hamilton

Hi Guys,
 
Just a quick update on current progress, it's been limited lately due to a refurb of the kitchen and also a few health issues, hopefully resolved now.
 
I have been working on the Foremast and have fitted all the Shrouds, Futtock staves, Catherpins and Futtock Shrouds.
 
Next job is to put the Lanyards into the deadeyes and tie off then do the Ratlines, after that it's a bit of woodwork with the making of the Bowsprit, fit that and then the Stays, should be a lot of fun.
 
Some pics.
 
Looking from the bow, all is as it should be, nice and symmetrical.

 
Foremast Tops

 

 

 
Portside Deadeyes

 
Futtock Staves and Catherpins

 

 
Fitting and tying off the Futtock Shrouds

 

 

 
So there we have it guys, your right up to date now, hopefully the next instalment wont be so long in coming.
 
Any questions, just ask, as long as their not too technical.
 
Be Good
 
mobbsie
 
 
 
 
 

Hamilton,
 
I suggest you use the web site Steve provided.
 
Be prepared to wait a while for replacement parts from them. They will eventually ship them to Model Expo who will forward them to you.
 
On the Model Expo site you will find this information under their warranty/guarantee information.

I had the same issue a model I bought from Mamoli through Model Expo.  They gave me the address: Mamolimodel@mamolimodel.com.  I contacted them and they sent the missing parts to me through ME. 

I decided to attack the stern exterior next, beginning with the stern transom and then moving to the quarter galleries.
 
The transom work was relatively straight forward. I used the laser cut transom piece, which was a little distorted in shape and required some correction to make it symmetrical. After painting it black, I made the various moldings from boxwood strip, wet heat bending those pieces that required it. I chose to leave the moldings natural wood. I then added two pieces of scrollwork from the PE sheet in the kit, which I painted white. They didn't match the plans, because it turns out that an early "test" sheet was included in my kit. This is of no concern to me because no one knows what it looked like anyway. Of more concern was that the sheet contained no lettering to do the Essex name. As a result, I used some decal lettering from my model railroad days.
 
The quarter galleries are next. These will be largely, if not entirely, scratch built.
 
Bob

I decided to do abit of work on testing a paint scheme on the transom and side window, i think i will go with a mainly red ocre and black tar scheme for the paint decoration as they seem to compliment each other, and lets just say that the ships commander had a barrel load so he decided to use  them, ive also painted the whale and done some other paintwork to see how it will look.
What do you think?
 
 
C.

I pretty much have to say that at this point my build of the Bluenose is finished.  There is nothing else I can do except put it on the shelf and admire the finished product.
 
All the pieces of the display case were cut at our community woodshop.  That kept all the sawdust out of my garage and house.
 

 
All the parts were tested to see if everything went together as planned.  I had to make a small adjustment to the groves in the base, but other than that it went together nicely.
 

 
Here is the finished build.  There really is nothing else to write down.  I will post some photos in the Gallery of competed models.
 

 
Note the nameplate holder.  The USB Flash Drive with my complete build log, resource material, and all photos is encased in the box built into the holder.
 

It has been a few weeks since I last did an update. There have been a few (pleasant) family distractions but I have still managed a bit of progress.
 
I used 3mm square walnut to make beams to go under the rear edge of the waist area. The under edge of the deck is chamfered so that the edge of the plywood doesn't shew. This makes the shaping of these beams a little complex. The first photo shews the main beam ready to be fitted.
 

 
The next photo covers all of the recent progress.
 
The beams are fitted around the rear edge. They actually consist of 9 pieces fitted together. Against these I have placed the two ladders which were made using the jig that I made for the companion way ladder.
 
The gun ports are all now lined to hide the gaps. I increased the size of the ports to allow for the thickness of the lining. I used 0.5mm thick lime.
 
The quarter deck rail is nearly complete. It is not yet permanently fitted. When it is I will add some metal rails on the wings.
 
The cannon have been removed for now. They were in the way. They will be rigged when they are refitted.
 
