bhermann

Some interesting progress on the Fish. After my error described in the last post, I made 32, 18 mm circumference wire loops and fitted them to 32 of the largest deadeyes, pushing the wire into the channel in the deadeyes and leaving a rectangular section at one end to insert blackened brass strip that will become the chain plate. Actually, I probably made more like 60 of the loops, as, in the process of fitting the loops around the deadeyes and forming the attachment point, I think I snapped one for every one that was successfully manufactured. Nevertheless, they are made and ready to start installation.
 
I had cut the chains according to the patterns on the plans so that the chainplates will align with the shrouds. This meant that each plate would have to be of a different length in order to ensure that the bottoms of the preventers would run (more or less) along the same line. So, I measured the distance between the lower chains and the top of the preventer off the plans and put a piece of Tamiya tape on the hull so that the top of the tape is where I wanted to upper bolt on the preventer to end.
 
(it's about 6 mm). I then took a deadeye with the brass strip attached, fitted it to the correct pair of cutouts on the chains, and carefully bent the brass strip so that the it would hit the hull at the top of the tape. I then put the bent deadeye/chainplate into a jig to hold it in place, and carefully drilled two holes 4 mm apart. (the lines are 4 mm).

 
I did this for the 6 chainplates the hold the shrouds (in this case for the port side main mast) and marked them with tape so I'd know which is which. Next I removed the tape and used CA glue to attach the 6 chainplates to the chains, but didn't glue where they attach to the hull.
 

 
From there, I glued a pre-painted black strip over the two chains, since the plates are not on the outer edge of the chains, but rather pass through. I only covered the shroud plates at this time, as I will need to do something similar for the backstays.
 

 
Finally, I used a pin vise to drill holes in the hull for the bolts, and used small nails dipped in CA to secure them in place.
 

 
It's not perfect, but this is the 'non-display' side and I suspect I will get better as I go. It is definitely better than I did with the Niagara, and I think that the concept is generally sound. Here is another view:
 

 
I also built up the core of the lower mizzen mast. It is solid, not built, but I turned it more or less the same way I did the other masts because it struck me as easier to wind up with a nice square core where the top will live rather than trying to cut out a square from round stock. Anyway, I think it looks nice.
 

 
One question. I've been detailing and painting the ship's boats, and I was wondering about how standardized the loadings of them would have been. The plans say to set all three boats on the deckhouse with the boat bows facing forward. They would seem to 'pack' better, with more room on the the roof of the deckhouse if the cutter and the Captain's gig had their bows facing aft and the longboat had its bow facing forward. One of the boats needs a bit of touch up before I mount it, but I would be curious if anyone has any thoughts here.
 

 
As always, thanks for looking in and the encouragement!
 
Regards,
George K

Installed the starboard side chainplates today.
 
I used the 3 tools pictured here: a 1/32 drill bit mounted in a pin vice, a #11 knife and a 1/32 PCB drill bit. I received a set of the PCB drill bits for Christmas but haven't used them much as they seem to screw themselves into material rather than drilling a hole and clearing the shavings as a regular drill bit does. If you look closely your can see the difference between the bit in the pin vice and the PCB bit. While I'm not familiar with the correct names of drill bit parts, the PCB bit is more like a screw. But I found it works rather well when used as a file in this application to elongate the drilled holes.
 

 
I started out by drilling 1/32 holes for each of the 5 chainplates and then used the PCB bit and #11 blade to elongate them.
 

 
Wanting a strong bond to the hull, I sanded off a section of paint so that the chainplates would adhere directly to the wood  instead of the paint.
 

 
I used CA to attach the chainplates to the hull and added some small nails to simulate bolts. These small nail heads probable won't be very visible once painted but I thought they were a nice detail, even if only I know that they are there. This is the forward starboard side.
 

 
This is the aft starboard side where I had to be a bit more precise with my drilling. The slot for the chainplate needed to go through the monkey rail, stay on the outboard side of the the monkey board and then through the main rail.
 

