ahb26

Congratulations! She looks great.

This brings back some great memories. You've done some beautiful work, and now I wish I had added sails!

I like the way the bench got messier as the deadline got closer. The blood was a nice touch too. The hull looks great!

There is a pretty good photo of the top of the mast and other rigging back in post #13. I don't recall what the manual said about it, but I did my own thing, more or less. I believe the ring bolts inserted into the mast came with the kit, or were leftover from some other kit. I strapped the blocks with fine steel wire, leaving a length of wire at one end of the block, and looped that end through the ring bolt. Fine needle-nose pliers and a good flush cutter are essential.

Yankee Hero suffered a mishap at the hands (paws) of our cat. The model was displayed on top of our upright piano. He never goes up there - until he did, with the specific intent (I am convinced) to create mayhem. Poor Yankee Hero tumbled to the floor. The tip of the boom was broken off, along with one side of the boom jaws. The top block of the gaff halyard was pulled out of the mast, and the rudder's top gudgeon was torn off. The display cradle was also damaged. I fixed the cradle, and the rest of the repair was put on the back burner while I finished the Muscongus Bay lobster smack. After surveying the damage, I glued the tip of the boom back on with an internal pin for strength, and glued the boom jaw segment back in place. The gaff rigging was intact but hopelessly tangled, so I re-rigged after replacing the top block into the mast. I worked the boom back into place with new parrell beads and refit the topping lift rigging (the boom broke at the hole through which it passes). I glued the gudgeon back onto the stern and touched up the paint. Finally, I tightened the gaff halyard to get tension on all the lines, and belayed it. A lot of fiddly work but worth the effort. Now I have to find a safe spot to display it! The lobster smack is on top of my tall dresser - the cat never goes up there...

Thanks! I am currently repairing my "Yankee Hero" Eastport Pinky, which was knocked off our upright piano by our cat. (I swear he did it on purpose in response to some real or imagined slight.) After that - well, we'll see.

Looking great! There is a good news feature on Bowdoin's current voyage here: https://www.newscentermaine.com/video/news/local/207/207-don-bowdoin-schooner/97-ef6de72f-7d01-4190-b87c-da5977ecb684 She looks fabulous. Donald McMillen would be proud.

I think I am going to call this finished, although it could use some touch-up (the photos don't lie) which I may do later. The rigging was straightforward. I was able to rig the mainsail and partially rig the jib off the boat. Before stepping the mast, I glued the tiller to the rudder post, a bit tricky given the tight access. Then the mast went in... and I completed the rigging. Sounds simple, no? Belaying the lines on the little cleats just about drove me nuts. The supplied line is springy and slippery, and leaps off the cleat unless tension is held on it throughout the process. All my pre-rigging unrigged itself But I finally got everything secure and formed coils from the excess line. So here she is... All in all, this build was enjoyable if at times frustrating. (Aren't they all?) I wouldn't hesitate to build another Midwest/Model Shipways kit.

Thanks for the likes - much appreciated, especially given the slow pace of the project. Spars and sails are complete but not yet assembled. The gaff and boom jaws (I am not using the prescribed gooseneck for the boom) were straightforward. This rig holds everything in alignment while the glue dries. I sanded slight flats into the dowels to give the jaws a better glue surface. This kit is my first experience making detailed sails. The material supplied with the kit is a stiff linen of some sort. It does not creep or stretch when it is being cut or when lines are drawn on it. I reinforced it further with matte poly spray to keep the edges from fraying. Here's the jib: The dowel helps in tying uniform-size hanks. The instructions say that the halyards and sheets should be tied directly to the jib. This doesn't sound quite kosher, but after considering alternatives I went ahead with it. I glued triangular gussets to the corners of the sail to assure that the tied lines wouldn't pull out. The mainsail was next. To make the reefing lines, I sewed lengths of black thread through the sail, taped the threads on each end of the sail, and secured them with a dot of CA at the reef point. Then I trimmed the lines to length. They hang down nicely. So now I can lay out the whole sail plan, ready for assembly. I'll do as much rigging as possible off the boat, then step the mast and complete the job.

Wow, six weeks gone by and not much to show for it in the model. Other things going on in my life, and a certain amount of inertia with regard to working on the kit. Things are moving a bit better now. I painted the cabin roof, then glued it on. The framework for the hatch was next. Trail boards installed and bowsprit, samson post, and fairleads set in place. (I have since remade the bowsprit in hardwood. The one shown here was made from very soft basswood and did not hold up to drilling.) I re-used the trailboard graphic from Emma C. Berry and added an old-timey rendition of my wife's first and middle names. A few more bits and pieces completed the hull portion of the model. The bowsprit and fairleads are still just set in place for the photo. They won't be installed until needed during rigging. I have made up the spars and some hardware for them (not in the plans) and started on the sails. I'll cover those items in the next post.

