SkerryAmp

Just a small update - we have deadeyes and chains all ready and waiting for their shrouds at which point I will anchor the chains into position, right now they are just kind of dangling a bit - however a bit of other rigging work before we get to the actual shrouds, but the eyes and chains came out pretty well.  Let me tell ya though, them channels were ooooooh so fragile - snapped 2 off while reforming the grooves to take the chains.
 
All ended well though!!
 

 
 
Thanks as always for stopping in,  more to come shortly!
 
(The masts are in place and drying overnight, then MORE RIGGING! )

Just a small update - we have deadeyes and chains all ready and waiting for their shrouds at which point I will anchor the chains into position, right now they are just kind of dangling a bit - however a bit of other rigging work before we get to the actual shrouds, but the eyes and chains came out pretty well.  Let me tell ya though, them channels were ooooooh so fragile - snapped 2 off while reforming the grooves to take the chains.
 
All ended well though!!
 

 
 
Thanks as always for stopping in,  more to come shortly!
 
(The masts are in place and drying overnight, then MORE RIGGING! )

'tis just a scratch.........just a reminder to follow protocol....      good to see some progress my friend!  she's really looking good 

Augie, ever so humble - from where I sit you certainly deserve the praise - that is such an incredibly looking model.  The detail, cleanliness and tightness is really coming together to make work of awesomeness (yes that is a word, I say so).
 
Carry on - loving it!!!

Wow a little deja vu!   The mayflower is drying, football on the T.V  - so,  let's finish off the re-planking on the Santa Maria.  
 
Finished off laying the new deck planks, marking the lines, dotting the nails and then after some trials went with a 4:1 Natural / Golden Oak Deck Staining.  Much lighter, and I think much much better!!!!
 
(That other one was VERY dark!!)
 

 
I need to make the plank lines and nails a bit better/cleaned up and darker on the stern but will get to that once the stain dries a bit more!
 
Well, games are over for the night so off I go
 
Tomorrow is another day!

Wow a little deja vu!   The mayflower is drying, football on the T.V  - so,  let's finish off the re-planking on the Santa Maria.  
 
Finished off laying the new deck planks, marking the lines, dotting the nails and then after some trials went with a 4:1 Natural / Golden Oak Deck Staining.  Much lighter, and I think much much better!!!!
 
(That other one was VERY dark!!)
 

 
I need to make the plank lines and nails a bit better/cleaned up and darker on the stern but will get to that once the stain dries a bit more!
 
Well, games are over for the night so off I go
 
Tomorrow is another day!

Hey All,
 
So one thing that I managed to accomplish while being out of pocket and away from the shipyard for so long was to tackle a problem with my workbench that had always bugged me.
 
The bench I had picked up was this one from harbor freight
 

 
It is a great bench if you are not familiar with it and probably one of the best purchases I have made.  The trouble I had with it was the drawers.  They don't open up quite all the way.  This leaves a very shallow access to the drawer and with small tools or fiddly bits it was too easy for things to get hung up in the back.  My hands just didn't like trying to dig around back there so it limited my use of the drawers.
 
This is a pic of the drawer as it comes
 

 
However, after looking over the bench and consulting with my father who I had gotten the same bench for and had the same issue, he came up with an idea that was far to simple in it's concept we both couldn't believe we hadn't thought of it before.
 
Replace the runners.
 
So we purchased some runners from amazon,  these runners to be precise
10 Pack Promark Full Extension Drawer Slide 14" 100lb Load Rating 
And when we replaced the stock runners with the above sliders...walla!!
 

 
We had full extension drawers.
 
They handle a nice load on the drawer, slide in and out quite smoothly and make the drawer 100% useful.  Now, there were some minor (very minor) modifications that had to be made to the drawers due to the depth difference of the runners, but a quick shave on the drawers and we were in business.
 
Here is a side by side for ya
 

 
 
Granted, not a huge discovery but I thought it neat enough and useful enough to share with ya all, maybe someone else can make use of it.
 
 
Enjoy!!

So, spent some time at the bench - boy did that feel good!
 
When we last left our hero there was a mast!!
 
Wish I could say something profound or had some really cool step by step things to share but was so happy to be working with wood again just went to it and now we have...
 
3....3 masts  ah ha ha ha ha
 
Of course it wouldn't be back to business as usual without an injury - first day back at the bench and got my thumb with the xacto - OUCHIE...but hey,  finished them masts!!!!
 
