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ZyXuz, Just checked out your blog, nice work. your little barrel switch gave me an idea. Too late to do it on this build, but next time I think I will try making the capstan into a switch. Now if only I could keep the cat from running off with parts!, She literally just ran off with my small bin of treenails! I would lock her out but she has torn up the carpet under the door. sam

Wow! Thank you everybody! Always appreciated. Brian, yes I was forced into the stern ring when my "cat ate it!" At least I am assuming that is what happened, I came in one night to work and found 2/3 of my part on the work bench, never did find the other 1/3. Best guess is its in one of her two favorite hiding places, under the sofa or on top of the book shelf. It turned out to be a good exercise in joinery. As far as the hobby store having brass in stock....I ended up ordering online, its getting harder and harder to get that stuff here, and I have 5 hobby stores in a ten mile radius! Do you live in the "country" as we call it here or is Wales "hobby store challenged"? Sometimes I forget how fortunate I am where I live, L.A. has everything you could ask for (and a lot you would never want) Ok now that Robbyn has reminded me I can re-do things I need to go see about re-doing my gun port hinges, they are several scale inches too short. Thanks Robbyn! Sam

Allen, thanks, I hadnt considered the water/dirt issue. I was going to mortice my channels into the hull since I have already stained and oiled her, gonna have to rethink my installation. Maybe Just smaller mortices although with mahogany thats interesting to say the least. I may change them to manzonia. As far as support, my channels butt right up against the upper wale, I am thinking a support below might be more appropriate? I still have limited research material, the closest I have to my ship is the "Fully Framed Swan Class" series. Thanks again everybody for the education. Sam

Wow, This turned into quit a discussion. I am getting an education, thank you. I see I need to be more concise in my questions. Perpendicular to the centerline of the ship is what I was envisioning which just happens to be at a slight angle to my hull. I was also interested in the tension/compression issue but dont have the engineering vocabulary to ask correctly. I saw the channels as a means to clear the cap rail but didnt see it as a way to widen the hull although that is exactly what is happening. Thanks for the information Sam

Alrighty-then, looks like channels wait for a bit. Sam

It will be fine Rich, minor detail. I probably should have kept my mouth shut, sorry. Sam

Russ, the filler piece is a great idea, I think I will go with that, thanks. Hmmm....Robbyn... is that an echo I hear? Your right of course, build it to your level of satisfaction. I have had to leave several things less that what I envisioned, they would have been major re-works to get right. I dont want that to become a habit though. I appreciate the compliments on the hull, thank you. I am trying to not dwell on the failings on it, stain grian filler and even the grain itself hide most of what I see as flaws. Ultimately, when I walk in the room and look at her I am pleased with what I see, thats the most important thing. Well I have a side project to finish up this morning; a friend bought his wife a Koa chair in Hawaii and it was severely dammaged in shipping. Koa is EXPENSIVE! An 8/4 plank 5" wide by 20" long was $90.00 plus shipping! And I thought this hobby was expensive.... Ok enough rambling, fix a chair and then off to the hobby store to buy some brass. Thanks for stopping by Onward! Sam

Spent some time this afternoon building. Got a coat of linseed oil on. I had planned on using blond shellac up until this morning. I didnt want a high gloss finish, I really prefer a more satin sheen but the more I though about it the less attractive rubbing a shellac finish to satin was becoming. I could have used a water based satin finish but I dont have much experience with water borne finishes and really didnt want to start learning on my build, I have enough to learn as it is! (see my rudder below) So I decided on rubbed oil and I think I like it. A few more coats and the hull should have that "you gotta touch it" look. Sorry Lorcan-Kitty its claws off the build for you...... On another note, I started mounting the gudgeons and pintles while the oil was drying. I was generally pleased with how the soldering and fitting went until I laid it up on the hull. The kit came with pre drilled parts, all the same length. You bend them in place and trim off the excess. all well and good except they drilled all the holes on the same spacing. I think the holes probably should have been drilled to the part after cutting to length. My lack of experience is showing on the stern, unfortunately I didnt taper the hull enough at the stern and now I am going to have a funny step in the bottom hinge. I also didnt research the rudder early enough in the build to mount it as close to the stern as it should be. I am going to have to live with those mistakes and chalk them up to the learning experience. All in all the rudder isnt terrible, I will most likely try to scratch some new pintles and gudgeons and maybe just fake the gap and not try to make a perfect fit, that will just highlight the issue. As always, comments suggestions and critiques are always welcome.

Awesome! Thanks everybody! If I am seeing this correctly the channels take the brunt of the load holding the masts in place. I am assuming then that the chainplates transfer a portion of the load to the hull? Looks like I need to get the masts at least mocked up before I can set the channels.

