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drobinson02199

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Everything posted by drobinson02199

  1. Mounted and planked the poop deck; built and mounted the flag lockers. Regards, David
  2. Finished up the bow by adding the mariners walk. The boomkins are built but missing from these pics, as I have them put away to avoid pranging them. Regards, David
  3. I've built the starboard cathead. A couple of construction notes: For the blue rectangles on the front of the cathead, instead of trying to use tape to get them straight (too small a surface), I painted a section blue (on top of yellow) and then added 1x1 yellow-painted strips to create the rectangles. For bending the brass strip to create the curve, I used a philips screwdriver pushed through a drilled hole in a 5mm board, heated the strip, and then bent a section into a 180 (so the two sides parallel). Then hammered the curve flat. I then cut that 180 degree curve into two 90 degree segments. Lots and lots of touch ups required to get the blue stripe right. So one side done, and now on to the other. Regards, David
  4. I got inspired today and painted and mounted the cast metal figurehead components. Regards, David
  5. Installed the bow gratings and made the boomkins. The boomkins are dry-fitted using a pin in the knighthead, so that I can remove them for now (as the manual suggests) to keep from pranging them, and then reinstall them later. Regards, David
  6. I've built the bow structure, which was something of an adventure. The manual calls for the curved rails on the stem to be mounted before the head timbers are done, but the head timbers provide a guide for the run of the upper curved rail, so I mounted those first. Then mounted the curved rails. The manual also calls for the remaining rails (horizontal and blue-trimmed vertical) to be mounted before the bow main rail, but again, it was much easier to install the two horizontal rails, then the bow main rail against the head timbers, and then cut the vertical blue-trimmed rails to fit under the bow main rail. By the way, the head-on picture gives the impression that the leftmost hawse hole is off kilter, but that's just an illusion of the inside of the drill hole. Finally, the manual tries to be specific around the head timbers at the aft end of the bow main rails, but the instructions are confusing although I think I finally got it right. For this section, I did a lot of advance dry fitting and thinking, referenced the invaluable pics on the Caldercraft website, and got the idea to pre-mount the head timbers from another build log on MSW. Next step is the bow gratings that fit inside this structure. Building this part reminded me of the difference between this model and some of the Amati ones I've built. For some reason, things just seem more complicated on this model. I think it may be the amount of cutting, fitting, and pre-painting of small parts that tend to stay in walnut on the Amati models. In any event, I'm happy building this, although my limited skills are sorely tested. Regards, David
  7. Completed the cannonades, and mounted the doors and gunport lids on the bow area. Regards, David
  8. Finished and painted the roundhouses, planked the beakhead deck, and added the painted brass decoration. Regards, David
  9. Bill: Thanks for the nice comments. I'm glad the log is somewhat useful. Regards, David
  10. Re my message above, here's a picture of one of the roundhouses in process. I've finished planking the other one, and there's a pretty curved shape before sanding, so sanding shouldn't be too hard. I'll glue some sandpaper to a stick and have at it. Regards, David
  11. Graham: I have already given up on the idea of removing the roundhouses. Because the partial trim leaves some of the wale in place, there isn't really any way to just slide the roundhouse structure out -- you'd have to tilt it and the tabs wouldn't work properly. So I glued the patterns on to the bulkhead and have started planking, and will do the sanding carefully with a stick and some sandpaper. Regards, David
  12. Built the railing across the bow. Next step is the roundhouses. I'm a bit wary of trying to sand them on the ship -- thinking about planking them while dry-fitted, and then removing for sanding. We'll see if I can pull that off. Might be blocked by the wale position at the bottom. Regards, David
  13. Ship's wheel and binnacle finished and mounted. The scratches on the wheel are light reflection and don't show to the naked eye. Regards, David
  14. Quarterdeck and two forecastle cannons built, painted, mounted and rigged. Full Disclosure: Those of you who are Victory aficionados and are sharp-eyed may see that I goofed with the two medium cannons. They are longer than the rest, and I was careful all through the building stage to isolate the slightly larger carriages and mount the right cannons to them. All good so far. Then as I started mounting the cannons, I picked those two up, intending to mount them on the forecastle where they belong. Phone call causes distraction. I come back, pick them up and promptly mount them at the stern in the lashed down position behind the screen. 🧐 They were glued down well, and rigged, so there they stay, and the forecastle gets two of the smaller cannons. It's a goof, but a small one in the scheme of things and the ship will look fine for me, and less fine for those of you who pay close attention to historical accuracy. Regards, David
