at using a lathe, so as long as they turn out halfway decent, I'm happy.
 

 
Once the legs were done, I put some pins in the top using some short pieces of brass rod.  I drilled holes through the fife rail, and glued the legs in place.
 

 
The rest was assembled pretty easily.  Since I used slightly thicker material than the kit provided, the entire structure was much more rigid than the original fife rail.  This really helped when it came to sanding and painting.  I glued in some short pins in the bottoms of the legs - these will be used when I secure the fife rail to the deck.
 
For now, I'm leaving the fife rail loose.  I'm going to wait to permanently mount it until I start working on the masts.  I don't want to screw up and have the fife rail slightly mis-positioned and prevented the mast from being at the correct angle.
 

 

 
Overall I'm very satisfied with my new fife rail.  The material is a little thicker than the kit provides, so it is probably slightly out of scale, but I think the added stability is worth it.
 
I'm now done with the quarter deck, and moving on to the fore deck.

I feel like I've hit a 'fun' part of the build - lots of small projects that go pretty quickly.
 
I have been waiting to seal the deck with clear poly until I had the major deck structures ready.  Now that I've got them ready, I need to stop procrastinating and seal the deck.  Before gluing the structures down, I installed a number of eyebolts and rings on the stanchions inside the bulwarks.  These won't be used for a while, but I think it will be way easier to install these before the deck gets cluttered.
 

 
I've decided to leave the brass fittings as unfinished brass.  I know that these would likely have been black on the ship, but if I paint them, I know the paint will likely rub off during rigging.  I've tried using blackening solution with little success.  So, I'm just going to leave all these as natural brass.
 
With those in place, I marked the locations of all the deck structures and glued them down.  Then I applied some Minwax Wipe-On Poly to give the deck a clear finish.  I've been using a satin clear coat for everything so far, but I decided to go with gloss for the deck.  It is only a slight difference, but I like having a little bit of shine on the deck.
 
Once the poly was dry, I finished installing all the various eyebolts and rings for the hatches.
 

 
Next it was on to the assortment of other miscellaneous things that need to be installed on the deck.  I'm tackling the rest of the deck in three 'phases'.  First I'm going to get all the 'stuff' installed on the quarter deck.  After that, I'll tackle the fore deck, except for the windlass and machinery.  Finally, I'll build all that equipment up near the bow.
 
So, on the quarter deck...
 
First up were the battons.  I had no idea how to make these.  I ended up gluing a bunch of 1/32" strips together, then sanding them down to get close to the right size.
 

 

 

 
The 'slats' are a little larger than the plans call for, but I don't think they look awful.
 
Next I installed the boom sheet buffers.  These were cast metal pieces.  The pieces were cleaned up, painted, and installed.  The fore boom sheet buffer has a platform that gets made from some laser-cut pieces provided by the kit.  Since I'm leaving rings and eyebolts as brass on the ship, I painted the rings on the boom sheet buffers brass to match.
 

 

 
I made the main sheet lead block horse from some brass rod, bent to the right shape, and installed it just in front of the main boom sheet buffer at the stern.
 

 
The main boom crutch was assembled from the laser-cut piece and some strip wood. 
 

 
Next up were the quarter bitts.  I decided to use some brass rod for the 'arms' that extend out from the posts.  I'm not confident I could have made wood pieces look good at that size.  I glued some long pins to the bottom to use as handles during painting.  Once the painting was done, these pins were trimmed shorter and used to help secure the bitts to the deck.
 

 

 
I also installed the bilge pumps and stern chocks, which were all provided as cast metal pieces.
 

 

 
This completes the pieces on the quarter deck, with the notable exception of the fife rail.
 
I actually did build the fife rail, which was quite a project, but I'm not happy with it and will likely rebuild it with scratch-made pieces.  I knew the fife rail was going to be a challenge because I was missing one of the fancy 'legs' that the kit provides as cast metal pieces.  Rather than get a replacement, I decided to make my own using the little Proxxon lathe I've had sitting in the closet.  Surprisingly, they turned out great.  The problems with the fife rail came as I was trying to glue everything together.  The pieces were all so small and thin that it was difficult to get everything squared up.  What I ended up with is usable, but not as pretty as I'd like.  So I think I'm going to take a stab at making a new one from scratch.  If that fails, I can fall back to using the ugly one I made from kit parts.
 
Even though I hit a bit of a stall with the fife rail, I'm really happy with the recent progress.  The deck is looking more and more complete every day,
 

Companionway
 
Not super-exciting, but the companionway for the fore deck is finished.  Kinda surprising something so small required so much work.
 

 

Unidentified Object and Cabins
 
It would be great if I never had to work and could spend all my time on the build as I've done over the holiday weekend!
 
I was able to knock out the 'unidentified object' and the two hatches pretty quickly.
 
From the plans and old photos, the 'unidentified object' called for on the plans appears to be some kind of bin or storage container with a lid.  I had a dowel rod on hand that was the right size, so I used that to make the object.  I cut a piece of the rod to 5mm and rounded off the top.
 
