Knocklouder

Well now that I have calmed down and did some research on this ship, I believe I am in for the time of my life once again. When I started this it was incredibly difficult to understand.  I really almost gave up and started my Pegasus, looking at @Moonbug 's  log didn't help matters ,  that is some ship he's got going , fantastic stuff to watch.  Thanks for posting that valuable information, and pictures lol.

  Donkey said we better wait till PFCGP to get back , He can't understand the plans either. 

We really had to work to get it into shape , but I think we have it. It looks like the shrouds might still be a problem, but I think it should be OK.

I install all the chains on the starboard side and will make up the chains for the side as well. But we won't nail them on until Pile gets back. We need confirmation from the inspector.   A different set of plans for the Astrolabe are on the way, they are from a French museum  when I get them I will tell you about them .ok keep modeling till you drop lol 😆 

Knocklouder. 

PS  Thinking of cleaning the copper  or should I leave it.????

You diffinly  have that party curise atmosphere  looking good..

Bob  M.

Very nice work.  

Bob  M

Looking very good, the paint job is fantastic, very nicely done..

 I have glued pieces of  planking to the jaws of the alligator clips, works good, I have to replace one every once in awhile

, but I got lots of broken planks lol.. I even filed the jaws on one  four hemostats that I have. Your boat is looking fantastic my friend. Very nice.

Bob M.

I am back in the saddle again.  Great tune.

I had to fix the channels and repaint them.

There was way to many holes in some and not enough on others. The plans are of no help. I have got a couple of pictures of  some idea for the chains. This is what I will do.

Now that I got that all straight out we can continue.  I will make up the chain nail them to the bottom whaler, done deal. Then on to the platforms, more questions there about the number of holes for the crowsfeet lines.  We  diffinly got the wind on our backs now full steam ahead. Thank you all.

Knocklouder. 

Those are fantastic, realistic right down to the eyeball. Wow. What paint did you use if you don't mind me asking?  

Bob  M.

Great work my friend,  did you find were to tie your lose end, I look at some of mine. They are tied to a eyehook on the channel , another to the hand rail, also one to a cleat on inside side rail . Not much help I am afraid 😕. 

Bob M.

They say when you get bucked off a horse best to get back on and hold on lol. Well, I am  back to this stage, eventually I will get this right.

Remember I have a hard time with words& numbers. What I thought would work won't, I would not like the way the shrouds were looking. I have to fix the channels  to many holes  I am just going to replace it.and wait for it....start over lol.

  I have found 9 different pictures  of this ship so far, on the computer. I find myself dreaming about how I would like it to look like, and in the back off my head what would the Captain want. I am trying to read his logs but can you belive it  his grammar is worse than mine.  Lol 😆 

  This journey  that I started over 3 and   half years ago is incredible.  I am hooked lol. Rodney's work is amazing  so far just little things, but between the two of us we are going to make a beautiful ship.  Lol the  First Mate  was not impressed about the idea of me wanting to change the  build in book case into a display case.  I said why do we have all these books , instead of boxing my models why not box the books. Lol  😆 

   I have sent word out to PFCGP that I could use his help. No reply yet lol. 

  This is going to be fun the rigging is intense. But at least it doesn't have parallels, the French tried them on , I write the name of in latter. 

Thanks so much for following along I couldn't have gotten this far with out you all . Thanks.

Knocklouder. 

Good luck on your journey !!  

Bob M.

Very nice paint work. Awesome.  And your copper is amazing  as well.

Bob  M.

@WGibson welcome aboard 😀,  Thus is a fun model to put together, the Instructions are a bit wanting I guess. So if I can help you with anything I will  try.

  The boat is  finished, but I have a niece who comes over on Wednesday afternoon and every other weekend.  So today we were putting  figures on and got a few messages from @Gabek she asked who is that lol. She heard the ping lol.I told her it was my friend that made me the Mark Twain figure. Lol.next question was who is Mark Twian lol.

  We have been working on the King of the Mississippi when she comes over. Today is a great day to do this, it got my mined off the Astrolabe  lol.

  The niece and I are decision-making for the boat, who go's were and what animals we are going to put on, plus a Farris wheel  and the river. She wants to make the river next week.

She got a little ruff with the long horns and we need to fix his horn and she broke the maintenance man hammer. So we decide to quit for today.

one thing we will do is make these maintenance workers look like they are replacing the broken cam shaft.These will be the dock workers.

I told the niece that @hollowneck has a video on how to make water. We will watch it on Wednesday and see if we can get started. Ok fun and games.

Good bye from both of us. 

Uncle Bob and the niece.  🧝‍♂️

Yes haa, the last piece of the puzzle has been solved. I am so excited now. Rodney had a couple of check marks on the plan and a check mark in the manual, they were the same color, so from there I could figure out the rest .. I have this horse barge whipped, just got to put it together. 

 I am finding so much wrong with the plans, wow, but I got it. Now I just have to do it.

These are my calculations for the sizes, I still need the colors for the ropes but I know the sizes, just color preference, my choice  lol.

