gsdpic

Welcome to MSW from a fellow Austinite. That radial engine looks pretty incredible...something tells me you'll do just fine with ship building.

Getting Close I have now made and hung the last sail, the jib. I still have some of the running rigging for the jib to do, plus I need to complete the shrouds. I need to attach the chain plates/lower deadeyes, then bind the deadeyes together. I have the deadeyes attached to the shrouds on the port side but not yet on the starboard side. Then just some finished touches and I'll be done. I am looking forward to completing it and to putting more care and effort into getting some final photographs instead of just the quick snapshots with this crappy old point and shoot.

Oh man, this is insane. It has been a while since I scanned through the non-ship builds, and now I am a little sorry that I did. I had never heard of this company. I really like the Cobra, and I see they have a Jaguar E-Type coming soon. Feeling much temptation. Maybe I'll be satisfied if I just follow along with your build.

Thanks @Kevin Kenny as I have come to expect seems like every plan is a bit different.

Just to follow up, I've completed two of these things. So far I've just been running black line through the blocks (or bullseye in one case) and seizing the line to the line attached to the block on one or both ends, as shown below. There are three more on the bowsprit rigging that I will do the same with.

Ready for Jib I've mostly resolved my issue without redoing anything. The thing that bothered me was the angle between the fore gaff and the rigging line attached to it. On the sail plan and on other builds, it is in a near straight line, not angled so much. After more investigation, there seemed to be three contributors: 1. The mast height issue, though they are not as far off as I first thought. It is more like 1/8th of an inch each, but in opposite directions. 2. The angle between the gaff and the fore mast was not as great as it should be. 3. The rake of the fore mast is a little too great, further angling the gaff toward horizontal. I was able to sand a bit off of the fore gaff clapper and tighten the rigging to angle the gaff higher. I also used the jib stay to pull the top of the fore mast forward. Those two actions greatly reduced the angle between the gaff and the rigging line, at the expense of causing a bit of a ripple in the fore sail, something I am willing to live with and which might dissipate on its own. So with that I am now ready to make and hang the jib. There are three or four rigging lines associated with the jib, plus I still have to complete the fore shrouds and do the main shrouds, more bowsprit rigging, as well as the two main sail vangs. So, one sail and about 10 more rigging lines...oh, and the two parrels, and I think that will be it. Here's a current picture showing the current state, with the improvement to the fore gaff. You can see I put on the fore shrouds, since they are below the fore stay on the mast, but have not done the chainplates and lower deadeyes to attach the lower end of the shrouds.

Rigging Thanks for the likes and comments, appreciate it. I've been working on the running rigging for the main, top, and fore sail. I am almost done with that, just have the complicated fore sheet to do, and the two vangs for the main gaff. Then I will do the standing rigging which will allow me to hang the last sail and do its running rigging. I feel like I am doing things a little backwards, doing sails then running rigging then standing rigging but that seemed easiest to me. I also realized that since I am dying the white running rigging tan, the rigging process is kind of like planking....cut a piece, soak it, let it dry, and then put it on the model. Fortunately the rigging line dries much quicker than wood. Unfortunately I am a little unhappy with the angle of the fore gaff. It should be more steeply angled, with the aft end higher. Unfortunately the angle was a bit restricted by the gaff jaws and clapper that I made. Of course if I fixed that, then I'd need to remake the fore sail and redo a bit of the rigging. But I already have another minor repair that needs to be done on the fore gaff jaws, as the tip of one of them broke when I was drilling a hole for the parrel. It is one of those times when I really don't want to redo it, don't want to take such a big step backwards this close to the finish, but I fear it will bug me if I leave it the way it is. I think the current position of the gaff takes away from the rakish appearance that is such a key part of the America. Not sure if the standing rigging lines that go between the tops of the masts will make it better or not. Edit: I investigated more and realized the angle is not too far off but somehow I ended up with the main mast about a half inch longer than it should be and the fore mast about a quarter inch shorter than it should be. So that makes the angle appear farther off than it really is. Obviously, still far easier to fix the gaff and sail than to fix the mast lengths! Anyway, here a couple pictures showing the rigging that I've done so far. I still have a few untrimmed ends sitting on the deck, and will also need to make and place some rope coils around some of the cleats and belaying pins.

