hamilton

Thanks a lot Johnny - I agree wholeheartedly - if I could afford it, I would always go with Syren blocks. As it is, I have to save those kinds of expenses for builds where I have more of an eye to accuracy. 
 
The Bluenose is what I consider a kind of "recovery model" - a project that - along with a 1.5" = 1' rowing skiff I built last summer - I'm working on primarily to get back into modelling. When I first got into this hobby in 2009, I built 15 models in succession over an 8 year period. Then I injured my hand back in 2017 and have only worked sporadically on models from that time until the beginning of last summer, when I built the skiff, picked up Bluenose again and started working on HMS Bellona (Corel), which I am going to try to build to at least something of a level of historical accuracy (though there are Bellona and other 74 builds on here that outstrip my capacities in all ways!!!).
 
Like you my questions are the same - what do I want to achieve with this build? Where are my interests going with this or that model - most importantly what is available to me for resources! Bluenose is obviously well documented, but the aim of building it really is to get a modelling rhythm back in my life......
 
Thanks for dropping by!
hamilton

Thanks a lot Johnny - I agree wholeheartedly - if I could afford it, I would always go with Syren blocks. As it is, I have to save those kinds of expenses for builds where I have more of an eye to accuracy. 
 
The Bluenose is what I consider a kind of "recovery model" - a project that - along with a 1.5" = 1' rowing skiff I built last summer - I'm working on primarily to get back into modelling. When I first got into this hobby in 2009, I built 15 models in succession over an 8 year period. Then I injured my hand back in 2017 and have only worked sporadically on models from that time until the beginning of last summer, when I built the skiff, picked up Bluenose again and started working on HMS Bellona (Corel), which I am going to try to build to at least something of a level of historical accuracy (though there are Bellona and other 74 builds on here that outstrip my capacities in all ways!!!).
 
Like you my questions are the same - what do I want to achieve with this build? Where are my interests going with this or that model - most importantly what is available to me for resources! Bluenose is obviously well documented, but the aim of building it really is to get a modelling rhythm back in my life......
 
Thanks for dropping by!
hamilton

Thanks for the recommendation, Alan - my son is a budding filmmaker (hard to believe given what's happening in Hollywood these days) and we have a weekly film club where we watch classic cinema - the farthest back we've gone so far is Night of the Hunter (1955), which he really enjoyed (as do I) but I'll add Captains Courageous to the list!
hamilton

I'm in full agreement with you, Hamilton.  The question to ask oneself is, "Am I having fun?", alternatively, "Is this project sustaining my interest?"  I like to use what's handy, or available without spending too much - the reason I bought some scribed basswood decking (for a smaller scale than your project) instead of trying to sweat doing tiny individual planks, although fiddling with infinitesimal details does 'float the boat' for some.  'Standard' quality blocks provided in most kits still can be worked a little by hand to improve their appearance, like enlarging the hole for the line a tad to make threading easier, and rounding the edges/profile a little by hand if they are not too tiny to begin with.
 
  'Love your Bluenose, and only wish I had the one my Dad made ca. 1950 ... I didn't see it among his estate items, so it may have been given by him to someone else along the way.

For more fun, if you have not already seen it, a fun few hours is watching the 1937 version of Captains Courageous.  I watched it several days ago and while I thought I had seen it before, it was pretty much all new for me.  Great scenes on board the Henrietta, a Grand Banks fishing schooner which was used in the filming of the movie.  Following your build log and watching this movie has me wanting to build another fishing schooner model in the not too distant future😀
Allan

Looking good cisco! 
hamilton

Looking good cisco! 
hamilton

Looking good cisco! 
hamilton

Looking good cisco! 
hamilton

Thanks for the helpful suggestions guys, but I do this for fun, and will go my own way on this one. I appreciate and admire those with the technical skill, money and time to achieve at the high level you guys do, but this is my hobby and I seek relaxation and quiet enjoyment in it. And since I'm under no obligation either to keep anyone on board this boat safe or pass a bar of historical or technical accuracy, I'll leave these as they are and move along.
 
I do appreciate the comments, and if I ever come to build a model with an eye to technical and historical accuracy, I will definitely make sure to rig my blocks correctly. Thanks again!
hamilton

Thanks for the helpful suggestions guys, but I do this for fun, and will go my own way on this one. I appreciate and admire those with the technical skill, money and time to achieve at the high level you guys do, but this is my hobby and I seek relaxation and quiet enjoyment in it. And since I'm under no obligation either to keep anyone on board this boat safe or pass a bar of historical or technical accuracy, I'll leave these as they are and move along.
 
I do appreciate the comments, and if I ever come to build a model with an eye to technical and historical accuracy, I will definitely make sure to rig my blocks correctly. Thanks again!
hamilton

The entire response is well said Hamilton.   The rest of life takes a lot of work to succeed, a hobby has no such obligations yet can still provide pleasure.
Allan
 
 
 

Thanks for the helpful suggestions guys, but I do this for fun, and will go my own way on this one. I appreciate and admire those with the technical skill, money and time to achieve at the high level you guys do, but this is my hobby and I seek relaxation and quiet enjoyment in it. And since I'm under no obligation either to keep anyone on board this boat safe or pass a bar of historical or technical accuracy, I'll leave these as they are and move along.
 
