jim_smits

Started work on the channels.
 
The kit comes with deadeye strops that fit into a hole drilled in the channel notches. These strike me as not only a poor shape, having a flat profile as opposed to circular, but also the strop is 'split' and seems weak to me. So I decided to create my own deadeye strops from 0.5mm brass wire.
 
Firstly created a coil of brass wire by wrapping the wire around a 6mm diameter dowel. I then used a pair of snips to cut rings from the coil to use as the strops.
 

 
Each ring is manipulated to bring the ends together with a good edge and the tension holding the ends together, ready for soldering.
 

 
Added a little blob of silver solder and flux paste.
 

 
Used a butane soldering torch on a low flame to carefully solder the ends together to form a complete ring.
 

 
The ring can then be bent around a deadeye to form the strop.
 


 
I completed three deadeyes and strops, added the rest of the chainplate assembly and painted with primer and then black. Added the three assemblies to the channel and then glued the capping bar in place.
 

 
Glued and pinned the channel to the ship just below the capping rail and drilled and pinned the chainplates to the wale and touched up with black paint.
 

 

 
Just need to repeat another three times.....
 
 
 

Started work on the channels.
 
The kit comes with deadeye strops that fit into a hole drilled in the channel notches. These strike me as not only a poor shape, having a flat profile as opposed to circular, but also the strop is 'split' and seems weak to me. So I decided to create my own deadeye strops from 0.5mm brass wire.
 
Firstly created a coil of brass wire by wrapping the wire around a 6mm diameter dowel. I then used a pair of snips to cut rings from the coil to use as the strops.
 

 
Each ring is manipulated to bring the ends together with a good edge and the tension holding the ends together, ready for soldering.
 

 
Added a little blob of silver solder and flux paste.
 

 
Used a butane soldering torch on a low flame to carefully solder the ends together to form a complete ring.
 

 
The ring can then be bent around a deadeye to form the strop.
 


 
I completed three deadeyes and strops, added the rest of the chainplate assembly and painted with primer and then black. Added the three assemblies to the channel and then glued the capping bar in place.
 

 
Glued and pinned the channel to the ship just below the capping rail and drilled and pinned the chainplates to the wale and touched up with black paint.
 

 

 
Just need to repeat another three times.....
 
 
 

Ok Folks... Ta Daaaa the Deck is done !!     (Insert Happy Dance Here!)
 
I corrected the Asymmetry as best I could though there is one fairly obvious place which stands out, the For'ad most Port/Stbd 'nibble' in the margin plank are not in line, hopefully it will be camouflaged by Ropes from the Belaying Pins for the fore mast (all those following in my wake with a Ballahoo please keep an eye out for this Asymmetry when lining up the deck before gluing it onto the Bulkheads to begin with.. not exactly sure where it originated admittedly, but it was most likely was a result of me being a tad careless!!   though I did spot the issue way back when I placed the deck paper template I made in place so perhaps it wasn't all me..  )
Anyhoo.. I finished the deck with a scraper and sanding (it will most likely get some more later) then cleaned it off (note it isn't as dark as it appears in the photos, that is just a result of my gentle wiping with a small amount of White Spirits)
 
Next up.. the Spirketting then finish painting the insides of the Bulwarks & Gunports (two per side have to be cut to the Cap Rail !)
 
Thanks for stopping by Folks
 
Eamonn
 

Result!
 
Managed to get the technique to work and I will now be applying this to all my future block stropping.
 
Looped some thread around the block and fixed with a tiny spot of cyano.
 

 
Threaded an eyelet over one end of the thread and doubled back over the block and fixed with a clip.
 

 

 
Next, seized the three lengths of thread together to give the impression of a simple loop around the block and eyelet.
 

 
Once the seizing was completed, I soaked the area in diluted PVA and allowed to dry. Once dried, all the loose ends were trimmed off with a sharp knife. This left a very nice tidy block stropped to an eyelet. Very happy with the result.
 

 
Repeated for four sets of blocks and glued in place on the bulwark. Fixed the carronade in place and threaded the rigging through all the blocks. Really pleased with the result and just three more carronades to go.
 

