canoe21

thanks to everyone for the kind word,  and for those who hit the like button.   besides a few eye bolts here and there......the mast is pretty much done.   now I can give it a coat of paint.......make 'er pretty,  and then cement it into place.  well.......I haven't cemented it in just yet.....but,  I did give it a coat of paint.   as for the hold.........it can stay white.
 

 

 

 
I was thinking of some smaller reels.........rigging the booms....etc.   I have these small spools.......they might do the trick with a little modification.
 

 
here's where it gets funny..........I stuck 'em on my dremel,  using a wooden dowel that they fit really snug on.......
 

 
turn the dremel on...........and boy!.....do those things go flying!  I had the admiral ducking for cover!       after a couple of times.......I saw that it wasn't going to fly {figuratively speaking,  of course}........so I swapped the dowel over to a brass rod about the same diameter.  there was too much free play,  so I used scotch tape to take up the slack and make them fit snugly on the shaft.  
I should mention why in the world,  I would want to do this.    the center part of the spool isn't very deep....to wrap thread around it would fill the indention and leave nothing for another layer of thread.   the spool would look over full and run over the sides.    to make the depth a bit deeper,  I can layer the thread and it will look a lot better.........like I have done to this first one.
 

 
I made a couple of others........I dunno.......they look kinda sloppy.   painted,  in a rack....wound with thread....some of the weird stuff might not be seen.  up against a bulkhead or bulwark......might deter from them even more.......   we'll see what else I can come up with  
 

 
thank again all........I'll post more as things develop  
 
 
 
 

thanks a lot piet.........I had a wonderful day!  
 
I found that I had these pictures of the hold and what I did to it.    with the changes the mast made,  it was impossible to leave it the way I originally made it.   it needed a little modification......
 

 
I had to give it a bottom,  to make it strong enough for the operation.........I pretty much cut the top off and leveled it out.
 

 
the top was an oversize square of flat stock.........cemented in a box frame to assemble it to the hold,  and then cement on some molding around it.   I painted it flat white.......but I'm thinking better of it......the inner bulwarks and bulkheads are a light gray.   I may change it.
 

 

Happy belated birthday Dennis and very nice work on the ladder and railing.
 
Cheers,

the mast is close to being done.   seeing how other folks assemble their masts  {Kees}.....I saw a lot of good aspects ,  that normally I wouldn't do.   .........a lot of neglected detail  
 
thanks for the belated birthday wish Pat.......and yes Patrick......I had a great day yesterday     it was further emphasized by reading all the PM's and posts I got.....I have such great friends in the community,  and many of them  
 
After putting on that third strap.....I began to set up for adding the railing around the top.   silly me had put everything away,  and I had to set things right back up at my desk.  did I actually think I was going to get away that easily?   I was simply going to use CA to assemble the railing.......but in looking at the ladder,  the railing should be a piece of cake.   more practice time too    the good thing was I didn't need the board.....yea!!!!!  I don't have to reach for the back of my desk for the mouse!!!
 
I have some one rail 15 mm stanchions.....might look too open up there,  so I went for the three rail 15 mm stanchions.   the holes were pre drilled,  so I'd know how many I needed.   I still have the aft section to do.   the first part:
 

 
here's what the ladder looks like with the three straps.
 

 
I used the vise to bend the railings to do the second part of it.   it was used again to do the third part,  which has three partitions {across the front}.  it needed to be curved to follow the shape of the top.   the railing was soldered in place on the top.......I had messed it up at one point,  making an adjustment.  I wasn't going to have it happen again.
 

 

 
during this task......two of the light brackets became loose.   I tried to be extra careful.   it was at this time that my older son and his four kids came over......so work ground to a halt!   it was a nice visit.......my oldest grandson,   Chase,  stuck to me like glue.  he loves the boats.......especially the lobster boat I was very watchful that they didn't get too cozy with the table......being real poor at being child proof.   soon,  it was time to say good bye.......{they got to have ice cream and cake too}........and with that,  I got back to work.   the fourth and fifth sections were done.
 

 
it was trim and file the ends of the railing {s} at the ladder........and it was then cemented in place.   the mast was placed on deck to see how it looked.
 