To create the seam for the lid, I used a small saw blade and cut into the piece as I rotated it.  I used a piece of wood to keep the saw blade at a consistent height.
 

 
I decided to build both hatches at once since they are identical except for their size.  I had some wood strips that were the exact height of the sides, so I cut those to the right lengths for the sides of each hatch.  I glued in some shorter pieces to create a ledge for the lids.
 

 
The plans show the lids as solid pieces, two per hatch.  Since I've been planking and staining the roofs of the deck structures, I decided I wanted to plank the lids as well.  My first attempt was simple - I just cut some planks and filled in the lid.  I wasn't happy with the results.  It looked like a single planked piece, rather than two halves of a removable lid.  
 
I re-build the lids with a thin frame around the outside of each section.  This took a few tries to get a process that worked well.  I ended up building the entire lid for each hatch as a single piece, then cutting it in half and adding the inside frame sections.
 

 
Everything was then sanded and painted.
 

 
They ended up looking pretty good when placed on the deck.  I haven't added any of the hardware yet - I'm going to add all the eyebolts/rings on the deck structures in one pass after I get them built (but before they are glued in place on the deck).
 

 

 

 

 

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.
 

This last week has been spent playing around with new toys to try and overcome a problem.
 
I recently started work on the windlass and machinery.  The first piece I worked on was the countershaft assembly.  My very first step was to clean up the metal casting provided by the kit.  This piece is basically a rod with two gears on it.
 
Naturally, I broke this piece while working with it.  I snapped the rod.
 

 
I cut the gears loose from the rod, and I am holding on to those as a safety net - I can always drill holes through them and slide them onto my own brass rod.
 
But...I just got a new Proxxon MF70 mill and I've been looking for things to try and make with it.  I decided to take a stab at making replacement gears using the mill.
 
The larger gear is 1/4" in diameter, so I started with a 1/4" diameter aluminum rod.  I used a 3mm bit on the mill to do most of the work, and a 1mm bit to cut the 'teeth'.  I used my drill press to drill a hole through the center.  The rotary vise for the Proxxon made cutting the teeth pretty easy once I figured out the # of degrees between cuts.
 
It took 4 tries, mostly because I was still learning how to use the mill, but I did manage to make a usable piece.  It isn't perfect, and the teeth are different than the kit-provided piece, but I think it actually looks cleaner and more precise than the cast piece.  Once this is painted, I think it will look fine!
 
I was very happy with the level of precision on the Proxxon.  It cut through the aluminum easily.  I'm sure it might have a tougher time if I were doing something larger (and the Proxxon is very much for model work, not larger-scale machining like you'd do with a bigger mill).  All the milling was done manually (turning dials) since I'm still waiting on the motor mounts for my CNC conversion.  (Although I have gotten all the electronics working and the control software halfway written).
 
Anyway, I haven't actually made any progress on the ship, but I've managed to make a gear, and I've very happy with that accomplishment for the week!
 

 

 

 
 

Thanks Dave B and Jon!  Making my own gear was a little bit of overkill, but it was fun to get a 'real' project to try out on my new mill.  Now that the holiday is over, I'm hoping to get a chance to tackle the smaller gear in the next day or two, which should be a little more challenging!

Thanks Russ!
 
Over the last week or so, I've gotten the bowsprit bitts/samson post and the engine box completed.
 
The bowsprit bitts and samson post were pretty straight forward as the kit provides the key piece as a laser-cut item.  
 

 
The whole thing went together pretty quickly.
 

 

 
The engine box gave me a bit more trouble.  My first attempt was fine until I got it painted, then I notices a few too many imperfections in the wood.  I tried to fix them with some filler and repaint, but wasn't happy with the results.  The second attempt failed during assembly - I wasn't able to get it square enough.
 
My third attempt was successful.  This time I made a much more rigid internal frame for the box, then used 1/16" sheet material for the 'walls'.  The lift out door on the side was simulated by cutting one of the side panels halfway through (so it remained one piece, but looks like two).
 

 
The smaller part of the box was built similarly, but I left some open space on the inside frame since this piece has three holes in the walls.
 

 
The holes were made by drilling holes then using needle files to square them off.  They aren't perfect, but it is what I was able to do with the tools on hand.
 

 
The entire thing was primered and airbrushed white.
 
I decided to try and simulate the hinges on the top.  I used some thin brass strip I had on hand and some thin brass rod.  These were soldered together.
 

 
Once soldered, the three pieces were cut apart and each piece was cleaned up.  I filed away a lot of the solder (I always make a mess when soldering), and trimmed the brass strips to be shorter and tapered.  I touched them up a bit with some brass paint to make the color a little more consistent.  They were then glued on to the roof of the engine box.
 
I also simulated a small handle/latch using some thin brass wire that came with the kit.
 

 
I noticed after I glued it on the deck that despite all my attempt to double-check things, I managed to screw something up.  I glued the smaller portion of the engine box so it lined up with the outboard edge of the larger box.  It should have been even with the inboard edge.  I don't think anyone would notice this once the ship is done (except for me or another Bluenose builder).  So, rather than rip it off and risk damaging the deck, I'm going to leave it.
 
