bhermann

Thanks Joe!
 
More unanticipated issues!  I had to redo the trestle trees.  If you look at this photo from my previous post, notice the location of the aft cross tree.

 
There is a slight gap between it and the aft opening of the floor, whereas the forward cross tree is just about even with the forward opening of the floor.  Look also at this photo of my previous post--

 
This is exactly how Petrejus shows it.  However as I began test fitting the bolsters on the trestle trees, and blanks for the topmasts, I began to realize that it wasn't going to work.  There simply wasn't enough room between the cross trees for the mast and topmast to fit correctly, and the bolster to be in the right position on the mainmast.  I thought at first this might be due to the substantial rake of the mast.  But Petrejus' Irene is raked also.  Ahhh, I realized my error.  I had scaled the top down, based on Chapelle's drawing, and the photos of the Jefferson model, whose tops, though I don't have measurements, looked by eye to be slightly on the smaller side.  My mistake was in also scaling down the cross tree spacing.  I had previously been puzzled that the Petrejus' trestle trees seemed too close together for the mast to fit through, and I had adjusted them for my masts.  This should have tipped me off, but I didn't change the cross tree spacing at that time.  Fortunately, the trestle trees were easy to remake, and I could reuse the cross trees.  Here is the new arrangement--
 
 
Testing this with the mast, bolsters and topmasts, I think this will work.   I could now move on to the hounds/bibs.  Blanks are cut and the joints cut.  These need to be thinner than the trestle trees, but I used the same stock, as I don't have any thinner at the moment.   Rather than sand it thinner now (actually it also needs a slight taper), I'm going to assemble them, and then do the final sanding to thickness--


 
Petrejus says that all tops should be parallel with the load water line, though, curiously, Chapelle's drawing shows the tops not at all parallel to the waterline, and not quite perpendicular to the mast--somewhere oddly in between.  I cut the hounds parallel to the waterline and did some rough shaping, testing it against the mast.  Here it is clothes pinned to the mast, and supporting the trestle trees and top, with my template for the rake--

 
The top looks very slightly pitched back, but I think it's actually due to my camera not being exactly level.  That also makes the rake look just a bit more than it really is-


 
Satisfied, I now have a pattern to roughly shape the other pieces.  The rake of the fore mast is less, so that top angle on the hounds will be different--

 
The others will be roughly shaped, tested, and then the contours finalized, along with sanding them to the correct thickness.
 
Ron 
 
 
 

Thanks Dan, and thanks for looking in.
 
With the tops basically formed, I set about making the cross trees and trestle trees.  After the complexity of the tops, they were pretty straightforward.  The main and fore set do need to be slightly different, as the dimensions of the fore mast are very slightly less than the main mast.  Here the main mast trestle and cross trees are temporarily assembled.  There will need to be some adjustments to the length of the pieces--
 
The main top assembly was then checked on the main mast to make sure the trestle tree spacing fit the mast.  The mast top was measured before the notches were cut into the cross trees--


 
The foretop assembly will be checked as well.  You may notice that I worked on the top cleats.  The break of the slope is better when the cleats leave the rim.
 
I am working backwards from the tops, to the trestle/cross trees, to the mast.  The bibs will be made and shaped soon.  All is still in progress.  The shroud futtock plate holes need to be mortised into the tops, as well as some other rigging preparations.  Bolsters need to be added to the trestle trees, and refinements need to be made to the masthead above the top.  
 
On most ships there is a railing on the aft end of the top.  I am omitting it, based on the US Brig Jefferson model by Glenn Greico, which is a similar Great Lakes ship from the same time period.  
 
