Mike Y

Hi Michel,
 
No, your model is quite awesome! You should really start the log and post more. There is always some other log that looks better, that is not an excuse   And we all are masters of finding flaws in our models, so it's never perfect...
 
Have you built yours out of the Lumberyard "timbering package" or entirely from scratch (plans only)? Haven't seen any Lumberyard based build logs, frankly... Would be very interesting to see!
The scrolls under your quarter gallery look laser cut, so that's why I thought about a package  

Found my rhythm and finally produced first parts!
Admittedly got carried away with the shape of these mast posts, they are supposed to be much more boxy-looking and utilitarian. I was inspired by a few other models with very elegant posts For the same aesthetic reasons iron bolts are omitted and edges are aligned with the run of the planking.
I really love the look of curvy pear parts, big fat black dots would spoil it a bit. And after all these parts would be hidden deep in the hold.
It is more labor intense without a disk sander, so shaping and beveling involved a lot of chiseling. Though it is a pleasure with a nice and honed chisel.

The most pleasuring moment was chamfering these edges with some relaxing background music Super happy, the joy is back!
 
Finished with my new go-to finish Osmo Polyx 3062. Contemplating leaving smaller parts unfinished later during the build, but these are right next to the dark shiny pear frames, would be too much of a contrast. 
Before and after the finishing, side by side:

 
In the hull (dry fitted). Quite ashamed with the quality of planking at the bow, who left all these giant gaps? 🫣 Did not look that bad on photos from 2021...
No big deal, it only means I should be more careful next time. Also spotted an obvious misplacement of the top breast hook notch, it was the same guys fault. I was too young back then  


 

Thanks everyone for your support! Ron, can definitely recognise that  
 
Toni, thanks, will try that approach too. Inserting a pattern between the frames is a nice benefit of keeping one side unplanked, but haven't tried taping smaller pieces together.

Mast steps are not complicated, but struggling with pattern transfer. 
Feeling like I miss some obvious tricks? Even thought about making a miniature duplicator tool with toothpicks instead of metal pins
Would appreciate your advice!
 
First I tried to make patterns like on a full scale - by gluing small rectangles on a piece of card. That way works great for real boats, but is very awkward and potentially messy on a small scale.
But I like that tiny plastic vernier gauge! Got a few of those to measure spacing inside the hull without scratching it.

 
Then I just traced a frame pattern on a piece of card and eyeballed the other side. That is less complicated than I thought, but takes a lot of fine tuning (counter light helps too). But feels like an art rather than a reliable and repeatable method.
Though should admit - trimming and cutting card is quite satisfying!
Is that how everyone is doing it or is there is an easy way?   

Practicing the quiet modelling (in preparation for the evening sessions) - tried a coping saw instead of a bandsaw. The dust extraction problem solved itself, vacuum hose fits perfectly between the clamps:

Finally - the rough pear blanks are cut and I hope to shape them into beautiful parts in the upcoming days! 
I really aint much, but a little symbolic step towards the healthy hobby routine

Now it's time to build magazines and all sorts of decks and beams. For that phase an accurate depth gauge is essential, so I've let my brain overthink yet another tool 
 
The requirements are:
1) Soft plastic or wood to avoid scratching the model
2) Nice looking and pleasure to use, that tool would be in active service for at least a decade.
3) Ideally it should have a thumbwheel or a knob for fine adjustment. 
 
I have a cheap plastic vernier calliper that satisfies the first requirement, but it does not have an knob / thumbwheel.

Could not find any plastic callipers with a knob, unfortunately. The plastic ones are already rare enough, let alone with a wheel adjuster.
 
Then I spotted a Lego set with a container loader ("reach stacker", to be more precise) that has a worm gear and tried to make an abomination out of it. It is surprisingly challenging to build a compact functional tool out of random lego parts, a whole puzzle of its own. Respect to people who do it on a regular basis!

