DocRob

Rigging looks absolutely fantastic Rusty, I will start mine this week, if time allows and for sure will peek into your log for assistance. Cheers Rob

Thank you Glenn, I'm pretty happy, that I somehow mastered this step and learned a lot of things, as it's my first mast job ever. On to the rigging . Cheers Rob

Today, I put the patched mast into the lathe and turned the upper square part round, where it meets connecting parts and nothing flew away, phew. The picture shows, how it looks now, but nothing is glued. This area of the mast will be painted black, which will hide the patched part. I milled some more square areas onto the middle segment of the mainmast without issues today. It takes time, but I'm seeing an end to preparing mast and yards. All the mast parts are done now, except for the fittings. Some sections have delicate shapes, where you have to ponder a while for the best approach to get it done. Finally work was faster and better, as some routine started to develop. I also altere the layout of my machines on their base board for better handling and faster measuring. Now I have to think about how to add the masts, completely assembled as in the manual or building them up section per section for possibly easier rigging. Cheers Rob

Puh, it was a long, but busy time since the last update, but in the moment our houses interiors get painted and that causes a lot of work and distraction from modelling. The other obstacle is more modelling related and is about learning, how to work best with the lathe and the mill, something I never tried before, at least with wood. I prepared all the yards on the lathe either with chisels or sanding paper to their designated conical shape. Then it was time to turn the mast tops on the lathe, which have a bit more complicated shape. The Kirschen chisels I bought, seemed a bit big for the mini lathe, but they are sharp and of good quality and did the job. Now it was time to start with the lathe onto the mast parts. These are mostly slightly conical and have flattened and/or squared ends in different sizes in the area of the mastheads. I started with the relatively simple mizzen mast to establish a good workflow and have now prepared the mizzen mast parts completely. While working on the lower part of the main mast, disaster struck. The flattened parts were milled with the dividing head and then I made the 5 mm square part, which worked great on three sides, thanks to the dividing head. On the fourth side, somehow the cutting tool went too deep into the material, which was difficult to see for me. I can't explain, why that happened as the tool was fixed, as was the mast chucked. I stopped where I was and filed the part to 3 mm depth and decided to add a 2 mm strip as a substitute and glued it on. I hope this will hold up on the lathe, where I have to turn some millimeters round on the end of the square part. Not perfectly square Resquared Cheers Rob

Looks very good and it seems to be a good idea to install the masts only partly for easier rigging. I will consider that too. Cheers Rob

Very nice ECK, you could have a glass of brandy in that lit from behind captains cabin. Great work overall on your Sphinx without name . Cheers Rob

Quite pricey, are the tweezers from Tamiya, but to me, they are some of the most important and most used tools in modelling. The quality is top notch and they are not only usable for rigging, etc., they are sturdy enough to work with photo etch made from brass, where they are extremely helpful for tiny parts. Cheers Rob

Sanding can be a pain, but there are differences, at least to me. Working on spars or a hull is more satisfying than to remove char from tiny parts with weird contours. Your work on Sphinx looks superb and I will follow your build, as I recently got into possession of the very same kit. Cheers Rob

These crowsfeet look splendid, as does the entire DoK.

Congratulations, a very clean and beautiful build. Cheers Rob

Congratulations Dave, Your Lady Nelson is a true beauty you can be proud off. There's lots of detail to please the eye. What a nice result for the first completed build of a wooden ship and I guess very satisfying (I still have to reach this point ). I have one question left, if I might. Why are some guns not run out, like the others? Cheers Rob

Thera are a lot of pros and cons considering the machinery. I mulled lengthy about the mill and was favoring a slightly larger piece of mill. The max diameter of the tools is really a limitation with the Proxxon, as is the high rpm range, not very suitable for metals. I was an engineer in my former life (long go), but still have a lot of knowledge about metal working. All the smaller machines are a compromise imho and I think I will not need them too often, therefore factors like price and foremost storability led to my decision. Same with the lathe, where I also bought the small Proxxon wood turning device, which will be sufficient for shaping masts and yards. I hope it was the right decision, and I read a lot about the credits for the Proxxon mill here. Enjoy building the Duchess like I do, it's such a great model and beautiful ship. Cheers Rob