Ron

I determined that I needed to redo eight of the cleats.   If I were a perfectionist, I would have had to do more (strike that, if I were a perfectionist, I would have to redo them all--for reasons to be noted later).  There were a few that were barely passable, to my standards.  So eight is enough--

 
The eight were made with an extended 'big' end.  After gluing these in place, work was begun infilling the rim with chocks.  Time consuming little pieces--a different angle at each end, and the front ones had to be filed with a curve on the inside, with the outside to be sanded down after all the chocks are glued in.
The top on the right has had all chocks installed, the one on the left is in progress.  And here are the tools used for them (actually there were a couple additional files, and a disc sander used to fine tune the angles)--

 
After gluing in all the chocks, the sides and back were sanded to even out the projecting cleats, and the front sanded to finalize the curve.  Then the top was sanded flat to even out and reduce the height of the rim.   Something to note: the three chocks on each side of the top are wider, to accommodate the shroud futtock plates that will be mortised through them.  They actually overhang a tiny bit on the inside of the rim beneath (which is how Petrejus shows it)--

 
And now the reason all the cleats should be redone:  the break from the flat top of the cleat (embedded in the chocks) to the slope should start where it leaves the chock.  Only a few here and there actually ended up breaking at the right spot.  AND the break should have led to a more gradual reduction in thickness.  I will do some cutting and filing to address the break points, but the slope still won't be quite right. Oh well, I'm pleased with the outcome (though they're not finished yet!)--

 
Seventy some pieces of wood in each of these.
 
Ron
 
 

Finally got around to making the other half of the gooseneck for the foremast. Its been a while coming, LOL
 
I began with a .125 square brass bar and milled it down to .085

Then used a #66 bit to drill a hole for the through bolt that would hold the two halves together

Then drilled another hole into the face of the bar and two more holes into the side of the bar


Then, using a file, joined the two holes to form a slot

Checked the fit of the two halves

Then drilled a hole straight down into the bar to accommodate a piece of brass rod that will be used to attach the gooseneck to the boom

I attached the two halves with a .8 mm bolt and nut and trimmed off the excess


Then used a jeweler’s saw to cut the gooseneck from the bar

Used CA to glue the brass rod into the back side of the gooseneck

This is a picture of the finished gooseneck mounted (simulated) on a brass rod with a piece of dowel for the boom. The boom can swivel port to starboard, slide up and down the brass rod and the gooseneck will allow the boom to lift after the downhaul is set

The deck cradles are simple but need carefully shaped chocks. My first idea was this:

I laid it out on some scrap and cut out a sample piece. This didn't work out very well.

I realized I needed a compound angle for the inside of the chock. To get better dimensions I drew outlines on one of the dories and took my measurements from that.


This time the fit was very good. Only a little sanding and adjustment was needed.

The end that attaches to the main beam has little blocks to locate it. These would be fussy to glue in place individually. Slots were cut in a piece of board which was marked with the correct dimensions. After the glue set I trimmed them to size.

Then it was shellac, sand and paint. A dark grey was used(Model Expo Cannon Black). This was close to the appearance in photos of the prototype. Though it's hard to tell about color in B/W photos.

I've been busy for a couple weeks, Dr. appointments, volunteering with AARP taxaide, projects my wife wanted and some other R&R. Got back to the Bluenose this week. I decided to do something different for a while. I've been thinking about all those dories. They will add a lot to the model even though they'll be a pain.
 
They're interesting historically as well. In the 20s, fishing schooners sailed to the Grand Banks and put out small boats(dories) with two or three man crews who fished from them, returning to the schooner with their catch. Thus the dories add a touch of realism as well as detail to Bluenose. Late Edit; This type of fishing is well described in a classic book "Captains Courageous". Check it out.
 
I built the jig per the instructions. This is a Model Shipways specific item. I don't know how other kits do the dories. If you have another kit brand, I'd like to hear how your kit handles them.
 
The assembly jig is included with the laser cut parts. The dory parts are also laser cut, but from much thinner and more flexible wood. It also appears to be a different type of wood. Somewhat harder and stronger than basswood. The instructions, as usual, are brief, consisting of one diagram and three paragraphs on page 24 of the manual. The details on Sheet 4 of the plans are more helpful. Be aware that the drawings of different parts are at different scales and not marked as to the scale.
 
The layout of the jig is not obvious from looking at it. Pay particular attention to the drawing of the jig with a dory shown in the 3-D drawing on sheet 4. The bow of the dory is the curved end not the straight end. Here's what it should look like:

I did add some spacers and reinforcements. Particularly in the middle where I used a pin to hold the dory bottom in place. This is made of thin basswod and repeated pinning will quickly destroy it. Also, while sufficiently strong for the job, the provided basswood hooks for clamping are easily broken.
 
