GGibson

Great work on your Rattlesnake, Ed! Very impressive!

Thank you, Bob! Appreciate the kind words, but there are certainly other Bluenose builds that have done much better. But... mine was a fun build, indeed. Before I get to the Constitution, which I am anticipating will take years to complete based on what others have done, I want to work on the Pavel Nikitin Santa Maria. It appears to be a much different type of build than what I've been used to, and I am thinking that it won't take quite as long as the Constitution, so... I have that one already on the table. No rest!

Thank you, Ryland!

Thank you, Ronald! Thank you, Chris!

Welcome back, Mustafa! Antalya sounds magnificent! And I looked at some information online, beautiful beaches and scenery, lots of outdoors stuff to do, an aquarium, and some remarkable history. So glad you enjoyed your time with your children and grandchildren. I fully understand and appreciate those times with mine, as well. Makes us full again, doesn't it? OK, now... GET TO WORK!!! 🤣🤣🤣 Looking forward to seeing your next Constitution project. 👍

Thank you, Bob!

Thanks, John! You helped me SO much through this build process, words cannot express my appreciation, sir. You are appreciated!

Thank you, hamilton! Thank you, Jacques!

Funny how you don't see things necessarily with the naked eye, but after you post some zoomed pictures, you're like "How'd I miss that?!?" 🤷‍♂️ Did find that I missed placing a few rope hanks on belay pins on the foremast pin saddle and on the main mast fife rail, so added those. I am sure there are more misses, but I'm going to call this Bluenose finished. Started this Bluenose in November 2022 (well, technically, it began some 18 years ago, but that's a story I told in one of my first posts...), so it's been almost two years of solid shipmodeling. This is now my 4th completed model and no question it has been my most challenging and most enjoyable. Isn't that the way it's supposed to be? A million thanks to those who have followed along with me, to those that I have admired in their own build logs and have learned from during that time, those who continue to inspire me to do better. I have tried to do much less "settling for ok" with this Bluenose than in the prior three builds, but still have done some things that I have been disappointed in my results. But... I am learning and enjoying this retirement hobby too much to walk away. I am just committed to doing better with each new build. So... on to the next one! Again, thanks to all for your follows, likes, comments and criticisms. You are ALL appreciated. Here are a few final pictures.

Well, let's see if we can complete this Bluenose! What's left? Flags and rope hanks on the belay pins. FLAGS As almost everyone else who has built this Model Shipways' version of the Bluenose, they included the wrong Canadian flag in the kit. So, I found a good copy of the Canadian Red Ensign on the internet and worked on getting some good prints (both regular and inverted or mirrored) simply using the Paint program on my laptop. Still not sure if it is "historically accurate", but I wanted to have a 2nd flag on the foremast, along with the Canadian Red Ensign on the higher main mast. So, I chose the Nova Scotia Provincial flag for the foremast. I should also note that the Canadian Maple Leaf flag that was included in the kit measured approx. 82mm x 41mm. This size seemed a little too large as I held it up at the main mast. So, when designing the size for the Canadian Red Ensign, I decreased it a bit and printed it at 70mm x 35mm. I then made the Nova Scotia Provincial flag at a slightly smaller dimension of 62mm x 31mm. In reading on other MSW build logs about how others printed their flags on heat transfer paper, I recall that many of them were printed on inkjet printers. Although I have an inkjet printer, I also have a laser printer that has better quality print, so when I was preparing to do these flags a few months ago, I opted to purchase the laser printer heat transfer paper. Well, in my pure stupidity and loss of thought, when it came time to print these flags this week, I still thought I needed to print them on my inkjet printer. To make things even worse, I thought I would try printing these flags using the silkspan, as I thought they might hang better than using regular sail-type fabric. Well... ...it didn't turn out so well! Ha! The print wasn't adhering to the paper well and it got way too hot under the iron. Oops. Long story short (too late for that), I eventually realized that a) I needed to print to the laser transfer paper on a laser printer, and b) regular sail cloth was working much better than either of the silkspan thicknesses that I had. Once I successfully printed both flags on both sides of the cloth fabric, it was time to shape the flags. Since my Bluenose was completed without sails, I wanted the flags to appear as much "at rest" as I could get them. Using a series of dowels and clamps, I worked on shaping them, keeping them in these contraptions for days at a time. I would also spend a lot of time rolling them between my fingers to try and "soften up" the fibers in the fabric. (One note there - wear nitrile gloves to prevent any possible fingerprint smudges on your flags!) I also clipped some weight to the bottom fly end of the flags to help shape the flags. I should note also that, in one of my attempts to shape the Nova Scotia Provincial flag, I tried some spray starch on the flag which caused the colors to run, so I scratched that and didn't use starch anymore. This is how much I was able to curl/shape the flags. Using a 5/64" drill bit as a size guide, I wrapped 0.51mm wire around the sleeve grommets for the rope to pass through. After tying each flag to the mast tops, I was pretty pleased with how they looked. Whether it is accurate or not, I tied the Canadian Red Ensign flag halliard to the main mast's starboard sheer pole and the Nova Scotia Provincial flag halliard to the foremast's port sheer pole. ROPE HANKS There are many tutorials available (whether on individual build logs, separate topic discussions, or YouTube videos) on how folks have made their rope hanks to hang on belay pins. I made a little jig to create the ones I would hang on the Bluenose. If I were to do it over again, and I will do it on the "next ship", I would hang the loop over the edge like some others have shown. After saturating the rope loops with glue and drying, some of my loops also got a bit stiff and didn't bend and hang as perfectly as I wanted. But they look good to the casual observer, so I am moving on. I will do one more final walk-through on my Bluenose, but I think we are pretty close to finished. As always, appreciate the reads, likes, comments and criticisms. Thanks...

