shipmodel

Hi Marc - 
 
Beautiful work, and I appreciate how committed you are to the precise fit of all your interlocking pieces.
I agree with Kevin that any slight discrepancies will be impossible to notice in the finished model.
That said, I also agree with Druxey that the windows as drawn look a little off.
But I do not think that it is windows 2 and 5, but the outer ones, 1 and 6, which are a bit too wide and the mullions are a bit too upright.
I am sure the finished ones will match perfectly, as usual.
 
Great work.
 
Dan

Hi Marc - 
 
Beautiful work, and I appreciate how committed you are to the precise fit of all your interlocking pieces.
I agree with Kevin that any slight discrepancies will be impossible to notice in the finished model.
That said, I also agree with Druxey that the windows as drawn look a little off.
But I do not think that it is windows 2 and 5, but the outer ones, 1 and 6, which are a bit too wide and the mullions are a bit too upright.
I am sure the finished ones will match perfectly, as usual.
 
Great work.
 
Dan

Hi Marc - 
 
Beautiful work, and I appreciate how committed you are to the precise fit of all your interlocking pieces.
I agree with Kevin that any slight discrepancies will be impossible to notice in the finished model.
That said, I also agree with Druxey that the windows as drawn look a little off.
But I do not think that it is windows 2 and 5, but the outer ones, 1 and 6, which are a bit too wide and the mullions are a bit too upright.
I am sure the finished ones will match perfectly, as usual.
 
Great work.
 
Dan

Hi Marc - 
 
Beautiful work, and I appreciate how committed you are to the precise fit of all your interlocking pieces.
I agree with Kevin that any slight discrepancies will be impossible to notice in the finished model.
That said, I also agree with Druxey that the windows as drawn look a little off.
But I do not think that it is windows 2 and 5, but the outer ones, 1 and 6, which are a bit too wide and the mullions are a bit too upright.
I am sure the finished ones will match perfectly, as usual.
 
Great work.
 
Dan

I’ve done a fair amount of hemming and hawing over a number of things, but I eventually arrived at the place(s) I think I need to be.
 
For clarification of the earlier discussion; this is the essential problem of my stern winding out of square.  Note, how the starboard aft edge of the upper bulwark increasingly extends beyond port:
 

 
I thought I might try drawing arcs of round-up that ranged from extreme to conservative:
 

 
I started with the extreme line (far right), but ultimately - a more slight increase of round-up (middle line), appeared to me to be the most organic possibility.
 
Here is what my ultimate choice of round-up looks like from the starboard side:
 

 
It is just enough, I think, to help balance this incongruity - if not completely.
 
It seems to me that I can also help balance this out when I make the upper stern balcony.  Here, I have pulled a uniform cardboard template just away from the port side, so that the outboard edges of the stern balconies align:
 

 
I think this will help align visual perception at the exact point where it is most important.
 
At the end of the day, I am pleased with the slightly increased camber of this bridge-piece:
 

 
One thing that has become interesting to consider is this:  in gluing up the aft bulwarks, I was very conscious of establishing a realistic sense of tumblehome, as the bulwarks rise.  Even accounting for my initial increase in breadth, in the early drawing, I inadvertently maintained the slab-sided verticality of the kit stern.  In the left margin, I have noted the discrepancy between where I have arrived, dimensionally, versus where I began schematically:
 

 
Pictorially, here is the discrepancy for real:
 

 
What is completely fascinating is that the upper width of the stern is almost identical to the stock dimension.  Here is the stock poop deck, in place:
 

 
Even though this is not where I thought this project was going, when I started, the improved sense of tumblehome was well-worth the sacrifice in stern-width.  This isn’t perfect, but it looks more  right than wrong:
 

 

 
A montage of development for the next tier of stern lights:
 

 

 
The pilasters of the lower balcony rail don’t seem to align, but this is not reflective of reality.  Again, it isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty close.
 
After drafting:
 

 

 

 
This isn’t perfect.  The drawing can  be improved upon with the carving tools, themselves.  For the most part, I think this works.  I wonder whether I should follow the Berain drawing a little more closely and include an extra line of horizontal window mullions.  The false side lights, at this level, have five horizontal lines, but I am trying to balance this tier with the actual stern lights below.
 
Just for fun, a different iphone filter - Le Soleil Noir:
 

 
As always - thank you for looking in.  Bon noir!
 
 
 
 
 
 

Alive and kickin’, part II.
 
I have finally painted the last bulwark to satisfaction.  Here it is, dry-fit:
 

 
I have fitted all the channels and scraped away paint in the glue locations:
 

 
A couple of troublesome little details needed to be resolved.  First, I was thinking about how the plank-ends of the f’ocsle and quarter deck were supposed to resolve, over the last exposed beam.  My first instinct was to have the plank ends exposed, with a slight overhang beyond the beam.
 
The more I studied other models, though, it dawned on me that this would not be correct for French practice in the latter half of the 17th C.  Take a look at the following examples:
 

 
On Michel Saunier’s SR, the plank ends are let into the last beam, which is dimensionally deeper to accept the plank thickness.
 
The same can be seen on the louis Quinze:
 

 

above photos courtesy of Marc Yeu
 
So, I decided to cut back my deck piece, and I will in-fill a strip of styrene with a just-broken edge to highlight the demarcation ever so slightly:
 

 
My f’ocsle beam isn’t perfectly straight, apparently, but this discrepancy will be concealed by the f’ocsle break railing and belfry.  You will see the detail at the deck entry points.  I will also apply a simple half-round moulding to cover the joint between the beam and the applied strip.
 