The wood used for the dories is very tough and springy. There's a lot of pressure required to hold the dory sides against the jig. I found through experimentation that only the two middle clamps were needed. In fact, if all the clamps were used the sides of the dory would not fit together properly. Because of the springy sides a temporary cross brace is need to hold the shape when the dory is removed from the jig.
 
This springy action presents a serious problem. The thin material of the inner frames will collapse when the brace is removed - and it must be removed to stack the dories. I'd like to hear from anyone who has solved this problem and how they did it.
 
TIP: if doing this again I would steam and pre-bend the sides like the hull planks of the ship.
 
Getting the transom aligned is a bit fussy. I used a clamp at the bow to put enough pressure to close the top. PVA was used as the gluing medium. I spread a thin bead using a hypodermic filled with PVA and a medium needle(big enough to really hurt if stuck with). After the PVA set, I removed the dory and applied another bead to the outside for strength. The beads were thin enough they dried completely flat and are essentially invisible. Don't forget the brace!

Technique established. Mass production!

There's still quite a bit of work on these. The frames and transoms and rail caps. lifting ropes and their reinforcements. Accessories; oars, seats, etc. And, of course, paint.
 
 
 
 

Waterline…

Progress…  more sanding and touch up before a semi gloss clear coat.  
 
Cheers 🍻 

Thanks, and you're welcome, JohnLea.  I hope that what I have here is useful for others.
 
With that in mind, more progress on the tops.
 
I had a very slight warp in one of the tops.  The front part curled upwards maybe a millimeter, or a bit less.   I've been keeping it under a weight most of the time, but that hasn't helped.  Getting the idea from Blue Ensign's log on HMS Indefatigable, I tried a heat gun on the piece.  I wasn't sure I used enough heat, I was a bit nervous about it.  But it seems to have worked, and it is flat now--

 
I cut a bunch of blanks for the radial cleats--

 
And glued them together with the barest bit of glue at each end, so they can be uniformly shaped--

 
They first needed to be sanded flat on one side, and the aligned ends squared-- 
 
Then, with knife, chisel, and file, I made a shallow notch on one end.  A good mill would have done this well, and though I sometimes use my rotary tool in the stand as a mill, I felt it was going to be too difficult to be as precise as I needed to be here.  The pieces are so lightly glued that they didn't stay together, and now I have four groups.  You can see how the notch fits over the rim of the top--
 
 
As I began to shape the tops of the cleats, one broke off, and I shaped this one individually, as a master to guide the rest--

 
My procedure ended up being to file the rounded part at the 'big' end first, and then chisel and file down the flatter part.  It's not exactly flat, it does have a slight taper to the end--

 
A few more groups broke apart, but here they are shaped and lined back up--

 
Into the bath of isopropyl alcohol--

 
I'm very impatient with this alcohol business.  I've never been able to wait until pieces just fall apart.  After a couple hours the glue was weakened enough that I could pry them apart with my fingers, without worrying about breaking them--
  
 
Out of the bath they dried quickly and they were test fit to the tops--

 
I did not anticipate that the severely skewed pieces along the back of the top, especially the corner ones, would need to be different, with the 'big' end lengthened (and/or the notch underneath cut farther back).   I'll see if these are salvageable, but I may have to remake a few cleats.
 
The big ends are just a bit taller than they will be when finished.  There are chocks that will need to be fit between each cleat, on top of the rim, and then when all is glued up, the rim will be finally sanded flat to the correct height.
 
Ron
 
 
 

Hi Gregg
 
Your Bluenose looks great!
 
I have a more labour intensive, but perhaps also more satisfying solution - at least if I understand your issue correctly. If you can access some 1/16" basswood sheets at a local hobby or craft store I would recommend grabbing one and using that to make the rails. You can make the forward and stern parts by making templates from the plans You can then modify these templates to suit the model as built and then use the modified template to cut out the parts from the basswood sheet.
 
