bhermann

After a couple of frustrating attempts to make the catheads out of brass (and several broken drill bits!!), I switched to wood.  it took me about a tenth of the time to make these as I spent on the earlier brass attempts and they turned out so much better.

Tim

Chain plate holes. Not sure why the are not called slots. 
A pencil to mark the location. A straight pin to make a guide for the small drill bit. A hole on either end. A sharp #11 blade to carve out the middle on each side of the hole top and bottom. 
 
It worked out well. I didn’t use the straight pin to make a guide hole on the first batch. I broke out the edge on one hole and had to fix it. I did good enough fixing it I can’t find which one it was lol. 

It was still 2 hours of work. Slow and steady,  worth a picture. 
 
I’m stalling getting the paint started…..
 

The main rail is together. The plans are fun if you don’t pay very close attention. I thought both sides were the same on the top view. The right side is a lower elevation. The main rail doesn’t match up. It just happened to work out. The main rail is trimmed and sanded smooth and finished for painting. 
 
I practiced cutting slots for the brass straps. They are so close to the edge. Not much room for errors. It looks like it will be good to do before installing the rail. If I’m reading the plans right the brass straps go thru the main rail and monkey rail. That’s going to be fun to line up. 
 
I also worked on cleaning up the fuzz off the hull so I can paint. I can do some good stuff with wood. I’m not a great painter. I guess I’ll get some practice. 
 

 

 

The glue stick process worked out better than I expected. Getting the glue wet made it release the paper very easy. With a damp cloth/paper towel I cleaned the glue off the rail. Dried the parts and made sure they were marked so I didn’t lose track of them. 
 
I’m hoping a well formed main rail might hide some imperfections in the curve of the hull.
 
it’s hard resisting pulling off the board to see if it fits while the glue drys! 
 
Accuracy of the joints is very forgiving. They line up well even when the cuts are a hot mess. It’s somewhat easy to file/sand them as needed to make a tighter joint. 
 
Working alignment rear to front seems most forgiving. The aft section has a specific location. The front laser cut part can vary a bit without much fuss, I think. At least that’s the plan. Onward! 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks, Tim!  Yeah, sounds like that's happening to many of us.  It's just one of the many ways Model Shipways finds to keep us... amused!
 
Monkey Rail - Part 2
 
With the kit-provided monkey board laser cut piece in shambles, it was time to pull out my MicroMark plank bending iron that I purchased some 16+ years ago when I first got this Bluenose as a gift.  Hope it still works!!
 
Actually, this all worked out much easier than I had anticipated.  I wetted down a couple of the 3/32" x 3/64" wood strips, used the supplied wooden curved jig that came with the iron, and gave each strip a nice curve.  I pinned the strips onto a handy solder board until the wood dried and stayed pretty much in the right shape.
 

 
Using the shape of my Bluenose stern curve and the provided stern monkey rail piece (that did NOT break on removal!), I cut each strip to shape.
 
       
 
The monkey board was then glued on top of the main rail in its proper position, using PVA glue with the occasional spot of CA glue to help hold a bit faster as I worked down each side main rail.  I should maybe mention that I used a small piece of scrap 3/64" wood to guide as a "spacer" from the outside edge of the main rail, marking lightly with a pencil so I could place the monkey board at that mark all the way down the main rail to the great beam.  That guide worked well for me.
 
Next, worked on placing the monkey rail on top of the monkey board.  First, glued the kit-provided laser piece for the stern.  Had to spread it just slightly to match my stern curve vs. what the plans provided.  But, it did not break!  Then the side monkey rails, placing them on top of the monkey boards so that the inside edge was even with the monkey board underneath, and the outside edge was even with the outside edge of the main rail.  Sanded, filled, sanded, primed, sanded and painted.
 
       
 
Did a bit more touch-up painting on all of the white, and... calling it good... for now.
 
      
 
I think the next thing on the to-do list will probably be the pintles and gudgeons, as that will finish the hull construction items.  I worked on prepping the rudder a week or so ago.  Still need to do the scroll work and nameplates, as well.  Once that is all done, from other build logs I have read, it may be time to seal the hull (or not) with some type of clear seal.  I'll gather opinions on that when the time comes.
 
