ScottRC

JJ, Eberhard, Gary, Tom, and Rick, thank you for the kind comments and thank you to all for the likes. 
 
  
 
 Fore's main yard brace line temporarily run to the block under the main's top. I'm pleased the model's skyline matches the above photo as well as it does. 

 

 
 The existing outside single block became the fore's main yard brace line block. I had to add a single block for the fore's top yard brace line and it was quite the challenge. I had to drill a .034 inch hole into a .080 top support frame between the outside single block and the inside double block looking up at an awkward angle. The pen vice was up against the lines and I worried through the whole process that disaster would strike any moment. But it didn't and except for the wood crumbs it all went very well. 
 

 

 
 And that concludes the inside work.
 
 Isn't it rich?
 That after all of this time
 I've developed the itch
 Where are the shrouds?
 Send in the shrouds
 
That's right, it's time for the shrouds and I'm looking forward to adding them so much more so than I was a couple of months ago. Hopefully this will go quickly, I'll add progress post throughout the process.
 
 Thank you again to everyone for following along, stay warm.
 
  Keith
 
 

Thank you, Brian. Knowing the shrouds will pull all the tension aft is the reason none of the stays or running lines are tied off. They're there to eliminate having to add them later but I'll have the ability to pull them taunt once the shrouds are in place. 
 
 
 Thank you, Eberhard. I'm not doing sails and because my rigging knowledge/experience is limited many rigging details will not be included. A unknowledgeable viewer will be none the wiser and the knowledgeable viewer will just have to look on with sympathetic forgiveness. 
 
 Speaking of forgiveness......profile shots are pretty boring so I've included an angled view.
 

 
 
Thank you to all for the support and thank you to all for the likes.

Then I added bulkhead braces.  
 

Now the bulkheads are glued in.   On a straight keel.  
 

Spent some time in the shop.  I disassembled the hull, because it had a warp in the keel 
So I drilled and pinned it to the desk.  I aligned the pins so they were straight.    
 
I then pressed the keel down and there you go
Now for some gluing 
 
Rob

@KeithAug
enjoy them while you may as Rob works quickly and efficiently. Pretty soon, the magnificent hull of Stag Hound will appear in all her svelte glory!

@rwiederrich
Strap in. The Rob dragster of production is just firing up! I can barely contain my excitement. Meanwhile, the maritime historian in me just can't help but resist a comparison from your past future production. As a way of comparing McKay's inagural 1850 extreme California Clipper Stag Hound with his final 1869 medium California Clipper Glory of the Seas here's a couple scenes of her in the similar bulkhead stage. From Rob's past build June 3rd, 2021 almost exactly 3 & 1/2 years ago to his current post, Friday, November 1st, 2024! Since I couldn't locate images of her in the same exact angle, I flipped one to give an approximate comparison. You can see how the extreme 40" deadrise at half hull for Stag Hound was greatly reduced for Glory of the Seas which had a practically flat 8" deadrise at half hull. Still both have quite noticeably sharp clipper entrance and exits.

Dry fitting the bulkheads. 
 
Rob

Gluing the two keel pieces together.   I won't fiddle with this till it is full dry.   
 
I’ll separate the bulkheads and put them in order.   She a lot smaller then Glory of the Seas for sure.  
 
Rob

Test fit the keel.  Nice clean aligned fit.  
 
Rob

Looky. What I got today.   
 
Rob

Jerad.
There is one thing I can see that will give you more grief if not addressed first.
You need to pay special attention to the installation of all your running rigging blocks....especially the ones at the foot of the mast.  They should have been installed before you fixed the fife rail in place.  They are way easier to get to once in place then if you have to add them after the fact.
 
Running Rigging, unlike standing rigging requires a lot of preplanning.  Your main course blocks should all be placed before hand. Before you get too far along..... Review your rigging charts and see your block layout.  Place all the blocks needed for the rigging for the foremast on the mast and tops before you begin the rigging of lines.
 
You still need to place the bunt line blocks under the tops.  This would have been far easier with the masts still off the model.
No real problem.....keep this as a learning experience.   Rigging takes a lot of pre-thought.....so take your time.   And undersized line is easier to use then over sized line.  Plus is scales better.
 
Keep up the good work.
 
I posted an image of Glory of the Seas.  Note: the larger lift lines and all the smaller bunt, leach and braces.  Also notice the number of lines coming down the main mast to the fife rail.
These lines have to be about an 1" diameter at scale to work with so many other lines.
Now, mind you, I fully rigged Glory.  Every line short the stunsail lifts and sheets.....cuz I didn't place stunsails or booms on Glory....she spent most of her time on the West coast, not in tropical seas where the light winds blow.
 
Rob

A smallish update today.  Lately, my pondering to fabricating ratio has been about 10 to 1.
 
The copper tiles continued to darken slightly for a couple days as the fixative cured.  An improvement, I believe, and now feel I can declare that effort completed and move on.
 
Marked out, drilled, and installed commercially available belaying pins.  I ended up using blackened 3/16" brass pins even though they are slightly smaller than scale, which is mostly to do with length than girth.  If in doubt, go smaller not bigger.
 
I also fabricated the 4 mini rail winches.  I turned all 4 simultaneously on my Dremel-like tool using 3mm walnut dowel.  I did them side-by-side which made it easy to judge their relative shape.  Before parting the drums, I dipped them in shellac to seal and stabilize so they would be less likely to splinter during the parting process.  Funny thing about adding details, I had drilled a small hole to add a pin to represent the winch crank handle stem, but then removed it. It looked terrible.  Seems when you reach a certain concentration of detail the look you are going for collapses.
 
