bhermann

Okay. Initial work on the forecastle. First, the painted cleaned up windlass and the chain stopper (unpainted in the photo)
 
I copied and cut out a template to locate the furniture

 
I then mounted a stained end beam (with two small cutouts for where the knees are going to go, mounted the windlass and the chain stoppers. I didn't put in the troughs - it was getting mighty tight in there and they will be practically invisible (true of the chain stoppers pretty much as well, but it was good practice and will help thread the anchor chain cleanly. Next, I mounted the windlass bitt. As you can see in the photo, I mounted a small piece of wood to the forward side to give the deck planks something to mount on.

 
I then put a continuous strake on both sides of the forecastle deck and then start planking. I did the deck planking slightly differently than the planking on the main deck. The windlass bitt is four planks wide, and so I glued together a section of four planks, which I put trimmed to fit to the bow between the knightheads. Once they were installed I could install the two inboard bitts whose location I had marked earlier. That is the stopping point for the forecastle until the new anchor chain comes in from BlueJacket. Once I have that, I can run the chain through the hawse pipes, chain stoppers and then store the excess under the deck until I'm ready for the anchors. I just don't want to make the interior end of the hawse pipes and the chain stoppers any more inaccessible than they already are until I've run the chain.

 
So, next steps will be to lay out the coamings on the poop and plank it's deck.
 
Thanks for looking in!
 
George K
 

The Flying Fish plans were drawn by Ben Lankford, who also did the Niagara and Pride of Baltimore II. All three sets of plans are magnificent. The Fish plans in particular are less model plans and more like simplified builders plans. They don't show the model bulkheads, but rather the frames, and the detail views show the actual ship timbers, etc.
 
The MSW kits (which I really like) feel "semi-scratch" to me, having you scratch build a variety of the things that go onto the decks and aloft. Having to fabricate all of those things yourself gives you more feeling of accomplishment, at least in my mind. I agree with you that they feel like they give you the skills needed to build something from scratch. We will see if that is true - I just received plans from the NMM Greenwich for the RRS Discovery, so as I'm building the Fish, I'm going to be turning those into plans for a POB model.
 
The one area that the MSW kits are deficient  (in agreement with @mbp521 , aka Brian) is the Brittania fittings that they supply. The Fish has a lot more of them than either of the other two I've done, and that they are the worst I've seen in an MSW kit. I've replaced the Brittania anchor stocks with wood and brass versions before, so no problem there. The windlass wasn't too bad except for the flash, but the capstans are a mess, the cleats require a lot of cleanup, etc., etc. I thought about scratch building a windlass like @Keithbrad80 but the only model appropriate power tools I have available are a dremel and drill. Nevertheless, it may be possible to build a better capstan (or get the Brittania 1:96 ones from BlueJacket. The Niagara (at 1:64) had a capstan kit, which I may be able to shrink down to 1:96. We'll see.

Thanks, Dan.  Great.  Now I have to carve Ens. Cooper.
 
 Backstay deadeyes and chains are installed.  They were much easier than the shroud chains--only one bolt to locate and drill--
 

 

 
 
The chains will get some tweaking at some point to make them to present a bit straighter, but I'm very happy to have this behind me.   So, to celebrate, a few overalls of Oneida--
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Next up, installing the carronades.   For which I need to strop many small blocks.
 
Ron
 

Lieutenant Woolsey continues to supervise the building of Oneida.
 
The missing breech bolt ends have been blackened, and installed with the rest--
 

 
 
The brass wire pieces for the backstay chains have been  cut, bent, assembled, soldered, bent some more, and blackened (in that order!).  Then the deadeyes were bent into their loops, and some general remedial bending done to some links that were still too far out of whack--
 

 
 
These will be installed next.
 
Ron 

I started the samson post assembly by first fashioning the main post and the support for the brake beam. Cut the bottom of the post to fit the deck angle and added a small wire pin to help secure it to the deck
 

 
Completed the rest of the assembly using some laser cut parts that came with the kit and some scratch built parts.
 

 
Mounted the finished assembly on a scrap piece of wood, using the pin in the base of the main post and some double stick tape for the smaller posts. After taping off a spot to mount the brake beam I air brushed the piece.
 

 
Added the brake beam and pawl and glued the assembly in place. Added the windlass, counter shaft and jumbo jib boom crutch. Still have to attach the 2 ends of the brake beam to the 2 ratchet quadrants. Not sure if I will use wire or thread coated with clear matt nail polish.
 