Also, I have been thinking about how to mount this Bluenose, as once the deck structure construction starts, it will be difficult to do whatever I decide.  One decision I am 90% sure of is regarding sails.  I don't think I will be putting sails on this.  I have even thought about doing some furled sails, but haven't seen too much discussion on the board about that, so not confident in tackling that project.  I have seen a few displays of ships (not necessarily Bluenose) mounted on Launching Ways, as if they were under construction, or just completed and not yet launched.  But, from what I understand of that, many ships are launched even before all of the masting and rigging is completed, with all of that done by the shipbuilders after the ship was in the water.  Ehhh...  I can't get too historically accurate, can I?  Builder's prerogative?!?  I do like the launching ways mounting option, however.  Thoughts and opinions are, of course, appreciated, and my advance apologies if I have not explained some things accurately.  
 
But, first things first.  I'm taking a week off to visit my Florida grandchildren.  Priorities!!
 
 

Dory Kids…

Up next Dories x 8!
 
Cheers🍻
 

Continuing Deck Furnishings…

Cheers 🍻 
 

A few updates on progress... albeit baby steps...
 
Main Rail
 
Was concerned about how I was going to lay the main rails on both sides of the ship, and account for the wider areas where the belaying pins are.  Thought it was best to do this from full basswood sheets, cutting them to fit where needed.  So, I procured several 8"x12"x1/16" sheets.  Placing a sheet on the ship in position, I drew the outline of the hull on the underside for the curve.  I decided to create these side rails in two pieces per side, having them meet just on the fore deck side of the center great beam.
 

 
After marking the outside edges in this process, I cut these out using my Dewalt scroll saw, then shaped and sanded to match the hull/waist curve.  Once I had the outside curve shaped, I used two compasses, one measured to the standard rail width and one measured to the wider width for the belaying pin locations, to score/mark the inside edges.  The sharp points of the compass really helped give me a nice line to use as a guide for the #10 X-acto knife.  Pretty slow and tedious, but seemed to work out well.  
 
      
 

 
My scarf joints at the stern and bow pieces weren't perfect, but worked pretty well after some sanding, filling and painting.  Overall, I was satisfied with how the main rail construction came out.
 
      
Before sanding/filling                                                                                                     After sanding/filling
 
Buffalo Rail
 
Next up is the buffalo rail.  The laser cut piece provided in the kit came out fine and, after some sanding to clear the char, it looked like it would sit atop the mail rail ok.  However, when placing the side rail next to the bow piece, there was a bit of a size difference that required some more sanding and shaping.  Once that was done, though, and it was primed, sanded and painted, it looked nice.  Pretty straight-forward with a small adjustment, but another easy completion.  Small victories!
 
              
 
Monkey Rail
 
Well, so much for small victories... The kit has two laser cut pieces for the monkey rail construction that are both placed at the stern.  The monkey rail piece and the narrower monkey board piece that the monkey rail sits on.  Both pieces are 3/32" x 3/64", but one sits wider side horizontal (monkey rail) and one sits wider side vertical (monkey board).  There's probably a better way to explain this, sorry.  Anyways... the monkey rail laser cut piece came out fine.  However, when attempting to take the thin monkey board piece out of the laser cut sheet, it snapped into pieces.  Well crap! Looks like in reading some other build logs, this happened with others, as well, so I guess I joined the club.  Now I will have to recreate the curved monkey board that is at the stern.  Time to pull out the plank bending iron! Uggghhh...  This may have to wait a week until I return from a trip.  I was THIS close to having the hull components done! Ha! 

I made the main rail parts by glueing the sheets to the plank. The clamped 2 planks together. With a new #11 blade careful carved thru the plank almost the shape of the rail. Leaving a bit to sand and shape. Sanded anc shaped the rail parts 2 at a time clamped together. It worked well. Careful not to slip the clamping. It turned out better than I expected. Not sure I can get the paper off, but after making the joints that’s next lol. 
 

 

 

That wasn’t so bad, I don’t know what I was worried about. still joints to make. 
 
I can’t believe this is still stage 1. I guess was to build the main rail first, but as much as I handled the hull planking, that didn’t seem like a great idea. 
 

