CPDDET

Here is a close-up of the cap rail after painting. I pretty happy the way it came out. The rail looks smooth, yet some of the gain still shows through so one can tell its wood. I accomplished this by sanding with 400 grit paper, applying a coat of Ceramcoat Sealer, sanding lightly again and painting 3 - 4 coats of Tamiya flat white. I prepared the paint by adding 20 – 25 drops of Tamiya Acrylic Paint Retarder to the 23ML bottle of paint.

Spent yesterday running around to get necessary supplies and building the jig. Came out pretty decent. Minimum height is 7 inches and maximum is about 10.5 inches. Before moving on to the hull painting I want to touch up a few things topside. But insurance guy will be here in an hour and tomorrow is carpet cleaning day. So dont know how much progress will be made today or tomorrow.

I did pick up 2 boxes of disposable scalpels on EBay, very reasonable. The only issue I have with these is the blades are very thin and flexible and, because of this, aren't always the best choice for the job. But they do have their place.

Cap rails installed and 2 coats of paint, 1 coat to go. Next will be to draw the waterline. I'm going to build the jig shown on page 55 of Frank Mastini's book, "Ship Modeling Simplified" rather than buying one. I'll also follow his instructions for drawing the waterline on page 56 which gives instruction for doing this on fishing schooners, which is a bit different than on other types of ships. Bluenose, a fishing schooner, is deeper aft than forward. Referred to as "keel drag". Looks like I'm off to Home Depot tomorrow to pick up a few boards.

Allen, thanks so much for the the clear and precise instructions. This newbie needs all the help he can get. Your instructions clear up many questions and will make my first hull paint job much easier.

Glad to hear you found a reliable, fully stocked place to buy your blades and handles. Makes things much easier.

Yep, half of grandad's old strop was hanging on the kitchen door knob, a reminder to stay in line. 55 years later I'm using one everyday for shaving.

Thanks for the tip Don, I believe I'll try your method when I reach the point of painting the hull. Any further tips you can pass on paint bleed? My Bluenose has a 2 color hull separated by a white stripe waterline. Getting a crisp paint line is important to me and the thinner paint may tend to bleed under tape. Perhaps the coat of wipe on poly id the trick? Dave

I recently switched from X-Acto to Excel blade. I not only find the Excel blades to be as good or better than X-Acto but I find it much less frustrating obtaining the variety of blades I use. 1. Hobby shops never seem to have the blade types I use. Yes, they always have some of the blade types I need but never all of them in stock. 2. Buying on-line seems to lead to the same problem. Using places like Amazon I have to order from multiple vendors and some of them take far too long to ship. I like the fact I can go to the Excel website, choose the blades I want, choose the quantity I want and get them in a short time. As far I can see, one can't order directly from X-Acto. Just makes my life easier. Dave

Thanks Phil. Glad to be back, finally.

It won't be long and I'll be painting the hull of my Bluenose build. While spray painting would be much quicker, easier and provide a nice finish, I'm thinking of brushing the hull. Anyone who has seen the hulls of wooden ships can attest to the fact that the paint jobs are pretty rough looking. Large brush strokes are very noticeable. So I'm looking for some tips and clues on the best way to paint such large areas with acrylic paints. Does the entire hull need to be done all at once or can I stop and resume at a later time? Should the paint be thinned more that usual and plan on 2 coats? I would think paint extender is a must? How large a brush to use? Any advice would be much appreciated. Dave

It’s been awhile since my last post. Butting the flowers and lawn to bed for the winter has taken up time, as well as 2 early season snow falls. We got about 4 inches on Halloween and another 4 inches the day before yesterday. I’ve also been spending lots of time choosing a new insurance and drug plan. Now that things have quieted down somewhat I’m able to get back to the build. I finished off the port side cap rail Then I pinned the finished port rail on the second rough cut and outlined it Here are the finished port and starboard cap rails I decided to use Titebond III to allow a bit more work time. I worked from aft forward, putting dabs of glue on top of each frame and pinning it in place as I moved forward. This allowed me to very slightly bend or straiten the cap rails, aligning them with the inbound edge of the frames as I went along. Once the glue dries I will lightly sand the outboard edge of the cap rails to achieve the desired 1/32 inch overhang I’ll have to do some wood filling and sanding where the cap rails meet the bow and stern pieces. I didn’t cut the cap rail ends to match the “S” curve in the bow and stern piece, choosing to butt the edges. But if I had to do it again I would use a short, perhaps an inch or so, piece of cap rail and match the “S” curve and then butt the cap rail to that. Always seems I thing of a better way of doing things after the fact, just part of the learning curve I guess.

That was my thought. I'm contemplating my first power cutting tool (besides my Dremel) and was looking at the Wonder Cutter. But not sure what I'd get the most use from. Table saw? Scroll saw? Band saw? Miter/chop saw? BTW, Happy Halloween to all

Anyone had experience with this tool? I did a search on the forum but nothing came up. https://www.micromark.com/Wondercutter Dave

Thanks for the guidance!

Sounds like you have a good grasp of what I'm looking for. Hopefully someone with experience can advise us.

Looking for advice on magnifier headset. Would like to purchase magnifier headset and looking for advice on brand and magnification. Dave

Thanks for the reminder, Dave. Just about have the port side cap rail formed. Will post a pic when its done. Dave

Looking very nice so far, Pat. I'll be following along.

Pat, Thanks for the comment on the cap rails, they are still a work in progress. And thanks for making me feel so welcome last night. Walking into a room full of strangers can be a bit intimidating, but you made me feel comfortable and welcomed. See you next month!

That's a great tip Wallace, I can see where your method would come in handy in a variety of situations. Thanks!

Its yet to see if my approach will work the way I imagine. My mind is busy turning over the order of steps I need to take to complete it. Won't be able to work on the ship till tomorrow so I have time to figure things out. Thanks for your vote of confidence. BTW, the plastic curves I used are Ships Curves, not French Curves.

Decided to go with this set of Starrett pin vices. Thanks to all for sharing your advice and suggestions.

Thanks to all for sharing their method on cutting the top rails. After giving it a good deal of thought, I decided I wanted the top rail to be one piece between the bow and stern pieces. I went to a local hobby shop and purchased a 1/16” X 3” X 24” piece of basswood, about $2.50. Having already trimmed the false frames flush with the top bulwark plank, I laid the new piece of basswood on top of the false frames and, using a mechanical pencil, traced the shape of the hull from underneath. This, I think, was much the same way Tector did his. Then I measured the widest part of the rail on the plans and scribed a line parallel to the one I drew. Using ships curves, I cut out one top rail (tough to see the ship curve as its clear plastic). I then used the cut top rail as a template to draw the second top rail and cut that one out. I now have 2 rough cut top rails. Next will be transferring the measurements from the plans to the rough cut top rails for the wider areas and sanding everything to form the finished pieces. Here is a better picture of the ships curves, I believe there are actually 6 pieces in the set.

Thanks Richard, that will work! Dave