Keith Black

Glen, I'm pretty sure that's the motto for the majority of us. You're doing excellent work, keep the faith.

Lovely, Craig. A ship's cat isn't something that I had considered for my current project but now that you mention it.

Thank you, Eric. I knew the vertical doors was an option but I'm trying to stay as close to the photo of Lula as possible. From the moment I first saw the photo of Lula I fell in love with her. Remember my excitement when I sent you a PM of her photo? Vertical doors wouldn't look like Lula plus it would make it almost impossible to display the fire bucket boxes. Other than white there's very little color on Lula. The red fire buckets is a much needed splash along with the port and starboard running light boards. The original Lula doesn't show running lights but I'll add them forward of the pilothouse on the ship's boat deck.

The doors are glued in, Eberhard. I thought about leaving them totally open or partially open but in the end decided that leaving them shut told a better story. Thank you, Paul. In essence I'm doing as you suggested. The stairways will now be forward of the pilothouse leading up to the walkway instead of the originally planned aft of the pilothouse adjacent to the walkway.

Thank you kind folks for your support with your kind comments and likes. Lula's finally getting some structure added. I've gotten the engine room and head made. Nothing is glued down yet as I still need to add trim, ceiling/ floor joist, the step down deck for the ship's boat storage, and paint. Typical marine engine room, engines shoehorned into half the space of what's actually needed. The engine room is so cramped I've added maintenance doors on both the starboard and port side outer walls. It seems like it has taken forever to get to the point. I think it's because the pile driver's build went so fast I got spoiled. Once the ceiling and the step down deck is added, very little of the engines will be seen. I'm considering this option for placing the pump. It doesn't give me that much extra space fore to aft but it does increase the space available to either side. And that's needed as I need to run the stairways to the pilothouse up in front of the short walls on either side of the opening to the engine room. Unfortunately I won't be able to run the stairways as they are in the photo of Lula. Because of the added steam engines I had to increase the engine room width from 16 feet to 18 feet and there's no way staircases will fit on the engine room's outside walls. Adding the fire bucket boxes is gonna be sketchy as is. I'm pretty disappointed about not being able to run the stairs as in Lula's photo, I think they're a large part of Lula's charm. A huge thank you to everyone for being part of the journey. Keith

Since my early youth I wanted to write songs and verse, short stories and the great American novel. I wanted to drink strong black coffee, smoke cigarettes, and woo long straight black haired young women. I wanted to stay up all night listening to a sad guitar............and that was when I was in the 5th grade!

Bob, you can't go wrong following this man's build log. It's one of the better MSW build logs and it's real close to Astrolabe's time frame.

Welp, that be mine.......... you're giving your heart to this project for the benefit of the builder's family. Your work is beautiful, above and beyond and instead of my normal praise I felt I needed to give you something from my heart in appreciation for what you're doing.

Jacques, you can try soaking the dent with hot water, maybe it will swell back into its original shape. I'm learning to embrace the imperfections in my work and try using them to tell a more honest story.

Good to see a post from you, Mark.

Meant only to stay awhile and stay awhile he did made taunt the lines a thousand times and found places where the tangles hid. Moved from aft to fore in search of the perfect tye at day's end, knots and lines a thousand times till silhouettes of lovely stays filled the evening sky.

Thank you, Gary. I wish I'd done a dredger first and used that build as a learning experience before starting Lula as Lula is much more important to me than a dredger. Thank you, Lynn. Glad to see you had a good time in Florida, good to see you're safely home.

John, that's so neat and that you're at the helm of her restoration has got to be a gratifying experience. Good on ya mate.

Gary, you are the renaissance man of modeling. Amazing 3D parts.

Silo by all means on Apple. Elementary on Amazon and Leo's Tally Ho restoration on YouTube. I've got tons more but those will get you through a couple of days.

I agree with Vossie, Lynn. Use CA sparingly, I use CA almost exclusively but I apply it with a homemade needle applicator. It's just a beading needle stuck in the end of a coffee stir stick. Soak what you've done in acetone (or fingernail polish remover) and get it all cleaned up. You can run the correct size small drill through the deadeye holes to open them up.

Voss, we get Apple TV, BritBox, Amazon Prime, Max and free YouTube. Do you subscribe to any of those?

What a drag, Vossie. At least you know the reason for the pain and you're getting treatment. I can recommend some binge worthy TV shows/series if needed.

Gorgeous hull, Keith. As close to perfection as can be found in this world.

Steve, the brass and natural wood is a good look. Whatever you use to preserve the shiny brass make sure the process is easily reversible. That way in fifty years a good cleaning won't be a taffy pulling contest.

Instead of a place where folks were trying to sell stuff they no longer wanted or had room for, eBay became a site where folks were trying to make a living. There are still items that come up for sale that are a bargain but you're right, Chris, prices for the most part have become pretty stupid.

Chris, I know nothing of the seller but what's stated by eBay, they have a 100% rating after 91 sales. Say what you will about eBay, they do take their seller's ratings seriously. I'm not as active on eBay as I once was because you can only stuff so much in a five pound bag. Twenty five years ago or there bouts we purchased five cars off eBay and to date we have almost 500 purchases. I trust eBay because we've always had positive experiences, others may feel differently. Follow the old adage, buyer beware.

Fantastic engines, LJP. The Crawfords mechanicals are a delight.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/235012417789

Beautiful work, Craig. When finished she's gonna be a real looker.