You might investigate "liver of sulphur" as an option. I used it on the hull of my America (see link below) to give the copper an "old penny" look.

Thank You! Thanks, the anticipation and satisfaction definitely builds as the finish line approaches. After my last post I realized that this is pretty close to the four year anniversary of starting this kit. Though there was one 19-month long break, from June 2019 through Dec 2020, and a couple other one or two month breaks where I did not work on it at all.

Thanks for the likes folks, and thanks Nic for the comment. It took me longer than expected but I've completed and attached the main sail to the boom, gaff, and mast. I've also attached the top sail to the mast. I did have one minor oops moment that I am trying hard to ignore. Despite using a pattern that I compared to my particular model for the sail, I ended up with the top of the main sail about 1/8th or maybe 3/16th of an inch too wide. Not sure how it happened, though I admit I never compared my sail to the pattern after initially cutting out the sail. So the gaff is just not quite as long as it should be compared to the sail. But I only discovered that after completing the sail....8 or 10 hours of work I think...so left it as is. Now I need to do at least some rigging to have a place to hang the jib, which I have not yet started to make. Thus far I have just used regular thread or some leftover rigging thread from my not-completed Niagara build. For the rigging I'll use the Bluejacket line, which also means I need to try out the brown fabric dye I bought to dye the white line some shade of tan. I did a quick test on a short piece a while back and it worked ok, just need to figure out the process for doing larger quantities. Anyway, below is a picture as she currently stands. I really need that jib on there to balance things out. But I feel like I can almost see the finish line from here, thanks to the relatively simple rig of the America, especially compared to those square-rigged behemoths that some of you like to build.

@Tomculb @Gregory Thank you for the replies. I apologize that I have not replied sooner....I failed to "follow" my own post so did not get notified of your replies. What you say makes sense and is helpful....I ended up working on sails first instead of rigging so I have not tackled these bits yet, though I am close to starting it.

Wonderful result with great features. I really like the davit display and the "seawater". Just amazing attention to detail here. Some of those pictures in the last post could easily pass for pictures of a life size representation of a whale boat on a davit.

Your sanding and priming is paying off, the hull is looking really good. Maybe for the deck, just rough it up a bit with some coarse sandpaper (80 or 100 grit)? Remember you are doing a 1/32nd scale representation of something that is already just a tiny fraction of an inch on the real thing.

I've been waiting for this final post. Wonderful build, congratulations on finishing her up. I've been following this build from the beginning....I started following it thinking "this is the kind of project I'd like to do some day" but after seeing about 3 or 4 of your posts I realized just how far I am from being able to match this, and that was only validated more and more as the build continued. Really top notch work.

Main Sail Details I have not gotten quite as far with the main sail as I hoped but I am far enough to post my process. I owe a lot to @TUEL's America log for my sail making process though I made some of my own tweaks. This will be a long post with a lot of pictures to show the steps I took to make the sail. 1. I created a paper pattern, traced from the sail plan then tweaked to match my model. I marked the pattern with the direction of the panel lines and made sure to lay the pattern on the sail cloth such that the panel line arrow was aligned with the direction of the weave of the cloth. I then traced around the pattern with a pencil. 2. I cut out the sail very roughly, leaving about an inch around all sides. 3. I ironed the sail and then sprayed it with a coat of clear polyacrylic to make the material a little stiffer. I also cut a separate scrap of material about 3 inches wide and 12 inches long and sprayed that. I gave this scrap of material a heavier coat of clear acrylic. 4. I used a paper cutter to cut some thin strips of material from the scrap. I also cut a few circles of material to use for the corner reinforcements. 5. Again using the pencil, I gently drew on the panel lines. I also drew a second line just outside the sail about an eighth of an inch from the edge of the sail. Using the sowing machine I sewed down each panel line. After that, I glued on the reinforcing strips over the reef points and in the corners. While getting other sail making supplies, I saw some "fabric glue" in the store that I picked up and used for this step, though it looked and smelled exactly like regular white PVA. Oh, you can see I have also cut out the corners to facilitate folding the fabric over. 6. Using a thin piece of cardboard (actually a hanging file folder) as a straight edge, I folded over the edges of the sail and ironed in a crease. I repeated that process on the lines just outside the edge of the sail, resulting in a sail with two creases around the edges. This is where the extra inch of fabric is useful as it is much easier to fold over and iron an inch of fabric than it is to do a quarter inch of fabric. 7. I put little drops of glue every inch or two along the outer crease and then folded over the material on that outer crease. After the glue dried I cut off the extra material as close to that crease as I could. 8. I then folded the sail over on the crease at the edge of the sail, held it in place again with a few drops of glue, then sewed all the way around the sail with the machine to hold the folded portion. 9. Next I hand sewed a bolt rope around the edge of the sail, at least the edges that are attached to something. While I was doing this I also formed some cringles at the appropriate places. 10. And with that the sail is mostly done. I still need to put in the reef ties on the first and second reef then attach it to the boom, gaff, and mast.

