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Keith, you beat me to it. I noticed the Fanta can/support piece as I am a fan of their products. Not necessarily for health, but got to do something naughty now and then. Vaddoc, I am looking forward to continuing following your log!! Great start. This is the first time I have seen anyone gluing the patterns to both sides of a frame so another new trick to try. Allan

Keith, I read your latest post several times as there are quite few lessons in there. You really do have a great gift for finding reasonable solutions for what seem like daunting problems for the rest of us. Did you soft or silver solder the master pieces before slicing the individual cradles? Allan

Thanks Tom, One thing that I have found that is interesting is the rigging. Like days of old with contemporary drawings from the British and French going back 100 years or even 300 years, there is very little information on rigging and rigging scantlings for many types of vessels. Running rigging was often customized by the captain so nothing was set in stone and it appears that is still the case to a great extent today. Discussions with the shipyard have been helpful, but generally they suggest going with what makes sense based on other schooners as they have not yet finalized belay points or other items and the drawings that I have are not necessarily final. Common sense and practicality comes into play, but this can be frustrating at times as I am no expert when it comes to rigging. Great learning experience though 😄 Allan

Jon, I really envy you being able to visit Ernestina and the shipyard in general. When we get through this pandemic, a visit to the Bristol Marine yard is on my bucket list!

Hi Tom, Welcome aboard! I wonder if you are our first helicopter pilot/aviator!! Would love to hear more about that as our youngest son flew Blackhawks for 22 years before retiring. Allan

NMM had a beautiful model of a British shipyard on display some years back, but may very well be in storage. It was quite detailed and would answer a lot of questions to be sure. Maybe do a search on their website in the collections section. (https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections) I did a quick look and there are a lot of paintings with worded descriptions to go with them. One example follows, including their written description. You also try Googling the name of an individual yard. I was able to find a lot of information on Buckler's Hard that way including a Google Earth shot of what she looks like today. Allan The exact location of the shipyard in this painting is unclear but it may be on the south bank of the Thames at Rotherhithe. The ship in the foreground ready for launching is a 24-gun sloop of war, much in use by the Navy for patrolling around coasts in peace and war, and there is another ship in dry-dock to the left under repair with only the lower masts standing. In the foreground to the right some tree trunks are piled ready for use for shipbuilding and behind them two figures sit on ready-sawn planks. In the right forergound there is a small capstan-powered crane overhanging the edge of the wharf. The inclusion of many figures informs the painting and the artist has chosen to include a variety of social types and activities at the dockyard. Several workmen can be seen working on scaffolding under the ship, and there are a number of figures on its deck. A small figure to the far right, which may be a child, appears to be balancing precariously on the rail, one hand on the ensign staff while the other waves a hat. A man to the left holds out his hand in a gesture of warning. Figures appear at all the upstairs windows of the building to the centre left, which may be the master shipwright's house. The sixth-rate is probably about to be launched and flies a Union jack at the bow, a naval pendant on a temporary midships flagmast and a red ensign at the stern. John Cleveley's principal profession was as a shipwright in the Royal Dockyard at Deptford. He did not become a professional painter until the late 1740s. He was an early exhibitor at the Free Society of Artists in London and two of his three sons, John Cleveley the Younger and his twin brother, Robert Cleveley also became painters after working in Deptford's Royal Dockyard. The painting has been signed by the artist and is dated 1758. Date made 1758 1758

Keith, I read your latest post several times as there are quite few lessons in there. You really do have a great gift for finding reasonable solutions for what seem like daunting problems for the rest of us. Allan

I have no idea about epoxy paint except on garage floors so I am curious as well as to applications on models. I just looked up the 2K paint and see that it can be had in a spray form as well so could be interesting as well. Hope there are replies to your post based on personal experience. Allan

Patrick, Yeah back here in the East (Ave Maria, FL) the weather is not good. 85 degrees F, today so a sweaty day on the golf course. Life can be hard. Truth is that I miss a few things about the northeast such as the fall colors, nights on the town in Manhattan, the tree going up in Rockefeller Center, fishing for striped bass in the spring and fall in Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook, and a couple other things. Don't miss the high taxes, traffic, and a number of things, so a good trade off for us having moved down here. Allan

If you are scratch building and ripping your own planks and other parts, a Byres thickness sander is my vote. Almost every thing that is sawn goes through the thickness sander as it is so accurate. Dust is a major problem so a collection unit would be a great thing to have. Allan