Next, I realized that I needed to cut-back more of the kit deck ledge so that I could abut my quarter deck beam to the hanging knee, as I did at the f’ocsle.  This shortening of the Q-deck also provided more clearance for the main halyard tackle.  I’m not sure if I’m correctly referencing the line, but it reaves through the large bitt, just aft of the mast (with a piece of blue tape on it).
 

 
Lastly, I wanted to make-up the supporting brace that ties each successive level of the stern together.  I laminate two pieces of 1/16” stock together, and leave them to dry over a camber former.
 
The one caveat is that I wanted to introduce ever so slightly more camber over the next two levels of the stern.  I had done so, along the top edge of the mid-balcony rail.  Here is how that compares with the former:
 

 
The difference is barely perceptible, but it is one of many small details that will improve the overall perception of the thing.
 
For my lamination, I applied three pieces of green tape to the center inch of the former:
 

 
And the match was spot-on:
 

 
When I get to the top tier of windows, I may do as many as six pieces of tape, as the camber would be greatest at the poop and poop-royal decks.
 
Well, that’s where things stand for now.  Hopefully, tomorrow, I will glue-in the bulwark.  Then, I can cope the brace to delineate the upper limit of the second window tier, while strengthening the bulwark connection.  Then, I can pattern the window piece in cardboard and do an exact layout drawing.
 
Thank you all for your continued interest in the project.
 
Best,
 
Marc
 

Quarter-deck v4
 
While the wooden quarter-deck previously produced (v2) was not entirely bad, it lacked the crispiness I had wished for and also the colour was somewhat murky, more like oak, and not like the teak it was probably made from. In addition, I found a mistake in its shape that could not be corrected.
 
This quarter-deck is somewhat unusual in lay-out, as the planks are radiating with the gun-pivot as centre. This lay-out probably was chosen to minimise the effect of the certainly considerable blast from the 30.5 cm-gun. Apart from the fact that most wood-species would be too coarse at 1:160 scale, it would also be a challenge to produce such deck with tapering planks only 0.4 mm thick. A painted version renders more likely a realistic representation, is technically easier to achieve and more in line with the style of the model.
 
The shape of the wooden deck was cut from a 0.4 mm thick sheet of bakelite-paper and carefully fitted to the hull of the model, which was quite a bit of work given the multiple curvatures. The caulked seams were indicated by narrow engraved lines as described earlier in this building log. The holes for all the fittings were also drilled at this stage.
 
In between, I had tried using black styrene, rather than bakelite-paper as a basis for the decking (v3). The rationale was that I would clear out the engraved lines after painting down to the black plastic. This strategy did not work for two reasons, namely the styrene (Evergreen™ sheet) is much softer than the bakelite and the acrylic paints form a kind of quite soft skin, which tends to rip in flakes when trying to re-engrave the lines, so that I dropped this idea.
 
The wood character of the quarter-decking was to be achieved by giving each plank a slightly different colour, imitating the natural variability of wood. The piece was given a base-coat of Vallejo Model Air 71075 ‘sand (ivory)’ using the airbrush. In a next step single planks were randomly given a light wash with Prince August 834 ‘natural wood transparent’ or Vallejo Model Air 71023 ‘hemp’ (which turned out to be a bit too dark actually). In a next step randomly selected planks, particularly those ‘hemp’ ones were given a very light wash with Vallejo Model Air 71288 ‘Portland stone’. Another very light wash with Vallejo Model Air 71041 ‘armour brown’, toned down with yet another very light wash using Vallejo Model Air 71132 ‘aged white’, pulled everything together.
 

Painted quarter-decking before sealing it with varnish
 
To facilitate the picking out of the caulking seams, the decking was given a sealing coat of acrylic glossy varnish. The definition of the caulking seams was enhanced by running the back of an old scalpel along them, making impressions, rather than cutting through the paint. The caulking was imitated using a 0.05 mm marker with pigmented permanent (hopefully) ink. After each line was drawn, the ink was allowed to dry for a few seconds and the excess wiped off with a barely humid finger. This leaves the ink only in the incisions, resulting in a very thin black line. In spite of the glossy varnish, a haze of the ink is left on the planks, darkening them somewhat, but this effect was calculated in, when setting out the original paint scheme.
 
The surface was lightly rubbed down with an abrasive foam block (as used in mani-/pedicure) to thin down the glossy varnish without damaging the underlying paint. This rather complex procedure was concluded by applying another very dilute wash of Vallejo Model Air 71132 ‘aged white’ and finally a sprayed on coating of Vallejo matt varnish.
 

Finished quarter-decking ready for final installation
 
To be continued ....

Hi again to all my friends here and, as always, mucho thanks for the likes and comments.
 
Yes, Keith, this will be a quick build log for several reasons.  Mostly this is because it is a retrospective of the construction rather than a day by day series of small progress reports.  I have detailed many of my techniques in earlier build logs, so there was little need to go over them again.  At least that was what I told myself as Covid malaise set in and I found myself not willing to stop to memorialize small personal gains amid larger world problems.  It just seemed a bit trivial.  Thankfully I certainly did not suffer any of the serious health issues or losses that so many have, like Doris in Czechoslovakia. 
 
Fortunately, I have climbed out of my depressive hole, and am working steadily again.  I have to credit my family and friends with most of the recovery, but model building made a significant contribution as well.  There is just something satisfying about looking at a well-crafted object at the end of the day and knowing that it only exists because of my hands, my head and my heart.  Long may it be so.
 
So, without further maudlin ramblings, here is the completion and launching of the SS James B. Colgate in its plaster sea. 
 
When the last installment ended the sea was mostly finished, although I looked at it every day and kept toning down the size and location of the whitecaps which I thought were still too bold and glaring.
 