Rich, She is coming along. Something I just learned in the Rigging Forums, the chain plates want to follow the same line/angle as the shrouds rather than perpendicular to the channels. Dont know if it is too late for you to change, just a thought. I have not seen anything in the instructions that indicate what the two additional hole in the chain plates are for, have you? Sam

Rich, Work has been keeping me hopping, which of course interferes with build time..... Right now I am vacillating on the chain plates, I am not sure if what the kit supplied is correct, looks like it is time to post a question in the Rigging forums sam

Hey All, Not sure if this belongs in furniture or rigging I am sure the admins will kindly move it if its in the wrong forum so here goes. The instructions for my Enterprise call for a simple plank protruding out from the hull for the channels. This seems rather weak, I have seen a couple of pictures around showing a "shelf bracket" (Knee??) underneath for support. In Antscherl's Fully Framed Model he shows a bracket above for the Swan class. Are the channels simply there to direct the shrouds out and away from the hull or do they also come under stress? I guess what I am trying to ask is do I need additional support? As far as the Chain Plates are concerned, the kit supplied me with stamped/photo etched parts to make chain plates. There are three holes in them to mount to the hull. The instructions show the bottom hole used but no mention about the other two? Are the kit supplied parts and directions any where near correct for this class/period ship (1780's-1810)? Since this is classed as an "intermediate" kit - whatever that is - I suspect this is simply the manufacturers method of keeping the build simple. I know I can have a respectable looking ship going with the kit parts, but I am trying to educate myself at the same time. Daffi has a great tutorial on chain plates here: http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/487-chain-plates/ If its correct for my build I am considering going his rout but would like some input from others. Kit supplied Chain Plate Mocked up, What are the two extra holes for and should there be a Knee (correct term?) for support of the channel? Manufacturers suggested assembly Manufacturers suggested installation. Shouldnt the Chain Plates continue the angle of the shroud instead of 90 degrees to the channel? Thoughts? Suggestions? Thanks for your time. Sam

Robbyn, You cant beat quality material to work with but I totally get not wanting to keep spending and waiting, waiting and spending. In my "vast" experience with basswood, I have not found any method that is 100% perfect and from what others are saying maybe there isnt anything. I have found that scraping rather than sanding works better. A REALLY sharp chisel or Exacto blade works well. It shears the fibers instead of abrading them away like sand paper does. Just hold your blade perpendicular to the surface and drag it along. You should see very fine shavings build up on the blade. try it on some scrap first naturally. Once you get the hang of it you will be amazed at how nice a finish you get compared to just sanding. A good set of needle files will also work sometimes I have found - there I go....spending and waiting again....

Robbyn, A little late to the party here, but it sounds like you made the right decision. No matter how great everything else comes out you will always look at her and see what you dont like. Sam

Harry, I cant say much about the Golden Kits model, but I have noticed that some of my parts have matched the plans, but when I went to install them they were smaller than what I needed. Both my Stern post and the Stem turned out to be too small/short. The stern post was a relatively minor fix, the stem, somewhat more complicated in my mind. I assumed both were due to my inexperience, and it may well be that but now I am wondering. Sam

You even got the blue reflection.

Rich, Lookin good! I especially like the last shot #0670, add an oean horizon and some clouds in the background and could almost look real. Those pesky little parts, They grow legs the minute you turn your back, before you know it they are halfway to the local pub for a pint! Sam

No building for me today. A quiet day. I was somewhat surprised and gladdened by the number of flags flying on our street, not only today but all weekend. Not only known "American" homes but Immigrant homes as well. Thanks you Vets, each and every one of you. Sam

Well I finished fitting up the braces last night and temporarily pinned the headrails in place. The work around came out OK. I think I will wait to glue the headrails in until I clear coat the hull. It will be much easier to get a clean smooth finish with those out of the way. I can scrape the top coat away to get a good glue joint and then reinforce with the dowels. I may have opened up a can of worms with the dowels though, outside of the deck they are the only ones visible at the moment. Now if I can come up with a good solution to Commander Lorcans "improvements" to the stem.... I pulled the clamps off the transom and and overall I like how it looks. I am not 100% satisfied with the gunports but I am pretty much out of Mahogany strips at this point so I am not sure I can do any better. If all goes as planned I will get the hinges re-blackened today and see if that doesnt improve the look enough. Onward!! Sam

Thanks Russ. Its really a shame all the bits of knowledge lost in the crash. This is one of those indispensable bits that I have found I cant build with out. Its become so second nature a thing to reach for one and carve on it to suit my needs that I totally forgot there might be someone who had never seen/thought to reverse one themselves, I know I didnt till I saw it.

Quick post, nothing new to show on the build, but received a PM asking about the clothes pin clamps used in post 71, "Laundry Pegs" as I now know they are called by our friends on the other side of the pond. They are nothing more than your everyday clothes pin reversed and turned inside out. This was something I saw on the Old MSW in the tips or tool section I cant remember. I use two versions but I dont recall if both were found on the old site or if I "improved" on the original. For the clamps used in post 71 I needed more room to maneuver so I used a sharp chisel and made needle nosed clamps out of them. I like the wooded pegs for this reason, they are very easy to modify. Hope this answers the question and maybe helps somebody in the future as well. Sam

Auger, welcome back! I'll be keeping an eye out for your build log. Russ, I re-read my post from a couple of days ago and didnt thank you for your input on the catheads, I hope you didnt think my "cathead" picture was poking fun at your response, I truly appreciate and value your input. Over the last few days I have managed to straighten out the bottom edge of the transom and glued up a whole two braces on the port side. tonight, if I am luck I will get one if the races on the starboard side glued on. Getting those little twigs to follow the curve of the stem has been a bit of a challenge. I blackened my port hinges, but the blackening rubbed right off, gonna try again this weekend....... Thats all for now, Sam

Robbyn, Nice work! You are progressing so fast I am going to have to drop by more than 2x a week or I miss out on a lot. (I have to visit MSW more often, isnt that a shame?)

Mark, Just got caught up on your build. Nice work. Sorry to hear about your mishap. Looks like your doing better. Sounds like the safety gods tapped you on the shoulder? Sam

Rich, She is looking great. Any good news on the job hunt? Waiting to hear back is the worst. Sam