The main parts of the rails can be made by laying the sheet along the bulwarks and tracing the hull curve onto it from below. Cut out this tracing and then use a protractor to mark out the width - don't forget mark out where the pin rail and cathead extensions are before cutting it out. I did this for my scratch Bluenose and it worked fine
hamilton

The front border of top #1 was shaped, and the same procedure followed for top #2.  I did reduce the number of sections in the curve-
  
 
The light pencil line was traced from the BOTTOM side of the top, just as a check to make sure the pieces would fill in the curve correctly.  Next, it was glued to the floor along just the curved edge.  While that was weighted and drying, a paper template was placed on the floor within the rim of top #1, and the locations of the radial cleats was marked--

 
Here the front edge of top #2 has been sanded--
  
 
The line of the back edge has been drawn by eye in pencil, and the piece is scored lightly with a knife, repeated a few times, but not cut all the way through--
 
 
The waste is cut away with a chisel because I felt I had more control and didn't want to cut into the floor below, as I knew there would need to be some refinement of the shape.  There is no glue under the waste area, so once the chisel cuts through, the pieces detach easily--

 
The width was checked with a caliper, and further shaped where needed with sanding on the outside edge, or the knife and chisel on the inside edge.
 
Here is the current state of the two tops (one upside down)--

 
Oh, and I did today's pair of carronade tackle blocks.
 
Ron
 

Well, it's been several weeks since I posted an update, and I'm at a bit of a major transition point, so thought I would write out an update...
 
HULL SANDING - I left off in late January where I had finished the hull planking and it was time to sand... so sand I did... and fill... and some more sanding.  Got the hull looking about as good as I think it could, with some more improvements possible after working on the bulwarks and decking, but before priming/painting. 
 
     
 
      
 

 
DECK PLANKING - So, next up was planking the deck!  As was instructed in the plans, I first placed the waterway planks between the bulkhead stanchions.  Then, working from the center keel out, laid the planks, alternating between port and starboard sides.  In staggering the planking butts, I used a 5-3-1-4-2 planking sequence.  As I was planking the fore deck, I forgot to color the edges to simulate the tar caulking! Oops!  Other than that, the fore deck planking was pretty straight-forward without a lot of tapering required.
 
The quarter deck, however, was a different story, as I needed to taper every plank beginning at about Bulkhead K-L out to Bulkhead O and the transom area.  The Acco clips were useful in the deck planking (as they were also with the hull planking) to press the planks against one another to avoid gaps, and I also used some new binders from Excel (the blue clamps in a couple of the pictures) that were helpful where I could not use the Acco clips.
 
All in all, though, I'm pleased with the look of the decking, despite the difference in the caulking appearance.  I have not yet applied anything to the wood, as I will do all that in the painting process.
 
      
 
           
 
        
 
BULWARKS & STANCHIONS (ROUND 1) - Time to work on the bulwark strakes and associated pieces above the deck!  Thought I would first work on the knighthead and hawse timbers.  The plans called for placing two pieces of hawse timbers on either side of Bulkhead A with the knighthead in front of it.  I decided to make this all one piece, and removed the Bulkhead A stanchion.  I then made a small chafe block for the anchor, and will drill the holes at a later stage.  
 
     
 
Next thing to work on were the fake stanchions.  Placed the waist strake in its place and marked where the existing bulkhead stanchions were.  Then measured an equal 1/3 and 1/3 distance between the bulkhead stanchions to determine where the two fake stanchions would be placed.  Used my new The Chopper cutting tool to measure and cut a whole bunch of fake stanchions.  After I had placed all of the new fake stanchions, I noticed (like almost every other build log I had reviewed previously) that the existing bulkhead stanchions looked horrible next to the nice fake ones, so... they had to go!
 
Once I got done, though, with the stanchions and the planks with scuppers (used a file to create those) and the waist, I was not pleased with how it all looked.  I had done a poor job in setting the bulwark planks and waist and decided the best thing to do was.... do it over!
 
      
 
      
 

 
BULWARKS & STANCHIONS (ROUND 2) - So, after removing what I had previously done, I was left this time with no bulkhead stanchions to use as guides for where the planks would rest against, so first thing I decided I needed to do was to "replace" those bulkhead stanchion locations.  Once those were relocated, I followed the same procedure I had done previously in marking where the remaining stanchions would be placed evenly on each side, and... it went much more smoothly.  The scuppers all looked much better, and the bulwark plank and waist set well against each stanchion.  After that was done, I sanded the tops of fake stanchions that peeked over the tops of the waist planks, in order to ensure that the mail rail (when it comes time to placing it) would set firmly on top of the waist and stanchions with no gaps.
 
