hamilton

Nice rigging, hamilton!  Ehhh, so what if it's been since 2016... as the saying goes, "just like riding a bike", you never forget!

Hello there:
 
Another quick update on Bluenose - the foresail is now rigged onto the model. This was a more or less straightforward process, and I learned from my rigging of the mainsail to fasten lines with relative tension rather than one at a time! It's been so long (2016) since I rigged any model that I feel like I'm learning things all over again.....anyway, here are the photos. Next it's on to the fore topsail.....but since I'm heading into a few weeks of very intense work I may not get to this for a bit.....enjoy the photos
hamilton
 
 

Hello there:
 
Another quick update on Bluenose - the foresail is now rigged onto the model. This was a more or less straightforward process, and I learned from my rigging of the mainsail to fasten lines with relative tension rather than one at a time! It's been so long (2016) since I rigged any model that I feel like I'm learning things all over again.....anyway, here are the photos. Next it's on to the fore topsail.....but since I'm heading into a few weeks of very intense work I may not get to this for a bit.....enjoy the photos
hamilton
 
 

Thanks for the comments Nearshore and Gregg!
 
Another quick update - I spent the last couple of days fabricating and outfitting the main boom - a relatively straightforward process. I'll complete the main gaff and then make the mainsail and main topmast sail before adding all these elements to the model and moving forward. Here are some photos - hope all are well!
hamilton
 

Hello All,
A bit of an update on the Bellona. I completed the inner bulwark planking and cut out the remaining gun ports. I trimmed the stern balcony deck to its final shape to accept the trim that will be installed later on. I cut the bearding and rabbet lines to accept the final layer of planking and applied stain to them to help conceal any flaws. I have started the second layer of planking, installing the first trim piece #56 that sets up the line for the wale planking. I installed pieces #57 and trim piece #58, which is the last of the trim above the wale. As I progressed, I realized that I need to start tapering the remaining planks starting with the first plank after trim piece #58. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize this until I already glued the first plank on. This through off the line of the planking, but fortunately I was able to recover and get it back in line. I diminished the thickness of the wale planks before the rabbet at the bow stem as suggested by Allen in an earlier post. I completed the planking down to the lower gallery and stopped at this point. I made a jig for the gun port post and assembled them all. I figured it would be easier than trying to install them in the gun port one post at a time. It worked out well as I used the preassembled port post as a guide to cut out the gun ports. It did take a lot of time getting them to fit just right but I am happy with the results. I have completed the starboard and port sides and it took me a couple weeks, only working on it a couple hours at a time. I was undecided on whether to keep the port post their natural color or paint them black. I have decided to paint them and dry fitted them to make sure they still properly fit after painting. The instructions really don’t explain the sequence of assembly very well. It appears that they tell you to cut out the gun ports after the planking has been completed. I felt that given my skill level, that if I covered them up, I would probably make a mess of things trying to locate them without having a very good reference of their exact location. Well this brings me up to date on my progress. As always, your comments and suggestions are welcomed. I will provide another update when I have completed the planking down to the wales.
 
Cheers
Nearshore

Hello all:
 
I found an opportunity yesterday to spend almost the entire day at the work bench - what could be finer or more relaxing than throwing on an audiobook and doing some rigging and sail making?
 
I had a couple of small tasks to complete for rigging the mainsail - lacing the sail to the boom & gaff and tying on the mast hoops. This got done fairly quickly, so I decided to move on to the main topsail. I stitched the sail, and added eyelets and rigging elements, which is about as much as I could accomplish yesterday. This morning, I rigged the sail onto the model and then, in a fit of ambition, decided to start on the foresail. I traced the sail form onto the cloth and marked out the seams and reef bands and then stitched the entire sail before I realised I had done the whole thing backwards - I stiched on the port side of the sail, but the model is built for a starboard side display!! I managed to retrace it before my modelling time ran out, but completion will have to wait for another day - going to go play some mini golf with the family.
 
To all the Canucks, happy Thanksgiving!! Enjoy the long weekend and the photos
hamilton
 
 

Truly impressive!
hamilton

Truly impressive!
hamilton

Truly impressive!
hamilton

Truly impressive!
hamilton

Finally done with the gunport lids.... All lined up and ready.
 

 
And in place....
 

 

 

 

 

 
And a view from the galleries.....
 

 
Next are the anchors, lamps, chimney and a few details.
 
