hamilton

And here are the finished results with the mast hoops - now just need to detail the masts before mounting and adding standing rigging...things seem to be progressing.... hamilton

Well - looks like page 7 is even more insane than page 6 was.....hopefully we can get to page 8 and lighten the scrolling a bit.... In any case this is just a small progress report - I've made the fore boom saddle and started to fabricate mast hoops - these are supposed to be wooden, but since I've already jumped the shark with the anchors I feel more justified in deviating here, as well, for the sake of "modeller's convenience"....ample quantities of 1/16" brass rod make the approach shown below a little more reasonable for me - though I will need to get some new nippers to cut through these!! The boom saddles (main and fore) were constructed using 3/32" material from old model shipways laser cut billets. I traced the end of a 5/16" dowel on the material and then marked its centre with a compass point. I then drilled out the centre using progressively larger drill bitts and did the final bit of interior sizing using some needle files. I then drew a concentric circle about 3/32" out from the inside opening, marked out the belaying pin locations, drilled those and the rough cut out the piece, doing some final shaping with a sanding block. I lined the outside with some 1/16" pinstripe tape, added some blackened belaying pins and installed it on the mast with some small chocks as noted on the plans. I used pinstripe tape and some slightly modified eyebolts for where the foreboom attaches to the mast - I'm sorry but I'm away from the plans and cannot remember the official name for this!! In any case, here are the photos - enjoy and bye for now hamilton

Hello again: It's been a while since I updated here, but work has progressed on the Bluenose - albeit somewhat more slowly....since the last post, I've more or less finished the hull - with the dorys and nameplates/scrollwork still to be figured out....to be honest I'm delaying these.... I added some barrels on a rack forward of the cabin, completed the bowsprit rigging installed the lower shroud chainplates & deadeyes & started on the lower masts and topmasts (they are dry fit in the photos below). I also set up the anchors - though I know these are not really accurate! I had to make do with what I had to hand or what was available locally - no scale chain that I could find so I substituted some hemp rope, and the anchors I sourced at my local hobby store are both slightly out of scale (on the large side) and not proper to what was carried on Bluenose....but, I'm going to forgive myself for these lapses and hope you will do the same! Work is kicking in again pretty quick and we're heading off to our country retreat on the 17th, but I hope to make more progress on the masts and spars before we go - after studying the rigging a bit it is definitely going to be more complicated than I initially thought - many elements to keep in mind and plan for as the masts and spars come together - but this is actually part of the modelling process that I really enjoy, so I'm looking forward to getting into it. Enjoy the photos and bye for now hamilton

Thanks Gregory! Much appreciated! hamilton

Hi there: I recently had to have my computer refurbished and in the process lost the direct links to these videos - the ones that Mark posted to start this thread are now marked "private" - is there any way to access them? Thanks! hamilton

I have Part 1 of the CAF Granado, but I'm in Canada, so too bad!! Hope someone picks this up - your offer is a definitely a good deal hamilton

Wow! She's looking really great! hamilton

Just a quick post to show the completion of the windlass, anchor winch, etc. - I still have to fabricate and install the knees on the jumbo jib crutch and add some other minor details, but it's nice to have the bulk of this work done! The hull will be complete soon, which means I'll be taking a break from Bluenose and returning to the HMS Bellona.....in the meantime, enjoy the photos. hamilton

Hello again I should have mentioned that after starting on the dory's I have taken a pause - I built a jig following the drawings on the plans, but this contraption seems very difficult to actually use and I'm contemplating another type of building jig for an upside-down construction that I think (or hope!) will work better.... In any case today I managed to put in a nice session at the bench working on the windlass. I've been using a bread-and-butter method of building it up in sections using both 3/32" and 1/32" basswood sheeting to cut rounds of 11mm and 9mm - these are then veneered together along with the gears interspersed between them to form the central element. I used PVA for gluing up the wood elements and epoxy for attaching the gears to the wood. The two drums were made from 1/4" dowel, tapered as well as possible in the drill chuck. These were 3/8" long each with a 3/32" extension for fitting into the knees, which I also took a stab at. I got the main parts of the knees completed easily enough, but the smaller front part that clamps over the windlass onto the other part I was having trouble with. I will give this another go tomorrow. As it stands, the main part of the windlass is done. The photos below show it in its current state, with the main portion of knees attached already and dry fit on the deck. It's a little big, but I can live with that - It's also a little janky looking, but I can live with that too! Enjoy the photos and happy modelling to all. hamilton

