hamilton
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Everything posted by hamilton
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She's coming together very nicely - and fast! I think the trunnelling looks great - just the right accent hamilton -
I've been slowing down too - too much non-modelling activities and obligations....but it's nice to see the work of others progressing! hamilton
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Huh???? I have to say - that is one of those ideas that makes me wonder how it got discovered.....the perfect combination of counterintuitive thinking and random luck? Anyway, it looks great - I don't suppose you can eat the eggs afterwards, though.... hamilton
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Hi Ferit! I seem to have missed your updates for the last year!! Must be the time difference between Istanbul and Vancouver.....The attention to the finer details of the ropework is truly impressive! And that shot of the model above really shows her in her majesty and beauty! Wonderful work! hamilton
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Looking good Dave - your method of gluing up the frames is a great combination of simplicity and effectiveness - though I guess the joints won't be visible on the finished model will you be exclusively using butt joints for the frames, or is there any thought of experimenting with scarf joints or chocks as per ship-building practice? Also - in my modelling I would normally blacken any simulated iron parts prior to installation - but is the idea to blacken the bolts on the keel while they are in place? Curious to see how this is done. hamilton
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Hi Dave: That explains it well as do your drawings - the NMM plans/Goodwin are certainly vague on this question. Looking forward to more progress (no pressure!) hamilton
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Hi Dave: Looking really good - at such a large scale there will be a lot of opportunity for nice detailing. I'm wondering how you will handle the keel/rising wood...One of the ambiguities I found in Goodwin's book and the NMM plans was the rising wood, which clearly seems to curve upwards aft, but whose dimensions as given in Goodwin's tables only indicate the width. Will you just have a level rising wood, or do you have a solution for depicting the upward curve it takes towards the stern deadwood. It may be that the section you're dealing with at mid-ships doesn't have this feature....anyway, really enjoying watching your progress on this build hamilton
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nice saw! and cap rails look good so far! hamilton
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Amazing! I've been contemplating a Blandford cross-section myself and even bought the NMM line drawings and profile for this, but have been so swamped with work (and other modelling projects) that I've not made much progress.....just a bit of preliminary planning and drafting. There is some contradictory or vague information in the AOTS volume, and if you have some cash to spare, I would strongly recommend getting the NMM plans - can't remember the catalogue number off hand - they are the original basis of Goodwin's book. But I think overall it can be a great resource I built the Corel Greyhound kit as the Blandford several years ago - an exhausting but ultimately very satisfying project. She makes a lovely subject and I'll definitely be following your build closely - I may even be able to be of help!! Regardless, I'm sorry you beat me to this, but glad that someone is doing it here for me to copy from later on! Good luck! hamilton
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Hi TUEL: I'm sorry I've only just found this log now! It seems you've gotten past the piggish first part of the build and are coming along beautifully. As you noted earlier, this kit is rife with structural imperfections - but despite this, she builds up into a very nice model. If you had asked me before I would not have recommended this as a first ship kit - but seeing how you're doing, I imagine when you get your hands on a higher quality product you will work wonders. hamilton
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Well my last update to this log seems to have been in September! Then, of course, work took over and I've had precious little time for any modelling until the Christmas break....over the last couple of weeks I've finally found some time to return to both my current builds - Syren and Bluenose. Most of this work has been re-do & repair work.... Syren has seen the sweep ports repositioned (I incorrectly marked them from the templates provided with the kit and so ended up planking over them and drilling them out in the correct spots....). I also planked the counter, but noticed that I made an error in the lower planks that abut the sternpost....so I'll have to re-do these eventually....ah well. As for Bluenose, my last post documented the planking of the forward bulwarks and the cutting out of the scuppers forward. This went pretty smoothly with the help of the table saw. The quarterdeck bulwarks & scuppers were another story, though....the problem was with the fact that the quarterdeck bulwark planking did not come level with the waterways at all points. This meant that I had to file scuppers out of the bottom of the first bulwark plank at the forward end of the quarterdeck and out of the top of the upper-most hull plank aft....but because I did not do this as accurately or carefully as I could, there ended up being a small "step" in