lmagna

the gun deck looks very good Mark.......so good to see you've been able to devote quite a bit of time to her   that means Janet is doing better....glad to hear it!  you and Janet deserve to enjoy some good days     I forget which one......but one of my projects has some 2 mm blocks,,,,never done them that small {should be a hoot}!  sounds like you have other things to make.........take a break from them for the moment.  you rigged the breech ropes on all the gun deck cannons so far...consider it phase 1  

Scharnhorst issue 39
 

 
A big step ahead. We get to plank the entire third hull section. With about 110 strips layed down in the last two issues next weeks intermission is going to be quite welcome.

Hi Mark
Probably a pretty dumb suggestion as I have never in my life worked with tackle as small as this and therefore it is kind of like the student talking to the Sensei.
 
Would it be possible to pin the blocks to a flat surface like a bug collection with pins to hold them until you are able to secure the outer rope and hooks? Then you could hold them with a third hand type of tool by the secured lines and run the pulley ropes through them until they are fully rigged.
 
I am almost certain that there is something that probably prevents this method from working but I thought I would throw it out there anyway just in case.  

Hi Mark
 
At last you are really getting some shipyard time in, and the results are starting to show! Great progress and workmanship.
 
Lou

Thanks mate,   yep thats what I thought   I  didn't want any sailors putting insurance claims in against the captain.
 
OC.

I find when working on the fine details that I need a lot more breaks for the old Mark 1, Mod 1 eyeballs (me wearing glasses). I try to stop before I get cross-eyed. And no such thing as too much light. The bench lighting even gets augmented with a quartz halogen floor lamp aka mini-sun.

Not sure if you are set on the b.b's or not but could you use ball bearings? They would be easier i think since you could just use an etching solution or salt water and elecric current (wich i fimd to work well when etching steel).
  Auggie

Amazon lists it.

For copper, use liver of sulphur.   EdT, uses it extensively on his clipper scratch build.

looking good Dave    yea.......that's one of the problems with modifying....the project takes longer.  it all depends how much is done and whether everything goes well.   I'd really like to put both the Connie and the United States on the table........but there I go....off on a commitment that might take the rest of my life to do   
    don't give up on the spar deck idea though........that's gonna look awesome!   

I ran into some trouble with the frame on the forward spar deck..it is too weak at the joints. So I am going to have to strengthen these bonds. I will use the mill to groove the underside of the joints and use wire or plastic and glue into the groove. We will see if that helps.
 
I glued the aft section of the spar deck but that also required a fix in regards to the "U" channels I glued to block light transmission. They raised the deck and also had to be milled out to allow a proper fit.
 
I think I am going to quit kit bashing after these modifications are perfected. My build is moving at a tectonic slow speed. With the exception of the shrouds, ratlines, and spar deck gun rigging the rest of this build will, by necessity, be by the book Revell.
 
I will get some pics up to show this description a little better at next post.

Cheers Guys, 
 
Post 24
The first planking Belt - Preparation
I intend to follow Chuck's methods as closely as I can from this point on.
So it's tick strips and pinstripe tape to try and get somewhere, anywhere,  close to Chuck's example.
 Eight additional 3/16" wide strips required for this first belt at the centre.
Simple enough to determine the limit of the eight strakes  below those already fitted at the centre bulkhead using the tick strip.  

7782
The stern position at the square tuck is easy to see.

7784
Counting down on the plan the first belt seems to terminate  around the stem scarph joint at the bow.

7780
A tricky business getting the tape on, bally stuff was very reluctant to stay put and getting a nice run of tape along the hull took some time.

7777
Hopefully I've got it right. 

7786
With the reference stations marked it's onto the tedious business of making up the tick strips for the rest of the bulkheads.

7789
For this job Cheerful is transferred to its low support base, easier on the arms and the eyes.
 
B.E.
11/04/2018
 
 

thanks Pat......the color is close........just couldn't get the speckles in there      I did the next to the last step.......putting them in place in the trays.   I got the effect I was looking for   


I put the scissors to the hair net........trimming here......trimming there......    I still need to make it a little smaller,  but this is fairly close to the shape of the net.  as I'm cutting it,  the net is sticking to me.........rough hands getting caught in the frays.

after cutting it down a bit more.........it was laid in place.   I can't really glue it,  so if this doesn't look right,  I can change it.    be honest now.....and let me know what you think.......

