rfolsom

Very nice work!

I'm looking forward to your coppering methods...

Nenad;  you've seem to really master the porthole/mooring hole scratch build... I took the easy way out with my "non-elliptical"  mooring pipes.

Now I am doing the "hmmm" thing again...

Very well done, my Friend!!

~Bob

Coppering is looking excellent.  Good to see your new posts...

Well done!

~Bob

Very nice, Nenad.  I may follow your lead on this...

Your boats look great;  Not cluttered at all... The kit's "bread and butter" method is very tedious, and inaccurate, if you are a stickler for scale.   A POF approach, while very, very, time consuming is more rewarding, but I think you've captured the effect quite nicely.

Don't sweat the small stuff...

If you stick with the scale, these boats' hulls can be about as thin as an eggshell...

Ok.  I started initial installment of hinges (semi-painted) to the rudder, using CA at the hinge points, but letting the ends free.  Once dried, I will drill into the rudder through the pre-drilled gudgeon holes and affix the loose ends with small nails (hopfully NO CA).  The sternpost gudgeons remain unfinished, as I decided to make the whole rudder/hinge assembly first, then fine tune how it meets with the ship.  These will be evened up and trimmed to approx. 7mm, and drilled with 3 or 4 holes, for accepting the nails.

Thanks, Nenad;  I'm doing paint testing...

Marc, thanks for checking in, and it's great to hear from you again!  Hope the new job is going well, and I hope to see some new posts in the near future...

BTW, the Pig is well trained, and will be paying a visit to you in Virginia to inspect your progress...

All the best,

~Bob

Looking good, Keith;  you'll be coppering in no time!

Nenad;  this is why I have not installed the whisker booms on the catheads yet.  The cats as they stand, are pretty strong.  I also will not install the boomkins until rigging is well under way...  Bulwarks were bad enough to deal with when I was planking:  ( 1.  Plank a bit.  2.  fix cracked bulwarks.  3. repeat...)

..and back to the Cutty soon....

A little bit of work was done on the Vic.  Rough cut a couple more bulkheads, and stared at the plans for awhile. 

Although I base this build loosely on Caldercraft, I've noticed many errors cropping up.  The bulkheads are not lining up properly, so I'll be going completely to the AOTS.

I've rough-cut many of the bulkheads, with AOTS templates affixed, but I'll have to re-draw the alignments on the keel;  Caldercraft/Jotika is inaccurate.

Hello, Dale;  thanks for looking in.  I've been busy with the Cutty Sark, and there's so many Victory builds it's hard to keep track of...

On the unfortunate side, I decided to completely scratch build the Victory's hull.  I thought about tearing into your build, and taking the bulkheads, etc.(Decided not...).

Anyhow, she's safely in my shipyard, as a model reference..

Great way to organize your research, my friend.  I initially cut some detail in "A, yellow" but filled it in.  This is the area I'll be focusing on after the rudder.

Very nice work.

And fiddly = detail!

Looking forward to more light-speed progress..

Cheers,

Bob

Another pic with a ruler (in mm).

Unfortuneately, my poor painting skills will probably obliterate this...

Wow.

Thanks, Nenad!  I couldn't tell if it worked or not until I took these macro photos...  (One nail is in hole above toothpick, top center)

A little bit more work..  I have trimmed, drilled, and filed the rudder side of the hinges..  The ship-side gudgeons have yet to be finished.  They are shown taped to the scrap piece of wood that I used for a drilling back.  It also keeps them together and somewhat protected.  I will simulate bolts with small lengths of 24 gauge wire. (0.51 mm).  The holes are drilled with a 0.55 mm bit, which broke, so I'll be stalled until I pick up some more bits.

Keith;  I was originally planning on epoxy for these, but since I didn't have any on hand, and these hinges do not actually support the rudder in my build, I tried CA and found it to be adequate.

Lawrence, thanks for the kind words.  I plan on using brass to fabricate all the yard and mast hardware, but that's a ways down the road, and my brass inventory is very limited.  Also, my soldering equipment is not up to structural soldering;  new toys must be purchased in the future...

Four "fans"...  I know it looks weird, but the hinging areas are consistent;  everything else was left long and wide, to be trimmed to size individually later.  I'm going to let the CA cure overnight before trimming and drilling....

Thanks, Nenad.  I'm still thinking about the nails.  In the meantime I'm testing CA to hold the pintles to the gudgeons.  I think it will work out ok.

Picture shows my prototype hinge assembly, before drilling and trimming.  (Admiral asks: "What are you making, a fan?" )

Looking good, Keith.  I see hatch remakes for me in the future...

Very nice work, my friend!  I really enjoyed the work on the detail for the rudder ring.  Your ad hoc macro lens is very cool, too;  It reminds me of the views from stereoscopic microscopes in college...

Nenad is silent.......

Perhaps just sitting back with a snifter of brandy or Scotch, looking at Her lines, and going ; Hmmmmmmmm......

Keith;   I'm not sure if they're the same, but I have a bunch of pins that came with my Billings kit.   I'll have to do some testing soon, I believe...

Thanks for the kind words, gentlemen.  Nenad;  I am in the process of determining the rivet/bolts for the gudgeons, but they will be present.

I would like them to serve a structural purpose, (i.e. actually holding the gudgeons on) so I don't have to use any CA.

Keith;  The topgallant rail is here to stay, for better or worse, and I'm ok with how it looks.