Papa

Assembling the pilot house stairway, and painting the wheel.  Thank you chemistry for super glue!

Pilot house wheel under construction using tooth picks and styrene. Not prefect put it is mostly hidden anyway.

The Texas is in place. I am now working on some details for the pilot house. I was inspired by Kurt Van Dahm's Chaperon to include the ship's wheel and a stove in the pilot house.

Glued the Texas on today. I discovered after I had glue on everything that the etched line showing where to put the Texas was significantly off center. Had to measure and draw some new guidelines; seems to be good now.

I've painted the Texas and assembled the pilot house. Notice that I added some 1/8" sq and 1/16" sq reinforcements. This is especially important when one uses water-based paints as the sheets have a tendency to warp.

Attaching the roof trim around the skylight.

I have attached most of the decorative railings. Everything fit perfectly together. The skylight is done and attached. I assembled the skylight fully before attaching to the deck to ensure that it was square. I am working on the Texas (which I placed on the skylight for the photo). I decided to assemble it before adding the 1/32" sq. battens. The battens are a bit  more tricky to add this way but I was concerned that they would interfere with bending the fore and aft sections. Although the sections are pre-bent using a supplied jig, there is a lot of fiddling to get the curve right when everything goes together. Since the battens are laid over the grooves that need to expand as the sections are bent, i thought it best to do them last.. I may actually get this model finished in less than 1 year!  I appreciate all the "likes" and comments.
 
Ron

Finally got to adding the bull rails. Also adding the photo-etched rails and decorative supports.

The hurricane deck is coming along nicely. I am using  strip styrene to make the bands on the stacks and sheet styrene for the decorative crown at the top of the stack. I also mitered the top railings on the stair rails rather then the butt and overlap joints shown in the plans.

Started constructing the various and sundry items for the hurricane deck. Here are shots of some poles, galley stacks, hog posts, and chicken coop. (can someone tell me what the "chicken coop" is for?

The hurricane deck is on. 

Had a 2-3 month absence from the shipyard while camping in Florida. Now I am back at work on the Chaperon.  Here are the 2 latest photos.

I purchased the Chaperon after spending two weeks camping on  the Mississippi River in West Memphis, Ark. 
I think it is the best MS kit I've every had.  Here are 3 shots of my progress to date.
If I had better organizational skills I'd have done a build log.
 
Ron Gove

The rigging is moving along. Not nearly as tedious as a full rigged ship but tying black thread over a black background (hurricane deck) is a frustrating experience.

The rigging is moving along. Not nearly as tedious as a full rigged ship but tying black thread over a black background (hurricane deck) is a frustrating experience.

Hello Everyone, 
 
Here's the result of the refurb. You know what I was doing so this is just checking out through pictures how it turned out. The glazing in the windows I did the way Bill suggested, a blob of glue on a cocktail stick and twirled it about inside the frame, it worked well and will be how I do it in the future. The painting was not too difficult, just awkward but the stern has regained its lustre and I reckon I've got it pretty close to how it was before the incident, I recon Nelson couldn't tell the difference.
 
Just so that I feel I've made progress with the build I've also put on the middle wales. I stained these dark oak to give them contrast against the hull. I'll paint the main wales black and put in blackened dome headed nails in both wales.
 
The finish on the hull has come out pretty good and at the moment I'm leaning towards just a poly finish, showing the wood.
 
 
Ken

Hello Everyone,       
 
I've just finished the refurbishment of the stern, I'm delighted with the result and will follow up with pictures and report today when I get the chance.
 
I was so pleased with the result that I gave myself this reward, and yes Greg it tasted great even though it was WARM.
 
Ken
 

Beautiful model.  Gosh, i love those old Chris Craft boats.

Beautiful model.  Gosh, i love those old Chris Craft boats.

Thanks again for the kind comments and all the "likes".
 

A minor update today – the Engine Hatches have been installed. I diverted from the kit plans here. The kit provides for a single, one-piece hatch, that is to be removed for access to the engine compartment. I elected to make a two-piece hatch, hinged, as per the real boat. I also elected to make the trim pieces from stainless steel, rather than the sticky tape provided in the kit. The trim pieces have all been drilled to accept 000-120 screws, countersunk flush with the trim. I also installed two hatch stays to hold the hatches open just past 90-degress. For these, I used a product from MACK products.
 
Here is a picture of the trim in place, ready for the screw shaft holes to be drilled.
 


 
And this view shows the hatches in the open position, with the hatch stays visible at the forward end.
 


 
Although not perfect, I am happy enough to call this experiment a success. Next up, drilling 130 holes to accept the 000-120 screws and epoxying them in place.

The stand is a rough one I made out of mdf just to hold the ship during construction. I will make a proper stand when I'm finished, probably like the small supports I made for my first Endeavour in this pic

Hi Gang ... Just thought I'd better pop along and let you know what I've been up to .. cos 'no' I haven't been 'skiving off'  .. I have been tipping and tapping along on Ballahoo (The Mast Hoops are ready to install.. I was experimenting with different material and ultimately came back to the ones I made earlier, except that I painted them a more timber colour.. ) Anyhoo with the brighter days I decided to do something ..
That 'something' was to finish off a build I had started many many years before Ballahoo (think 15 to 20 in fact).. well before I ever attempted a Wooden Boat in fact.. she is an adapted French 74 (originally the kit 'Le Superbe' I think) made into a 'Prize' of the RN .. I was rigging her correctly using Lees and it was taking forever (this is about 15 years ago btw) .. Well .. I have been pondering a possibility this past year or two and decided to act on it a few days ago .. I 'cut her down' that is I chopped the masts to a centimeters above deck height thus pretty much finishing the build in one fell swoop (at least she is as finished as she will ever be.. I have no plans for instance to add the Gun Port Lids, to be honest they are long gone after an enthusiastic room clean out ) ..  I will be ordering a Glass Case shortly  (a lot cheaper now, in fact it will be an upturned Fish Tank made to measure by local glass merchants )
 
 
As Usual Thanks For Stopping By, Normal Ballahoo Service Will Be Resumed Shortly (Promise)
 
All The Very Best Folks
 
Eamonn
 
Right .. Enough Talk .. Time for some Photos 
 
 

Looks like doing this off ship would be easier to keep everything aligned but getting the lengths correct must be difficult.  By the way, you mentioned beeswax. I have a lump of beeswax I purchased from Model Shipways when they were in Bogota, New Jersey. Miles of rigging must have gone through it and it is still going strong.  The lump was about the size of a measuring cup.

The instructions for Chaperon recommend that you attach the tie-down cables for the pilot house before adding the roof.  I did not do this. Now i am paying for it.  Threading a "rope" through the bracket under the roof and behind the decorations is not an easy task. Tweezers and lying the boat gently on her side is working, but it would have been so much easier to do it early on!.
 
Ron Gove

The rigging is moving along. Not nearly as tedious as a full rigged ship but tying black thread over a black background (hurricane deck) is a frustrating experience.