Thanks, Peter! Appreciate you following this build and thanks for the very kind words! I feel like I started out my build log with as... much... detail... as I could write, but as it got closer to the end, especially with the rigging, and without the sails detail, it was more of a "let's get this moving" attitude. I will hopefully get to my own Constitution build soon enough! <shrug> 🤷‍♀️🤣

Ahhhh, yes! I read "surface" and immediately jumped to "deck"... <doh> My bad! Your hull looks really good, Chris! Nice work! As for hulls, I'm a believer in painting those. And yeah, give it multiple coats with some sanding in between. Unless there are a few "divots", don't worry about smaller lines between planks. As I said earlier, this is your build. If you are happy with the hull, give it some paint!

First of all, Chris, this is your boat. Do with it how you wish! 👍 In your post, you mention painting, but then later you say "stain and poly". My 2 cents, but I hope you opt for staining with a topcoat of poly rather than actually painting with like an acrylic or something. With that said, if your planking is pretty flat, some light sanding in a few noticeable high spots would be fine (you don't want your lobster crew stubbing their toes on a deck plank!) and then stain and seal would be a good plan. Did I see where you had your own build log for your Lobster Smak? This was a fun ship for me. Best wishes! Carry on!

Thanks, Chris! Those comments, with your wealth of experience, means a lot to me. Much appreciated, sir!

Hey, Bob! Thanks for the kind words. The difficulties I had regarding making sails really, I don't believe, had anything to do specifically with the silkspan itself. It was just the general preparation of the sails in general. I absolutely agree that using silkspan is the way to go. I was just having trouble making clean, tight folded edges, keeping the sail sizes proportional to what they needed to be, etc. I also thought about furled sails using the silkspan, but was concerned they would just end up looking like rolled up tissue paper. I was probably destined to do this Bluenose without sails from the get-go. But I definitely think that, with proper knowledge and technique, the silkspan sails would be the way to go. FYI and FWIW, I got my supply of silkspan from Sig Manufacturing (sigmfg.com) and got two different sizes to test... the "00" light sheets and the "GM" medium sheets. Next time I want to make sails, I believe the "GM" medium sheet would be good for sails. The "00" light sheets were... pretty thin! Someone else may have also used their "SGM" heavy sheets, but I thought I read somewhere that the heavy sheets didn't work as well. <shrug> Again, Bob, appreciate the read and the nice comments. 👍

Thanks, John! I cannot give enough thanks to you for your guidance in being just enough ahead of me in your Bluenose build for me to be inspired and trudge forward. You've answered plenty of my queries. You are appreciated!

Thanks, hamilton! Your Bluenose build log was one of those I had readily available for research and "how did they do that" questions. Appreciate your comment, sir!

Appreciate the encouraging words, Mustafa! Thank you, sir!