Yves

some one suggested this already, but an adjustable open top aquarium lamp might work - except they're designed to sit on the top edges of the aquarium sides - you can get ones that are dimmable and that (while quite bright) would not be so intrusive or offensive. They are, however, not cheap...and an enclosed case would require the addition on the top side edges of thin extensions on which the light could rest - here is an image of an aquarium I designed a couple of years ago that shows this. The broad spectrum REBs are high quality, but really designed for plant growth - so bright! But this photo is just to show how the lights fit on the aquarium...and to illustrate what you might need to do do fit something securely on your model case....
I'm on another forum for my aquarium/aquascaping hobby and one time someone there asked about putting a wooden ship model as a decorative element inside the aquarium! It's fun when there's crossover between these two worlds....good luck!
hamilton

some one suggested this already, but an adjustable open top aquarium lamp might work - except they're designed to sit on the top edges of the aquarium sides - you can get ones that are dimmable and that (while quite bright) would not be so intrusive or offensive. They are, however, not cheap...and an enclosed case would require the addition on the top side edges of thin extensions on which the light could rest - here is an image of an aquarium I designed a couple of years ago that shows this. The broad spectrum REBs are high quality, but really designed for plant growth - so bright! But this photo is just to show how the lights fit on the aquarium...and to illustrate what you might need to do do fit something securely on your model case....
I'm on another forum for my aquarium/aquascaping hobby and one time someone there asked about putting a wooden ship model as a decorative element inside the aquarium! It's fun when there's crossover between these two worlds....good luck!
hamilton

some one suggested this already, but an adjustable open top aquarium lamp might work - except they're designed to sit on the top edges of the aquarium sides - you can get ones that are dimmable and that (while quite bright) would not be so intrusive or offensive. They are, however, not cheap...and an enclosed case would require the addition on the top side edges of thin extensions on which the light could rest - here is an image of an aquarium I designed a couple of years ago that shows this. The broad spectrum REBs are high quality, but really designed for plant growth - so bright! But this photo is just to show how the lights fit on the aquarium...and to illustrate what you might need to do do fit something securely on your model case....
I'm on another forum for my aquarium/aquascaping hobby and one time someone there asked about putting a wooden ship model as a decorative element inside the aquarium! It's fun when there's crossover between these two worlds....good luck!
hamilton

some one suggested this already, but an adjustable open top aquarium lamp might work - except they're designed to sit on the top edges of the aquarium sides - you can get ones that are dimmable and that (while quite bright) would not be so intrusive or offensive. They are, however, not cheap...and an enclosed case would require the addition on the top side edges of thin extensions on which the light could rest - here is an image of an aquarium I designed a couple of years ago that shows this. The broad spectrum REBs are high quality, but really designed for plant growth - so bright! But this photo is just to show how the lights fit on the aquarium...and to illustrate what you might need to do do fit something securely on your model case....
I'm on another forum for my aquarium/aquascaping hobby and one time someone there asked about putting a wooden ship model as a decorative element inside the aquarium! It's fun when there's crossover between these two worlds....good luck!
hamilton

Great display case for a museum grade model! Both items are beautifully made. As for lighting,  I admit I don't know much but am wondering if an aquarium light fixture would be a solution. I think most of the florescent bulbs would be non-intrusive but honestly not sure.

Hello there:
 
I've now started rigging the main sail - a lot of elements to juggle here! The first step was to lash the sail to the boom and gaff and the clew, toe, throat and peak - the eyelets I added to the mainsail helped here, though I wish I had blackened them first....an oversight (or overeagerness) on my part. Regardless, After trying to rig the throat and peak halliards with the boom and gaff "loose", I added small brass nails to the ends of these parts and drilled holes on the main mast so the spars could be anchored in place to ease the rigging.
 
I also had to undo the tackles on the flying backstays since these were really getting in the way - I'll re-do these once the main sail and main topsail are finished. In any case, at this point I've put in the parrell ropes (but not added parrells or tied them off) and rigged the peak and throat halliards and tackles. There is still a lot to do here - including lacing the sails onto the gaff and boom, the sheets and boom crutch tackles, the topping lift and quarterlifts and the lazy jacks - I installed the flag halliard today, so that's taken care of at least - and of course I'll need to tie on the mast hoops and parrells.....sheesh! Then onto the topsail.....
 
Bye for now and happy modelling
hamilton

Managed to get in a couple of hours at the bench today and can report some progress on the sails. I made patterns a little while back for all the sails - you can see these arrayed in the first photo below - and transferred the pattern for the fore sail to some thin fabric I had lying around (nothing like ship modelling if you want to end up with a lot of random stuff just lying around...or maybe that's just life...) for experiments with the sewing machine.
 