 
Meanwhile I turned to finishing the ship.  After the hull was shaped the hatches were permanently installed.  Along the sides of the hull several reinforcing stringers were added according to the plans and photos.  These were made of half-round strip set over flat strips with rounded ends.  Fittings that would ultimately be painted, such as bollards and the bases for the railing stanchions, were attached to the hull.  Then the deck houses were removed and the hull was sprayed the deep red used by the Pittsburgh Steamship Company at the time.   Some, like bollard uprights and the anchor guides, were subsequently painted grey for contrast.  Then the deck houses, like this one at the bow, were built up and detailed before being secured to the hull
 

 
Most of the details are pretty simple and common.  Bollards, fairleads, winch heads and the capstan are Bluejacket castings.  The railing and ladder are photoetched brass from Gold Medal Models.  The nameboard is printed on my computer.  I’ll go over some of the others where they appear in later photos.  The one unusual fitting is the anchor.  McDougall, the designer of the whalebacks, also designed it as a better alternative for use on the boats.  It consisted of a heavy triangular frame with a shackle at the peak and a pivoting tongue in the middle of the base that would dig into the seabed of the Lakes. 
 

 
As can be seen on the model it lies much flatter on the hull than a conventional anchor and could be easily secured to the stanchion bases.  I made it out of two strips of thick brass bent to shape and soldered at the peak and at the base where a separate brass tongue was fitted.  I did not make any effort to have it pivot since this is a static model.  After blackening it was fitted with a ring and fine chain.
 

 
At the stern the deck house is much more complex.  The lower level has the two larger oval support structures with a smaller round support at the stern.  The forward two were made by sheathing oval wood plugs with styrene sheet.  Portholes were drilled and filled with small brass grommets from dollhouse electronics systems.  After painting handrails of iron wire were laid on with tiny supports inserted just underneath and clipped off close.  The upper works began as a solid wood block, as usual, but this was sheathed in wood veneer rather than plastic.  The window and door areas were left uncovered with the windows simply painted black and the doorways filled with printed 4-panel door appliques.  Upper railings and life rings are photoetched brass.  The angled stairway is a photoetched ladder with added side pieces cut from railing sections, secured with cyano and painted black.
 

 
At the forward end of the upper deck is the bridge which rises another half deck height.  It was built hollow with clear plastic windows on the front and back faces of the top.  Through these you can see the ship’s wheel that was installed and which no one, except in these photographs, will ever see.  The cowl ventilators are modified castings that sit on the top of cylinders that act as both structural supports for the decks and as ventilation ducts leading to the interior of the hull.  I took a bit of artistic license and simply drew on the paneling in pencil, relying on trompe l’oeil and the tiny scale to fool the eye.
 

 
The roof of the deck house is dominated by the large silver and black funnel.  It is built up over a plastic sheathed dowel, leaving a 1/8” rim at the top.  Reinforcing rings and a half-round lip at the top are made from plastic strip.  All of the plastic products are from Evergreen Scale Models, an invaluable resource when building steel hull modern ships.  The funnel is detailed with a steam whistle and pipe on the front face, and a steam release pipe on the aft face.  It is guyed by four wires running from small eyebolts on the upper reinforcing ring to brass tube turnbuckles on deck.  The Charley Noble galley stack has a cone shaped rain guard and a kink near the deck.  This last is either to get the stack around the funnel guy wire or as a trap for condensation, of maybe both.  It appears in the photos so it appears on the model.  A pair of liquid tanks, one for water one for fuel perhaps, bracket the funnel.  A pair of lifeboats with their davits and lifting tackles are tied down on cradles.  Eight small cast cowl vents and a pair of cylindrical exhausts run along the edges of the busy space.  At the aft end is a vertical pole, not for a flag, but for a lantern which would be fitted into the triangular shelf shown near the railing which could be hoisted to the top of the pole when visibility was limited.
 

 
At the stern the rear name plate was printed to match the one seen in contemporary photographs.  It shows up as a slightly different shade in this photo, but that is an artifact of the flash, and under normal light it is much less noticeable.  The railing on the hull could not be photoetched since the lines had to come to a point at the bow and stern.  I made the stanchion bases from 1/16” plastic rod and the uprights from 0.02” brass rod.  These dimensions are about twice what they should be, but when I made them to scale they almost disappeared, so I fudged the figures a bit.  The horizontal wires are 0.05” polished line.  Again, slightly too large, but they match the photoetched railings and do not draw the eye when the model is viewed without magnification.  The lines are tied under light tension to small eyebolts at bow and stern, then attached to the uprights with thin PVA glue painted on with a small brush.
 

 
Until now the ship has been simply placed in the opening left for it in the plaster sea.  Now it was secured with a pair of screws through the base plate and plaster carefully fed into the gap between it and the sea and shaped to a dynamic wake.
 

 
At the bow the wave was built up in several layers to match the wide froth thrown up by the blunt pignose bow.  The final layer is stippled with a stiff coarse brush.  Little wisps of white paint were dry brushed along the hull in the direction of travel.  This was all blended into the sea with more layers of tinted gloss medium.
 

 
Along the flanks of the ship wave crests rose up the side to the level of the railing and left subdued whitecaps on and under the water.  Here you can also see the minimal weathering applied to the model.  A thin wash of dark brown left spots and streaks on the hatch covers.  A similar wash discolors streaks that drip from the railing bases.  Wet patches of clear gloss finish glint on the hull.
 

 
At the stern the wake from the two propellers moving slowly was stippled onto and into the surface of the sea.  The sunlight reflects yellow on the water.  Looking carefully you can see where I have, at random locations, bent the metal railings to show a bit of hard usage over time.
 

