popeye the sailor

good to hear Sjors.........your back on track! looks real good too

it won't be the first model without catharpins......back in my early days, I never heard of them if you really want them......you can do them in an X pattern......of course, you'd have to check to see if any nationality ever did that. good bet that you'd be the first person on your block to do that looking good my friend

I took Monday off to surprise the admiral........she was very happy not to get up @3:30 AM I figured I'd play a bit with the Boulogne. have you ever had one of those days, where just about everything you touch, blows up in your face? first, I started with something easy......the spool that sits on top of the trawl rig. finding the center, the end caps were cemented in place. the hole was drilled through the spool......that went rather well too. there are two more parts that go with this........I though I'd do a little sanding to clean up the assembly. that's when the trouble started. this kit had a small problem with the laser cutting.....some of the parts had ply delamination, separating in a number of places. I glued them back together and fixed them all. one of the affected parts, the platform that separates the two sections of the rig, came apart in a big way......all the plys came apart at the same time! I glued one back and the other ply tore away. I had used white glue to reassemble them the first time around........I used CA this time and put it back together. with that problem solved, I continued with the sanding........then the top bar came off! what the heck is this.........bad glue!?!?!?! that was CA'd back in place as well......and the two parts I needed to assemble was done. the next thing I wanted to tackle, was the deck. the patch I put in the opening some time ago had rippled. I was going to use mahogany strips to fill it in flush with the deck....but in light of this new development, I'm not sure that will be possible. I could wet the patch and weight it down to see if it would conform to my wishes........or I could simply tear it out and start over. since I intend to plank over the deck, it will make no difference what I use to cover it.......but I have nothing to make up the difference. it equates to 1/64.........0.5 mm will have to do........and so, I used the mahogany {what a waste}. in hindsight......there are things I could have done in this instance.........I could have cut narrow slits in the ripples, to aide them in laying back down..........or I could have used the water method; laying a wet sheet of paper towel in between, to rejuvenate the wood. heck.......I just glued them in place. one thing I should have done to make it easier, would be to dampen the mahogany since applying glue to one side of the strip caused it to curl {what a pain to align}...but it is done. all these could've, should've, would've things........the fact is, I didn't. I did a little sanding........once the lip all around is flush, I will plank over this and the mess will be gone. it should stay now....relatively flat.......it feels flat to the touch. this morning, I messed around with the rest of the parts, figuring where some of them go. refresh my memory, since I haven't touched this project in some time. I did a dry fit of the parts I've already assembled. today, I'll likely finish the rub rails

the Renown kit might be a good fit. what is that .......a 1/4 x 1/4 length of square stock? show me the other side.....don't give up yet......

glad your hang'in in there! we would miss out on so much you've made some decent progress on the Biz.........she's a great looking model

What!!! they have pictures of this place! {just kidding}....not a bad part of the U.S. I don't like snow, but the spring and summer is great hope your operation goes well and the recovery is swift. the arch of the hull is good.......good to see her planked, now that you have this figured out glad you like the medium......is this your first? my admiral likes the ships I build, but yea......sometimes she gripes about my carrying on about them. I have to listen about her books.......she thinks they're real sometimes will look forward to your return.

so happy to see your back to the table! pulling up a chair to watch another of your masterpieces come together what a sweet looking hull!

looking good!

I heard my name mentioned....... another thing to think about is that most copied techniques in rigging, were learned through war and captured ships. Dutch and Swedish ships were geared more towards merchant, than war ships {not to say they couldn't handle themselves}, so they're rigging techniques were mainly their own........pure from outside influences. the diagram I saw above didn't have them.........although the one picture with the block and tackle was pretty interesting. it's your baby Michael......do as you feel

neat way to make the chain gates........nice bit of detail! the sails look nice.......and yes, I totally missed that you didn't have the railings on! bot.....what a dummy I am! but your Cutty looks awesome, and your doing a swell job keep up the fantastic work!

nice planking I don't work with fancy tools either.......why change now I also make my own sanding sticks, but I use various widths of planking, along with various grits.

you made the bow look so much better Bob.....I am curious to ask though......would it blend your troubles at the bow more, if you were to make the curve at the turn a little more gradual. starting at #6 through #9 blend the curve to meet the knight heads {the frames at the bow stem}, rounding them out more. it looks like that's where your problem may have started......the curve continued from the hull sides to the bow. I'm not too familiar with these vessels.......I may be wrong. great work on the stern parts

it's too bad there aren't to be any windows along the sides of the hull.........shame to obscure such wonderful work I kinda get the dust thing.......you don't want that going on, but what about the constant jarring and moving the hull around? it could cause something to come loose. closing the stern at this time may put you at a disadvantage.

