DocBlake

Back in the shipyard.  I cut the scuppers into the inboard planking, then painted the inside of the sweep ports and gun ports with a sample of Benjamin Moore paint I had that matched the red heart fairly well.  I did add some Dark Vintage Maple TransTint water soluble dye to darken it a little. The deck, planking and framing were given 3 coats of poly.  I'm getting closer to the end.  The binnacle is nearly done (pictures to come).  Then all that's left are the rudder, the ship's wheel, the catheads and swivel gun supports, the guns themselves and the cabin roof framing and planking.  Did I say "nearly done"?

Thanks, Brian and all for the "likes"
 
Here is the binnacle.  This is similar to Dr. Feldman's original version as well as the MS version from their kit plans.  the top needs 2 more coats of poly, and the hardware needs a coat of Testor's DullCote to knock off the shine.

Back in the shipyard.  I cut the scuppers into the inboard planking, then painted the inside of the sweep ports and gun ports with a sample of Benjamin Moore paint I had that matched the red heart fairly well.  I did add some Dark Vintage Maple TransTint water soluble dye to darken it a little. The deck, planking and framing were given 3 coats of poly.  I'm getting closer to the end.  The binnacle is nearly done (pictures to come).  Then all that's left are the rudder, the ship's wheel, the catheads and swivel gun supports, the guns themselves and the cabin roof framing and planking.  Did I say "nearly done"?

Back in the shipyard.  I cut the scuppers into the inboard planking, then painted the inside of the sweep ports and gun ports with a sample of Benjamin Moore paint I had that matched the red heart fairly well.  I did add some Dark Vintage Maple TransTint water soluble dye to darken it a little. The deck, planking and framing were given 3 coats of poly.  I'm getting closer to the end.  The binnacle is nearly done (pictures to come).  Then all that's left are the rudder, the ship's wheel, the catheads and swivel gun supports, the guns themselves and the cabin roof framing and planking.  Did I say "nearly done"?

Back in the shipyard.  I cut the scuppers into the inboard planking, then painted the inside of the sweep ports and gun ports with a sample of Benjamin Moore paint I had that matched the red heart fairly well.  I did add some Dark Vintage Maple TransTint water soluble dye to darken it a little. The deck, planking and framing were given 3 coats of poly.  I'm getting closer to the end.  The binnacle is nearly done (pictures to come).  Then all that's left are the rudder, the ship's wheel, the catheads and swivel gun supports, the guns themselves and the cabin roof framing and planking.  Did I say "nearly done"?

Back in the shipyard.  I cut the scuppers into the inboard planking, then painted the inside of the sweep ports and gun ports with a sample of Benjamin Moore paint I had that matched the red heart fairly well.  I did add some Dark Vintage Maple TransTint water soluble dye to darken it a little. The deck, planking and framing were given 3 coats of poly.  I'm getting closer to the end.  The binnacle is nearly done (pictures to come).  Then all that's left are the rudder, the ship's wheel, the catheads and swivel gun supports, the guns themselves and the cabin roof framing and planking.  Did I say "nearly done"?

Back in the shipyard.  I cut the scuppers into the inboard planking, then painted the inside of the sweep ports and gun ports with a sample of Benjamin Moore paint I had that matched the red heart fairly well.  I did add some Dark Vintage Maple TransTint water soluble dye to darken it a little. The deck, planking and framing were given 3 coats of poly.  I'm getting closer to the end.  The binnacle is nearly done (pictures to come).  Then all that's left are the rudder, the ship's wheel, the catheads and swivel gun supports, the guns themselves and the cabin roof framing and planking.  Did I say "nearly done"?

OUTSTANDING!  I love the anchor.  Great job, Bill!

Great work, David!  I scaled back the rigging on my MS AVS because of the same problem:  The blocks were way too big for rigging a 3 pounder cannon at 1/48 scale!  As to the rope coils, they look great.  On a real ship thy were only formally laid out like that for inspection or when a dignitary was on board.  Obviously the coils couldn't be maintained during battle or even when the vessel was underway.  You can see the same phenomenon at your local yacht club, where lines are neatly coiled on the pier next to the boat, only to be tossed on board, in less than formal fashion when under way.
 
