Jim Lad

Thanks, Popeye. John

A very ineresting looking model, Mike. John

Coming along very nicely, Bob. John

Beautifully precise work as usual, Glenn! John

Denis, sorry, but I don't have any photos of my mast hoop process, but I'll try and explain what I do. Some time a go I noticed that a very nice piece of pine I was planing for a job around the house was producing very nice, even, shavings, so I saved the shavings (as we model makers do) and have used them for mast hoops ever since. The shavings are quite thin (having come off a wood plane) and about 3/4 of an inch wide. To make the hoops, I find a dowell or anything else round, for that matter, that has a diameter slightly greater than that part of the mast just above the deck where the hoops will rest on the model to use as a 'former'. I then wrap some paper or plastic kitchen film - much wider than the wood shaving - tightly around the 'former' and hold it in place at each end with elastic bands. Once that's on the 'former', I simply paint a length of shaving with white wood glue and wrap it carefully around the 'former' between the two elastic bands. This process needs to be done fairly gently to avoid splitting or cracking the shaving. Simply wrap the glued shaving around the 'former' until you have a reasonable thickness of wood (I do this by eye), and then hold the shaving in place with another elastic band while the glue dries. Once the glue has hardened, take off all the elastic bands and slide your wooden shaving tube off the 'former'. this 'tube' can now be carefully sliced into narrow sections to use as hoops. If your 'former' is of scrap wood, then you can use it as a cutting block to avoid crushing the tube of shaving while you cut it. It is far easier to clean the paper of kitchen film off the inside of the individual hoops than to try to clean up the entire shaving tube in one go. I hope this makes my process clear to you - if not, then just give me a yell and I'll try and clarify it. It looks clear to me because I can see the process happening in my mind as I type this, but in might not be quite as clear to anyone trying to figure it out! John

Congratulations on the completion of a fine model, Russ. You should be proud of her. John

Nice to see her forging ahead again, Stuart. John

Painstaking work, Michael, but she's getting there! John

Absolutely beautiful work, Pawel. John

Rob, model making is an affair of the heart and a journey of discovery. It looks like you've made a pretty good fist of your Constitution, so if your heart says that you really want to try the Morgan, then I'd say go for it. If you start a build log here you'll not only have your wife to encourage you, but the MSW family as well. John

Thanks for the encouragement, Cathead. John

Russ, I agree with Bob - she looks really nice with all those sails set. John

Bob, the cabin trial fit looks very nice - she's going to be a little beauty. John PS - Michael, it will be 37 c here today!

Another possibility is to use this model as a practice bed for planking. You could try planking the second side after reading some of the information in the tuorials pointed out by EJ and then, if you wanted, use filler to smooth out your errors and paint the hull in the colours of the original. That way you'd get some excellent practice in planking and still end up with a very presentable model if the planking didn't work out to plan. John

One closed and one open - I like that. John

Hey, Popeye, I think you built most of this one while we were away in the U.K. and I missed it. She looks really good, mate - a fine little model. If you're still looking for mast hoop methods, I make mine from wood shavings. just wrap the glue soaked shaving around a suitably sized dowel and allow to dry and harden ( it can be held in shape by an elastic band), then cut into thin sections. Of course the dowel will need something around it to stop the shaving sticking to it - I usually use a bit of kitchen cling film. John

That looks very nicely done, indeed. John

Very neatly done, Keith. John

Thanks to Grant, Bob and all those who have pressed the 'like' button. Your encouragement is really appreciated. Grant - I'm still thinking through the next one, but it will probably be a far more complex project than my past couple of builds. John

Just catching up, Maury. She's really looking 'the ants pants'. John

Thanks, Pat! John

Thanks, Russ! John

I got quite a bit of work done at the museum yesterday, but naturally not nearly as much as I hoped to get done. Both booms and the mizzen gaff are now rigged, leaving only the main gaff to rig plus the running stays to set up before I can go on to the final detail. he detail consists of the flying topmast on the main; cleaning up all the 'Irish pennants" around the boat and finally fixing the standing rigging; rope coils; sidelights; anchor rigging; lifebuoys and footropes on the main mast - the mizzen only has a couple of spars on which the lifebuoys are housed. I've tried including some 'baggy wrinkle' on the topping lifts as this is a very prominent feature on the photos of the 'Pritt'. After several false starts, I ended up using chenille yarn through which I sewed the lifts. Not a perfect solution, but it looks OK on the model. I may have to experiment further in case I want to do the same on a future model. Some photos of the current 'state of play' are below. John

Absolutely first class, Mark. It's always a joy to see an update of your lovely little yacht. John

Very nice indeed, Mark! John