jim_smits

I polished the edge of my chisels with a sharpening stone for skates ... It has two sides: One for sharpening and the other one very fine for polishing. Use the stone to sharpen my kitchen knives too ... Does that tell something about me ...??? I sharpen the chisels on a rotating sharpening stone (machine), and finish it off by hand.
 
You have to watch out giving too much pressure on the wood, as you may end up with a wobbly yard in your case. The flexibility and thickness of the piece you are turning needs to be considered. The thinner the easier it will bend. You could tackle very thin pieces with sandpaper ... You just loop it around the wood ... N.b. A course grid will leave you with wounderful grooves

Chisel arrived Friday. Gave it a sharpening using successive grade of sandpaper over a ceramic tile. Probably can get it sharper with more effort
 
Think there will be a bit of a learning curve and I think trying to fabricate a tool rest will help. Did some test runs on 8mm dowel and it's tricky to say the least. Perhaps flexing of dowel under pressure doesn't help?
 
Anyway, a little way off attempting my actual yards yet......

Some photos below showing the yards, with stun-sail booms, on the masts, not fixed just in the pin holes. Next job make the remainder of the yards and gaff booms.
 

They look excellent Ray. I'm right at this stage on my Snake build so they will be a great inspiration for me.

Got a chisel on order from eBay, should arrive by the weekend hopefully.

All the main and lower yards with stun sail booms and the mizzen cross jack are now finished, I will next take some photos with them on the masts.


Stanchions used for the stirrups

Completed yards



Stun sail booms




 
 

Whenever possible I have done a double loop. In this case I did a double and single for each side.

The following are a few photos with an overview of the model. A few clips attached to lines and a flag to be redone.  Vern from our Puget Sound Ship Modelers made available a beautiful walnut board with exquisite grain markings for a base. Unfortunately, it is a few inches too short so the search goes on.
 
The ship still on it's lazy Susan.
 

Whenever possible I have done a double loop. In this case I did a double and single for each side.

Jim,
 
I made a DIY lathe kind a jigg from a drill and a drill head and lathe centre. In the image you see only the centre, but later I added the drill head so I could change the tool at the opposite side of the drill
 

 
maybe something to use s reference material ...

I was actually just messing with this myself tonight.
 
My solution was quick and dirty. I just drilled a hole slightly larger than the diameter of the dowel in a piece of scrap wood, and then clamped that. With the drill clamped in one jig, and the tip of the dowel resting in the hole of the clamped piece of scrap wood, it kept everything secure. You just need to make sure you account for the length of the tip of the dowel resting in the scrap-wood hole so your overall spar length is accurate.
 
Once you get your spar down to the near finished proportions, you just have to cut off the bit from the tip and the end that was chucked in the drill and hand fiinish those sections.

New day, new update !
 
The beams for the little boats are done.
Also the ( see if it is correctly ) poop deck screen bulkhead.
And the kings planck is on the deck.
Next task....deck planking !
 
Sjors
 
 

Side project is an electronics project I am putting together.
 
Came off the back of investigating using a micro controller to create flickering LEDs as lanterns on ship builds, something I will incorporate into my Diana build when I finish Snake. I saw using the micro controller to control LEDs in other ways, mainly for creating LED cubes to create a decorative 'show'.

Thank you all for the compliments and the likes.
 
Eamonn - hope you can see now why I kept this under wraps, there was massive potential for it to go badly wrong....! And that was just the waterline, yet alone drilling into the expensive case.......
 
Stergios - I will be back onto the Snake in a week or two as I have another unrelated project on the go that I really need to complete. I may post details on the off topic section once I am done.

The preventer stay was made in a similar way to the fore stay, except that it is of smaller circumference and employs a pair of hearts at its lower end. I used 0.7 black thread for the stay, and 0.25 black thread for the serving. As with the forestay, the stay was served above the mouse (a smaller piece of wood than that for the forestay, and painted black) where it passes around the mast. The measurements were again fairly critical to get all parts of it in the correct position, with the mouse sitting just above the larger one on the forestay.
 
