Jim Lad

Coming along very nicely, Bob.
 
John

Beautifully precise work as usual, Glenn!
 
John

Brilliant solution to fitting the bulwatks, Pat.  She's looking very nice indeed.
 
John

Pat, she looks a beautiful ship.
 
It's a pity that so much of our early history has disappeared - especially considering that it doesn't go back very far!
 
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

She's looking absolutely beautiful, Mark.  Well done, mate!
 
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

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

Nice to see her forging ahead again, Stuart.
 
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

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

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

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

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

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

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
 





 

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

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

Absolutely beautiful work, Pawel.
 
John