popeye the sailor

you've made some really nice progress John! once your done framing in the bow, it'll be off towards the stern looks great!

if you've read the post above, it's been an aggravating night. almost ready to throw it in for the evening...but no. I've had worse nights earlier I had stuffed a fine brush in the nav lights, to color the lenses. one of them, being small, did fill with the window maker......I just drill it out. but somehow, I got confused I guess, and ended up with two red nav lights. it not terribly bad......just rip out the widow maker, tie it to a piece of wire, and swish it around in thinner.....ready to start over. the bigger ones work out a lot better......they even look better too. the other one was dried off and window maker was filled back into the lense. while it was drying, I assembled the spotlight. the wire was bent to shape, the interior of the light was painted with flat silver....but what to do about the glass? I tried to cut out a circle from some clear cello.....but that came out poorly. the paper punch is too small.......I estimated the opening to be 5/16". then I thought of my binder paper punch.....I use it to put the instructions in binders.....makes it easier to thumb through. looking at the punch pegs.......they look like they {one of 'em anyway}, will do the trick. so I punched out a few circles. ....a little window maker......and there ya go......lense glass checking the light......it's dry! it's a new bottle......the other bottle I had, I've had for many years, it was turning to snot as can be seen, I also stained the buoy box.....I could have done better with it. glue blotches are an absolute pain. the winch on the pilot house was set up at this time. as I was running the shaft through, one of the brackets broke free from the base! it was set up and glued back in place. I had filled the drum with rope and tied a hook on the end. what I did wind up will be coiled up and laid on the deck. the spotlight is also cemented in place too. then......the trilogy with the hand rails!.......coulda spit nails! of course, I'm on the floor, so Gibbs took advantage of it....cuddling all over me! when he was younger, something like this would bring his alpha out......he'd turn into the Tasmanian devil. you couldn't do anything but stand up and ignore him. he's gotten older now, and to the point where you can talk to him, snapping him out of it. I'm not kidding......he used to tear clothes! I refuse to give up on him. after I took him out.....and then changed my flannel shirt because it had Gibb's hair all over it {It gets on my table too}, I could get back to work. I had found the hand rail bolt I lost, so I was able to finish them. there's a hair on the boat......{as I pick it off}. the buoy box has bee cemented in place. if you look where the mast will be, I added an extra bracket. I could drill a couple of holes for belaying pins, but I will leave it plain. at this point of the evening, I put on everything I could put on without fuss. the railings on the forward structure, the cold bin holds, the excess rope from the winch was coiled up and cemented in place, the numbers on the bow, and the pilot house name plate {which is actually a stick on decal}. the little dog house was added to the pilot house base as well. a mast collar was added for the aft mast too. I have the second one which is the upper bracket....it will be up near the roof line. the pilot house is cemented in place now.......no more taking it off and playing with it. well my friends.......the spinach is wearing off........me thinks Olive has sawed a cord by now.....time for me ta make some sawdust too A-K-k-k-k-k-k

it's been a trial tonight OC.......the kit wants you to use eye bolts for the little railings on the pilot house. I have some of the really short stanchion pins. in earlier Billing's kits, they were supplied for eye bolts. well......they don't look the part, so I ordered up a bunch of the really small and medium size eye bolts, and use these for hand railings. anyway.....I had one in my needle nose pliers, ready to cement it in it's hole...when------->ZING! off it went! I looked all over for it. while I was looking for it, I must have disturbed the assortment tray for the Thermopylae parts....and then THEY were all over the floor! I got no finger nails, so here I am with a flashlight and a pair of tweezers, picking everything up. done with that......and not finding the part I had lost, I took Gibbs out for his evening outing. when I came back in, I took another quick look {since I would be short 1 if I didn't find it}, and there it was! it was right there in the open......don't know why I didn't see it earlier. I didn't look at the color scheme for the model.....I went off on my own like I always do. I hit onto the radar and looked to see what Billing's suggested, and all I saw were the numbers of the paint......no names......bother! so, I went to the USA site and looked up the colors. it seems that I was fairly on target with the colors after all....the pale gray, the satin brown, the sea blue, were all in the list. I went back to work.......I kinda hurried........made a tiny boo boo, but once it's on there, there's no going back. still looks good it's getting late my friend.....better get the latest update posted before I hit the bunk.

those look sooooo good really nice work!

thanks Lawrence and Piet I had a few weird moments...my own doing too I think I can finish the model now without any more hiccups {I hope} I should have an update real soon now......

