Jackson7

When the metal bannister provided by the kit didn't fit, I built my own. It may be the best bit of carving I've done yet on this insane project. It looks far more natural than the original. Now, I just have the other railing and all the wood knighthead things in the center. We'll see just how they go.

I settled on carving the knightheads myself. Now, 22 tiny carved knightheads later, I'm done with all the ones that attach to the rail. Of course, the metal front railing doesn't fit, so I'm carving that too. And I'm probably going to carve the 8 additional knightheads that go near the masts. They're simple to do. All you need is a sharp X-Acto knife and a lot of persistence. I also put a thin veneer over the false deck at the bow and the stern. It looks much better. Hopefully this phase will go much more quickly after I'm done with the ridiculous amounts of tiny carvings. At least I've preemptively assembled the gun carriages. Also, if anyone can provide photos of where all the cleat hitches attach, I would be very grateful. I don't trust the kit drawings at this point.

I've passed a milestone. Every piece of wood that remains to be glued onto the ship is either a deck furnishing or part of the masts. I have realized that for the deck furnishings, I'm better off carving my own knight heads from 2mm by 2mm than using the kit's metal ones. It will be just as much trouble to cut metal to shape as to cut wood to shape. Before I begin that arduous task, I'm gluing the gun carriages together. So far, they're looking great. Blackened brass was the way to go.

Good to know. You're right, there's really nothing for it now. There's so much to learn on this ship.

I've successfully attached the chainwales and deadeyes to the ship. After coating them in some protective metal wax, they look almost exactly as I hoped. To avoid splitting the gunwale wood, I drilled tiny holes for the nails to enter. Right now, I still need to put on the wood that holds them in place. I think they're going to be the last wood I need to glue onto the outside hull.

Hey y'all, I've returned at last. I didn't like the brightness of the brass on many of the ship's pieces, so I blackened them all with Birchwood Casey Brass Black. It generated a cleaner result than painting them. The process was arduous. I cleaned them off with steel wool and denatured alcohol, soaked them briefly in brass black, let them dry, then coated them all with Birchwood Casey gun stock wax. The resulting color is impressively solid, and it's not worth going back to fix the few small problems. If someone else chooses to use this method, they should blacken the brass in small batches. I think that gives a better result.

I finished cutting out new bow pieces. They only have one hole, but that's because they broke while I was drilling the hole out. They were so much work and so risky to createthat it wasn't worth it to take another attempt.

I'm working on the task of cutting out two new bow pieces. With a great degree of effort, I've succeeded in carving a piece of wood from my cutting board to the right shape. With two more cuts, I'll have the shape correct.

I couldn't resist; I started another step. I've put on the figurehead and a bit of the bow ornamentation. Unfortunately, one of the two big pieces broke. It wasn't the right shape, and trying to bend it and file it into submission went wrong. I'm now thinking of replacing it with carved wood. I'll keep you all posted on how it goes.

I bit the bullet. I bought 40 chain plates from Agesofsail.com. Now, all I have to do is wait until they arrive.

Thanks to @harlequin, I got advice that the ship instruction manual wouldn't give. I drilled the holes for the little copper pieces to go through. Frustratingly, one of them was just above my stern windows, so I had to make some adjustments and sand them down until there was room to put in the metal. The end result is hardly noticeable. In the end, it all worked out. Now I just have to do the chain plates. I'm out of 1x2 mm wood, so I had to cut and sand my 2x2mm wood down to size. Thankfully, that particular job is now done. It's boring enough that it doesn't merit a photo. Just cutting it to shape with an x-acto knife, then putting sandpaper over a metal ruler and sliding the wood along this flat surface to file down the bumps. Of course, the chain plates present their own trouble. I think the metal plates that come with the kit are bad enough that I don't want to use them. It doesn't make sense to work for so long on something, then put on a bunch of parts that threaten to snap, and look like badly-cast metal. I'm not sure if I'll buy them online, or make them out of rope instead. @Srenner and @Gregory have pointed out to me that metal is likely more historical, which pushes me toward reaching for the Internet. Also, I need to buy more wood for a different project. A dear friend is getting married soon, and I need to build him a wooden chessboard. Given these difficulties and the impracticality of solving them with a knife, sandpaper and Hobby Lobby alone, It might take a while until I can execute the next few steps.

Fascinating! I'm fairly sure now that I don't want to use the chain plates from Corel, simply for the reason that they are fairly terrible. Glad to hear the history seems to bear it out too.

Hey Srenner, I'm curious about your build. Are you saying that in 1720, ship chainplates were usually rope, not metal? Or is it more a question of the Greyhound kit chainplates being poorly made? I'm working on the Greyhound, and am very discontent with the kit-issued metal. I'm thinking of doing them with rope instead.

The next few steps have required much thought, and advice from @harlequin. I'm grateful for his help, and plan to start them later, when I'm less tired. For now, I've amused myself with painting the figuredhead. A 3D print from my friend has far exceeded the original in quality. And some paint has put it to a whole different level. I thought that for a ship that sailed the coast of Africa, an African lady would prove lovely. For contrast, the original is below.

Thanks! Much appreciated.