GGibson

Great work, Jon! I think I mentioned early on, although I don't yet have the Constitution in my shipyard, it is one I am seriously considering adding to my queue. Waiting on Model Shipways to offer a great deal on it. With that all said, I have been following several Constitution builds, and have appreciated the detailed precision work you have demonstrated in your build. Continue on doing great work, Jon! Thanks for letting me tag along! 👍🏆

Looks sharp, Mustafa. Great work.

Oh, now you're just trying to make the rest of us jealous... This seems like the best solution, and glass shops should have these readily available...

Looks really good, SV! Yes, I was going to suggest painting this area now, as it will be much more difficult to reach some of these areas once you begin placing rails and other items around and on top of the cabin area. Great work! Carry on!

Masts and fittings are looking great, John! Great work. Wish I would do as well on soldering. Guess it's sorta like the "how do you get to Carnegie Hall?" question... Practice, practice, practice... Carry on, sir! 👍🏆

We had a light table discussion at our last local ship builders' meeting, and one member had a SanerDirect A2-sized light pad... approx. 25"x18"...

Yep! 🤣🤣 That's why I even go so far as to removing all watches, necklaces, rings... roll up long-sleeve shirts... anything that might snag a board or string! Your Lobster Smack is starting off great!

Nice work! Yeah, I think everyone has had to work on the Frame #4 sides to have them fit properly. And, be careful with that stern #10 frame. It can easily get snagged and broken during the build process. Carry on..!

Will be interested in seeing a picture of this table when you are done, Phil! 👍

Nice work, Tim! Chainplates came out looking great. Will watch your rigging with increased interest. All that is in front of me...

A lot of ship builds don't have sails, LegoKing. Many say that the sails hide the details shown on the deck, etc. So, no worries.

I like it, Mustafa! Very sharp looking. How much time was the copper plating process?

Looking great, John! Still totally envious of your superb soldering work! I am going to try a different soldering method when I get to that point, Hope I do as well as you! I'm finishing my dories and waiting on a few things, so have just started trying to shape my bowsprit. Good to see your mast shaping, as well! Great job! Carry on!

Great stanchion work, Bob! What tool are you using to create? Awesome job!

Sharp-looking ratlines, Geoff! Well done! 🏆 And all great recommendations/advice!

Just taking an uneducated guess here, but I'm assuming that, since this is a "beginner kit" model, and the instructions in the manual were, as I recall, pretty well laid out and the materials provided required little changes, the Model Shipways folks thought that a full-size plan sheet was not needed. I did note, though, on page 3 of the instruction manual, a small depiction of one page of some detailed plans... ... with the link to the Simon Watts website where you can purchase a full set of his plans for $30. Plans for the Norwegian Sailing Pram - SIMON WATTS WOODWORKING (simonwattsfurniture.com) If you are so inclined, please start a build log on your NSP, as we'd love to follow along. Fair winds and following seas...

Good luck on the chainplates! If you saw the comment on my build log, I definitely feel I should have cut my holes for the chainplates while I was putting the main rails and monkey rails in. If you've already got the chainplate slots prepared, you're way ahead of the game, and the chainplates themselves were actually kinda fun to make up. 👍

It all looks great, Tim! I'll be working on my soldering practice pretty soon, as well, as I need to do the same work on masts, booms and gaffs. And, yes, agreed that Model Expo is very good at getting stuff sent out quickly. My problem, at least for the orders to get to the Kansas City area, Model Expo sends by USPS, and the Post Office is horribly slow. Tracking shows that it will sit at some interim locations for a day or two before moving to the next Pony Express stop. <grrr> Anyways, back to your Bluenose build... been watching it move along, and I'm envious, you're doing awesome work. Carry on!

Thanks, hamilton! Would have liked to have done the catheads a bit better, but I'm... content with the result. And, yeah, I really do like all the details on these Bluenose fore decks. Appreciate you peeking in and commenting.

Exactly the input I was needing, John. Thanks!

I saw Kevin53's solution a few months ago in a post above , and "stole" it. Had to find a bigger container than an old kit box, however...

Thanks, John! Appreciate the follow and comments. Your Bluenose continues to look awesome! As I begin to work on the dories, I have a question for you (and whoever else cares to provide input) on placement of the dories and dory kids. Or, rather the timing of their placement. As I look at where these will be positioned on the deck, I am wondering if it might be advantageous to not place the stacked dories and racks on the deck until a good part of the mast rigging is completed. I can get the dories racked up, but wait to glue the kids onto the deck until all of the lines are tied in the deck ringbolts. As you all are getting to the masting and rigging, are you seeing this as a potential snagging or breaking concern, similar to, say, the main boom crutch back by the transom? Thoughts? Or am I just paranoid?

Very sad news, indeed, My heart goes out to Donna and family for fighting this ALS disease along with Jim this past year. I haven't been in this ship modeling community long, but I recognize legends when I see them. Rest in peace, sir.

Impressive, gentlemen! And a nice looking HMCS St Thomas, as well!

Another update - I finished the catheads and anchors. I didn't keep a whole lot of notes on this work during construction and install, so a pretty simple explanation. First of all, I did not like the Britannia castings of the catheads in the kit. So, like many others who have built this Bluenose, I scrapped the castings and created my own version. Not sure if they are totally in scale, but pretty close. For the pole portion of the catheads, I used a 1/32" brass rod and a small 1/8" square wood strip, sanded and tapered. At first, I bent the rods a bit too low (in that first pic), but before placing them on the ship, I adjusted their height. I also made a small little "stand" for the rod to sit in on the deck, using a rounded-off dowel cut very short. I really had to study and refer to several resources, especially the Bluenose II - Saga of the Great Fishing Schooners by L.B. Jenson, which I have referred to quite often in this build for information. This time it was to remind myself exactly how the catheads work in relation to the anchors and the windlass. Very interesting and informative. On page 55 of the book, Mr. Jenson has drawings of the working anchors and cables in various stages of operation, whether it was anchor positions during normal stowage, when the club anchor (port side) was ready to let go for normal anchoring in harbor, or when the fishing anchor (starboard side) was ready to let go. From that discussion, it appears that there was actually just the one cathead (davit) on board, and they would shift it from one side to the other depending on need. For this kit, though, we are putting two catheads in position. As I said, very interesting. With all that said, I placed the port side club anchor on the cathead and ran the anchor chain from the anchor, through the hawse pipe, looped it around the windlass a few times, laid a few flakes of chain on the deck (my flakes did not come out awesome), and the remaining chain in the wooden box. I thought that all came out pretty well. For the starboard side anchor, the cathead stands empty, with the anchor, wood stock and coiled hemp cable laid on the deck for display. Under normal stowage, according to Mr. Jenson, this starboard-side fishing anchor would be stowed with the lower fluke lashed to a ringbolt inside the rail with the stock hund outside the rail, nearly vertical against the side (which is pretty much how the port side anchor is secured). Dories are next. And, from what I've read of others' build logs regarding the dories, this will no doubt be challenging. And, with the Thanksgiving holiday approaching, I will be surprised if I get past these before then. With that said, to my fellow USA modelers, have a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday weekend. To all, fair winds and following seas!