hamilton

Harlequin! I'm not sure how I've missed your progress on Bellona - but I'm sorry I haven't been following as closely as I shoud...she's looking great! The stern is particularly well done!! I'm at work so have not had time to do more than "like" your photos, but I'll have a closer read through this evening. Good to see some progress on this one! hamilton

Hi Frank: Yes I'm hoping for this result! Can I ask why you switched to a glue stick? I find the rubber cement very easy to work with - and particularly easy just to peel the paper off the wood - it comes off smoothly and any residue can be removed with a light sanding. I used rubber cement in a tube before and it was a nightmare - very finicky and it got everywhere! But Elmer's rubber cement in a jar works great. Anyway, interested to know about your preference. Thanks again for stopping by hamilton

Thanks Per - she's a beautiful ship! I hope I can do her justice and I look forward to seeing your build when you get to her! hamilton

Thanks Russ, Alan and Frank: Yes, going slow is definitely in the cards! I think the band saw will work fine for the purpose I'm putting it to, but I can't expect that the parts I cut using it will be fully dimensioned....as I mentioned before, I can see the value of a disc/belt sander already - though I never considered a jigsaw for fine trimming of the parts......I still have to invest in a smaller blade and I'll see what kind of effect that has as well - I just invested in a bit more ply to do more experimenting - hopefully I'll have a bit of time this weekend to give it a whirl.... hamilton

Thanks Tim - so many aspects of this kit have been troublesome - in a weird way because on the surface of things, the kit seems (and is) very straightforward....I think in many ways I've been overcomplicating things.....particularly with the hull planking and the bulwarks....but I'm almost through both and have sworn not to get too analytical about the build from now on...... hamilton

Hello all Another (and more recent!) update on America. Unfortunately, I have no photo documentation of a couple of things - the second planking, the margin planks, and the deck-planking in process. But as I mentioned in the last post, the second planking continues....though in fact I've avoided it tonight in favour of finishing the aft deck. Prior to installing the deck planks, I made margin planks. For these, I used some 1/32" basswood sheets. Prior to installing the decks I had taken patterns of the deck pieces using carbon and bristol paper. These I now cut out of the bristol paper and used them as templates to make the margin planks. I cut the outboard profile of the margin planks and then set a compass to 4mm to mark the inboard edge. I rough cut the margin planks a little thick and then very gently trimmed and sanded them down to size - they're not perfect, but they're alright. I decided on a 3 butt shift for the deck planking, having no idea what might have been the case on the actual America. This stage always takes longer than I expect it will - in fact the aft deck has, in the end, taken 3 nights work and there's still the fore deck to complete. The first three photos below show the deck planks unfinished and the last two with 1 coat of tung oil...more coats to come. Enjoy the photos! hamilton

Hi Tim: Replied to your PM - these are cheek blocks - they go on the ends of the main gaff and boom - starboard side for each. They act as sheaves for the gaff topsail sheet and running end of the topping lift. They feature on sheets 5 and 6 of the plans, but are hard to identify because the drawings do not really look like the parts - I id'd them through a process of elimination as I recall..... hamilton

Hello there: The Bluenose is not exactly "progressing" but my experiments with the bandsaw in cutting the basic framework elements continue...... I've discovered several things: 1. My hand is not as steady as I thought....the patterns will benefit from the use of a straight edge - I find that the curved areas are much easier to get right free hand, but a straight line confounds me! 2. The band saw is great, but I need a thinner blade. I'm using a 1/4" blade (factory supplied) but the operator's manual tells me I can get 3/16 and 1/8" blades....I'm planning on investing in the 1/8" blade - some of the curves, particularly on the aft bulkheads, are too sharp for the blade I'm using combined with my lack of experience. 3. I need much more practice with the bandsaw in terms of just basic operations. As you'll see from the photos below, my hand at cutting is just as unsteady as my hand at drawing. I think I will need to try harder at cutting just outside the lines of my drawings and then refining the pieces with a (yet to be acquired) disc sander. 4. While the outside edges need to be cut outside the lines, the bulkhead slots on both the centre keel and the bulkheads themselves need to be cut right at the line, otherwise they are far too thin. I ended up cutting the slots a bit inside the lines and this resulted in a rough fit of the bulkheads that was, if not perfect, close enough that with practice I'm confident I can achieve good results. Anyway, there's not much in the way of pictures. I realise that I'm going to have to spend a bit of time making a building board once my experiments with cutting the keel and bulkheads is over and I get serious about the project. For now, here are a few shots of the keel pieces, given you an exact indication of how sloppy the work is right now.....again - some more experience and a new tool will hopefully go towards better looking results! hamilton

