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I am with Chuck, Mark and Brian, I got into this hobby when I was unemployed and looking for something to keep me sane in what I thought would be a long search for employment. Had I been shuffled off to the newbie section I doubt I would have been exposed to the other more skilled builders here, some of whom have inadvertently nudged me into the world of bashing and scratching (sounds like a disease dont it?) Now I have pretty much thrown caution to the wind and am scratching my own masts, I dont think I would have ever attempted that with out looking over the shoulders of the more experienced and the guidance and input of those who stop in to say hey. Are my masts 100% correct? He!! no, but I am having fun. Ok, back to building my Cross and Trestle Trees, for the 3rd @&@%#$ TIME!! :P Sam

Wow Steve really sorry to hear that. Give her my best and take care, we will be here when your ready. Sam

I found the email receipt for my Enterprise......2009!! There have been a lot of reasons why its taken so long; health, end of a relationship, a death, start of another relationship, work. The big one for me is I cant leave well enough alone and have to keep fiddling with things. Then there is that short attention span. As far as why others fail to finish? I suspect there are as many reasons why builds and build logs are abandoned as there are builders; time, money (tools) skills, poor instructions, overestimation of how long it will take etc etc. Keeping up a build log takes time and effort. By the time I have taken and edited pictures, written a post, edited and re-edited (Gods of Spell Check I thank you) it could be an hour or more. thats an hour that could be spent building. I imagine some decide its more effort than it is worth to them. When it comes to helping others pick a first build all we can do is give anecdotal advice and hope they listen. When they (ME?) dont then give as much advice and encouragement as possible. I know I most likely would not continued with out all the advice and encouragement I recieve(d) Sam

Steve, whats happening in the build yard?? very quiet here. Have you finished her yet? Sam

Rich, looking good!! If a couple of weeks doesn't fix the bleaching/sheikh of the planks, a simple scrape should bring everything back to the same color. Sam

Thanks Carl, there was some blue air here on Friday. The beer and Pizza were great. Nothing worth showing at the moment. I have removed the wooldings and cleaned up the glue lines. On a positive note, I didnt realize how discolored the mast had become with all the handeling, it is now a nice bright boxwood again except where the one woolding that stays couldnt get in there. I think I am going to remove that one also, not really a big deal at this point, in the long run the mast will look better once the entire piece is sanded/scraped to an even color. Sam

Mark, that's frustrating, the next will be better. Sam

Its a relatively easy fix, the woolding ropes are not glued and the banding is held on with a fairly thin smear of glue. I just bought rope i didnt need at the moment. I still have the pizza and beer!! Sam

I is back! I played hooky from work today and spent the morning and part of the afternoon finishing my Trestle Trees and the wooldings on my Main Mast. I was pretty pleased when I sat back and looked at what I had done. That is until the Gremlin tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Ummm, Sam, how on earth would they ever raise and lower the sails with those woodings in the way???" )!(@(#$&^$&*#)#!!!!! :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: Ah the pitfalls of going off on your own when you really dont know what your doing ...... I think I should have treated both masts like a Mizzen Mast with just one woolding band at the Hounds I think I am going to get a pizza and drink heavily tonight. Sam

Rob, 1st off, thank you for your service. 2nd, you chose the right place. There are some phenomenal builders here all more than willing to help a fellow builder out. I will be following along with interest. Sam.

Matt, that is some great joinery you have there, I am jealous!!! I didnt do that! Lol As far as tree nails, I agree with the others, #2. Number 1 may end up looking like a sheet of graph paper, #3 has the potential to get really busy. Just my two cents. Sam

And a fine looking porcupine she is Sjors! Sam

SJors, coming along nicely, trying to whisper here, dont want to be yelling, gives me a headache. :P Sam

Sjors, Thanks for the kind words. As for your question, Yes and Yes. Sam

Thanks everybody, I think Alan's pictures settle the question. The only sketches I have seen are the one in Wiki taking the Tripolian ship and that show very little detail, these are great. Mike, I plan to keep her Schooner rigged. Back when I started the build it was just something to keep me busy while unemployed so the poop-deck is still there, if I I were to do it over I would bash that out of existence. Thanks again everybody Sam

Looking great Mark, all the best for Janet. Sam

I need some advice. I have more or less thrown Constructos instruction on a back shelf when I do use it I use it as a guide as to what to work on next. I have made my tow lower masts and found I need to wait for material to come in to complete them. In the meantime I am using Lees, Masting and Rigging, TFFM, Chucks Syren instructions as well as builds here to teach myself how all this goes together. Its time to start on the Trestle and Cross Trees and I need to know if a ship of this size and period would have a full top built on the Trestle Trees. Contructo wants me to just build Trestle and Cross Trees, the three sources I referenced seem to indicate that a Top is in order. The difference is all of those builds have a Lower mast, a Top Mast and I believe the third mast up is the Top Gallant mast. My build, according to Constructo has only Lower and Top Masts. So, what would be correct for this ship/ Tops or just Cross trees on top of the lower masts? I keep coming across similar questions, the Enterprise appears to be a smaller ship compared to what I am using as reference. Maybe what I really need to know is where does a ship like the Enterprise sit compared to First Rate, Sixth Rate, Sloop Brig etc, and what is out there that I could use as reference? Here is a link to the kit for reference and boy am I glad I didnt spend that much when I purchased my kit!!!! http://www.historicships.com/TALLSHIPS/Constructo/US%20Enterprise%20CON80837/US%20Enterprise%20con80837.htm More details in my build, link below. Thanks in advance, Sam

