texxn5

I ask for a little slack from the mods on this one..(Dont reply to this...just hit the like button).....I couldn't pass this up....   On behalf of Diane, "Cosmo" and myself may all of you have a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year......

Thanks Popeye and Wayne, details are still in the works.  Yesterday and today were real life chores.  I had to build a double hinged gate to close in our RV from view frome the street, so shipyard was closed.  After finishing, I have managed to get in a few minutes though.  So here is today's progress.....1 deadeye and chain plate....starboard foremast .....tomorrow is another day....

Thanks Popeye and Wayne, details are still in the works.  Yesterday and today were real life chores.  I had to build a double hinged gate to close in our RV from view frome the street, so shipyard was closed.  After finishing, I have managed to get in a few minutes though.  So here is today's progress.....1 deadeye and chain plate....starboard foremast .....tomorrow is another day....

Thanks Popeye and Wayne, details are still in the works.  Yesterday and today were real life chores.  I had to build a double hinged gate to close in our RV from view frome the street, so shipyard was closed.  After finishing, I have managed to get in a few minutes though.  So here is today's progress.....1 deadeye and chain plate....starboard foremast .....tomorrow is another day....

Thanks Popeye and Wayne, details are still in the works.  Yesterday and today were real life chores.  I had to build a double hinged gate to close in our RV from view frome the street, so shipyard was closed.  After finishing, I have managed to get in a few minutes though.  So here is today's progress.....1 deadeye and chain plate....starboard foremast .....tomorrow is another day....

Thanks Popeye and Wayne, details are still in the works.  Yesterday and today were real life chores.  I had to build a double hinged gate to close in our RV from view frome the street, so shipyard was closed.  After finishing, I have managed to get in a few minutes though.  So here is today's progress.....1 deadeye and chain plate....starboard foremast .....tomorrow is another day....

The planking turned out nice Larry.  This will certainly come in handy when I build my Niagra after finishing the Morgan.  Looks like some tricky curves for this lady...

No problem Larry, It's nice to see a progressive approach to verify thoughts or ideas as to how to proceed or how something is supposed to look.  It's going to be quite a while before I finish the Morgan, especially once I start rigging.  I won't start on a Niagra until the Morgan is complete.  I enjoy following your build as I know I'll be in the same spot someday.

I completely understand your analogy of this to chess. I too find myself spending a lot of time researching. Its a part of this hobby I knew coming in it would be required and it is one of the reasons that I was drawn into this hobby. I sometimes feel as much joy at figuring something out in my mind as I do creating it. I love the mix of tactile and cerebral that this hobby provides.
 
By the way, the yard really fill out the top nicely Grant. She's really coming along nicely. Beautiful build.
 
Oh I recently purchased Laughton's book Old Ship Figure-heads and Sterns. We had discuss the Vicky pre-refit about colours and stern. This book has some pictures of the stern, quarter and head dated 1765 and they are quite different. The 1765 figurehead was amazingly different. I'd love to see someone attempt a 1765 version of this wonderful vessel. I'm still looking for when she was painted the black and ochre and what she was prior. The Laughton book gives a great breakdown of the decorative changes that occurred through the 18th century, from 1703 to 1817, on all the HMS vessels. Although 1st rates were sometimes exempt from the reductions.

Thanks John.
 
Some minor progress to report just ahead of the big fat guy with the red suit...
 
I've now completed attaching all of the yards to the Foremast, complete with Jeers/Tyes, Truss Pendants/Parrals, and Lifts.  Getting this far has required a great deal of cross-checking between the kit plans, Longridge and TFFM.  I would NOT like to be attempting this based on the kit plans alone!!!  That said, the kit plans for the most part aren't actually too bad - once you can understand them..........although there are a few inaccuracies, most of which it is possible to correct at this stage (though not all).  Longridge is great for accuracy, again when you can understand what he is saying.  He tends to be somewhat brief at times, and his writing can be difficult to fathom unless one is already an expert in 18th century rigging.  Antscherl, in the TFFM, provides a good counter to both, making both Longridge and the kit plans more intelligible.  Although Antscherl is writing about a Sixth rate ship, there is a very high degree of alignment with that of the First rate.  For the most part the differences are just the size of lines and blocks, although there are a couple of minor variations in rig.  Anyway, between the three of them, I'm making some progress, although I would say that I have spent probably twice as much time reading, studying plans, and re-reading, as I have actually rigging.  It really is like a game of chess as you try to figure the next move and the one after, and the one after.........
 
