hamilton

Hello there! I'm happy to say that I've officially gone (more or less) past the framework stage and am now planking the hull of the Bluenose! It's a very exciting time...particularly since I started this project about a year ago (when I first cut the out-of whack keel pieces and the bulkheads)....at this point it still looks a bit rough around the edges, but it's nice to feel like things are progressing. I installed the middle waterway strip on the fore deck and the main waterway on the aft deck and then began planking downwards from there - thee strakes completed tonight before I had to take care of some chores before bed and watch Game of Thrones. Tomorrow will be more productive, I think....here are a few photos. I'll likely not post more until the hull planking is done, unless there's something interesting to note in it....In the meanwhile - enjoy! hamilton

Thanks Bob and Mark! It is very nice to be back at it, despite limitations! hamilton

Thanks Grant and Steve! Yes I have to commit to these exercises, though they are uncomfortable and frustrating - probably more frustrating though to only have partial use of my finger...an 80% recovery would be fine by me while I sit here at 40%..... hamilton

Well, this summer has been a bit of a bummer, modelling-wise...my hand injury slowed things down and then the surgery I had to fix the nerve damage slowed things down even further at the time of year when I usually get a lot of modelling done....The surgery was a "success", though I've learned that what this means to doctors may not be what it means to patients....I had a gigantic bandage and partial plaster on m left hand and upper forearm (I suppose to prevent me from any further stupidities), which finally came off yesterday....my left index finger (or frankenfinger, as I like to call it because of the crazy surgical scar) is still extremely stiff, and will require extensive and persistent exercise on my part to get as much movement back into it as I can....they were typically reticent to make any indications of what I could expect but right now I can bend the first joint at a right angle but I cannot make a fist that includes the index finger..... In any case tonight I finally got back to the Bluenose. Whatever work I've done on it recently has been dull and and not really worthy of documentation - though I have some progress pictures below. I've installed the bulkheads now, as well as the stern filler blocks and the false beam that acts as a landing place for the fore deck planking on a mid-ships bulkhead. The rest of my time has been taken up with adjusting the outboard edges of the bulheads and fairing the frames, reducing the width of the bulkhead extensions to the required 1/8" and (starting soon) fairing the bulkhead tops for the deck planking. I thought the tops were ok until I test fit the waterway strips this evening and discovered a lot of little adjustments needing to be made.... One thing I've learned so far in this venture into scratch-building is that I cannot cut as accurately as a laser cutter, and this adds a lot of time in getting things as fair as possible. For example, my work tomorrow will likely centre on tightening up the angles between the bulkhead tops and extensions - very fine knife and file work so the waterway planks will fit as snugly as possible....I'm really hoping that extra time and effort spent here at the foundations will pay off down the line.... Anyway, here are a few photos - not a huge amount of change since the last round, but things are moving and I can't be in too much of a hurry.... hamilton

Thanks Wayne....hopefully the plans I've ordered from NMM give some indication of this.... hamilton

Thanks Russ - so the obvious follow-up is how can the total length of the keel be determined from the scantlings?....If there is a gun deck length of 106' and a length of keel for tonnage of 87' 9" (as is listed for 20-gun ships of the 1719 Establishment)....Or is there another calculation? Thanks again! hamilton

Just wondering if someone can fill me in on what "length of keel for tonnage" is and whether it is simply the full length of the keel or some portion of it....I encountered the term looking over the scantlings for the 1719 Establishment included by Lavery in his Anatomy of the Ship for the 20-gun ship Blandford..... hamilton

Wow - you're diving right in Peter. Looking forward to seeing this beauty come together hamilton

Hi Peter: Sorry I haven't been by for a while - have been in out of town for the last three months and then dealing with a hand injury.....nothing fatal to modelling fortunately! The America looks great (the Pickle too!) - the additions and improvements you made bring a lot to this kit - great work! I'm going to head over to your Belerophon page now - looking forward to another impressive build hamilton

Good to hear from you Tim! I've just come back to town from our annual cottage vacation....now back to work! I'm on a list for surgery on my hand, but I'm still able to do most things, including tying my shoes! My left middle finger is becoming like a second index.... I'll check in on your Cutty Sark - in the meantime, take care! hamilton

