Farbror Fartyg

Main mast: I'm making it like the one on the Vasa - dutch style cap, but without yard ties going over the cap. Nothing is quite finished/glued down yet. I need to make sure everything fits before Mr. Glue is introduced - for example, I'll have to see how much room the shrouds and main stay need when they pass round the mast and over the trestle trees. Cheers! Sam

I said last year that I'd jump straight back into painting this year, but, well, the wood called to me. More things redone/finished: Built and installed all the ladders. Made a new pair of knights for the main mast. Finished the capstan. I may add the little stopper-thingy for it. We'll see. More to follow in a bit Sam

It had to be done. Those gratings were pretty crap. They may have been fine for a toy "floaty-boaty" - as I originally envisaged her - but for a ship headed for the top of the "posh" chest of drawers in the living room (display case and all), they were no good. I'll still dunk her, though. Don't you worry - no way I'll miss such a potential for hilarity. Anyway here's this season's progress so far: The best Sam

Yeah, what's there to say really ... Keep it up! You're an inspiration. Sam

Thanks! It felt really good to start on the painting. The varnish really gave the hull brown some depth and shine. I was aiming for something a little lighter initially, but the dark brown works well with the white and green, I think. The over-sized nails look like some sort of ornaments when left unpainted - works. I bought loads of paints just after I got here - I'll leave them here so I can jump right in next summer. Still haven't worked out a complete colour scheme. Something to do back in town I guess. Akagi - still on the topmost flight deck. Darn colour just won't look right. Sam

I'm taking an early train back to the big city tomorrow, so I guess this is goodbye for this year. Not liking it one bit ... not one bit. BUT! We've had ourselves some serious fun! I'm well pleased with the progress made this summer. Last night I gave Tulpijn a final coat of varnish and did some work on the bowsprit. Top's coming along nicely. Her hull ... so smooth ... so shiny Well, Ok, so ... that's it for this year then ... Bye bye Tulpijn, bye bye ... be a good daddy while girl is gone now ... I guess I'll have to go home and do some work on Akagi, then. Thanks you all for following along! Really appreciate it! Cheers Sam

There. About 2 billion coats of gloss white later:

Depends on how much vine-juice one's had, I suppose. Or, Dionysus forbids, how many "potted" plants one's eaten. *EDIT* Oh, oh! I get it! Druxey, you mean the lupin plant in the middle don't you! Look at the following image: Yeah, lupin leaves do look like pot.

A few more small steps towards the grand goal, off somewhere in a hazy, formless, unforeseeable future. I've redone the flag pole. It hasn't been glued on yet - too easy to accidentally knock it loose. When finished, the bottom of the pole will pass into a hole in the "bench-like structure" on which it sits. The catheads are glued on - it was easier now that the decorative knees (for want of better terminology) that go under them are on. I've also carved a little flowery, garlandy thingy to go below the windows on the transom. The port side "brown bit" and wales have been painted. Cheers! Sam

I did that on purpose, totally. To express the ... state of the world... No seriously, good eye there, sir. Tulpijn is sat on a chest of drawers, in an empty house, in temperatures that can vary between - 20°c and +25°c, for most of the year. If the glue on a bit here and there looses adherence, I'm not surprised. Rectified! /Sam

"If tape was a woman, she'd be a-a-all over me-e"

Thank you! Understandable. This is my first completed build log ... We worked on the project continuously, but somehow I just never found the peace to sit down and tell the tale. What's next? I'll most likely sneak in some more projects with a nautical twist - the crew likes boats. This is one of the good things about kindergarten work: what you're supposed to do is pretty clearly defined but how you do it isn't. So say for example that we're to work with furthering the kids understanding of, and interest in, physics and math. What better way to do that than to build ships! Why do ships float? Test buoyancy. How many centimetres of stick do we need for that mast? Etc.

Spring and early summer were pretty busy for me and the crew, but we got there in the end. We attached a bit here, painted a lid there, and now Captain Teodor is well and truly in Davy Jones' locker. It's been fun, for everyone involved. The crew really adopted the idea and made something, that could have been a teacher-driven slog, into their project. We ended up compromising with the much debated seaweed - I got to place some long bits and the crew got their little tufts. We all agreed that a cover for the peep hole was nessecary, so I built one out of the metal lid from a cardboard tube, some wire and picture hangers. The lid of the jam bucket let a bit too much light through, so we made a cover and painted it a nice, solid greenish black. With that, and some more paint here and there, the diorama box was done. The diorama obviously needed a Capatin Teodor. While looking at pictures of skeletons, the crew each made their own fleshless crewman. So now we had about twenty skellies ... in all shapes and sizes ... we couldn't even fit all of them in the box. It was decided that we would have only one Captain Teodor, and that I should make him. So here he is: Looking at the diorama through the peep hole with just the natural light filtering in is all well and good, but I wanted to add an element of exploration to the experience. We needed an ROV. I canibalised an old solar powered garden light - extended the wires, added a bendy pole and stuck a toothpaste tube on the end with the LED. The ROV is inserted through a little hole in the side of the bucket. You can move it around and explore different areas of the wreck. So there it is. I suspect our Captain isn't going to get much R.I.P. - lots of curious eyes will pass by the peep hole for sure. Even the principal made a surprise appearance during snack time, to "see the amazing ship". Thanks for following, liking and commenting! See you soon! Sam

It feels like this build has entered a new phase. The oh-so-familiar little sticks and fiddly bits on the table are now in the company of paints, filler and string. When Tulpijn was turned upside down for water line marking, I noticed a rather unsightly gap between the keel and the hull, so out came the wood filler. I've also used filler on some uneven bits on the rest of the hull. With paint on you'll hardly notice it. Paint: I'm building up the colour with very thin washes of Humbrol enamels. When everything looks right, I'll varnish. The look I'm going for is something like this but with darker hull colour. (The model, "Amaranth", in the Museum of Nautical History in Stockholm, is quite possibly my favourite man-made object ever ... man, she's beautiful...) Two coats on so far. The under water hull will get white-stuffed. And, no, Sweden's definitely still in the World Cup! Cheerio Sam

Sweden has effectively been booted out of the world cup, but hey, the sun's still shining and coffee still tastes like smoke. Chin up. Sitting here leafing through R.C. Anderson's The Rigging of Ships ... - we're getting closer ... I've been here for two days now and I've managed to get quite alot done in that time. 1. The rudder has been attached: 2. The starboard quarter gallery and gun ports are finished. 3. I've begun working on a hatch cover for the main hatch. (I might re-do the gratings - never was very pleased with how they turned out.) 4. I've started working on the masts - diameter, taper, lenght. Not done yet, and no - the fore mast isn't going to be that high. 5. You know how "them old shipwrights" used to look for tree branches the right shape for making knees and whatnot? I kinda did the same thing, but on a smaller scale: Man, it's good to be back. Now that the rudder's on, all we need before we can start painting the lower part of the hull are holes for the gammoning. Talk to ya soon! Sam