Hi mate,
 
I actually went back and re-did my gammoning on the bowsprit and added in some cleats to aid the gammoning process. Looked fine as I painted but not sure how to achieve this on a wood finish.
 
Jim

You've done my trick Stergios.....!
 
Wrong log....!

You've done my trick Stergios.....!
 
Wrong log....!

Another quick update. (in the correct build log this time......)
 
Last for a few days as I am off camping in Weymouth for a few days.
 
Just a slight update on the carronade rigging. Decided to frape the loose thread around the tackle to leave a tidy finish, painted with diluted PVA and then trimmed off the excess thread. Might not be historically accurate to any degree but it leaves a neat and tidy finish I am happy with.
 
 

Another quick update. (in the correct build log this time......)
 
Last for a few days as I am off camping in Weymouth for a few days.
 
Just a slight update on the carronade rigging. Decided to frape the loose thread around the tackle to leave a tidy finish, painted with diluted PVA and then trimmed off the excess thread. Might not be historically accurate to any degree but it leaves a neat and tidy finish I am happy with.
 
 

Busy on the build again.
 
I put the bowspirit together a little while ago as a distraction whilst doing the Carronades.
 
Reasonably easy to put together, I cut the main dowel to length and cut and sanded the end to an angle to fit the deck and slot into the forward bitt. Slightly tricky and tedious part was fitting the bowspirit cap. Having to file the two holes to allow the correct angle to fit the bowspirit and the jibboom took a while. Once complete this was glued in place and filler used to smooth the joint.
 
Added the jibbom saddle and the slotted the jibboom through the bowspirit cap and glued into place. Then added the gammoning to the bowspirit and jibboom and secured in place with some watered PVA.
 
Next was the dolphin striker and the stay bee. Pretty straight forward, although have to be very careful with the striker as I imagine would be very easy to break. Also, added a pin on the bottom to attach the spar later on.
 
Finally, fitted the blocks and deadeyes. This took a fair while to work out how I was going to attach all the blocks. In the end I decided to tie the heart block onto a length of thread and then attach the deadeyes using separate threads tied around each. Worked ok I think.

Whoops! Wrong build log should be on the Ballahoo....

I'll shift this post when I get back.
 
UPDATE - post deleted and added to Ballahoo

Mainly a photo update of the quarter deck. The skylight, mizzen timber bitt, ships wheel, main grating with the capstan platform and hatch and ladder have now all been made up and added.
 
Skylight and mizzen bitt


 
Grating

 
Capstan


 
Ships Wheel


 
Quarter deck so far

 
 

Cheers as always Eamonn.
 
Made a start on the carronades today. The kit supplied carronades are pretty basic, there are simple blocks for the stand with no rear wheel detail, the elevation screws were very bent and one had snapped, and the carronade itself does not have a ring for the breaching rope.
 
First step - cut off the dodgy screws and replace with some 1mm brass rod. Not perfect but it will do.
 

 
Second step - cut a notch out of the rear block and sanded the two remaining square to rounded 'wheel' shapes.
 

 

 
Third step - drilled a couple of small 0.5mm holes and added small 0.5mm brass wire for the breaching ring.
 

 

 
Just need to repeat for all four carronades, drill holes for eyepins and paint.

Hi Stergios,
 
I've fixed the missing pictures in that series of posts.
 
As for the anchor rope, I used a 2mm rope ought from Cornwall Model Boats, cant remember the make though.
 
Jim

My personal "taste" of coloring (using dark-mate varnish) of the capstan and companionway.
The walnut parts of the kit were too pale in my opinion...

Cheers Eamonn.
 
The gap at the rudder was as small as I could get. It is basically the width of the eyelet used as the hinge.

Further build update for everyone. Thanks for the likes and comments as always!
 
The four carronades are now in and 95% rigged up. I just need to decide what I am going to do with the trailing ropes and whether to have them coiled on deck or lashed up to the tackle or a combination. Any suggestions?
At the moment I am leaning towards lashing to the tackle as it looks clean and tidy and because coils are a pain.....!
 

 
In addition to the carronades I have added the deck eyelets....
 

