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mikiek

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  1. mikiek
    The bad news is - the embroidery shop I thought might do the hemming for the sail does stuff like logos on shirts, etc. I was thinking more like needlepoint. They won't touch the sail. One very good idea came out of our discussion. Rather than trying to keep the wire inside the folded hem as you sew, they said sew first. Leave an opening at the end so you can slide the wire into the completed hem. That made sense and was enough to make me try it myself. The catch - you really have to sew the hem, adhesives won't work. So I'm off doing that. It's painfully slow, I was at it for about 10 minutes and did about 2". I don't seem to be able to go much longer without a break, or I start seeing double. I'm using a course all linen white thread. On the next side, I may go thinner so it's not as visible. I'm beginning to think the sail is going to need a splotchy dye job. As pretty as it is, it's a little too sterile for my liking. The white thread should pick up the dye and hopefully blend in better. No pix yet......
  2. mikiek
    Have at it Tom. Where it really saved me was with all the cleats and stops on the spars. Left in a pile those were always breaking off.
  3. mikiek
    Tom - as you begin your collection of spars you will need somewhere to put them. Also a place to work on them as you start to rig them, add the tops, etc. I used a 1"x6" maybe 15" - 18" long. Drill holes in it, about the diameter of the various spars. This was the first one, the second one included holes for the bowsprit and all the yards.
  4. mikiek
    This hull has very graceful lines Zoran. A beautiful boat.
  5. mikiek
    That helped a lot. Thank you Zoran. That gives me something more to do on the sail. I'll see if I can whip the ends of the ropes I'm curious where your illustrations came from? The style reminds me of drawings in Darcy Lever's book Young Sea Officers Sheet Anchor - one of the best around for square riggers.
  6. mikiek
    Mark - I have found that often when my epoxy doesn't dry well it's because I didn't mix it well. The guy that taught me to use epoxy would stir for at least a minute before using. The same guy would hold the container over a light bulb while stirring. He used orange juice containers cut in half. The ones with the metal bottoms. As Sam mentions heating it will speed up drying, Will just heats it before using instead of after. Of course you can't fool around much, you have to spread it quickly. FWIW The build is coming along very well.
  7. mikiek
    So Zoran - do you make the first fold and sew that, then the second fold and sew that? Or is it fold, fold and then sew? Also on the sail, I don't know if there is another name - I call them tell-tales. The ropes lined up diagonally through the middle of the sail and hanging down. Is that a single rope that you pull through the sail so it hangs down on each side? Or two different ropes - one on each side? And did you tell me you do the sewing by hand?
  8. mikiek
    Thank you Brian - I think it will all be even less obvious once I put the sail on. It all ties on to the yard so there will be lots more rope around the yard to distract from the windings. And like I said, I won't have to worry about the yard drooping over time. It will not bend at that joint. The sad thing is I'm kinda done with this build until I can get the sail hemmed. There's an embroidery shop down the road a way. I'm going to see if they can do it.
  9. mikiek
    They probably know better than I. I've always had the notion that you seal for staining and prime for painting.
  10. mikiek
    OK - I have beefed up the yard. I'm kicking myself because I forgot to take pix. What I did was take 1/16" square stick and cut 4 pieces and 3/4" long. Then I glued them longways over the joint. After that dried I sanded them down quite a bit, removing maybe 2/3 of the material. Then I took some rope and wound that over the sticks. Finally some watered down white glue was painted over the rope. I didn't get the yard perfectly straight, there's a little crook in it but you would have to look for it to see it. One thing for sure, it's not gonna bend at the joint anymore. I plan to put a few more windings on the yard to balance the look.
  11. mikiek
    Hey Brian - I learned on the restore project I did. I had to make sails for that. I just glued the hems - looked OK but not great. The absolutely cool thing was putting the wire into the hems. You can make any type of sail into any shape you want. I was totally impressed with that technique and will use it on any build that I do sails. I hope paying for someone to do it doesn't end up costing too much. This was too nice of a sail to glue it, and my feeble attempts at hemming would certainly not add anything.
  12. mikiek
    Ron - if you are going to paint it, why the sealer? Just prime & paint. She looks ready for some makeup.
  13. mikiek
    Hey everyone. I have a couple of sail questions. Will ask @MarisStella.hr but feel free to chime in. I have pretty much decided to have someone that knows what they are doing hem the sails properly. I'll be paying someone so I want to make sure I have it right so I can tell them. First off I'm wondering about the outside stitching shown in the pic. Is it supposed to stop there? Why would it not continue over to the corner? So does the edge fold over twice? The first time over the wire and then one more after that? Hope that made sense.