  I had posted a question this morning, but just found the answer lol.  So I deleted the post.  

So now rig the cannons, attach the masts, chain plates and start the rigging.  Ezay peesy lol. This is going to be great practice for rigging, some cannons may have to be stowed because of the cannons lids been  in the wrong place.  All good though lol.

  Ok on my way , may the fun never end. Lol

Bob  M.        

ÇMore progress on the Astrolabe, the decision about the chain plates has been made, and some assembly has been done.

I am letting things dry but the chains are made up. Let's go paint the cannons. 

I had to put one on for a peek, which lead to another.  Soon I had a boat load.

They need to be rigged, and no instructions.  But I got pictures. .

Well waiting for the paint to dry let's look at the platforms. This is the first I  look at them in the manual, I have no  idea how Rodney got to this point. He has put 7 mm 

Deadeyes on instead of 5 mm eazy fix now I have to drill some holes for the crowsfeet lines.

  It's-30 out in the shed so I brought it to the shipyard, it will be a great addition to the tools.

I  am ok with the shrouds positions, I am letting  the chains dry really well before tacking them on. I have all the cannons to rig, so they should be cured when I return to them. But I have to let the cannons dry over night as well. To the platforms it is.

   The build will be a great time, I reliesed that I have no direction  on a lot of things and get to make it they way I want, not the plans, which gives me two ways to do it. Wrong and wronger.

The kit is fantastic, great wood lots of add on. Not bad for a barge. But again the instructions need work.

Again my apologies for letting my frustration lose, 🫤  I can only claim insanity, I tryed to do it my way not what I have been taught  by MSW/NRG. So I gave myself a slap and said gitty up..

 Thanks my freinds, may the fun never stop.

 Bob M.

Congratulations, it looks Amazing. 

Bob M.

Well all the tracing of the shrouds and ratlines.  For Nothing, garbage, worthless 🙃.  It seems that the measurement in the manual don't line up with the instructions  All my tracing for Nothing lol.

So Donkey and I looked at each other and said,....... money for the Surprise, lol.

It seems that I can't make any headway. Oh well I think I worked it out.. we continue. 

Patching the holes, repainted the white and black strips and let it dry. I moved on to the deadeyes. What a mess? I can't really figure out what he got going here. Some peices are soderd some have  chain links and a small pile of copper strops. 

I think. The plans shows nothing. The manual says build them this way but if I do they are way to long.

At this point I was about to say,  50 cents for the jar, but this is what modeling is all about. Let's model on. Rodney has lots of fitting and things ,two different plies of belaying pins , rings, pins of all kinds and chains.

I tryed a few ideas out, nothing really  looked right.

As much as I tryed the chain plates were hard to get at least some accuracy to them. Then it hit me, if the manufacturer doesn't care about detail neither will I.   Chain plates, so I made them out of chain. This is what I came up with.It may not be right, but it gets the deadeyes on and I still the lower masts to drill the crowfeet lines and start the shrouds. I had to figure out what size of deadeyes and where they go. 7 mm and 5mm are needed for the lower masts. I figure out what's need for the upper later.bI have lots to do before then 🤔.  I might even get some rat lines in lol.

This is what I am going to do for the chain plates, chain. Lol. The plan is to attach the deadeye to the chain , position it and nail it on to the whaler with some big headed nails. It will do.

I was beginning to think that I might have taken on to much, I could not understand most of the instruction and all the parts are in containers and I have no idea what they are. Lol.  The First Mate could tell I was getting anxious about things , she can tell it was getting to me. She came down to the ship yard and I told her what I really need is better pictures of what I was attempting to do. Some computer lessons were needed.well what do you know we found some pictures and now I got it. The build will go ahead, it just won't be like the plans or the instructions  lol.

This is what I will do, the chains will be placed in the right  place then Nailed to the whaler.  Done deal. I like it, once they are on and the shrouds tied on , it will do. And once the yards and rigging is done the chains will be a distant memory  lol.

 Thanks for put up with my frustration, but I think it will be smooth sailing from here on. We got plans and pictures and the will.

Talk soon my friend's 

Bob  M.

I need an assistant.  He he is, 😂  Donkey. I think he is the perfect A .. to be my Assistant lol.

I reach a point in Rodney's notes, oh my. Apparently mistakes have been made. He followed the instructions, the plan is different from the instructions.  We need 8 gun ports we only got 7. The way the plan tell you to put the deadeyes  the cannons will blow the shrouds off. I think it was at this point that he stoped, there is a lot of torn pages in his book , and references to a web site that I have to go to latter.

I found  some notes it possible that he started this model in 2014 / 5, hard to say. But in his notes the guy he was following abandon the plan  at this point as well and build it his way. And it looks good. Mine will be different  but it will work. Now I just got to put it all together. At least I don't have to stop, I be rigging and adding to my Surprise jar in no time. Lol

Donkey  let's me know what he thinks of the plans and instructions 😉. I would hate to spend this kind of money on a model to have such bad information  wow. But where the is a will there is a way I guess.