Fortunately when I was positioning it, I was using the inboard hole on the smaller box and the samson post as reference points, since the windlass/machinery touches both of those.  So really, the small box is in the right place and the larger box (which nothing else connects to) is just out of position by a small amount.
 

 

 
I don't think there is anything else I can work on to procrastinate - I've got to start in on the windlass and machinery.  It shouldn't be difficult, and it will be similar in process to a lot the work I did on some Model Airways WWI aircraft a few years ago (which use a lot of cast pieces to build up the engine).  My fear is that there is a lot of potential for detail with this stuff, and my ability to toss stuff and start over will be limited by the use of cast metal pieces.

Thanks Russ!
 
Over the last week or so, I've gotten the bowsprit bitts/samson post and the engine box completed.
 
The bowsprit bitts and samson post were pretty straight forward as the kit provides the key piece as a laser-cut item.  
 

 
The whole thing went together pretty quickly.
 

 

 
The engine box gave me a bit more trouble.  My first attempt was fine until I got it painted, then I notices a few too many imperfections in the wood.  I tried to fix them with some filler and repaint, but wasn't happy with the results.  The second attempt failed during assembly - I wasn't able to get it square enough.
 
My third attempt was successful.  This time I made a much more rigid internal frame for the box, then used 1/16" sheet material for the 'walls'.  The lift out door on the side was simulated by cutting one of the side panels halfway through (so it remained one piece, but looks like two).
 

 
The smaller part of the box was built similarly, but I left some open space on the inside frame since this piece has three holes in the walls.
 

 
The holes were made by drilling holes then using needle files to square them off.  They aren't perfect, but it is what I was able to do with the tools on hand.
 

 
The entire thing was primered and airbrushed white.
 
I decided to try and simulate the hinges on the top.  I used some thin brass strip I had on hand and some thin brass rod.  These were soldered together.
 

 
Once soldered, the three pieces were cut apart and each piece was cleaned up.  I filed away a lot of the solder (I always make a mess when soldering), and trimmed the brass strips to be shorter and tapered.  I touched them up a bit with some brass paint to make the color a little more consistent.  They were then glued on to the roof of the engine box.
 
I also simulated a small handle/latch using some thin brass wire that came with the kit.
 

 
I noticed after I glued it on the deck that despite all my attempt to double-check things, I managed to screw something up.  I glued the smaller portion of the engine box so it lined up with the outboard edge of the larger box.  It should have been even with the inboard edge.  I don't think anyone would notice this once the ship is done (except for me or another Bluenose builder).  So, rather than rip it off and risk damaging the deck, I'm going to leave it.
 
Fortunately when I was positioning it, I was using the inboard hole on the smaller box and the samson post as reference points, since the windlass/machinery touches both of those.  So really, the small box is in the right place and the larger box (which nothing else connects to) is just out of position by a small amount.
 

 

 
I don't think there is anything else I can work on to procrastinate - I've got to start in on the windlass and machinery.  It shouldn't be difficult, and it will be similar in process to a lot the work I did on some Model Airways WWI aircraft a few years ago (which use a lot of cast pieces to build up the engine).  My fear is that there is a lot of potential for detail with this stuff, and my ability to toss stuff and start over will be limited by the use of cast metal pieces.

This last week has been spent playing around with new toys to try and overcome a problem.
 
I recently started work on the windlass and machinery.  The first piece I worked on was the countershaft assembly.  My very first step was to clean up the metal casting provided by the kit.  This piece is basically a rod with two gears on it.
 
Naturally, I broke this piece while working with it.  I snapped the rod.
 

 
I cut the gears loose from the rod, and I am holding on to those as a safety net - I can always drill holes through them and slide them onto my own brass rod.
 
But...I just got a new Proxxon MF70 mill and I've been looking for things to try and make with it.  I decided to take a stab at making replacement gears using the mill.
 
The larger gear is 1/4" in diameter, so I started with a 1/4" diameter aluminum rod.  I used a 3mm bit on the mill to do most of the work, and a 1mm bit to cut the 'teeth'.  I used my drill press to drill a hole through the center.  The rotary vise for the Proxxon made cutting the teeth pretty easy once I figured out the # of degrees between cuts.
 
It took 4 tries, mostly because I was still learning how to use the mill, but I did manage to make a usable piece.  It isn't perfect, and the teeth are different than the kit-provided piece, but I think it actually looks cleaner and more precise than the cast piece.  Once this is painted, I think it will look fine!
 
I was very happy with the level of precision on the Proxxon.  It cut through the aluminum easily.  I'm sure it might have a tougher time if I were doing something larger (and the Proxxon is very much for model work, not larger-scale machining like you'd do with a bigger mill).  All the milling was done manually (turning dials) since I'm still waiting on the motor mounts for my CNC conversion.  (Although I have gotten all the electronics working and the control software halfway written).
 
Anyway, I haven't actually made any progress on the ship, but I've managed to make a gear, and I've very happy with that accomplishment for the week!