 
Once I finish up the port side I will re-paint the hull.

Thanks for your comments Wally and Dave, these are the drawings from LB Jenson book the Bluenose 11 (these are to help with my build if not allowed please delete)
He shows a drawing of the Bluenose which I have used for stove and chimney and the other two show the inside of the Schooner Caroline Rose.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This is part of the Captain cabin
 
 https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1024x768q90/924/YClH68.jpg
 
This is where I am now and will paint it white inside.
 
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1024x768q90/922/5t7AHq.jpg
 
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1024x768q90/922/ekzQVo.jpg
 
Will be adding some curtains where their beds go
 
Also got the cove painted and also the bowsprit painted and installed 
 
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1024x768q90/922/JPAVrw.jpg
 
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1024x768q90/922/nzcGYk.jpg
 
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1024x768q90/922/MpwQQ4.jpg
 
Until next time
 
Regards
Richard
 

Getting close to a year without a post 🤔 where does time go 🙄
 
A while ago I started making some parts inside the main cabin, used the information from LB Jensons book but they are not from the Bluenose, they are based on photographs of the Schooner Caroline Rose.
 

 

 
Just wondering if the inside would be painted white 
 
Regards
Richard
 
 
 
 

Keeping up with a clean work area and a beautiful Bluenose.

Second dry fitted mast in place.
So far so good. 
But I never realised the shere height of
masts from waterline
.

My masting in works.

 
Sorry for America and Syren in the background.😁😉

Hi all, 
I have been slowly making progress.  But I have made progress.  I find it amazing that what I think will take 15 minutes takes an hour to rig.  I find that I run a line, then find it wrapped around something or needs to be run differently not to fowl another line, etc.   Then I have to pull it out and re-rig it another time or two.  It's taking much longer than I anticipated.   However, it's fun when I'm not getting aggravated at reworking lines.  One step forward, two steps (or more) back.  
 
This is where I'm at tonight. 

When I rigged  the mast I braced around the yards as I worked from bottom to top. I didn't have any of the actual brace lines rigged.  Per Harry's (HOF) recommendation, I will wait until the end to rig the actual braces.  I just lightly glued the yards into position. This allowed me to run all of the rigging through the fairleads and to the pins as I rigged.  I glued the lines to the pins as I went and this allowed for a very clean process.  However there was a price.  I had a heck of a time running the lines with the yards braced around. Maybe I should have rigged top to bottom?  Anyway For the main mast I decided not to brace the yards around. I'm running all of the lines through the fairlead board (where applicable) then through the fairleads on the shrouds and then I just pulling the lines through the rail to the outboard of the ship. My thought is that at the end, I move the yards  (brace) into their final position and adjust the tension on the lines and belay the lines to the pins, let it sit for a few days and adjust any tension needed, then glue the lines to the pins.  So far,  I've gotten the course through the t-gallant rigged and it seems to be working ok.  
 
here's a shot.  I have taken more photos and will post them after I move them from my camera to the computer. 
 
Take care, stay well, and stay safe. 
best, 
marc
 
A few shots of the model 
 
 

 
Main mast -rigging is loose

 
Aft fore mast rail 

 
 

 
main mast progress. loose rigging

 
Aft side of the main mast spider band - work in progress

I have also shaped the masts (bottom parts).
Once shaped the will get a coat of pine varnish and clear varnish on top of that. 

I have surely not payed enough attention to this girl, but in the background changes and movement forward has occured.
One area is the cabin furniture, the skylight gave me some headache about centering. Then I thought about tape, this way I could get the skylight perfect in all locations.
 

 

 

 

Took forever but all the chainplates are finished and ready to install. Now just have to work up the courage to mark the locations and start drilling the holes for them.
 

 
 

Well, it's been almost a month since the last update. Partially because the work I was doing was repetitive and not changing the appearance of the ship all that much, partially because I spent some time visiting my older daughter in Boise, and partially because I've had a long list of backed up house maintenance items that needed completion. However, an update on some progress that has been made.
 
