gsdpic

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.

The whole build looks really good, but the finish on the main prop is really outstanding, with the wood, yellow paint, and three different metal colors, and just the right amount of shininess.

Just catching up on your build. The finish looks great. One of these days I'll get serious enough about modelling to wear gloves while handling the under construction build.

Well done Glen, amazing work! As for Johnny's suggestion.....I think you should model that list picture and have the whale boat glued to the top of the inside of the bottle!

Looks great from here. And I agree with your earlier comment about the pre-printed tires....they look good and add a lot to the model.

Looks great, like you are overcoming all the challenges well. That rear suspension does look like a delicate and fiddly piece.

Been a bit since I did an update, but I now have the standing rigging complete. I started by painting the traditional metal blocks and deadeyes that Bluejacket supplies. I used some primer first then a couple different flavors of Tamiya brown paint. It works ok though as usual, it can be easy to scratch off the paint while handling the blocks or deadeyes. I then attempted to start the rigging using the thin stranded copper wire supplied in the kit but I was not happy with it. It was difficult to work with, unraveled when you cut it if you did not first put CA on it, difficult to fasten, and I felt it was too thin. It was a quarter millimeter so full size that would just be 3 millimeters in diameter, less than an eighth of an inch. So I dug into my stash of stuff from earlier projects and found some beading wire and crimp tubes. It was also multi stranded but coated in clear plastic which held the strands together. I think the plastic also gave something for the crimp tubes to bite into. After crimping I also put a dot of CA on but I am not sure that was necessary. Anyway, there were only about a half dozen bits of standing rigging, so once I got into it, the job went pretty quick. And yes I realize that I should have had the chain plates leaning forward, more in line with the rigging, but too late now. Thanks for looking in. I guess it is now time to get out the sewing machine and start working on the sails.

Thank you both for your replies. I recall using some beading wire and crimp tubes for a previous project. Perhaps I'll pursue that option.

Hi all. I am building the Bluejacket 1/12th scale Friendship sloop from around 1900. For the standing rigging, the kit supplies very fine stranded copper wire. I am not a fan of the stuff....it is difficult to work with and I am not sure I like the look. For one thing, it seems undersized. The wire is a quarter millimeter in diameter so that would only be 3mm full size, which is less than an eighth of an inch. Two questions.... 1. Any idea why the kit would use stranded copper wire? Would a sloop from 1900 have used some sort of metal cables for the standing rigging? 2. Any suggestions for working with it, particularly fastening it? The instruction say it does not solder well so they suggest just using CA but that also seems not very secure. Perhaps Nic or Al ( @MrBlueJacket or @alross2 ) can provide some insight. Anyone else is welcome to chime in as well. Thanks for any help or suggestions.

Interesting....the polished brass is not listed on alclad's web site but it is available from other sellers. I'd reconsider the alclad black base, see my comment above, though maybe you will have better luck with it. I've not used the "dull aluminum" but the regular aluminum and semi-matte aluminum both produce a nice finish. For the non-polished Alclad metal colors, I've just used generic medium gray primer. I tend to use splash paints primer but others will likely work as well, including Alclad's gray primer/microfiller.

I've used the Alclad line of airbrush metallic paints with generally good results: https://alclad2.com/ However, they don't seem to have brass or bronze, though I know their "pale gold" produces a really nice finish. The highly shine colors are sprayed over a gloss black base.....I'd recommend against the alclad gloss black base and use the Tamiya LP-1 gloss black lacquer. I tried the alclad gloss black base and it seemed to never completely dry/cure. AK Interactive also make both metallic paint and a few metallic paint markers. I've heard good things but never used either. https://ak-interactive.com/

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B84DXZK8?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1 It's not the highest quality, most precise thing as you can guess from the price bit it has its uses.

Thanks for the likes and for the comment, Glen. I have the mast and spars almost done now. I added the jaws and other wooden bits and I've painted some of the ends, and stained the areas where the various sails are attached. Then I added the eyebolts specified by the plan and drilled holes as well. The one thing yet to do....the boom is supposed to have a couple of cleats on it. I've not yet decided if I am going to use the metal cleats supplied by bluejacket or make some wooden ones. I don't have any sort of drill press, but this cheap amazon clamp proved to be useful while drilling holes. Other views of the gaff, boom, and mast: