Heronguy

Perhaps the masts are going to annoy me!  The foremast is a 5mm dowel that is tapered to 3mm at the top.  I decided to try the "dowel in the drill" for sanding.  Worked ok except that tightening the chuck jaws pretty well crushes the end of the dowel.
 
In this 1:100 scale the fore topmast is a 3mm dowel tapered to 2mm.   Too small for the drill but it fits perfectly in the 1/8"collet of my dremel.  1st try - when I hit the speed switch it sent dowel across the room - except for the 10mm in the collet.  Try 2 was going much better.  I carefully supported the middle of the dowel and used a lower speed.  All was well until this dowel snapped at the collet as well - no obvious reason.
 
Off to the store for more dowels I guess.  Hand sanding may not be as fast but maybe I'll end up with a mast eventually.  
 
Any other tips??
 
Doug

Finished the deck furniture.  Onward to the rigging!
 
 

 

 

Started installing the "deck furniture". Kinda fun to paint these little things.  I discovered how easy it is to make little problems by not planning ahead.  For instance, having installed the cabin I discovered I'd omitted the railing and had to drill holes for the railing supports.  

 
Unfortunately while doing that I snapped off the plastic boom crutch further up-deck.  

 
Not surprisingly, there is no chance that gluing such a narrow neck together will hold.  Fortunately wood is pretty easy to work with so I fashioned a new one from a scrap.  

 
Now if only I could find the brass wire for the railing in my mess of a shipyard!
 
Doug
 

Thanks Michel,
 
Regular painter's masking tape was useless but in one of the forums people spoke highly of Tamiya masking tape. I bought a roll of the 6mm tape. It has a couple of nice characteristics. 1-it seals the paint out really well 2-it can be lifted and repositioned several times without compromising the adhesive or the surface underneath and 3- it can take a slight lateral Ben to follow a slight curvature.
 
I took a long piece - almost as long as the hull -- and placed it parallel to my waterline pencil mark starting from the bow. When I got to the curvy part at the stern I use 2 short sections of tape to follow the curve. Just eyeballed the placement to look like a smooth curve.
 
I painted above the waterline tape in black, removed the tape, taped waterline from above (I.e. On the black), then painted white not worrying about width. Finally when white was cured I put another layer of tape over then tape and eyeballed the stripe width as I proceeded to place the tape. Thebtamiya tape is translucent enough to judge that. Painted the lower hull red and voila, I was satisfied.
 
Others on this site have suggested purchasing automobile detailing stripes and using them instead of paint. I'll probably try that sometime.
 
Doug

Baby steps - always baby steps!

The hull is painted, the deck rails are installed according to instructions, and I mounted the rudder.  Now the ship has some chance of going where it is told - I think I need my own rudder installed too!  
 
Someone wrote that wooden ship modelling was more like problem solving than kit assembly. I'm beginning to understand the truth of that.  Patience.
 
Doug
 
 

I'm least happy with the bow. 
 

 
I presume I can used filler to try to fix this.  Any suggestions?
 
Doug

The planking of the 2 halves of the hull is complete.
 

 
Glued the 2 halves together with various clamps and rubber bands.
 

 
Now it look  more like a ship's hull.
 

Nearing the bottom of the hull (planks 14 and 15 from the rail) I had to twist the wood strip to get it to lie flat along the false keel while still following the bulkhead.  Used the panvise to hold the strip and a clamp to push on to create the twist.  Paint brush to wet the small section to help soften the fibres.
 
As i get to the last 5 or 6 planks It seemed worthwhile to slightly narrow the planks near the front of the false keel so that I could avoid stealers at the stern.  I tried to eyeball it but didn't manage to taper them enough.  So one stealer (and some wood filler to come).

 
1st half of of my 1st hull!
  
 

I faired the bulkheads. It was a surprisingly pleasing task.
 
However agonizing over the planking plan was less enjoyable.  I examined a few buildlogs of various Bluenose II builds to get a sense of how others had approached the keel and hull shape of the boat.  I also tried to get a sense from images of the actual refit of the Bluenose II.  To apply Chuck Passaro’s methods I needed to decide how to run strakes so that I could avoid the drop planks and the stealers that I saw in other builds.  
 
