gsdpic

Wow that looks like a detailed kit with a lot of parts. I'll follow along to see how it goes. I think the only airfix kits I have built were some tiny WWI biplanes that had about 15 parts each.

Thanks @ccoyle!

@JacquesCousteau @Ronald-V @LoydB @Glen McGuire Thank you all for your comments, appreciate it.

And now, the Friendship Sloop is finished! I believe that this marks the first Bluejacket Friendship Sloop build log that went all the way to the end, though I believe at least one other builder completed the build without completing the build log. So, I hope, at least the last few posts that were not covered by anyone else may be of help to someone in the future. And of course, many thanks to those who followed along and hit the like button, much appreciated. Overall, this was a good kit that I enjoyed building. I finished it in just under a year, though during that time I also built a few plastic car models, so I took several breaks. My kit was missing some of the strip wood but of course Bluejacket was quick to remedy that without any issue. Overall things went together fairly well. As noted, planking would have been easier with a few more bulkheads but it was still possible to get a reasonable hull shape and the fact that most people will likely paint the hull helps as well. I generally built this out of the box, did not add or change much at all. Though I did come to wish that I purchased some third party rigging line. I am not crazy about the slippery, plasticky (polyester I assume) white line that Bluejacket supplies, that must be dyed if you want a more traditional tan color. It also tended to unravel quickly so I used a lot of CA to hold together the ends of the line. I had a small plastic bottle that contained some Rit brand brown dye and water. My usual procedure was to unroll enough of the cord for the next line, put some CA on the cord where I planned to make the cut and wait a minute then cut the cord. I then dipped the line into the dye briefly and pulled it out, running it across an old t-shirt to dry it and remove excess. I then let it dry some more before putting it on the boat. I actually used up all of the thicker cord that was supplied with the kit. I also, in the last steps, realized there is definitely some art to creating rope coils, and I have not yet fully mastered that art. And as I was creating the last couple of coils I was somehow reminded that the scale is 1 inch equals 1 foot and I was making rope coils that were about a half inch across, so probably well undersized. They likely would have looked better if they were at least 3/4ths of an inch long. Anyway, here's one picture of the completed model. I'll go create an album in the gallery with several other pictures. Again, thanks for reading and following along.

As always, thanks for the likes. I've now added the lazy jacks on the main sail and also added the two front sails. I have pretty much completed the rigging, though as you can see, nothing is tied off. The lines are just hanging loose or in some cases weighted down with spring clothes pins. The installation of the front sails went well, though I did chop off about 3/8ths of an inch of the jib club (the plans refer to it as a jib club even though, I think, it is attached to a sail referred to elsewhere as the stay sail. I am not a sailor so don't really know one from the other). I meant to mention last time that it was odd there was no sort of parrel specified for either the gaff or boom. The plans showed both with jaws, and showed a hole at the end of the jaws, but I did not see any mention anywhere of a parrel to hold the gaff or boom to the mast. In my case, the jaws were just barely wide enough for the mast, so it was a bit of a friction fit, but I did add a small piece of copper wire between the two holes in the jaws to further hold the gaff and boom in place. I think I will redo the main sail out haul along the boom, as I just figured out that I did not do it correctly. Then I will tie everything off and form some rope coils in appropriate places, and look for any other finishing touches. But I fully expect to declare this one done in the next few days.

Great recovery! That picture of the air box really shows off your fantastic finish.

Thanks for the likes or for just stopping by to take a quick look. I've now attached the main sail, along with the boom and gaff. I still need to tie off and trim some of the rigging and I need to rig the "lazy jacks". Then it will be on to the two front sails which should be much easier to rig, so I am getting close to the finish line.

Strange that the reaction only happened where the black number decal was. Maybe it was somehow related to having two layers of decals there. Otherwise, the finish looks fantastic. Good luck resolving the issue with the bubbles on the numbers.

Welcome Andy. Also check out the forum sponsor Evan Designs. The sponsors are listed on the lower right hand corner of the main home page, at least in a PC browser. Evan Designs sells LEDs for lighting various projects (ships, doll houses, other models, etc) and also has some how-to info.

Wow, been almost a month since I last posted. Thanks for the patience of anyone following along. Of course in that month I made another tangent 🙄: But now I have sown the sails. I used pretty much the same technique as with my America build, and I documented it in that build log so won't bother doing so here. I do need to still punch some holes where the sails are attached to the various spars and need to add the reef points. But then it is on to the simple running rigging to get the sails attached.

Off to a great start. That polished aluminum on the interior is looking especially good. I used matte aluminum on mine. The replacement JPS decals look good too....the gold color looks pretty accurate. As I recall when I built mine, some of the third party decals looked more like yellow and not so much like gold. Your upper cowl looks good too; mine had a bit of twist/warp to it. Anyway, you are bringing back some memories. I am looking forward to see what you do with the kit, I am sure your efforts will outshine mine.

Well I keep going off on a tangent from my Friendship Sloop to build another car, trying to reduce my stash though I keep buying more for some reason. Below are a few pictures of Revell's 1969 Chevy Camaro Z/28 RS. As you can see in the last picture, I used the same color as on my mid 80's Porsche 911. It is actually a Porsche color but I figured it was close enough to Chevy's LeMans Blue metallic. Thanks for looking, hope you enjoy. I swear I'll drag that sewing machine out and make those sails for the sloop.

Glad you came back to post the final pictures. Very well built, very attractive build. The stained wood, red window frames, and blue/gray top all look great together. I lived in Raleigh long ago....sounds like about the time you moved there. I was there from 1989 to 1997. Went to grad school at NC State then worked in the area for about 6 years before transferring to Austin.

Excellent work on the carving and gilding!

Wow, the paddle wheel looks great. I imagined it was a bit larger until I saw the picture of your hand holding it. That was quite a project on its own.