        
 

 
TRANSOM - I have struggled with the transom work on the Bluenose.  Still not sure if I've done it the best way.  Was having a difficult time with the kit-supplied quarter frames and braces that go above the stern block.  After a couple of different options, I used a 1/8" wide filler piece on each side extending from Bulkhead O to the stern, and formed two 1/16" x 1/2" pieces for the stern transom.  In keeping it at the same extended angle as the stern block, however, I have some concerns on how the main rail will set, and how far back it may be sitting, especially with the main sheet boom buffer and its buffer platform legs under the main rail.
 
        
 
             
 
I will take some additional pictures to better depict my concerns.  I "think" it will all come out ok, but... I'm still a newbie on these matters!
 
WHAT'S NEXT? - Well, after I settle on how the transom will be completed and how the main rail will sit, it's about time to begin some painting!  In my three previous builds, I simply did the old-school brush painting on everything, but have decided to learn how to airbrush for this Bluenose, primarily just for the hull painting and the inner bulwarks and stanchions, although other airbrush painting applications may arise on this build as I become more comfortable in using it.  Plenty of practice sessions before doing anything on the ship, though!!
 
Appreciate all comments and critiques!  
 
 

I purchased Chuck's ropewalk a couple years ago.  I put it together at that time, but was too intimidated to use it (and I didn't have a pressing need for any line).  With my fresh shipbuilding vigor, I decided now is the time to take the plunge--
 
 
I figured I would have many failed attempts before I got the hang of it, but it worked out great!  Maybe beginner's luck, but on the first try I actually ended up with a decent rope--

 
I think it could have been a little tighter, and it's not any particular circumference or diameter that I need, but I'm confident now that I can make what I will need for Oneida's rigging.
 
 On to the top(s).  I cut and glued up the floor for the second top, and started on the piece that overhangs the edges.  No problem on the straight pieces, but the curved front is a challenge.  I don't have an easy way to make a piece large enough, at the thinness required (about 1" scale) to make it in one piece, so I thought I'd do it this way--

 
Very tedious, but I think this will work, if it doesn't disintegrate when I shave it down to match the curve of the top.  This (and the straight pieces) need to overhang the floor halfway--
 
 
I also completed another pair of carronade tackle blocks.  My goal is to do one pair a day.  If I can do that, they'll be done in another couple weeks!
 
Ron

Thanks, Ed, for the encouragement.  I can't predict when the urge to work takes me, but it's on for the moment!
 
I continued on with the top.  Both the main and fore top will be the same.  I ended up using a very small chisel to pare down the glued up sections of the top, so they would interlock as Petrejus described--


 
The photo below shows that I have some more work to do before the overlap sits flush--

 
Once I was satisfied, I glued the pieces together--

 
After the floor of the top was one piece and the straight areas trimmed, I rubber cemented the pattern to it, to sand down the curved areas--

 
After sanding the curved area--

 
This is about 1mm thick--

 
Just a note on the color of these pear wood strips.  For the first time, I've cut my own strip wood.  The darker streaks are burn marks from the saw blade.  Another learning curve to master.  The tops are going to be stained black in the end, so it's okay.  In fact, once it's stained I don't think you'll be able to see that there are 20 individual pieces making up this floor.  Petrejus says there are 65 pieces in the finished top. 
 
I didn't make any more carronade tackle blocks!
 
Ron
 
 

My recent work on Euryalus has actually given me some motivation to do some work on Oneida.
 
I am in the middle of stropping blocks for the carronade tackle, and it's not a task I enjoy.   I need 64 blocks, 32 with hooks, and 32 with a hook and loop. (I don't remember the correct term.  I'll look it up and edit this later.)   There's a photo of a pair in post #645.
 
So I can only do a few before losing patience.  I decided to work on the masts; specifically the crosstrees and tops, to break the exasperation of the blocks.  Here is Chapelle's spar drawing for Oneida--

 
Not much detail. It looks like the crosstrees, but without the platform?   I'm taking the crosstree dimension, which happens to be 6', and using that to size everything else.
 