First, I turned the lower foremast the same as the lower main. The result (unpainted, but in situ) are shown below. 
 

 
It isn't much different, the dimensions of the built portions are about 3/8 inch shorter, the square element only 1/8 inch shorter, reflecting the relatively similar sizes of the two built spars.
 
Next, I built the windlass handles on the poop deck. I used a slightly different design than shown in the diagrams which struck me as being sturdier. In any case it is installed:
 

 
Most of the rest of the work has been to build out the chains and the chain plates. First the chains, the upper chains flat, the lower chains wider at the root and narrower at the plate end. Notches were made for the various chain plates and then they were painted, the necessary eyebolts added, and installed on the port and starboard sides of the ship. I set the notches up according to the plans so that when the plates are added, they should align with the direction of the relevant shroud or stay. Once the plates are made, I will add a thin, black painted strip to the outer ends to retain the plates and deadeyes.
 

 

 
Finally, I've begun making the deadeyes. I started by making 32 wire loops from 17 mm pieces of 24 gauge wire as below:
 

 
Unfortunately, they all needed to be about 1 mm longer to readily fit around the deadeyes and leave enough room for the blackened brass strip that is the plate itself to fit in, so I've been making new ones from 18 mm of 24 gauge brass wire. I've also ordered a set of better drill bits, as the ones I have are really terrible for cutting the nail holes in the brass strip. By the time that they arrive I hope to have all of the shroud deadeyes stropped and ready for fitting on the ship and the plates ready to be cut to length and have the necessary holes drilled for the nails that are representing the bolts.
 
Until then, more soldering.
 
As always, thanks for looking in, and for the likes and encouragement.
 
Regards,
George K
 

Thanks all for looking in, comments, and hitting the like.  
 
Continuing with the rudder work, here are the rudder chains, and tiller parts--
 

 
 
The chains are test for the length and drape--
 

 
 
And after blackening, attached--
 

 
 
I cringe at the poor planking of the transom (some shrinkage gaps), and my less-than-precise painting!
 
After gluing the tiller to the rudder head, I realized I need to drill some holes for eyebolts for the tiller rope.  Of course, this should have been done before gluing the tiller on--
 

 
 
Here are the eyebolts and tiller ropes attached--
 

 
 
Then threaded through the blocks on the bulwarks, and back through the blocks on the tiller--
 

 
 
Ah, but what to do with the loose ends?   In the Charles G. Davis illustration that I followed for this, the ropes go to a ship's wheel.  But there is no wheel in this case.  I reasoned that there should be cleats on the bulwarks to fasten the ropes to.  These had to be added--
 

 
 
I'm not sure why Lieutenant Woolsey decided to take a nap during this work.  Maybe he overindulged last night.
 
After tying the rope off to the cleat, a rough coil was made by wrapping the rope (wet with diluted PVA) around a drill bit--
 

 
 
This was draped over the cleat, with much massaging and rewetting, to try and get it to hang sort of realistically--
 

 

 
 
After finishing this (of course), I remembered that one of Bernard Frolich's brig models with a tiller may have shown me what to do here.   I checked, and yes, there are cleats on the bulwarks.  However, the arrangement of the blocks and rope is a little different, and it looks functionally superior to what I did.    
 
Here is yours truly working--
 

 
 
Ron

Brief masting update. As you will recall, I made a first pass at the main mast using a 1/4 by 1/4 inch core, and 1/4 by 3/16 inch "wings" using 3/16 by 3/16 inch inserts to mimic the wedges where the mast hoops went, and that the mast was unusable because it was poorly centered. I made another pass at this as below:
 
The center piece on the right side has the top of the spar marked, where I will need to trim some to fit the mast cap, and continues into the chuck on the left side (which will be the end that is inserted into the deck. This yielded the following mast:
 