 
That completes 99% of the deck furniture. You may notice that there are some gear assemblies near the jumbo jib boom crutch missing as well as an engine box and linkage. But I’m building the racing version and the plans state these items were removed from the deck when racing, probably to reduce weight (especially forward weight) and to lessen the chances of fouling lines during head sail changes / tacking.
 

 

 

 

 
Now it’s on to attempt making my own bilge pumps and another boom sheet buffer.

About finished with the cockpit area,
the windshield, a real pain, metal, plastic, drilling hole for pins, paint & canopy glue do not want to work well toughter, without looking like a 5-year-old tossed it all toughter.  after 4 attempts I was at the end of my rope, but it was almost there, when Murphy showed up, a very slight slip of the hand & I took a chunk out of the std screen. Not wanting to start over for shot # 5 I turned the error into battle damage, which I have not shown clearly in the pics as it still needs a bit of work. The windshield weathering became easy after that. Installed the control panel and added the fluorescent light, compass, and torpedo director, them weathered the entire area. Again, there are many different ways to approach this build, all have there own merits, my vision here is to depict a boat that has seen action and exposure to the tropical elements of the pacific.  

And the almost finish product looks like this …

Hello everyone,
 
Well, my new home is finally finished. It took about a month longer than expected. For the most part, I have gotten my new shop set up. 
 
It's time to get back to work on the Benjamin Latham again. I am doing a little review of the instructions and what I have done so far. I've made the big start. 
Bill
 

Here is the work to make up my lost breech bolt ends.
 
A strip of cut brass sheet, a bit of wire--drill holes in the sheet and insert the wire--
 

 
 
Solder the wire in place, then trim them and cut apart.   I made the mistake of placing the wires too close to each other.  I ended up only getting half of these, fortunately I didn't need all of them.  I think I might even have one or two extra now--
 

 
 
I wasn't as far along as I remembered on the backstay deadeyes and chains.  I just have the deadeye loops.  So I need to make up a bunch more loops and string up 12 'units'--
 

 
 
Good news is that the shroud dead-eyes and chains are all attached!
 

 
 
Ron
 

Continuing with the chains,
 
I improved my procedure a bit.  Thread is better for temporarily holding the deadeyes in their channel slots--
 

 
 
This is more secure, easier to arrange, and allows better visibility for checking and gluing the molding--
 

 

 
 
I have only made enough of these clamps to do one channel at a time, so I'm working my way around the ship.  You can see in the next photo that I am also getting ready (pin holes drilled) to glue the boarding steps on the port side.
 
You will also see that I have not glued the carronade breech rope through-bolt locations on the port side, as I did recently with the starboard side.  Having made up the pieces many years ago and stored them away, I have now somehow lost a few, and don't have enough to complete the port side.  I will have to make up some more.   My backstay chains have to be blackened (that's one reason they are not getting attached now, with the shroud chains), so I will blacken the new breech rope bolt ends with them, and that will be next.  --
 

 
 
Looking at the starboard side, here are four phases of the channel/chainplate fixing, and you can see those breech rope bolt ends I mentioned, one at each lower corner of the gunports--
 

 
 
Ron
 
 
 

Bradley
 
I have enjoyed reading through your log to date and will be following along when you are able to get back to her.  This is some really fine and well thought out work you have been doing!
 
Bob

Bradley
 
I have enjoyed reading through your log to date and will be following along when you are able to get back to her.  This is some really fine and well thought out work you have been doing!
 
Bob

I used Minwax pre-stain for the dowels.  I had a Minwax stain picked out for the color so using the same brand for the pre-stain made sense to me.  I have been using Minwax stains for projects around the house for many years.
 
I heard about pre-stain on this forum, I had never used it before for anything, it did a nice job!
 
Bob

Hi, George.  I just read through the entire log to this point as the MS Flying Fish kit is sitting on my cabinet waiting for me to finish my Bluenose build.  Your observations and insights have been very helpful and I appreciate your time in keeping such a detailed log.  Great work thus far!
 
When it comes to staining, I don't know if you are using a pre-stain on the basswood before applying stain.  I found it very helpful in reducing blotchiness when staining the birch dowels I used for the Bluenose masts.  Maybe it is something that could help you going forward.
 
I will be signing up to follow your build, I am looking forward to seeing your continued progress on the FF - she is a beauty!
 