 

 
.....and then the camera died.   so,  while it is being recharged.......I'll be thinking of what to do next.
 
 

all is perfectly well Patrick     had some pizza and beer......followed with some cake and ice cream.......I'm feel'in like Hoss cartright right now    I didn't get much further,  I'm afraid.........I added another strap to the ladder and was in the process of installing the railing,  when company came over.
 
I hope to resume tomorrow  
 
thanks for the kind comment and the likes all.  
 
 
oh.........I almost forgot the cake!
 

and so....the ladder is complete.   it's not quite as good as I would like.......but now that I see it on the model,  it's good enough.   this morning,  I removed it from the board and straightened the eyelets that I had bent into the top end of the uprights.   knowing that the cutter would send the trimmings flying,  I perched the waste basket between my legs and pointed them into it.   quite a few of them went through the bag!   when I was making these small pieces for the rungs,  I would capture the length of wire between my fingers and snip the wire.   doing this for a time,  my grip became limp,  and with a snip,  sent one of them into my finger like an arrow!   talk about bleed.......
       that was my only incident though.......so that was a good thing       anyway.......once all that was done,   I did some sanding and filing to knock down all the nubs
 

 
while this was going on,  some would come loose.   in soldering them back on,  I robbed the excess solder from some of the gobs,  and made them look a bit better.   filing should take care of the rest.
 

 
again,  I went into that little container of all the punch outs that can be had from kits.  I save them and use them for a variety of things.   I took a couple small circle.....cut and sanded them to {or about} the same thickness......I needed three of them.
     these are to be the mounting plates for the mast lights.   they were cemented to the light brackets on the mast.
 

 
curving the uprights at the top......I was able to locate and drill the holes in the backside of the top,  to locate the ladder in place.   I drilled four holes down the mast and fitted pins that will secure the ladder to the mast.
 

 

 
somehow.......I wasn't pleased with it.   OK to be secure,  but what about side to side movement.   I then got the idea about the strapping.........wrapping it around the mast,  and attaching it to each side of the ladder.   so,  I cut some thin strips of brass and did just that.   I have two on there now,  and it seems pretty solid........I may add a third one further up the ladder  {I'll need a longer strip I think}.
 

 

 

 
I want to put a few more brackets under the top.   then add the railing around it.....should be ready for paint by then.  it will make the ladder look better.......I did a lot of filing between the rungs.......the shiny solder hides it at the moment  
 
back to work!

as mentioned earlier........good suggestion about the flux,  in the event that the welding wire has some sort of coating on it.
 
I used a Q-tip to swab the wire with flux.   I believe the wire changed hue a little bit there.   it may have been the case,  because it went a bit better after that.   I still had some trouble with the heat transfer loosening up the closest rung....I had to keep going back over them.  it turned out to be a good thing though,  since it picked some of the excess solder along the way.
 

 
at this point,  I measured it with the ruler... 6 3/4........getting close to the 8 inch mark.  I counted the rungs......I was curious.
     it felt like more than that.   is this one of those thankless repetitive tasks I hear tell about?
 

 
the solderings are getting better..........with a little filing,  it should look OK.
 

 
finally.........I made it!   I even gave it a little more....just in case  
 

 
might be hard to see.........8 1/2!   not for the sizing and clean up!

OK........I did say I'd try and show you what I'm doing for this ladder.   the welding wire is stretched out on the board,  the spreader is set up with pins,  to keep the width of the wire even all the way down.   I need the ladder to be around 8 inches long.....the longest ladder I've ever done.   I liked some of the results from my experiments.....but there is one method I haven't tried yet....solder.   I take that back.........I did try it and I failed........I will attempt it again.  so I've soldered around five or six rungs at this time...........seems every time I start,  something comes up......GRRRRRR?!?!?!?!
 

 

 
looks kind of gaudy to me....which is what I encountered the last time I tried this.   here is the spreader......set up and doing the job.......I may have to adjust it from time to time.
 