looks like a lot of work now......but it could be done. you'd have to lower the angle at the bow, and raise the slots in the second bulkhead. fill in the gap under the deck tab with some of the plywood. of course, you'd need to check to see if this will hinder the look of the era ship your trying to model.

thanks for all the nice comments every one....and the likes as well jump starting a car isn't any different than starting an older car. on the car your jumping......pos on pos / neg on neg.....on the jumper car pos on pos / neg on any metal part of the engine {some cars come with hooks or eyelets for engine removal....or use a mount or bracket} I raise the idle of the jumper car for about five mins....should be long enough to start the car. of course it's a good idea to insure you have good connections.......I have the feeling the person who tried to start her car did not. when connecting the cables...neg last.......when removing cables....neg first. you don't want to create a voltage spike......that's when you run into problems I'm sure Per...if you were to start this kit, you'd do just fine.......just go scratch always glad your checking in Pat...no matter what the medium follow the direction above Patrick......you'll be jump'in 'em like a pro thanks Lawrence.......making the transom cap rail was not to tough to make......I still have to make railings that go around there.

hello Vivian! so good to see you've gotten back to the table sounds like you have some definite plans for this ship..........it'll be fun to tag along!

I managed to do more on this project.......although it turned into a two day event for me. I figured I'd straighten out the fore deck. there were some major gaps around the bulwarks, and the area that the pilot house fits in is a bit too wide. I'm sure that letting it sit around all this time, didn't do it any justice either. what I'm going to do is plank it over with some 0.5 x 5 mm thin strip, and then paint over it.......just as I did with the other fishing boat. I kinda liked how that came out. I have some of the Annegre strips......but since I intend to paint over it, I really don't want to use it. I also have a large supply of Obetchi {I think that's what it is} thin strips, given to me some time ago by a friend. I took most of the broken strips from the bundle to use first. doing the front area of the fore deck, starting from the center...working starboard. I took some narrowed stuff and shimmed the pilot house opening. I haven't cleaned up the planking yet. you can see along the port bulwark......the gaps I'm talking about. with the shimming done, I can plank over and hide it. I got a little further, when I got pulled away to look at my son's car again. it will never end I did get back to it this morning, and finished the planking. I did a little clean up and sanded the deck a little.....nee to do more. looks much better along the bulwarks.... with the pilot house fitted in place........it doesn't look too bad on the port side...... but I'm thinking one more shim strip for the starboard. I do plan to do some type of molding around the deck / pilot house.........it will look nice I was going to attempt to do the cap rails.......but though it might be better to do this first. if I paint, I'd have to get up under the cap rails......makes the task so much harder. I still nee to finish rounding off all the ends of the rub rails.

thanks for the good word gents.......and to all who hit the like button, an big thanks as well. this week was a tough week for modeling.........I simply couldn't get much of it. I even ignored the lawns, which I will need to mow next week for sure....... today, I had to run to the neighboring town to rescue our future daughter in law........her car wouldn't start. she told me that someone there tried to jump start her car.........I did it and the car started right up I think someone doesn't know how to jump start a car....hmmmmmmm. hope I can have another update on her soon.......she's not leaving the other table. only if she's being moved to my desk

just be careful of the fumes......they can't be good

congratz Greg! such a super looking build very well done.........flight deck ....the guns......weathered to perfection

I've made boat cover before, using the method your going to try out.......works reasonably well. lacing the ropes isn't too much of a problem either. looks like your reaching the finish line

really good to see Jack did they do any judging........awards?

thanks Sam......and all who hit the like button with a lot of these furnishings made earlier, it doesn't take long to add them to the model. sometimes it's quite startling, to see all that progress in a short amount of time. what really stunk, was it took me a couple of days {with all the other crap I was doing} to update that Weebly log. what I have left now, is to update the Boulogne log on Word Press.......but that will be easy {only two updates so far}. I've done these logs on every build I've done since 2009........sounds crazy, but the feedback I've gotten from them has been quite positive and helpful to those inquiring. it's good though that it doesn't infringe on my build time too badly.......I still manage to enjoy onward and upward!

agreed.......if you were going to {and I know you mentioned this at the beginning} it would have been good to set the frame up from the start. now Billings does have an R/C version of this boat, which starts out with an ABS hull.......may have been a better fit for you. I have the plans for her.......I have the plans for the one your building.......used them to build the Andrea from a hull that I had modified. #526 is the kit number: http://www.billingboatsusa.com/31-experienced an advanced beginner's kit would be the white star......surly would make a good R/C boat. some kits are set up for it though....planked hull and all. the Boulogne Etaples is R/C enabled......I have the diagrams for it......not being an R/C person, I'm leaving her static.

looks good E.J. don't envy you on the sanding though........that's a lot of ship to cover. deck looks great too