Captain Poison

Gluing the deck planks to the underdeck sheet. I much prefer Weldbond (Canadian super PVA) to using superglue in these situations mainly because I really hate using superglue.I did use superglue GEL to attach the transom planks because it was really the only practical option but that is the only time I have used it. The Weldbond planks can be unclamped from those bends in less than 1 hour so planking the deck will take a little while. For any joints that are not wood on wood I have used UHU Hart. Fitted the inner and outer fairleads to the upper topsides.
 
 

Back to the Grand banks after 4 months offline. Need to finish off the cabin structure before I tackle the hull...not much to do. Today was just some stair railings, side steps, fixing the flybridge furniture, and defining the cabin doors.

Hello Gaetan,
 
in your photo does the ruder blade consist of four parts?
Optical Ilusion?
G. Delacroix wrote to me,
only in three parts.
 
Karl
 

 

 
 
 
 

Thank you Thomas,
 
Here is a photo of my family playing with a model ship... In fact, this painting was auctioned at  Charles Miller LTD.
 
Beginning staircases, 2 will have stair railings.

I decided to take a rest from the hull and start the process of building the guns. More on that later. 
 
So here’s a question. I did the prep on the brass cannon then used my el cheapo airbrush to spray primer with the intention to further paint them with my Admiralty Ironwood Black and and dusting powder on that. However, I like the dull flat metal like appearance from just the Stynlrez primer and thinking to stop there. I don’t have much airbrush or metal primer experience.  
 
So the question: Am I missing something important about just stopping with the primer and calling it done, will it last and stand the test of time or is primer without paint like coffee without water (I’m sure there is a better analogy but...)?
 

 
wow that's a big photo

Much happier after seeing Wally's I knew mine was going to bug me. The wider looks so much better, also 1/16 higher. I will paint it red and add the blocks in black, with a few bolts in the disk on top of the head. I am  glad I redid it  

 
 

https://cafmodel.com/products/hms-granado
Coming soon
Le coreur is done and we're starting a new project
Our mortar ship La salamandre is temporarily unavailable for sale due to copyright issues, so we are ready to start a new mortar ship.
I started to design this kit in 2013, but his ribs were too complex, so he was stranded later，After years of experience, we feel that we can continue now。


This is a model photo of the museum



 
This is the final state of design in 2013
 

I've now set the hatches and partners in place. I tried real hard to keep them centered. Time will tell.
 

 

 
I elevated the capstan partner by 1/32" as called for. 
 

 
I also forgot to include a pic of the waterway. It's 3/64" x 3/64" with one side rounded off to a quarter round molding . 
Tips of the finger took a bit of a beating from the sandpaper.  
 

 
Next up will be planking between the hatches and lining off the deck for planking.
 
Thanks for stopping by!

Thank you all for the likes Gents. It means a lot! I’ve made a little more progress on the f’castle. 7 more knight heads and a few other details and it will be time to start on the headrails. My knees are shaking a bit thinking about that. My apologies if I do not go through a blow by blow of the build. I do not use any unique method an nothing I have not seen on dozens of build logs. That being said, if anyone has a question on how I tackled any phase, I will be happy to answer. 
 

I have never seen it. These are some kind of "daily objects" from that era. I did try a guest on the 74 by looking at "locks" made during that time. Rekon also tried a solution on his 64, some kind of a door hinge. Some are locked on the top and other are locked on the bottom or removable panels.

Mark I have a couple of question if you don't mind. From looking at the deck plan it looks like you have two large carlings underneith the stove. Is there a reason why it is showing two?  After looking at the sheer plan, it shows that the pillars are on the side of that carling I mention above and shouldn't they be underneith  that carling to support it? Some thing else I noticed Mark is I don't believe that they would have installed a pillar under the cat beam because of the collar beam set up. Here's a photo of my beak head and  bellona that you shared that shows the heavy type of stantions that was used to hold the bow sprit in place along with supporting the cat beam.  Gary 

To the issue of steering rope slots in the deck, this poor hand-held shot from the 70's that I found in my archive shows the arrangement on an Amazon class vessel. A small hood-like fitting on each side.

That is not the way it is done.  When the ship pays out the anchor rode to it's appropriate length its first purpose is to provide a horizontal pull along the bottom to set the flukes into the bottom.  Then an additional length is payed out to provide some spring to allow the ship to ride easy at anchor. When getting underway again the ship is hove up to the anchor by the capstan until the anchor cable is vertical. at that point the flukes will have lost the proper angle to be able to bite into the bottom.  Depending on the direction of the wind the effort can be assisted by sailing up to the anchor.  The anchor is broken free (aweigh) and is hoisted to the point where the ring is above water.  Then the anchor is catted and the cat tackle takes the strain and hoists the anchor up to the cat head.  At this point the anchor is fished by a tackle fastened to the shank near the crown and hauled up to be stowed.
 
