Havelock

Fantastic build. Love the upgrades! No one is going to mess with that schooner!

Wow. Not sure I could handle that! Amazing work!

And done! (Well I still have some rope coils to make): I added a little summary of my build experience to the first post in this topic as I feel that will be more helpful to people who might be browsing the finished build logs and thinking about building this kit.

Got the Jibs on: I had to make an adjustment to the block used for the Jibs. For whatever reason it was too low. Probably shouldn't have pushed the mast all the way into the hole. There where measurements in the plans on how high the masts ought to be but I didn't check them. Anyway I simply moved the block higher:

I have the Taurus still to do and at some point I'll get back to the longboat (probably when winter comes and I'm stuck indoors). I'm definitely going to do another more substantial kit but going to take my time about choosing one as they are so time demanding and I want a boat/ship that I'm really excited about. Half the fun is the hunt/acquisition, right? Also have a bunch of plastic kits on hold that need some TLC. And I promised a friend to build a Tamiya Tiger I tank (with remote control) that he was given but doesn't build models himself. But I'm guessing I'l like 99% of model makers.... way too many kits, way not enough time...

Got all the main rigging finished: Adding the sails in next up.

Thx, Wahka. I've spent just over 60 hours so far. Been able to work on it in spurts but mainly on the weekends and in the evenings when I had the energy.

Did a better job of the aft shrouds so re-did the fore shrouds too: Not the best job ever but happy enough with the results.

Arg! so annoying!

Got started on the rigging: Didn't do a great job on the fore shrouds but they are passable. I'll see how the aft shrouds look and if they are much better I'll redo the fore ones. I'm glad I got the beeswax. Definitely makes the lines look better.

Gotta not let the workspace get out of hand: Got the masts, bowsprit and anchors installed: [Noticed after the fact that I used the wrong thread for the anchor rope. 😧 ] Forgot to do the metal work for the bowsprit. After that it's a lot of rigging.

Thank you, guys! It's not too bad so far but now that I'm doing more of the small pieces I'm finding that precision and attention to detail is getting much more demanding, and my mistakes and inexperience are alarmingly exaggerated at scale. I've only done plastic models before this and there the precision is built into the molds (mostly). Really have an appreciation of the work others achieve here on MSW... On with the build. Got all the metal pieces prepped (lots of filing!) and painted: Not at all happy with the acrylic primer. Next time for sure going to use an enamel based one, like Tamiya's Surface Primer. For now just going to soldier on and hope I don't ding them too much during the rest of the build. For the bilge pump I drilled a hole for the top ring to have something to fit into. Made another hole in the bottom so I could add a piece of rod to better secure the pump to the deck later: I don't really have the proper setup for small metal working so it was difficult to drill the holes. Another area of hobby tools to look into... Next I worked on getting the masts and boons milled (? if that is the correct terminology). Used the drill press as a lathe: and it worked out well: I did have one major screw up. Used one of the 6mm dowels for the bowsprit which meant I didn't have the correct size dowel for the main mast. Went to the hardware store and got two 1/4" dowels and was able to find a section to cut that was reasonably straight. But then milled the top of that too much and had to find another straight section and do over. Not sure if this is a good idea or not but I decide to put notches in the masts where blocks get tied on: This should make it easier to tie them on and secure with CA. I guess we'll see soon enough. Finally got the pieces stained and various hardware attached: Before moving on to the masts and rigging, I got the chainplates and all the deck pieces installed. Going to leave the bowsprit and anchors till last. Also not sure if I want to add the sails... have to wait and see. At this point I'm 60 hours into the build.

Got the deckhouse and hatchway completed: That was actually quite a bit of work, more than I thought it would be. Interesting how the smaller more detailed work takes so much more effort and time...

Nearly completed building the hatchway but decided to redo it. Good exercise in unbounding the wood glue: The main thing I didn't like was the color of the wood stain. I used golden oak but would prefer a lighter pine color. The other thing I wanted to do was raise the framing, like I did for the rightmost piece in the photo above, but do it for all the framing not just the edge ones. So it's off to the hardware store tomorrow to get the pine stain. In other news... bought some beeswax for coating the threads... and got the deckhouse assembled and ready for planking: Some progress at least.

Went out to buy beeswax... came back with wood strips and brass rods too. Thought it might be good to have an assortment of materials on hand. Oh also got a miter box and ordered an X-Y table for my new drill press.... hmmm, seems half the fun of hobbies is acquiring stuff... 😬