the scuppers at about the mid-point of the quartedeck bulwarks. Port and Starboard were roughly the same.... After looking at this for a couple of months, I decided I could not live with it and ripped the aft planking off. Laying a 3/32" x 1/16 planking strip along the hull , I marked the upper edge of the waterway along its length inboard and thus got a sense of where the scuppers should be positioned. Some of the scuppers can be fully filed out of the bottom of this first bulwark plank. The rest are only lightly scored and finished on the next bulwark plank up. At present I've managed to install the lower bulwark plank on the port side and it looks good - already I can see that it will be much better than my first attempt. I'm hoping to finish this work before the new semester starts (next Monday) and I get swamped with work again until the Spring....I'll post some photos once it's complete. Hope you all have a wonderful New Year and best for 2019! hamilton
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Beautiful work Ron - and thanks very much for the tip on Birchwood Casey brass black - I'll see if I can't source some.... hamilton
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Amazing detail - and so clean at such a small scale! Can i ask what you're using for a blackening agent (Maybe you've noted this further back in the log so sorry for repeat....) - I used to use Blacken-it, but no one seems to carry it up here any more....someone said it had been discontinued....I have another product that does not do a very good job at all.....looking for something that actually works! Thanks for the update Ron hamilton
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Hello Ron! Great to see one of my all time favourite MSW builds back up and running! Looking forward to seeing how she develops! The cutter looks great and will look even better lashed to the deck of your gorgeous Oneida. hamilton
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So I've completed the bulwarks. They went reasonably well. One issue was that the height of the top of the waterways did not exactly match up with the bottom of the second 3/32" x 1/16" bulwark strake. At points, then, it seemed that the scuppers would have to be filed into the top of the first strake and the bottom of the second one at different points. I could, I suppose, have simple planked the transom and then drilled the scuppers out by hand - a tedious job, but one that would have resulted in more even scuppers. As it is, I went for the easier solution - the result is that on both the port and starboard side, there is a little step in the scuppers of the quartedeck about half way along. It's not totally unsightly, but it may prove to be annoying enough that I'll remove the bulwark planking and redo it, this time drilling the scuppers out (though with this technique they won't be the right shape....arghh!!) Anyway, here are some photos. Apart from the issue with the scuppers, it's pretty rough looking at the moment. I'll spend a couple of days thinking about the bulwarks and cleaning them up a bit and then seeing how I feel about them overall before I decide whether to move on or redo them....bye for now. hamilton
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So I'm now moving on to the bulwark planking and there are a couple of things to note - as other logs have noted. First is that, in line with the main deck, the bottom edge of the first strake of bulwark planking should be flush with the top of the waterways. The scuppers will be cut into the bottom edge of this strake - I will use my Microlux table saw to do this. Second, in line with the quarterdeck, this same strake should be flush at the upper edge with the waterways of the quarterdeck. The next strake up on the quarterdeck has the scuppers cut into it as with the first strake in line with the main deck. Third, planks of 1/16" thickness are used for the first 3/16 scale inches of the bulwarks, followed by a 1/32" x 1/8" plank just below the level of the main rails. My model as built is such that, to use a single strake that both contains the main deck scuppers and comes into line with the waterways of the quarterdeck, 3/32 x 1/16" planks will be used. 2 strakes of 3/32" planks will be used to make up the full 3/16" width of the thicker planking strakes and will contain the scuppers. Then a single strake of 1/32 x 1/8" planking will be used for the remaining height of the bulwarks. I am debating about whether to cut the small 1/32"-3/64" cove into the thicker bulwark strakes just below the level of the 1/32" ones, or whether, as I see others have done, simple to paint a thin line of yellow along the outer bulwarks at this level. I might do some tests to see how things look before committing to anything. Anyway, I'll start on this tonight and see how far I get....photos later hamilton
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Thanks Per - I took a page from your build log in doing the transom! I've cleaned this area up now, though the inboard planking is very rough - fortunately it will be hidden in the end.....hope you're enjoying the weekend hamilton