Jeff, Not sure what you are asking...... are you wanting an opinion on whether the shroud should or should not be served? Yes, it would be appropriate assuming Mondfeld is correct on the timing. Keep in mind the scale of the serving line. Using later (1624) ratios from Lees, the circumference of the stays are 0.5 the diameter of the lower mast. The shrouds are in turn 0.66 the circumference of the stays. The serving would then be 0.1 the circumference of the shroud, assuming the serving is the same circumference as the worming. Lees gives the dimensions on the worming as 0.1 but I could not find the circumference of the serving in Lees or Anderson. Running a quick calculation for a 24" diameter mast, the serving line would be about 1/4" diameter. Perhaps Mondfeld gives this dimension or another member here will have something more specific to help. At 1/64 scale, this is very small diameter line (0.004) . Remember to serve the line before you rig the shrouds. Allan

Hi Jim Welcome to MSW. It would be very nice if you would post a quick something about yourself on the new member forum here at MSW. You wrote " Do you (who are you asking) know the name of this (which) racing yacht......? There is no photo or other identifying item attached to tell us who you are asking or what yacht you are looking at. Keep in mind this subject is over 4 years old, so might not get noticed as quickly as current posts. If you are addressing someone specifically and a specific yacht, try a PM to whichever member you wish to contact. Again, welcome aboard!! Allan

Hi Toni Sorry to be so late to the party, but I am here and have enjoyed catching up. Regarding the fashion pieces, once again one person's challenge becomes another lesson for the rest of us. Kudos Allan

Druxey Bristol Marine has been extremely receptive about feedback that I have been giving them. Some items above deck and below deck will likely have dimensional changes. For example, the space between the bulwarks at the entry and the bench backs just aft side of the aft deckhouse is not sufficient for a wheel chair to pass nor is there room for a wheel chair to get into and turn in the head. These will be addressed when actual building drawings are prepared by the architect. You are absolutely right in that it is extremely gratifying to find that the model has allowed me to point out some changes that they will be addressing on the final construction drawings. This had never crossed my mind when taking on the project, but it also opens my mind to the idea that no matter the source of any drawings, unless as-built, they may not be 100% correct, including contemporary drawings from NMM. Allan

Thank you!! Keith, the trick for me was to find the diameter that can the be squeezed into an oval shape to allow two diameters of the line to past through. Knowing the diameter of the line, I drew two circles of this diameter side by side. Then I drew an ellipse and found the circumference of the ellipse. This was then used to find the diameter of the crimp pieces I had to make. Micro tubing would certainly be easier but finding the right size could be difficult. Actually making them on the lathe was not too difficult. Allan

Progress with the masts made and stepped as well as the standing rigging. I worked hard at using stainless steel wire but it was not to be. I could not find small enough rope sleeves so made some out of brass on the lathe and softened them by heating with the butane torch so they could be crimped easily. After countless splinters from tiny bits of wire strands after trying to cut it nicely and not being able to keep it tight even with working turnbuckles I gave up and went to rope soaked in chrome paint. The look is really good, and it was FAR easier to work with. I still used the home made sleeves to complete the look. Note in the photos that I removed five deck cleats around the masts as I mistakenly put them where their respective blocks are to be located. The good news was that they were so secure I destroyed them when taking them out so I know the new ones will hold fast when the rigging is done. The chain shroud on the bowsprit is copper chain and relatively weak compare to brass or other materials. Lesson learned. Near the top of the foremast stays are the rollers for the furling system. The furlers themselves can be seen secured to the bowsprit and at the fore part of the cap rail. The lines for the jib and staysail furlers typically run to the cockpit on smaller sailing vessels but after discussing with the ship yard and mentioning that these would be a hazard to guests, especially in wheel chairs, even with fairleads along the deck, we decided that they will have leads only part way and end near the jib sheet and stay sail sheet traveler tracks port and starboard. Started making internally stropped blocks from Syren. These are superior to anything done by hand. The instructions call for CA glue when assembling but having little experience with it, the first set came apart as soon as I started to add the strop. I scrapped these but learned a lesson. I know CA is quick but I truly despise this stuff and went to the next set using carpenter's glue. Worked like a charm and the glue was set and the blocks ready to finish in an hour. Worked on some other stuff while the glue set, then went to finishing them by hand. This was not a problem, but a pain in the neck so I bought a $12 tumbler and it works really well. It gives an even finish all around the blocks in about 20 seconds for Syren blocks. Kudos to Chuck on his blocks!! Allan

Thanks for all the tips Keith. Great information!! Now that the grandkids have outgrown them, time to get some of those Legos back! Allan