 

 

 
And finally added in the rudder post and painted as per the waterline. Getting the eyelets and the brass rod to line up perfectly for the rudder hinges was slightly tricky but got there in the end.
 

 
I've also cut out and sanded the tiller piece and drilled holes for the pin. I have shown the tiller in place but I will wait to glue in place for a while as it is screaming break me......
 

Jesse - thanks for the kind words, just sharing the learning experience I'm going through.
 
And thanks for the 'likes'....
 
Finishing up the mizzen topmast ratlines, these are proving to be quite challeging as the shrouds don't have anywhere near as much tension as the others due to the fact they transfer all tension to the lower shrouds/futtock stave and would pull that all askew.  With all the other ratlines, they tend to want to pull the shrouds together, here, the shrouds are thinner line and close together and its the opposite effect where the ratlines want to push them apart.  Anyway, its coming together.
 
Bit of a diversion, as next step will be to rig the mizzen backstays and there were a couple of items I wanted to get done before the backstays make access a bit more difficult.  Installed a copper 'sheet' where the driver gaff will go (yes, its a spare copper plate from the hull rolled as flat as I can to get rid of the bumps - it looks better in person and should tone down with age.)  Its an approximation and not mentioned in instructions, but adds a bit more interest.  The tops are shaped to the angle the gaff will sit at once installed.
 

 
Next up was installing a saddle which again is not mentioned in the instructions.  This was a square strip of styrene bent to shape.
 

 
I've stared at the driver boom and gaff jaws ever since I opened the box and wondered how they would look.  Well, I got my answer, pretty awful - they just look a bit big and flat, and didn't look that great to my eye.  Anyway, I dutifully assembled these and then decided to try to improve them by building up with some spare walnut and then sanding to shape.  I much prefer the end result.
 
Built up with spare strip wood and roughly shaped

 
Finished driver boom, iron bands simulated with paper, ring bolts and holes not added yet, more work to do on the boom itself first.  The 'out of box' solution is next to it.

 
Driver boom in place sitting on its saddle.  Still maybe a little big (?) but I'm happy.  Now to do the driver gaff which will be a little more tricky because of the angle that needs to be built into the jaws.

Two down..... Two to go......
 
Glad there are only four to rig up, but I may have to steel myself when I build another larger ship........
 

Hi Jason
I had the same issue with the position of the futtock staves on the mizzen. I ended up moving them a further 1cm up if I remember correctly.

The latest shots of her.
Thank you

Deck eyelets firmly fixed in place (after pre-drilled 0,5 mm holes) without any glue....
 

Two down..... Two to go......
 
Glad there are only four to rig up, but I may have to steel myself when I build another larger ship........
 

Result!
 
Managed to get the technique to work and I will now be applying this to all my future block stropping.
 
Looped some thread around the block and fixed with a tiny spot of cyano.
 

 
Threaded an eyelet over one end of the thread and doubled back over the block and fixed with a clip.
 

 

 
Next, seized the three lengths of thread together to give the impression of a simple loop around the block and eyelet.
 

 
Once the seizing was completed, I soaked the area in diluted PVA and allowed to dry. Once dried, all the loose ends were trimmed off with a sharp knife. This left a very nice tidy block stropped to an eyelet. Very happy with the result.
 

 
Repeated for four sets of blocks and glued in place on the bulwark. Fixed the carronade in place and threaded the rigging through all the blocks. Really pleased with the result and just three more carronades to go.
 

Result!
 
Managed to get the technique to work and I will now be applying this to all my future block stropping.
 
Looped some thread around the block and fixed with a tiny spot of cyano.
 

 
Threaded an eyelet over one end of the thread and doubled back over the block and fixed with a clip.
 

 

 
Next, seized the three lengths of thread together to give the impression of a simple loop around the block and eyelet.
 

 
Once the seizing was completed, I soaked the area in diluted PVA and allowed to dry. Once dried, all the loose ends were trimmed off with a sharp knife. This left a very nice tidy block stropped to an eyelet. Very happy with the result.
 

 
Repeated for four sets of blocks and glued in place on the bulwark. Fixed the carronade in place and threaded the rigging through all the blocks. Really pleased with the result and just three more carronades to go.