 
It wasn't perfect, but it seemed usable until I stupidly cut off the mast top rather than the base so that it would fit properly into the ship. In any case, even though it felt usable, I wasn't happy with it. It looked a lot like the picture of the model, but not like the plans. Looking at them more carefully, I noticed that although mast should be 1/4" square at the cap end, the core of the mast was 3/16" at scale, not 1/4". So, I took the same strategy as before, except that the core piece was 3/16" square, the "wings" were 3/16" square, and the wedges made of 3/16" square material. After lathing, I got something that I was much happier with, as shown here sitting in its location on the ship:

 
It's even and more obviously a built mast. I'm happy with this one, and will make the second one the same way. The mast isn't complete, I will need to sheath the core with 1/32" wood on all of flat surfaces in order to obtain the 1/4" diameter up to the mast cap. but on the whole I'm satisfied.
 
Incidentally, I went to the store the other day to get some more 3/16 square basswood stock and they had none. The guy at the store seemed to indicate that they aren't getting much. Big chunks of this mast were made from 3/16" square stock that I built from spare 1/16 by 3/16" stock. It turned just fine, so I will probably get rid of a bunch of such stock making the foremast.
 
As always, thanks for looking in.
 
George K
 

A brief update.
 
Over the last several days, I completed the taffrail, although it required making each piece something like three times. For ease of construction, I split the taffrail into 5 sections, a (roughly) semicircular stern, two straight segments that I was able to dry bend to follow the curve of the hull without problem, and two quadrant shaped sections that were the forward terminus. The stanchions are Britannia castings that had small centering knobs on both ends. I carved the after segment out of a piece of 1/16 thick basswood, and then drilled holes approximately 9 mm apart that were used to center the glued stanchions. I then filled in any gaps with putty and sanded the top of the rail as below:
 

 
You will note that the centering pin on the bottom of the stanchions have been removed. Based on my experience making the taffrail, I wanted nothing to do with drilling the topgallant rail, and anyway, trying to locate the holes struck me as virtually impossible, so I cut off the centering pins and ground the bottoms of the stanchions flat. They were then painted white and made ready to install.
 
In the meantime I had to make the part of the taffrail that would have the belaying pins. My original thought was to drill holes 9 mm apart for the stanchions. After those holes had been drilled, in the sections with the belaying pins, I would move 1.5 mm forward of the stanchion hole and drill a belaying pin hole, shift 3 mm drill a belaying pin whole, and then shift 3 mm and drill another belaying pin whole, at that point 1.5 mm from the next stanchion. Locate the stanchion, rinse, repeat. That would yield a uniform row of 3 mm spaced (center to center) belaying pin holes that straddled the stanchions. Unfortunately, 1.5 mm was too close for holes that were about 1 mm, and inevitably I would get split wood. So, I made a slight change, spacing the stanchions 10 mm, and then putting the belaying pin holes 2, 5, and 8 mm from the preceding stanchion. What that means is that the belaying pins are in groups of 3, spaced 3 mm, followed by a 4 mm gap, followed by 3 pins spaced 3 mm, followed by a 4 mm gap, etc. I used the same technique (more or less that I did with the pinrails, except drilling 4 holes each time (3 pin holes and the next stanchion hole), and aligning on the new stanchion hole:
 

 
As can be seen in the upper part of the image, I installed the stanchions as on the stern, and clipped/ground off the bottom locating pin. The two quadrant shaped ends were carved out of 1/8 x 1/4 inch boxwood. Everything was painted and then installed. You can see the result below:
 


 
The groups of three are definitely present, but there are plenty of holes in the mizzen mast area. Looking at the photo, it also appears that I bent the patent vent - will need to fix that.
 
As always, thanks for looking in and for the likes.
 
Regards,
George K
 
 

Thank you, Roger.
 
Some activity in the shipyard!!
 
