Altduck

I can see where rigging would tend to be frustrating Michael, but maybe after all of the "to do" of the Holidays is over, things will relax enough to "attack" it again with fresh eyes. I hope you and yours have a safe and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.   

Hi Mates,
 
Thanks for all of your nice comments, stopping by, and "likes" always so appreciated !
 
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I decided to re-do the six lines under the platform. The knots were weak and out of scale. Decided that black sewing thread would “disappear” better. But now;
 
going through a frustrating bit. Struggling with my first attempt at actually mounting rigging. And to think this is only a very small bit of the first section OMG..(:-)
 
Having a hard time finding a proper way of seizing the shrouds, attaching the upper deadeyes as well as their corresponding ropes. I have looked at other build logs for advice, but still can’t get out of my thinking “box” to allow for a more pleasant experience.
 
Then later as I was starting to attach the first of the six shrouds I realized that the mast was too short (See pic), and that the wood cap that connects the second mast was also too low (too close the platform base) Grrrrrrr.
 
I looked at the Corel sheet for wood cap fit location (wrong!! Corel) and then failed to, at least, pay more attention to the length the second mast should have been. I will be more attentive with the other masts. Last pic is 1/10th the way it should look more-or-less
 
So in closing not too “happy” right now, so not sitting for extended lengths of time. Hmmm.
 
Well of to Berkeley next week to see our son, and his wife’s family for the holidays. They all enjoy good single malts music, and good tequila  
 
Cheers everyone - do enjoy your holidays as well 
 
Michael
 

Hi Nigel, thanks for the compliments on the boat and bird. 
 
I've used Testor's ModelMaster series paints for years on my plastic models. It's an excellent paint; their other series (ones you see in the teeny tiny jars) is fair; but the ModelMaster series is excellent.  Of course, the best paints were the Floquil and PolyS paints but they've gone out of existence altho some hobby stores still have some in stock.  For my woodcarvings, I've pretty much stuck to water based acrylics which I've now applied to boats. I have not tried ModelMaster paints on wood yet but have no reason to think they would not work well on wood. Probably need a different primer for wood than the Gesso I've been using.
 
ModelMaster goes on well with a brush and is easily used (with their airbrush thinner) in an airbrush. Coverage is excellent with either method. I've used it in an airbrush to paint camouflage pattens with great results.
 
The bird's feathers were burned/carved into the wood first using a Colwood Cub woodburner with the "B" tip, then they were painted using acrylics. Takes as much patience as tying ratlines. I haven't tried the woodburner on wooden ships but it would probably work fine.

Congrats J on a great build.
 
Bob

Nicely done. I like the results, especially the added tools.

Well done! I really like the tools you added.

Hello again,
Another update...the final one as the Picket is complete. After I got he spar mounted and rigged I was looking at the boat and it looked to me like something was missing...so I decided to make some detail items that would have been aboard.
 
With the open coal bins the most natural would be a shovel, so I cut a small piece of card and soaked it in diluted white glue it was then pressed on the end of a round toothpick to get the shaping started, when it dried it was moistened and folded to the final shape.
 
I also thought it would be appropriate to add a few thing the howitzer would require...so I scratched a worm and sponge/rammer. These started as sections of round toothpick glued up to the correct length and then adding the details, the sponge is a small piece of natural sponge trimmed and glued on, the ram end is wraps of tape. The worm is a spiral of wire. All were then painted and weathered.
 
I also added an ensign staff and flag, the flag was found on line and printed it was shaped while the glue was still wet, so it looks like there is a breeze.
 
The rigging was done per the plans with the exception of the torpedo staff forward mounting ring, this I ran up through the block on the hoisting mast, I saw this configuration in an on-line article about spar torpedoes.
 
Well that's about it, I want to thank you all for following along and lending support and encouragement. Thanks as well for all the kind comments and likes, much appreciated. Pics follow:
A few tools for the crew



loaded aboard

Gun details

some rigging


bow shots

views amidships


 
 

First of four complete...
 