 
The final detail was the burgee of the Pittsburgh Steamship Company.  An image was located on line, dropped into PhotoShop, sized to the model and had the color saturation slightly reduced to mimic the effects of distance and haze.  The image was skewed down a bit to take into account the way gravity affects wind-driven cloth.  The image was printed onto acid-free tissue paper which had been sealed with clear finish before printing.  This prevents bleeding into the paper fibers and gives a clean edge to the colored areas.  After fixing the colors with more clear finish the flag was cut free, attached to a halyard and tied to the flagpole.  A few curls with the back of a small paintbrush handle and it was done.
 

 
The model is now complete and chugs realistically, I think, though a choppy but fairly calm sea.
 

 
As part of the commission I built a display case from 2” x ¾” cherry, mitered at the corners and fitted around a ¾” plywood baseplate.  A UV-resistant plastic case was sourced from a local plastic shop.  It fits into a slot between the case and the base and is secured from accidental lifting with two small brass screws on the short ends.  A bit of air movement is provided by small holes drilled up through the bottom of the baseplate and into the gap under the plastic case.
 

 
The model now resides in the MMA museum in the Great Lakes area.  Once we are all vaccinated and this pandemic is behind us, I hope you can find the time to visit this small but interesting maritime museum.
 
Next, for something completely different, I will detail a repair and restoration of an antique bone and ivory POW model from the late 1700s that I am working on now.  This will be more of a blow-by-blow exposition since the techniques and materials require some inventiveness to match the unusual nature of the model.
 
Until then,
 
Stay safe and well, and get those shots.
 
Dan
 

Thank you Eberhard, Druxey and Richard for commenting - also thanks to everyone for the likes.
 
Most of the last week I have been working on the fore to aft rigging but I did start by fixing the radar (thank you Eberhard) - before and after shots below:-
 

 

 
I also needed a number of medium sized bocks for the running back stays (2 pairs), so I spent a day making a few.
 

 

 
I also made a few strops which I then realised were not needed - but never mind they will be needed later.
 

 
It find it is almost impossible to take good photos of overall rigging so I just took photos of specific areas.
 
Getting the tension correct in all stays is a bit of a trial but in the end I managed it - the next photo shows the flying jib stay tensioner.
 

 
The jib and flying jib stays were also mounted at this stage.
 

 
The top of the jib and fore stays are shown in the next photographs.
 

 
I then moved to the stern and installed the pair of running back stays for the lower main mast. The photo shows the top attachment.
 

 
Followed by the bottom - both are tight at this stage but the leeward side will be slackened off later.
 

 
Then the main topmast running back stays were rigged.
 

 
I then rigged the brace for the main mast. (It braces the top to the bottom via the dome (satellite coms?) bracket.
 

 
The stays joining the fore and main masts were then rigged.
 

 
I have a few more deck fittings to make, life rings, stern light, and flag staff. I will have a go at these next.
 
 
 
 
 

Hi to all - 
 
I am back in the shop today and the glues and finishes that I ordered have arrived.  I will experiment with them in the next few days and report on my findings.
In the meanwhile my client has located some documents from when his uncle had the model repaired in 1956.  Here is a photo that the uncle sent to the Mariner's Museum in Virginia asking for information.
 

 
Notice that the damages are very similar to those that I am repairing - broken bowsprit, main and mizzen masts.  The entire figurehead area is missing.  I do not know if the bust that is on the model was original or if it was added.  The museum was not too helpful, but eventually he located a restorer named C.M. Smeltzer, Jr. at a company called Authentiscale in Metuchen, NJ.  I could not find any existing information on either the man or the company.  In any event, they reached an agreement that the repairs would cost $210.00 with an additional $40 for a case.  I don't know what that converts to in 2021 dollars.
 
I do not have a photo of the model after repairs and before the current damages, but my client is still looking.
 
More soon.
 
Stay well
 
Dan. 
 
 
 

Thank you all for the likes and comments. The leather preparation advice is noted and will be put to good use when I get round to finishing the saddles.
 
I decided it was about time for a bit of rigging. Learning from my last build I plan to change my approach. The fore and aft rigging will be done first, then the sails will be mounted and finally the shrouds will be fitted.
 
The fore and aft rigging will be done with Beadalon multi-stand  steel plastic coated wire.
 
Before starting I needed to make a number of spreaders. Four of these are needed and their purpose is to prevent the stays from the main and fore masts binding on the upper masts.
 
The sketch below shows their form and their position on the fore mast.
 

 
The frame part of the spreaders was made form .016" brass sheet. This was marked out and then glued to a piece of scrap !/8" ply. Strips of the correct thickness were then cut on the table saw.
 

 
1mm holes were then drilled to locate the spreader bar and attach the 3 shackles.
 

 
To get the symmetry correct I bent the strips in pairs. To ease handling I stuck each pair to a piece of masking tape before bending.
 

 

 

 
I kept the matched pairs together with a piece of wire.
 

 
The spreader bar was turned from 1/16" brass rod and the sides / spreader bar were soldered together to form the spreader.
 

 
I only think I need 4 but made 6 just in case.
 

 
I then bent up shackles form .020" wire and made strops from the beading wire, wire guards and heat shrink tube.
 

 

 
And that is as far as i got.

Good morning.

Hi all - 
 
As mentioned during the build of this model of the Queen Anne's Revenge, I have been tasked to do two models of the ship.  One for each of the museum's locations - Raleigh and Beaufort.
 
I have been working steadily on the second edition, but not done a build log, since almost all of the techniques used, and the results obtained, are identical.  Below are some progress photos.  The hull is complete and fitted out.  The masts and all of the standing rigging is done.  I am turning the spars as I listen to the Masters.
 
