popeye the sailor

yes.....I got right back to work......the admiral wasn't home.......it was quiet. the front of the pilot house was fleshed out. all it needs now is some minor sanding and a lacquer coat. I hadn't had enough of the planking.....so I started on the deck. usually I begin at the bow.....but this time I though I'd go from back to front. I'm using an archive pen to simulate the calking. I have 2 new ones......this is my old one, that I had filled with India Ink, when it dried out on m the last time. it's still alive and kick'in of course, I'm jumping back and fourth between planking and reading logs.......johnnyreg asked about the interior of the pilot house. as mentioned, being a small structure, I'm not going to do much with it. the tint doesn't darken it enough though...and looking in, I can see satin brown paint blotches around the doors. I gave it a coat of flat pale gray. done with the area behind the pilot house, I ran two solid planks in the center of the deck, from the front of the pilot house base, to the forward structure. in cleaning out the mast hole, the planking broke up! DRATZ! now what the heck am I gonna do. there's only one thing that will fix it.....a mast collar! I cut the bad part off the planking. I have this strip of wood in the pile on the table...I think it's Obetchi 2 x 6 mm. a piece was cut off, a 3/16 hole drilled through it and trimmed to fit between the planking and the forward structure. I painted it flat pale gray when done. working my way around the pilot house, I had to do some fancy cutting to negotiate the base. I drew lines at most of the bulkheads, except the few at the bow and stern.......those I'll just run straight {most will be short pieces anyway}. I figured I'd cheat a little.....I ran a pair of 1 mm strips to the front of the outline for the base. Once I worked my way to the mid ship, I wanted to make sure the pattern was right. so I cut and dry fitted planking to the center plank on one side.....OK.....I'm good. so I ran the pattern from the center planks. darned if that 'cheat' didn't come back to haunt me! for the port side, I ended up running a 1 mm strip all the way from the base, to the forward structure. before I started this area, I had cemented the mast collar in place. now with that 1 mm strip, I should be good, as it brought the planking flush with the strip I cheated with. I figured that I'd be doing the same thing with the starboard side.......no, not exactly. for some crazy reason, the 1 mm strip fell short of being flush......you figure I'm using 3 mm thin strips......with the added 1 mm, it falls short?......OK....fine! I did some test fitting, and I ended up using two 2 mm strips together to match up with the deficit. what I did though, was mark them for cutting the butt joints, but when I did the calking, I didn't do one of the sides, lengthwise. I did them opposite one another, and when they were put side by side {cut and butt jointed to follow the pattern}, they almost look seamless. once sanded, it may be hard to notice thinking about this......I could have done the same thing to the port side, and it probably would have looked better. anyway.......I continued with the port side planking.......I did a little more to the starboard side, before changing sides. a good portion of the deck is done.......not much more to go.....then a lot more fancy cutting capping in the forward structure. it's late my friends........I've been up since 4 AM. I think it's time to hit the bunk if only i had thought of that remedy sooner

you know what I found out........you don't look into the camera and hit the stupid button, thinking your shutting it off! I know......I know........ go through all that trouble with the door, only to fall flat on my keister. I'll do better next time........I promise ! thanks for the good word pat and John the hinges will be the next experiment in the R&D dept. thanks for the kind word as well Bob....you wish is MY command!

thanks semore......appreciate the good word thanks John.......the bin will sit on the deck, so in between the floats, the deck can be seen. I used tinted cello for the windows....the same stuff you would see in automobiles. it doesn't totally block out the vision, but the pilot house is so small, anything put in there would clutter it up. I'm actually surprised that they didn't supply dash parts and a ship's wheel. when I did the Mary Ann, I rebuilt the pilot house from scratch, giving it larger windows....the pilot house here is based the same way. I mounted the windows out side instead in inside.......a trade off for the siding thank you Samson....glad to have you look'in in thanks for the likes folks! I'll have more soon......I did go further

we have a Harbor Freight in our city.......do the drills come like that?

look'in really sweet......nicely done!

look'in good Russ

when the boat is lifted out of the chocks, those pieces lay down, so they will be out of the way when they swing the boat around. I was going to mention that Nenad......but I didn't want to......I thought you knew how they were situated. the two life boats should also look the same......they are upright in the davits and they can be covered with a tarp at times. the ones up over the cabin are keel up......sad to say would dash the idea of detailing them. put them as you see fit....your the Captain.....it's your ship it would be sad to see good work, not be used.

super looking paint work........coming along nicely

it does pivot though...Tim is correct in his assumption. fore lower top sail and main lower top sail should have one.

thanks gents......ya caught me! I cut the front windows out and I'm taking a break. I saw the pictures Kevin........looks a lot like the Jeanne D'Arc, except the D'arc has more Heli deck. wonderful stuff there bud!

yep.......it reminds me more of the Jeanne D'Arc. I built t because of this vessel strange coincidence that I got that kit when I did....spooky!