Below the front of the quarter deck is the beginnings of the chain pump/main mast partners cluster. I am making this as a separate sub unit. I have positioned its base temporarily in place to ensure the cannon rigging does not clash with it. I will cover the building of this unit in more detail as I do it.
 
Along the rear edge of the fore deck is the 3mm square walnut shaped ready to fix under the fore deck once the stove is permanently fixed in place. There are also gratings awaiting their coveing sat in place on the quarterdeck. These are intended to be removable to make the top of the stove visible.
 

 
Next up will be revarnishing the gun deck. I can then start rigging and fixing the cannon. This won't be for a few weeks because my wife and I are off to the Lake District for a (probably wet) holiday.             

Good afternoon

here‘s a small update after a long time. I‘m not in the mood for planking the deck so I decided to start with the deckhouse and the skylights.

The parts of the deckhouse:
 



Assembled deckhouse and skylights:
 

 

 



The components are now ready for staining
 

In between building my frigate, i am also building a tiny little 1/700 scale destroyer model kit in plastic, its very hard to work with fine detail at this scale, but the following pictures highlight key areas where i need to finescale the detail and sharpen things up abit.
 
 
C.

Hello:
 
A minor update with no photos....SORRY!! I've not exactly been neglecting the Blandford, but have had very little time and energy for working on her in the last couple of months. I have completed the spars and running rigging on the mizzen mast and this evening I worked on outfitting the main course yard....she's looking alright - none the worse for picking up a bit of dust in the last weeks....Hard to say when I can get back on a regular modelling schedule - nothing is regular with 2 small kids! (with profound respect for those of you who have more than 2....). Anyway, hope you're all enjoying yourselves! Bye for now, and I will update with photos soon....
hamilton

Thanks Augie.
 
Thanks Sjors. My wife is always complaining that I never make anything in a size that's useful.
 
Bob

Thanks Thomas and Nils for the kind words. Thanks also to the "likes".
 
Continuing the work on the Great Cabin, I made and installed the partition for the cabin and a small pantry cabinet set up against that partition. The partition was made of boxwood sheet and strip. Following Sam's suggestion, I decided to panel it on both sides. the hinges are PE brass parts that I had, which I cut down to a more acceptable size. The door knobs are very small nails. Both the hinges and the knobs were blackened using Birchwood Casey. 
 
The cabinet is conjectural, and derives from a reference on a drawing in AOTS. It was made from boxwood sheet and strip with blackened nails for knobs.
 
This completes the work on the Cabin --but maybe not. I'm still considering the possibility of trying to do a table and chairs at some later point in construction, but the chairs would really be soooo tiny. We'll see. For now, it's on to the forward partition, which will be done similarly to the completed one.
 
Bob

The planking looks great Augie! Wonderful job
hamilton

At 350 hours into the build, it's time for an update.
 
The second belt of planking (of 3) has been completed from the garboard on up, P/S.
 

 

 

 
Since the next belt will close her up, I took the opportunity to give the inside 2 coats of diluted PVA.  I like the way that seals the inside and stiffens her up prior to sanding.  With the false deck in place I will obviously not be able to glue the center section but 'two outta three aint bad'.
 
Though most of the planking is 1/8 x 1/16 basswood, I've snuck in some tapered 3/16 x 1/16 in the stern to try and minimize the need for stealers.  Will definitely need about 2 drop planks up in the stem.
 
Next will be the 'Super Bowl of Planking'......the 3rd belt.  But not before the real game today.  My team is in it -- GO BRONCOS!!!!!!!!
 
I'm hoping to leave this lower hull planking a natural, lighter color then that above the wales.  All depends on how this next step comes out  .  Should be there before Spring ---- at least according to today's Groundhog forecast.
 