The only significant technical difference is invisible.  I had a good deal of trouble with the lower hull in the first model.  Despite lots of glue, doweling, and wood hardening, there were some hairline cracks that developed between hull crescents caused by humidity changes that would not go away.  To eliminate the problem, the entire lower hull of this model was fully planked and pegged.  I have not had a repeat of the issue.
 
Sharp eyes will note one or two differences between the two sisters.  I took the waterline and wales up about 10mm to more closely match the profile of the Advice Prize plans, rather than Budriot's Mercure.  It lays out much better for the headrails, hawse holes, and quarter badges.  The museum requested that all of the guns, not just the port broadside, be run out, so they were set and rigged ready for combat.  Finally, the underwater archaeologists have located some of the chain plates for the lower deadeyes.  Rather than the solid straps found with other French ships of the period, they are metal loops and backing plates similar to those generally known on English ships.  Accordingly, they were made up from iron wire and secured with nails into the hull.  
 
I will post some more when I get closer to completion.
 
As always, feel free to comment, question, or critique it.
 
Be well
 
Dan
 
 

Thanks all for looking in, comments, and hitting the like.  
 
Continuing with the rudder work, here are the rudder chains, and tiller parts--
 

 
 
The chains are test for the length and drape--
 

 
 
And after blackening, attached--
 

 
 
I cringe at the poor planking of the transom (some shrinkage gaps), and my less-than-precise painting!
 
After gluing the tiller to the rudder head, I realized I need to drill some holes for eyebolts for the tiller rope.  Of course, this should have been done before gluing the tiller on--
 

 
 
Here are the eyebolts and tiller ropes attached--
 

 
 
Then threaded through the blocks on the bulwarks, and back through the blocks on the tiller--
 

 
 
Ah, but what to do with the loose ends?   In the Charles G. Davis illustration that I followed for this, the ropes go to a ship's wheel.  But there is no wheel in this case.  I reasoned that there should be cleats on the bulwarks to fasten the ropes to.  These had to be added--
 

 
 
I'm not sure why Lieutenant Woolsey decided to take a nap during this work.  Maybe he overindulged last night.
 
After tying the rope off to the cleat, a rough coil was made by wrapping the rope (wet with diluted PVA) around a drill bit--
 

 
 
This was draped over the cleat, with much massaging and rewetting, to try and get it to hang sort of realistically--
 

 

 
 
After finishing this (of course), I remembered that one of Bernard Frolich's brig models with a tiller may have shown me what to do here.   I checked, and yes, there are cleats on the bulwarks.  However, the arrangement of the blocks and rope is a little different, and it looks functionally superior to what I did.    
 
Here is yours truly working--
 

 
 
Ron

Making new decks was necessitated by the extensions I placed to either side of the stem, which made the whole hull wide enough to include the missing sixth stern light.  Incredibly (considering how many I took), I don’t have pictures of this plastic surgery on my phone still, from before priming, but you can still faintly make out the join-line 5/16” to the left of the stem.  It runs right through the center of the near hawse hole:
 

 
In fact, you can see how I filled-in the outboard stock hawse hole because it was now too far outboard.  This was THE critical stage of the build because if it didn’t work convincingly, there wasn’t going to be much sense in moving forward.  It was tricky, but it worked out better than I could have hoped, at the time.
 
Anyway, what I was illustrating in the post above is just how much wider my new forecastle deck is, as opposed to the stock deck.  And, if one is going to go to the trouble of making new decks, one might as well include a ton of more realistic detail.  The timbering of the Heller decks is all wrong.  I mean, for an out-of-the-box build, it’s fine, but in real practice the deck strakes would not have been parallel strakes that disappear into thin points at the margin; they’d be a fixed number of strakes that tapered from wide, at mid-ships, to narrower at the ends.
 
I mapped out reasonable beam-locations, based on the deck openings; a realistic plank-butt shift; I included the scarfed, wider binding strakes; and I made cambered, instead of flat gratings.  The stock gratings, which I used anyway, were now too narrow for my wider deck, so I deliberately made wider hatch coamings to influence the overall perception of scale, since the hatches and coamings would all be painted red;  like many details on this bash, it isn’t exactly right, but it gives a more correct impression than the stock kit parts do.
 
As for the new rigging guide, I haven’t studied it too closely because I don’t think I will be referencing it much.

@Gregory
 
@Keith Black
 
@mtaylor
 
Hello,
 
your kind comments make me slightly embarrassed ...🥵
In this context I would like to mention that it gives me a lot of pleasure to be able to exchange experiences with ship model building with you here in this fantastic forum.  So everyone can learn and profit from each other. This also contributes to the development of my model building skills. Therefore, at this point to all a big thank you. 
 
Continuation: Ratlines for the top mast shrouds - Enflechures
In the meantime, the main mast has received the ralines at the top mast shrouds, at least on the starboard side. The futtock stave just below the crosstrees, I have also already attached.
Here are two pictures:
 
 


 
See you soon ...

Thank you, Roger.
 
Some activity in the shipyard!!
 
Euryalus has left my living room and has come upstairs to join Oneida in the workshop.  This displaces Oneida to a smaller area, but I think that will be okay--
 

 
 
The carronades have been glued in place--
 

 

 

 
 
Next, they will all be "stowage rigged" as the one third from the right on the starboard side in the photo.  I just have to remember how I did that one--about 10 years ago.
 
The rudder has been glued on--
 

 

 
 
 
That's all for now,
Ron

I'm still working on the main and foremast booms.
 
