abelson

Like Dubz and rafine, I made my transom black - because I cracked the transom piece. You might want to remove the decorative carvings ( if you can) and paint the transom piece black. That would make the painted area around the door openings less obvious and emphasize the decorative carvings. I've attached a picture. Hope you don't mind.

Fantastic work and photography!!!

At this point, I’m one year into the build. The results have been good. Now, on to constructing the Main and Fore Tops. I cut out and dry fit the cross trees and trestle trees. Once I was satisfied that the cross trees and trestle trees “effectively” slide over the masts, I glued them together. I didn’t spend much time sanding the trees to remove the char because they are going to be painted black. The laser cut main and fore tops were next. I added the 1/8” x 1/32” planks as per the instructions. I sanded the edges of the top to even out the planks. I copied Walrusguy’s build and indented the edges of the plank joints so that once painted the planks are more visible. With that done, I cut out the laser cut rims, glued them to the planked tops, and sanded the outside edges of each rim flush with outside edges of the tops. The battens were next. To serve as a guide in positioning the battens, I cut out the plan view of the tops from Sheet 5 and placed it on the planked tops, marked the ends of each batten, and drew a pencil line between the tick marks. I marked the locations of the holes to be drilled for the blocks in each top and the two holes to be drilled in the fore top for the eye bolts for the lanyards for for the main top gallant stay and royal stay. [Note: The main top plan on Page 88 of the instructions shows nine (9) holes but Sheet 5 only shows eight (8). So, I’m not sure what the extra hole is for. Nonetheless, I rigged a 1/8” double block to it.] Each batten was cut from the 1/32” x 1/32” strip. The ends for the battens were sanded to the proper angle and glued on to the top. With the battens completed on both tops, I glued the base strip for the rails. I used a 1/8”x 1/32” strip for the base strip. I held off on gluing the trees to the underside of the tops until hanging the blocks – this gave me a little more room to work on the blocks. Somewhere along the way, I used all 8 yards of .012 black line. So, I used .008 black line to hang the blocks under the tops. [Note: I thought .018 black was too thick.] The instructions say to fold the line in half to create a loop that is pushed through the hole in the top. This is easier said than done. I had to make the holes larger in order to do this. Even at that, I still had difficulty pushing the loop through the hole. I threaded the line though a needle and pushed the head of the needle through the hole, pulled one loose end through the hole, and re-inserted the loose end through the hole. Next, I inserted the pin (cut from 28 gauge wire) through the loop and pulled the two loose ends down to tighten the loop. The pin was secured to the top with CA glue. I installed all of the loops before rigging the blocks. [Note: installing all of the loops would later be problematic when installing the blocks because the loose ends of the loops where in the way. I had to tape down the loose ends. Also, I wish that I had made the loose ends longer to facilitate tying the half knots.] Next, the blocks. There are four (4) 1/8” double blocks and the four 1/8” single blocks in the main top and eight (8) 1/8” double blocks in the fore main top. Installing the blocks was a tedious task. I tried following the instructions without success. I used a different method aided by 3/32” x 1/16” wood strip as follows: lay the wood strip across on the top (1/16” side down of course) between the loose ends, tie an overhand knot, apply a little CA glue to the knot to secure it, slide, but not remove, the wood strip to release it from the rigging line, apply a little CA to the block and place the block on the rigging line to hold it in place while you tie the block with the loose ends using an overhand knot, secure the knot with CA, snip off the excess rigging line with a nail clipper, remove the wood strip while holding the block with tweezers, seize the two rigging lines together below the block. Note: This process won’t work if the cross trees and trestle trees are glued on. It worked well for me, and it gave each block a uniform height below the top. I became more proficient at it with each successive block. I completed the fore top blocks first, then, I glued the cross trees and trestle trees in-place. Here are some photos. I completed the main top blocks in the same manner. However, I did make a mistake. The first two blocks that I installed were the aft, outboard, port and starboard blocks. I wasn’t paying attention to the plans and installed double blocks instead of single blocks. I decided to leave them as is. I painted the underside of the tops black – only one coat because the bottoms will not be seen. Added the eye bolts for the lanyards for the main top gallant stay and royal stay and the blocks for the boom topping lifts in the main top trestle trees. I made the eye bolts from 28 gauge wire - Somehow, I used all or lost some of the 320 small (1/32") brass eye bolts furnished with the kit. Next, I stropped the 1/8” double block for the throat halliard. I didn’t spend a lot of time on this – just tied a simple knot and applied CA to secure it to the trestle trees. Any more detail than that won’t be noticeable. I made the deadeye plates from 28 gauge wire. I wrapped the wire around a round nose pliers. The most difficult part is setting the 2.5 mm deadeyes so that the two holes are across the top while wrapping the wire around the deadeye. Once I had the deadeye in-place and lightly wrapped, I applied some CA to secure it. Note: I found that if you apply too much pressure the deadeye will break. I finished off the plate by snipping the wire with nail clippers and filing the ends to flatten them. The tops of the deadeyes will be obscured when the top mast shrouds are rigged. The top rails were made using 1/16” x 1/16” strips per the instructions. The stanchions were made using the same wooden decorative toothpicks that I used for the fife rail legs. I drilled .55mm holes in the end of each stanchions and glued a short length of 28 gauge wire into each hole to secure the rail stanchions to the base strip along the top. I used white glue to attach the stanchions to the rail. When the glued was sufficiently dried, I applied CA to the rail/stanchion joint to secure the stanchion. I laid the completed rail and stanchions down on the top to align the stanchion pins with the base strip and then drilled a hole in the base strip at the location of each pin. I attached the rail and stanchions to the base strip temporarily and painted them black. Next up, the (1/16” x 1/16”) bolsters and cross beams. I marked the location of the cross beams on the trestle trees. I glued the aft cross beam between the trestle trees on both the fore and main top. This helped in positioning the top on the mast assembly. Whence the top was secure with CA, I added the fore cross beam to each top. The bolsters were next. These were easy. Painted the cross beams and bolster black. Time to move on to constructing the top masts. Stay tuned for progress.