I spent the last couple of weeks play'in with the Tumbl'in Dice.   meanwhile,  this poor build sits on the fence patiently.  gotta put the finish on it    well.....last night,  while browsing the site,  I finished trimming the rest of the fish.   ready for paint........

they were arranged on a piece of tape,  to be painted.  then I did the water test on the tulle and the model shipways netting.   the model shipways netting didn't do so well.....maintained it's shape and didn't crumple as well.   the tulle fared out a little better.......

....I still gravitated to the ratty hairnet though....I like the looks of it.

before painting.........I looked up to see what cod looked like

they were painted an olive green......given a flat white under belly........and then dry brushed over with chestnut brown.

good enough I think..........

I know it's a pain but I have to agree with Kevin. I am quite sure you will manage it.

OK........I had put them in my oops bag.   I needed to split one apart,  but I didn't have to do anything about that.........one already did.   they need to go in opposite directions.   taking the intact one,  I did some fitting to see what I can do to get them right.   Hugh was correct in his assumption,  that the stairs fall short of their goal.   they need one more step.   I drew the part needed on two different thicknesses of wood,  to be cemented together to equal the thickness of the kit steps.
 
it's a beginning   

There were two types of early "anti-fouling" type coatings used below the water line: White Stuff and Black Stuff. The White Stuff was used in colder waters, the Black Stuff in tropical climes. The Black Stuff was a dark brown to black color the White Stuff was an off white.
 
Vallejo Ivory 70918 in the Model Color line is suposted to be a good match for White Stuff.

nawwww...that's when you go well beyond the step,  forgetting to do it      you've made some really nice progress,,,,very nice!   

I believe they have a cover for the hatch when the capstan is in use anyway.   good thinking   

DUM DUM DE DUM, DA DE DA DA DA DA DA!!!! (Need sound) 
 
Lou

OK it’s time to decide …and I have
 
·         Here is a photo of a 1800 Virginia pilot schooner kit I made a few  years ago.  It was fun and a good kit to learn a few things.   The wood was good quality and despite my amateur errors looks good.  It could have been painted out, but I left it natural.   
 
back to Halifax pre HMS navy chnages..
 
I took off the shellac some more and felt there was little purpose.   Even the pear wood is not beautiful.  So……..
·         I have put on about 5 coats of ivory.  I have taped one side of the wales and plan to paint them black
·         Looking closer we seem to keep the planking look. The shellac did a nice job of filling the gaps not up flush as a paste filler would have done.
·         Our roses are in place so a little filler here is needed
·         Here is the first coat of black. I did this for a look see and if I did not like it , the acrylic comes right off.    During this time, I used a scalpel to scrape all the shellac off the pear and walnut planking.
·         I also started playing with the transom paint.
·         Here one can see the result of patient scraping get off the shellac.  I must say I agree with e advice that using the shellac gave a good infill that looks brown/black for pitch.  Before finishing, the pear is nicely ‘yellow’ tinted so my decision is to keep going with natural topsides.
·         Here I have applied glazing putty.  I also cleaned up the fore deck rail [ 5 laminated planks had some rough edges] and a few pin holes in the cap rail that sanding did not completely sand out.
·         Here is coat one of rub on poly.  The pear and walnut become much closer but with the black wales I am OK with the look.  I imagine a lesson learned is that to get the better planking wood , we need to get our favorite suppliers to substitute what comes in the box. I don't complain too loudly as i my have contributed.   I believe the black markings in the wood came while planks soaked in ammonia water softening for bending. Kind of like getting those dark water spots out of a real Sitka mast or boom after years of ware.
·         When including the contrast of the top side inner bulkhead, a mystery wood I had in the shop, and the light decking, it is time to stop thinking and move forward.
·         Here I have gone back and repainted the black after another coat of poly. 
·         With this view I am moving forward.   I am sure through the process another coat or two will be needed.
Cheers

This update includes a few miscellaneous items as I move along thinking about direction in making this packet schooner.
 