It kind of works, but the play and precision is not good enough for my needs. 
So I gave up on the wheel adjuster requirement and went back to the simple "calliper on a gantry" setup.
It was a nice warmup to recover some skills that I've lost over years of inactivity.
 

This time I even got help from my little helper! She enjoyed cranking the mill  

 
The resulting design has two parts - sliding gantry (no t-tracks, it is stable enough on its own) and a "calliper holder" that slides sideways on the gantry to allow the gantry keep contact with both sides of the baseboard.
The bottom edge of the caliper is trimmed to a flatter profile to avoid hitting the keelson. Both ends of the calliper can be used for a markup to allow for a comfortable pencil positioning.
The setup relies on three clamps to fix everything in position. These plastic clamps are a bit of an eyesore, maybe I will sidetrack again to build a nicer ones  


 
 

That would at least be a lot cheaper, but alas, the fabric of my shirts is a lot cruder than Navarra Fine Lawn White. I'm just a simple man....

Dear Jules,
Interpreting written sources is always dangerous. I don't have to remind you of the numerous deaths of people who were victim of different interpretations of religious written sources. The nasty reason is that people tend to select the interpretation that suits them best and completely ignore different signals.  A nice example is the Witsen drawing you show in #159 (V), where the bottom is planked and the bilge is not (yet). The next drawing in line is the one I showed in #155 (X), where the bilge is planked and an angle does show up. That's pure logic: before a shipbuilder starts planking, he flattens the frames to give the plank a solid landing, as you can see here on this picture, taken at the Statenjacht Utrecht shipyard:

 
I did not write Witsen's book, I am only comparing it to wreck finds and experiments with models and replicas and over and over again Witsen proved to be a trustful source. If you don't agree with my conclusions, that is alright with me. You are completely free to choose your own interpretations. Better even: write them down and publish them. Different ideas are often useful.  The only hesitation I have with your perseverance is a suspicion that you don't want to be convinced. I remember a former sort like discussion, in which you came into a forum as a fresh new member, stating that you had proof of 17th century Dutch shipbuilders designing their ships on paper, referring to a painting by Rembrandt. All the evidence of the contrary was denied and the discussion ended in a chaos. I am afraid this is a repetition. 
Again, I don't care if you think differently than I do on some matters. You are free to do so as you are also free to make your beliefs public. I don't feel attacked, but please stop bothering me, more or less demanding to agree with you in matters where we think differently. We are here to enjoy our hobby and some people like to hear opinions about the roots of the full-size industry. I pass through what I think I know (which is in fact very little) and if you have problems with what I say, I deeply apologize. Life is complicated enough without useless discussions.
Again I wish you all the best with your model of de Gouden Leeuw. Maybe you should post your work here. That would give a good basis for discussion. Better than this one, I'm afraid.
Best,
Ab
 

Hi Group,
As I use my Taig Mill exclusively, this is another tool that needs a home.  Works great, however for larger scales - 1/36 and above its a bit small for my needs.  Any offers are appreciated via PM

To allanyed: Material used for this part is boxwood. The part is made using a cnc milling machine, which enables precise milling from both sides. The procedure can be seen in the photos in post 8.
I continue with the construction of the wing transom.
     

When cutting the ledges into individual pieces I first tried passing it through the blade with the notched side down.
That was a mistake as the blade tore the nubs off.
Then I turned it over and all was good.

The battens were cut with the same setup with less concern for what side was up or down.
The assembly was done on the build jig.

When the white PVA glue was dry the sides were sanded square and the top of the battens flush with the top of the ledge nubs.
Here is the result of my very first grating ever.

Presently all the Orlop deck beams are temporarily glued in place to mark all the notch locations for carlings.
They will be removed to cut these notches on the bench as, try as I might, I could not manage to do them on the model.
It is a combination of the depth in the hull, the size of chisels I have and my skill level/confidence at this stage.
Possibly the higher decks might be a bit easier???
 
 
 

Not only it has incredible details, but it definitely has a charm and very well designed! Can easily imagine it as a movie set  A pleasure to look at!