Hello again: It has been a very busy month of May at work, and I have had very little time at the bench until quite recently. Over the last several days I've made a bit more progress on the works at the bow of Bluenose. I think I've figured out a process for the windlass - a kind of bread & butter approach that I've seen other modellers try - I'll give it a go in any case. I purchased some small brass gears for this purpose and even though they're not precisely to proper shape and a little bit off scale, I will make do. I've used one for the jumbo job boom crutch gears and you can judge for yourself how it looks. So far the jumbo jib crutch is the only part of these bow works that is complete - I have start on making up the bread and butter parts for the windlass and also for the little gear mechanism that sits between the jumbo jib crutch and the windlass - sorry I don't have the proper names of these things at hand! And it's been an exhausting week if I'm being honest....feel like a vacation of some kind is in order but I can't see one on the horizon yet....not until late July! Arghh...till then I'll have to catch as catch can.....hope you are all having a restful time and a peaceful life! I'll join you there someday!! hamilton

Haha! Ship modelling has made me rethink all my criticisms of the "slippery slope" argument.....

So there are a couple of things to update on here. First is that I've started on the dorys, in a deviation from work on the windlass and other fore deck features. This is because, second, I've bought a Proxxon wood lathe and am waiting for its delivery to continue on the windlass, etc. I have had my eye on the miniature wood lathe for a while as an entry-level tool to practice on - I should have it in hand within the next ten days or so (I hope). In the meantime, I used the plans to make the dory-building jig and the elements of one dory hull. This is as far as I was able to get today, unfortunately and things have picked up now at work as well for the next few weeks, so I'm thinking that progress will return to its more typical snail's pace for a while. I'm happy, though, to have the modelling bitt between my teeth again - it feels great after a long period of irregular work at the bench since summer 2017! There is something to be said for a lengthy break to re-awaken the zest for even the more tedious of jobs! In any case, happy modelling all and enjoy the photos hamilton

Nice work on the planking so far! hamilton

Hello there: Over the last couple of evenings I've managed to complete another couple of small things on Bluenose - the chain box and the rudder. The chain box is not featured on the deck plans, but included in a lower corner of a plan sheet that documents the deck fixtures, dorys and mast/spar construction - it could easily be overlooked. What isn't clear is if there was one such box on either side - the plans say to locate the chain box just aft of the engine box, which is located on the port side. I included two boxes on my 1:100 scale Bluenose, since it made sense to have one on each side for each anchor....but what is the consensus on this? Anyway, this feature was constructed out of 5 pieces of 1/32" thick basswood cut to measure. The front and back of the box were installed on top of the base and then the sides added after - the inside faces of each strip were painted black prior to assembly and then the outside and edges finished white after. The rudder was pretty easy - especially since I had already made them man years ago when I cut out the final versions of the keel pieces and bulkheads - this much have been back in 2016 or 2017!! Sheesh!! I was reading another modeller's log today and he was calling himself "lazy" for not treenailing his deck - but I bet he never waited 7 years to install a rudder!! Anyway, the rudder and stern post were made from 3/16" ply and needed only some minor adjustments to fit properly. The pintles and gudgeons were made using 1/64" x 3/64" bras strip gently bent first around a 1/16" brass rod and then again around a scrap 3/16" piece of ply to get the rough shape. The short sections of 1/16" brass rod were glued to the pintles and gudgeons with CA and then attached to the rudder first. I installed the stern post onto the model and then the tiller extension was added - made from a 3/16" dowel and shaped accordingly. I masked off the rudder and painted the pintles and gudgeons before installing the rudder on the model - I felt that this would be far less messy than using the blackening agent I have or trying to paint them on the model. Next I'll probably mount the model on a stand I made about a year and a half ago and then finally move onto the windlass and other works at the bow....this, along with the scrollwork and name plates as well as the chainplates & shroud deadeyes will see the hull more or less complete! Then I think I will return to my Bellona build for a while and let Bluenose rest before moving onto the masting.... In the meanwhile, enjoy the photos and happy modelling hamilton

Wow, Yves! It's been a while since I came by here and you have not been idle! Somewhere above you mentioned that you weren't doing treenails on deck because you're lazy - no offence, but given the results here I have to doubt that self-assessment!! hamilton

Looks great Jason!