Excellent work and perseverance on the stern carvings.

Nice work on the boom irons. Did you drill them with the push pin drill and did you score the tube. BTW, your photography is superb. This is not germane, but are you an Oilers fan?

Hope all goes well and that you have a speedy recovery.

On to Chapter 17. I had previously drilled the holes for and rough cut the 5/32” dowels for the fore and main masts back in Chapter 7. I had drilled the holes 1” deep. Before cutting the dowels down to size, I inserted each dowel into the predrilled hole and marked the top of the deck on each dowel. I scaled the length of the masts on Sheet 5 from the top of the deck to the top of the mast cap (Fore Mast: 8 13/16”, Main Mast: 9 9/16”). I cut the dowels longer to allow from inserting the dowel into my drill chuck for tapering the masts to about 3/16” at the top, as measured on Sheet 5. After tapering, the dowels were cut to final length. Starting with the fore mast, I filed and sanded the top of the mast to a square profile. I drew four pencil lines to demarcate the four square sides. This is very helpful when you rotate the dowel to file the next side. To keep the dowel from twisting while filing and sanding, I used a right angle picture frame jig. Once the sides were square, I made the tenon at the top of the mast and chamfered the corner edges of the squared portion of the mast. I flattened the port and starboard surfaces of the mast to receive the cheeks, and slightly flattened the front of the mast to receive the front fish. The cheeks were made from a 3/16” x 1/16” strip, glued, shaped, and the “fingernail” made as per the instructions. Next, the simulated iron bands were added using 1/16” pinstripe tape (not furnished with the kit) per the instructions, except for the bands that run under the cheeks. Rather than wrap these bands around the entire mast, I opted to cut strips to fit between the cheeks. I only used two (2) strips. I applied CA glue to the cut ends of all of the bands to preclude them from lifting up. The front fish was next. For risk of damaging the bands when sanding down the front fish, I took a page out of SalD’s log and decided to round off the front fish before gluing it to the mast. I attached the front fish to a scrap piece if ¼” dowel with double sided tape and then sanded the front fish to shape. The front fish was then aligned with the bands on the mast and the band locations were marked with a pencil on the backside of the front fish. I scribed a line on the pencil marks and on the edge of the front fish and then created a notch to fit over the bands. I added the two chocks/cleats at the top of the mast head and the two (2) below front fish. I shaped them first, glued them, and then did some final shaping with a file. Lastly, I added the laser cut bibbs, making sure that the tops of the bibbs are parallel with the water line. Note: The bibbs are fragile and can easily break along the grain. The main mast was completed in same fashion as the foremast. The boom rest was made from 1/16” basswood sheet. I used a 9/16” circle template to mark the outer radius and a 5/16” template to mark the inner radius. The boom rest was cut out with an x-acto knife. The corbels (knees) under the rest were made from 1/16” x 1/32” strip. I pre-shaped them before gluing them in-place. The tops of the corbels need to be angled to match the angle of the rest. I glued the center corbel first, the two end corbels next, and then did a final shaping on them. The other two corbels were then glued in-place and final shaped. I decided to add the saddle for the lower yard sling on top of the cap. In so doing, I left space between the saddle and the top mast for the lower lift blocks. I made the saddles from a sheet of 1/16” basswood. I used a 5/8” diameter circle template to establish the curvature of the saddle. The notch in the top of the saddle was made by running an x-acto knife across the saddle and then filing along the cut with a half-round file. The notch needs to wide enough for the .012 black sling. I also added the eye bolt to the main mast cap for the 1/8” double block for the gaff peak halliard. The tops of the masts were painted black down to the iron band below the bibbs. Next, the 5 mm metal lower cleats were filed and spray painted black. I stuck the cleats to a piece of masking tape to hold them secure while spray painting them. I attached the four (4) cleats to the main mast and the six (6) cleats to the fore mast with CA glue. I then stained the masts with Minwax Golden Oak. To complete the fore mast, I rigged the 1/8 single block for the main topmast preventer stay, 5/32" single block for the main topmast stay, and the main stay collar (5mm closed heart). As others have found, 5/32” blocks are not included in the kit. Fortunately, I had some from my Fair American build. The following is a link I used for rigging the blocks to the mast: https://youtube/WUrRb66VSSE. This is a good technique. I used .018 black line and black thread for the whipping. With that, I’m moving on to constructing the fore and main tops. Stay tuned.