Not only it has incredible details, but it definitely has a charm and very well designed! Can easily imagine it as a movie set  A pleasure to look at!

Not only it has incredible details, but it definitely has a charm and very well designed! Can easily imagine it as a movie set  A pleasure to look at!

Not only it has incredible details, but it definitely has a charm and very well designed! Can easily imagine it as a movie set  A pleasure to look at!

Not only it has incredible details, but it definitely has a charm and very well designed! Can easily imagine it as a movie set  A pleasure to look at!

Not only it has incredible details, but it definitely has a charm and very well designed! Can easily imagine it as a movie set  A pleasure to look at!

The Ghost Ship Jenny is complete!  Before I get to the final update, I want to give sincere thanks to everyone that followed along on this short but entertaining journey:  @Keith Black, @Knocklouder, @Ian_Grant, @gsdpic, @gjdale, @Scottish Guy, @FriedClams, @Canute, @Javelin, @mtaylor, @GrandpaPhil, @Thukydides, @Bryan Woods, @JacquesCousteau, @John Fox III, @hollowneck, @Landlubber Mike, @ccoyle, @Coyote_6, @BLACK VIKING, @CiscoH, @Rik Thistle, @Ryland Craze, @Paul Le Wol, @Mike Y.  I can never thank y'all enough for your support, suggestions, critiques, and humor!
 
Now the final update.  To finish up the Jenny, I wanted to mount the bottle on something that would look a bit spooky, maybe a little eerie - something that would add to the mystique of a ghost ship.  A while back, I found this root ball from a fallen cedar tree that looked cool (actually a juniper tree, but we call them cedars in Austin).  I kept it knowing that I’d eventually find a use for it.  

The bottle and the root ball turned out to be a perfect match.  The root ball rests stable and level on its side, and the bottle fits right in between the “tines” of the roots.   The cedar wood is very hard, weather resistant, and lasts forever.  They are commonly used for barbed wire fence posts around here.  However, they will still flake off strands of thin bark so I decided to seal the surface, trying to keep as much of the natural color as possible.  I ended up doing a 50/50 mix of Minwax semi-gloss poly and thinner.  The mix kept the poly from darkening the wood too much and allowing the natural variations to show through.

Here’s the completed project.

 

It is interesting to see the difference between the European and US/Canadian situations.  In the States, there are few contests and a few non-competitive shows.  Although some models are built by people who accept commissions, I would not describe them as professional modelers.  Your Pegasus is beautiful and deserves to be appreciated by the modelling community.

It's been a month of many things. Spring has sprung, grass cutting, readying the patio, preparing the flower and vegetable gardens for later next month.
 
All the orlop deck stairways are installed.
Made some of the standard knees but they are not installed as yet.
I've got 12 of 23 gratings sets made.
I won't be posting anything until I've got them all assembled and installed.

Rather then continue work on my standard knees, grating, decking or the last of the three stairways to the hold, I decided it was time to tackle the thing I've been avoiding... the hawse holes.  The contract states they are 15" diameter, 15/64" at scale.  I first double checked my heights then drilled my pilot holes at 5/64".

Next, with a new sharp bit,  I drilled one inboard hawse hole very carefully and slowly with a backing board held on the inside.
Success!  That was easy.
Drilled the outboard hole and it happened. She split and flew off.
That was unexpected.

I setup the other side with clamps to help hold her together.
The outboard face of each of those holes have tear out chips in them!

So, I did the only thing left to do.
Glued the broken piece back on, clamped it up and left the room.

I won't be back working on her until Monday afternoon.
Good night world.
😉

It has been an interesting week.  Lots to report!
 
I installed all the beams and hadn't really notice "it" yet. Just in the zone happily moving along with things.
Started putting in the carlings and as I approached midships it became obvious.
 
What shall I do about it? Installing the orlop deck was meant to be a learning experience to prepare me for those above. The orlop deck was decidedly too deep for anything to be readily noticeable, so lets just move on.
 