OK - another small update.... In the last few days I've been fine-tuning the centre keel and bulkheads - only the top of the latter for now, though some early tests have shown that there's a bit of shimming and trimming that needs to be done along the edges....I also fit the two parts of the "great beam" atop bulkhead "H" - made some patters for these pieces and cut them from 3/32" basswood sheeting. They are not very elegant, as can be seen from the photo below, but once they were fit on the bulkhead I took some time working on the top edges to ensure that the aft (lower) part was even with the quarterdeck bulkhead tops and then that top of the forward (higher) part was 1/16" above the lower part. Final work will be done on this once the deck planking is complete.... I also made a couple of templates for the upper edges of the stern filler blocks - not very exciting, are they....anyway, they'll come in handy in a couple of days when I'm shaping these. My main work has been on the rabbet joint. The photos below show how unpretty the work is....I scored the rabbet line with a #11 blade and then used a #10 blade to remove the wood....not the best instrument but as I don't have any gouges or chisels, it had to do....eventually I'll invest in more appropriate tools for this job! In any case, though it's a bit messy it's nothing some wood filler and a lot of paint won't hide when it comes down to cases. That's all for now. We're leaving for a couple of weeks to go up to a place called Hornby Island in the Northern part of the Salish Sea (Straight of Georgia) - I might do some maintenance on the Corel Flattie that I have stashed up there at a friend's cabin but no other modelling....hope to have the framework of the Bluenose complete by then and ready to move onto the planking when we get back....bye for now hamilton

Interesting build! I've not seen a log of this one before....I'll follow with interest hamilton

Hi Bill: Very nice looking planking - and build overall. hamilton

Nice work overcoming the early problems you experienced - I'm building the Syren too, but my kit was purchased a few years back or more and all seems well in order - templates fine and plywood in good shape (though I've read elsewhere about scale issues with the carronades.....). Anyway, I'm also in agreement with Doug and Bill regarding the framing - this part of the build requires some sensitivity and trying to work with grains in opposite directions would be tricky and frustrating. I had the sills and lintels on for a long time before picking up a sanding block - mostly because I thought it would be incredibly tedious to sand these down....in the end it went quite quickly with 100 grit sandpaper... One other piece of advice - when you install the gunport frames try to keep them flush with the lintels and sills on the inboard side - it is much easier to sand outboard than in inboard.... hamilton

Thanks Mark and Bill! Bill - that's good advice! My main concern is about the fragility of the pieces....they're quite thin, and cutting them will be quite tricky I think using my bandsaw - the only tool I have for such things.....I'm going to put a 1/8" blade on it to facilitate the process....My plan was to make multiples of all the frames so as to have backups at the ready, so maybe I'll cut a couple from ply and a couple from basswood and try my luck! Thanks again for the tip - I'm pretty sure I have some 3/16" basswood sheeting lying around too....but I can't recall.... hamilton

Hi Doug: I cannot believe the poor quality of the material you were sent! I bought this kit a few years ago and have just turned to building it - the laser cut parts were from a good quality ply, though still quite fragile. I'm at about the same stage as you - I had attached the stern frames, but snapped them all off when trying to reposition stern frame "C" - I gouged my finger with a scalpel blade and in the chaos broke off all the frames - I too now have to make new ones! Anyway, I'll follow along with interest hamilton

Wonderful detail in the background - looking forward to following along hamilton

Off to a promising start Ben - I've always been interested in this kit - but went with the Syren instead. Looking forward to following your build and comparing notes hamilton

Hi Grant: Late to the party here - this is some really incredible and exacting work - the metal work is especially impressive to me! hamilton

Hi Steve: A lot of hair-raising work here - these parts must be extremely sensitive and prone to breaking....but the results are really great. hamilton