The main rail production has commenced. I discovered I can/could make it a bit wider if needed. 2 of 6 parts are made. It’s not laser cut that’s for sure. Copies of the plans and a glue stick is what I came up with to transfer one side, then copy a mirror image. Both sides are the same, and well if not, only one side is in the plans. So one can only assume it’s a mirror image. 
 

Progress is progress. The repair is complete. 
 
I sealed the deck planking with clear satin. Can’t really tell. 
 
I am stalling working on the mail rail. I can’t yet picture it completed so my mind is stuck. 
 
The wood stays fuzzier than I want. I want to solve that, not sure what to do except fuss over every piece with finer sanding paper. 220 was not fine enough. 
 

 

Cathead remake…

Below are photos of the Catheads on the Bluenose replica Bluenose II.

After being in Nova Scotia and seeing the Bluenose II, I decided I needed to rework the Catheads. The MS kit supplied metal parts for the Catheads were just too small to look correct to me. Here is a photo of the kit supplied parts. 

I replaced the parts with my own build of the Catheads. 


Brass needed to be painted to look galvanized. I used Testor’s Flat Aluminum Enamel. 

I’m much happier with Cathead version 2.0. Cheers 🍻

It looks like I have worked my way to the main rail construction. I’ve fretted about this for at least 15 years. I’ve passed the point I stopped at years ago.
 
The transom area requires accuracy to the plans within 1/64 inch or better. I’m off about 1/64. While poorly presented the instructions and plans provide every clue to be successful, skipping or not minding just one note will build to an error. Many of the notes make more since when you get to further stages. I missed a couple of things in detail I wish I had done. 
 
Please find my version of the nose area. The bow spirit exit isn’t drawn great that I could find. My work looks like a few of the drawings.  
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Work continues, one mini project at a time.  I finally installed the main rail.  Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures along the way.  Prior to adding the main rail, I reworked the stern seat supports and added the shelf to accommodate the boom sheet buffer.  I had installed the supports too close together for the boom sheet buffer to fit in between.  Whoops.  Think ahead, measure twice, glue once!

Also added the fore boom sheet buffer and the chain box.

The last add was the monkey rail and buffalo rail.  A little more cleanup to do and then I will paint everything.  I need to figure out how to deal with the catheads next.  Not to be negative, but the pieces supplied in the kit are useless.  I have seen several great examples of scratch built catheads and will relay on these to create my own.  We'll see how it goes....
 

Tim

The right tools can make all the difference in the struggles. 😜

Soldering Iron Premium Kit, 60W Soldering Gun with Ceramic Heater, 12-in-1 Soldering Tool, Adjustable Temperature 200 to 450°C, Includes Soldering Iron Tip, Solder Wire, Pump and Paste https://a.co/d/70GVtiS
 
Cheers 🍻 

Sanding and filler are our friends, first some sanding, then some filling, rinse and repeat, finishing with a fine grade sandpaper.  Taking the time to get this right will be a big benefit in the long run.  Looking good!
 
Bob

Sanding and filler are our friends, first some sanding, then some filling, rinse and repeat, finishing with a fine grade sandpaper.  Taking the time to get this right will be a big benefit in the long run.  Looking good!
 
Bob

Started looking at what I needed to do for nice main rails along the sides, and decided I needed to get some larger/wider basswood sheets in order to adequately account for the curve of the hull.  Those sheets are arriving tomorrow (Tuesday), so until then, I thought I would work on one or two other things.  I chose working on getting the rudder ready.
 
First up was, of course, to sand all of the rudder sides, removing the char and tapering the rudder from top to bottom and from front to back.  Out of the box, the rudder measured 4.77mm thick.  Beginning with 100 grit sandpaper and working down to 220 grit sandpaper, I sanded the outside edge to less than 3mm tapered, with about 2.5mm thickness at the bottom.  Seemed to look a LOT better.
 
         
 
In genericDave's (Suburban Ship Modeler's) build log, he suggested putting a small cup or divot into the rudder where the dowel stock piece will sit, in order for the rudder to sit properly once the pintles & gudgeons are placed on the rudder and attached to the hull.  I have a really cool little carving bit as a Dremel attachment (#191), which worked really well in shaping that area!  Sweet!  Using about 15-20mm of the 5/32" dowel for the rudder stock, and shaping/tapering it, I glued it to the rudder.
 
