ASAT

Ron, I have an Onieda kit that I abandoned several years ago. I bought the Pau Marfim framing wood and damn that is some hard wood.... I broke the stem off during interior sanding and despite several attempts at trying to fair the square frames with various sanding devices I gave up trying to get it faired. When I got close there were several frames that I had to cut the spacers and re - position. I just got frustrated with the lack of experience and the holes in the Lumberyard instructions. At the time Elia was building his and tried to encourage me but I just felt like it was over my head... I have been reading your log and you have given me new hope, this log is light years ahead of the Lumberyard instructions and the level of detail that you have gone to is making me think that I might be able to resurrect the effort plus I have a few more years of experience under my belt. I only have the square frames attached to the keel so far, would you recommend a framing jig to position the cants and half's or do you think a gantry type framing board would be effective for this build? I really think some sort of jig or a more accurate way of framing this should be the norm. I haven't decided if I want to fully plank one side, I originally was not going to but after seeing Elia's and your builds - I am re thinking that decision. I have not incorporated a rabbit but the stem is still separated so it may not be too hard to incorporate. Keep up the great posts - your build is inspirational and encouraging - Thank you for the thoroughness of your log - success and failures and how to persevere...... Lou

Glenn, make that 3 or 4 I am really liking your approach to this build - kind of laid back and enjoying the ride vs. sweating out all the details. I plank pretty much the same way you do, except I do try and use scale length planks but probably would not if it was going to be coppered. I have at times thought that I lacked discipline to do it absolutely correct but I have come to realize that it's just ship modeling and I do it cause I like it - and to relieve stress, not create more. I like the paint scheme - it seems more natural and flows better than the Nelson scheme and your finishes always make me envious... I have not painted a model yet but I am getting closer to trying it, it gets stressful trying to do everything in different colored woods. Did you use an airbrush? How did you paint the cannon? Someday I really hope to do a ship of the line.... Keep posting Glenn, I always enjoy your work. Lou

Wow Blackie, those drawings are great! I see what you mean about the bowsprit needing a saddle, I will incorporate that as well. Is the yoke affixed (wrapped) to the sprit with a line? I think now that I see the drawing, your picture looks like you chamfered a groove to accept the line, at first glance I thought it was a plywood piece from your kit..... I may have to re do that on mine - I did not see it before attaching to the sprit. I will have to re make my jibboom collars as well but thats not a big deal. Do you have any revised drawings for the Fore and Mainmasts? The kit I have shows a fighting top on the foremast and I did not think that was correct so I built it like the main with crosstrees and trestletrees instead and there is no real rigging plan just a single side view with the sails covering most of the rigging... very poor. As you can probably tell, I am not very well versed at rigging, I can follow plans and instructions but my knowledge on it is minimal. I am in awe of the amount of talent and willingness to share that is available on this site. I would love to have the spreadsheet you offered, I will PM you my email.... are you drawing plans for anything else? I am looking for a good scratchbuild project and your plans are a lot better than some I have been looking at.... You know, maybe a 1/64 Ardent Class or something easy like that... :) Thank you again, between you and Kruginmi, I have been able to turn this kit into a fair rendition of the genre Lou

Blackie - I was planning on cutting a slot in the stem and installing some cleats on the sprit and do a twisted gammoning and lashing the gammoning in the middle, also am going to gammon the jibboom to the sprit but no twist on that one. I have referred to your drawings repeatedly during my build, I appreciate you uploading them and I hope you continue to post them as you do your rigging.... they are way better than the single pictorial rendering I received with my version of the kit. Very little detail and almost no help as far as the rigging goes. Lou

Bill, Tower Hobbies carries various sizes of the green graph mats, I think their 9x12 is only 6 bucks or so, I think they are the hobbico line Lou

Very nice, excellent metal work on that mast, glad you are back to your harvey, I have been stealing some of your ideas on mine and I am starting to rig mine as well. Keep those pictures coming! Lou

I reworked the masts to incorporate the details that Mark outlined, I think they look alot better! Thanks Mark!! Foremast: Main:

Thanks Joe, appreciate it. Mark - I like your ideas, I will put in the bolster and strips, I went the other way on contrast and used a darker wood (bubinga) for the cheeks and 'trees, so I will probably continue that theme. Did you put single strips on the fore/aft portion of the mast or are they doubled as well? Also is the fid that little dowel shape on the bottom of the top mast? What was it's purpose? Lou

Floyd, the kit I have only has three jibs... I am using a combination of what the kit "plans" show and the ME Pride of Baltimore plans.... not sure if I will put cannonballs on deck, they might be stowed under the midships deck grating Lou

Mark, maybe you could use one of the Celtic Druid gods or goddess's - not sure if any verified images exist but I think some of them were "antlered" gods of war... or maybe a water / sea goddess? BTW - I am envious of your metal work.... gonna have to tackle that someday.... your rudder is excellent!! Lou

Also been working on the masts and starting to do some rigging, they are just stuffed in the holes for a pic - still need to do a bunch of rigging prior to gluing them in, hopefully I will have this done by Christmas - I am planning to make it a present for somebody....