So, got to the point where I had to make a decision on my Bluenose sails. Do I put sails on it, do I try to make furled sails, or do I put as much rigging on as I can without sails? For the past year or so, in anticipation of this decision, I have gone back and forth with this decision. I have read countless articles on furled sails, I have watched NRG workshops on how to make sails and furled sails, read and re-read multiple MSW forum topics on sails, and have been marveled at much of the work others have done in creating their sails, whether it was for a Bluenose or for a different ship. On my three previous ship builds, I prepared sails. Albeit much simpler than what the Bluenose requires, I thought I did “ok” with the sail process. In prepping for the Bluenose sails, there was also much thought about the type of material to use. After reading about many variations, I was pretty much sold on using silkspan. It seems to be thin enough to best resemble actual sails at the scales we are mostly building at, whether we are going with full sails, furled sails, square sails or sails on schooners. So, I got some silkspan! Almost everyone who has provided feedback on the “sails or no sails” argument for the Bluenose have sided on the “sails” side. The Bluenose, with its full sails on display, just looks… majestic! So, I had to give it a try. Practiced a bit first on making the balloon jib sail, as it is about the smallest of them all. To sew hems/edges or not to sew. With no access to a sewing machine, that decision was the easiest one I had to make. In short, it didn’t work well and I struggled. I promise, on the ships that I have waiting up on the shelf… the Santa Maria, the Constitution, the America…, I will make a much better attempt at sails. But, for this Bluenose, I am going to finish it without sails. I have seen at least one picture of a completed Bluenose without sails, and the contrast of the black standing rigging and the lighter colored running rigging is pretty cool in its own right. So, please don’t judge me too harshly, but I am completing this Bluenose without sails. With that said, here’s how I did it… RUNNING LIGHTS Before I get to the running rigging, a quick note about the running lights that were added. Using some of the 3/64” stock sheets I had, I cut two small shelves for each of the running lights to be placed on. (Hadn’t used the Lego blocks since doing the deck buildings!) Painted the two Brittania castings black with their center lenses red and green. Red one goes on the port side, green running light on the starboard side. Drill a couple small holes on either side of each shelf in order to tie to the forward shrouds, each about 4-5 ratline lashings up from the sheer pole. Pretty straight-forward. The Model Shipways Bluenose Instruction Manual, beginning on Page 31, has a decent explanation of how each of the sails should be installed, as well as how various lines and blocks are attached, where they set in the rigging, etc. I will follow those guidelines. Somewhere I read a recommendation to work front to back, starting at the bow. Back in late April/early May, I did as much of the prep rigging as I could, getting the various masts and spars ready to be placed on the ship. I’m learning now, though, that there were a few lines that didn’t get made before now. At the bow, two of those lines are the balloon jib halliard and the jib halliard. BALLOON JIB The balloon jib halliard and downhaul line were not terribly complicated. At the top of the foremast, hook a 1/8” single block with an S-hook on one side to the mast, with the other side of the block laced with 0.017” tan halliard line. When rigging without sails, this tan line needs to be long enough so that the halliard block is brought down close to the bowsprit, back up to the upper block and then belayed at pin #14 (2nd pin from the stern). The downhaul line is seized to a 1/8” single block that is reeved with the halliard line. That 0.009” downhaul line runs through a 1/8” single block that is attached to the very end of the bowsprit and is then belayed to pin #1 at the stern. The sheets for both the balloon jib sail and the jib sail can either be removed with the sails or they can be left lying on the deck. For now, at least, until I get everything else rigged and all of the belayed and coiled ropes that I do want displayed placed on the ship, I am leaving the sheets off. JIB The jib halliard and downhaul rigging were a bit more complicated than the balloon jib sail. The 1/8” single block at the end of the bowsprit was shown in one of the pictures above (the 2nd block from the end). Two (2) 3/16” single blocks with S hooks are prepared that will be connected to the two long links on either side of the jib stay bail at the top of the lower fore mast. I didn’t connect the S hooks to the links right away, though, as it would be easier to reeve the blocks with the fall line without them connected. Another 3/16” block is also prepared, this one with the 0.009” seized on one side. Since the halliard block on this jib will also be pulled down with the downhaul attached, similar to what we did with the balloon jib, we want to have sufficient 0.009” line attached so that it will go through the downhaul block at the end of the bowsprit and then belayed to pin #2 at the stern. Another 1/8” single block is prepared with a 0.017” tan line attached on one side and a 0.013” line on the other. The 0.013” line needs to be long enough for it to run from the block, which will sit about half the distance between the trestle tree and the rail, down to the rail, through a 1/8” block that is connected to an eyebolt just forward of the 1st shroud, back up through the single becket block and the tackle falls back down and ties to itself towards the rail with a clove hitch. The 0.017 line needs to be pretty lengthy, as it goes up through the fairlead, through the starboard-side block at the trestle tree, down through the halliard block which, without its sail, is pulled down close to the downhaul block on the bowsprit, back up through the port-side trestle tree block, through the port-side fairlead, and belayed to pin #16 on the starboard side. Whew! One issue I am seeing with these halliard blocks being pulled down is that the long halliard lines are twisting a bit, and not running as “parallel” as I’d like them to be. I pulled the line back out and tried to get as much of the twist out of the rope as I could, but a bit concerned in keeping them from getting twisted again as I reeve them back through the various blocks. Something for me to watch as I move towards the stern. JUMBO JIB The rigging associated with the jumbo jib sail will be the first time I am placing one of the five (5) spars on the ship, inn this case the jumbo jib boom. The instructions say that, without sails, one should set the boom in the crutch and, similar to what we did with the jib halliard, bring the jumbo jib halliard block down low. The fore end of the boom was connected to the traveller block using the inhaul tackle U-shaped bras piece and some more of the same chain I used to replicate the anchor chain. The jumbo jib sheet line was run from the aft end of the book down to the horse on the deck and then belayed to pin #6. The jumbo jib topping lift starts at the fore masthead using black 0.013” line to a block, then 0.009” through 1/8” double blocks and belayed to pin #5. There is also a jumbo jib stay (not sure if mentioned prior) using 0.017” black line that runs from the foremast to the fore end of the jumbo jib boom just in front of the traveller block. The downhaul is also connected to that jumbo jib stay bail. FORE BOOM & FORE GAFF Since, without sails, the fore boom and fore gaff are positioned so close together, I am discussing both at same time, and the pictures I took reflect that positioning, so… here goes. The instructions for no sails state to rest the boom in its crutch and to lower the gaff on top of the boom with the hoops stacked. The gaff and boom should be lashed together with short lines. First off, then, was to secure the end of the boom to the foremast’s gooseneck piece. Ran into a bit of an issue here, though. Probably made