Yikes!! I see my last real update on this log was back in mid-December.....To be honest my work on this model (and on modelling in general) has been very sporadic since I finished the Fair Rosamund last year. After about 6 years of consistent modelling (and 13 completed models) maybe I've just needed a break.... In any event, it's not that no work has been done. I've been working on the second planking and on deck planking, but it's been 2 weeks since I've worked on it at all.....this update is really a throw-back to when I was planking the bulwarks. I elected to create a small rabbet for the second planking by throwing some .5mm sapele left over from my San Francisco build onto the sternpost, keel and stem. The first photos show this. I then masked the edges of the subdeck and the bulkhead extensions to protect them from glue and edge-glued the bulwark planks in place....this needed some finessing and a lot of clamping to make sure they ran properly and were solidly fastened onto the hull plank edges. Even then, as I've done the second planking I've had to re-glue the bulwarks at the bow a couple of times.....fortunately I think I'm past the point in planking where I'm putting a lot of pressure on the planks....and I also hope that once the outboard hull is painted it will hide at least some of the imperfections.....Anyway, here are some more photos! Enjoy! hamilton

Really beautiful work Tim! Love the finish on the deck - can't imagine doing all those treenails!! Wonderful results hamilton

First planking looks immaculate Bob! hamilton

Looking really nice! For the windows, I used transparency paper - a thick acetate. It's ok, but it has quite a gloss that makes it look kind of weird and I also made the mistake of using CA to install the "windows" on the frames - the CA crystalises on the acetate, which both ruins the effect and makes it impossible to see through....in future I would use epoxy for this purpose to avoid these kinds of results......keep up the great work, regardless of how slow!! hamilton

Thanks Elijah! hamilton

Hi Bob - this is one project I'll be sure to follow closely - love your work and the Granado is a beautiful vessel - can't wait to see how she shapes up in your able hands! hamilton

Thanks Russ - we'll see if that ends up being the case! Anyways, I've finished making initial test patterns for the 3/16" keel pieces, bulkheads, sternpost and rudder. I've laid them out on the maple ply I bought to make billets, trying to be as sparing as possible with the wood, despite the fact that these will not likely be the pieces I actually use. Maybe I'm being overly cautious......but I think a bit of practice will help. Here are the patterns laid out on the billets. I'll use rubber cement to fix them on the plywood and then get to cutting! Not sure if I'll be able to do this anytime soon, but.....looking forward to a rough assembly. hamilton

Hi Tim: Just went through your log - your model is gorgeous! I do not think the patina on the hull is too much - it has a very nice well-used look. You mention above about the planking - I've been using 3mm x .5mm planks for the deck (a compromise) and the results seem ok - though some of the features shown in the photos of the replica would have been nice to include - particularly the coamings and what looks like a king plank - not a feature of the Mamoli kit......Anyway, beautiful work! hamilton

Hi Tim: Thanks for this! My planking experience is still happening (I've almost finished the second layer on the starboard side and about half done on the port....as I mentioned earlier I've altered the planking to make things a bit "easier" for myself - not sure it worked out that way in reality!! Isn't that always the case! I'm pretty sure my kit came with the jibboom iron, though it's been a while since I sorted through the fittings.....there were some missing parts though - I only got 2 of the palls for the capstan (there should have been 6) and one of the windows for the aft skylight is missing....Cutting the tiny palls could be a real pain, and I've not yet figured out how I'm going to scratch build the skylight windows..... Natural ageing on the copper takes a while. My Kate Cory, which I built back in 2010-11 is now a really nice "old penny" tone, as you say. But it took a couple years to get it to this stage. There are some suggestions out there for artificially ageing the copper, and various patina products you can get (I'm not sure if the product you mention is by the same people that make "Blacken-it", but I know they have a patina product, too - never used it though, so can't comment on results). If you look at aliluke's Fly log, you'll see a very original, if somewhat off-putting, approach to weathering the copper. His results look really good, but the method takes some nerve, I think.... I'm just going to go have a look at your America - thanks again for dropping by! hamilton

Thanks Mark and Russ Great suggestions! I guess I can always test the scanned/photocopied patterns against the plans (which, from my experience, are also likely to be "off" a bit, since they themselves are copies!) and check for distortion. At the same time, there is something meditative about doing things by hand. Since I'm really in an experimental/tool-learning phase I feel like I can try both approaches and see what happens.....I have a lot of scrap wood lying around to use for testing, so I'm really just messing around before getting serious about making the parts that will frame the model.....hopefully there will be some time this weekend for finishing the 3/16 patterns and doing some test cutting on the crappy maple ply I have.... hamilton