Another little update on my Harvey, I didn't like the guns provided in the kit so I used some out of an old Pandora kit I had laying around. they are a bit smaller than the kit ones and had wooden carriages vs. the cast metal ones that were in the kit, even at that they look a bit large for this ship but I had em so they are in there now. I'm only going to rig the breeching rope to keep a cleaner look to the guns.... it's starting to get a bit crowded up on deck but I'm still happy with the look....

Hi Bill, welcome aboard!! get yourself down to Harbor Freight and get some needle files, a bunch of small clamps, the really small drill index they offer, and a set of the mini pliers.... it has a pair of nice needle nose, dikes, curved and long-nose pliers etc, and if you want to splurge they have a pretty good combo sander - disc and belt - it's no Byrnes machine but it will do ya for a while.... if you haven't checked out Byrnesmodelmachines.com you need to, if you are gonna get serious about this hobby you will be a customer of his sooner or later for the price to buy ready to use upgraded wood for a behemoth like Confederacy you could probably get his saw and thickness sander (well maybe) and they will last you for the rest of your modeling career - all you need to do is buy the wood.... but that is only if you want to mill and replace the wood that comes with your kits.... or heaven forbid, join the dark side... which judging from your prior posts about passion and excellence .... you will....just say'in. Looking forward to joining you in your journey.... Blessings to you and your bride..... Lou

Floyd, by now you have figured out that you can edge bend and taper or spile - I took the easy road and edge bent and tapered, I started at the wales and worked my way down, admittedly, I had to add a "filler" plank but it is low enough on the hull that you would have to pick up the model or bend down real low to see it..... to me, it still makes for a pleasing planking job, symmetry and consistency being the key. The overall look is what the eye is drawn to, I would say the rigging and deck fittings will attract the eye more than the planking. Only the most discriminating eye would ever know that you did not follow the rules.... unless that is the audience you are trying to please.... good to see you are making progress though, look forward to more... Lou

Richard, I have never used peach but before the crash there was a guy that was using it on a Chebec I think and it looked awesome to me.... close grained and kind of pinkish/tan - I thought it worked well on his planking... Lou

Sorry for the Go Back, but what support are you guys talking about? just some scrap to support the fwd edge of the false deck behind bulkhead G or what? Thanks, Lou

Looks great Mark, that's one of those areas when someone looks closely they will be able to see the level of effort applied. Well done!

Thanks Floyd, nope my kit didn't have the sheaves and every thing I tried to make came out way too bulky..... but I was trying to use brass. Then I saw a post on one of the Confederacy logs I think where they used a tiny disc of wood and I think that would have worked but I had already installed them - learned something new for next time I guess.... The binnacle is done and now the crew is not doomed to being lost at sea - they wish to extend a big "Thank You" to Mark.... Now back to waiting for the plans from Model Expo......

Thanks Mark, Guess I'll start on a binnacle. I am planning on doing a "revised " version of the rigging... more than the chintzy "plan" sheet shows but not a full PoB rig.... the standing rigging on the AL sheet is severely lacking, and there isn't much detail on the masting, I looking for it to be believable but not necessarily 100% accurate. I'll have to wait till I get the plans to see what I want to include/delete.

Also made and installed the pinrails and carved a tiller out of some redheart - didn't like the look of the painted casting. I'm thinking the deck layout is done.... I am considering a binnacle but I think it might get too crowded between the tiller / companionway area - what do you guys think? In any case, I am waiting for a set of Pride of Baltimore plans to arrive before I do the channels and the masting / rigging. Lou

Finally got the capstan built, sandwiched some redheart discs together and made the whelps out of bubinga, also made the catheads and installed them.

Rusty, beautiful work as usual, what is that plan behind that big stack o frames?

Beautiful! Great chisel work...

Thanks Mark, lots of things seem to compete for our hobby time right? Elia, good to hear from you, your Oneida has always been a benchmark build for me- I hope to get to a POF build one of these days.....