Using Petrejus' book on Irene as a guide, I've scaled the top to the size I need, and cut some strips for the platform floor--

 
These were glued, and now they need to be filed (I can't think of another way I can do this) so they are "let into each other with a half and half dap."  Easier said than done considering how thin these are.
 
Here's a shot of the floor planks glued together into the four groups, (not yet "dapped" into each other), my small but growing number of stropped blocks, and the materials going into this work--

 
Ron  

Responding to the February 18th post (don't know how I missed it at the time), I realized after I had installed my chanplates that they actually sit flush with the hull and not proud of it as I did them.  I think this may inform the decision whether you include them or not - they would not be very apparent at the 1:64 scale we are building at.
 
Good luck with figuring out the sails, there are too many options to think about and it has brought my build to a halt for years.  Cloth sails in general are too thick to maintain scale.  I am considering doing them anyway, or maybe doing paper strips to build each sail panel by panel.  In any case making photocopies is a good idea!
 
Your work is looking very good to this Bluenose builder!
 
Bob

I thought I would shift focus and move on to sails for the time being.  I had a friend give me the patterns for his Bluenose sails but they weren't the correct scale. I also wasn't sure if the kit provided me with enough material to make the sails; considering I will likely have to remake a few of them as a learning exercise.  
 

 
I went to our local Fabric shop and picked up some material that was similar to the material provided in the kit.  I don't know if the material is to proper scale (thickness) but for now it will do.  I also picked up some tracing paper and started tracing out the sails.
 

 
I plan on photocopying the patterns before I attempt to use them.  I have a feeling the copies will be needed.
 
I have been loosely following Bob Hunt's practicum.  However, with the Bluenose he does not cover the sails.  His practicum is for a ship without sails.  His series of practicums increase in skill level as the builder moves from one practicum to the next.  With the Bluenose he didn't cover the sails as this practicum was designed for the beginner.  Luckily I do have a couple of articles on sail making and, of course, I got all the information at my fingertips on this forum. 

Thanks for looking, in and for the encouragement. Another brief update. First, the full set of fore yards are done, save for painting, footropes, and blocks, as well as the main course yard. Looking at the photo, I see that the main course yard is upside down compared to everything else. Oh well. Even if I wanted to make more yards now, I doubt I have enough eyebolts left, so, an order needs to be made.
 

 
Which means, of course, that it's back to tying ratlines. Or as that old corporate adage goes, the ratlines will continue until morale improves.
 

 
The good news is that it feels like I'll soon be exiting this long phase during which lots of stuff is being done, but the ship isn't changing its appearance much. It's been two months since I started tying ratlines (and making yards and gin blocks, and cranes) and probably another 3-5 more weeks on the starboard ratlines (during which I'll paint the fore yards and mount the footropes). But once that is done, the ship should start changing appearance at a reasonable pace which will be a relief.
 
As always, thanks for looking in!
 
Regards,
George K

While looking for some tools I need, I saw this chain. It may be a better match for the original drive chain of the Bluenose. Mine is already fixed in place and I don't want to tear it up again. Anyway, for those of you who are looking here's the URL: https://www.micromark.com/Tamiya-Ladder-Chain-Sprocket-Set

Well a brief update. Work continues apace on the yards. I had already made the main course, and I decided I would make all 5 yards for the foremast before I restart knot tying. Probably a mistake b/c no doubt I will lose some of my facility with the knots picked up over the previous several weeks, but well, damn the torpedoes and all that. So, here are the first 4, top to bottom main course yard, fore course yard, fore top yard, fore royal yard. The fore topgallant yard is missing because I wound up binning two of them, one after my drill bit basically chunked out the underside, and a second after it snapped while I was sanding the yardarm.
 

 
The metal piece attached to the truss is going to wrap around the mast and then be trimmed to size to represent the iron work. It's 0.002 in thick brass that I cut from a sheet. One thing I have learned is for the small diameter yards is to only sand the yardarms out on the live end of lathe. Once that end is made, I reverse the yard and once again sand at the live end. Hopefully I won't bin any more due to stress failure of the narrow dowels.
 
