Brucealanevans

Well, it's been awhile. Had an unfortunate accident in the shipyard (misplaced high velocity elbow) and crunched all the stanchions on one side, along with the rails and planksheer. Put the mess aside for a while until replacement parts and patience returned. I have now repaired the damage and planked the works above the first wale to give everything more rigidity. Now ready to start the hull planking bands. It looks OK - some variation in fit. I'm always hoping the next build will be perfect. Not yet.

Glyn: I've had it upside down for some bulkhead faring. I also needed to know it would work in that position before building the hull superstructure since otherwise the top of the hull would have to rest directly on the working surface for planking and those structures would't last 2 minutes. In this keel clamp the clamps can turn 90 degrees, so as long as there is space between the bulkheads and the midline structure (keelboard in this case) comes up to or near deck level the model can be securely clamped in the upside down position for planking. I have fastened it to the work surface with 4 screws so it's rock solid, but can be rotated to almost any position and then locked securely. This keel clamp is one of the most indespensible pieces of equipment I have! 4 stars. Bruce

So I've started on a Charles W Morgan build, although somewhat intimidated by the speed and or quality of the currently documented construction projects for this ship. This model is a stretch for me, given the amount of scratch building involved and the somewhat cryptic instructions of this older MS kit. I got interested after building the New Bedford Whaleboat, and added this kit to my "to do" stack. Having finished Picket Boat #1 to my satisfaction, decided to defer the Phildelphia Gunboat and take on a more complicated project. I'm not retired (yet) and have many professional demands on my time, so I end up working in fits and starts and when I need the "therapy". I decided to go ahead and build the hull superstructure before planking to allow better access for clamps for the waterway, planksheer, rail and topgallant structure. That's where I am now (pictures below). The rail structure is a bit wavy viewed end on on one side, but overall I'm relatively pleased within the envelope of my skillset. I had a few disasters in terms of inadvertant breakage of thin pieces (mainly the main rail) after installation by a misplaced hand while working on another part, but managed to overcome that adequately. I still have to do some sanding on the main rail as the strip I used was a bit wider than the rail is supposed to be - that is evident in the pictures where the rail meets the laser-cut curved rail piece forwards. Next I'll plank between the planksheer and the mail rail to reinforce that area, and then likely add the wale and plank between the planksheer and the top of the wale. Then I'll go on to bands A-D The build logs and galleries on this and other sites have been a great aid. Bruce