The only time you would use a boat with an anchor is when you are kedging.  The anchor is slung under the boat and rowed out forward of the ship; the anchor cable being payed out from the ship.  The anchor is then dropped to the bottom.  The ship is then able to heave itself up to the anchor using the capstan.
 
Sometimes a kedge anchor would be set out  by boat to provide some additional protection against drifting into a lee shore when anchored in a tidal stream or during a gale.
 
The description you mentioned above would be the procedure probably used to recover a lost anchor.
 
On modern vessels the procedure is essentially the same.  The ship pays out anchor chain to a length appropriate to provide the flukes holding power.  I used to know the proper ratio, but it is something like 3 or 4 times the depth of water.  The catenary formed in the anchor chain from the anchor to the ship provides the necessary spring to allow the ship to ride at anchor comfortably without having to continually adjust the chain.  The deck watch will periodically check how the anchor is tending (the angle the chain makes from the bow) and the length of the rode will be adjusted as necessary.  Sometimes, if the ship is anchored for a greater length of time, the chain will be payed out or hove in slightly (to freshen the nip) in order to reduce the chance of damage by chafing.
 
Regards,

Some good news and some bad news. The good news: I've finished the deck planking and, thus, part four. The bad news: I've finished the deck planking and part four, apparently well before Chuck finishes part five. The unwanted result  may be a lengthy halt to my building.
 
In any event, the planking went relatively uneventfully. I tapered and curved the bow and stern planks without too much difficulty. The hooked scarph joints at bow and stern were interesting to do and required thought and care, but went smoothly. The photos show the deck planking sanded and finished with Wipe-on Poly.

Thanks Chuck. Also thanks for all the likes.
 
In the chapter 4 parts there are laser cut parts for the mast and capstan partners. 
 

 
I was feeling creative so I wanted to see is I could reproduce them in pear. I used Chucks parts
as a guide for cutting. First I drilled two holes the same size as the originals. One extra for each size.
I figured it was easier to cut them on the full sheet to minimize the chance is splitting and cracking.
I cut them on the table saw and then used the disk sander to get them to the correct size. I then
cut the remaining pieces to size and assembled them.
 

 

 

 

 
Next I'll start placing the hatches and partners on the deck.

Good morning and thank you all for the like, more photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 
Un Saluto.

Good morning and thank you all, more photos of progress.
 
 

 

 

 

 

 
Un Saluto.

Hello Mark,
that looks all very good to me. But because I had not searched much for the fore part of the ships, but only the aft for the Dragon I could't help you there much. At leat some pictures of the forecastle and the chimney.
 
Bellona

 
and the model who is known as Thunderer, but I believe is the Dragon.

 
What I can say about the pillars at the upper gun deck is, that they had them only under every second beam. That is what I found out during my first visit at Greenwich. At the quarter deck where almost no pillars. At least one in front of the wheels. But I have no written record about this, only what I found researching the models where you could look inside. The first Bellona model has at least under every Beam a pillar, even at the quarter deck! I know no model with that future. I think they did this to stabilize the model better.

Thank you Rusty.
I have completed the Q gallery freeze and I am happy with the result so I will give it a go to paint all.
The final freeze will be smaller than the one below.  I added some extra turquoise green to the margins to make the picture bigger than needed just in case.
 

 
 
The original was painted at 5X and the figure was inspired by a fountain sculpture in Europe.  It needs a little touch up but it is almost done.
 

 
I will make to copies one mirror image for the other Q gallery and insert the image in Chuck’s PDF file to get it to the correct size to print.
 
Next the upper transom
Best,
G
 
 

Thank You for the likes and advice all.  I took a couple days off in order to work on the honey do list, but finally was able to get back into the swing yesterday.  In the downtime, I had a lot of time to think about approaches to marking the run for the gun port sills.
 
I frankly don't trust my eye for symmetry, but I picked up a set of calipers that will measure to 1/128" a couple months ago and have come to trust them.  I went to the plans and measured from the bottom of the false keel to the top of the gun port sill  (fore and aft) at each station.  I chose to the nearest 1/64" as my reference point for all measurements.  I definitely followed the measure twice and then measure again principal going so far as to reset the calipers between each measurement so I wouldn't fall into a rhythm of guessing the next measurement and writing it down too quickly.  Regardless, what I found was the measurements were flat between A-G, so I marked those four frames as the middle and then focused on the foreward and aft sections independently.  I set the calipers to the measurements and ran the battens from G forward to the stem and A back to the stern on each side trying not to pay attention to the reference lines until I finished the run.  Everything lines up super nice with just a few frames where the marking don't match up to the reference lines, but it may have been enough to frustrate me to the point of doing something stupid or rushed in trying to adjust.  
 