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Hello all: So after installing the outer waterways between the bulkheads, I've now reinstalled the hull planks I removed up to the top of the waterway on the main deck and below the waterway level on the quarterdeck. At this point I wasn't sure what to do next - the bulwarks, the deck planking or the transom framing/planking and installation of the forward blocks for the hawse pieces/knightheads....I looked through many of the BN logs here on MSW, and found a lot of different approaches. The one that made most sense to me was to complete the transom framing and forward hawse blocks prior to both bulwark and deck planking. In the process I also completed the transom framing. This process was much more straightforward than I thought it might be. The transom framing was a little tricky, but I used a piece of scrap wood strapped across the transom with an elastic to get the right angle for the outer pieces, and then used a batten clamped to these once the glue was set to get the proper angle for the inner "stanchions". Other than that is was just shaping and test fitting the aft and forward blocks, which are now installed and ready to act as a decent landing place for the bulwark planks. The plans suggest incorporating the extensions of bulkhead "A" into the forward block, but I decided against this, since the inner part of the extension would have been exposed and presented a harsh texture contrast with the basswood block. So in the end, I sawed off the extensions and installed these pieces as single blocks. I used 3/32 x 1/6 planks for the transom - the photos show it in an unpolished state - I'm going to sand it down and clean it up tomorrow. The inner transom planking looks quite messy (no photo), but since it will be pretty much entirely covered over by the main rail I'm not too worried about it..... Photos follow - enjoy! Next it's on to the bulwark planking (not looking forward to filing out all those scuppers!), then the deck and finishing the hull, which I'm really looking forward to. Bye for now hamilton
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Thanks for the vote of confidence Mark! A quick update to say that I've finished installing the outer waterways, having removed the upper hull planking. The job is not entirely finished yet - I have to clean things up a little bit here and there, fair the outer edges of the waterways and re-install the hull planks. Then I can finally move forward - I'm going to do a bit of stern framing and install the solid piece forward for the hawse holes & knightheads. Then it's the transom planking, bulwarks and deck planking....it's be nice to have the interior structures covered up! Here are some photos - I'm happy with the overall results though they are not absolutely perfect..... hamilton
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Thanks Grant: I ended up going with option 1 and removing the upper 2 strakes of planking from the hull - in the end this was going to be way less finicky and frustrating than trying to get pieces to fit exactly in weirdly shaped spots....I have a bunch of 1/8" square strips that I'm using for the purpose and managed to get through about half of the job last night. I hope to finish this evening, but there's a chance I won't get to the "bench"....we'll see - thanks again and bye for now hamilton
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Just took a look at some other BN logs and noticed that the smarter builders followed the instructions and installed the outermost waterway before doing the planking.....I'm wondering about either removing the top two hull planking strakes and then installing them, or leaving it as is and trying to fi pieces in to the gaps.....the first option might be easier in the long run, since I would be able to fair the outboard edges of the waterway planks while with the second option it'll be a lot of finicky trial and error for each of a couple of dozen small strips.....have to give it some thought.... hamilton
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2 updates in less than 24 hours! Have to say it's very nice to be back at the bench! Anyways, it's a rainy Sunday here, so not a bad time to install the inner waterway planks. These are fashioned from 3/32 x 3/32 strips, slightly chamfered on the inner edge to fade down to the thinner deck planks. This was achieved by clamping the strip, cut to measure, to an old piece of MDF and carefully working at it with a file and a sanding block. The effect is barely noticeable, but it feels good to have it done. The photos below show some 1/8" pieces of scrap basswood being used as braces for the clamps so as not to mar the waterways themselves. After I installed them I noticed (why is it always after that I notice?) a bit of unevenness in the milling of the two waterways - especially on the port side, there was a lip between the two pieces. This was straightened out using a #10 x-acto blade and some fine sandpaper. These will be finished grey eventually, so the colour contrast won't matter at all. Here are the results. The next step before moving onto the transom & bulwark planking will be to install some filler pieces between the bulkhead extensions....this seems like it might be a tricky operation, so any tips from past MS Bluenose builders would be appreciated.....Enjoy the photos and bye for now hamilton
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Thanks Grant and Mark! It's been too long, for sure...I have occasionally lurked around here on MSW admiring others' work from a distance, but now it is probably time to jump back into the fray. Here, as promised, are a few shots of the hull - it is very difficult for me to get a decent shot of it....just using my phone, of course....should probably invest in a decent camera...Enjoy! Next step will be to complete the waterways - one 3/32" x 3/32" strip i/b on the main deck and then filler pieces to go between the outer waterway and the hull planking.....that's for tomorrow. Bye for now hamilton
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