I do appreciate the comments, and if I ever come to build a model with an eye to technical and historical accuracy, I will definitely make sure to rig my blocks correctly. Thanks again!
hamilton

Thanks for the helpful suggestions guys, but I do this for fun, and will go my own way on this one. I appreciate and admire those with the technical skill, money and time to achieve at the high level you guys do, but this is my hobby and I seek relaxation and quiet enjoyment in it. And since I'm under no obligation either to keep anyone on board this boat safe or pass a bar of historical or technical accuracy, I'll leave these as they are and move along.
 
I do appreciate the comments, and if I ever come to build a model with an eye to technical and historical accuracy, I will definitely make sure to rig my blocks correctly. Thanks again!
hamilton

Thanks for the helpful suggestions guys, but I do this for fun, and will go my own way on this one. I appreciate and admire those with the technical skill, money and time to achieve at the high level you guys do, but this is my hobby and I seek relaxation and quiet enjoyment in it. And since I'm under no obligation either to keep anyone on board this boat safe or pass a bar of historical or technical accuracy, I'll leave these as they are and move along.
 
I do appreciate the comments, and if I ever come to build a model with an eye to technical and historical accuracy, I will definitely make sure to rig my blocks correctly. Thanks again!
hamilton

Hello again:
 
In a burst of activity today I managed to outfit the fore mast and fore topmast - they are now assembled as a single structure, but not yet installed on the model. I'll wait to do this until I've finished outfitting the main mast and topmast and I'm ready to begin the rigging, though some rigging elements (the spreader lifts and ratlines) will be installed first. The process was mostly trouble free, though the results are a little wonky....I've been trying a new blackening agent that is not very good - so the pieces look...well more rusted than anything...I may try to dab some black paint on them to tone them down a bit but we'll see....I don't know why the new blackening agent I was using today ended up flaking so badly - I bathed the brass in acetone and rinsed with water before blackening and then tried just putting them straight in the blackening solution, but in both cases the results were equally poor....I may try diluting the blackening liquid more to see if that helps, but honestly I'm at a loss....the old Blacken-It (no longer available in Canada) is sorely missed!!! Any tips from pros out there would be appreciated. 
 
Enjoy the photos and bye for now
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 for the helpful suggestions guys, but I do this for fun, and will go my own way on this one. I appreciate and admire those with the technical skill, money and time to achieve at the high level you guys do, but this is my hobby and I seek relaxation and quiet enjoyment in it. And since I'm under no obligation either to keep anyone on board this boat safe or pass a bar of historical or technical accuracy, I'll leave these as they are and move along.
 
I do appreciate the comments, and if I ever come to build a model with an eye to technical and historical accuracy, I will definitely make sure to rig my blocks correctly. Thanks again!
hamilton

Thanks for the helpful suggestions guys, but I do this for fun, and will go my own way on this one. I appreciate and admire those with the technical skill, money and time to achieve at the high level you guys do, but this is my hobby and I seek relaxation and quiet enjoyment in it. And since I'm under no obligation either to keep anyone on board this boat safe or pass a bar of historical or technical accuracy, I'll leave these as they are and move along.
 
I do appreciate the comments, and if I ever come to build a model with an eye to technical and historical accuracy, I will definitely make sure to rig my blocks correctly. Thanks again!
hamilton

I agree, they are on backwards.  Also, the Bluenose had internally stropped blocks.   These are available from Syren if you don't want to make your own.
Allan

 

Hamilton
It looks like you are doing a great job on the Bluenose, it is one of my favorite models.  The three blocks you have fixed on the foremast I think are upside down.  The hole for the rope should be on the top of the block closer to the mast so that the rope passes over the sheave.
Mike

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:
 
In a burst of activity today I managed to outfit the fore mast and fore topmast - they are now assembled as a single structure, but not yet installed on the model. I'll wait to do this until I've finished outfitting the main mast and topmast and I'm ready to begin the rigging, though some rigging elements (the spreader lifts and ratlines) will be installed first. The process was mostly trouble free, though the results are a little wonky....I've been trying a new blackening agent that is not very good - so the pieces look...well more rusted than anything...I may try to dab some black paint on them to tone them down a bit but we'll see....I don't know why the new blackening agent I was using today ended up flaking so badly - I bathed the brass in acetone and rinsed with water before blackening and then tried just putting them straight in the blackening solution, but in both cases the results were equally poor....I may try diluting the blackening liquid more to see if that helps, but honestly I'm at a loss....the old Blacken-It (no longer available in Canada) is sorely missed!!! Any tips from pros out there would be appreciated. 
 
Enjoy the photos and bye for now
hamilton