Hello:
 
A minor update with no photos....SORRY!! I've not exactly been neglecting the Blandford, but have had very little time and energy for working on her in the last couple of months. I have completed the spars and running rigging on the mizzen mast and this evening I worked on outfitting the main course yard....she's looking alright - none the worse for picking up a bit of dust in the last weeks....Hard to say when I can get back on a regular modelling schedule - nothing is regular with 2 small kids! (with profound respect for those of you who have more than 2....). Anyway, hope you're all enjoying yourselves! Bye for now, and I will update with photos soon....
hamilton

I started work on the deck planks today starting with the bows two bulwark edge planks, i am cutting in the normal planks as they should be, and decided on a four step planking system, adding the square mast collars has helped by not having to cut this through the planking.
 
Here are the latest pics...
 
 
C.

Hi Collingwood - nice work! I'm confident you can tackle the transom and come up with something great. You've negotiated the limitations of this kit with such cheerfulness and confidence that I can't imagine you'll encounter too many problems scratch building a transom if you put your mind to it....
 
hamilton

Many thanks for the picture harlequin, i am going to approach this section sometime latter,   for now i have been continuing with the hull planking down to and including the whale, i have also cut out the oar slots and the lower deck acsess port, i have set up the whale planking by using two sections - one 2mm by 2mm  and the other 4mm by 2mm i think 6mm is quite a good width for the whale.
 
Here's the latest pics..
 
 
C.

Thanks for the tip B.E. I feel a real lack of confidence in my carving ability, but might be less intimidated if there were something to start with - I never would have thought of a chess piece! Excellent idea....time to start cruising the pawn shops and second hand stores....
hamilton

Main shrouds
 
Some "notes to self", managed to get a process going for doing the shrouds in a way that felt comfortable, details below and results.  Apologize for the quality of the photos, for some reason these just seem off today.
 
Hope someone can help with a list of questions:
Instructions indicate that the futtock stave should be made with 1mm brass wire.  What would this have been made of on actual ship, would it have had rope wrapped around it like serving or puddening? Would people advise to attach the futtock stave before doing ratlines - seems that it might hold the shrouds a little more in place What dictated whether stretchers were attached (or not), and would these have been attached 'permanently', in as much as anything would be permanent. Would catharpins have been so attached so as to deflect the shrouds inwards at the futtock staves, or would the line of the shrouds be maintained? Any insights much appreciated!
 
Shroud pulled at taught as possible around deadeye, twin spacers being used to keep it steady.  (End that will be trimmed passed up through the tops temporarily)

 
Overhand knot tied at back and front of shroud a close as possible to the deadeyes.  

 
Overhand knots then alternated working downward to close up the hole, no more than 3-4 typically required.  Last know secured with G-S Hypo cement and ends trimmed.  Found using some tweezers made this easier to manipulate as the shroud can be controlled much easier.

 
End trimmed and then end and middle seizing tied using same method as described above

 
There's something very pleasing about a stack of shrouds!  The fore-most shrouds are served to protect against wear from the sails, this allowed me to establish a new personal best for longest length served (268mm).  I've found it helpful while serving to keep compacting the serving line even if it doesn't appear to need it, it seems to give a more consistent result although I've still not perfected this technique.

 
Despite best attempts, I just could get the line of the serving to be straight across the shrouds.  I'm guessing that this would have not always been perfect on real ships either despite the pictures in books.  At least thats my story/excuse.

 
Main shrouds in place, I'll leave in place for now and do a final tightening once all shrouds in place.

Andy - appreciate the observation, I had tried what you describe before taking the photo, but it just didn't look right.  Turns out, I had the stay going under the wrong cross tree arm.  All corrected now and sits a treat on the crosstree
 
BE, John, Jim and the 'likes' - thanks as always
 
Main Stay and Preventer Stay collars
 
Started tackling the main and preventer stay collars while waiting for some line to stretch out for the main mast shrouds, (still don't feel I have the shroud thing figured out just yet, but its early days...).  After a bit of a break in the shipyard, these took a full day to complete.  The instructions indicate that the collars should be lashed under the bowsprit through some eyes, but I decided to take the approach outlined in Lever for these.  Unfortunately, because the gammoning is in place, a lot of fiddly steps needed to be done on the ship.
 