I like the bands on the spars - a nice addition. I think I'll copy you when I reach that stage. Looking good. You better slow down or you'll be starting your next build soon. haha.

This being April Fool's Day, it's no joke that I made progress on the the ship. But, as a matter of note, one thing that I’ve learned in model ship building is that Murphy’s Law - "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong" - is ever present. With that aside, I’m continuing with Chapter 16. I glued the bowsprit in-place and allowed it to dry sufficiently before gammoning. I set up the gammoning with .021 black line, made the eye, thread the loose end through the eye and then rove it through the gammon hole. I found this to be somewhat difficult, mostly because the head rails block your view. I was able to make the 9 turns and 9 half-hitches as per the illustrations in the instructions. I used CA to secure the line while I was wrapping it. I lashed the bobstays and the bowsprit shrouds to their corresponding hearts with .008 tan line. The space between hearts (1/4”) is consistent with the scale of Sheet 5, however, I had to re-do one bowsprit shroud because the spacing between hearts was too close. I used CA to secure the lashing. I assembled the jibboom and the flying jibboom and lashed the jibboom to the bowsprit with three (3) turns of .028 black line. In the process of assembling the flying jibboom, I didn’t realize that the traveler ring slipped off until the flying jibboom was glued in place. Fortunately, I used white glue, so I was able to disassemble the flying jibboom, replace the traveler ring, and reassemble the jibboom. Just a word of caution: Make sure the bend at the top of the ring can pass the line size before permanently assembling the bow sprit. With that done, I moved on to the stays. I decided to set up the outer martingale back ropes (.012 black) first. I made a "bullseye" in one end and then measured the length of the stay from Sheet 5. I seized each stay to the bottom of the dolphin striker with the striker off the bowsprit. After permanently attaching the striker, I temporarily set up each stay with a lanyard (.008 tan) attached to the upper headrail eye. So far so good. Next, the inner martingale stays (.018 black). I set up the lanyards temporarily, lashing them to the eye bolt closet to the bowsprit. This is the reverse order of what’s described in the instructions. I made only two passes – that’s all that can fit through the 1/32” eyebolts. Setting up the lanyards was easier than I expected. The key is to have a stiffened loose end to feed through eye bolt. I seized each stay to the tip of the jibboom. Then, I tightened each lanyard and secured it with CA glue. The outer martingale stays (.012 black) were next. I set them up a la the inner martingale stays. They were fairly easy because they pass through 3/32” blocks on the end of the flying jibboom and are seized to the bottom of the dolphin striker. Lastly, I tightened the lanyard and secured it with CA glue. I temporarily set up the lanyards for the fore royal stay (.012 black) and the fore top gallant stay (.018 black). While setting up the fore royal stay, the eye bolt came out from the bow - UGH!. It was nearly impossible to get the eyebolt back in, but I persevered - These will be permanently set up in Chapter 18. Lesson learned: Make sure the eye bolts are secure before setting up the stays. To complete Chapter 16, I made the foot ropes – they are definitely troublesome. I soaked a length of .012 black line in water, applied a clip to each end and hung it to dry. I didn’t find much discussion in other build logs on making the footropes, but this is the method I used: (1) loop the line over the end of the jibboom, (2) tie the two loose ends with an overhand knot, (3) slip the knot up to the jibboom, (4) apply CA glue to secure the knot and trim the loose ends, (5) cut each footrope loose end long enough to provide the desired drape and to seize it to the eyebolt on the bowsprit cap, (6), make nine knots (.008 black) on each footrope, spaced at approximately 3/8”, (7) apply CA to each knot and trim the ends – do this one footrope at a time so you can align the knots on each rope, (8) pass the loose end of each rope through the bowsprit eye bolt, (9) adjust the rope to the desired drape and then apply a little CA to the eye bolt to secure the line, and (10) seize the line with black thread. For the footropes between the end of the jibboom and the end of the flying jibboom the process is basically the same except for seizing the end of the ropes at the end of flying jibboom and making six (6) knots in each rope. I applied one coat of 50/50 mixture of white glue and water to the footropes. Murphy’s Law notwithstanding, I’m happy with the results of Chapter 16. More photos follow. The wound up ropes in the photos are the fore royal stay and fore top gallant stay. The bumpkins are temporarily placed – I created these back in Chapter 10. I think I’ll hold off on permanently installing them until I rig the fore mast and top gallant stays. A single block needs to be seized to the end of each bumpkin for the fore course tack. It’s best to do this with the bumpkin off ship.