First rate work so far!

Hi Don!  I'm just catching up after a week kicking back in Florida.  This kit continues to impress.  The wood quality appears excellent, and you're doing a great job.    Keep the progress reports coming.

Hi Don!  I'm just catching up after a week kicking back in Florida.  This kit continues to impress.  The wood quality appears excellent, and you're doing a great job.    Keep the progress reports coming.

OUTSTANDING!  I love the anchor.  Great job, Bill!

OUTSTANDING!  I love the anchor.  Great job, Bill!

Hi Don!  I'm just catching up after a week kicking back in Florida.  This kit continues to impress.  The wood quality appears excellent, and you're doing a great job.    Keep the progress reports coming.

Hi Don!  I'm just catching up after a week kicking back in Florida.  This kit continues to impress.  The wood quality appears excellent, and you're doing a great job.    Keep the progress reports coming.

OUTSTANDING!  I love the anchor.  Great job, Bill!

OUTSTANDING!  I love the anchor.  Great job, Bill!

The last month has been in fits and starts. I made all the blocks to rig the cannons out of boxwood. Here is a shot of the smallest blocks. these are the single two mm blocks. Most of this work was done with the mill followed by shaping in the block tumbler.
 

 
Next I started working on the hooks. After a number of different attempts at bending hooks that a 1) liked and 2) was extensible to 200 hooks, I decided to use photo etching to make them. I have completed the artwork but am waiting on some supplies for the process.
 
I also had a setback on the rigging lines. I pulled the Byrnes ropewalk out to make the left hand breeching lines and found the control unit shorted out. Jim was very responsive and hopefully I will have the new control unit within the next few days.
 
Since rigging was at a standstill, I moved on to the anchors. I used ⅛" brass plate to make these. I drew up the plans in DeltaCAD and printed them at scale. The pattern was glued to the face of the brass and taped over with clear packing tape. The tape acts as a lubricant during the cutting process.
 
This shows the anchor ready to be cut out.
 

 
Here is the anchor roughly cut out on the bandsaw.

 
I used a combination of the Dremel tool, hand files, and disk sanders to smooth and shape the rough anchor. Once satisfied, I used the power buffer to polish the anchor prior to attaching the flukes.
 
The flukes were cut from thinner plate and roughly shaped. These were clipped into position with paste flux in the joint. The photo below shows this ready to solder. You can see the small pieces of solder cut and laying on each side of the joint.
 
Once I was satisfied that everything was in it's proper position, I hit the joint with the micro torch. This only required seconds to heat the joint enough for the solder to flow into the joint.

 
Then it was back to the files to clean up the joint and do a final polish on the power buffer.
 
Here is the anchor ready for the stock.
 

 
The stocks were cut out of walnut with the halves glued together around the shaft. Once glued, the final shaping was done and banding added with black rope. I still have to make the rings, but the preponderance of the work on the anchors is done.
 

 

Hi Don!  I'm just catching up after a week kicking back in Florida.  This kit continues to impress.  The wood quality appears excellent, and you're doing a great job.    Keep the progress reports coming.

Very interesting model, Don.  Nice start.  I'll be following with interest.
 
Dave

Very, very nice, Don.  This is a very interesting model and judging by your progress so far, will be a real beauty.  Keep it up!

I'm with Tom and Jonathan:  There is more than one way accomplish a lot of tasks.  I deviated from the practicum a lot in my MS AVS and AL Swift builds, and for my current Patrick Henry I've almost stopped using the practicum completely!  Don't worry!  You're doing great!  Trust your instincts, but do look ahead a bit.

Sounds good, Bill!
 
I installed the stern blocks and faired the bulkheads and blocks..  I need to finish the deck and cover the exposed part of the bulkheads before the first hull planking.

Sounds good, Bill!
 
I installed the stern blocks and faired the bulkheads and blocks..  I need to finish the deck and cover the exposed part of the bulkheads before the first hull planking.

I chose boxwood for the deck planking.  The planks are 5/32" wide, 6 scale inches.  I need to fit the margin planks, add the treenails and then plank the exposed bulwark areas separating the decks with red heart.