Funny to see, we are almost on the same page of the manual, while building the DoK Tom . You are a little ahead of me, because I wait for my mini mill to arrive for exactly the mentioned square sections of the masts. Your Build looks extremely well and if you stay ahead of mine, I will have a wonderful resource for my advancement. Cheers Rob

Sorry, I'm new here and therefore late to the party. That's an amazing build, ein inspirierendes Modell, that you build up Tobias. I eyed the La Coureur from CAF for a later build, when I have a bit more experience under the belt. I will keep your build log in mind for when time comes. Cheers Rob

Yes, I didn't want to mention the shape of the air intake. But in all you will have a nice model in the end, with your super clean way to build. Like my better half use to say: 'leave it, love it or change it' . About the hub, to my knowledge all the Pratt & Whitney driven planes which are air cooled, do not sport a spinner, which would reduce the cooling effect. Cheers Rob

I nearly forgot, that I made some photos of the real thing some years ago in Chino. Cheers Rob

A very interesting project Chris. I never build a cardboard model and your Hellcat looks absolutely great and appetizing. With the hub, I have to go with Andrew, the conical part doesn't look right. I built an Eduard 1/48 plastic Hellcat in the same livery last year and the hub looks like this. Cheers Rob

I added the strops to the hull, not before thinking about a proper method to align them correctly. I took some 6 mm wide Kabuki tape and adhered it to the side plan, marking the placement of the chainplates drilling holes with a pencil. With drawing the pencil lines across the Kabuki tape, I could use my template for both sides. I then drilled 0,5 mm holes into the hull at the marked positions, after I checked the angles of the chainplates with a metal ruler to the place, where the mast platforms will be. Then I pushed in the supplied brass nails without glue, but I don't think there is any need for gluing. Guess what, while checking the angles of the chainplates for the mizzen mast, I found, that they perfectly match my mizzen mast rake, which I found to be to far aft angled. Now that everything aligns with these angle, I may consider leaving the mizzen mast angle untouched. Cheers Rob

Finally I was able to continue a bit with the DoK. I'm waiting for my Proxxon mini mill to materialize, which will make it easier to get the square parts out of te mast dowels. I prepared the strops, which are made from a PE frame with a pear wood deadeye inserted. That was easy for the smaller variant, but included quite some bending for the larger ones. Naturally, the pre painted PE parts took some damage while bending and needed to be touched up. Next were the mast platforms, which are pre cut pear wood, along with some support framing to be glued together. Alignment of the pre cut holes is most important here. Cheers Rob

This was one of my ideas too, but as you say, fiddly to insert into the lower deck and if not glued correctly, it could be a bit unstable with the shrouds under tension. That's another possibility, thank you James. If I remove some material from the backside of the mast in the lower deck area, I could correct the angle and maybe thrust in a peg of wood into the then too wide mast hole in the lower deck through the staircase opening. I have to check, if that might be possible. Cheers Rob

Keith, thank you, I think all possible solutions will be a nightmare to do right. I measured again, comparing the supplied plans to the actual masts (the masts plans is not 1/64 scale, so I had to calculate a bit). slightly above the first platform, the distance to the main mast is about one centimeter larger than on the plans. I may leave it that way, pending my shroud test. I will look, how weird the shrouds look, if they are not angled correctly. Cheers Rob

Another idea to correct the angle of the mizzen mast could be to insert a wood screw without head into the masts end, glue it in with CA and then screw the mast into the lower deck. Sounds like maybe the most simple option to me. Cheers Rob

Thanks for checking Glenn, your DoK looks wonderful, I hope mine come out half as good. Your rake seems to be a bit smaller on mine, but it looked very similar on one of your WIP pics, maybe because of the angle the pic was taken. My mizzen mast almost touches the binnacle housing. I will measure the distance between main mast and mizzen mast at a defined height near the platform, to check against the plan and will decide then, if it's a design feature or if I have to do something about it. Cheers Rob

Well, thanks Keith, I always liked problem solving through putting a good story around as an excuse. I thought about that too . Cheers Rob

Thank you James, I checked with the plans and my mizzen mast definitely rakes more to the aft. I think, I will extend the masts lower end eccentric under deck, if this is possible through the staircase opening. The part, which will extend below the lower deck will be connected with a brass rod to the mast, which sits on the lower deck than, partly.