The sheave for the reefing line was fitted. The boom was slotted on the mill, a small sheave was inserted and then the wooden closing piece was glued in place. The closing piece is a lighter coloured wood on the original and this was reproduced on the model. The end boss was turned and glued in place.
 

 

 
The cleats at the fore ends of the booms were made. These were made from wood and brass as per the original.
 

 

 
The vertical hinge pin was made with an upstand drilled for the attachment of the sail. The horizontal pin is obviously a temporary arrangement.
 

 
The fore mast boom followed a similar process.
 

 
 
 

A bit of sorting out loose ends before getting back to the masts and spars.
 
The screw and the rudder have been sat in my bits box for over 2 years and now seemed to be an appropriate time to fit them.
 
The bore for the screw had been pre drilled and it was a simple case of insertion and gluing in place. Holes for the hinge mounting spigots had also been predrilled and these were inserted and glued in position.
 

 
The rudder shaft was a piece of 1/16" brass rod. Fortunately, by either luck or judgement, it slid into place without interfering with the screw. As can be seen the shaft locates in the 4 hinges and a hole in the hull and keel. Satisfyingly the alignment was spot on.
 

 
To mount the rudder the shaft needed to be in 2 pieces ( a gap being required at the screw cut out).
 

 
The upper shaft had to be inserted through the lower part of the rudder.
 

 
Some time back one of you pointed out that I had omitted the cross brace below the on deck dining table. Quite a serious omission as its main use is to brace the crew who are sitting and drinking gin while close hauled. I had looked at retrofitting it some time ago but getting it located and glued in place had proved somewhat fiddly, so I left it for later. Today was "later".
After some head scratching i decided to fix the brace to the end of a piece of scrap wood with double sided tape. The correct height been set with a couple of shims.
 

 
With this set up the brace was moved into position and glued with CA.
 

 
Once the glue was dry the scrap wood was eased away breaking the double sided tape bond. The crew can now drink their gin in comfort in the knowledge that they are no longer rudderless.
 

thank you Steve, Keith, Pat and Micheal.
 
I decided to make the boom  track and runners next. I didn't have a lot of detail of the sliders and because of the number (circa 70) I decided to repeat what I did on my Altair build. The track was the rail from OO gauge model railway. The booms were slotted on the mill to take the base of the track and the track was glad in place with CA.
 
The runners were machined from a 1/8" x .5" brass bar. This was first drilled with 2 holes, the larger being 3/32" and the smaller bine 1/16"
 

 
A .040" slot was cut into the smaller hole using the table saw. I made a jig to hold the brass bar for the slotting operation.
 

 

 

 
 
 

 
The ends were then cut off on the centre line of the larger hole.
 

 
Then a 3/32 brass tube was soldered in the semi-circular hole.
 
Another small jig was made to aid accurate slicing off of the runners.
 

 

 

 
With that little exercise complete it was back to more mast and boom work. I think I am going to short circuit some of the detail and only focus on the major bits.
 
 

Just a quick update....Today I completed the qdeck rail on the starboard side.   Uneventful and all parts were laser cut.
 
I will detail the step by step.  All Parts are laser cut in groups.  I thought it would be easiest to build if completed in sections.  The laser cut parts for each group are labelled as such...M-1 and O-1 and L are the parts for the first section....then working your way aft you will use the parts M-2 and O-2 for the second section etc.
 
The first section of rail is the most finicky but I will try and explain.
 
The first section of rail (parts L, M-1 and O-1)  
First I glued the various parts together in the photo below.  Just like the fcastle rail,  finish the timberheads on all four sides.  Then glue the fancy curved pieces to the notched rails so after painting them black you wont see the seams.  

Once painted black, the first lower section was dry fit on the drift in the waist.  Dont glue it on yet.
 
But you will also notice in that same photo,  the longer post and short post on the qdeck sheer.  These are actually painted ahead of time and glued in position.  I found it easier to have these glued in place so the the assemble behind it can be slipped into position.  This is the other assemble we made earlier.
 

To complete this first section of the fancy rail, dry fit this section on the cap rail.  Dont glue it on yet.  
See below.  Note how the forward end connects with the lower rail on the drift.   These should look like one continuous rail.  I added some wiggle room so you can sand the aft end of the lower rail so it will be flush.   That is why you shouldnt glue any of them in yet.  Mark it with a pencil and sand the aft end until its flush and looks like one rail.  This will be easier to understand as you guys are also doing it...I understand that it is difficult to write about but you will see what I mean once you get to this step.  
 
When you get everything to fit nicely,  you can glue it all in position permanently.

Then moving aft it gets easier.  Each additional group just contains two longer uprights, the rail, and two timberheads.  
The photo below shows on of these sections already completed.  This was section 2.  Section 3 of the rail is in progress.
 

In the same photo above you will see the two longer uprights painted and glued in position.  Again,  I found it easier to complete this way.  Behind it you can see the center section with the timberheads waiting to be inserted between the two long uprights.
 
One NOTE....the longer upright in each group (in this case section 3) are different lengths.  The uprights get shorter as the work their way aft.  Make sure you glue them into position in the correct order.  Shorter ones are aft.  
 
Then add the center assembly which has been already painted.  Also make sure its facing the correct direction.   It will only fit one way.  The timberheads should be vertical and as such have angled bottoms.  Make sure each upright and timberhead are vertical and because of the angled bottoms facing the correct way.
 
The photo below shows the center inserted...
 

Continue in this fashion for all five sections of the rail.  Then the top rail can be added.  It comes in two sections. On fancy piece on the forward end and a long length of rail to the transom.  I found it easier to attach both pieces together and sand them.  Then pre aint it black.   You will have to adjust the aft end to fit against the transom stern frame.
 
