gjdale

Thanks Per - I've just used some enamel Floquil Engine Black on the horse and it has come up nicely. I will likely do the same with the other metal parts. Thanks Bob. Heat shrink tubing is used in electronics. Basically it is oversized rubber(?) tubing that is meant to slide onto electrical wires prior to soldering and then slide down over the solder joint. Heat is then applied (I just used a heat gun, but any heat source will do) and as the tubing heats up it shrinks down over the joint. It comes in a variety of sizes and even in tape form. I think I pinched this idea from Blue Ensign originally - very useful where any metal band is called for. I suspect it can be further enhanced by the application of some weathering powder too.

Progress has been slow but steady of late. I completed shaping and painting the Mast and Spars. Rather than using tape for the mast bands, I used some heat shrink tubing, which seems to have worked quite well. Eyebolts and hooks were made up as appropriate and inserted. Here they are sort of in place: I then made up a bunch of hooks and thimbles for the hooked blocks. I tried several ways of doing the thimbles, but in the end just cut some 2mm copper tubing in thin slices. I was unable to achieve the nice flare that Chuck did, but in final use I don’t think it’s noticeable. I wasn’t happy with my first attempt at making the hooks, so in the end remade them from brass rod and blackened them. The blocks were stopped with the provided 0.025” line and seized with 3/0 fly tying thread. Here are the final versions of the hooked blocks: I’ve also made up the hooked deadeyes and their straps for the shrouds. I’m not altogether happy with the blackening of these parts and may end up painting them instead. I’ll do the same with the horse before starting to rig the various lines.

Nice save Mobbsie. That central plank I believe is called the King Plank. Still not clear why you left it off though - do you have a cunning plan?

Congratulations Chris on this bold move and I wish you every success. The one down side of working for yourself is that you now have a slave driver for a boss! Great to hear of your wife’s recovery too. Perhaps she can put in a good word for you and negotiate some time off every now and then!

Aha! The elusive build log has appeared at last. 😉😁 Well done mate - despite the many challenges that this kit seems to have thrown at you already, I know that this will become another “Mobbsie Special” and will look spectacular when finished. Great to see you up and running again my friend.

Time for an update of sorts. Looking at my last log entry, I noted there would be slight pause while I attended to a project for a friend. That was the building of a Garden Bench / Picnic Table. It was almost immediately followed by another furniture project for home (a Hall Table), some Box-making (for charity) and then another furniture project for home, this time a Japanese-style Garden Bench to go in our newly re-modelled back yard. And suddenly, five months had passed… Finally, this weekend I made a start on the mast and yards. There is not much to say about this as the process has been so well documented in the build logs of others. I followed Chuck’s advice and used his templates to take the square stock to octagonal shape first. Rather than trying to use a ruler to draw the lines, I set a drawing compass to the width on the templates and just ran that along both edges on all four sides. Before doing any shaping, I drilled all of the sheave holes while the stock was still in square section. Then I set the piece in the jig shown in the middle ground of the photo below and used a block plane to bring the pieces down to size. The jig is just a piece of MDF with a 90-degree “V” groove cut into it and a stop at one end. Two different sized grooves cater for differing stock thicknesses. The planing goes quite quickly and easily. The octagonal shapes were then mounted in the lathe and rounded off with sandpaper, applying the various tapers by reference to the plans and checking regularly with the digital callipers. The only oops I had was when I tried to get too smart with the main mast and used a cutting tool on it. Bad idea! I managed to break the mast in two. Not having a stock of Alaskan Yellow Cedar ready to hand as a replacement, I decided to use a piece of Rock Maple cut from a 12mm thick board that I had in my timber stash. This worked well and the colour is a reasonable match. After a relaxing afternoon at the lathe, I had a complete set of mast/spars ready for the next step.

Great to see you up and running Joe. I’m sure you are going to be kept extremely busy in your new venture - a nice problem to have! Best wishes for every success.

John, No problem. Just PM with your email address and I’ll send you a copy.

A great project for you Sjors - we will expect to see your accumulated skills and experience being brought to bear on this one! I look forward to following along.

Hey my old friend - what a pleasure to see you back posting again! It’s been far too long. I have to agree with what others have said about Chris Watton’s offerings. He really seems to have filled a hole in the market and is delivering what he promises without too much of a delay, despite being a one-man operation. Sphinx does look to be a beauty and it looks like it should be ready by the time you’ve finished Beagle. The added bonus for you is that he’s in the UK, so you won’t have to contend with horrendous shipping fees. I look forward to following your logs again and enjoying your company here. Welcome Home!

It might be a lot of extra work Kevin, but it’s worth it - that is looking really good!

Could you use the slitting saw blade in the mill, with the head rotated 90-degrees? I have used this type of set-up before, albeit for an entirely different purpose.

Nicely done Kevin.

Congratulations on completing a fine build. It has been a pleasure to follow your progress.

That looks excellent Andrew!

Looking great Kevin. I bet you’re glad you decided to resurrect her!

Don’t know how I missed this one, but I’m pulling up a seat now. What a marvellous tutorial this will be. Such a privilege to watch a real master at work and to be able to read your explanations of both the “how” and the “why” of everything you are doing here. Thank you for sharing with us.

Kevin, The brass will tarnish over time (I’m sure you remember polishing lots of it in your early Naval career!). If you don’t want to polish it now that it is in place, a coat of clear finish will prevent it from tarnishing further as it will seal it and prevent oxygen getting at it. You should be able to apply the clear coat with the brass in situ.

Perhaps before leaping in with this advice, you might do me the courtesy of a little more research. Here are two examples of actual cars with wooden dash panels. Whether they were “as built” or added later by subsequent owners I have no idea. But they do exist and I chose to make such a modification to my model. It is not for you to tell me otherwise.

I’m not familiar with this particular boat set-up but I imagine it would need something similar to my Dumas Chris Craft. For that, I use a 2.4GHz radio controller (which all the modern ones seem to be). I opted for a handset that is the same as that often used for RC cars - the “trigger” type. It is much easier to use with a simpler learning curve than the “two stick” types. These also have a third channel, which I used to control the lighting (navigation and cockpit lights). The other thing I did was to use LiPo batteries in the boat - lighter and greater endurance. Lou is right in that your local RC hobby shop should be able to give you good advice, even if they specialise only in cars and planes. Lou also mentioned a speed controller - often referred to as an ESC (Electronic Speed Controller). Again, your local RC place can advise.

Very nicely done Dave!

Looking great Chris!

Looking good Andrew. Seems that the cat scan was all clear too! 😉

Congratulations on your purchase Ron, you will not be disappointed! "Quality is remembered long after price is forgotten"

Welcome back Stuart. Nice to see you back at the bench and bringing this beauty along.