Since this is such a small scale model I decided to just divide the hull into 2 bands.  I chose this line 1) because it looked reasonable to me, and 2) it was the same distance down each bulkhead.  That should mean all the the planks are the same width ( at least for the top half of the hull).  In fact, it seems that all the planks in the bottom half will be as well.
 
It was time to mount some planks.  Following Chuck’s video I wanted to bend each plank to fit the curve of the hull.  This was bending laterally or edgewise rather than creating the curve by spiling.  I tried using various heat sources for this bending operation and ended up using a steam iron.  by way of example I found that I could create a 2-1/2mm curve by clamping the wood strip with a 5mm curve then ironing. (the strips in this kit are pine nominally 1mmx3mmx450mm

 
I only use 1 multiple bend on each side of the hull.

 

The decking in this model is not “lined” to appear like a plank deck.  Figure 3 in the instructions implies that the planks are simulated by pencil scribes. 
 
My 1st try on scribing was not really very satisfactory.  Sanded off the marks and tried again.
 
Purchased some minwax wood finish - red mahogany instead of BB36 mahogany stain - did a test colouring for deck. It pretty well obliterated the pencil scribes. So I stained decks and then rescribed the plank lines in pencil.  ? Should I have coated the decks before mounting?
 
Mounted decks on the hull halves.  A couple of the bulkheads were not fully seated after glueing.  There will be quite a bit of “fairing” required before planking.

I reviewed Chuck Passaro video and notes on lining the hull before planking and on bending planks for installation. I'm going to try out his method (before I learn how to do it wrong).  See:
Chuck's planking videos...in
Building, Framing, Planking and plating a ships hull and deck
 
 

Hello maturin52.  Nice to meet you (virtually).  All my sailing was on inland lakes.  It must have been a fun experience to be onboard the real Bluenose II! I'll follow your log with interest as that was a kit I thought would be something for my future once I have some experience under my belt.
 
Its my second day of building and I believed all was going well.  While I had time for glue to set I thought I'd see what lay ahead.  Now I have more questions than I expected.  The instructions are sparse (I kinda knew that was the case) but there some obvious little errors in the notes as well.
 
I'm off to the forums to find tutorials and advice on how to mark the deck so it looks like it was planked, how to do the planking on this boat, and even when to deal with paints and finishes on some of the fittings before they're installed.
 
Doug

Construction begins
 
Easy to assemble the bulkheads on keel

 
 
Glueing in process

 

The kit box and contents
 

 



 
Plastic fitting (I guess it keeps the cost down)

 
The 2 halves of the keel piece
 

 
All the bulkheads are port and starboard pieces separately
 

Nemo, don’t despair, there are good options and some of them are listed on the site - sponsors like Model Expo and Syren Ship both carry supplies you’ll need.  Crafty Sailor , which is local to you has a range of fittings.  I get things like acrylic paints or Tamiya masking tape through Great Hobbies which probably has a store near you.  your best bet might be to start a build log and/or ask some specific questions on the appropriate Shop Notes topic.
 
 

Nemo, don’t despair, there are good options and some of them are listed on the site - sponsors like Model Expo and Syren Ship both carry supplies you’ll need.  Crafty Sailor , which is local to you has a range of fittings.  I get things like acrylic paints or Tamiya masking tape through Great Hobbies which probably has a store near you.  your best bet might be to start a build log and/or ask some specific questions on the appropriate Shop Notes topic.
 
 

Self-made sand  disk . Three-phase motor frequency control, can achieve accurate grinding, chamfering, low speed does not affect the torque output, ultra-low noise night operation. The table surface of the two-axis slide rail can be moved and polished, and can also be locked at any angle. The sandpaper can be quickly changed by hand by turning two nuts on the dust-collecting cover. High precision machining ensures minimal deviation and in some cases can be used as an alternative tool for milling small parts.

Nemo, don’t despair, there are good options and some of them are listed on the site - sponsors like Model Expo and Syren Ship both carry supplies you’ll need.  Crafty Sailor , which is local to you has a range of fittings.  I get things like acrylic paints or Tamiya masking tape through Great Hobbies which probably has a store near you.  your best bet might be to start a build log and/or ask some specific questions on the appropriate Shop Notes topic.
 
