drobinson02199

Don:

Thanks.  I think I'll do that just to be safe.  But they feel pretty strong.  They are walnut (hardwood), and each layer is glued with CA gel, so the whole thing feels pretty solid.  But I'd hate to discover the opposite during fairing, so the wood support is a great idea.

Regards,

David

I've now had a chance to look at and deal with the bow bulkheads.

First off, I want to repeat kudos, high fives and thanks to lgfrench, who forwarded me the post on this issue, and also the template showing how the bulkheads need to be adjusted.

I started with the template.  When printed the diagrams aren't to scale, so I ran it through Photoshop to isolate an individual bulkhead template (in this case, bulkhead #8 which has been my test case).  I then printed that at different sizes until I got one where the "kit bulkhead" outline in white matched the actual bulkhead in hand. (see picture below).

I don't have a jigsaw -- not even a coping saw -- and I don't have any spare 4mm plywood, but what I do have is a lot of leftover wood strip from previous models -- including a supply of 4mm wide walnut strip.

So I decided to take the approach of laminating the strips onto the bulkhead and then each other, and the rough result of that is on the second picture.  The third picture shows what it looks like when sanded down to match the red outline on the template.

So that's one bulkhead -- and once I started working with my steamer and came up the learning curve things moved along more quickly.

So now 5 more to go.

Regards,

David

Beautiful work, Don.

Regards,

David

lgfrench:

Thanks very much for the bulkhead info.  I will look carefully and get back to you when I get there.

Has anyone looked at whether the solution is to do more fairing of the previous bulkheads?

Regards,

David

Don -- On the box it says 107cm -- about 42 inches.

Regards,

David

Well I'm back from vacation, and it's time to dig into the Titanic, which I've had in my sights since I started modeling a couple of years ago.

Here's the "What's In the Box" post:

• Manual with picture books plus lots of plan sheets
• A large wall poster of the entire model
• The stuff:  plywood laser cut sheets, parts, wood strip, etc.

Just on the surface, this looks like it's going to be a different kind of build from the Amati ships or other boats I've built.  Because there isn't a complete log that I can find, I'll try to post frequently as I go.

Regards,

David

Happy (early) birthday, Chris!  She looks great.

Regards,

David

FLY IS COMPLETED.

I finished the H.M.S. Fly today -- competed pics are in the Completed Kits Gallery.  Just a couple of samples here.

I wanted to see what the lifeboat from the upgrade would look like, so I built it and liked it, so installed it on the ship.  I made some mods to it, including using real wood planks down the side at the gunwales, vs. paint.

A couple of kit build notes from my most recent work:

1. I added some fine thread braces to the stays the crow's feet are attached to, to keep the crow's feet tight.  Important as the stays are pulled up by the rigging and need some counter-balance.
2. I ran out of 3mm and 5mm blocks, and 3mm deadeyes.  Fortunately, I had leftovers (plenty) from the Amati Revenge kit, so I was OK, but a caution to other builders.  I didn't lose more than 2-3 of each on the floor.

Now a break from kit building while my wife and I go on a Greek Islands cruise.  When I return in late September, I'm going to tackle the Amati Titanic, and I'll create a detailed build log for that as I don't see much on this site.

Regards, and Happy Labor Day to the Americans,

David

Don:

Wonderful looking ship!

Regards,

David

The yard lifts are now up, so from here on to the final stage of rigging, then mounting & done.

Regards,

David

Looks wonderful, Chris.  The quality of your work is astonishing.

Regards,

David

Chris:

Thanks very much.  Yes, I do have the next build planned.  I'm going to do the Amati Titanic, which I have on the shelf waiting.

Regards,

David

All the stays are now up.  Some run close to the mast and shrouds so you have to look for them.

Regards,

David

She is really a work of art.  The cannons look beautiful on her.

Regards,

David

Chris:

She looks just great.  

Regards,

David

Now all 3 crows feet are up -- hard to see in this pic.

Regards,

David

Foremast crow's foot rigging is up.  As I was snipping the last loose piece of crow's foot, I managed to commit the ultimate rigging sin and snip the crow's foot too.    😫  All of the "feet" are one long continuous line.

So I spliced the last lead and saved it.  You can see the splice if you zoom in on the second picture and look at the leftmost "foot".  But it's hard to see with the naked eye, so all's well that ends well.

Regards,

David

All shrouds are now up.   😂  I think I've been seeing ratlines in my sleep.

Now on to other rigging, in between some business trips coming up this week and next.

Regards,

David

I haven't posted in a while, because I have been traveling and also busy with some business.  But this week I was able to do the mizzen lower shrouds and finish off the lower shrouds, futtock shrouds and ratlines, so here's a picture of that.

Regards,

David

Lower main mast shrouds and ratlines now done.

Regards,

David

Continuing to work on shrouds.  When I did the foremast shrouds, I followed the approach noted in the drawings (see below), which is certainly structurally sound and is probably how shrouds were "hung" off the mast on the real ship.

The issue I had was twofold:  alignment of the deadeyes when fixing the second deadeye in the loop, and more important, creating the proper alignment and spacing at the top.  I really had to struggle to get separation and not have the shrouds cross approaching the top of the lower foremast, and the alignment I had on the foremast was marginally OK, but not what I really wanted.

So for the main mast I went back to the approach I used on the Revenge, which is to rig the shrouds one at a time, fixing the alignment and tensioning at the top with CA gel.  I'm much happier with the results.  See below, including two pics with white paper behind the shrouds so the alignment up to the mast is easier to see.

Regards,

David

It's been a bit since my last post, partly because I was away last week, but also because I have hit the shrouds and ratlines -- and you all know what that's like.  Never ends.

Here's my first stage of those -- the lower foremast shrouds and futtock shrouds.

Regards,

David

The shrouds will be the traditional black.

Regards,

David

All the yards are now up.  I also mounted the driver boom and driver gaff, even though they don't have rigging support, because I think it would be much more difficult with the shrouds up.

A kit note:  not enough parrell beads supplied.  Fortunately, I had some left over from the Revenge.

Now on to shrouds -- which I'll be at for a while.

Regards,

David

I have finished the 3 main mast yards and mounted them on the main mast, then stepped the mast to the boat.  Picture below.

When I started this kit, I wondered if the upgrade kit would prove worth it (other than the lifeboat kit it contains).  But there are three brass fittings in it that have proven to be really valuable:

• The deadeye fittings are upgraded and are more secure.
• The footrope stanchions replace having to fabricate them out of thin wire, and are better looking than anything I could have created myself in the non-upgraded kit
• The fittings for the stunsail booms again avoid having to fabricate two fittings per yard end (4 per yard) out of separate parts.

Regards,

David