bhermann

Happy New Year!  Thanks CiscoH and jereramy, and those liking and looking in.
 
To replace my toothpick topmast fids, I filed a pair from brass--

 

 
Next these were blackened, along with some eyebolts, ringbolts, and four hooks that I need to finish the carronade tackle blocks--

 
Next task is the topmast crosstrees, following the illustration in Petrejus' book "Irene"--

 
I glued six blanks together so I could do the rough shaping for all of them at once--





 
When I was satisfied that the rough shape was close, the block was given an isopropyl alcohol soak to separate the pieces--

 
I notice some irregularities, mostly the right side end is a little "bulbous", and they look just a bit chunky to me, but there is still a lot of work to do on these: drilling holes in the ends, notching for the trestle pieces, tapering the underside, and refining the overall thickness and curves--

 
All for now,
Ron

An update on progress... (or lack thereof)...
 
It was a bit frustrating in the shipyard these past few weeks.  Besides the fact that I had several travels that interrupted shipyard time (spending some great time over the various holidays with family, though, so it was totally worth it despite the shipyard absence), my time in the shipyard was a struggle completing some things successfully.  Guess it is all a part of the build journey and learning along the way.
 
Wanted to start working on the dories and tried to use the supplied pieces in the kit.  The dory sides were difficult to shape properly, so built a little jig to hold them after wetting, shaping and drying.  That helped some but I still found it incredibly difficult to shape them and build them using the kit-supplied brackets.  
 
         
 

 
So, after visiting with another local builder who gave me some alternative options, I decided to shelve the dories project for a little bit.  Hopefully, I should be able to finish some dories in the coming weeks, so... perhaps an update on those in my next post.
 
I did, though, work on the dory kids that the boats will sit on while stored on the Bluenose deck.  Measured, cut, fitted and glued the small wood strips.  Set them aside for now waiting on what I finish with the dories.
 
          
 

 
Time to work on the bowsprit.  Shaped it to the measurement needed at certain points on the 1/4" dowel.  Started at first using my small handheld planer, then went to various grit sandpaper.  Squared off the aft end that fits into the bits and added a small brass rod to fit in the hole I had placed in the samson post.  After it was shaped, it was time to add bands... after soldering some type of rings to the bands for the various backropes, footropes, and stays.  Uggghhh....   I am still not very good at soldering.  Getting better with some practice, but I was not able to duplicate the band rings I have seen on other build logs.  So... I settled for using brass hooks placed through holes drilled in the brass strips.  I also needed to determine how I was going to simulate the turnbuckles.  Without a milling machine (yet), I didn't really know how to duplicate.  Got online and found a company that had small model turnbuckles that looked the best (these are 16mm x 2.5mm), and decided to use those.  Another "settle for" on this bowsprit.
 
             
 
          
 
Worked on the gammon iron, the guy plates and the bobstay plates.  The Proxxon drill again became useful for that operation.
 
      
 
Completed, then, all of the rigging from the bowsprit to the bobstay plates and to the guy plates, and also ran the rope for the backropes and footropes and tying those together at three intervals along the bowsprit.  Finally, ran the jibstops through the holes in the bowsprit strips.
 
     
 
Not my most exciting work to-date on my Bluenose,  but I'll get better.  I'll definitely have to, though, as I look ahead to the next huge task, which is the mast work.  Lots of detailed soldering work will be needed there, as I have looked at other build logs and the awesome work they have done on the mast caps, spring stay bails, shoulder bands, etc.
 
Taking another quick trip to watch a granddaughter in her "senior day" basketball game, and then the hard shipyard work will start again.  Appreciate all the guidance many have provided as I look at other build logs.  Thanks! 

A 4mm star looks like a perfect fit. If I finish this BN the star will be a nice addition to the finish. It was worth an update…. Anyone want a star? I ordered 30, I’ll have 29 spares haha. 
 

Lower and Topmast Shrouds complete…

Cheers 🍻 
 

Thanks Hamilton and all who hit the like button.
 