         
 
Needed to make sure that the stock piece would fit in the hole,, and I did need to open it a bit more (using that Dremel #191 carving bit again!) until the rudder test-fit perfectly. (And, yeah, that close-up of the underside confirmed that I need to touch up the hull painting before that's done and ready to seal.)
 
          
 
Time to paint it!  After priming the entire rudder piece, used the same Winsor & Newton Galeria Acrylic Red Ochre paint as the hull.  Painted and sanded a few times (up to 400 grit) until it looked ok.  I painted the rudder stock piece black, using the same Liquitex Basics Acrylic Mars Black as on the hull.  It all looks good.  Pretty simple... but I needed simple for a change, albeit briefly.
 

 
This will be set aside until time to attach the pintles & gudgeons.  Tomorrow it's back to working on the main rails... then the buffalo rails, monkey rails, etc, etc.  Whew! 

One side sanded. 
 
The very dumbest thing I’ve said to myself, “It’s ok I can sand that out later.”
A few of the pieces I worked better. A few I left, and it sure is a pain. 
This wood density is different for many pieces,  they sand different because some are soft and some are hard. The wood being different sizes and hardest makes this more challenging. 
 
I need to learn how to seal the grain so I can get it painted as best I can. After I make more dust. A small shop vac was a great purchase! 
 
 

 

One may look upon this and see no mess with the glue. The trick is the type of glue. It has glue all over it lol. It dries clear so it makes for a very clean finish. 
 
I estimate at least 40 hours planking. Every piece is glued and fitted on all four edges. I wish I would have seen the plank depth issues earlier, but they should sand out and might need a bit of filler in a few spots. 
 
It’s far from perfect but I’m pleased with how it looks so far. 
 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

Thanks @douglaspbrown!
 
Well, back from Boston, where I was one of many gray haired men helping move adult children. My younger daughter is out of college - she (now) works in Boston rather than goes to school there - but I have to say that many of the parents of the students moving in on that same day were alarmingly young, at least to me. We had our kids relatively late (we were both 33 and 35 when they were born), but seeing so many mid-40's parents taking their kids to college definitely makes one feel one's age. 
 
Anyway - build logs aren't supposed to be philosophical treatises, so, progress. All of the square yards are now bent; having installed the mizzen royal and skysail yards, along with their halyards and lifts. All the yard blocks are installed, including the blocks that have six of the eight clews (the ones that use tackles - the top, topgallant, and royal) with their associated lines, but not with the actual clew blocks yet. The not yet done anything with clews are the lines clogging the deck that you can sort of see in the second photo which I will deal with as I add the corresponding sheets. I've also added the remaining 4 trucks that are used as fairleads.
 

 

 
The ship as a whole. At some point I will move this to a location more conducive of good pictures, but for now this will have to do.
 

 
 
So, the list:
mizzen yards: 5                               Jib halyards: 4
     lifts: 10                                         Jib downhauls: 4
     sheets: 8                                      Staysail halyards: 2
     clews: 8                                        Staysail downhauls: 2 
     halyards: 4
Spencer gaff: 2 1                              Braces: 30 24
     topping lifts: 2 1                          Stun'sl booms on hull: 2
     vangs: 4  2                                    Stun'sl booms on yards: 12
Spanker boom: 1                             Davits: 4
     sheets: 2                                           Boat tackle: 4
Spanker gaff: 1                                 Decals: 3        
     throat halyard: 2                         Gilded balls on mast trucks: 3
     peak halyards: 1                          Fairleads on shrouds: 8
     topping lifts: 2
     outhaul sheets: 2
     vangs: 2
     ensign halyard: 1
 
Change:
+0 (Nothing Added!)
-12 (2 yards, 2 halyards, 4 fairleads, 4 lifts)
Net = -12
Remaining items: 86
 
As always, thanks for looking in!
 
George
 

Three-four more rows left. 
 
The stern and the transom look great. A lot of planning to make the main rail fit. 🤞🏻
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

It's just a scratch!
I'm invincible!!!