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Hey Sam...I think it looks really good...I'd leave it, if it is a little off, it will never be noticed once you get all the other detail in place, if your previous work is any indication, no one will know but us and we won't tell

Hey all, Here is the promised update...your post is timely Popeye, I think the following will answer your questions... What I've done is glue a very thin veneer to the dry hatch/door frames Once the glue dried overnight I just pulled the paper away and the veneer held the frames together, then the sanding the frames down to their finished thickness began here you can see the semi-finished product, ready to attach to the pilot house and the paneling continues All of the panels are finally applied, all of this will need sanding to thin everything done and smooth it all out As to the deck Popeye asked about, I agree I'm not a fan of this scribed stuff, I did replace it on my Picket build, but that was a much larger scale...the planks on the HL would be about 1.5mm at the widest, thinking it would drive me bat s--- crazy laying out, and some would argue I'm already there ...still undecided on what I'll do, leaning towards using what I got... Well that's all from me for now thanks for your interest and attention J

Thx Medic...may have more pics tomorrow...thx for the likes Pop and Hof

Update mentioned in yesterday's post The kit plans call for the deck to be painted a light gray, that doesn't seem appropriate to me as they were still holy stoning in that era. I initially was going to leave the deck natural, but the strip of scribed basswood supplied for decking had a couple of areas that were darker then others, had I only done the main deck it would not have been a problem but since I did the sponsons as well those areas really stood out. I tried to position them where they would be covered by deck furniture but there's still a chance of them showing, so the decks were stained a dark brown and then sanded them back to a more moderate tone. the one on the left shows one of the dark areas and the one on the right is half sanded the finished deck The pilot house has four doors shown on the paper template provided... I have already scratched and scraped a couple pair of doors, mainly because they were not as square as I would like and am in the process of making the third set...using 1/16 x 1/32 strip turned on edge...a copy of the kit template is acting a a glue-up fixture, once the frames are complete I'll glue strip to the back and remove them from the card, then sand to the correct thickness...at least that's the plan... That's all for now, thanks for your attention J

THX Denis and everyone for all the likes...still more to go, but she is getting there, will post more pics tomorrow, still working on the pilot house paneling and some other odds and ends

Hi all, An update, while work on the pilot house has stalled due to a lack of material(on order hope to see it today!) I moved on to some other items. First up was the bulwarks, all the sanding left them a little thin and tapered to a sharp edge on top, they were really fragile and had been broken in a couple spots just from handling, so I decided to thicken them up and try to get them closer to square at the same time. This work started by adding a 1/32 reinforcing strip to the top...then filler was floated between the strip and the bottom of the bulwark. Then started the fun cycle of ...sand...check...refill...repeat...until I was satisfied with the finish, well not really satisfied but close enough for rock and roll, Then the ports were reopened. Those of you that may have looked in on my Half Moon build know that I can manage to butcher gun ports fairly well ! So it was no surprise (at least to me) that the ports on the HL needed a bit of work. I had originally cut them slightly oversize to allow for frames so now I carefully sanded them with sanding sticks and made frames out of 1/32 stock and have begun to set them in place...the ones at the bow are complete the rest remain to be done. After I should be able to get the hull back in primer for further evaluation and probably more filling and sanding... That's it for now, as always thanks for your attention, Pics follow: New paneling Razor edge Reinforcing strip added and fill (wood putty) aft as well sand and refill...etc cutting port frames Installed

Hi Adam, Glad you're back at the table, I'll be following your log with interest as I'm working on the HL as well, nice work so far J

THX much B,...I really enjoyed that build, it was fun, have you started a log on your Picket? If not you should there is a lot of good folks here to support you along the way J

:champagne-2:

I tried a couple different things (some stained glass chemicals and blacken it, tried vinegar and citric acid as well) to try to darken and weather the tubing on my picket build but nothing really worked, so I resorted to paint and dry brushing

I actually think that's why we're all here

hey everyone, thanks for all the likes...with all the teardowns the little pilot house was showing the wear, the corners were really beat... so I decided to freshen them up. I cut corner sections out with a razor saw and replaced them with the appropriate thickness wood from the spares box...Pic follow Beat corners one section already replaced The nasties cut away New sharp corners dirro ready to go....again

Hey Denis...I'm sure your up to the challenge presented by this kit...Happy new year bro

Hey Sam...understood...working for a living kinda gets in the way of all good things ...you seem to make good use of the time you have though, I seem to be forever tearing stuff down and starting over Happy new years to you as well

yep how I see it as well,,,strip stock is on order, I'll have to jump to other tasks till it arrives but there is plenty to do

Hi Pop...yes there will be steps, eventually...but I stripped it all back again...I'll finish it the same way, with the recessed panels, but I could not get the 'panels' flat & smooth enough for my liking, some of the original paper finish showing through, so it's strpped again, the current plan is to sand the s---out of it, fill and sand some more...glad the spares box is deep

Happy new year everyone...a short update, the pilot house is trimmed out and in primer...it will require a lot of touch up, hoping some sanding will take care on most issues I see. Also put some thought into the windows...trying to trim down stock to create the scale muntin bars proved to be a fairly impossible task, for me...ending in a pile of irregular width splinters and at least 4 xacto cuts after rooting around looking for something to simulate the bars I spotted some vinyl screen, I cut off a small piece and shot it with white spray paint,,,thats where it sits right now, I'll post the results and pics of the window development as it goes, thx for looking in, Pics follow: Trim complete needs serious cleanup window muntins??

Thx Hof...you are correct

Thanks for the likes...the new paneling process is started, pics follow, I'm much happier with the appearance NEW PANELS

more pics

Hi everyone, another update...after priming the the pilot house i was not happy with the look...the panels looked to thick and out of scale, some were also crooked and the window opening were ragged looking. So I stripped it back to start over with a new plan, actually inspired by Popeye's question about strip mahogany. I went rooting through my spares box and found some very thin (approx 1/64 thick) strip, what species I'm not sure...I'm thinking it's that world famous brown wood!! So after cutting this down to a 2mm width I'm all set to start over...going for recessed panels this time. The Pilot house was trimmed out per the plans with coaming and base molding applied, the next step will be to use the new thinner strip inside this molding, both horizontally and vertically to form the new recessed panels, I think it will look better and more to scale and closer to the original. Still have to work out how to form the doors...may try splitting down more brown wood to 1mm to build them out...not sure yet. Got the deck plank sheet cut out and test fitted, and also drilled out the dowel for the smoke stack, and just like with my Picket Boat I blew the side right out,,,I gotta get better at drilling dowel, so that will be fixed by gluing back and filling As always thanks for your time and attention, Pics follow

Super...I'm stealing this :D

Truly impressive, superb detail, clean work

Hi all, Thank for all the likes...hey Popeye...no just a per-scribe sheet, I'm not sure how the cabin will evolve...just got the windows masked and plan to shot a primer coat tomorrow to see what I've got to work with, may just paint it, the mahogany is a good thought though, may need to find some super thin veneer, hope to post some pics late tomorrow. Christmas was good, nice and quiet... thanks for asking hope yours was good as well

Hey Sam...nice work, love all the detail