Keith Black

First, you're working at 1:144 scale which is slightly smaller than the 1:120 scale I work in. Welcome to the club! Yes, pieces parts are iddy biddy. I bet you won't be tying clove hitches as you normally do. Speaking of clove hitches, I'm three days late to the party and you're already talking about clove hitches. Only about one fifth of Billy's paddles are underwater as Billy is a waterline model where as your Harriet Lane is a full hull model.

I told ya Bob loves clove hitches.

I was born in Dallas, grew up in Arlington, and for time I lived in Ft Worth after getting out of the Marine Corp. After moving back to Texas from Alaska we lived in Dallas. When I would travel to Ft Worth from Dallas upon crossing 820 I could feel a palatable difference in the air, so much more relaxed. I enjoyed some great dinning down at the stockyards. But alas, IT'S TOO DANG HOT!

WW, welcome to MSW. Some great memories of Ft Worth, you're probably too young to remember "The Cellar". Glad to have you aboard.

Nicely done detail work, Harvey. 👍

I'm amazed as always.

That's way cool that you and Vicky got to visit aboard Argonaut II. I love the sound of her Gardner and watching Nick fire her off is a trip. Argonaut II is supposed to be coming out of the water in Port Townsend for major hull work. Pete Stein will be the lead shipwright with Patrick (worked on Tally Ho) will also be working with Pete on the hull. I thought she would have been pulled by now, I keep checking for YouTube updates but nada so far. I'm positive Twilight would have fit right in.

That had to have been a chilling moment, Rick. Wow.

BC, welcome to MSW. Glad to have you aboard.

The finished name board on my model of Billy is 1/64" birch ply so it really doesn't matter how Billy's original name board was constructed as I won't be trying to replicate the wrinkles/bubbles. It's purely the opinion of each individual viewer and each opinion is as good as the other. Go ahead, yuck it up, Roel. Making the wheels will be like making butterfly wings but that task is much less daunting in my mind than making the arches. The arches have me pretty intimidated right at this moment but I need to commit or be committed.

Thank you, much appreciated, Bob.

I'm very impressed with the views watching Nick's Argonaut II adventures on YouTube. If I had life to do over again.......

Tom, welcome to MSW. Swell looking dory, glad to have you aboard.

My thoughts are with you, Tom.

Congratulations on the brief but successful sea trail, Craig. That's a stunning image.

Thank you kindly, Geordie.

Thank you so very much, Tom. Brother, I've missed seeing you about, I hope all is well.

Thank you very much, John. Thank you for the suggestion, Steve. Thank you, Rick.

Glad to have you back with us, Don.

Thank you to everyone for the likes, for your helpful suggestions, and for your patience during the name board discussions. Name board 1.0 Name board 2.0. Lettering was washed with heavy watered down white paint. And finally name board 3.0. The letters are hand painted with acrylic craft paint. I know there are thousands upon thousands upon thousands of folks that can do ten times better than I on this lettering on the name board but this is the best I can do. I'm done trying to do any better, I'm calling it done with 3.0, no mas. Please believe me when I say this looks a lot better at normal viewing distance than in a close up photo. The penny for size comparison. Most of the lower case letters are 0.10" high, some a bit smaller. Enough procrastination, on to the arches. Again, thank you for your patience, your support, and for being part of the journey Keith

Thank you for posting, Julie. I always enjoy your post. Eric, I think it's painted canvas stretched over board but I could be wrong. I've been wrong so many times lately I've lost count. I can't imagine trying to hand letter on silk span, Tom. Nicely magnified image. That proud wooden border is what I think are tack strips, Tom. Thank you for the suggestion, Harvey.

Congratulations, Bob. Your Pegasus build is your best so far. I look forward to your next journey.

Glad to see you've pulled up a chair, Kurt. Your vast experience and input is very much appreciated. After viewing countless times under heavy magnification I'm certain that the lettering was done on canvas, you can see the tack strips on the edges of the name board. Thank you for the idea, Tom but i'm going freehand lettering and let the devil take the hindquarter.

Thank you, Paul. Yes, the L's need to be heavier at the bottom. Thank you for the sage advice, John. I went to a serif font generator and Pittsburgh, Pa. is different than the lettering on Billy's name board. The ending "a" in the abbreviation Pa. is a lower case "a" not a small capital "A" https://www.namecheap.com/visual/font-generator/sans-serif/ Yes, the lettering was painted on canvas and badly stretched over horizontally run boards. Absolutely, Phil. What is the goal? If I use printed letters it's not going to look like the letters on the name board I don't care if the "a" was the same because the lettering will look manufactured, not hand painted. Right now I'm close. The letters need to be darker and some adjustments made as Paul suggested. I am not going to use the dry transfer letters I have coming, they'll go in my stash. Once the name board is done it needs to be able to have acrylic paint applied and not be adversely affected. The goal, IMHO, is to not only try and build as close to an exact replication as possible but to also capture the spirit of the subject. I think that lettering done by hand will far better capture the spirit of the name board than printed lettering, IMHO. The trick is, for me being one who is lettering impaired, to be able to make the lettering acceptable. A little secret, sad as it is, this is the best copying of lettering I've ever done. In the end of this project I'd like to be able to say, "yeah, I did that lettering myself" Please forgive this little distraction as I'm stalling building the arches. I keep running the best options through my three cell computer before committing to a course of action.

Thank you, Tom. It's just not 'there' yet, you know what I mean.