Now that I have the process down, it's really not that hard. Just takes a bit of time... and lots of patience...

First yard completed , no decorations hung on it yet 
 

 

 
I think there is something not quite right , but can,t figure out if it is the color of the yard or if the yard should even be fitted at all . As i suggested earlier maybe a short version of the yard would be more comparable with the rest of the build , or maybe once the blocks and tackle have been added it will look better, any views or opinions will be greatly appriciated . Confusious say , decide to-morrow ???????

I almost forgot ... a few weeks ago someone was talking about making a more sturdy working stand for the ship while under construction. I initially made my finished display stand shortly after coppering the hull. But, during construction I tend to drip this and that and scratch it all up. Usually, I just refinish it after the build and before the ship is placed in it's display cabinet that I build. 
 
But this new working stand idea intrigued me. I took an old show box and cut it down to size opening the ends to a half circle. Then wrapped the ship in shrink wrap or plastic wrap so it doesn't get anything on it. I then set the ship on the box and shot that expanding foam, you can buy at Home Depot, into the corners. It filled it all the way up and after it hardens I trimmed it down and now have a perfect fitting stand!  

I know that reviewing pics sometimes helps me determine how I might go about the next build process. We're getting ready to head off to the San Diego Wild Animal Park for the day... so I will do away with the description and throw up some build pics for your reference.

Hi Boyd and All,
Thanks for the good wishes, we had a great trip and I made it to see the Cutty Sark. That's an amazing exhibition, we were a little short of time so got around it at a fast trot. Even though short of time, I was very happy to get there to see it.  Sadly, no work on the model yet, all the usual excuses are in play here and Christmas is fast approaching. Here's wishing you All a very Merry Christmas and wonderful and Happy New Year.  Happy modelling...
 
Cheers,
Rowan D.

OK, well another night where I'm settling down too late to start at the workbench, so I thought I'd update this Gretel log.....This post is somewhat of a repeat, since it will document the fitting out of the cabin.
 
I didn't make any structural modifications to the kit in order to do the cabin. Those with more skill and better tools would probably be able to make modifications easily. I think both the cabin bulkheads and centre keel would need to be altered to accommodate the cabin decking, which would likely have been lower into the hold than I've shown here - but since none of this is visible on the finished model, I don't have to have too much anxiety about it.
 
Anyway, my first step was to make false floors for the cabin sections - 2 of these - plus one more for beneath the forward scuttle. I used some 1/32" basswood sheet for this, cutting it to width simply by taking a measurement between the keel slots of the appropriate bulkhead frames and then, with the bulkheads dry fit, fairing the edges to shape. I then planked these using .5 x 4mm mahogany.
 
With these false floors in place, I marked the top of the planking on the adjacent bulkheads - this would represent the lower limit of the planking on the bulkheads themselves. For this I used .5mm x 3mm mahogany. Before installing the bulkheads on the model, I also put on the wall hangings (my oversized lanterns and paintings, framed with 1mm x 1mm walnut. The doors were framed with 1x1 walnut and consisted of slats of the .5mm x 3mm mahogany. Here's a couple of shots of the prepped pieces
 

 

 
I then installed the bulkheads permanently on the keel and then fixed the cabin furniture. Here are the results.....
 

 

 

 

 
That's it for now
hamilton

The transom and stern galleries are finally completed. While there has not been any easy steps yet in building her, I believe the transom to be the most difficult and tedious part of the entire build, but we will see.   I am glad it is done and it took me several months and a couple hundred hours to do. It is not perfect, but I am happy with the results.
 
Next up will be the wales, I think.
 
Vince P.

I decided to use a slot car chassis to motorize the paddle wheels.Low voltage makes them spin at a realistic rpm.