The one thing not yet on the yards are the sheet blocks (present on the course and top yards) which were iron and hang from under the yard. I tried a bunch of things that did not work to make the blocks, but I think I have something that works now. Here is a photo of the first one.
 

 
The block is hanging from the wood strip which I am going to trim down to just above the single nail on the top and CA glue to the yard. I made the frames from two square pieces of 0.002 inch brass sheet, which I sat on top of each other, held together with some Tamiya tape. I then drilled the three holes, 2 on the bottom, and one on the top. I ran small brass nails through the holes in one sheet. On the two bottom nails I slid some tiny parrel bead to space the top and bottom frames, and on the top, I put a small wood strip with a hole drilled into it and the used my dremel to create a rounded end so that there would be some space. Next, I put the other piece of brass sheet with holes on, sending the nails through the holes and used CA glue on the outside to hold everything in place. trimmed the nails, used my dremel to shape the brass so that it has the shape above (basically 3 intersecting circles). When I mount them, I'm going to keep chain in place, they were far to much of a pain to try to thread them on the mast, on the ship. That probably means some wasted chain, but I'd rather buy more chain than become completely frustrated by my inability to get it in place.
 
Anyways, thanks for looking in!
 
Regards,
George K.
 
 

The engine box is a more complicated structure. It's really two boxes and has a number of details. Once again, to simplify construction, I started with a solid block. The block was cut to rough size and sanded to finished size using a disc sander. The layout for cuts to make the smaller box was marked.

A mill was used to remove the waste material. A mill was also used to cut the slots for the clutch lever and drive shaft. The slots were then squared off with a fine square file.

A thin piece of wood from some of the dory scrap was used for the top of the motor box and drive shaft box. A scalpel was used to score lines in the boxes to simulate separate boxes, top door and removable side panel.

The boxes were painted and a blackened brass flat installed. The usual process; sand, shellac, fine sand, primer, sand, airbrush finish color. Brass Black was used to blacken the clutch lever. The lever was sharpened on one end and inserted into the slot using a pin-pusher.
The motor box is far forward where there is significant slope to the deck. This means the box must be on a level platform. To determine the correct slope a bubble level was used to first level the ship. The level was then placed on top of the motor box and shims added to bring it level. The necessary thickness could then be measured from the shim stack.

Temporary coamings were added to provide a spacing reference for the finished coaming.  The correct thickness shim was added to the aft end of the box.

Coaming pieces were then glued around the bottom using the temporary guides. After the glue set a line was marked and a scalpel used to trim the slope into the coaming.

While waiting for the glue to dry, some thin brass strip was used to make the hinges. These things are really, really tiny and hard to hold while filing to shape. A small hemostat seemed to work best. Finicky work. Lost one of the hinges twice. A tiny dab of PVA was applied where each hinge goes and the hinges cemented in place. Magnifier and tweezer work here.

Next the coaming was masked off and trim color applied. After the paint dried the motor box, chain box, companion way, skylight and galley stack were cemented to the deck using PVA. My anchor chain arrived a couple days ago. I blackened the chain with Brass Black and added it  to the ship to get the full effect.

 
 

The forward companionway was next. The photos of the original ship were used for construction and the plans scaled for size. A small block was cut to size and squared off using my X-Y table and drill press technique. Note: a harder wood such as boxwood or pine is much easier to get a precise cut.

Next a line was drawn on the side of the block for the slope of the top. A second line was drawn 2mm parallel with the first. The block was clamped in the vise along the second line. This allowed the mill to cut all the way to the edge of the block. The waste part was then milled off.

The front half of the box was hollowed out, then the box was rotated to make the slope perpendicular. The back half was then hollowed out with the mill.

Because the bottom of the box was cut out, a black paper was glued to the bottom of the box using the same technique as the skylight.
To make the rounded cover I sliced a small piece from an appropriate size of dowel. In this case an old closet rod was just right.

The back of the interior and inside bottom was painted flat black, the top burnt umber to match the skylight and the rest white.

The coaming was added and painted to match the other coamings. I didn't quite like the way it looked with the opening. I added one of the boards that close of the hatch when it's not in use. That, of course, would not be the way it was actually used but looks much better.

