jdbondy

Oh, and those white cowlings were hand carved from pearwood, because the cast cowlings that came with the model looked horrible! I had some downtime at work and was working on carving them when one of the techs walked in and asked what I was doing. So I explained and showed him. He said, "Wow, that looks tedious!" I explained that it wasn't tedious if it was enjoyable!

So it's currently April 2018. The following pictures show the status of the deck as of October 2015. The hinges on the deck boxes are small pieces of black decal cut into the shape of hinges. They bridge a little linear divot that was essentially scraped out of the wood using a graver-type tool. The anchor rope and chain have been installed. The ship's wheel was a part provided by the kit. I wasn't about to try to build my own. The cannon are rigged in place.

A long time earlier, I am not sure when, I tapered the dowels I would use for all the spars to their proper dimensions. This was done by hand, well before I ever had a lathe, using coarse sandpaper and elbow grease. Now, though, it’s time to work on the base of the masts where they take on an octagonal configuration, and the mast tops where they take on a square configuration. I used the pieces of wood above to serve as a groove to hold the mast steady while making shallow cuts into the base, then I used a file to create four flat faces. I did the same for the mast tops. These areas at the bases of the masts were then built up with pieces of flat wood to increase the cross sectional size of the flat faces. The protruding corners were then carefully shaved off with a razor blade to yield an octagonal cross section. Do I have a picture of the finished product? Of course not! The octagonal portion was painted a cream color that matched the color of the inside of the bulwarks, and the rest of the mast was stained and coated with topcoat. A picture of all the various spars on their places in the plans. The bowsprit was painted cream for the inboard portion, then the outboard portion was painted black. The metal rings to which the hearts are attached are already installed. Tenons were cut in the mast tops as well as the tip of the bowsprit. The bowsprit is now in place, with its base inserting into the Samson post. This is a picture of the deadeyes that are installed on the outboard surface of the bow. They rig to the standing rigging such as the forestays for the foremast and the bowsprit guys. Trial and error was again involved in figuring out how long of a segment of wire I needed to properly strop each deadeye. But it’s pretty satisfying work. A segment of thick wire is threaded through the loops of the stropping, and the end is peened to keep it in place. How to start the bowsprit gammoning? Here is how I did it. These are flat strips of brass that will be used for the gammoning irons. Holes have been drilled for wires that will pin the two lower plates to the stem. Harder to see are the holes that have been drilled to accommodate very small bolts that will join the lower plates to the single upper plate. Thanks to Scale Hardware for manufacturing such exquisite small bolts and nuts that were a perfect fit! They even had a little wrench to hold the incredibly small nut as you thread it onto the bolt. The yards have been stained, and the central part and the tips have been painted black. Metal bands have been placed on each; they currently have a coating of primer on them but will also be painted black. This picture reminds me that I didn’t do a good job of documenting the process of building the trestletrees for the foremast or mainmast. This part has turned out ok; the lanyard is threaded around several times and then is seized to itself with the smallest thread I had prior to discovering fly-tying line. I was unhappy with how this turned out. The bobstay is composed of a line that threads through the stem and is doubled up on itself as it travels from the stem to the bowsprit. This doubled line is shown on the plans as having seizings along its length. These seizings look very rough and stubbly. I will come up with a better plan for this area on a subsequent post.

Turns out that a lot of the improvement is due to a change in the way I make the rope coils. Hard to describe; better learned by just doing. But I essentially wrap the coil with two wraps of line at the "top" of the coil. Then I used a small needle to open up those wraps, and one of the tails was passed through the space created by the needle. This created a loop at the top of the coil that could be adjusted depending on the needs of a particular spot on the pinrail. Once that was determined, the loop was fixed within the wraps with glue, and the tails were trimmed. The other part of the improvement came with following the suggestion above (thanks David) of placing a dot of CA glue (which I also try to avoid) on the underlying wraps of line on the pinrail, then placing the loop on the pinrail so the dot of CA secures the coil to the underlying wraps. I also would sometimes use a block of wood on the deck to force the coil up against the pinrail so it wouldn't be inclined to lean out in an unnatural fashion.

Aaahhh, much better...

Nice pic, Spyglass! Ugh, I still have work to do to get them to look like that...

Thanks for all the replies so far. Meddo, here is a picture of my jig, which fits what you are describing: Frankie, I am going to play with your idea of using scrap line to tie a coil to the pin. David, I too try to keep away from CA but I am finding its use important in cases like this. I agree that using a different shape of coil may be helpful. More recently I have been able to make the coils less round and more long by strapping the coil temporarily with thread and painting it with dilute glue, then removing the binding thread. Two of the larger coils of line in the pictures were shaped in this way.

I am having trouble getting my coils of line to sit on the pinrails in a realistic fashion. I use a jig to create the coils and leave a loop of line that will wrap around the top of each belaying pin. I even use the jig to try to stiffen that loop in a way that will fall around the pin so that the coil then dangles under the pinrail. But the stiffness of the lines causes each coil to lean out away from the pinrail in an unrealistic manner. Some of these coils hang ok, but most don't fall like they would under the influence of gravity. Any suggestions?

