GeneralNuisance

Starting off I wanted to do something small I could work into my rotation as I finish off Essex so I took to the anchors. I’ve seen some different choices for paint/staining on these and I opted for enamel paints. It gives it a little more of a shine than I’d prefer to be there so I’m not totally sold on whether I’ll keep this paint or strip it and add another. I found some difficulty in finding a glue that would properly bond the two parts of the anchor—which is part of the reason I went with the enamel because it acts like its own glue, though if anyone has some suggestions for another material I’d happily hear it out.

Got the yards on the mizzen finished. Next up will be lines and then the long work of sheets before I reach the finishing touches.

Got back to the shipyard and finished off the yards on the main mast. Of course I realized I somehow forgot one of the yards for the mizzen, so I’ll have to backtrack to get that together before I can put the finishing touches on the yard rigging.

Finished the yards today, time for a few days off for a family Christmas.

The first deviation is in the stern. After looking at the historical paintings, modern depictions (Heart of the Sea was a big inspiration), and watching videos from Home Harbor on YouTube, I opted for a different layout. This allowed for the eagle insignia as well as the placement of the name plate which, in this case, was made from some gold stickers. Finding the eagle was the real struggle, I bought a 100 pack of assorted eagle pendants online and the quarter style eagle ended up being the only one that fit… and so it became the eagle on the stern. You’ll also notice I added rudder chains that weren’t in the original build and while I know these wouldn’t sag this much on the real ship, again, I find the look of it like this to be striking and so artistry won over accuracy. Another change I made was in the tryworks. While the original style called for an exposed brick layout, I preferred the idea of a tarred or painted brick oven and so I went with that. Historically accurate? Probably not but it fits better with the aesthetic I’m going for. Next is the alterations in the deck. You’ll notice the weathering as I like to make my ships look as though they’ve been sailed for a few seasons rather than being the off the lot clean. My practical time on a ship then has shown me how quickly the paint on deck wears down so I think it has, once again, a nice look to it. In addition to this I made the decision of cutting an actual hole into the deck for the hatchway, I painted the interior black to lend a greater effect and depth. You’ll also notice the sharpening wheel and the coil of rope, again, for greater effect. I altered the wheel rigging as well into something functional. Now if I turn it the rudder will turn! Which I just found neat. Some barrels for texture. Finally I added a spritsail yard. The reason for this is, firstly, aesthetic, but also because in a great many of the paintings of the ship the spritsail yard is present (and once again it offers more line texturing so it got included).

This is more a “final lap” type of post as I didn’t start it when I began the build but rather here during the final stages of getting the yards, rigging, and sails completed. Fortunately the rigging is where I think it all comes together. One thing I learned in this build was the history of coppering and so when learning about this I needed to add this as a feature as I think it adds a certain pop. This is a bit of a deviation from the build recommendation but as I refuse to pay the 50 odd bucks for the Occre paint I think I prefer it. That being said I didn’t go with the more accurate planking version but rather settled for applying it, at times unevenly. Does it look as good as if I applied the rivets and such? No, but it doesn’t really bother me as the overall effect is striking and it’s only upon close inspection that anyone would notice (and even then the only ones who would notice would be other shipbuilders). Next post will be the major deviations and modifications from the kit as it’s intended to be built.

As a final note the rigging is, to the best of my ability, accurate to the original and would be fully functional if allowed to move.

And finally we arrive at the rigging and sheets. From the top, main, and staysail. To the outer. And finally the inner. These properly scaled sheets were made for me by a friend who recently passed from a sudden heart attack. I’m grateful to her for this gift and it’s a nice way to honor her memory to have it included in my finished model. As I said at the beginning, I completed this model in November of 2024 and it stands as one of the best pieces I’ve done in terms of lessons learned. The ship is mounted on a piece of retired topsail yard from the original ship which I feel gives it a little extra personality. Thanks for reading along, next time I’ll have an actual log to follow along with as opposed to this log which has been retroactively reassembled. Im currently in the final stages of the Essex with the Endurance sitting and waiting to start.

Deck detail. So first up I had to create a windless that matched the style of the ship’s while also maintaining the scale. This was the result. Other than it being a little taller than the real life version it stands as a faithful recreation. And what model would be complete without a few nods to friends. The friend who made my jacket regularly leaves his hat on the ship’s stovepipe so I wanted to throw it in as a little tribute to him. Finally we have the ship’s name plate and the small boat the Little Belt. While the recreation has an inflatable dinghy on the rear I, of course, wanted to spring for something a little more authentic (and make use of the small boat included in the Albatros) Much like the ratlines this is another one of those things that sits on the to do list to be redone at a later date with gold sticker letters.

Having the boatswain as a contact in my phone also proved immensely helpful. And thank you!

Alright, now time for the confession. This bit contains my biggest goof up and that is the use of an elastic like on the ratlines. As I realized too late this puts too much tension on the line causing it to twist. I ended up using toothpicks here for the lower wooden rungs on the ratlines. Yeah… ugly. I’m still not totally happy with this and one day I’ll likely go back and fix it but I just need to will myself to cut down the rigging and start over… which is easier said than done. With the rest of the rigging and sheets in place though this problem is not as noticeable as you’ll see in future comments.

Time for line work. I’m really pleased with how these turned out and I’ve found that the rigging is really what makes the builds shine.

Next came something I dreaded most of all: MATH. Now the bowspirt of the Albatros is far shorter than that of the Friends and so I had to figure out what the length of it would be given the length of the hull. Now there’s a reason I got an English and a theology degree, because math is not my specialty. That being said I managed to deduct the equation to get the proportions correct (shocking I know) and the bowsprit and mast came out around the size it should be. I should also offer some credit to @kruginmi and his build log for the ship as it gave me a lot to work with to get it right.

This is where it gets fun because just like with the real ship it’s time to play with the long gun! Fortunately in the category of “close enough” we have the long guns from the Albatros which when adjusted for scale become the perfect size for the 9 lb long gun. I really love how this turned out.

Next came the bulkheads and tiller. The Albatros came with more than enough material to put these together and from there it was just a matter of eyeballing it to get it “close enough” I actually really enjoyed making the tiller because that was mostly hand carved. Above it I placed a box that’s used to store excess mainsail line.