Hull ready for waterline…

Her bottom will be painted red below the waterline.  After taking another look at her deck, I decided she needed a redress of the deck planking. Just wasn’t satisfied with the finish. 
 

More sanding… 😆

Although it's not on the plans, photos show a guard for the windlass gear and it's counter gear. In the early days of machinery there was not a lot of thought given to safety. It may be the ship was built without the guard and it was added later after a mishap. That was added to the model along with the quadrants and simulated shackles. The side plates of the chain were also painted with flat black. The original pawl for the windlass was missing. I'm waiting for that part from Model Shipways.


The jumbo jib horse and formast/mainmast eyebolts were added at this time.

The machinery is cruder than I would like. That's a limitation of the castings. Plus I would have to invest heavily in machine tools to make better ones. Or, as discussed previously, print the parts. While not perfect, the machinery adds pleasing detail to the model at viewing distance.
 

So, a few updates during my break from tying ratline knots. First, I made the remaining 3 gin blocks I need for the trusses on the topsail yards. They still need to be painted, but you can see how I made them from some of my (dwindling) stock of 1/32 x 1/64 brass.
 

 
I've also done almost all of the work on the main course yard. At 1/8" = 1 foot, 1 inch ironwork would be 0.25 mm thick, and most of available sizes of brass were way more than that, so I made the iron bands from copper tape that I cut to the proper width. For the mast bands and the yardarm ironwork I took the approach shown at the top of Fig 73 below - basically use the tape to create the bands/ironwork, then drill holes in the band and put in eyebolts to represent the attachment points that were more like those shown at the top of Fig 72 from the instructions.
 

 
The truss was made from 1/32 by 1/16 brass that I drilled a hole in, and then inserted a brass belaying ping in (having cut off most of the pin's head) to act as the link between the truss and the mast band. It was glued onto the yard, and the copper tape "iron bands" wrapped over the mounting point for extra strength, and to mimic the attachment points between the truss and band. I tried a bunch of ways to make the sheet fairlead. At the end of the day, I drilled a hole in the yard, inserted an eyebolt, and then used the eyebolt to guide the copper tape that represents the mast band that the fairlead is attached to. I think it turned out okay, and will look better once painted. The yard currently looks like the below:
 

 

 
I'm still missing the iron sheet block. Several fabrication methods have thus far failed, so I'm going to get some thin sheet styrene to make the two sides of the block body, and I have some parrel beads that should actually be a pretty good set of "rollers", either glued in place, or using a small nail to allow them to rotate. We'll see what works.
 
So, the plan for the moment is to finish up the main and fore course yards, and then get tying knots again. I've been thinking about the best way to start raising the yards, and I think I'm going to work fore to aft, finishing each mast (including the gaffs, but not the braces) before moving on. The logic here is that the bulk of the rigging is to the rear of the masts, so it will be the most accessible that way. I'll probably break up the tedium with more yards, and hopefully I can start on the running rigging pretty quickly once the ratlines are done. We shall see.
 
As always, thanks for looking in!
 
Regards,
George K
 
 
 

The machinery is mounted. The dimensions on the drawing were pretty close. The boom crutch needed a little adjustment. There's a certain amount of fudging due to the crudeness of the parts. To make the parts sturdy I put locating holes in the supports and deck, then placed pins in them. I had previously left the bottoms of the windlass, boom crutch and counter gear supports unpainted. PVA was used to cement them in place. Some touch-up was needed after handling them extensively while positioning.
 
Because the machinery is non-operating, I was able to simplify installing the chain. Normally a chain has a master link inserted to tie it together. At this scale that would be very difficult. As it happened the chain broke again during installation. Luckily, it broke at exactly the right length. That saved another chain repair. To tie the ends, they were placed as they would lie on the sprocket and glued in place. the sprocket was then rotated so the glued ends were out of sight. I put a little CA on the other sprocket just make it more robust. The chain droops very realistically. Just like the photos.
 
There is still the guard on the gears, the quadrants and the windlass pawls to install. I may also paint the chain side plates. The real chain would not have been shiny like the roller chain. That will also make the chain a little sturdier. Then it's back to cabinet making.