Nice work on the copper plates. Looks good.

Excellent work on the carronade mounts - very innovative.

Excellent craftsmanship. Very clean and crisp work, and attention to detail.

Well, we've come to see excellent work from you. So, it's repetitive to say excellent work. But, anyway, excellent work. I enjoy your posts. I'm not too far behind you, and I refer to your log often as I advance my build.

Excellent, clean, crisp, detailed work. Enjoy your photos.

Chapter 16 – Bowsprit, Jibboom, and Flying Jibboom. The bowsprit was previously completed when I was working on Chapter 13 (see Page 2). The next step is the jibboom. The jibboom was made per the instructions using a 5/32” diameter dowel shaped as shown on the plans. This was a fairly easy task. The most difficult part is creating the octagonal shape at the inboard end of the jibboom. To simulate the iron band on the jibboom, I used a piece of 1/16” wide black pinstripe tape, secured it with CA, and painted it black. The flying jibboom was made from a 1/8” diameter dowel as per the instruction except that I didn’t taper it. This was also an easy task. The tenon on the end of the flying jibboom is rounded to fit the hole drilled in the bowsprit cap. I added the iron band to the flying jibboom a la the jibboom. I aligned the jibboom and the flying jibboom to matchup the adjacent iron bands. The jibboom and flying jibboom were painted black basically as shown in the instruction photos and stained Golden Oak. Next, I made the traveler rings for the jibboom and the flying jibboom from 28 gauge black wire. Each ring was wrapped with two turns of thin wire (gauge unknown). I applied CA to the seam where the 28 gauge wires meet. Note: Remember to slip the traveler ring onto the jibboom before the flying jibboom is glued in-place. Installing the brass photo etched piece that is used to connect the jibboom iron band to the flying jibboom iron band is bit tricky. I test fit the jibboom and flying jibboom and eyeballed the angle and locations where the photo etched piece pins will be attached. Using a needle, I punched a hole in each pinstripe band where holes will be drilled for the pins. I then drilled the holes. I inserted the photo etched connector and test fit the jibboom and flying jibboom again. I’m satisfied with the alignment. I plan to permanently assemble the jibboom and flying jibboom whence 3/32” blocks are attached to the cap and the closed heart collars are made. I made the jack staff from 1/16” dowel. I cut the dowel long enough to fit in the chuck in my Dramel. I then tapered the dowel using a sanding block and file. The ball truck was made from piece of 1/8” dowel. A divot was made in the ball truck for attaching the tip of the jack staff. The jack staff below the bowsprit cap was painted black. Above the bow sprit cap the jack staff was stained Golden Oak. The jack staff will be permanently attached later. I decided to make the dolphin striker next. This was fairly easy. It was fashioned from 1/16” x 1/16” strips. I drilled a hole at the top of the striker for inserting a pin to secure the striker to the bowsprit cap. With that done, I turned my attention to the blocks and collars. I made up six (6) 3/32” blocks with .008 black line. Lashed four blocks to the eyebolts on the bowsprit cap and two (2) on the end of the flying jib boom. At this point, I decided to check the holes in fairlead to be sure that the .012 and .018 black line stays would pass. I had to enlarge the holes. Thankfully, without damaging the fearlead - whew. I started making the bowsprit collars and almost immediately broke one of the half-open hearts. I ended up breaking all of them and had to order some from Syren. I also ordered some closed hearts. The instructions say the closed hearts are 3/16”, so I ordered 5.5mm (7/32”) closed hearts. Thinking that the half-open hearts are also 3/16”, I order 5mm half-open hearts – this was a mistake. The 5mm half-open hearts are too small (see photo). I should have scaled the half-open heart shown on Sheet 5, which is about ¼”. I had to reorder 7mm (9/32”) half-open hearts – lesson learned. In the meantime, I made the collars from .012 black line. The drawing shows a doubled line for the collars. I opted to make the closed hearts with a single line and the half-open hearts with doubled lines. Sheet 5 shows the half-open hearts straddling the jibboom but the photo on Page 79 of the instructions shows the open hearts being significantly above the jibboom. So, I guess there is a lot of leeway in the length of the collar for the forestay hearts. Most of the Syren build logs that I have perused have the half-open hearts above the jibboom to varying heights. I decided to make the open heart collars 1 7/8” long, eye to eye. To form the eyes at the end of the collar I filed down