Euryalus has left my living room and has come upstairs to join Oneida in the workshop.  This displaces Oneida to a smaller area, but I think that will be okay--
 

 
 
The carronades have been glued in place--
 

 

 

 
 
Next, they will all be "stowage rigged" as the one third from the right on the starboard side in the photo.  I just have to remember how I did that one--about 10 years ago.
 
The rudder has been glued on--
 

 

 
 
 
That's all for now,
Ron

Okay. Once the first coat of paint dries, I will fill the gap slightly, but I think that this is going to be the final form of the stem.

 
Thanks for the suggestions @ClipperFan

Well, in the last week or so, rather than turning masts, I've been working on a few of the items that still need to be added to the hull, although, in a sense a did turn the first spar, in this case, the bowsprit. I used brass for the iron hoops, and painted the whole thing white (as per the instructions, but it looked really odd, and the Butterworth painting shows it black, so, I repainted it black as per the two photos below:
 


 
Next onto the naval hoods, cutwater and the figurehead. I used the diagrams that @ClipperFan made (both for the hoods and the figurehead) and then also examined @rwiederrich and @ClipperFan's photos of the Glory of the Seas to try to make something consistent with a McKay clipper. The results are below:
 

 
Perhaps not perfect, but I think that the cutwater looks like the one in the picture of Glory and the figurehead, even with my carving skills is much better than the one that is supplied with the kit. 
 
In any case, the ship now looks like this overall:
 

 
I've started on the channels (they are cut to shape and sanded, but I need to locate where the chain plates are going to on both the upper and lower channels, cover the ends and paint them before installation. At that point, the only remaining hull piece that I am aware of is the taffrail. After that, there is no excuse to not get those lower masts built and start making the ship grow vertically.
 
As always, thanks for looking in, and for the likes. For those of us in the way of the winter storm, please stay safe and warm.
 
Regards,
George K
 

First build update of 2022 (and it is really weird to be typing this. First Blade Runner taking place in 2019, and now we are in the year of Soylent Green - yikes). Anyways, a bunch of mostly small additions that nonetheless consumed way more time than I expected.
 
First up, as planned I mounted the starboard pinrail. I then spent the next several days making the carriage house skylight, which consumed a vast amount of time. The skylight is hollow (I built up 4 sides, then put two hollow rectangular frames and a central beam that make up the top of the skylight. I cut sections of clear glass that fit into the frame, and then added pre-painted muntin bars to create the four individual lights. Finally, I set three 24 gauge brass wires to represent the protective bars over the window panes, edged the base in stained decking, and mounted it on the carriage house.
 

 
I also made and installed the eight bitts and the four mooring chocks on the main deck. On the forecastle, I added the nails that support the catheads, the spray rail, and the four pads that protect the deck from the anchor flukes when the anchors are stowed. Less visible are the three pinrails on the forecastle, one at the bow, and the other two flush with the deck between the forecastle and the WCs.
 

 
I decided to mount the anchors as if they are being recovered which I think shows them off a little more interestingly than if they were simply lashed to the deck. I connected the anchor chains to the archor using a brass loop, stropped a double block with a hook and rigged the blocks on the catheads.
 

 
Seen from the bow, the anchors look thus:
 

 
The ship as a whole now looks thus:
 

 
Pretty soon it will be time to fabricate the taffrail and start on the chains and deadeyes, marking the transition from hull to rigging. 
 
I mentioned before that I was doing some experiments with the ship's boats. Here is the painted boat. The  left side has the detail made with Tamiya tape, the right with copper tape. My personal view is that I like the less "in your face" version with the Tamiya tape, and that the Tamiya XF-1 "flat" white is not nearly flat enough. The final version needs to be a lot less glossy. But, I think that with Tamiya taped details, better white paint, and a gunwale painted some contrasting color (likely some brown) the castings will be just fine when turned upside down. The two boats that are right side up will probably also need to have a canvas cover to hide their deficiencies, but I think that will be fine.
 

 
As always, thanks for the likes and for looking in.
 
Soylent Green is People! I mean Happy New Year 2022.
 