Just a quick note on technique - for comment, if anyone has better ideas. To make the templates for the centre keel and bulkhead pieces, I use relatively heavy A4 paper, carbon paper and the patterns provided on the MS Bluenose plan sheets. Placing the A4 paper on my work surface (the dining room table), I tape the carbon paper atop it carbon-side down. I then lay the plans on that and trace the patters with a sharp pencil. An alternative would be simply to photocopy the patterns from the plans and use cut-outs of those - this might increase the accuracy as less would depend on the steadiness of my hand.....the issue is that, after so much earlier consultation of the plans and so much unfolding and refolding, I'm worried that it would be difficult to get an undistorted image....so my by-hand technique will do for now - at least for cutting some test parts. I've managed to make patterns for the centre keel (as noted above), and bulkheads A-L. I'll finish up the other 3/16" pieces (bulkheads M-O, rudder, sternpost and one deck beam) tomorrow.....photos when they're done hamiton

Thanks Mark - nothing like your Licorne, but...... hamilton

Welcome John, Patrick and Elijah - thanks for the comments and likes! Of course I don't mind if you follow along - though you might mind at how slow I am.....The Bluenose is a beautiful subject - having built her at 1:100, I'm excited to see her come alive at a larger scale. I have a lot of learning to do through this process, especially around the fabrication of the structural elements. I'm not as accurate as a laser cutter, so I'm guessing there will be a lot of scrap ply generated through the early stages of this process.......bye for now! hamilton

Hello there: This log will document my first attempt at a scratch built ship model. I've chosen to start with something more or less straightforward -- a 1:64 scale plank-on-bulkhead Bluenose based on Model Shipways' plans. I purchased the plans for the 1:64 MS Bluenose several years ago while I was working on the Amati 1:100 Bluenose. I wanted the plans as reference for the rigging, which on the smaller Amati kit had been quite radically simplified. Since then, the plans have been gathering dust in a drawer. But I always imagined that I might return to them once I felt ready to embark on a scratch build. The choice of Bluenose, then, was guided by the fact that I own the plans, which include reference drawings of all the laser cut parts, as well as by the fact that I've built the Bluenose before (though in a smaller scale). I also felt that, though clearly the principles are different, cutting my teeth on a p.o.b build would be a good way of getting into scratch building with an eye to a fully framed ship model. In any case, everyone knows the history of the Bluenose, so I won't repeat it here. This log will be more like a documentation of my clumsy entry into scratch building. Since I'm also working on the Mamoli America as a gift for a friend, the Bluenose build will no doubt be very slow. I also plan on continuing with kit builds alongside this project, which will also no doubt slow it down. The need to acquire some tools (and save some money in order to get them) will also slow things down a bit - currently, I'm equipped with a bandsaw, which I'll use to cut the centre keel pieces and bulkheads, but I can already see the utility of a disc sander and mini drill press.....I think for this build I can wait on other things like a mini table saw, but I'm going to assume that the priority of tool acquisition will become clearer as I work through the build.... I know that there are a lot of Bluenose logs here on MSW, but I hope that this log will add something to the mix. For starters, here are a couple of photos - my tracings of the centre keel pieces and a practice-run at the bow piece using 1/4 basswood - it's pretty rough, as you can see. This was made to help me get a feel for the bandsaw and is out of scale thickness in addition to being kind of ratty. I'll be using 3/16 birch ply for centre keel, bulkheads, rudder, and sternpost. I bought some of this today at a local hobby shop, but it is not very good (lots of warping). I'll use this to do more bandsaw testing and try another source for the ply. Well that is all for now....those who've looked in on my America (and perhaps other logs) will know that the frequency of my posting is quite idiosyncratic, so sorry about that....I'll try to be more diligent in the future!! hamilton

Lees' Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War 1620-1860 is also a useful source - though not being familiar with the other two texts I'm not sure how it compares - it is quite generic in relation to the rates of English ships, and I don't know how much any one particular vessel might have deviated from the generic descriptions provided by Lees.....good luck! hamilton

The only thing I would suggest is taking more turns around the bowsprit - but this looks like a good start! I can see how at this stage it would be tough to put the gammoning on, navigating the tight spot in there at the front of the headrails.... hamilton

Sorry no pictures, but hopefully I can describe it clearly..... I know that the gammoning begins by splicing a small eye into the end of the gammoning line, reeving the line through the eye and hitching it around the bowsprit. It then passes between the gammoning hole and up around the bowsprit moving forward to aft on the bowsprit (each turn lying aft of the previous one) and aft to forward through the gammoning hole (that is, beginning at the aft end of the gammoning hole and working forward). Alternative this way is what gives the gammoning its unique twisting shape. The line is then frapped (circled around) the mid-point of the gammoning. Lees states that the number of turns on the frapping is equal to the number of turns around the bowsprit. The frapping is pulled tight to pinch the gammoning in the middle - this means that the gammoning itself must not be too tight around the bowsprit, otherwise pulling the frapping will not be possible and the gammoning won't look right. To be honest, I've never been able to get the gammoning looking great - only adequate.... I've also often wondered when the best time to attach the gammoning is - you can't wait too long otherwise the area will be too crowded to easily work the gammoning on......I hope this helps! hamilton