All of April has passed with slow progress and some gaps in the photo record. Hull painting is complete and the coaming/cabin is in place, so it seems like a good time to catch up. At this point, the lower molding (1/32" square strip) has been installed and the upper part of the hull, the toe rails, and the cover boards have been painted white. (I finally bought some proper Tamaya masking tape and it's been a huge help.) The rest of the deck has been coated with tinted poly varnish and dulled with fine steel wool. I'm in the process of bending the upper moldings/wales, which I made up from 1/16" square strip sanded to 3/64" in one dimension. I wanted something a bit more substantial than the 1/32" strip in that location. It took about five brushed coats of the Model Shipways white paint to cover the gray primer - that paint doesn't seem to "like" the primer very well. I drew the waterline on the white paint and masked it, installed the rudder, then painted below the waterline with Vallejo Model Colors Cavalry Brown. It goes on smooth and covers well - a pleasure to work with. I masked the lower molding and painted it (touch-up was required), and painted the upper molding before gluing it on. I spent a lot of time on the cockpit and seating. This was the result. The seat and back panel assembly turned out to be a snug friction fit and can easily be removed and replaced. There's no need to glue it in. Since I planked over the deck, and the coaming strips sit on the deck in their middle section, the entire coaming and cabin are raised 3/64". This means the frame that forms the back cabin wall needs to be extended by a like amount. It also gave me the opportunity to install cleats in the deck edges to positively position the coaming as it is shaped and installed. The cleats are made of 1/16"x1/2" strip I had on hand. I soaked the coaming strips, then clamped them in place to dry. The strips are slightly oversize and are meant to be cut to size after they are glued in so they butt. I made a mess of the cutting but was able to patch things up with filler. Here's where things stand now: I will work on the cabin and other items to complete the hull next.

She is now the sail training ship of the Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, Maine, and is regularly used for training cruises - although not quite so far north as before. Digging through the Maine Maritime website, you can find pictorial journals of the extensive work that has been done on her while she's been there - an invaluable resource to me while I was building my Bowdoin. She is also the official sailing vessel of the State of Maine. The book Arctic Schooner Bowdoin, available from BlueJacket, provides a fine history.

I decided to plank the deck before painting the hull, and I'm glad I did. The planking process resulted in some messiness that would have required a lot of rework of the finished hull. I have a large stock of 3/64" basswood left over from Emma C. Berry, mostly 3/16 wide" - perfect for deck planking. Previously, I made cover boards from this wood, soaking and then bending them to shape using the sheet that held the deck as a jig. I glued them on with CA, keeping the outer edge even with the side of the hull as much as possible. I made a separate piece for the stern, allowing it to overhang the transom slightly. I made a king plank from 3/8" wide stock and made sure it was perfectly centered on the centerline I had drawn before the deck was installed. I then worked out from the king plank with 3/16" strips, using mostly carpenters glue with a dab of CA at one end of the plank to keep it tight to its neighbor where needed. I did the same for the center section of the deck and the aft section, working out from the centerline. To my astonishment and delight, the planks that unite the three sections lined up perfectly with the outer edges of each section. A couple more planks completed the job. I'm in the process of filling the small gaps with glue and sawdust, then I'll finish the deck with tinted polyurethane, scrubbed with steel wool. I'm also scoping out the work to be done in the cockpit area. The cockpit floor is sort of odd in that it doesn't extend out to the hull - seems like a hazard - but that's the size the floor piece was and I didn't think it through. Some of that will be covered by the bench.

Thanks all for the likes and for looking in. Sanding and filling continued for a bit longer. The polyurethane did harden up the balsa and it sanded well. I got to the point where I was ready for a trial coat of primer. Smearing the filler over the balsa block did a pretty good job of hiding the grain once I sanded again. Here, I've done more work on the joints between the planks and filler blocks. I've also glued on the stem, and added a surround for the centerboard. This isn't in the plans and may have nothing to do with reality, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. It's supposed to represent the bottom of the centerboard trunk. I glued in the centerboard and sprayed the final (I hope) coats of primer. I am pretty pleased with the hull. It is better than the planked hulls I've done, admittedly not a high bar to clear. I may need to touch up a few spots with filler before top coating. I also made up mounting pins and a temporary base, to facilitate marking the waterline. Next up: painting the hull, or planking the deck. I need to think about which to do first.

With the hull sanded, it was time to fit and shape the balsa bow filler blocks. This turned out to be easier than I thought it would be. I quickly carved away most of the block with the XActo, then sanded out the rest. Here, one has been shaped: It only took under an hour to do both sides. There are some inevitable seams that need to be filled: So the cycle of sand, fill, repeat begins. I read in another topic that the balsa can be hardened with polyurethane varnish so that it sands at the same rate as the adjoining basswood - I'll do that after I've sanded out the second application of filler.