Mobsie!? How did I miss this???! Squeezing in a crowded room. Great job to date, and the finish on the hull.... Mark said it, it pops right off the screen. Your ebonizing tutorial is something I am going to have to give a try. Sam

Thanks all who took the time to read and hit the like button it is appreciated. Mark, Thank you. Murphy and I have become real "pals" on this build, other than the do and redo from not really knowing what I was doing it was very enjoyable. You cant beat a good camping trip, even when the wind comes up and tears your brand new easy up out of the ground, lashings and all then wraps a car like it was a mummy!! Mobsie, thanks for the good words. I think as we get older I think we are entitled to a bit of laziness. I am starting to look forward to the big "R" and being lazy as much as I want. Knowing my better half though, I wont be allowed much laziness, that woman could find a way to do errands on the way to her funeral! :P

Hey All!! Well tomorrow is the weekend and to avoid another "Assault with a Comfy Pillow" I think I better post an update!! :D A couple of weeks ago was Memorial Day here in the States so instead of building I went camping with some old friends, many are former military. A great time was had by all but the drawback is no building. Several of the older generation who started the desert camping tradition long before I was first invited have passed on, a small memorial has been put up on the hill overlooking our camp area. One of them, Doc, was a prankster. Several years ago when he passed on we scattered his ashes up there. As his son was opening the bag up, the wind changed direction, gusted and we all got a mouthful of Doc! Only he could have pulled that one off! As I mentioned a few days (weeks?) ago I decided to make built up masts. As is my norm I climbed to the highest board, took a running start and leaped right into the deepest water, only to realize halfway down I left my floaties behind..... Carving the main portion of the mast was relatively easy and straight forward, taper to a four square, use a 7-10-7 template and carve to an 8 square. I spent a considerable amount of time making the transition from round to square at the top, only to realize it was all getting shaved off for the Hounds!! I cant seem to find any reference as to how thick the cheek should be in relation to the masts so after poking around several builds I did what any team of engineer/rocket scientist would do and made a guess. After several attempts they came out OK although the Hounds could have been a bit thicker. I may have to add a light 32nd inch to them. As I was planing the tapers I was marveling at how th shavings were coming off in such nice consistent curlicues and suddenly realized that might be a way to do the wooden bands on the woldings. I planed some Boxwood down to 1.5 scale inches thick and then set a low angle plane to give me a shaving about .020" wet the strip and planed away. Nice curly strips. After marking out the spacing, numerous times - I just couldnt seem to get 6 evenly spaced bands on the Main and 5 on the Fore - I glued on the lower bands. Even after wetting the strips to plane them there is some blowout on the strips, a bit of shelac hardened everything up and they sanded out ok, they wander a bit and dont pass the macro test but I think they look ok from a normal viewing distance. Last night I started wrapping the rope portion of the banding with the goal of finishing all of that as well as the upper wood bands in time for an update tomorrow afternoon. I got two done and the spool I was working with ran out. Go to my Box-O-Goodies to get more and, well, remember the floaties? Wherever they are are where the rest of my .012" brown rope from Chuck is. I could swear I ordered some from him sometime back, my reciepts are in a file cabinet locked in the garage and I am too lazy to go look. Just for the record I am NOT implying Chuck shorted me, most likely I meant to order some and never did. So now, I have tomorrow until 5 or 6pm when the better half gets home and no rope to work with! :angry:GRRRRR!! Looks like I will be making trestle trees tomorrow. Not the end of the world but I was really looking forward to having the woldings done. I have p[laced an order for more rope, Chuck is very responsive with orders but I cant imagine an order placed on Friday at 6pm West Coast time, 9pm Chucks time I think, will get here before Tuesday at the very earliest. Oh well, Murphy is cementing his relationship with me. Pictures below. ONWARD!!!! Sam

Sjors That looks really good. I suspect the owners would find using a Man O War as a freighter is a waste of resources though ....

Always nice to have somebody who appreciates your fine work. All the pictures were posted on the same day, you didn't build her in one sitting did you?? Sam

hhhmmmmmm.....so what happened to "Apple, it just works"???? FWIW Im a Mac user myself. JP, looks like you dont have anymore reasons for loose rigging. Anyway, I think your build looks just great, nothing is perfect in life. Sam

Wow Sjors, that is really coming along. Like Neptune says, you may need a bigger house, then you will never make to USA, all your money and vacation time spent on moving. Sam

Maybe ask one of the Mods and se what they say? Sam