the end of a piece of dowel to a diameter that I thought was appropriate for the scale of the model. I looped the rigging line around the dowel and then seized the line with black thread (see photo). I added CA to the eye to stiffen it. I made the open heart collars 1 1/8” long. I used black thread to lash the collar at the hearts. The collars were attached to the bowsprit using black thread and a needle. The needle was passed through the eyes three times and the secured with a simple knot and some CA. The order of the collars, starting at the jibboom rest and working forward is as follows: forestay half-open heart collar, bobstay closed collar, bowsprit closed collar, bowsprit closed heart collar, forestay half-open heart collar, and bobstay closed heart collar (see sketch). While waiting for my 7mm half-open hearts order to arrive, I made the splash guard. As the instructions say, the laser cut layers are quite fragile. Two of them broke in the process of gluing them together and one split at the midpoint line. In hindsight, I marked the notch on the bottom of the layers with a pencil before gluing them together and I think this may have contributed to the layer splitting at the midpoint. I was able to glue the pieces together and salvage the splash guard. Most of the split in the top layer was removed when the bottom of the guard was notched/filed. The remaining split was filled with CA. I notched the location of the fairleads slightly and then sanded and painted the splash guard black. The fairlead notches will be completed after the splash guard is glued into position. I made some eyebolts for the Horses from 28 gauge wire and attached them to the splash guard. I made the eyebolts about 9/16” apart to match the eyebolts on the side of bowsprit cap. Still waiting for my 7mm half-open heart order, I decided to make the two bobstays. I measured the length of the bobstays on Sheet 5 from the hole in the stem to the top of the closed heart and doubled it. I allowed for the width of the stem and a little length at the bottom of the heart for seizing. I wrapped the .018 black line around the heart and applied a little CA with a toothpick to secure the line. I made the knots from .008 black line spaced 3/8” apart. I applied a little CA to the knots before trimming them. The bobstays will be lashed to their corresponding closed hearts whence the bowsprit assembly is permanently secured. Next, I made the two bowsprit shrouds from .021 black line seized to a closed heart. I seized the end of the line to a hook made from 1/32” brass eyebolts. The bowsprit shrouds will be lashed to their corresponding closed hearts whence the bowsprit assembly is permanently secured. This is the reverse order of what’s described in the instructions. One possible ramification of making up the shrouds and bobstays without first lashing them is that the spacing between the lashed hearts may not be consistent. I expect this will be the case but, hopefully, it won’t be that noticeable. My Syren order arrived, so I proceeded to make the forestay collars. I doubled up the collars. One collar has an eye at each end and the other doesn’t. I fit the collars to the half-open hearts and applied a little CA to hold the collars in-place while I seized the collars to the heart legs. I then seized the straight end collar to the eye end collar. The collars were attached to the bowsprit same as the closed heart collars. Next task, assembling the bowsprit. I had previously fit the bowsprit. It sits about 3/32” above the figurehead but I had to file the slot in the bow a little more to lower the bowsprit in order to fit the splash guard. Before gluing the bowsprit assembly together, I decided to take the advice of Jim Rogers build log and reeve the running rigging lines through the fairlead before lashing the bowsprit collars. I think this is good advice. I had a difficult enough time reeving the lines through the fearlead with the bowsprit off the ship let alone on the ship and with the collars lashed. To help me visualize the order of the lines through the fearlead, I made a sketch (see photo). I measured the length of the fore royal stay and fore top gallant stay by running the line along the corresponding line on the Sheet 5 and allowing some length to seize the respective lines around the fore royal pole and the fore top gallant mast and to set up the "bullseye" and lanyard at the bow. Time will tell whether this was actually a good idea. I set up the stiffened bullseye on the outer and inner martingale stays. I measured the length of the stays in the same manner as the fore royal and top gallant stays and made allowance for the outer and inner martingale stays to be seized to the jibboom and flying jibboom, respectively. Next up, permanently attaching the bowsprit. Stay tuned.