As anyone who's done any serving knows, and I'm rapidly learning, is that the process requires you to know the correct length of line you need to serve because 'trimming a bit off' isn't an option.  Here's the first step figuring out the length of served line I'll need.  Marker pen on similarly sized natural line.

 
Detail of the final collar as per Lever

 
Main stay collar in place...

 
...and preventer stay.  I had added the cleats onto the bowsprit before mounting, and commented at the time that the plans were inconsistent.  Luckily the collars seem to sit nicely where intended

 
 
 
 

Getting there.... last page 6/6 now done. Need to do rope coils etc - oars and extra yards strapped to small boat frame  plus anchors fixed to catheads,,,,,and then touch ups.
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
 
Traveller
 

Some more updates and a query.
 
The other Crowsfeet done.
 
Had to make up the rigging at the stern as it was not very clear on the instruction sheet - so it is a bit of a mixture from various books / kit instructions / me.
 
Some rope coils. These were done I guess the same way as everyone does - a photo showing how. Masking tape folded into a loop - stuck down onto a piece of balsa wood. The thread passed thro a hole with a T shaped pins that I have and wound around the pin - the sticky masking tape helps to hold things in place and glued.
 
The instruction for Parral Beads and Ribs says - 'The topmast yards are tied to the masts with parral beads (96) and ribs (93) held together with 0.25 thread (the topmast yards are fixed using parrel beads (96) and 0.25 black thread only - no ribs)' ??? Written exactly as instructions whereas the drawings (2 of 6) shows the fore topgallant and fore topsail yards done with beads and ribs and the main two top yards with nothing...... may do the fore topgallant yards only with just beads,
 

 

 

 

 
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Hi Guys,
 
Thanks everybody for the nice comments and remarks, and also the guys who pressed the "like" button.
 
I am going to try for an update using IE10, hopefully I've not been scuppered again.
 
The Lower Main Mast is now done as far as the shrouds and ratlines are concerned and the next step is the Lower Foremast, I have just put the ropes into the black dye in readiness for that, so as far as the pictures go it's mainly the Main Mast.
 
I have soaked the Burton Pendants with diluted white glue and they are weighted down so that they hang right.

 

 
Next up is the completed Starboard side ratlines

 

 

 
Now for the Port side, all the deadeyes had to be retied due to the mast leaning to Starboard, the shrouds on retying could almost play a tune they are so tight, but the mast is now straight and all is well.
 
This is my method of holding the deadeye and rope so that I can seize the shroud.

 
You can see by the tails just how much I have had to adjust the shrouds

 
All the shrouds have been adjusted and the ropes have been tied off and trimmed.

 
This is my method when tying ratlines, the shrouds are clamped together with two boards , the boards are the correct size for the ratlines and keep them straight, they also help to keep the shrouds from moving out of alignment but care still needs to be taken

 
Portside shrouds completed prior to trimming up

 
All trimmed and finished

 
So there we are, right up to date, a bit long winded I know but it's been a while and I wanted to give IE10 a good workout.
 
Be Good
 
mobbsie
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Practice may not make perfect, but it does make quicker, easier and, hopefully, better. The second side of the copper is done and I like it better. Now if I had a third side to do......... 
 
The last photo shows the copper with a coat of Floquil Flat Finish brushed on. Although it still looks quite shiny and bright, it is less so than before the flat finish was applied. Looking at my Syren of a few years back, which was finished comparably, I  expect a nice mellowing of the copper on Essex as well.
 
After finishing the copper I decided to move the model from a cradle to a brass pin mount, which is how it will be permanently mounted after completion. This involved using epoxy to install pieces of brass rod into holes drilled through the keel and slide these into brass tubing installed in a base. This will avoid contact with copper as much as possible during future construction, but still permit removal of the model, if necessary.
 
Next up will be some items that I've already done some work on, the rudder and the gun deck hatches. Other deck items will also be done after that.
 
Bob