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

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
 
 
 

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
 
 
 

After a nice Easter weekend I got to sit down and do some solid mucking around on blender and I got the start of the stern piece shaped by using some boolean modifiers and importing the image of the piece into an empty. The hard part was filling it correctly so it would print properly... there is mark 1 to mark 3 versions in the photos.
 
I'm happier with mark 3 and I can now start on the decorations like the lion and the unicorn on the sides as well as windows which I will print and insert into the opening. 

While I'm working on my blender skills (again!) Trying to make some decent windows and things I moved on to the second planking... and things going okay... except for the 2mm x 2mm walnut for the main wales which split when i tried to bend them... now soaking them overnight before trying to bend again tomorrow. And move onto the starboard side before going onto the diminishing timbers below the wales.

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
 

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
 

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
 

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

Very nice work.

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
 

Hi Knocklouder - I think your work looks great! - mine was not up to that standard after only 2 years in the hobby - or even after 14!! I think that as long as we're learning (which is always), we should give ourselves some latitude in terms of both the aesthetic qualities of our results and their relative historical accuracy - but tbh I don't think you have anything to worry about on the aesthetic end. As for historical accuracy, if you're not being commissioned by a museum to represent this or that ship at this or that stage of her career, then you're really under no obligation other than what you decide for yourself. Then it's more about the (sometimes masochistic, as in ratlines) pleasures of the process and developing your craft.
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

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

Well it looks like what I thought was going to be a serious work crunch is not going to be as crunchy as I thought!! That's good news in itself, but it also means I've been able to keep at Bluenose over the last few days. I've now completed the cabin and made a start on the fife rail.
 
The last part of the cabin to complete was the skylight, which I had a previously constructed version of from my first go at the cabin - but this was do wretched that I knew I had to at least try to improve on it - I think the new one is a definite improvement, even if it isn't perfect. I am still waffling about adding brass rods to the skylights as shown on the plans, but I feel like this can be done at any time between now and the rigging so I'm going to give some thought to it.
 
I used 1/16" basswood sheeting to craft the triangular ends of the skylight, and connected these with 1/8 x 1/16" strip. These were glued up and another 1/8 x 1/16" strip was used at the peak. The lights themselves were made from 1/32" basswood sheeting, cut to measure and finished black. 1/16" x 1/32" strip wood was finished white and then installed around the edges of 1/32" sheeting for the skylight frames. Once these were added, I used small sanding blocks to refine the edges and added little bits of pinstrip tape to simulate hinges. The photos below show the process and the results, with the old skylight in one shot for comparison.
 
Happy modelling to all and enjoy the photos
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

Another approach might be to use thin UV resin to cover the flat area. The surface would need to be horizontal to avoid pooling at one edge. I've used this on instrument panel faces before. Seal with a thin clear nail varnish as it can remain slightly tacky otherwise.

It looks amazing Hamilton and I continue to be astonished by your bravery as taking this on as a scratch build.
 
As for glues that craze acetate. I used Micro Clear Glaze on my AVS and it ended up looking like clear glue = dreadful. I used a very fine acetate sheet on Fly and then tested the glues. CA is out - it fogs the sheet. Best test was simple PVA but applied in very little quantities. Test first. The stern windows and quarter badges on Fly do look 'glazed' but you'd never know on my skylight - so you have wonder what the point was? I guess that's the modelers dilemma - no one sees this stuff except for us here...
 
A

Thanks a lot Greg! And thanks even more for pushing this log onto page 7! 
 
I think using soft plastic would not work - but you could either grab some acetate transparencies from your local office supply store or use any firmer but thin transparent plastic you have lying around to simulate this. I have used transparencies in the past to simulate glass on ship models, though I also made the mistake of fixing them with crazy glue, which produces a weird crystalising effect on them....I'm not sure what adhesive others would recommend to achieve this effect, but maybe there is some info elsewhere on the forum on how to do this.....
 
Thanks again for stopping by!
hamilton

Well it looks like what I thought was going to be a serious work crunch is not going to be as crunchy as I thought!! That's good news in itself, but it also means I've been able to keep at Bluenose over the last few days. I've now completed the cabin and made a start on the fife rail.
 
The last part of the cabin to complete was the skylight, which I had a previously constructed version of from my first go at the cabin - but this was do wretched that I knew I had to at least try to improve on it - I think the new one is a definite improvement, even if it isn't perfect. I am still waffling about adding brass rods to the skylights as shown on the plans, but I feel like this can be done at any time between now and the rigging so I'm going to give some thought to it.
 
I used 1/16" basswood sheeting to craft the triangular ends of the skylight, and connected these with 1/8 x 1/16" strip. These were glued up and another 1/8 x 1/16" strip was used at the peak. The lights themselves were made from 1/32" basswood sheeting, cut to measure and finished black. 1/16" x 1/32" strip wood was finished white and then installed around the edges of 1/32" sheeting for the skylight frames. Once these were added, I used small sanding blocks to refine the edges and added little bits of pinstrip tape to simulate hinges. The photos below show the process and the results, with the old skylight in one shot for comparison.
 
Happy modelling to all and enjoy the photos
hamilton

Well it looks like what I thought was going to be a serious work crunch is not going to be as crunchy as I thought!! That's good news in itself, but it also means I've been able to keep at Bluenose over the last few days. I've now completed the cabin and made a start on the fife rail.
 
The last part of the cabin to complete was the skylight, which I had a previously constructed version of from my first go at the cabin - but this was do wretched that I knew I had to at least try to improve on it - I think the new one is a definite improvement, even if it isn't perfect. I am still waffling about adding brass rods to the skylights as shown on the plans, but I feel like this can be done at any time between now and the rigging so I'm going to give some thought to it.
 
I used 1/16" basswood sheeting to craft the triangular ends of the skylight, and connected these with 1/8 x 1/16" strip. These were glued up and another 1/8 x 1/16" strip was used at the peak. The lights themselves were made from 1/32" basswood sheeting, cut to measure and finished black. 1/16" x 1/32" strip wood was finished white and then installed around the edges of 1/32" sheeting for the skylight frames. Once these were added, I used small sanding blocks to refine the edges and added little bits of pinstrip tape to simulate hinges. The photos below show the process and the results, with the old skylight in one shot for comparison.
 
Happy modelling to all and enjoy the photos
hamilton