  15. Installed bulwark fittings on quarterdeck and forecastle: shot racks, kevels, and pin racks. I did the side pictured below second, and changed my approach after doing the port side first. On the port side, I tried to install the shot onto the shot racks after they were installed, and with the bulwark there to get in the way of the tweezers, it was really difficult. So on the starboard side (pictured), I installed the shot onto the racks off the ship (same for the pinrails), and then installed them. Also note that these pinrails are much better spaced than the ones on the bitts, about which there was discussion above. The side pictured is the one that will show when I display the model. Regards, David
  16. Allan: I admire your attention to historical detail (and am amazed at some of the details you come up with), but I don't have the motivation to change the pins out. I've had cross-pieces become difficult in the past, and I solve it by either doubling up on a pin, or wrapping line on the cross piece. I took a sideways look at the assemblies after I got your first message, and there's actually a bit of room between many of the pins -- enough to sneak lines through if they aren't too thick. But thanks for the suggestions -- I'm always interested in getting them 😁 Regards, David
  17. Lined the quarterdeck rigging opening and constructed the Main Companionway. The latter of those two was something of an adventure. The ladder for that opening was constructed many steps ago, to match in width to balusters already installed below on the upper gun deck. I was positioning it for gluing, it slipped out of the pliers, and fell down not just to the upper gun deck below, but through the opening in that deck and down to the lower gun deck (two decks below), and then out of sight. I had put some glue on the bottom of the ladder, and so I couldn't dislodge it by shaking the ship upside down, although I suspect I'd never have retrieved it anyway. Out of sight, gone forever. Fortunately, in my leftover parts box from prior builds, I had a ladder (in plain wood), so I stained it (picture below), and installed it into the main companionway. Not as elegant as the original, but serviceable. Now as I look at the Main Companionway railings, I realize that there are supposed to be lower railings parallel to the upper horizontal ones. I'll get to that later (maybe 🤔) Regards, David
  18. Allan: You are quite right -- they are VERY close together, and I had that concern about rigging when I installed them. The holes in the cross-pieces are pre-drilled, and the pins are supplied, so this is the spacing that results. I was reluctant to install fewer pins for fear that I would need them all when it came time to rig. So I'll just make it work when that time comes. Regards, David
  19. Quarterdeck Barricade assembled, painted and mounted. The instructions say to build this from the bottom up, but I found that alignment was easier if I built it from the top down to the lower rail, then mounted the wooden posts to the deck, and then mounted the assembly to those. Regards, David
  20. Assembled, painted and mounted the forecastle breast beam assembly. This was a tricky assembly -- getting the belfry started and aligned, and finishing off the U parts of the horizontal beam. Regards, David
  21. Finished the hatches and bitts on the forecastle, and varnished them. As I started the next assembly, I realized that if I stayed with natural walnut vs. black, the deck would not look as sharp as it should. So I went back and painted the skid beam (in place) black, as per the picture below. Regards, David
  22. Allan: After I finished the center hatch, I wished I had decided to do it that way. Would look very nice, although higher hatches than what's called for in the plans (higher like the ones on the lower deck, as you note). I'm happier with the result on the second hatch using the bottom support strips. Regards, David
  23. Working on the forecastle gratings. The gratings and spacers are mounted inside the hatch openings, and with no support I found that really difficult. On the one I've assembled, I had to put a support strip in to get the third grating section in. It will look better once varnished, but I'm not thrilled with it. So for the square hatches, I'll pre-mount support strips. The first of two that I've mounted is shown, and since taking the picture I have started to assemble that grating, and it's much easier -- and facilitates dry-fitting the components. Regards, David
  24. Capping rails painted, mounted, sanded and repainted on forecastle, waist and quarterdeck. Regards, David
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