Thanks for the likes, folks, I appreciate it! So in the prior update, I guess I betrayed my ignorance of sails and sailing. On the sail plans, I saw what is shown below for the main sail and fore sail. Now for some reason, where those horizontal reinforcements are, I just assumed that all of them had the dangly bits (reef ties?). I assumed they just left them out of the drawing in some cases to not clutter things up. So I added them to my fore sail. But I started to wonder about that, particularly since the foresail does not have a boom. I did some googling of reefing and sail bonnet, and can see that I was mistaken. I am still not quite clear on how the bonnet is used or why the third reef does not have ties, but I am pretty sure the sail plans did not leave out any reef ties that should be there, as I initially assumed. So I have extra reef ties on my foresail. I also looked at the reprints of contemporary paintings of America in the book The Low Black Schooner, and several of those paintings even showed this level of detail, with the bare reinforcement strips above the bonnets and the reef ties only on the first and second reef of the main sail. At this point I am not quite sure what to do with the ties on the fore sail. I may try to remove one and see how that goes. I used a dot of white glue both where the tie goes through the sail and to hold the ends of the tie down. If I am able to remove it easily I'll remove the others. If it looks problematic I'll just leave the extra reef ties in place. I guess if nothing else, it means I only have to do about 50 ties on the main sail instead of about 70. As for that main sail, it is in progress. I am on the lengthy and tedious part of hand sewing the bolt rope around the perimeter of the sail. My hope is that by this time tomorrow I'll be done with that sail and have it attached to the gaff, boom, and main mast, and be able to post more details about how I am making the sails. EDIT: The incorrectly placed reef ties on the foresail were easy to remove without damage. I then used a thicker needle to poke through the sail to simulate the eyelets in the sail.

Really enjoying this build and I think there is a lesson to be learned here, if I am able to remember it and absorb it. I see this build as the scratch build analog of that post elsewhere on this site warning beginning kit modellers to start with smaller, simpler kits and not jump right into a Constitution or Victory. After building several kits I start to contemplate trying a scratch build, but I imagine boats that are on the same complexity scale as the kits I have built. But, it would make far more sense build something smaller and simpler for a first scratch build, to get practice doing the research, figuring out how to read and convert the plans you have, and determining how to fabricate and assemble the pieces to best represent the original. And your build superbly demonstrates that even a small, relatively simple scratch build can exercise and demonstrate craftsmanship and can result in an attractive and interesting little model. So, well done on the build so far and thanks for the lesson, if only I can really learn it. I guess we'll see after I get another kit or two under my belt.

Looks like a good start. I am a fan of both Bluejacket and of small work or pleasure boats so I will follow along to see how your build goes. At first I thought this was the smaller of the two Bluejacket Friendship Sloop kits, but then I saw the ruler in the last picture. Is this the larger one, the 1"=1 foot scale model? By the way, I was just looking at your jig. It looks you will not be able to remove those screws holding the model to the jig once you complete planking. I assume you have a plan for that, but wanted to point it out just in case.

Second Sail Done....and attached Thanks to those who have taken a look and those who have clicked on the like button. I've completed making the fore sail, and attached it to the gaff and the fore mast. I was going to show pictures of the steps I am taking in making the sails, but half way through I realized there was an easier/better way to do a couple of the prior steps. I'll try that better method on the next sail, and document that one. For now, here are a few pictures of the fore sail. Obviously the blue wire holding the gaff is just temporary, not some new-fangled rigging technique. I think (hope) the sails are not going to get too much in the way of the rigging. I plan to do the main sail next, and attach it, then make the jib, then start rigging. Obviously I need some rigging in order to have a place to hang the jib. Man, these pictures are noisy. I am using an ancient little point and shoot for most of these. It is just simpler than getting out the DSLR or using the iPhone, but maybe it would be worth while to do one of those two things.