I haven`t posted for a while - been planking. The first planking from the main deck down to the keel is now done & sanded. No filler was needed  . I was careful to add small shims & file a little as I planked. next will be cutting out the gunports & adding the mounting blocks for the cannon barrels. I will probably not be adding guns to the ports that are blocked by the bulkheads.
 

 

 

 

 
Mark

Hi Everyone..
Well I had a few hours today and managed to get some work done. Jerry did a lot before me the past several days and so all i could manage was beginning the bow railings and knees.  I'm not happy with the blue stripe paint job and will attempt to make it much better a litle later on.  Jerry asked me to mention that there was a lit kit bashing done when it came to some of the metal parts sincce the originals didn;t fit well.  He made some wooden substitutes using the scroll saw and all came out pretty well.  Here are some pictures that will bring our mutual project up to date.
 
Charlene

Been working on finishing the rigging with deck accouterments, etc.  As I mentioned in the past, I'm such a huge fan of the kinda of 'underway' look of working rigging and "messy coils" that I decided that was going to be my style for this build.  Sure - doesn't say much toward the tidiness and efficiency of the crew.  But - I'm going to go with the idea that since Captain Christopher had such disdain for the big slow Santa Maria, that all the slackers ended up on that deck.  :-)  
 
Anyway, here's a sneak peak at my look:
 

My lathe has an MT #4 taper in the spindle nose. I have an ER40 collet adapter in it. I have a set of colllets from 1/8" to 1". That is what I am using at the moment. I can also put a ER11 adapter into the ER40 with collets from .010 to 1/4". I don't like a chuck for this kind of work either. But it can take a 3 jaw, 4 jaw and a face plate, which I have. The Emco's got caught between a hobby lathe and a real lathe. Too big for hobby use and laughed at by machinists for being too small. But in reality it is the perfect hobby lathe because there is not much you can't do with it. Emco still makes them as desktop CNC machines, but no more manual machines.
 
Paul

In any case, I would look for a lathe that can take collets directly. This so much more handy, safer, and precise than a three-jaw chuck for many of the small pieces we are working on.

To make it short, there are 3 kinds of lathe small, tool room and industrial.
 
Small: watchmaker's lathe, easy to handle, max turning in 1 pass 0,001'' with micro moves to turn the handles. These lathe are made to turn small parts.
 
Toolroom: standard turning in 1 pass 0,01'' means 10 times faster  than the small one, not made to be move. Emco lathe is a perfect example. These lathe can as well turn small parts.
 
Personally I do not like to use a small lathe, too long to turn a part! I have a big lathe for precision work but my preferred one is the tool room which is the most versatile with accessories. The same thing would be possible with the big lathe but the price would be bigger too. I bought a used Myford  Super 7 from UK and had it ship by plane in Canada.
 
A small lathe can easily cost $1000. For the used Myford, I paid $900, the weight was about 225 pounds. I did a lot of tools with this lathe  and a milling machine. Usually everybody buy a lathe before a milling machine.
 
When you build metal tools, a milling machine  will be more useful than the lathe. 
 
Do you really need a milling machine for wood? The answer is easy and is No. The milling machine was created to mill metal not wood. But still there are few occasions where a milling machine can be useful like turning 6 sides in a  winch frame. These occasions are very limited. to make the buying of a milling machine profitable, we find other occasions but most of the these occasions, a wood tool will do it.

That's a fine model and a very generous gift.
 
It looks like they provided a nice, well lit spot for it where people can walk around it and see and appreciate the work that went into it.
 
Well done!
 
Richard

That's a fine model and a very generous gift.
 
It looks like they provided a nice, well lit spot for it where people can walk around it and see and appreciate the work that went into it.
 
Well done!
 
Richard

That's a fine model and a very generous gift.
 
It looks like they provided a nice, well lit spot for it where people can walk around it and see and appreciate the work that went into it.
 
Well done!
 
Richard

I decided to make the paddle wheels out of .80 styrene with mahogany paddles.Just started so many more paddles will be added.