  
 
I was unable to find hearts of the right size – or at least what I thought looked right to the eye, and according to the AOTS Alert book. The smallest I could find were 7mm, which were to my mind too large. I then thought to drill out two of the 3mm deadeyes that I had, which looked to be about right for the job, and stained them. I think they look acceptable. The lower of them was seized to a strop attached to an eyebolt on the stemhead, whilst the other was seized into the lower end of the preventer stay. The lower of the two hearts just clears the large deadeye on the lower stay.
 
There is no ‘snaking’ line between the forestay and preventer stay, as this would have prevented the staysail from being hoisted and lowered on the former.
 

 
I had hoped to include the rigging of the topgallant stay with this posting, but one or two problems have arisen which will be explained next time.
 

Jim, your Ballyhoo came out great, congratulations!  I really love that case, wow!  Very creative and well done.  I was thinking of doing a diorama type case for a later build with a fake sea, but your approach is very simple and elegant.

Can totally understand the problems Jim, I've tried working with that material before  and the word 'Shatter' comes to mind     not something you'd want to do considering the price.. She looks a treat Mate, if my little Ballier comes anywhere near I'll be well chuffed !!
 
I guess it's onto Snake for you next then..   btw do you have any other builds waiting for the off ? (I just spotted that you mentioned a 'side project')
 
Congratulations on Completing Ballahoo !!     
 
Eamonn

And onto the second of my completed build posts!
 
The last part towards completion was the case. I've hinted that I was going to try something a little different and I'm immensely happy to say that I managed to complete the case without any mishaps. And here is the final result:
 

 
I ordered a wooden base and acrylic case from a supplier and also a sheet of blue acrylic. The sheet of blue acrylic was to simulate water level and I measured up the approx. dimensions of the ship at the water level and then deducted a few mm to be safe. I then cut out the approximate shape of the ship from the acrylic sheet. Then spent a long while iterating towards a good fit, using a dremel and then files, so that the ship rested in the acrylic sheet at the water line.
 
Once this was complete (and I polished out the scratches I accidently made), it was onto the main case. I need to drill four small holes to fit 10mm lengths of 3mm diameter acrylic rod through each hole to act as a rest for the waterline sheet. This was the most tense section as I could easily write off £80 worth of acrylic case. Stacked a load of old paperbacks and a piece of wood to brace the acrylic against. Then VERY carefully drilled a 1mm pilot hole by hand. Using the pilot hole I then used the dremel at its lowest setting to drill 2mm and then 3mm.
 
Everything worked out well and I'm very pleased with the final result.
 

 

 

 
Thank you to everyone who has followed the log and provided encouragement and support. Now I really must get back to my Snake build.....!!

Very impressive Jim, you should be very pleased.  Love the look of the case, well worth the effort and the risk.  Well done on your first completion, a milestone I have yet to reach...

And onto the second of my completed build posts!
 
The last part towards completion was the case. I've hinted that I was going to try something a little different and I'm immensely happy to say that I managed to complete the case without any mishaps. And here is the final result:
 

 
I ordered a wooden base and acrylic case from a supplier and also a sheet of blue acrylic. The sheet of blue acrylic was to simulate water level and I measured up the approx. dimensions of the ship at the water level and then deducted a few mm to be safe. I then cut out the approximate shape of the ship from the acrylic sheet. Then spent a long while iterating towards a good fit, using a dremel and then files, so that the ship rested in the acrylic sheet at the water line.
 
Once this was complete (and I polished out the scratches I accidently made), it was onto the main case. I need to drill four small holes to fit 10mm lengths of 3mm diameter acrylic rod through each hole to act as a rest for the waterline sheet. This was the most tense section as I could easily write off £80 worth of acrylic case. Stacked a load of old paperbacks and a piece of wood to brace the acrylic against. Then VERY carefully drilled a 1mm pilot hole by hand. Using the pilot hole I then used the dremel at its lowest setting to drill 2mm and then 3mm.
 