the gooseneck a bit too big, which causes the fore boom to sit away from the foremast just enough that it is too long to comfortably rest on the crutch. And I did not think I could remove and remake the gooseneck at the base of the foremast without destroying that base, so… I decided to raise the foreboom slightly off the crutch, which in turn also allows for a better display of the fore boom sheet and its connection to the fife rail. Also connected the topping lift rigging, running from just below the main mast trestle tree to the end of the fore boom. After the adjustment on the above-mentioned hiccup, I thought the fore boom looked pretty good. Next up was to connect the fore gaff just above the fore boom with the fore mast hoops in between. Although I did a lot of pre-rigging on the fore gaff previously, I needed to finish a few things and prepare for hooking the gaff to the fore mast, so I stuck it in my little “extra hands” clips to make sure I had all the lines ready before getting the gaff on the ship, as well as to get the thread and parrel beads ready at the jaw to wrap around the fore mast. There are two sets of rigging for the fore gaff, the throat halliard and the peak halliard. The throat halliard runs between a triple block on the mast and a double block on the gaff. One end of the line from the triple block goes straight down to a block on the deck and then belayed to Pin #7. The other end of the line from the triple block runs to another set of double blocks on the starboard side, which are attached to the rail with an eyelet and belayed to Pin #18. The fore peak halliard was a bit more complicated, as the rigging line was run from the belay at the base of the mast at Pin #8, through the block on the deck, through the starboard side spreader on the trestle tree, and then weaved (if that’s an appropriate term here) alternately through the three mast blocks and the two blocks attached to the fore gaff, then back down through the port side spreader to a similar set of blocks and line as the throat halliard finish, except on the port side, with the belay at Pin #17. Here are a series of pictures I took after-the-fact showing those connections. STAYSAIL RIGGING Another issue I had some difficulty understanding clearly was the rigging for the staysail, whether it was going to be with sails or without. I wasn’t quite sure how the peak halliard was to be rigged, and I had seen previous build logs doing it differently than others. So, I went to the best source I could find – the Bluenose II, Saga of the Great Fishing Schooners book by L.B. Jenson which was lent to me by a fellow local modeler, and I have referred to frequently in this Bluenose build. Mr. Jenson’s description of how the staysail halliard should look is below. The Model Shipways instruction for the staysail rigging plans without sails stated to bring the peak halliard block to the foremast and hook it to the throat halliard and to remove the sheet and tack. Although I posted this picture above with the fore gaff rigging, you can see in the picture below the staysail peak halliard coming down from the top left and hooking to the staysail throat halliard. You can also see on the lower left side of the picture the foresail sheet lines (port and starboard) hooking to the throat halliard block, as well, since the sails are down. Also, a couple quick pictures of the belay ropes on the port and starboard sides of the fore mast. Don’t think I have mentioned before, but my plan is, once I get all completed with the rigging and belaying, to come back on all the belay pins and place some rope hanks and coils so that the belayed ropes look complete. MAIN BOOM & MAIN GAFF The placement of the main boom and gaff and associated rigging was a lot like what we did for the fore boom and gaff. Positioned the main boom jaws around the main mast and tied the parrel beads in order to secure the boom against the mast. Had a nice piece of foam that worked well in holding the main boom in place while tying the jaws to the main mast. Worked on positioning the main sheet and boom crutch while the boom rested on the crutch, but quickly discovered that once everything was rigged, the boom sheet was really squished, with the blocks on the boom and the boom sheet buffer super close to one another and it just didn’t look good. So, like I did with the fore boom, I raised the main boom a bit higher off the crutch, and the main boom sheet and boom crutch tackles looked much better. We’ll go with that! A whole bunch of the pre-rigging work for the main boom topping lift was done earlier. So just needed to connect the rigging at the aft end of the main boom to the main mast cap. And, actually, I should say that I placed the main boom topping lift before completing the boom sheet and boom crutch tackles so that all three lines could be tighten snuggly. I waited on placing the quarter lifts on the main boom until I had placed the main gaff at its lowered position, as the lines would get in the way of the main gaff placement and I would be sure to snag something and…. break. The main gaff rigging was very similar to what I did for the fore gaff. First things first, I secured the jaws to the main mast above the mast hoops, inserting a few parrel beads to fill the space in front of the mast. Each of the three parrel bead connections look pretty sharp on this ship. I tied a temporary line to the end of the main gaff, running it up to the top mast in order for it to stay in roughly the position it would sit parallel to the main boom. The main throat halliard was strung similar to the fore throat halliard. There did, though, seem to be an issue with what was shown on the belay plan in the instructions since the belays for both the throat halliard and the peak halliard were on the same side of the ship as the tackle falls. So, I changed the main throat halliard belay to Pin #23 and the main peak halliard belay to Pin #22. The peak halliard setup, you guessed it, was similar to what was done with the fore mast setup, too. Don’t remember if I mentioned this earlier, but without sails and the gaffs pulled down, I needed to make sure I had plenty of line to get from point A to point B. For the rigging done without the topsail, I hooked both the main topsail halliard and the main topsail sheet that would have been hooked to the sail to the main masthead above the peak halliard blocks. Once I had the main boom and main gaff placed and secured with the needed rigging, I then completed the aforementioned quarter lifts, port and starboard. I also placed the flying backstays. I had previously attached the eyebolts and short black line into the deck close to the transom, as it would have been difficult to place them now. Two black 0.027” lines were run from the top mast to each side of the ship, ending with double blocks. Tan running rigging is then hooked to the black line attached to the deck and falls to belaying pins #44 & #45. Finally, I tied the lazy jack line (both port and starboard), running from about halfway up the respective quarter lift lines, seized at that point, and running down to the lazy jack loops that were placed on the main boom when I initially prepped the main boom with its bands, eyelets and cleats. Pictures of the main boom and main gaff were taken after all of this was pretty much completed. I am sure I have forgotten to run some rigging somewhere and have undoubtedly not explained much of the rigging that I have done very well. But, as someone else mentioned in their completed Bluenose build log, once you get to this rigging part and putting up sails (or in my case, not putting up sails), it many times gets difficult to rig AND to document, and suddenly… you’re done! With that said, I do have to complete the rope hanks at each of the belay pins and some rope coils to be placed on the deck, and I also must get the flags made and get their halliards up on the ship, so not done done, but we are getting close. I will, of course, also go around the ship and see if I really have missed something. But, for now, here are a few shots of my no-sails Bluenose. As always, I appreciate the all the peek-in’s, likes, comments and criticisms.