I laid the netting out and weighted it down to remove the folds. Before getting into the netting, I decided to make the rudder pendants. This was a fairly easy task. I removed one eyebolt from the rudder and attached it to the pendant chain. I inserted the eyebolt with chain into the rudder and then let the chain drape to simulate the photo in the instructions. I then cut the chain. It measures 12’ at 3/16” scale (roughly 2.5”). I then removed the eyebolt on the opposite side of the rudder, attached it to the chain and then cut the chain to the same length. I secured a ring made from 28 gauge wire to the end of each chain and then blackened the chains with Brass Black. I inserted .018 tan line through the ring the seized the line with .008 tan line. I test fit one pendent to determine what length to cut the rope. I repeated the process for the other pendent. The eyebolts were then glued to the rudder and the loose end of each rope was belayed to a cleat on the inboard side of the transom. A rope coil will be added on each cleat later. Here are some photos. Moving on to the hammock netting, I cut four (4) pieces of netting 2” wide by 6” long – so far, so good. The method I used to cut the netting was to tape down a sheet of copy paper, draw a parallel pencil line 2” above the bottom of the sheet and a perpendicular line 6” from the edge of the paper. I then placed the netting on top of the sheet with the bottom edge aligned with the bottom edge of the paper, taped the netting down, and, using a straight edge, cut the netting with an x-acto knife along the pencil lines. A clean straight line really isn’t necessary because the netting will be trimmed after it’s lashed. Lashing the netting is definitely the finicky part. I folded the netting in half in inserted it carefully into the hammock cranes. Starting at the boarding panel, I secured the netting to the inboard wood strip first. I used a piece of 1/8” x 3/16” wood strip to hold the netting down while I applied CA (with a toothpick) to the wood strip and then the outboard rigging line. This held the netting in-place. I worked my way sternward applying CA along the wood strip and at each hammock crane on the rigging line. I placed a piece of white paper behind the wood strip to make it easier to see the netting. At this point, the netting was secured. I trimmed the netting along the wood strip with tweezer grip scissors. Next, I tied-off the netting on the rigging line using a needle and black sewing thread. I made three knots between each hammock crane. I applied CA to the knots before trimming them. The netting was carefully trimmed along the top of the rigging line. The wood strip was much easier to trim than the rigging line. I did not tie the netting to the wood strip. I touched up the knots and wood strip with some black paint. The first netting install went fairly well. The next two were more of a challenge and didn’t come out as well as the first, IMO. I had to make more tie downs on the rigging line. Somehow, I misplaced one of the 2” x 6” netting pieces. I ended up using a scrape piece of netting measuring about 1” wide for the last hammock crane. I found that it was much easier to work with than the 2” wide piece. I followed the same procedure except I attached the netting at each end first. I think the last piece came out best of all. I don’t plan to make hammocks. This completes Chapter 14. Before moving on to Chapter 16, I decided to mount the ship on its display board and pedestals. The board is 1” oak (purchased at Lowes) stained with the MinWax Golden Oak and finished with a coat of polyurethane. The pedestals are from Model Expo. The base measures 22” x 5.5”. I used a router to make the decorative edge. The pedestals had to be ground down to fit the keel. I haven’t found much discussion on display boards in other build logs. I guess the size is a matter of preference. For those that may be interested, I drilled holes (back in Chapter 8 ) in the false keel, 4 1/4“ from the bow most end and 5 1/2” from the stern most end. At this point, I’m about 45 weeks into the build. Now, on to Chapter 16. I took a photo side-by-side with my Fair American for size comparison.

Completed the sweeps. I shaped them by hand-sanding. The amount of sanding is a matter of perfection and what meets your eye, nonetheless, a lot of sanding is necessary. I stained the sweeps Golden Oak, coated them with poly, and lashed them together in bundles of eight (8) with .018 tan rigging line. Each bundle was lashed to its respective chock – this was a little tricky. For the lashing ropes, I made an eye on one end and seized the line. I passed the loose end of the rope through the eye, wrapped it around the bundle, passed it through the eye on the chock, seized it with a simple overhand knot and cutoff the loose end. There are two (2) lashing ropes for the longboat. Each has a hook on one end. I have seen in other build logs where there is a hook on both ends of the lashing ropes. The instructions are a little fuzzy here. It says, “Create two hooks out of 28 gauge black wire. Seize them onto one end of the rigging line. Place the hook through one of the rings on deck adjacent to the gallows bitts. Take the loose end of the lashing over the longboat through the corresponding ring on the other side. Then bring it back over the top and seize the loose end to the original “pass” of the lashing with some sewing thread.” If you enlarge the photos in Chapter 15 on Page 74 it’s clear that the loose end of the lashing goes through the deck ring. I made the hooks from 1/32” brass eyebolts and blackened them with Brass Black. The hooks were seized onto one end of the rigging line with .008 tan line. I cut the lashing ropes about 12” long to allow some extra length for lashing the loose end to the original pass. According to the photo on Page 74 of the instructions, the hooks are on opposite sides of the longboat. I set mine up this way – it’s really simple. Where the loose end is seized above the hook, I used reverse tweezers to hold the line in place, applied CA to secure it, then seized the line with .008” line. Here are some photos. With the longboat done and Chapter 15 complete, I returned to Chapter 14 to complete the hammock cranes. I glued the hammock cranes and boarding panels, making sure that they are plumb. Next, I cut a 1/32” x 1/16” basswood strips to length and glued it into the slot of each hammock crane. The strips had to be thinned first to fit the slots. Rather than sand the entire strip, I made slot on the backside of the strip at each slot using a small square file. As per the instructions, one end of the strip butts up against the side of the boarding panel and the other end extends ¼” beyond the last hammock crane. I painted the strips after they were installed. In hindsight, I would have painted them before installing them because it was a little difficult painting the back side of aft most strips with the longboat lashed. Next, I ran a length of .018 black rigging line through the rings in the arms of each hammock crane. One end of the line is seized to the eye bolt on the boarding panel and the other end is seized to the eye bolt in the cap rail. To hold the tension in the line, I pulled the line through the eyebolt and applied a drop of CA on the eyebolt. Once that was done, I was able to seize the line. Next, the “finicky” task of lashing the netting to the hammock cranes. Stay tuned.