 

Having lived with my paint job on the copper hull I decided to simply seal it with Krylon workable fixative spray.  After the initial paint application, it did continue to darken a bit over a few days as I expected.  I finally decided all it really needed was a little sheen.  The fixative provided just the right dull shine and also protects the paint job.  While it seemed a shame to cover real copper, it isn't Muntz metal that has bathed in sea water for 50 odd years to the early Falmouth period I'm modeling.  The model now looks balanced to me and less busy.  Down the line I might consider adding some aftereffects, but it will be VERY subtle.  Reality is the metal below the waterline would have been very monochromatic while in the water.  There would be no verdigris below the waterline and only a little from the waterline on up in addition to sea salt buildup, etc., if sitting at anchor.  I don't want the hull to look like it is in drydock nor display the model with a "bathtub" ring at the waterline... unless I am doing a waterline model.  It would just look odd and distracting to me.  Took this picture today right after applying the fixative.  My cellphone camera is terrible and even worse in low light, so please forgive the poor-quality images and the distortion due to wide-angle shot (see below)
 
I also tackled the wash/freeing ports.  The existing openings are the size and position a la Sergal, which are not in the proper locations (not going to move them) or opening size.  I decided to make frames to span the current opening that look similar to what you would find on the CS to which I would attach a properly scaled door.  The doors are 10mm square made out of the same steel I harvested from an alcohol can (see post #9).  The frames were made out of an aluminum beverage can I found along the roadside.  The hinges are made from 0.025mm copper foil with acrylic adhesive on one side.  The foil was designed for stained glass work but works nicely for model making.  I added a little CA to the copper hinges to make them more secure and the final paint further locked it all together.  I painted the interior surfaces white and the outside black to match the hull using Model Expo's Hull Spar Black, which is water based.  I used my new airbrush to apply the color, which proved quite painful. For future airbrush work I'll stick with the Tamiya colors.  You had to add a little water in order to spray it, but it was really hard to get the right ratio and cleanup was quite difficult.  Never again.  Still, I managed to get the paint on and in the process discovered that if I backed off on the air pressure, I could get larger droplet sizes that made the surface look like corroded iron; not that anyone is likely to notice.  I then glued the whole assembly over the bulwark openings.
 
The model doors can currently be opened and closed but I'll fix them into a position once I decide how I want them to look... open, closed, or something in between.  Pictures I have of the CS that immediately follow the Dowman restoration at Falmouth show the ports mostly open at varying shallow angles and don't appear to be locked in place with any clips.  My guess is all the hinges were so corroded that most of the doors would not close completely under their own weight.  After studying late Falmouth pictures, I can make out clips were added to hold the ports open; the same ones you see today (see below)
 
I believe these clips were eventually added for safety reasons.  Afterall, the ship was a training vessel at this point and was no longer going out on the high seas.  During an ocean storm waves might break onto the deck.  When this happened the freeing port doors would open to let the bulk of the sea water out quickly.  My guess is there was some sort of clip to lock the doors shut when the seas were calm.  Just don't know, but it makes sense to me.  Who would want to hear the doors opening and slamming shut if the ship was rocking?
 
 
 

Over the past couple of days I've cut enough strips and applied them to cover the first belt between the keel and the goring line.  As with the practice strips, any movement of the tape while working with it shows up on the final product.   Peeling the backing off, if you don't keep the foil side straight, makes little marks across the foil.   While I've become better and limiting this, some is inevitable and I've simply accepted that.   The markings from the Pizza cutter look good, better in some places than others but so far I'm happy with the outcome.   Most of these strips will be under the boat and not seen often so hopefully I will continue to get better at this.

Great start.  I did the same thing in college.  I built the Revell Santa Maria in my dorm room, used acrylics and pastels.  Kept my rigging chops up.  Count me in to follow along on your progress.  

Portico close-up demonstrates how close everything is.

@rwiederrich
@Vladimir_Wairoa
Here's a 1:96th scale conceptual sketch of the rear portico on Stag Hound. Tolerances are tight but it all works. Dimensions: 8 ft square x 8 ft high, with 6 inch fore and aft overhangs and 1 ft port and Starboard overhangs, with 32 inch high surrounding rail and dual ladders. Portico is recessed 4 ft with port and starboard rearward sliding doors. It's located 7 feet away from the center of the 30 inch wide mizzenmast, which has a 1&1/2 inch per foot rake. 
An alternative would be a flush mounted portico with single front opening door. Let me know if you like this or do you think flush mount makes more sense?

USS Coates (DE-685), fitting out continues, the Mk9 depth charges were made with a 3D printer.

USS Coates (DE-685), fitting out adding some detail, making of the MK5 MWB. A basswood plug was made for the hull and insert. Used my buddy's old homemade vacuum form machine, adding some small photoetched pieces for detail.

USS Coates (DE-685), fitting out continues, gotta make the big guns...

USS Coates (DE-685), test fitting, making the Fanfare array and compartment vents.

USS Coates (DE-685), construction of the funnel, cherrywood, then scratching detail.

Anchors and Lanterns
Today I installed the 4 off anchors and 2 off lanterns to the Indy.
 
With regards to the main anchor I did toy with the idea of rigging a block through the davit, as shown in the following example.

As I could not seem to pass the rigging thread through the holes in the davit I ended up rejecting this idea. I am reasonably happy with how the anchors look.

Next the two lanterns were installed, a bit of touch up of the painting is required.

I have now completed this wonderful kit.

I will be taking a full set of completed photo tomorrow morning using my white backdrop as there are too many shadows from the sun to take them this evening. I did take a couple however for this post.

 
and will be taking a full set of the completed Indy tomorrow. In th