 
I have both means to solder.....this one allows me to do this in the house.   the other one will no doubt set off the fire alarms....he..he  {second floor does it all the time.....she's a bad cook!}.  I've had this soldering iron for quite some time.....I should try out the new one I found.......yepper.....found
 

 
I'm using light electronics solder to do this.........I'm wondering if a flame would lessen the amount of solder.   I'm trying to use as little as I can.  should I also sort of paint the wire with the flux before soldering,  instead of just dipping the tip of the iron in it?   there is a rosen core in the soldering wire,  but probably not enough for the application i'm using it for.
 

I made a bit more progress with the mast.   there more to go,  bu I gave it some frame work.
 

 
 
then....if you remember,  I made a mention about a ladder,  if I went this route in adding the top.   rather than try making one out of wood.........I'm going to try and solder something together.   the welding wire is very stiff.....took like forever to get straight.   I made up a jig to do this on...............making eyelets on the ends of both wires,  they are fastened to the board with push pins.   there is another piece of wood that has pins in it,  to insure the width of the wire and to hold it steady while I solder the rungs on.   the rungs will be held in place by other longer pins.   this will be a long ladder,  so it might take a while.
 

 
I'll try and show you what it will look like.........I have a few done already.

I started to play around with the mast........fairly sure there will be a mizzen.   I began to taper it,  but I'm thinking of adding a top to the first step........that's going to mean......yes,  another ladder.  I've also done some work towards a roof on the helm room.   as I suspected,  it will definitely kill the light,  but I will add a few more bits of detail to it anyway.
 

 
 
I should have more on her soon.

Many thanks to both of you Grant and Lawrence,
for your nice comliments, much appreciated....
 
Nils

Update
 
some of the aft vents, aft boats-deck floor, and outcuts for the aft stairs.....
 
Nils
 

 
 

 
 

 
some of the Dremel bits have 3 mm shafts, (here used as place holders, for vent tube centering...)
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Nils and Bob - very true words!

It seem like I'm always trying to figure out how to wiggle through all the parts I've installed in order to mount something I forgot.
 
Bob

that's to be expected......these ships have quite a few sub assemblies.  no two of that,  and three of those with these babies!  thank the good lord,  you have the other part of the build to think about,  to keep you from getting a mind cramp during the mass production     that's scratch building to a tee......your the designer.   I've painted myself in a corner a few times.......don't like the feeling either     your careful planning is paying off greatly....it quite a ship!
 
every once in a while......one gets a peek into the interior of  the model.  to cross section the model,  one would see the construction,  and what it's taken to arrive at the model we see.   there's a lot of wood there     the metal detail is fantastic!

These are showing her with the wales complete and with two coats of paint. Probably three more coats of paint and some touch ups on the hull and I will be able to finally start the planking of the deck and all it's furniture.
 
Take Care

Normally waking up to this would have made me sick......but now I am retired so what this means now is more boat building   . I am fairly sure yard work is done for the season so the shipyard will be in full swing now, hopefully.
 I have been fairly busy working on the Trabaccolo although what I have to show does not really show it. I have installed all the wales on both sides and have now started to paint the lower ones. The wales were two strakes of 1.5 x 5 mm(grey) and then 3 strakes of .5 x 5 mm(blue).
 The first two strakes of 1.5 mm went on with little problems, the .5 mm strakes required me to do some spiling at the stern and some minor tapering at the bow on the last strake.
 

 
 The procedure for spiling was to apply tape on top of last strake, trace outline on tape, apply tape to card stock and cut out, then trace outline on veneer and cut with scroll saw. Tape was added to veneer to prevent splintering. I trimmed excess using drum sander on mill, the use of the clip is very helpful when sanding .5 mm stock, it helps prevent it from bending and twisting. Final shaping was done by hand. There was a total of six spiled planks

I just noticed there are no pictures of the rubbing strake installed so here are some pictures, the painting has just begun with four coats of grey so far and three coats of the blueish black.
 

 
 The paint is just cheap acrylic paint from Michaels, the grey is steel grey and the blue/black is a mixture of midnight blue and black. These are the brushes I used, also from Michaels. I didn't bother to mask as I am not very good at that so there are a couple of little touch ups to be done. The grey still needs a couple of coats and the blue will probably need another 4 or 5 coats

Good morning all, it's been some time now and I don't really have much to show for it. I'm really not sure how my time has been used as of late but production is very slow in the shipyard, hopefully this will change as the weather cools off.
 Since last time I have finished the planking, added the scupper plank upper wale and the rubbing strake
 

 
Here I have marked and measured the scupper openings then cut them out using a 2 mm bit on my mill. As  you can see I just made up a little table for the mill added a fence then just cut the openings free hand. This is so much easier cutting in the scuppers off the ship, good design by MarisStella
 

 
Clamping and the end result
 

 
Shaping the top . 
 