Two blanks for the mast caps--

 
A few tries later, I got two good ones.  The problems were various--inaccurate spacing of the holes, holes being filed out too big, or out of round--

 
Here are the masts and topmasts temporarily on the ship--

 
And disassembled again.  I have temporary fids made from a toothpick, I'll make a couple from brass.  To the right are two blanks for the topgallant masts--
  
 
All for now.
Ron

@GGibson great advice. One of the reasons I started the bowspirit bitts was to get the bowspirit mounted/built/cut/formed. It can only go in one time and be finished. It does not look removable after more of the pieces are attached. Bob stay plates and chain plates are next to build. I’ve worked pretty hard to have the slots in place even thru the painting stages. My goal was to finish anything and everything below the main rail inside and out before I started working up. 
 
The Bluenose is parked and covered for now. 
 
I found another bag of small nails when I was cleaning up! Cleaning up and putting things away was a good thing lol. 
 

If I could give one piece of advice, Major, in the position you are now with your build, after I've been working on my own Bluenose bowsprit and rigging, it is to position the bobstay plates at the front of the hull while you are able to do it with the ship upside down. 
 
It would have been much easier to place the plates, glue in position, and attach the links at that stage, rather than afterwards, when you can no longer flip the ship with the various deck furnishings in place. 
 
Others may disagree and did not have as many issues as I, but my 2 cents of advice at this stage... <shrug>  EDIT:  And yes, it involves more nails! 😄

I didn’t get any pictures of the resistive soldering setup. The last part that helped was paste solder. Using a soldering iron to bond these pieces was crazy hard. The resistive soldering method made quick work of it with the paste solder. Highly recommended. It will be useful many times over at certain stages. It’s extremely quick. 
 
The rudder is attached. With blackened parts. The hull is surprisingly sturdy, it was somewhat a violent process. 
 
I’ve looked at the deck structure plans all day. I guess I’ll just have to start and see where it goes. There is a large number of wood sticks left and the plans seem to say, build it however you want, with what ever wood you want. It’s clear why there are a large number of Bluenose logs unfinished. Maybe it’s time to dock this project and see what I can do to wrap up the other 3 in work. The cutout sheets I made when doing the main rail work worked good for deck structure location planning. 
 
I did rough out some parts for the Samson post, bowspirit bitts and platform, I could figure out what it was made of at least. Maybe build what I can figure out and see what’s left. 
 
Tiny micro mark nails will be my signature when able. 
 

 

 

 
 

Finishing the deck in natural satin.
 
Progress is progress. 
 
Deck stuff next. Officially at the end of what skill I may have. 
 
I’m waiting for som solder paste and can finish attaching the rudder, resistance soldering is awesome. 
 

 

 

 

 

Hawse Pipe is what I think this is called. 
 
The mooring chock installed also. Horrible Britannia pieces. 
 
It’s amazing how much detail the pictures pick up. When I turn down the lights and move back about 5 ft it looks amazing! 
 

 

 

 

 

Yep, right out of the MS instructions. Note: They are adjustable. 😆 I set these for 15mm. Thanks Ian…

 

Fore Mast Shrouds continued…

On to the Main Shrouds…
 
Cheers 🍻 

The rudder parts were harder than they look. The pintles and gudgeons are not called out in the instructions at this point but it seemed like a good idea. Soldering isn’t going well. I had to stop in frustration trying to get it to stick and line up. Tomorrow sometime I’ll bust out the new resistive soldering setup and give it a go. It looks like I could electrocute myself easy. My wife said she would help me get it set up…. She’s very sweet. 🤣. 
 
I’ve watched every MCU movie and TV show. 
Every LOTR at least once. 
Mr Robot series
The Last Kingdom
Every Star Wars. 
Every Star Trek movie. 
Listened to many audio books. 
The new Reacher on Netflix was great. 
All the Indiana Jones movies. 
John Wick 1-4
Matrix all of them. 
Pirates of the Car all of them, I missed one or 2 that I had not seen before recently.  
And so much more I can’t remember. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s not perfect but it’s not too bad. 
 