Yesterday I had a go at the catheads, which were one of those elements that I was kind of puzzling over. In the end, I decided that my metal working skills and the resources at my current disposal for achieving good results were pretty limited, so I took another route. I used 3/32" square basswood stock for the the "head" and 3/64" brass rod for the shaft. I marked off the basswood to the length of the out portion of the cathead and filed out a notch in the end, first making a gentle cut along the centre of one end of the strip and then using first a triangular and then a round needle file to widen out the end to simulate the sheave. I then drilled a hole behind that and widened/filed it out with files to complete the sheave. I then drilled small holes to receive eyebolts in the bottom and side. Only after that did I cut off the portion of the basswood stock, drill a hole in the square end of it and attach a length of brass rod for the cathead "shaft". I then whittled and sanded down the end of the wooden "head" portion to blend it in with the brass, painting the whole assembly black. They're definitely out of scale (the head portion anyway) but I'm hoping that they won't look so bad once all the other elements are built up around them..... I did have to make some 1/16" thick cap rail extensions, since I forgot to mark out those when I was making the caprails a while back...this was very straightforward. Here are the photos - enjoy and happy modelling hamilton

Continuing with the foredeck....this update covers the forward companionway and engine box. Oh - and I added some ringbolts to the deck.... I ended up making the companionway twice - I probably should have made it a third time, but my patience ran out!! I approached this the same way I did with the skylight. I glued up a couple of 1/16 x 1/4" strips for the sides and used the same material for the panels. I glued a couple of 1/16" square strips on the inside of the sides, set 1/16" back from the aft edge to act as a stop for the panels. The engine box I built up out of 6 pieces of 1/4" x 3/16" basswood (for the larger section) and a tetris style assembly of random wood strips to get the proper dimensions. Once these were filled, sanded and finished, I marked out the two openings on the smaller section, drilled holes to eventually receive the rod for the winch (starboard side) and for the anchor chain (forward). The two sections were glued together, the seam filled and the entire thing painted and lidded. I used, once again, 1/16" pinstripe tape to simulate the hinges. The assembly is not glued to the deck yet, since I want to first construct the jumbo jibboom rest, winch and windlass to make sure all these parts are situated correctly relative to one another....I only have a couple of small jobs to do before moving on to the windlass, winch, etc., which is going to be a challenge for me....I've been spending a bit of time over the last couple of weeks wrapping my head around these items and I have a couple of possible approaches in mind - but that is for the future! Until then - enjoy the photos and happy modelling hamilton

A couple of additions to the Bluenose to report - working on the bowsprit and deck assembly for the samson post & bowsprit bitts. Nothing particularly tricky about these. For the samson post mortice, I drilled through the 3/16" square stock I was using, squared off the hole using needle files and then plugged up the back of it with a 1/8" square bit of basswood. Filed down and painted over it blends in perfectly. The alignment was a bit fiddly, but once the samson post was positioned, things went together more or less easily. Enjoy the photos and happy modelling hamilton

Interesting - you may need to use some push pins or straight pins to set the waterway strip in place, since there are no bulkhead extensions. If you start mid-ships and work fore and aft this should be relatively straightforward. It will also give you a chance to test the fairness of the outside edges of the bulkheads - if you tack the waterway strip in place along the tops of the bulkhead edges and get it running in a nice smooth curve, you will see where the bulkhead edges either stick out from or are set back from the outboard edge of the waterway - this will tell you where you need to shave some of the wood off the bulkhead edges or build them up with thin wood strips to get a smooth run of hull planking. hamilton