Also note the fixed block that sits on the cap rail against the transom.  Your rail in the fifth and final section sits on this block.  A small laser disc is glued into the slot of the fixed block.
 

This can be finicky but manageable if done a section at a time.  Its not a plastic kit so you will have tweak the angles and shift some timberheads to get them to look just right.  Remember the timberheads and uprights on this rail should be vertical.   Make sure the longer uprights are all the proper height which they should be before you put that top rail on.  You dont want a wavy top rail.  So DONT sand their lengths at all.  They are all precision laser cut to the proper lengths.  Test the top rail before gluing it on.
 


This is a task that requires that you go slow....there are a lot of things to watch out for which wouldnt make any sense at all to you if I wrote about them now.  But once you start building this rail please dont hesitate to ask me a lot of questions.
 
Any questions or comments??
 
 

Keith - 
 
I double all the compliments and accolades.  
Top of the tree for imagination and execution.
 
As for the final resting place of the model, it certainly deserves to be in a museum.
I hope there is one which would value her.
 
Bravo !
 
Dan

Hello again to all.  
 
Thanks for the likes and comments.  I am glad that I can pass along some of the tips, tricks and techniques from my own teachers and from decades of trials and lots of errors along the way.
 
This will be the final installment of this build log.  The model is done and is waiting to be picked up for crating and delivery.  The final touches include: the stern lantern; mounting the anchors and anchor buoys; fitting the ship's boat and the spare spars.
 
The lantern was done in the round French fashion, rather than the hexagonal English style.  This meant that I had to scratch build it, rather than buying one of the well-designed and detailed ones from Syren Models.  In any event, here is how I went about it:
 
The lantern is not really round so it cannot be simply turned to shape, as you can see from the reproduced sections of the plan it is skewed towards the stern.  The central body was the most difficult to create.  Attempts to carve wood and acrylic were both completely unsatisfactory.  Starting from a cylindrical shape I could not get the proper angle to the lamp body.  Instead, I tried Sculpey, a clay that is hardened by baking in an oven.  After shaping it to the basic form by hand it was hardened according to the package directions.  When cool and hard it was still easily refined and smoothed by sanding.  The brass rod is for convenience in holding and shaping.
 
1
 
Here is a close-up of the body.  Examining the photograph I saw that I still needed to bring down the sharp ridge between the upper and lower portions.
 
2
 
When the body was brought to shape it was given several coats of primer, then a final light grey color coat, with light sanding in between.  The cap was carved from pear wood in a floral design.  I tried to get 16 petals around the circumference, but this proved too fiddly, so I have 12.  The finial on the top is turned from pear.  The mullions to hold the glass are cherry veneer cut to 0.030” x 0.015” strips.  Each was wet bent at the top end then glued in between the petals.  When that was dry and hard the rest of the strip was glued down the body of the lantern.  I put in the first four to quarter the body then marked out thirds in each section for the rest.
 
3
 
Here is a composite photo with two views of the lantern with all the vertical mullions installed.
 
4
 
The cross pieces were cut from the veneer strip and individually installed in three bands around the lantern.
 
5
 
A floral base was carved and a round drop at the bottom were made out of pear.  The finished lantern was sanded to remove any sharp corners then finished with a light stain/neutral carrier mix.  I let the stain pool a bit in the corners, which gave the panes some depth and shadow.  Each section was filled with white glue which dried to create a glossy ‘glass’ pane.
 
6
 
Mounting hardware was fashioned from a 0.062” brass rod with two pieces soldered at right angles.  The mount was bent and trimmed to fit a trio of holes in the stern.  After blackening the mount was installed and the lantern fitted to it at an appropriate height.
 
7
 
And here is how the lantern fits in with the look of the rest of the stern.
 
8
 
Next I turned to the anchors.  In an earlier segment I went through how I constructed them.  Here are the two finished sets of four anchors for each model.
 
9
 
To hang them I needed a triple block for each of the largest ones which would be mounted at the catheads, as well as an anchor buoy for each.  The blocks were made from 7mm triple blocks which were detailed by drilling a second set of line holes and rounding the resulting ‘sheave’ in the middle.  The hook was bent up from 0.035” annealed iron wire with the shank wrapped around the block in a deepened strop groove.
 
The buoy bodies were ¾” long, turned from maple.  Two ropes were seized together forming a small loop and spot glued at either end.  The lines were led down the body and under a cinch line about ¼ of the way from either end.  The vertical lines were doubled back on themselves, glued and trimmed. 
 
10
 
Here are the anchors mounted on the starboard side.  They are the two middle sized ones.  They are hung with strong lines from timberheads at the rail as well as the hooked block at the cathead.  A sense of weight is imparted by hanging a weight from the anchor then stiffening the supporting lines with dilute white glue.
 
11
 
Here is the buoy tied to the shrouds with a loop of line that is ultimately secured to the anchor shank.
 
12
 
And here are the two on the port side similarly secured.  These are the largest and smallest of the set.
 
13
 
The final tasks were to secure the ship’s boat in the waist and add two spare topmasts and large spars.  These sit between the gaps in the rails at the edges of the foredeck and quarterdeck.
 
14
 
Various rope coils were added to each belaying point, the model was cleaned and a few spots of paint were touched up. 
 
So here she is, ready for pickup and shipping. 
 
15
16
 
And one final photo of a future crewman, grandson Eli, who is almost four and already very interested in what his Poppy Dan does with his boats. . .
 
17
 
It was an interesting build, and radically increased my appreciation and respect for those modelers who rig sails.  As always, questions, comments, and critiques are very welcome.
 
Back soon with another project, the SS Andrea Doria in 1:200 scale.
 
Till then, be well,
 
Dan
 
 

Hi all and thanks for the likes and comments.
 