We are goingto leave the lids alone, shifting the lines slightly to avoid the gun ports we will be fine.

 So now I going to fix the white, then attach the chains for the deadeyes. The instructions  says to attach the chains to the upper whaler. Rodney has them in between  the whalers mine will be at the bottom whaler like the plan says lol.

Ok, with that roller-coaster day I am very glad I have a plan and going forward 😀. MSW/NRG will have its first Astrolabe 1812 log marked  finished, just a matter of time. But the instructions are so bad you may not see another lol.

Good night my friends, I hear mooing comeing  from the hold. Lol 😆 🤣 

Bob M.

 Looks like the main railing is lower on the top and at the bottom  what ever that is in front of the boat blocks the veiw of railing. Making it look all one peice.  Maybe. 

.Bob M.

Yes great instructions @popeye2sea  I was fix 'n  to tell him just tie the lose end to what ever belay pln it supposed to go to.  Lol. looking good partner. 

Bob M.

@Glen McGuire there are 1,200 glove hitchs, 600 per side. Yyeehhaa!!!..

 The cannons are in the paint shop so I am making a list of things I need to study.

This is a big ship,  after looking at Chris beautiful   Duchess of Kingston , by Vanguard Models , now I got to look at this huge horse barge. 

Up first is drilling holes for the crowsfeet on all masts.

Many more notes have to be looked at into, the list  continues.  I have to find all the parts and try to figure it out.  Rodney has got gunport llids made of wood in the box , but has the kit lids installed on the ship. I t looks like there is errors in the plan an instructions 🙃 😕 😅.  And he had to move some of them didn't like it so he put the kit lids on. I have to see why latter.

 It would be a lot easier if I could talk to Rodney, but he can't remember anything about ships. It so sad to see my friend this way. That's why I got to do a good job,   "For Rodney  "  .

Also for the next few days I will be tracing the plans, and making diagrams for the ratlines. . This morning I hit my first roadblock, whether to attempt this. I was looking at Bugs Pegasus log, to is awesome, and almost  decided to change ships lol. I need to do this one. I need practice on my ratlines.  Because  

The next model I buy will be the one that I will try to do the best. 

There is so much to do its like I first joined

the excitement of starting a build.

 I have found much useful information from Rodney's notes, and what I can find on the net. The Frist Mate just this morning showed me how to put pictures in my files so I can study them closer up. It's a life saver. Lol  So giddy up partner's, lol I just thought we might even see Texas long horns soon LOL. Hang tight @Glen McGuire I got to go round them up lol

Just Bob M. for now.     

Very nice Glen., as always !! 

Bob M    .

With time on my hands, and a grin on my face, you can't wipe off, I decide to look at my next build to see what is what as they say.

Rodney has two binders of information and the manual, for the Astrolabe. 

I decided to change the look of his cannons to one I found on line . A bit of black paint here, red paint there, I will paint the wheels, then tomorrow clear coat them. Lol. I had to see what they would look like 👍🏾.  

I have to study his notes to see what he was thinking about how far to go rigging the cannons.  I am good with just the breach rope and a tie down at the back. But, if he has something already rigged up I will see. Lol.

Time to put it on the bench. WOW it is huge. 

I took a few extra pictures to show off Rodney's work.  It does look impressive. 

There is no other logs for The Astrolabe, so I am in uncharted waters. I know with MSW/NRG  on my side, I will pull off another one . Wait till Pile gets back, he will be Gobsmacked . It is a beautiful ship, but she's big wow!

Knocklouder. 

PS.

I will @Keith Black I will.

.

Glad to see you, nice work Andy.  

Bob M.

@Moonbug you are so right lol, I am going to mark this log finished, right after this post, because now I am just playing with my little figures  and telling story's in my head lol.  So I finished up the ship's boat,

and had a few oars,  but I think they are a bit too big. The Duchess  says "off with they feet" lol. Sawing the base off was stressful for Neanderthals but luck was on my side. That and my good friend @Gabek helping me out today. 

So now that the boat is finished , I will tie it later as I have a couple of figures I have to paint so they actually look like they are lashing the boat down. Play stuff lol.

So I took some pictures and put it in the case

It has been an incredible journey, and a really great experience for me.  I hope I have not offended anyone along the way with my confusion plus typos. Lol  But I am a confused person who finds it hard to spell. Lol. But I love building ships and getting to know people. 

 Ok I am going to mark this finished now, but will post one more time in the future when I take the Duchess of Kingston out of the display case for a photo shoot for the Gallery, and some last minute touch ups and figure changes.

  Thank all of you for your likes and wows. Plus a special thanks for all who helped.

Thank you @chris watton and @Gabek two gentlemen that I deadacated this build to at the beginning.  One will be a friend and I will be his  customer for life the other a friend for life, not a customer he put a 100% tariff on all his figures. Lol

Fairwell to this log, but I have another lol

THANK YOU ALL.

Bob   M. 

PFCGP. 

Goober   

AND of course The Duchess of Kingston. 

Bob M.

Good luck on your journey!!

Bob M.