Nice rebound on fixing the hawes holes. I had a difficult time with this task too. I'm glad you checked that the 0.062” cables will pass. I didn't check mine and, consequently, had to ream the holes. In the process of doing that I damaged the hawes hole guides and had to re-do them. It's a learning process. Your ship looks great.

Excellent work. Nice alignment. Looking good.

Finished the tiny knees at the ends of the thwarts; made from 1/32” x 1/16” strips. I’ve included some photos showing how I made the knees. The method I used is as follows: Mark a pencil line 1/8” from the end of the 1/32” x 1/16” strip, cut off a diagonal piece with an x-acto knife and discard, shape the end of the strip with a small half-round file and sand paper, cut off the knee from the strip, and sand/file the cut edge even. To do final shaping I held the knees with tweezers. As usual, in the process, some knees flew off the tweezer never to be found, requiring a do over. The end result was worth the effort, though. The knees were glued in-place and stained. On to the rudder. The laser cut rudder was too short, so I had to fashion one from 1/32” thick sheet of basswood. The tiller was made from 1/16” x 1/16” strip and pinned to the rudder. Pinning the rudder was difficult because the pieces are so thin. The rudder hinges were made from copper tape as per the instructions. The gudgeons for the rudder hinges were made in the same manner. I made the oarlocks from a 1/32” x 1/16” strip. Using the longboat plan as a guide, I marked the length of each oarlock by scoring the strip segmentally with an x-acto knife. Next, I marked the oarlock pins on each segment with an awl, and then drilled the holes. I applied a dab of CA between the holes to prevent the segments from splitting when they are cut from the strip. Then, I painted the strip black. The pins were made from scraps from eyebolts. I was going to use belaying pins, but the shaft diameter is too large – I was afraid of splitting the 1/32” x 1/16” strips. Lastly, I installed the small bowsprit strap (a little tricky) on the starboard side of the stem as per the instructions and stained the longboat oars and applied a finish coat of polyurethane. I wanted the see if the longboat floats and it does (see photo) – silly me. Next up, the sweeps. Following are photos of the finished longboat.

Thanks for the kind words.

Thanks, Patrick. Your words are encouraging. It's not perfect, but we don't live in a perfect world. I'm satisfied with how it came out, although I still have a little work to do -primarily the knees (UGH!).