I take it, that's a Blue Jacket kit. I think Billing Boats lists a Bluenose fitting kit, if that will be of any help. either that, or one might turn up again. check here periodically also......they get older kits in every once in a while : oldmodelkits.com your adjusting well.....glad to hear that. I know it can be hard...I told my wife today that if she ever left, I'd never remarry. it's very hard to replace perfection. I wish you the best my friend. Linda don't need no microscope....she's able to watch over you just fine stay well.....look forward in seeing your return

very nice progress

our couch is old....we plan to get a new one someday. Gibbs sits with me to watch TV

looking at the upper portion of the planking , they came down further. you couldn't do it Mike, because of the clinker effect. looking at the hull, there isn't much tapering there, since they are butting up to the existing planking. they joggled it on that last plank, because the other plank interfered with the run.....note that they tapered that particular one. I'm sure it's the same on the starboard side.......we can't see it. I'm sure they did something different at the stern......likely stealers

very nice ship's boats...well done!

sweet!

good to see your still making progress on her. the bottom paint looks very good, and as long as there are no sharks, I'm in for the board

good to see your still making progress Mark. the deck is looking very nice, and that's a cool jig for the cannon hardware

nice progress Russ......the planking looks very nice. I like to do the same pertaining to structures. I'm not a big fan of the separation gaps either the hull is looking real sweet!

superb progress Nils.. the swivel guns look super, along with the decorations that adorn the hull I got word from the admiral, that I will be doing my first populated project {besides the M&M ship}. your projects have been a good source of learning material.....when I finally get around to building it, I certainly hope you follow along I'll need all the help I can get!

in the hull pictures that avbiker posted...no big deal. just thought it was interesting.

back when I built the Connie, I never knew about all of the nuances that folks were experiencing. I used the plastic eye bolts, the pins for the breech ropes, loading the first steps of the masts with metal rods...to name a few of them. I had no trouble, in spite of all the complaints. don't get me wrong....I'm not disappointed in seeing these modifications.....the thing I had with the kits {I've built many}, are the decks. other than that, I still think that these are the best kits that Revell ever came out with she's looking good BTW.......the more I look at the stern, the more I hope I can scratch build the galley parts and get them into my United States build. why they omitted these parts is beyond me......there is just as much room for them, as in the Connie kit. the deck came out super...hope the spar deck comes out equally as nice good to see your progress. if your still having the problem with the deck pulling away from the hull, you may have to use CA and rubber bands, leaving it to dry for a day or two. a habit I have is to remove the hull parts from the box right away and rubber band them together, pulling the sides inward. leave it for a week or so......there's plenty to do in the meantime. of course, you can't do that now, but if you should pick up another, give it a try. this works for any hull.

this looks really neat Doug......I've see more stands being assembled like this I might even give this a try!

I knew there was another out there like me looks like your trying to beat my record planking looks good....the stern is always the tough spot. the differentiation between the transom and the counter is visible.......you won't have a hard time shaping the contour. very nice

hello Walter........so good to see you I hope all is well and you are back to the table, although I've seen no updates. thanks for the good word hello John......good to see you as well I hope to attain that much realism, but I'll settle for a nice looking model thanks for the good word!

are you making sure that all of the fastening brads are below deck level? speaking from experience

still can't get over the white anchor chain........wouldn't expect it, considering it's function.

thanks John with all this painting, I should be able to really put some good progress on the model. I do have to say though, this has been an interesting build so far. raised a lot of questions. Billing's could have made this model a bit more distinct....there are so many model worthy examples of this boat out there it's a great kit for those who like to bash and scratch build

I'm sorry.....am I drooling gotta have some weight to it when finished will it have a skin, or is the internals exposed?

did you notice the slight Joggling on the port side of the bow?