Nice work, Dan!

Looks really good, Ed! Sorry for the old topic on something you did a while back, but I am lovin' the look of all those rope coils! What size of rope are you using for these on the Rattlesnake? 👍🏆 EDIT: Oops! Found your rope-coil-making post on #177! Nice little jig, makes sense!

I think I'm going to need bigger pots!!! 🤣🤣🤣 And my wife thought my homebrew kettles back in the day were stinky! As usual, Jon brings the historical receipts! 👍🏆

Oh, dang. That would be a bit disappointing to get there and see that the masts and rigging had been removed for work! Were you able to tour on the ship and the various decks, anyways? Definitely need to put a Boston trip on my must-do list before I start my own Constitution build!

I actually sent her an email a few weeks ago asking the same question. (By the way, she has always been very quick to respond to questions, whether by email or on her YouTube.) It is her story to tell in detail, if she desires, but let's just say that she decided to leave MSW and concentrate on her YouTube site. A subscription to her YouTube channel is well worth it! 👍🏆

Be careful what you wish for, @dputzler! LOL Jon has ALL the resources! 👍 Speaking of which, though, Jon, been meaning to ask you... Have you had many of those plans from the USS Constitution Museum reprinted in larger formats at like Kinkos or other places? Any issues with doing that? I assume that makes them more "readable" and useful.