At the end of the last segment I had finished and hung the square sails.  Now I turned to the staysails, most of which will be shown furled.
 
The sails were made up much like the square sails, but as triangles rather than trapezoids.  Here are the two from the first set that were made.  They were discarded because the panel lines are wrong.  The pattern with a central seam and angled panels is much more modern than would have been in use in 1710.  I made a hasty assumption before checking my sources.
 
1
 
So here is the redone main staysail.  It is reduced in size for purposes of furling, but is otherwise appropriately rigged.  As explained by R.C. Anderson, the lines and blocks for the foreyard braces would have interfered with the staysail sliding up the stay.  So a false stay was rigged under the mainstay and the sail is spiral laced to it.
 
2
 
The lower end of the false stay is secured to the foremast by a collar that rides just under the thumb cleat for the forestay (indicated by the arrow on the left).  A small deadeye is turned into the collar and a matching one seized into the lower end of the false stay.  The lanyard between them is tightened and the running end is frapped around it (see the arrow on the right).  Lacing this in, around and through the previously rigged lines was one of the most delicate operations I have ever performed in my years of modeling.  Suffice to say that I will pre-rig this next time.
 
3
 
The upper end of the false stay is comparatively easy.  There is an eye splice turned into the end of the line, which is then seized to the mainstay just above the euphroe lashing.  A single block is seized to the stay between the euphroe and the mouse to run the uphaul line for the staysail.
 
4
 
Once the sail was rigged, the lines were loosened, the sail misted with water and drawn down toward the foremast.  It was furled, twisted, and wrapped with one leg of the sheet line, the other was used to secure the furled sail at the deck to one of the deck cleats.  When I was happy with the look it was painted with matte finish to stiffen it.
 
5
 
Similarly, the main topmast staysail was rigged on its false stay.
 
6
 
The mizzen stays do not have any brace blocks rigged to them, so the staysails do not need a false stay.  Here is the mizzen staysail.
 
7
 
And here is the mizzen topmast staysail.
 
8
 
The fore staysail was done in the same way.
 
8a
 
The fore topmast staysail was set and shown billowed, its shape mirroring and complimenting the mizzen lateen sail.  I first ran it down the t’gallant stay, but this did not seem right.  First, it put it too far forward to look good to my eye.  Maybe more important, rigging it that way would have one of the largest sails being run between one of the smallest diameter masts and the end of the jib boom, also not that large a timber. This is a broken masthead waiting to happen.  Instead, I looked at some contemporary French models and usually saw a line running from the topmast head to the end of the jib boom.  This looked much more likely, and gave the sail a nice angle and shape.
 
8b
 
So here is the model with all sails set and rigged.
 
9
 
Next I turned to the flag.  Although no one truly knows what his flag looked like, the Internet has one that is called the Blackbeard flag.  It is a demon holding a glass in one hand and a spear in the other, aimed at a red heart with three red dots in the lower corner.  This was the one selected by the museum.
 
I took the image and imported it into my computer.  Using Photoshop I resized it, then used the skew function to bring down the lower outer corner of the flag.  This helps it to hang more naturally without a buildup of material.  A copy was saved and reversed, then both were combined into one image.
 
10
 
The double image was printed out on a piece of paper.  A piece of thin fabric large enough to cover the image with some excess all around was stiffened, then taped over the upper image and run through the printer.  This put an image on the first side.  The fabric was cut loose, turned over and positioned over the lower image.  Since the fabric was somewhat transparent it was easy to locate it exactly over the previously printed image.  Again it was taped down on all sides and printed again.
 
11
 
After allowing the ink to dry for 48 hours the flag was stiffened to lock in the ink, then cut out, leaving a bit of excess along the fly edge.  The hauling line was set in and the flap glued over it and ironed down.  The ensign staff was built up with a small block at the top and a cleat mounted at easy reaching height for a man.  With the staff mounted the flag was misted and curled.
 
12
 
So here is the model almost done.
 
14
 
The next segment should be the last.  Only the stern lantern to build and the anchors to mount.
 
Back soon.
 
Dan
 
 

Build log 34 – main, mizzen topsail, bell
 
Hi to all from snowy Brooklyn.  I know that we have not had anything to compare with our daughter in Boston or son in Detroit, much less those of you who live in Canada or the northern tier of the USA, but between Brooklyn and Albany I have had more than enough of this winter !!   So here is a quick update before SWMBO and I leave for a week on a warm island.
 
The last segment ended with hanging and rigging the fore topsail. 
 
#
 
Since then I have made, hung and rigged the main topsail.  Nothing original here, just used the same techniques as on the fore topsail. 
 
1
 
The pair look good, especially when backlit.
 
2
 
And here is the full model with the two large topsails.
 
3
 
One of the few details on deck that I had not done was the ship’s brass bell.  One has been located in the excavation, so I had to include it.  I hunted through all the usual sources, including several that said they had ones the right size.  But when it came time to order them, there were none to be had.  Finally a friend in the NY club and on this list, JerseyCityFrankie, found ones in a jewelry and beading supply house.  Toho Shoji, Inc. has a lot of wire, threads, beads, and other items that can be useful.  Check out their website at tohoshoji-ny.com.  Anyway, here is the 10mm size installed in the belfry at the break of the foredeck.
 
4
 
I made the mizzen topsail, but have only hitched it to the mast with the parrell and the tye/halyard.  I ran out of properly sized blocks from Warner Woods West, but Lloyd is sending me some more.  The break therefore comes at a good time.  So here is the model with the three topsails.
 
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Thanks to all for likes and comments.  Stay warm and be well.
 
Back soon
 
Dan