A couple of pics to show where I'm at, and to keep you-know-who happy.  It's quite difficult to see some of the lighter coloured line in the first photo, so I improvised a back drop with my cutting mat for the second shot.  There is no tension on the lifts or tyes of the topmast and topgallant yet as there is no counter tension to stop the yards sliding up the mast.  That will come when further rigging, such as braces, has been added.
 

 

 
Now, to do it all over again with the Main Mast...................
 
Merry Christmas one and all.  May your Christmas stockings be full of Ship Modelling stuff. :D

the deck is looking real good now John........all the detail bits look great!   looking more and more like a whaler now! 

and the grinding wheel around the workbench

Hi Jason, yes, I have lots of little things to make.   Thepctures don't show it well, but there is also a hammer and a knife on the workbench, and a 2 blade pitchfork on the cauldron side.  I'm going to add more buckets  and possible a few more barrels on deck too.  This ship had no armament.  There is not a cannon on her.  At one time I understand they painted a white band around her and then painted black cannon doors on the sides to look like she had guns.  I'm glad you're enjoying this, I certainly am.  The boats I'll be working on over time.  They hang at the end of the build, but they are little Models of their own when detailed out, tools, mast, sails, harpoons, lances, knives, buckets.....all kind of stuff and it has to be done for 5 boats.....probably do them as I travel next year.  Hopefully I'll get more done than I did on the east coast trip....

Looking good Slog, glad to have you back....

and the grinding wheel around the workbench

A couple of more of the hull

The completed hull

Thanks to everyone for dropping in and your "likes."
 
Accomplished a few more things today.  I finished the periscope pressure seal housing, and lucked-out that all the holes lined up with the ones in the pressure hull and all the way down to the keel, wonders will never cease.
 
I had to remake the front piece for the cockpit and the second one worked out fine.  A dry fit was great, it seems to be strong enough and is also perfectly vertical to the waterline.  I guess that was the aim.  All my concerns were for naught, fortunately.
 
Before I can put this all together I have to first make all the deck pieces because the styrene deck slats need to be cemented on it first.  That'll be a job and a half.  I tried to cut the 1 mm wide slats with an office paper cutter but that may not work too well.  It tends to pull the styrene into the blade as I progress further down.  No way to hold it from slipping, may think of a clamping arrangement or  another way like clamping the styrene under a steel straightedge and using a sharp utility knife.  1 mm is scale but I may have to go a smidgin wider, it's rather difficult to cut these narrow strips.  It also has a tendency to curl.
 
Once the deck pieces are made I can then cement the styrene strips to them on the bench rather then on the model, a lot easier that way.  This'll take some time I'm afraid but it has to be done and they'll have to painted as well before gluing them to the lower con. 
 
I cemented guide tubes in the periscope pressure sealing housing for the antenna mast and both periscopes to slide in.  That way they can be pulled up and down to simulate the actual operation.  
 
Just a lot of "stuff" going on with the conning tower and bridge.
Okay, this is all she rode for today, next installment hopefully Sunday.
 

This picture was taken this morning before lunch.  The deck pieces had not been made at that time because I had to attend to some correspondence in the afternoon.  The front end of the cockpit or bridge is just stuck in place and needs to be trimmed yet.  The main thing is that it fits like a glove and rather sturdy.  The rest of the sides going aft will come later after the decks have been made and glued on.  That large white looking thing with the 4 holes is where the antenna mast, periscopes and snorkel air-intake slide in and out of.  Yes, even the snorkels are retractable.  The snorkel intake is the aft location then the antenna mast and two periscopes in the forward holes.
 

Looking aft
 

Looking forward.
 
Cheers,

Couple more repairs today.
 
All of the carronades on the port side of the ship needed to be glued back to the deck. Fortunately because the carronades were all rigged in, they were still held pretty much in place, albeit a bit loose.
 
Also, one of the fenders had been knocked of the hull. This was re-pinned and glued back in place.
 
Finally, the main channel isn't badly damaged, so I have replaced the eyelets and sanded the channel down. It now needs painting again and pinning back on the hull.

Hello BE, yes, it is a fascinating build.  There are many things different about her, I guess because she is a working ship and not a warship.  Where the details in a war ship center around the guns and strength, the working lady is a completely different animal.  Utility rather than majestic.....I'm glad you are enjoying my log.  Much of my construction would be of higher quality if I had some of the proper tools....drill press, mill, lathe, etc....unfortunately those are not in the picture.....fixed income sucks....

and the grinding wheel around the workbench

a couple of more for the benefit of anyone else that is building a Morgan

and the grinding wheel around the workbench

a couple of more for the benefit of anyone else that is building a Morgan

and the grinding wheel around the workbench