I think you have a good start here. At this stage, I would consider building the stand so the model has something to rest in as you're working on it. After a certain point the model won't be too much "in hand" so it's good to have it in a protected spot. Something to consider before starting the hull planking -- the deck planks on the fore deck need a landing spot for their aft ends, where the step up to the quarterdeck is. I've included below a photo from my current 1:64 Bluenose build that shows this. I just used off-cut scrapwood to do this after tracing the deck "camber" (the curve of the deck from the centreline to port and starboard) onto the forward face of the bulkhead that defines the forward edge of the quarterdeck. If your bulkheads are already glued in it might be a bit tricky to get this line traced. But if not, you can just lay the last fore deck bulkhead and the first quartedeck bulkhead together with their bottoms aligned and trace the top edge of the forward bulkhead onto the aft one - then lay some scrap strips these so the deck plank ends have a place to sit when you come to the decking. The hull planking on this model is actually very straightforward compared with others, due to the overall hull shape. The sharp bow means that there is very little bending and only very slight twisting of the hull planks that needs to be done. Some of the planks will need to be tapered at the bows. You'll be able to tell when to start this as you lay the planks since they will start to want to bend upwards and overlap with the previous one installed - when this happens, just note on the plank the point at which it wants to cross over to overlap with the previous one and taper it gently from that point forward. The first hull plank should be laid with its top edge flush with the top of the deck planking. So it might be easiest to first lay a strip of deck planking along the outside edge of the bulkheads - this will serve to simulate the waterways on deck and give you a reference point for the first strip (or "strake" as we say) of hull planking. Below is a picture of this waterway strip laid on my Bluenose prior to beginning the hull planking - hope it helps to clarify what I'm talking about. The strip is laid on top of the bulkheads and flush with the inboard side of the bulkhead extensions. The third photo shows the waterway deck plank and the first outboard hull plank installed - you can't tell really from the photo, but the hull plank's top edge is flush with the top edge of the waterway plank - the rest of the hull planking just flowed from there. Hope you don't mind me posting these photos in your log. Good luck and keep posting the photos and questions - you'll learn quickly that way! hamilton

A unique approach to the stern - looking forward to seeing how it shapes up! The planking looks great so far! hamilton

Thanks Mic - not nearly as nice as your start on L'Egyptienne! hamilton

Another quick update while the ham is in the oven. Working still n deck superstructures and features, specifically, the fore boom sheet buffer, the water pumps, the dory frames and the fore deck skylight. All were pretty straightforward, though you'll see in the photos that I initially mispositioned the water pumps - the later photos show them in their proper spot aft of the fife rail. I'll also admit that, because I was not feeling up to the challenge of making the pumps from scratch, I repurposed a couple of pumps that I had in a little drawer of unused parts from other kits...they are not exactly to scale (on the small side), and they are likely somewhat anachronistic in terms of design, but I don't think they look too awful. Here are the photos - enjoy and happy modelling. hamilton

A quick update featuring the main mast fife rail. When I was looking at this on the plans, I figured I could get it done in a few hours - another case of being totally wrong! It took about 10 hours total over three sessions to finish. I cut the pinrack from 1/16" basswood sheet and used a couple of wooden stanchions left over from the Artesania Latina San Francisco which turned out to be perfectly to scale and matched the general shape as well. 1/8" square stock was used for the bitts, and I used two edge-glued 1/8 x 1/16" strips, filed out to accommodate the bitts and the boom crutch, with a small hole drilled for a belaying pin on the forward edge. These were glued up around the posts. Once this was done, I noticed that the two posts were a little out of alignment, so I glued them at the bottom to some 1/32 and 1/8" strip wood to bring them even and to correct height. I repurposed a couple of knees from another kit for the fife rail support knees, as well - these were larger than scale, but were pretty easily trimmed down to size for the bluenose. They are not to scale thickness - being 1/16" when they should be 3/32"....but I glued them close to the outboard edges, so only the very keenest and most attentive eyes will see - and of course all of you who I just told about it!! I also made the mast coat out of 1/8" basswood, drilled and filed out to 5/16" for the mast. The belaying pins were blackened (looking a little hairy) to complete the little project. I am starting to get really concerned about all the metal work that's coming up with the masting and forward deck details. I have very limited experience working with metal and given that my blackening technique also produces pretty fuzzy results....I will have to do a bit of practice with the soldering gun and see if I can't wrap my head around it....Definitely going to fudge as much with wood as I can get away with, but at a certain point I feel like it's hard to model without picking up some metal working chops..... Until then, though, it'll be more deck superstructures. Enjoy the photos and happy modelling hamilton