Bob

Hi, George.  I just read through the entire log to this point as the MS Flying Fish kit is sitting on my cabinet waiting for me to finish my Bluenose build.  Your observations and insights have been very helpful and I appreciate your time in keeping such a detailed log.  Great work thus far!
 
When it comes to staining, I don't know if you are using a pre-stain on the basswood before applying stain.  I found it very helpful in reducing blotchiness when staining the birch dowels I used for the Bluenose masts.  Maybe it is something that could help you going forward.
 
I will be signing up to follow your build, I am looking forward to seeing your continued progress on the FF - she is a beauty!
 
Bob

Another first today. I made up the brass gun barrels for the first time. The six inch guns went quite well although it feels like a irrecoverable step cutting off the plastic barrels. The four inch guns were very fiddly. I nearly decided to go with the plastic barrels. The plastic is actually quite well detailed and not too fat for scale but I wanted to try to improve on this build. So ithought "Well I'll try one."  In the end with a diversion to find and retrieve three barrels that somehow escaped I made all four. I see in the photo that I knocked one set of barrels out of alignment so that will now be fixed. 
I started the Seafox and it just needs the propeller and the floats. The PE rigging is overscale but I think its better than nothing and may look more subdued when painted
 

The accumulation of brass continues. The bridge is about complete, the funnels are in progress and I worked up the courage to make the derrick. I am quite happy about how it came out. I still have the crane hook to add to complete it. The Flyhawk PE is very nice to work with. The fold lines are deep enough that the bends come out nice and clean although the downside is you don't get too many attempts before the part fails at the fold line. The fit with the plastic parts is good too.  So far I'm thoroughly enjoying the kit. There are a lot of elements to work on. I need to start the brass guns and the Seafox.
Thanks for the likes and support
Alan

A small update--
 
Work on the chainplates has been very frustrating, and part of the reason for my snails pace.  Figuring out a way to attach these wiggly things without going crazy took a few tries.
 
After marking the varied angle locations with a string fastened to the point of the mast where the shrouds will come down, holes were drilled in the wale for the lower preventer plate bolt.  The preventer plate was then pinned and epoxied into the hole--
 

 
 
Using the upper preventer plate hole as a guide, the upper pin location was drilled into the wale.
 
Then, the chainplate-deadeye assembly was attached at the same time the upper pin was epoxied into place.
 
Following that, the deadeyes were held in place in their slots in the channel with strips of masking tape attached to the mast--
 

 
 
And the channel molding glued on--
 

 
 
At this point the tape can be removed to check and make sure the fit is good--
 

 
 
You can see my pencil notes on the "Tosti" clamps reminding me which holes were to be drilled for tapping, what size drill, and which were only drilled part way into the wood.
 
 
Ron
 
 

Update !  Unlike wood ship models - working with multi media is more like a jigsaw puzzle - very relaxing and easy.  Here's the results of the first three packs, forward deck, first of four Arado plans and the "Anton" turret.  I need to install the motor/electronics in the "Anton" forward gun turret next. 
 
Agora is terrific as far as customer service - if you damage or break a part they will send you a replacement ASAP.  The metal hull parts are terrific - she will be almost 4 feet long when completed.  

According to the plans, the ratchet quadrant should fit over the ratchet gear on the windlass. The windlass ratchet gear is clad on both sides with a solid disk and ratchet teeth extend a bit beyond the edge of these disks. It took me awhile to come up with an easy way to achieve the proper fit of the quadrant over the ratchet gear.
 
 
 

I sandwiched a 3/64 piece of basswood between 2 pieces of .010 brass sheets. The brass was easily cut with scissors and I made the pieces big enough to handle when done. This created a lot of scrap but made things much easier. At the end of the process the wood core could be filed out just a bit so that the brass outside pieces would fit over the teeth of the ratchet gear.
 
 

Gluing the three pieces together, I wrapped them with wax paper.
 
 

Then clamped them between 2 pieces of ¼ inch basswood and let dry.
 
 

After making a copy of the plan I cut out a picture of the quadrant and taped it to the sandwiched plate.
 
 

Using a ¼ inch Dremel sanding disk mounted in the mill, I formed the curve of the quadrant.
 
 

While sill mounted in on the mill, I drilled out the hole which will be needed for the linkage to connect it to the brake beam.
 
 

Using my WeCheer rotary tool and a separating disk I cut the quadrant from the sandwiched plate.
 
 

This is the finished quadrant of which I made two.
 
 

After cleaning up the brass I blackened with Casey Brass Black and added the rings for the linkage.
 