After a lot of work wrestling with that demonic device, I finally got into a rhythm where the threads weren't seizing up and doing all kinds of annoying things. Feeling daring, I transferred the patterns for the main sail and main topmast sail to the cloth and started stitching the main sail - just the reef bands and outside "hems" - not sure how generally to refer to these....I forgot how time consuming making sails is!! I imagine I'll be at this for a couple of weeks given the limited time I have these days....Anyways, here are some photos - the sail patterns and some shots of the main sale with a piece of ceramic Swiss cheese for scale comparison.
 
Happy modelling and bye for now
hamilton

Very quick update - made some patterns for the mainsail and main topmast sail. Took a tracing from the plans, transferred this to bristol board using carbon paper and then trimmed up the bristol board patterns until the seemed to fit reasonably on the model as-built. It's been a long time since I made sails for any model - and I was never as expert a hand at it as some on the forum. But this weekend, I'm going to haul the sewing machine out and see if my wife will be willing to show me (again) how to thread the damnable thing...I'm sure that a bit of casual experimentation over the weekend will refresh my memory, right? HAHAHA!!
 
I think I'm going to invest in a little eyelet tool so I can add grommets to the sails, but I have to see if I can find something for this purpose - what do other people do/use for this?
 
Bye for now and hope you all have a great weekend
hamilton
 

Thanks for the comments Nearshore and Gregg!
 
Another quick update - I spent the last couple of days fabricating and outfitting the main boom - a relatively straightforward process. I'll complete the main gaff and then make the mainsail and main topmast sail before adding all these elements to the model and moving forward. Here are some photos - hope all are well!
hamilton
 

Well - it's finally time for a real update on the build. I've been working on the standing rigging and this is something I always have trouble documenting because of my poor camera skills and equipment (iPhone).....but now that the standing rigging is almost done (only the fore lower shroud ratlines and fore spreader lift ratlines plus the fore topmast shrouds to complete) I can share the progress.
 
I won't spend too much time with descriptions here other than to say that I did not pay enough attention to the plans and ended up tying the ratlines across all four lower main shrouds instead of the first three with an occasional extension to the fourth.....I know I talked about historical accuracy above as something I'm not too concerned about, but this one sticks in the craw a bit - though I'm sure eventually I'll reconcile myself to it....
 
In any case, I really enjoy the rigging process - probably my favourite part of any build - as it really brings the model to life in such a big way. Even ratlines aren't too bad with a good podcast or audiobook! 
 
Next to give myself a bit of a break, I'm going to fabricate the main boom and gaff and the main sail and main topmast sail and rig those up before moving on to completing standing rigging on the foremast. Enjoy the photos all and bye for now
hamilton
 

Thanks for dropping by OC!
hamilton

So loving what  you  are doing buddy.
 
OC.

Hello there:
 
I've now started rigging the main sail - a lot of elements to juggle here! The first step was to lash the sail to the boom and gaff and the clew, toe, throat and peak - the eyelets I added to the mainsail helped here, though I wish I had blackened them first....an oversight (or overeagerness) on my part. Regardless, After trying to rig the throat and peak halliards with the boom and gaff "loose", I added small brass nails to the ends of these parts and drilled holes on the main mast so the spars could be anchored in place to ease the rigging.
 
I also had to undo the tackles on the flying backstays since these were really getting in the way - I'll re-do these once the main sail and main topsail are finished. In any case, at this point I've put in the parrell ropes (but not added parrells or tied them off) and rigged the peak and throat halliards and tackles. There is still a lot to do here - including lacing the sails onto the gaff and boom, the sheets and boom crutch tackles, the topping lift and quarterlifts and the lazy jacks - I installed the flag halliard today, so that's taken care of at least - and of course I'll need to tie on the mast hoops and parrells.....sheesh! Then onto the topsail.....
 
Bye for now and happy modelling
hamilton

Hello there:
 
I've now started rigging the main sail - a lot of elements to juggle here! The first step was to lash the sail to the boom and gaff and the clew, toe, throat and peak - the eyelets I added to the mainsail helped here, though I wish I had blackened them first....an oversight (or overeagerness) on my part. Regardless, After trying to rig the throat and peak halliards with the boom and gaff "loose", I added small brass nails to the ends of these parts and drilled holes on the main mast so the spars could be anchored in place to ease the rigging.
 
I also had to undo the tackles on the flying backstays since these were really getting in the way - I'll re-do these once the main sail and main topsail are finished. In any case, at this point I've put in the parrell ropes (but not added parrells or tied them off) and rigged the peak and throat halliards and tackles. There is still a lot to do here - including lacing the sails onto the gaff and boom, the sheets and boom crutch tackles, the topping lift and quarterlifts and the lazy jacks - I installed the flag halliard today, so that's taken care of at least - and of course I'll need to tie on the mast hoops and parrells.....sheesh! Then onto the topsail.....
 
Bye for now and happy modelling
hamilton