I have had the good fortune of sending several models to Europe, three of which are aboard cruise ships which cruise in the Caribbean and European side of the Atlantic at times so there are changes in ambient temperatures and humidity even though there is climate control on board these vessels. I think a sealed case will help a lot and of course some kind of climate control. They had been at sea for a long time, one for over ten years, without any ill effects. A friend had cruised on one of the ships in the past couple years and sent me a note that he had seen the model. He commented that it looked to be in perfect condition. With the ships all shut down for many months now, I am curious to see how they faired with no climate controls during this shutdown period. Maybe it's time to book a cruise on one of the ships to see for myself once this pandemic is over. Oh, the things we are forced to do for our hobby. 😁 Allan

Love the use of engineering blocks to keep things square. I don't recall seeing these before so I did some searching on line as they appear to be very useful. I found too many choices to make a quick decision as they are certainly not inexpensive. Any recommendations or suggestions based on your experience would be most welcome. Thanks Allan

When you say it is a bit smaller, just use a ratio of the two sizes to come up with the lengths and diameters of the larger scale model. Even if you check the basic overall length, mast heights, and/or breadth of each they should be at the same ratio. Then again, kits are sometimes fraught with errors so the three items may not be the same ratio. Mast heights might by your best bets to find the ratio for length and the tapered diameters along the spars. At least they will then be in the same proportion. You can also look for a set of rigging plans of the Cutty Sark by G.F. Campbell which should be a big help in dimensions of the spars and proper rigging. Allan

Hi Andre, Welcome aboard!! Please post an introduction on the new members forum and let us know a little about yourself. There should be no gaps between planks. It would be a good idea if you read the various articles here on planking methods that will give you a planked hull without any gaps. That said, as mentioned above, if you are painting the entire hull, no harm in filling the gaps, but, no matter how well you do this, the filled gaps may show unless you give multiple coats of paint and sand between coats to try to even things out. For tiny gaps, you can use saw dust of the wood that is used for the planking mixed with carpenter's glue or something like DAP Plastic Wood. As you are showing you are doing scratch build, better yet, you may want to consider removing the planks and replace them so there are no gaps. I know this is a pain in the neck, but it could be your best route to follow and a great learning experience. Allan

Hi Neil, I totally agree with Spyglass for Mare Nostrum. BUT, if you feel you need to install some kind of fastening that shows, there would be many more beams than on your model. Just putting in spikes on the bulkheads would not look correct. Also, per Spyglass's comment, if you want to go ahead with this, it would be better to make and use wooden trennals as they would appear more like wooden plugs that would be used to cover the spikes or dumps. There would likely be two through each plank at each beam, not four on every other plank and they would lie at an angle, not be in line similar to the attached. Hope this helps! Allan

Neil What scale is your model? What ship is it? This could be useful in determining if trennals, spikes, or dumps were used. If smaller than 1:48, you do not need to show anything as it could easily be out of scale. Even using a sharp pencil point could have different size dots as the graphite wears down. If you are building at 1:48, the diameter of the nails would likely be about 3/4" or smaller, thus 0.015" diameter. Not difficult to make from brass rod for spikes or dumps or bamboo if for treenails. If 1:96, the diameter would be less than 0.007" I am not a fan CA, but admittedly have recently begun using it for styrene on styrene and styrene on metal with no issues. For metal on metal, silver solder or even soft solder at times. But for wood, why go to the expense, fumes, etc. of CA when carpenters glue is really better suited for wood. I have been recently told that many folks use CA because it makes the build go quicker. I never really thought of ship modeling as a speed event so CA never had any appeal for me. Just my own personal thoughts and I am probably in the minority, but you asked. No matter what you decide to try, Mark has given great advice. Do a test drive of each method on scrap material. Allan

The drawing on the kit plans is a just a convention for a kit model. For a POB build the sprit should pass through the forecastle bulkhead between stanchions. The forecastle bulkhead itself is probably only 2" or 3" planking and could never support the sprit if done this way in actual practice. On a real ship or even a POF model, there is a bowsprit step of heavy timbers that rest again the deck beams at both the bottom and top of the step. There is a mortise in the step and the end of the sprit would be squared off to rest in the mortise. If the vessel is ship rigged the step will be at an angle. For smaller vessels with near horizontal sprits, the step would be pretty much vertical. Look at inboard profile drawings and they often show the step. As a substitute for the model, a mortise can be cut into the frame bulkhead. Allan

Vince, as shrouds are usually in pairs, except for the swifter if there are an odd number of shrouds, I am having a hard time envisioning your methodology Can you post a few pictures? Thanks Allan