 
 
I decided to check for level across the battens and found every one fit within the center lines, however you can see the bubble favoring the port side of the lines which was about a .25mm variance.  Noodling on it for a few hours and trying to come up with a resolution, I went and checked measurements again and realized the bubble was reversed from the pictures (I needed to raise the port side to level).  I had changed the direction of the ship between taking the photos and the issue the whole time is that my workbench is not completely level.  I leveled the building board and the runs are now dead center.  Oh man, missed the forest for the trees on this one, but decided to leave my "problem" up in the post in case anyone else tries the same thing to save themselves some grief and check that the building board itself is level.  Everything is plumb, measured out and ready for the sills to be installed.

 
 

Good morning.

Bristol Marine has designed a new schooner, a Boothbay Harbor 65 that is yet to be built.  They asked that I build a model which will be based on their detailed set of plans and their input on details as the build progresses.  The vessel is unusual in that it is specifically designed with handicap access and is planned to be used for day sailing trips.   They gave me permission to do a build log of the model and I will be starting the build shortly and hopefully will have updates on a regular basis.  For now, I am posting below, with their permission, a drawing of the 65.  Bristol Marine is the company which is restoring the Effie M. Morrisey (aka Ernestina).   This opportunity to build the model came up as the result of an introduction to Bristol Marine by a very kind member here at MSW.
Allan
 

 

The deck is planked and the deck furniture in place.   The skylights on the forward cabin area (which is set up as a classroom for twenty students) did not come out as I wished so will be a do-over.   The top of the aft cabin can be removed to view the inside area and worked out as I had hoped.
 
For finishing the deck planks  I mostly used a scraper  to remove high spots then sand paper finish and still find this preferable to any other methods I have tried in the past.  I know this is common methodology, but for those who have not tried it, it is worth a go.  Stiff backed razors or even a  chisel can be used as a scraper if there is not a scraper already in the shop. 
 
Note there are side benches midships that seat 8 per side as well as the bench area going down into the aft cabin.   The back rests in this aft seating area are sitting loosely at this point but will give an idea on their shape.  These took a bit of doing as I had to start with a block of wood and cut, carve and sand to get the shape required.  There was no way to bend these as they are quite thick at the forward area where they make a 90 degree bend.   Not sure I like the design of these rests, but they do match the drawings.
 
There is a bit of clean up with a scraper and sand paper, but nothing major, mostly finger prints/dirt/pencil reference marks/small glue spots which will definitely show once a clear coat finish is put down. Photos really help spot otherwise unnoticed items to clean up and other faux pax.    

After the final cleaning up should she should be ready to start masts, booms, sails and rigging.  Going to give my first try using silk span and have been studying the supplement in Volume IV of TFFM on making sails with silk span.   I had always used maximum thread count cloth in the past, but want to see how well this method compares.   
Allan


 

Some up to date photos.   White is the theme on this schooner with touches of tans and reds so I have been using a combination of poplar for things to be painted, castello for tan unpainted finish including the deck planking and cherry for the cap rail.   There will be a number of trim pieces in red so will likely go with cherry or perhaps Swiss pear.  I gave Chuck Passaro's method of bending planks for the cap rail and waterways and must say I was pleased.  Being able to cut clean planks then bending rather than cutting curved pieces was a nice change.   I did soak the pieces first and I used two hold downs in the center portion of the board during the bending.  I used the boss' iron and used the steam setting as on my first test pieces the wood started to discolor when done dry.  Probably too much heat, but the steam did the trick.   I did trace the curve on paper and transferred it to the heating/bending board as a guide as the curves were not true arcs.  Once released from the makeshift jig the pieces held their shape very well. I decided to go with cherry for the cap rail, but found I could not use cherry for the trennals as they were much too brittle and would not go through the draw plate at the smallest diameter that I needed.  I opted for pear for the trennals and their cross section matches very closely to the color of the rail.   Once sealed and top coated they will show, but should be nicely subtle.  More photos of these in the next post.     Note that the deck house bulkheads are loose at this point as there is some finish work to do before fixing them in place.
 
Note that it looks otherwise in the first  photo, but the door to the head will swing fully open with plenty of room to spare.   
 
Does anyone know of  book they can recommend on rigging "modern" schooners.   I can try to go take a look at some at the local marinas but I doubt they have very many, if any that are this large.  The plans that I have from the architect shows the blocks and basic lines, but there are a lot of details that I would like to study if there are any good books available.
Allan