First of all another mistake.   A few postings ago I went through drawings and showed there was no dropped bulk head from fore deck to main deck on the Harold Hahn diorama shot of other schooners. I decided to add back in at the early stage as it is always easier to remove parts later……..I added in both structure and planking…oops.   Rereading Chapelle, I find before and after views of Halifax.   This dropping of the bulk head was not a change made by the navy on the original schooner.  They simply added the gun ports. [ I won't] Looking again through several images I also found for the most part the schooners did have a dropped rail at the main deck.
·         Here we are with nice long shear and rail…..the laminated rail on the foredeck is higher and it is just wrong.  See the two saw marks as I start the fix.
·         I have dropped the bulkhead one plank and am regluing the rail
·         Here I am experimenting with the sculpy approach to making the nice little roses for the rail transition. I used a 3/16 brass tube with a 5/32 bar inside to extrude sculpy and razor off.  I will glue two back to back after cooking
·         Here they are glued in place.
·         Now lets make a mock up tiller and see how the rudder fits
·         Here we see the mock up tiller and the build up of the transom with walnut to cover the metal.  FYI the tiller broke at a bend.  The pin was too sharp I guess and weakened the wood.
·         Note the side rails are too high as discussed before as the lowest wale is mis designed [ too high]  in this kit.  This shall be the test. Setting a board in place I feel it is ok to continue.  Though I may rename the ship the mamoli . I think the bowling ball size bead is a bit big for our tiller. Also I need to leanr to make figures as this guy is definitely not 18th century
  
·         Here the transom is in place and the walnut planking around it.  I need to paint the windows out black and then think about mullions. I like to use pins [ wire] The kit gave me cute blue infills decals with red mullions….no thanks.   
 
Next I need to get off the shellac and decide on the hull finishes
 
Cheers

thanks for the confidence    work week's over now,  so I can take another stab at the stairs.  sad part is I used Ca on them,  so it might be hard to salvage them.
    we'll see what a fresh perspective can do.
 
thanks for the kind word....and all the likes!   

Hi Mark -
 
Yes, working with very small blocks is tedious, but I have developed some techniques that have simplified the process for me.  Here is a quick overview of the one that I use the most.  I hope that it can give you some ideas for your own work:
 
The central concept is that the stropping line is always under tension until the stropping is complete.  To do this, I took a Helping Hands tool and added a small alligator clip and a light spring to one of the tool's end clips, the left one in my case because I am right handed.  The selected stropping line is wrapped around three sides of the block and clipped into the stationary jaws on the right, with the tails held firmly in the spring clip (a).  The selected serving line (always smaller than the stropping line) is looped or tied around the strop tails (b), then wound tightly up towards the block, forming a nicely tapered siezing (c).  This is glued with your favorite glue and left to dry.

 
Once the glue is dry the extra seizing line is snipped off and the block is released.  At this point it has two tails, making it suitable for tying the block to a spar or other rigging point (a).  If the block is going to be at the end of a pendant or other similar location, one of the tails is cut off very close to the seizing and a loop is seized into the end of the tail in a similar manner (b).  This technique works for me from the largest down to really small blocks.  In photo (c) the block on the left is a 7mm triple; the middle is a 4mm single which is the one in the photos, and on the right is a 2mm single.  The technique is the same, just the choice of stropping and seizing line changes.  The smallest block is seized with fly tying thread, which is about the smallest that my old hands and eyes can still work with.  On that note, an added benefit is that with the tails on it is much harder for the block to get itself lost when I am opening up the sheave holes.

 
Of course there is more - seizing in hooks or eyebolts to the blocks, double stropping, etc.  but you get the idea, I am sure.  You can probably think of some improvements.
 
Hope that helps a bit.
 
Dan

Hi Mark
Probably a pretty dumb suggestion as I have never in my life worked with tackle as small as this and therefore it is kind of like the student talking to the Sensei.
 
Would it be possible to pin the blocks to a flat surface like a bug collection with pins to hold them until you are able to secure the outer rope and hooks? Then you could hold them with a third hand type of tool by the secured lines and run the pulley ropes through them until they are fully rigged.
 
I am almost certain that there is something that probably prevents this method from working but I thought I would throw it out there anyway just in case.