 

Nemo, don’t despair, there are good options and some of them are listed on the site - sponsors like Model Expo and Syren Ship both carry supplies you’ll need.  Crafty Sailor , which is local to you has a range of fittings.  I get things like acrylic paints or Tamiya masking tape through Great Hobbies which probably has a store near you.  your best bet might be to start a build log and/or ask some specific questions on the appropriate Shop Notes topic.
 
 

One of my 1st build was the Bluenose II.  I hope your enjoying it

One of my 1st build was the Bluenose II.  I hope your enjoying it

One of my 1st build was the Bluenose II.  I hope your enjoying it

Here they are: specially designed gun barrels, anchors, top of belfry, windlass , complete bow decoration, transom and side badges... Here is new technique applied, a MarisStella innovation: Transom and side badges are to be planked with thin wooden strips so they look wooden in the end ... When talking about innovations, MarisStella has 8 innovations connected to the techniques of constructing the models and all of them are very well accepted (received). They are applied at MarisStella Model Ship Kit product line ...
 
Hope this was helpful...
 

Time for another update. First a thank you for the likes.
I have been procrastinating a bit on the treenails. How they end up looking is one issue, how to drill that many holes in the hull accurately is another. I didn't want to have the model on my lap and drill downwards and drilling horizonally holding a dremel or drill, I couldn't initially get a good feel for either. I end up finding a (brillianly executed...) way of taking the weight off the dremel so I can have better use of both my hands to line up the drill bit. It worked fine on my sample board. I plan to pencil mark the hull first so I have something to aim at before drilling the holes. I'm still working on how to get to the right "look". There is a big color variation on how the various basswood planks react to the stain I plan to use.
While this was going on I managed to get the first belt of planking below the wales done as well.
Here are some photo's.

Hello everyone:
Another little update.  I got the wales and black strake finished up and about 90% of the interior bulwarks sanded down to the correct thickness. 
I still need to get the anchor linings attached, painted,. Then I will finish up the interior bulwarks.  Then I can use Chucks tick strips to line off the bulkheads and see how everything really lines up.  



I'm getting to the point I don't like my camera to much anymore (just my phone).  It shows way too many of the little details I don't see or miss.  I don't think you all will be seeing any close-ups for a while.....   I might have to use it after each row of planking to see how things REALLY look....
 
Moving right along --- one plank at a time.....
 

I had some doubts about using emulsion glue (PVA), or matte medium (acrylic) to secure rigging when I started the rigging job on Young America.  At 1:72 or 1:96, glue of some sort is essential.  These doubts were completely dispelled, rescuing me from the ordeal of using CA for anything except stiffening rope ends to thread through small holes.  Making strong eyesplices (perhaps a thousand or so) in the smallest thread sizes was a daunting prospect.  The  pictures below show the method used and to my mind represent an acid test for the Titebond wood glue that I used.  The only connection on these splices is the passing of the rope through itself, so there is no knot and the strength of the joint is due primarily to the glue.  I can think of only a few failures of these splices in the entire model. 
 
The first picture shows the forming of a splice in size 80 cotton thread by passing a needle through the rope to form the splice, in this case the rope passes through a shackled eyebolt.

The next picture shows such a splice in place in the rigging - under some tension.

The next picture shows a splice of this type being glued in a special fixture used for making the 100's of ratline splices.

I have not tested the strength of glue vs. matte medium, but I used glue.  Both are aqueous polymer emulsions and can be diluted with water.  The acrylic medium is formulated to modify coatings, mainly artist acrylics, or to act as a coating itself.  PVA is a glue.  While I expect that either could be used to seal knots, I believe that the PVA, Titebond in this case, will be stronger where the glue  provides primary strength, as it does in these splices.  Also, I believe in these cases, less dilution is more appropriate than in cases where the role of the emulsion is merely to prevent knot loosening.
 
I would also add that these materials will be most effective on natural fibers - cotton or linen, and less so if at all on synthetics like poly ester.
 
So, except for stiffening rope ends to pass through small holes, I believe CA is unnecessary in rigging.  A welcome conclusion for those of us, like me, who hate using it.
 
Ed