Stay safe out there.
George
 
 

In order to assemble the chainplates, deadeyes and deadeye strops I needed a way to hold everything in alignment. So time to build a jig.
Using one of the deadeyes as a template, I marked the 3 holes and drilled through the wood base. Since these holes needed to be as straight as possible, I did them on the mill rather than free hand (a drill press would work nicely as well). Then ran 3 straight pins through the wood base from the bottom with a touch of CA and clipped off the excess length of the straight pins. This allowed me to drop each deadeye over the pins and hold it in place.

 
To help keep the deadeye, strop and chainplate in alignment, I added a piece of scrap wood and sanded it down to ½ the thickness of the deadeye.

 
After placing a deadeye on the pins, I added the strop and laid in one of the chainplates

 
Used a straight pin to further align the pieces

 
Then used a pushpin through one of the predrilled holes in the chainplate to help hold that steady.

 
Then it was just a matter of removing the straight pin and replacing it with a .8mm bolt

 
Threaded on the nut and trimmed off the end of the bolt

 
One down and 19 to go!

Things slowed over the past 3 weeks. Was down with a sinus infection for a 10 days, then came holiday decorating and finally the family Christmas celebrations. But eventually I got back to the build.
 
After measuring the proper length of the strop needed to get around the deadeye, I grooved a scrap piece of wood on the Byrnes saw to hold the individual strops. To keep things as accurate as possible I cross grooved the scrap piece wood and glued in a piece of wire to butt the individual strops against. I rough cut the strops laid them in the jig and glued them in place with CA. Then added a thin piece of wood on top so the strops were sandwiched between the two pieces if wood. Then trimmed the exposed end of the strops.
 

 
After soaking the jig with acetone, I removed the strops and cleaned them up in an acetone bath and a soft sponge sanding block. Using a pin driver, I flattened the ends of each strop and drilled holes to accommodate the bolts I will be using.
 

 
 

 
Threw together a jig using a dowel rod of the same diameter as the deadeyes. The horizontal piece of wood butted up against the dowel was used to simulate the width of the chainplates. Using a very thinly pointed pair of tweezers inserted in the end holes, I was able to shape the strops around the dowel.
 

 
Then got them cleaned and blackened.
 

 
Still must blacken the bolts and nuts and then begin the assembly process.

More deck furniture. First, the patent steering gear. Not particularly visible,  but I did put the emergency tiller and the connection to rudder post in.
 

 
Next, a couple of additional items on the carriage house. I mounted the doors to the storage areas, and then promptly covered up the doors with ladders. Didn't love the castings and while the ladders are not exactly perfect, they are better and in place.
 

 

 
Finally, the main mast fife rails, pump and vent around the main mast. The fife rail castings were a mess (and needed to be drilled for the pins) so I cut the stanchions off the casting, made a wooden fife rail and painted the whole thing. The pump casting was surprisingly okay, painted it black with some gold on the outer edges of the pump wheel for some contrast, and mounted the whole thing on the main mast pad, with a bit of blacked brass strip to simulate the mounting points for the pump axles.
 



 
Working on replacing the anchor stocks and planning out how I'm going to carve a 3/4 inch flying fish!
 
As always thanks for the likes and for looking in!
 
Regards,
George K.
 
 

I've been doing a lot of different things but not ones that have massive impacts on how the ship looks writ large. With that said a couple of updates.
 
First, I put the ship on its build board. A standard Dremel cutting wheel did in fact cut the brass posts nicely, although as you would expect the brass got very hot in the process. So here is the ship (with some of the other things completed) mounted. Because there is going to be a lot of paint around the ship for the foreseeable future, I wrapped the board in Saran before pushing the screws through. Once I'm done, I'll just pull it off.
 