Installed all the carlings and it was still there taunting me... "what?" you ask... the hump!!
The aft and fore are high and the deck does a gentle slope downwards towards the midships... or at least that what it looks like on the plans.
Mine has a noticeable rise or camel hump in it. I just won't look at it... but it is still there.
 
I decided to work on the ledgers and needed to make card templates as seen above. I installed them low, down on top of the deck clamp as their thickness plus the grating thickness equalled the beam height. This made sense to me. I could find no photos to suggest I was right.
 
I woke up this morning having made a determined decision in my sleep. I should have dealt with it, the hump, when I first noticed it. I hope this time I've finally learnt that lesson!
I measured the damage... about half a deck clamp in height. How it happened is of no importance, besides, I don't know the answer. Possibly my deck clamps slipped under the  wooden clamps used to hold it in place when glued.
 
I determined which deck beams needed to come out. Cut the smaller carlings with my snips and used my flat nosed parallel pliers to persuade the larger ones to come out... almost like pulling teeth. Used the same pliers to remove the deck beams.
 
Marked the deck clamps and chiselled out the material to, at best, make the hump flat with the lowest points either side of it as seen above.

Reinstalled the beams and checked for flatness. Success! Glued and weighted them down until the glue sets up.

I feel much better about it now. When all is said and done I'll be thinking of how I corrected it, not how it is still hidden down there.
 

I had the opportunity to take part in a European championship a few years ago with my 'Amarante' and, frankly, I realised that these types of competitions, at least in Europe, are completely distorted by rampant hypocrisy, inept judges who don't even know the basics of naval architecture, and verdicts already written before they even begin! By now, the most important federations (French, Belgian, German) snub these competitions while they are very committed to non-competitive events (such as the next international meeting to be held in Evian), leaving the competitions to the Eastern European countries whose participants for the most part are professional modellers who profit from their works, which are perfect because they are for the most part made in 3D technique and CNC machines, against which even the best manual artist cannot compete!
Therefore, at least until this stagnant situation can be changed, my Pegasus will not take medals! 🙂
 
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more....

As always, thanks for the likes.  I do appreciate you all following along.  After all the metal work of making the chain plates, backstay plates, eye bolts, and deadeye strops, I decided I'd work on a relatively straight forward sub assembly.  I went ahead and installed the rudder, and gudgeons and pintels (I had shaped the rudder itself a couple of months ago).  I used Chuck's mini kit for those.  You have a choice in the mini kit of .010" thick paperboard material or .028" thick plywood.  I opted for the thicker plywood and sanded it down to .018" thick.  By my eye that's a good compromise.  I used .020" diameter styrene rod for the bolts.  Yes, yes, I know it's probably sacrilege among purists to use plastic on a wooden ship build.  Haha.  But since the bolt heads are covered in paint I chose the easier to cut and work with styrene rather than metal wire.  Everything was painted with black paint and then once mounted I taped the simulated metal straps off and applied rust brown weathering powder. I haven't glued the rudder on yet.  I'll do that at a later date after I drill the final hole to mount the tiller (I did drill a small pilot/locator hole though).  That said, the rudder sits correctly straight and true with the pintels snugged down into the gudgeons.
 
On a related note, I received the last few packages of blocks I'll need for the build, and a serving machine, from Chuck this week.  If I'm inventorying correctly, I think that may be the last stuff I need to complete the build.
 
Erik

So over lunch today I walked up to the local hardware store (located dangerously close to my house) and picked up a tap & die set to resolve the mounting question asked above - thanks again Dave and VTHokiEE! It took about 1 minute to tap the mounting holes I drilled out yesterday and I was very relieved to find that I hadn't drilled the holes out too wide for the 6-32 tap. A small step, but this lightened up a huge area of ignorance for me in terms of this aspect of modelling. Here are some photos, just to liven things up a bit, though they may not be of much intrinsic interest. The second shot is of the tiny puncture made by the awl - hard to get focus on this.....
hamilton