 
Now I can finish building the Sampson post and install the linkage between the quadrants and brake beam.

I started the running rigging for the downhauls (1st photo) for the staysail, jib sail and jib topsail starting at the belaying pin, reeving the line through each block made fast to the bowsprit with 26 gauge brass wire then through each block fixed to the fore top mast and down to and belayed on the fife rail (for the jib top sail only) and port and starboard bitts aft of the foremast for the staysail and jib sail downhauls. Next the lines for the peak halliards (2nd photo) were belayed at the starboard bitt aft the mast through an eye under the fife rail then relayed up and reeved between the 3 single blocks at the mast and the two bridle single blocks on the gaff then down to and belayed on the fife rail. The throat halliard is belayed on the port bitt and is reeved through triple and double blocks vertically up the mast and down to the fife rail. The topsail sheet starts and ends at the fife rail and reeved through holes (to simulate sheaves) drilled at the tips of the gaff and topmast. The third photo shows the fore boom sheet, outhaul and topping lift. Note that the vertical line running between tips of the boom and gaff is not an existing line. I put it there to indicate the leach of the sail as a suggested option in the instructions.
 

Ratlines and all standing rigging arrays are completed on the lower masts (top photo), bowsprit (2nd from top) and topmasts (3rd from top).  The fourth photo is the spring stays transversing all 3 masts. The fifth photo down is of the running tackle for the starboard mizzen topmast preventer backstay, belayed to the cleat. the choice of using the tan polyester rigging line is one I'm very satisfied with. It reaves very smoothly through the blocks and doesn't need beeswax. The only downside is that it needs the most judicious amounts of CA glue to hold the line snug together at the block's eye then serve it with the small whipping line where it can then be adhered to with white glue. I've found this process is quicker than waiting for the cotton thread to dry completely so I'll continue it throughout the running rigging.
 
 
 

Hi everyone, Been gone from my project here for long while... My apologies, I have a daughter that Graduated from College with a double Major "Neuroscience and Psychology" she makes me very proud, been a quick trip there helping her with college a ton of 12 hour days to boot! well any way I'm planning to finish the Blue Nose Build here now that I have time, just need to set up my room up again settling in here! 

Hi all, 
 
I'm still alive.  Sorry I haven't posted in almost a year.   I think the whole COVID situation has killed my attention span outside work.  I can't seem to stay focused and my energy level is at a minimum.  I'm exhausted at the end of the workday or after I've done the necessary chores on the weekend. Even staying connected with friends seems harder. 
 
I haven't done a lot of work since my last burst of energy.  However, I did accomplish some in small sessions here and there.  I completed all of the mizzen deadeye - shroud rigging and finished all of the ratlines.   I took a couple of photos on my phone.  I'll take better ones and upload them.  My phone doesn't do a good jog capturing the details in focus. 
 

 

 
I've been trying to buy a mill during this whole COVID mess.  The dealer will ship everything you want to buy in the crate with the machine and you only have to pay the same shipping charge on the machine. I wanted to take advantage of this great savings, but all of the higher/heavier large ticket items were never in stock at the same time as the Mill.   When items came back into stock, the Mill was out of stock for several months. Always two or more items on backorder (not the dealer's fault). Anyway, I broke down and ordered everything that was in stock when the mill was finally back in stock.   So here's the new addition to my shop. 
 

 
Happy Mother's Day
best
marc

Well, finally a small update:
 
I have been working on filling in some details on the hull, before finishing the channels and chainplates.  Here are some of them.  On the right is one of the Main Tack Chesstrees, to the left of that are a couple of the rub rails (not sure of the name), and the rest are rough blanks of the boarding steps.  A profile has been scraped along the length, and these are in the process of being filed and shaped around the ends, and the width reduced, and then the hand holds will be filed--
 

 
 
Here is the Chesstree glued in position--
 

 
 
And the rub rails--
 

 
 
The boarding steps have been shaped, fixing pins glued in, and the ones which will be attached to the wale have been "ebonized" to match the wale--
 

 
 
Here the pin holes for the boarding steps are being marked, started with a pin, and drilled--
 

 
 
The boarding steps are just dry fit here--
 

 

 
 
They will be glued (epoxy at the pins), and then all these pieces will be wiped with Tung Oil Finish to match the planking and wale.
 
The model is looking very dusty in these photos.  I should probably spend some time cleaning.
 
Cheers!
Ron