so.....the port side was trimmed and the edges sanded flush. the back wall got the siding treatment next. the starboard side was done next. the casing for the door was done and painted........then sided. in keeping with the satin brown for the trim, the doors and the window frames were painted. set aside to dry. the front wall was done last......after it was sided and dry, the seams that join the segments were sanded lightly to round off the edge look. since the three walls have had the most drying time, the windows were trimmed out. selecting a piece of the tinted cello that I thought would do the job, the window frames were cemented on it, and will be cut out when dry. I was a bit hesitant, but I used CA to cement the frames on.....I was so worried that the fumes would cloud the cello, but it didn't. while I had the brown out, I painted the roof. I'l be working with that pretty soon. I had cemented the cross strips on during an earlier session. cutting them out did remove bit of paint....I ended up having to touch them up a little. taking the side windows and the back window, they were cemented in place, using the Testor's window maker. I opened the new bottle...the old bottle is gone {horray!}. the doors were cemented in place as well. two 10 mm brads make up the door knobs, and buts of brass rod make up the simulated hinges. the tinted windows really aren't that dark, so there will be some visibility to the interior. not enough though to cause alarm. I'll get the front windows cased out and then it will be painted over with semi gloss lacquer....trying not to get any on the windows. I probably should retrace the structure outlines on the deck. in doing this, I likely changed the size of the areas.. I should be able to go further today.

not a happy thing.......but it's good you caught it when you did the inevitable will come.......you'll finish 'er.......it may take one more day.

the hull is so smooth, everything reflects off it! she's look'in better with every update Patrick love the topside paint !

super progress Nils........the ship really looks awesome!

very nice yard work

no....it doesn't help with tapering. basically, just lay the plank down and see how it wants to lay.....tape to fit.

did they make a new structure, or did they install an elevator to move the helicopter below deck

darn.......looked in the closet and I haven't the foggiest where the board got off to. I tried to quickly make another one, but you'll see where I drilled two holes, too close together, and the drill walked. it still will give you a good idea. you'll see where I drew two lines......from the bisect of the two lines, curved lines are drawn {I did two}. you can shape the curve as tight as you want to. the plastic pegs are 3/16.......I made others from wood dowel. don't use metal or rough pegs because the wood will get marred or stained. alternating holes allows the strip to be held in place. other holes can be drill to make adjustments, depending how much bend you need.

sure.....I'll put something together for you. I kinda figured that's what you were planning to do with the bulwarks. I know planking can be a trial......I'm no expert either.

look'in really nice OC..........your doing a great job! hands are still OK......no problems?

who knows, she may like it more when your finished and the ship is in her case super progress!

thanks Don I'm continuing with the pilot house at the moment.......should have more a bit later. got up early this morning....Gibbs got me up for a morning outing @ 4 AM. I have the supplied deck planking for the ship, but I'm beginning to wonder if I should do the deck in this color Anegre, in keeping with the pilot house color. I might have enough. thanks again for all the likes

planking her that way will insure your maintaining a straight line, but you'll need to remove the excess planking along the tops of the bulkheads, ending off at #6. the bulwarks should have a curvature that follows the main deck. it's not a bad idea, but you'll be doing a little extra work, defining the main deck bulwarks. I use pretty much the same method in bending plank strips. I have a pine board with systematically drilled holes to allow for changes in the bend. I have plastic dowels I stick in them......the kind you get from pre fab furniture. like your doing, I set up as many as I can

I've seen the Dumas kit......I was referring to the plastic version {seen that one too @ Hobby Lobby}. it's an airfix kit @ 1:72. one of these days, I'd like to try a Dumas kit.....like the looks of the PT boat they have. thanks for the good word my friend on the Nordkap front........I finally got a hit on the fitting kit! I've sent e-mails to Billing / Danmark and Age of Sails, but so far, no replies yet. last night I tried another search and came up with a place called Premier Ship Models, based in Canada. the reply mentioned referring me to someone else, so I'm waiting on that reply. I'll see where it takes me thanks Piet and OC! ....and thanks to all who hit the like button! I didn't get too much done yesterday......made the admiral happy by getting my hair trimmed. she said I was starting to look like a hippie we had a major ice storm the other day......everything is coated in ice. we did have a good amount of snow, but we had a January thaw and most of it is gone now. ........and then we get this.....it's quite slippery out there I was hoping to have this done when I posted the last set of pictures. I got to the table a bit late last night and painted the cap rails.....touched up the margins. when I did the scuppers, I did ding 'em up a little..........but that's alright, it's a work boat. when the model is finished, they'll never be noticed I was going to start planking the deck, but the cap rails were drying.....so I started to look at the pilot house. I wanted to do it a little bit different. I like the satin brown, so I decided to base it as the trim color, and base it off of that. I was thinking of a mahogany color, but it would be too dark. So, I went with a light color Anegre this strip, and will do siding on the exterior. going vertical, I went with 0.5 x 2 mm wide strip. I could have gone with 3 mm, but the 2 mm will fill the fields without having to patch in a smaller width. I'm not using the supplied doors........I'm going to add a casing and use the punch outs that I had removed. recall that I had used 1/4 quarter round plastruct for the front corner edges, since the assembly of the pilot house, left a gap there. I will also be using some plastruct 'L' angle for the back corners. this will box the side fields in and serve as corner moldings. I stopped here to paint the 'L' corners before I finished the port side. I will cut the windows out after this has dried. I plan on using the tinted cello that I've used on a previous project, since this kit doesn't much in the way of interior detail. I'd add some, but the pilot house is rather small and so are the windows. the port side is filled in now.......when dry, it can be trimmed and cleaned up.