Rick310

Great job on the rudder George! Very realistic! Rick

Beautiful work!! Rick

Incredible!! Beautifully done! Rick

Keith, as always, really well done! Rick

Thanks George! Really appreciate your input! Rick

Thanks Jared, still have to make a second one which for me, always seems harder! Rick

Finished the first quarter boat. The grating was made as before with boxwood and cherry. Not at all happy with the result. The holes and spacing are much too large but opted not to remake it as it’s not very visible. Will do better next time. The rudder and tiller were carved out of boxwood and the oars were made per EdT. Small strips of boxwood were drawn through a draw plate from Byrnes model machines and it worked really well. This was the first time I was able to successfully use a draw plate. The first one I had from Micromark didn’t work at all with wood. I read somewhere that the Byrnes draw plate was made specifically for wood. The last 3 oars were made from AYC , which was much easier to draw and produced straighter oars. I chose a length of 10 feet (1 1/4 inches) for the oars. This looks about right. One end was then marked at 1/4 inches for the blade and squeezed with parallel pliers. This also worked well with no need to soften in hot water first. The blades were then soaked with cyano to stabilize the fibers, filed to shape and painted flat white. The handles will be painted blue-3/32 and the blades- 1/16, again copying EdT’s Young America. Hinges for the rudder were made from 28 ga copper wire hammered flat for the strap with a straight length of 28 ga wire, soldered for the pins. These were bent around the edge of a metal ruler that was the same thickness as the rudder and blackened. The spacing for the davits is 2 1/2 inches based on the spacing of the eyebolts, which is shorter than shown on the plans. This was governed by the quarter boat, where the eyebolts could be placed on the model. The aft davit will be between the first and second deadeyes on the mizzen channel, and the forward davit just aft of the freeing port. Hopefully this will work well and is a compromise between the plans and the paintings. I will make the other quarter boat at another time as I am anxious to get on with the rigging. Finally, the davit brackets were finished and mounted to the hull and the spars for the davits made, again using AYC, drawn through the draw plate, tapered and stained with Ipswich pine and satin wipe on poly. I’m going to attempt to make the padding from some very old silkspan.

Looks great George!! Very clean!! Rick

Keith, the bow decorations are amazing!! I keep hoping one day I’ll actually learn from my mistakes! Rick

Beautifully done!! Rick

WOW!!!

Really coming along nicely Keith Really enjoy following your build!! Rick

Absolutely beautiful work Keith, hard to tell the model from the real ship! Rick

Coming along nicely! Glad you painted the bowsprit black. Rock

Very impressive!! Rick