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well done. Agreed, less is more on the nail holes. more perceived than actually seen. Sam

Cisco, Well done on the hooked scarfs, the addition of the dust in the joint makes a big difference. When I cut the scarfs on my Enterprise I wish I had done something similar, other than on the transom all that hard work has disappeared. Agreed on the use of hand tools, I love watching what others are doing with laser cutters and 3d printing, but for me I need the feel of making dust myself. Sam

grant, This is such a cool project. You have a talent for finding interesting and unusual projects. The knots are a nice subtle addition as is the wire brush graining. I have done this look on full size projects with a torch and brush or even sand blasting. Its cool to see how to do it at a smaller scale. Sam

Popeye, That looks really good. Is it the camera angle or does the main deck become narrower about the Fore Castle? Sam

nicely done. Broken parts are so frustrating. I found on the T'Gallant masts for my Enterprise scraping with a recently honed chisel or scalpel gave me more control and less pressure on a fragile part. Sam

Jay, they sure are. This one more than most it seems. She is 11 years old last July and still chases gremlins through out the house. This week was slow build wise. Last weekend I bent the Fore Top Sail to its yard and as mentioned above started another sheet for more sails. I will not bore you with repetitive picture of lines on silk span. Today will be a good day f I can get bolt ropes on at least one sail. I re-re--re-did my foot ropes, they are kind of better: Bent and ready to mount and furl. or furl and mount, don't know which yet, probably both until I find a method that works for me.

David, Round looks good to my eye. If you decide to try shaping octagonal parts again in the future I found a small violin makers plane works wonders on these small parts. That and being extra careful with the layout. even so it is still a bit fiddly. Sam

It is Labor Day and Murphy stopped by for a visit, actually he was here a couple of years ago when I did the foot ropes on my Fore Yard. It seems I wrapped the stirrups so they hung from the front of the yard instead of the back! 🙄 I kept trying to bend my sail to the yard and could not figure out why it wouldn't sit correctly. Then I looked closely and realized my stirrups were hanging from the front. No worries sez I, I will just remove the sling cleats and re-install them on the other side. Except since I decided to install studding sail iron now those are backwards. Off came the cleats and back to the correct side they went. Now I am redoing the stirrups and foot ropes. I am consoling myself with the thought that I was never really happy with how the stirrups hung. But wait, there is more Murphy declares!!! If you order before midnight you get a free Cat-astrophy! Yesterday I stretched and colored another sheet of silkspan and this morning painted in my seam lines and set aside to dry. I am still learning the correct speed to draw the bow pen to gt a consistent and accurate seam, fortunately these sails will be furled, so the seams should not be really obvious. However, Commander Lorcan (the cat in Cat-astrophy) decided my work was substandard, even for me, and walked across the stretched and painted silkspan, tearing and permanently wrinkling the sail material. So now I am off to re-stretch yet another piece of silkspan. Labor Day indeed!! Sam

She is a big Girl indeed Popeye. The Iowa is (was?? she doesn't show up on Google anymore) berthed in San Pedro Harbor in LA, right by the cruise ship terminal. Better Half and I took a cruise in 2018 and the Iowa was right in front of us. As big as she is she was an ant next to this 4500 guest cruise ship. Was pretty cool looking down on her and getting an aerial view. Sam

Thanks Mark, agreed on the "any progress." trying not to fall into the "Just get her done" trap. Sam

AAAnnnnnnddddd after only two weeks I have a sail bent. LOL its only been what 12 years since I started this build? I took a few tries to get the robands on more or less to my satisfaction. The sail is still slightly off center, hopefully it does not show when its furled. On to the top sail.... might even be less than two weeks before I get it done even!!

cisco, Just found your build. You are cruising right along and doing quite well also. A man after my own heart: I saw the two cherries chisels in the back ground. A tool question, you mentioned a "lunch box" plane, that is a new one for me. It looks like what I know as a block plane, what is the difference? or is it just cause its small enough to fit in your lunch box??? Best, Sam

David, I just discovered your build. Well done. I always enjoy seeing somebody who can paint at small scale (Paint and I dont get along well ) That was a nice save on your ladder; I ended up scratching two on my Enterpise, I know how fiddly they can be to get the angles on the steps correct. Will follow along, Sam

Mostly finished with my first two sails, not sure if they are keepers or not. I do have some areas that need to be glued down better and then fill in the areas around the cringles(?) I used the reinforcement sizes in Lees, and they seem out of scale?? If I furl them it really doesn't matter. if I choose to show them I may hate them, Might try another set with smaller reinforcements more in line with what the sail making pamphlet from Antscherl suggests. In Process, I used eh tweezers to hold the rope in place while the matte medium used as an adhesive dried: Almost finished, need some fine tuning and some tying off of the loops on the corners. Side light really helps bring out the detail (and the flaws... 😞