Chapter 15 - The Long Boat: Began the longboat by removing the five laser cut lifts and then gluing them together with white carpenter’s glue. I added some CA along the exterior joints to secure the lifts more quickly - I didn’t want to wait long for the white glue to dry before sanding. I left the tabs on to make it easier to hold the lifts while sanding. I used a sanding drum attached to my Dremel and coarse to fine sandpaper. After sanding to the desired shape, I filled in the joints with wood filler and sanded the hull. At this point, I cut the tabs off on a slight angle as shown in the instruction manual. To establish the shear profile, using the plan on Sheet 4, I drew a parallel line between the bow and the stern and scaled the distance (6” +/- at 3/16” scale) between the parallel line and the bottom of the rail. I drew a line on the hull to mark the shear and then carefully sanded the upper lift to the shear line using a drum sander attachment on my Dremel. Next, I shaped the interior of the hull by cutting out some of the excess lifts with an x-acto knife, and then the arduous task of sanding the hull to the desired shape. I used the Dremel and hand sanding with a combination of coarse to fine sandpaper. At the bow and stern, I used files to further define the shape. I primed the exterior of the hull and applied two coats of white (MS4831) paint – sanding between coats. A third coat will be applied after the keel and stem are installed. Next, I cut out the longboat plan and elevation views from Sheet 4 and used them to make a jig for bending the center strip and the molding strip below the cap rail. I glued the center strip in-place with CA. Neither the plans nor instruction manual indicated the number of 1/32” x 1/32” hull frames, only that they should be 3/32” apart. From photos in Chapter 15 and other build logs, I determined that there are between 29 and 31 frames from bow to stern depending on spacing. I ended up with 31 frames. I tried bending the pre-soaked the 1/32”x 1/32” boxwood strips in a jig made from a plan of the cross-section of the hull, but the strips kinked. So, I decided to just soak them and bend them by hand. This worked out fairly well, although some of the strips still kinked when installed. However, most of the kinks will be covered by the bottom battens (floorboards). I spaced the frames at about 8” apart at a 3/16” scale which is equivalent to about 4.5/32. I applied Minwax Pre-Stain to the hull followed by one coat of Minwax Golden Oak. The result is a little blotchy but it may not be that noticeable once the thwarts and grates are in-place. Next the floorboards and grates. The seven floorboards (1/32” x 1/16” basswood strips) were shaped and glued onto the frames with CA. I used a 1/32” x 1/16” strip as a spacer. The floorboards were stained Golden Oak after they were in-place. The 1/32” x 1/16” thwart support was installed next. It was stained prior to gluing it to the frames. The grates were trimmed. laid flat, and glued together top edge to bottom edge. The thwart supports and thwarts were made next, pre-stained, and glued in-place with CA. The thwart supports were made from 1/32” x 1/16” basswood strip. The thwarts were made from 1/8” x 1/32” strips. The thwart with the 22 gauge iron strap to support the mast was cut out of the 1/32” x 1/16” strip and glued to the thwart. The windlass was made from 3/32” x 3/32” stock per the instructions – a lot of filing to get it to its octagonal shape. The windlass was secured to the thwart supports with pieces of 1/32” x 1/16” strips cut to a length of about 5/32”. These pieces are very small, and they were difficult to handle while shaping and filing the small notch on the bottom edge that fits over the 28 gauge wire in the end of the windlass. And, of cause, one of the pieces flew off the tweezers never to be found. The instructions say to cut the cap rail from a 1/32" thick sheet of basswood, but the kit comes with a laser cut cap rail. The laser cut cap rail didn’t fit well, so I ended up making one from a sheet of 1/32” basswood (cut with a jeweler saw) as per the instructions, making sure to have a little overhang inboard and outboard. Before gluing the cap rail, I gave the hull a third coat of paint, marked the area between the cap rail and the molding with a pencil, applied masking tape along the pencil line, and painted the area black. I didn’t like the fit of the laser cut the keel and stem so I made them in separate pieces from a 1/32” thick sheet of basswood, sanded them, and glued them to the hull with CA. A little bit of wood filler was applied and sanded to fill in gaps. The keel and stem were painted white. Note that the keel and stem above the molding strip is not painted. I forgot to take pictures of the keel and stem. Before gluing the cap rail on I did most of the sanding. The cap rail is tricky to install because of the sheer profile. I used CA. I glued the bow and the stern and then the mid ship. I applied the CA to the underside of the cap rail with a toothpick. I find that the CA flows nicely within the space between the cap rail and the hull. The 1/32” x 1/32” molding strips were pre-stained and glued to the hull below the cap rail. The strips were soaked and pre-bent in the jig. In the process of gluing the starboard side molding, the molding snapped. So, I had to repeat the process. I used CA to attach the moldings. I tack glued the molding to the keel first and then applied CA to the underside of the molding. I used a piece of 1/8” x 1/16” strip as a guide to maintain the parallel between the rail cap and the molding. Next came the knees. I found the knees to be the most difficult part of the longboat build, basically because they’re so small. I made the bow and stern knees from the cutout part of the laser cut top rail. I traced the knees from the plan view on Sheet 4, cut them out, and used them as templates. I transferred the shape of the knees onto the bow and stern ends of the laser cut piece, and carefully cut them out. The knee pieces were filed and sanded. In the sanding process, I broke two of the knees. Rather then a do over, I glued the pieces together with white glue and then applied CA to the back side of the knee to strengthen it – this works well. Before making the tiny knees at the ends of the thwarts, I made the bowsprit step and the splash guards. The bowsprit step was made from 3/32” x 3/32” strip of basswood, notched, and glued into position as per the instructions. I made the splash guards at the stern per the instructions, except for the end panel. The end panel is slightly higher than the side panels. I cut down a piece of 1/8” x 1/32” basswood strip for the end panel and used a 1/32” x 1/16” strip for the side panels. The splashed guards were glued to the rail cap and stained after. I plan to make the tiny knees at the ends of the thwarts later along with the oarlocks and the rudder. For now, I decided to sand the four laser cut oars. They're delicate, so I was fearful of breaking them. Alas, no breakage. The shape of them is more or less whatever meets your eye.

Nice work. Well done.

I've yet to experience a model ship build that didn't have a certain level of frustration. Yes, it's good to take a break and regroup.