Thanks for the comments and the sympathy Steve and Grant! hamilton

OK - time for a real update - I finally feel like I've made some progress on the Bluenose after starting on her last September! I should mention that while working on the stern of the Syren on Thursday evening, I ended up putting an extremely deep gash in the upper joint of my left index finger. I had positioned the outside stern frames about 1/64" too high and was trying to wrench them free (stupidly) by levering their seams with a scalpel blade.....the blade slipped and I ended up slipping, tearing the entire stern framing off, nicking an artery and spurting blood all over the place, and spending several hours in the ER getting stitched up and consulting with plastic surgeons about tendon and nerve repair. Fortunately, my tendon is fine - good movement, though painful still. The nerve is damaged on the inside, and may need surgery - I'm going for a consult at a hand clinic on Friday and they'll tell me then whether it's worthwhile to operate. Long story short - Syren is now on hiatus while I work on Bluenose....eventually I'll cut new stern frames (I have plenty of 3/16" ply from the Bluenose build)....but for now.... After remaking the keel parts to correct for the issues I experienced before, I spent quite a bit of time refining the individual keel pieces and re-fitting the bulkheads. Having done this before it went pretty fast - here are a couple of shots of the centre keel with shims installed to fit the bulkheads snugly, as well as reinforcements for the keel joints and mast mortices. You'll notice on the bow shot that the lower edge of the forward keel piece is a little all over the place - this has since been corrected with some sanding and thin shims. Here are a few shots of the bukheads dry fit.... I also spent a bit of time making a building board adapting the design given by David Antscherl in TFFM Vol. 1. For the Bluenose, I used a 5/8" sheet of MDF, painted with 5 coats of matte white paint with 2 1" x 2" spruce battens for support. I took a while locally sourcing some 4-40 machine screws - just small enough for my 3/16" keel. I've never mounted a model ship using internal nuts, so it took some thinking how to go about it, particularly given the size of the nuts relative to my keel. I filed down the hexagonal nuts roughly square and fit them as you see in the photos below. To drill the holes I clamped some 3/32" basswood to the side of the keel to avoid blowing out the ply, and then very gradually opened up holes to fit the 4-40 machine screw - first pricking the centres of the carved out part with an awl, then using a 3/64" drill in my pin vice, then a 3/32" bitt in my power drill, then a 1/8" bit. Here are the results, the nut attached with epoxy. I then used to some 1/32" x 3/32" basswood strips to cover the outside edges of the slots where the nuts were installed, and sanded them down very flat - the nut shows through slightly, but the painted hull should not show them, so all will be well. And here are a couple of shots of her skeleton (bulkheads still dry fit) on the building board. Thanks for stopping by and any and all comments, questions or (constructive) critiques are welcome. hamilton

Sorry for the (extremely) late reply Eddie - but thanks for following along - though there hasn't really been much to follow! I've been travelling quite a bit since the beginning of the year - San Diego, Ottawa, Rome, the Netherlands and Germany in the past 5 months.....it's been fun, but it'll be nice to spend some time at home! And then we're off to cabin country at the end of this month, so I'm trying to pack some modelling into the next few weeks! So I finally got back to the BN today after many months of dust gathering....The work today involved re-cutting the keel pieces, which I did (for I think the fourth time) on the bandsaw. I cleaned them up with some files and belt/disc sander and found.....that they had the same problem as before! While the aft two keel pieces seemed fine, the forward one was out of line with the plans. Instead of taking new templates and cutting entirely new pieces, though, I just fidgeted with the joint between the foreward and centre keel pieces until all of them lined up - required a bit of extra filing and the addition of two small skims on the forward joint of the centre keel piece, and now everything connects and lines up well....I won't post photos, since you've kind of seen them already! These keel pieces still need quite a bit of attention. I need to cut the templates off at the rabbet line and the bearding line and mark those on the starboard side and also make port-side templates to mark these lines to port. I'll then assemble the keel, cut the rabbet joint and taper the cutwater. Fortunately, the bulkhead pieces I made last Fall are still serviceable, but I'll need to make adjustments on the new keel to fit them properly. Then I'll have to adjust the stern end of the aft keel piece so the sternpost fits snugly - though this won't be installed until after the hull planking is complete. At that point, I should be able to install the bulkheads..... I have to say it's been nice to get back to this build! I've taken almost the entirety of 2017 so far off of modelling -- there simply hasn't been any time and I found also that I needed a hiatus to reignite my interest! Anyway, hopefully there will be some decent progress to show here over the next few weeks. Bye for now hamilton

Thank you Russ! That makes sense. The heading in Lees says "proportionate rigging sizes" and doesn't clarify that it's circumference - but I should probably have guessed! Thanks once again hamilton

Hi there: I've been doing a bit of planning for a future build (Corel's HMS Bellona) and have been consulting James Lees' Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War to flesh out the vaguer aspects provided by Brian Lavery's Anatomy of the Ship HMS Bellona and correct or improve upon Corel's design. One thing that has struck me as strange is the proportion that Lees gives for lower stays - "1/2 the diameter of the appropriate lower mast" (p. 185). This would mean a main stay that would be almost 5mm and the forestay 4mm (based on information obtained from Lavery)!! On a 1:100 model that seems way too thick....is Lees off base here or am I missing something? Any wisdom any of you can provide would be most welcome. Thanks a lot in advance! hamilton