I've continued to attach blocks to things but have not started any rigging just yet. The rigging/sail plan is not terribly detailed, but the mix of blocks in the kit seems a bit off. I could've used another half dozen or so double blocks and will have at least that many single blocks left over. So in some cases I've just simplified the tackle a bit. For example, for the fore and main gaff lift, the plan appears to show 2 double blocks and I've changed that to a double and a single. I have also finished one sail out of four. Shown below is the top sail. I did not take pictures of the process....I'll try to do that with one of the remaining sails. Here's the finished product. The panel lines and seems were machine sown; it is hard to see but there is a bolt rope around two thirds of the sail that I sowed on by hand. That was by far the most time consuming and tedious part, and this is by far the smallest of the four sails.

Thank you! That means a lot coming from the "king of weathering" Thank you!

Welcome to MSW from a fellow Texas resident. I was amused how the beverage in the background went from a Whataburger cup to a glass of red wine. The fishing yawl looks very nice.

I used wedges stepping the masts on my America. They helped in getting the masts lined up correctly. If the mast was leaning one way or the other, I could just force the wedge on one side in a little farther and shift the mast. The holes in the deck were a bit large so the mast had some wiggle room. I also glued the mast to the step and let that cure for a bit before using the wedges. Once set I coated the wedges with wood glue to hold them in place. I plan to use some white wood putty over the wedges to simulate the fabric covering.

I continued to work on the America last week, mostly attaching blocks to the masts, gaffs, and booms. I think I am done with that effort but have about a dozen blocks to attach to eyebolts on the deck, and a few more in other places like the bowsprit. I also did a bit of experimenting with sail making and believe that I will be able to make sails that live up to my relatively low standards And I glued in the two masts, pictures below. I had cut a tenon in the bottom of each mast to slip into a slot in the mast step, and I made the holes in the deck a little bit oversized to give some "wiggle room". I first glued the tenon into the mast step and let that cure for a while, until the masts were pretty well held in place but could still move a bit. I then inserted wood wedges around the mast to secure them in place, adjusting the wedges to get the masts in the correct position. Once in position, I put wood glue around the wedges, and later cut off the top of any wedges that were too tall. That worked out pretty well, I am quite happy with the position of the masts, though I admit the main mast has ever so slightly less rake than the fore mast. Once the glue is completely dry, I'll put a bit of white wood filler around the base of each mast. I think next up is alternating between attaching more blocks and making the sails. I plan to attach the sails to the gaffs and booms before attaching them to the masts. Fore mast with wedges: Masts in position: From the front-ish: (That's my bluejacket lobster boat in the background along with some Porsche models).

John....That Endeavour looks very impressive. In the past I checked in on your Grand Banks build log and you've done a fantastic job with that as well. As for my America, the first few pictures that show frames are pretty close to what comes out of the box. Bluejacket creates a pre-carved hull then slices it like a loaf of bread, and puts every other frame into a kit, making two kits from one hull. So the frames supplied in the kit are pretty close to the right shape and beveled, though you do need to do quite a bit of finer shaping and sanding to get everything fair and symmetrical. The keel is just printed on quarter inch thick basswood and needs to be cut out and you need to carve the rabbet. The bow and stern pieces are supplied pre-carved similar to the frames but also require quite a bit of shaping. You can do more or less work on the frames, depending on if you plan to leave part of the deck or hull unplanked to show them. The deck beams were all cut from a glued-up block of basswood, so you will need some sort of power saw for that. I used my scroll saw, though a hobby sized table saw would've been much better. The deck furniture is just cut from thin mahogany sheets. There are no laser cut parts at all. But I'll say I have not done a lot of carving in the past, have not used chisels that frequently, and I managed to do it ok. Just get one or two decent carving knives and a few good chisels if you don't already have them, and a way to sharpen them all and I am sure you'll be able to handle it.