As I said, I've done a variety of detail work. As you can see, I discarded the water tank, and scratch built a new one. Here are a set of photos that show its construction and placement:
 



 
In the next photos you will see that I've built the ladder on the cabin, put the boat supports in place, added the pads around the fore and main masts, installed the capstans, several of the vents, the boomkins, and a number of the deck mounted eyebolts. The eyebolts that are supplied are way to big, and I've replaced them with 0.75 mm eyebolts (that's about a 3 inch eyebolt at scale), but they were leftover jackstay eyebolts from the Niagara and I need to buy more.

 
I also blackened some chain for the boomkins and some brass to make hinges. You can see the ones I put on the store hatch, and in one of the photos you can see the start of making hinges for the two hatches that mount next to the carriage house below the poop deck.
 
I'm going to keep working on these details while planning out the cutwater and naval hoods and then carving the figurehead.
 
As always, thanks for the likes and looking in!
 
Regards,
George K.

Happy Thanksgiving all!
 
Just a quick update. I've been working on some smaller details. The first is the stores hatch on the stern. I put some spare stained glass material one of my kids left behind to fill the openings, and then put in the bars and the split ceiling:
 

 

 
Next, the binnacle cabinet. When you see the last two photos which include the Britannia casting for comparison, you will see why I chose to scratch build a replacement. The first pic shows the back, sides and the framing for the place where the compass sits, the second shows the completed but unpainted version next to the casting, and the final photo shows it painted with the bell. The plans say to make it bright, but the combination of the small parts and the wood I had available argued for paint rather than leaving it bright, so I went with the color of the coamings.
 



 
Finally, a couple of views of the ship, the first with only the stores hatch in place, the second showing the stores hatch, the binnacle, and the two pads I put in place, one on the carriage house that has the round hole for the mizzen mast, and the other on the main deck for one of the capstans.
 

 
Thanks again for looking in, for the likes, and the encouragement!
 
George K
 
 

In order to make the chainplates I needed to form a tight loop on the top end, drill two 1/32 holes in each one and cut them to the proper length.
Since I had to make 16 of the larger chainplates and 4 of the smaller ones, I decided to make a simple jig that would make the job of forming a small, tight loop easier.
I decided to bend each chainplate around a piece of 1/32 inch, round brass stock. So I cut a 1/32 slot into a 1/8th piece of basswood and then cut that piece in half and set those 2 pieces apart, the same distance as the width of the chainplate material which came with the kit. These 2 pieces were glued to a scrap piece of cherrywood.
 

 
I then glued a thin piece of wood over the top of the 1/32 round stock. This allowed me to slide a piece of the flat brass stock under the 1/32 round stock and bend it up and over the round stock. Keeping the bend to a bit less than 180 degrees, I could then slide the brass piece out the top.
 

 
Using a scrap piece of 1/32 round brass stock and smooth jaw duck bill pliers, I completed the bend.
 

 

 
In order to get uniformity in the location of the mounting holes in the chainplates and the proper length of them all, I took a page from Suburban Ship Modeler and built another jig. After some careful measuring of where the holes should be and the proper length, I drew vertical lines to make sure the chainplates would be mounted straight. Then drew 4 horizontal lines, 1 for the top of the loop, 2 for the hole locations and one for the length. Then glued a thin piece of basswood along the top line. I added 2 strips of double stick tape to hold the chainplates in place.
 

 
Then mounted the chainplates to the jig
 

 
 
After squaring the jig in the mill, I used the X-Y table to make adjustments as I drilled all the 1/32nd inch holes.
 

 

 
I then used a cutoff wheel in a rotary tool to trim each chainplate to the proper length.
 

 
After a cleanup, I blackened the chainplates
 

 
While the double stick tape worked in this process, it didn’t really hold the chainplates rock solid, still allowing very slight movement. This wasn’t going to work for the 4 thinner / shorter chainplates which required smaller, 1/64th holes. So, after sanding off the guide lines used for the larger chainplates and drawing new ones for the smaller chainplates, I tacked them in place with gel CA before drilling them. Then used acetone to loosen and clean them before blackening. The CA held them rock solid.
 
Now its on to building the deadeyes.