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Building up the bow
 

 
 Here the bow is being shaped and the final planks for the upper wale installed. It was at this point I ran into a little snag.....the upper wale plank was supposed to be .5 mm thick and I installed 1.5 mm thick pieces   . I was thankful that I used not only ca but also weldbond to glue these pieces on so no one method would get the pieces off without major damage . Next option was to sand off 1mm of the strake so, when I finally found my happy face, the sanding begun using a dremel. I suppose I was smiling so much I could not see that I sanded right through it in one spot thus requiring me to glue another piece on in this spot and do some more sanding......by hand.
 The good part of all of this is I live in the country with no neighbours close by to hear my "sounds of joy" and my dog has finally returned home. The pictures show the plank before sanding
 Next step is painting the rubbing strake and upper wale and the space in between them(not sure of the name for this area) I have begun this I will have some updates hopefully soon.
 
 Take Care and Thanks for stopping by

Hello all, Thanks for stopping and adding your likes and comments it's always a good thing.
 Since last I have finally finished the lower planking, all went good and I was happy with the results. Then things went a little south on me as I decided to stain her and applied a couple coats of wipe on poly. You can see the results below, after looking at her for sometime I decided it was too dark and sanded it all off. After approx 8-10 hours later the pictures show what I am staying with, yup, a natural finish. This is not the normal way to finish a hull but it does end in a real smooth hull . After sanding with four different grades of sandpaper ( up to 320) I applied one coat of wipe on poly. I applied this with a brush, I know it's wipe on, then sanded in a circular motion with 600 grit until almost dry and starting to ball up then wiped off with a clean rag. I found this method really helps filling the small gaps in and leaves a great finish. This part of the procedure I would repeat again the first part I think is kind of a waste of time    and will not recommend to be used
 
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 Until next time

Thanks everyone for stopping in and for your comments and likes. I have a few pictures of my progress I thought I would show.
 
These first pictures are showing the making and installing of a stealer at the bow. There are two at the bow, one on either side, and the same at the stern.
 

 
These next pictures are making the last two planks on the port side.
 

 
The first picture shows the gap to be filled, which has already been shaped. Second picture shows the shaped plank laying in gap but not glued down.
 

 
In these last three pictures the first one shows the remaining gap to be filled the second one shows it after being shaped and the third one shows the port side complete   .
She still needs final sanding and possibly some tiny gap filling but for now it's on to the starboard side where there is 7 or eight strakes left.
 
Have a Good One

This is a very small update just to let you all know I am still working on her. The planking is still going on. I have, as usual, created problems for myself that I am paying for with each strake. The problem being that I am too smart to line off or measure, something like that road map in the glove box we never used (remember them?). Anyways after realising my error I am now paying for it and have since started to measure and line off. I am confidant that things will be alright only thing is leaving it natural is probably not going to happen.
 In the pictures she only has the first sanding and scraping done and she has some minor gaps to deal with. 
 

 
 Nest up is a couple garboard strakes.
 
Have a Good One

Skip - these applicators have been a great help in applying CA. The thin stuff is a little hard to work with but medium works well. The CA stays usable for a week or so in the apllicator.
 

 
 
Also, my apologies Don for the reply about saw blades. I did not intend to get things off track. However I will say I learned something from them.

Hi everyone!
 
Thanks for all of your comments and Likes. Greatly appreciated!
 
This week, I've been too flat out to work on Shadow, until tonight. The first thing that I managed to do was to build the initial framework of the cabin on the Upper Deck. A lot of guess work has gone into it because the photos and plans that I'm relying upon don't show that much detail. But, nonetheless, at least I've managed to nut it out...I think!
 
Lots of work to go, though.
 
Anyhow, I'm just glad that she's beginning to take shape.
 
Have a great weekend, folks!
 
Cheers
 
Patrick