Everything worked out well and I'm very pleased with the final result.
 

 

 

 
Thank you to everyone who has followed the log and provided encouragement and support. Now I really must get back to my Snake build.....!!

Pictures as promised!
 
This is the display case I received yesterday. Still some work to do on it though......
 

 
Here is the first nun buoy attached to the fore shrouds by two coils of rope. Thicker rope attached the bottom of the buoy is also lashed to the anchor.
 

 

 
And finally added guy pendants to the boom.
 

 
 

And the build is complete!
 
Got all the little bits and pieces finished. Painted all the rigging hooks, added the second nun buoy and rigged to the shroud and anchor, added the last belaying coils and touched up the white paint around the rudder hinges.
 
Really happy with the completed build, and while it is not strictly my first build, it is my first completed build and it feels like a major accomplishment. I've added some images of the completed build itself but still got the completed to case to unveil!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And onto the second of my completed build posts!
 
The last part towards completion was the case. I've hinted that I was going to try something a little different and I'm immensely happy to say that I managed to complete the case without any mishaps. And here is the final result:
 

 
I ordered a wooden base and acrylic case from a supplier and also a sheet of blue acrylic. The sheet of blue acrylic was to simulate water level and I measured up the approx. dimensions of the ship at the water level and then deducted a few mm to be safe. I then cut out the approximate shape of the ship from the acrylic sheet. Then spent a long while iterating towards a good fit, using a dremel and then files, so that the ship rested in the acrylic sheet at the water line.
 
Once this was complete (and I polished out the scratches I accidently made), it was onto the main case. I need to drill four small holes to fit 10mm lengths of 3mm diameter acrylic rod through each hole to act as a rest for the waterline sheet. This was the most tense section as I could easily write off £80 worth of acrylic case. Stacked a load of old paperbacks and a piece of wood to brace the acrylic against. Then VERY carefully drilled a 1mm pilot hole by hand. Using the pilot hole I then used the dremel at its lowest setting to drill 2mm and then 3mm.
 
Everything worked out well and I'm very pleased with the final result.
 

 

 

 
Thank you to everyone who has followed the log and provided encouragement and support. Now I really must get back to my Snake build.....!!

Side project is an electronics project I am putting together.
 
Came off the back of investigating using a micro controller to create flickering LEDs as lanterns on ship builds, something I will incorporate into my Diana build when I finish Snake. I saw using the micro controller to control LEDs in other ways, mainly for creating LED cubes to create a decorative 'show'.

And onto the second of my completed build posts!
 
The last part towards completion was the case. I've hinted that I was going to try something a little different and I'm immensely happy to say that I managed to complete the case without any mishaps. And here is the final result:
 

 
I ordered a wooden base and acrylic case from a supplier and also a sheet of blue acrylic. The sheet of blue acrylic was to simulate water level and I measured up the approx. dimensions of the ship at the water level and then deducted a few mm to be safe. I then cut out the approximate shape of the ship from the acrylic sheet. Then spent a long while iterating towards a good fit, using a dremel and then files, so that the ship rested in the acrylic sheet at the water line.
 
Once this was complete (and I polished out the scratches I accidently made), it was onto the main case. I need to drill four small holes to fit 10mm lengths of 3mm diameter acrylic rod through each hole to act as a rest for the waterline sheet. This was the most tense section as I could easily write off £80 worth of acrylic case. Stacked a load of old paperbacks and a piece of wood to brace the acrylic against. Then VERY carefully drilled a 1mm pilot hole by hand. Using the pilot hole I then used the dremel at its lowest setting to drill 2mm and then 3mm.
 
Everything worked out well and I'm very pleased with the final result.
 

 

 

 
Thank you to everyone who has followed the log and provided encouragement and support. Now I really must get back to my Snake build.....!!