I have had good luck serving my stays and shrouds with fly-tying thread. No fuzz.

Are you happy with the "fuzz-free" nature of the Aurifil thread? I am always looking for ideas when it comes to thread.

Nice build log! It's good to see such quality building going on close to where I am (Dallas)!

Next up are the various pin rails that are set up around the base of each mast. These are the pin rails just forward of the foremast, which handle the fore topsail control lines. This is more pearwood. The pins themselves are segments of 0.014” wire. I was playing with various finishes that I had handy at the time; sadly, all my Floquil glazes and flat finishes have now congealed and are no longer useable. I am back to using Testors Dullcote lacquer for jobs like this. This apparatus surrounds the base of the main mast and is made of pearwood. Here it is all assembled, and the chamfers have been added. Small bits of brass sheet have been applied to the top of each post. There is a small windlass along the forward edge of the mainmast pin rail. It was painted white with a touch of rust to emulate the appearance of the real thing: These are parts of the rail that sits just aft of the foremast. It also has a mini-windlass attached to it. Here is the area of the foremast with its pinrails installed. And the pinrail at the base of the mainmast. Time to work on the four cannon. The sleds are made with pre-cut parts from the kit. The cannon were also provided and required cleanup prior to blackening them. The quoins are the wedges under the back end of the cannon that adjust its tilt. Those were handmade and stained up. An image of the real thing gives you an idea of the rigging used to secure the cannon. A very large line runs from the cascabel at the butt of the cannon to rings at the bulwarks. A smaller line is used to rig the blocks on either side of the cannon sled. This took some trial and error. How do I take a pretty thick line and get it attached to these small eyebolts on the bulwarks? I suppose a purist would undo the weave of the line and create an eye for a hook. Too much work for me. I applied some CA to the end of the line, then created an S-hook that could be stuck through the strands where the CA began to peter out. Where to do that on the opposite end of the line, though? After inserting one hook, I assembled the rig with the one hook attached to its eyebolt, tied it to the cascabel, and ran the other end up to the area of the eyebolt. I marked that spot with marker and inserted a hook there, then applied CA beyond that point to solidify the line. The excess was then trimmed. This is an image taken before the excess is trimmed away (left side of the cannon). Double sided tape is being used to temporarily secure the cannon to make rigging easier. Now things are trimmed up. These are 2 mm blocks that have been secured with 0.004” line. One set of blocks is rigged to the ring on the side of the sled. The other set of blocks will be rigged to eyebolts on the bulwarks. I don’t remember anywhere else on the model where I used such small line. The line is rigged through the blocks and then tied off at the back wheels of the sled. Now I just have to do that 3 more times. After doing this, small amounts of glue were used to secure the back wheels to the surface of the deck. Through Billing, I was able to find a bell of reasonable scale to install on the aft cabintop. My soldering is getting better! The fore topgallant sail is stowed under the port rail. I wrapped a portion of “sailcloth” (a fine Egyptian cotton fabric) around the spar and wrapped it with ties. The spar is then secured using small hooks installed on the rail and on the bulwarks. I am slowly getting caught up to real time! These steps were done in 2013, and it is now January 2018.

OK, back to work folks: Next step (ha ha) was the stepladders. These were built with pearwood sheets that were 1/32” thick. The first step was to fabricate symmetric pieces for the side rails. Two pieces were sandwiched with rubber cement and the shape was created. I found that by lining up these side rails on the bench top with their bottom edges aligned, I could mark off consistent positions for the joints for the steps: Grooves were very carefully sanded using a file in the area of the marks, to create landing points for the steps. Notches were then cut in the top part of the side rails to create a joint where the stepladders reached the rail. I love working with the fine-grained pearwood! Next detail are the deck prisms. The kit provides little gemstones and bushings for them to sit in. However, in looking at the real deal, the provided gemstones were too big. My local jeweler and I have a good relationship, though, and he gave me little rhinestones that sat perfectly within the bushings. Better choose the spot for drilling these holes carefully, because there’s no turning back if I position one wrong… This is how things look if I simply drop the bushing and jewel into the drilled hole. They sit proud of the deck, and they look a lot brassier than the real thing. So here I took a larger drill bit and did a countersunk hole that is of the diameter of the large flange of the bushing. That looks better. I also painted the brass rings a shade of green-gray that gave it a patina look. This picture shows the decklights in place, and also the fabricated pin rails, which I have no documentation of making. On the far right, I am starting to position one of the anchors and the port-side anchor chain. Also, I am starting to think about rigging cannon. Speaking of which, here is one of the anchors. After fabricating the shackles associated with the windlass, fabricating ones for the anchor were comparatively easier due to their larger size. When I was cleaning up the anchors provided with the kit, I was unhappy with how the stocks looked. As I recall, I was cleaning one, and I broke the stock while keeping the shank intact. So, I took some wood and fabricated a new one that could pass through a hole drilled in the head. The curved end of the stock was created by carefully attaching a spare piece of wood and (very) carefully carving the curved part of the stock out of it. The end balls were also carefully carved and attached. They are not quite spherical but I think they turned out ok. The chain was blackened and attached to the shackles, which were painted black. The starboard anchor is on rope; the port side anchor is on chain. Rail pads for the anchors were made out of painted styrene sheet. The anchor is secured by a line at the end of the cathead, and another is wrapped around the inboard fluke.

