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Carl, Nope she is still here on my bench, unfortunately nothing has really changed since the last pictures though. Right now I am installing the Sheer Poles and Futtock Staves. I should have done the Sheer poles before I did the Ratlines, my spacing is off a bit. I am only getting a few minutes build time each night, I am finding I only have a knot or two in me before I need to go sit and vegetate in front of the TV or read for a bit, then its off to bed. But progress is progress I'll take what I can get. Progress pictures when there is something to show. Sam

Looks good Sjors, nice to see you back at it. Sam

Mobsie, welcome back, good to see you back at it. Boat is looking good. Sam

Grant, that is some outstanding work! if I didnt know better I would swear I was looking at a full sized boat in some of those pictures. Sam

But much more satisfying dont you think?? Looks good Rich! Sam

Rony, your too kind, thank you for the kind words and for dropping in, I love seeing new faces here. Sam

Thank you gents! Russ, you are probably right sometimes the forest and the trees get in each others way. Rich good to see you. Carl, Mark, nope, No time off for another month or so. We are going to Portland OR in Oct though. When I got back from my fishing trip in mid July we were already waist deep creating an overlay for the bosses wedding; something like 60 sheets of styrofoam routed on our cnc into Moroccan themed panels, floor lanterns and molding details. I dont know how many sets of LED floods and theatrical style lights as well as the controllers to drive them. This in addition to a very large Halloween overlay for a local park that is due at the end of August. I am sure glad I am not on the wedding clean up crew though, he bought somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 hand held confetti cannons made from what appeared to be 2" pvc tube about 20" long. Twist the end and several cubic inches of confetti gets launched 20-30 feet. One of the art directors we work with brought half a dozen co2 powered cannons also, those had at least 2x the confetti. There was 6" of confetti on the floor in some places. OK Last day off lets see what kind of trouble the gremlin and I can get into today. Sam

Rony Check this article out over in the MSW painting forum Sam

Ya, animals and loud noises just dont always go together. Sometimes they do, my ex has a pit/lab rescue mix, nothing phases her. The first year she had her when we noticed boomie things didnt bother her we took her to the scholl where the fireworks were going to be shot for the 4th. We were sitting outside the fence waiting for the show to start and people in the houses behind started shooting bottle rockets off. She would turn her head to track the flight and when they popped she would bark at it. "Shwoosh! CRACK! Woof!" for the next 15 minutes or so. When the show started she was up on all fours wagging her tail and barking the entire time. I dont know what recieved more attention, the show in the sky or the four legged show on the ground. Ok Back to building, what little there has been. I am using a picture I have of the enterprise after the refit to help with the Standing Rigging. I couldnt figure out where the Main stay should end. The picture reads as if they both ended on the Fore Mast, but after I built my collars and ran my lanyards that looked wrong. My mind was running in circles - Syrens plans, TFFM, picture and back. I wasnt getting anywhere then one day at work I was watching one of the carpenters agonizing over a drawing of a simple project. It was bid as 12 hours of fabrication time and he had just spent 6 staring at the plans with out even getting a piece of material off the rack. I had to go over and tell him I quit staring at the #@%$ plans and *&^% build it!. When I got home that night and sat down to agonize over my own project that conversation was still bouncing around in my head. As I looked at the picture for the umpteenth time, this video popped in my head from The Holy Grail: Edit, It seems that I cannot post a video. this was supposed to be a link to a youtube video of various characters from the movie saying Get On With It. Oh Well. So, I Got On With It. Right, Wrong or otherwise both sets of stays are on. I still have some tinkering to do. I still have some cleanup to do and the Fore Stays need some tinkering, I dont like how the collars and lanyards are sitting. Not sure atm how to fix it though. Obligatory photos, sorry for the over exposure, bosses wedding is today and I kind of rushed through the pictures. If I dodnt post today it would be September most likely before I posted again as we are back on a 6-7 day a week schedule, 10 hour days. My paycheck loves it but man, I am getting too old for this: Lots of spaghetti still, I kept making my lanyards too short. I didnt like how the lanyards looked tied to the hearts so I made eyelets and ran the lanyards through them, more work but I feel it looks cleaner. Not sure where I saw this, somewhere in the rigging forums. I have also chosen to seize the ends rather than frapping turns. Now I have to go back to the Bowsprit and redo the lanyards there since those were frapped. Not my best seizing job, but I really struggled with this one. It should be ok once I clean up the loose ends. Till next time! Sam

I hear that phrase at work all the time!! Looks good to my eyes Rich. Sam

I know the feeling Mark, You'll get there. Sam

Looking great Rich, good to see you back. Sam

Well done Rich. Yes it appears somebody has been tinkering with the work here at MSW. Sam

Russ, That jig is beautiful; it fulfilled its purpose. I am of the opinion that if a jig just has to do its job, if its aesthetically pleasing, great. If not, oh well. Sam

Nice work Rony, that is going to look real good with some oil on it. Sam

Well done Steve, almost there. You can barely see the bolts are off dont stress over it. Somthing that has helped here is to threaten the gnomes with 1/2 rations of grog if they dont do things right. Sam

Welcome back Sjors, glad you found your Mojo, that little guy can be hard to reel back in when he takes a vacation. Planking looks good but I have a question. Here in the States we have something called Top Ramen, a noodley food like product. Why would you use that for your planking and how on earth did you get the noodles straight enough to plank with??? Sam

Russ, I go fishing for a few days and come back to another beautifully planked hull! Well done Sam

Nicely done Steve! Sam

Iain Gillan sang a song about the Death Start it went something like,"Smoke on the desktop! and Fire in my eyes" or something like that. I never could get song lyrics right. Welcome back Mark, great to see you back at it. Sam

That is stunning Grant. Where did you find hinges, lid stays and screws for this? Sam

That finish looks amazing Julie. Really sorry to hear about the mishap though. It is repairable? Sam

Yikes Greg! That looks amazing. My eyes hurt just thinking about all that. Well done. Wishing a speedy recovery. Sam

HA! Nope I wouldn't blow the Enterprise up, she aggravates me at times but we have been together for too long to end it now. I was concerned about splitting the mouse also, after I got the first pilot hole drilled out I started slowly working my way up to the right size that would just pass over the serving. Once I felt I was getting to a point where it might split, I took a lesson from VossieWolf and soaked it in the thinnest CA I have and let it site for about an hour to harden. Then finished drilling. It worked on two, now that I have showed it to the world the next one will probably split!! Time will tell. Now if Better Half will go watch her programs tonight and the neighbors will lay off the sky rockets I just might get my next collar made. Poor dog HATES things that go boom. He managed to chew through his crate last night, knock a vase off the counter top trying to get on it and generally had a really bad night. (no, I didnt contribute to the noises) That was AFTER he was given meds. And he is a hunting dog..... Poor guy. Sam

Rony, Steve is spot on, that wood is some kind of mahogany. Your hull looks good. looks ready for the second layer. You can get the sheen up with oils like your danish oil with some elbow grease. It takes several applications and rubbing out between coats. One coat wont do it. Sam