 

My pleasure;  I can't contribute much in the way of advice yet so this is my way of contributing what I can for a great site!
Thanks for the looks and the likes
 
 
 
I have toyed with the idea of defunct kits and companies - that would be another effort I am afraid as it is a bit more open ended and harder to track down. Not out of  the question, but lower in the priorities at the moment.  Sorry
 
 
Thanks Fred, I appreciate that!  Very much so and you are very welcome
 
 
Yeah, probobly a good idea, I agree =)
 
 
Yep - my mistake and will fix it when I get back in there, thanks!

Some amazing builds you mean    Keep on keeping on Popeye - your scratch builds are a thing of inspiration!

Whatever strikes my fancy - which is not necessarily a good thing as it does help to support build a.d.d  but it does make things interesting.
 
Perhaps it is eaiser with me to say what makes me not build a kit - or rule it out.  Size and cost.

I didn't want to be excessive with the treenaiing so I just used the bulkhead lines established with the butt joints.  
 

 

Some amazing builds you mean    Keep on keeping on Popeye - your scratch builds are a thing of inspiration!

Whatever strikes my fancy - which is not necessarily a good thing as it does help to support build a.d.d  but it does make things interesting.
 
Perhaps it is eaiser with me to say what makes me not build a kit - or rule it out.  Size and cost.

Some amazing builds you mean    Keep on keeping on Popeye - your scratch builds are a thing of inspiration!

Whatever strikes my fancy - which is not necessarily a good thing as it does help to support build a.d.d  but it does make things interesting.
 
Perhaps it is eaiser with me to say what makes me not build a kit - or rule it out.  Size and cost.

Really nice job Eric,  I like the effect of the nails through the color as yo mentioned - looks great!  I know this is your first kit - but wouldn't know it!!
 
I'm adding your syren to my follow list - I have one myself, sitting on the shelf and will stay there for now - partly because of other kits to get done first but mainly out of fear!!! =)
 
Great job - keep er going!!!

Interior planking complete and painted…..
 

 

Preparing for the interior bulwark planking.  I couldn't stand the thought of thinning down the bulwarks with a sanding block, so I used my electric detail sander.  To keep the edge of the sander from chewing up the deck framing too much, i laid down a layer of duct tape.
 

 
Then the planking is laid in.  Since the interior planking is flush with ports, I elected to overlay the planking over the ports, then cut flush with the hobby knife and sand to match.
 

 

Cap rail and "fashion pieces" added.  Like most folks, it took a couple tries to get the cap rail right.  
 

 

I wanted to add beading to the moulding strips, as pictured in Chuck's instructions.  I tried to create the bead on the strips freehand, but just couldn't get a straight line.  My stylus would follow the grain and drift off the centerline ruining the piece.  So I made a very simple jig out of scrap material.
 
It's nothing more than a couple pieces of planking glued on top of plywood creating a channel just wide enough for the the moulding strip.  I predrilled a hole to tightly hold a T-pin just poking thru the center of the channel.  By pulling the strips thru this jig I was able to get a decent beading effect.
 

 
Adding the moulding to the transom...
 

 

The transom is thinned down to proper thickness.
 

 

Okay, I admit it - I'm really lousy at keeping my log up to date.  So here's some catching up...
 
After completing the exterior planking, I paused for a couple days just looking at the ship and taking stock.  Unfortunately, I didn't like what I saw.  Specifically, the treenailing was garish.  Too big, and too dark.  So I made the decision to paint the planking yellow ochre, thereby covering up my mistake.  I actually like it painted, even though that was not my original intent.  The treenailing faintly shows thru the paint giving a nice effect in my opinion.
 

 

 

I painted above the waterline, actually going about 1/8" below the line to make sure there were no uncovered areas when the coppering reached this area.
 
I was cheap and used regular masking tape.  I tried my best to get good adherence with the tape but still had some bleeding under the tape.  That's not a big deal on the hull where it will be covered with copper, but it's a really big deal when it bleeds on to the planking around the gun ports.  That ended up costing me extra time doing extra sanding.  I've read about good results using Tamiya masking tape on other building logs.  Probably a good investment.
 
And that brings me up to date.
 
 

So far, I've been building on top of my "DeskMate".  But to draw the waterline, I finally had to put together a building board.  I also used some scrap MDF to make my waterline marking jig borrowing ideas from the many samples on the website.