My current model (Pride of Baltimore 2) is being rigged right now, with sails furled. At every possible opportunity, I have attached the sails to their yards/gaffs/mast before putting the spars in place on the hull. I imagine you are planning on rigging your model with sails fully deployed. I would still plan on attaching the sails as much as possible to their spars before attaching the spars to the model.

Welcome to MSW, from nearby Dallas Texas!

Keith, can you give some detail about the knot you used to secure the foresail/mainsail to the mast hoops? I am at a similar point on my rigging. I think I see how you are doing it but want to be sure.

Welcome Vincent! I am curious for more detail about what you were doing with the machinist blocks and parallels to square up the bulkheads back on Sept 4. Regarding the ships boat, feel free to look at my log also for details on my ships boat. Not a complete description, since I am doing my log retrospectively and only have pictures from certain steps along the way, but you may still find some helpful details.

I am trolling along on this thread, adding things to my Amazon shopping cart as I scroll down the page!

Sorry to make you back up, but how did you make the hammock netting?

Parting gift?? Where are you going??

The next pictures in my archive of photos mainly has to do with bowsprit related items, but I will cover some other details in this segment too. The bowsprit has two iron bands, to which are fitted hearts. These serve as attachment points for the bobstay. I regret cheating on the hearts, which I created by cutting out the central wood from a deadeye, then filing the edge of the hole that was left behind. Not terribly pretty. My soldering skills are not great; I just don’t get enough practice. I was able to strop the hearts and solder the loops closed while also attaching the stropped hearts. Although not shown here, the metalwork was then painted black. The bowsprit cap came with the model kit already cut. It has an iron strap around it which was simulated with styrene strip. The dolphin striker was hand tapered, and an endhole was bored so an eyebolt could be inserted. An eyebolt was also inserted into the bowsprit cap, and the two were mated to brass rod and soldered in place. Small brass brackets had to be installed on the side of the dolphin striker to accommodate various rigging lines, as well as cleats near the tip of the striker that would also accommodate rigging lines. Finally, a tiny hole had to be drilled through the tip of the dolphin striker to accommodate a stay. These little pieces would become the brackets that retain the bars used for the windlasses at the base of the foremast and mainmast. I spent a few hours working on them and glued them into place. Then I told my father-in-law that I had just finished a major step on my model, and would he come appreciate it with me? He looked closely at the model as I used a fine pointer to point out these two small pieces of wood, then looked back at me as if to say I must be crazy… I needed to make various portholes on the deck furniture look more realistic. As you can see above, a hole drilled out of the wood with nothing around it does not look very convincing. Unfortunately, no one makes brass rings for portholes that are small enough for this model. So how to go about making my own small, thin brass rings that are essentially very thin washers with a large central hole? This is when it helps to have a friend who is a machinist. He showed me how I could take multiple thin sheets of brass that are rounded to roughly the outer diameter of the rings I wanted, and solder them in a stack to a solid brass rod. Then use a lathe to drill a central hole corresponding to the size of the porthole. Then turn the outside surface of the stack to the desired outer diameter. Then hit the stack with heat to free up the individual rings from the solid brass rod. That gives you a collection of very rough washers, which can be applied to double sided sticky tape. Then touch that to your finger and sand them smooth. Now that looks like a porthole! About 5 of them are evident on these two pieces of deck furniture. (Hey, didn't I show this image in the last post?) I had to remove the portion of the deck furniture where the portholes let into an open space where you can see the underlying decking, apply a thin sheet of wood that had been painted black, then reattach the furniture. The ship’s wheel that came with the kit was cleaned up with multiple grades of sandpaper. It was primed and painted entirely brown. Then it was attached to its cabinet, and this was in turn installed on the deck. Onward! More deck furniture will be installed in the next post.

My model is 1:64, and I am using 0.006" thread (Morope) for the ratlines. The problem one would have with fly tying thread is its comparative stiffness for its size. It may be difficult to get it to hang in a curve, and synthetic fly tying thread would not absorb dilute glue well enough to get it to conform to the shape you want it to take. I love fly tying line for seizings and serving, but I don't think it would work well for ratlines.

Got it, thanks. Sure enough, I knew I had previously looked at this post! Your technique inspires me to give it a try myself.

Aha, found it! Page 11, in fact. Is there some reason why the pages might have gotten re-numbered?

Keith, I am looking for the first part of your block making tutorial, which you describe as on page 19. I am unable to find it. Can you clarify? Thanks.