  14. mikiek
    Nothing more nerve wracking than drilling a "simple hole" in the side of your boat
  15. mikiek
    Without changing the length of the entire piece too much I think the last option makes the most sense. I should have used something besides a straight pin - was considering 2 pins but the dowel is not that thick and I was not sure I could drill 2 without splintering the end, Adding a "splint" of sorts and covering it with rope should work. A few more coils evenly spaced over the yard would probably not look too odd. I think that's the ticket. Thanks Don!
  16. mikiek
    All good ideas Brian. Hadn't thought of brass but did consider coiling some rope around the joint for maybe an inch. Then soaking the rope in some water glue mixture. I even briefly considered lashing the 2 pieces side to side. Nothing is really striking me as the way to go.
  17. mikiek
    Standing rigging is finished I've put together the yard - 2 dowels that had to be pinned together at the ends. I'm concerned over this. When I pick it up it sags at the joint. I'm trying to think of some way to beef it up. I'm also trying to make a plan for the sail. It is supposed to have wire at the edges, the edge is folded over the wire and you are supposed to sew it shut. Probably easy enough if I sewed, but I don't. To make it a little worse, the sail has some hems around the edges already. This was beautifully done by Marisstella. So any rookie attempt at another hem is going to really stick out. I've used fabric adhesives before but as Don reminded me, they have a tendency to spot & stain. Which leads me to another topic. The last project I did with the adhesive I didn't care about spots or stains. I was using brand new material and I WANTED spots & stains for the weathered look. The sail with Trajta is so well done I feel guilty trying to dirty it up. Not sure I want to. So using adhesive and risking spots could be problematic. Hhmmmm.
  18. mikiek
    Looking good Tom. The only suggestion I would make is to start tapering the ends. If you don't get on that soon, you will get a serious lesson on stealers & spiling towards the finish. One version of your saying - Treat every plank as it's own project.
  19. mikiek
    Man I feel dumb now. I see it perfectly after you described it. I guess it is time to make the GIANT yard.
  20. mikiek
    That's probably the best idea Simon. I use boxwood extensively - often times replacing the entire materials list with it. As I am sure you are seeing it is a fabulous material for modeling. The one thing I have found is that it takes stains differently than other woods. For instance, my "go to" stains for basswood (Minwax Golden Oak) look terrible on boxwood. My message is, whatever you do, try it on scrap first and give it at least 24 hours to sink in and dry. I am working on the Marisstella Trajta kit. One suggestion there is to use a mixture of 60/40 linseed oil and thinner. Apply and wipe off soon after. This build is the first time I have tried that and I really like the results. IMO on many woods it looks better than staining. It darkens boxwood just a little. You can still use varnish or some type of finish over it. Just a thought. Oh, I was wondering after the initial programming how log did it take the CNC to produce your stern emblem?
  21. mikiek
    Well there's no going back now. Blue is on both sides of the boat - I'm committed. I'm still not overwhelmed but I can't complain either. Final hull shots: I've started slinging string also. Rigging isn't overly complex although there is a sail to mess with on this build. I'm stumped on one item though. There's a block (the only block in the kit) that hangs down from the masthead, almost like pendant. Looking at both the plans and photos in the manual - I cannot follow the string from the block down and see where they go. So @donrobinson or @MarisStella.hr when you see this let me know please.
  22. mikiek
    Simon - will you be painting that piece? Or painting it with more than one color?
  23. mikiek
    OK Master Zoran - this one is for you, my old friend. I think the color in the photos is a reasonable rendition of the real thing. Maybe a little washed out but not much. Since I mixed this color I have to give it a name. I think it will be Almost Baby Blue. That goes along nicely with my Dijon Yellow, Evil Black and Chili Red. I did give myself a back door on this. If you notice, only the port side is painted. I imagine I'll do the other side when the green paint arrives. You can see one spot where I when past the masking tape and tried to cover up with what is left of the J.A. Green. It doesn't match anymore. More paint should be here tomorrow. So there you have it.
  24. mikiek
    In a couple of pictures in the manual it looks like the shrouds are served up near the mast head.
  25. mikiek
    Perfect Zoran! - That half blue boat looks a lot better than I thought. Light blue it will be. On another note. I began the mast today. I was looking at the rigging and could not tell if the shroud was one rope that went up to the mast, looped around and came back down. Or is it 2 ropes that go up and tie off on the mast? It's also difficult to follow the rope that runs up the mast into the block.

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