 

 

Painted the bottom of the hull. Another coat and maybe some sanding. And then fixing all the stuff I wasn’t supposed to paint…. Haha. 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 

The black is mostly done. I’m still working out how I want to paint the white on top. I’ve seen all different color breaks. 
 
I’m not sure how I’ll pull off a clean yellow strip. I think I have the white strip and red color break figured out. 
 
I had to make a marking stick to fit in the scribe tool. 1/4 pencils in round are not easy to find. It worked. 
 
I’ve thought about being at this point and beyond for over 15 years. Feels good. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Finished up the Ratlines on the foremast shrouds.

On to the mainmast...  I followed the same process of seizing the shrouds in the middle, where they wrap around the mast, and on the ends, to wrap around deadeyes.  Once the shrouds were seized to the mast I started to attach the deadeyes.  I did this a little differently than on the foremast.  
 
For the foremast I threaded the lanyards through the deadeyes and then wrapped and seized the shroud to the upper deadeye.  For the main mast, I used a wire to space the deadeyes and then wrapped and seized the shroud.  Once that was completed for all the shrouds, I threaded the lanyards through each pair of deadeyes and tied off.  Both ways worked pretty well, but it was easier to thread the lanyards and maintain consistent spacing with the method I used for the mainmast, as I was able to tie them of as soon as they were threaded vs leaving them loose and waiting until I had attached the shroud to the top deadeye.


On to the ratlines...
 
Tim
 
 

Thanks JJ and Dowmer.  The wood is Swiss Pear.
 
Filing the tricky tapered octagon at the top of the topmasts-

 
All that's left at this point is making the hole for a sheave near the base--

 
And, pretty much done on the two topmasts--

 
Next will be the mast caps, and then I'll be able to set the masts, tops, and topmasts up (temporarily) on the model!
 
Ron

I’m tying to not make this look like one brush stroke per picture, but the next coats are darking up nicely and lay down good. The semi gloss finish will look great end the end. 
 
I’ve received my waterline tool today, and a resistance soldering iron setup. 
 
Has anyone added up how much they spent on small tools, files, blades, electric motor gizmos, sand paper and all the other bits? Yeah, not doing that… 
 

 

Agree on needing several coats.  I hand painted using ME.  The black took three coats, the red was 6 or 7!  In the end, it all looked good.
 
Bob

Agree on needing several coats.  I hand painted using ME.  The black took three coats, the red was 6 or 7!  In the end, it all looked good.
 
Bob

Another coat of white on top.
 
A start of black, a thin coat and that’s what it is. The primer fights to stay in view. The wood soaked up the black. It’s going to take a few coats. And… it’s a hot mess. Maybe when the first coat drys/cures it won’t lift or smear when another is added. ME paints are being used. 
 

 

@bhermann  Thank you for your recommendations. I caved I bought the Micro Mark tool. It was a bit spendy, but it looks like it could be used for other holding tasks. 
Certainly trying not to rush. And not miss anything. I’m running to the end of my skills and will need to learn new tricks to get the top of the deck and rigging installed.  
I’m currently chain plates out side camp, not sure how to cut the grove and make it look nice nice. I’ll trade a fashion piece for a chain plate error lol. 
https://www.micromark.com/Toolmakers-Surface-Gauge-Ship-Waterline-Marker
 
@GGibson I may get that tool also. Looks handy. I’ll see how the other one works out. Thanks for sharing it. 
 
Main rail with a thin coat of white paint. I promise I want to paint it with one brush stroke, but slowly might finish up nicer. 🤞🏻
 

 

 

Regarding the waterline marker, if you are looking at investing in a tool that can be used for several different applications, I highly recommend a "helping hands" tool such as this.  Stick a pencil in its alligator clips and it can assist with waterline marking.  It can also be helpful when seizing blocks for rigging.
 
Hawk 2" Helping Hand Magnifier with 2 Strong Alligator Clips (modelexpo-online.com) 

Re-setting the Fore Mast…

Brought the Mast back for adding those ties to the mast hoops. 

Found a few more blocks (5 to be exact) to be hung. Easier to do the now. 😎

Ok… Fore Mast has been set yet again, now I can start on the shrouds. 
 
Cheers 🍻