popeye the sailor

thanks Augie......hope you enjoyed how this came out. once they're adjusted, painted and assembled, they'll look better thanks Mark.......I thought they would give a nice touch. I think it would be even cooler to show the mechanism, required in which they operate......of course, kits show nothing. I'm going to look around and see if I can get an idea on this. don't think I can top how Kees does it, but it's worth a try thanks Michael.....gears.....you ain't kidding. looking at what your doing right now, makes my head spin. with all the figuring, fidgeting, and frustration we go through, it's what we see on the other end that makes us smile.

today, I put all these bit and pieces I've been playing with....in the works. I made up the first bracket, with the feeling I didn't put enough spread on the legs. thinking that way.....I made a few more, but with a wider spread. I made a matching one.....I'll use it as a test build. still not sure about the gear thing.....that's why I made two of the other side. I sanded them a bit more using my white glue and sawdust method for blending in the joint lines. the reel was assembled at this time. the parts were then dry fitted together and set on the fore deck, behind the pilot house. one is to go here, and three more are to go along the transom. it looks a bit off......it's not cemented together, it's my only excuse. it might be good to trim the height down as well.

circles......all I see....are circles. time to get 'round to show you what I'm going to do with them. I stacked them in a bunch and sanded them.......as round as my eye could see. I even laid them back into the template.....to see how round they are. I put a set of cross hairs on the template, so I could factor in the centers. I bought these a short time ago......I thought they looked cool. there is a larger set in the dept where I got them. some of those would be suitable to use as ship's wheels. you can buy the parts to make a plaque of a wall clock.....must really be cool when your done with it. I thought I'd try them out to see what it would look like. the other side, I'm going to do as the kit says to do I was surprised to see that the larger gears are the same size as the bigger circles. they fit quite well. ....and then with the other side of the reel sanded and ready.....both sides look like this I did this on tuesday.......in between making the last preparations for our first snow storm.

nice looking hull frame John....very well done!

really starting to move right along there, Adriaan. very nice progress indeed!

I've heard sad tales of folks having a hard time in getting the transom fascia to fit properly.......glad to see that you hardly had any trouble at all looking great Sjors!

she looks great in her place of prominence....really nice case for her too. again, congrats Mobbsie on a very beautiful build!

very well done Omega.........you are the master of tiny! truly amazing!

thanks to all for the kind comments and the likes....commented earlier, but I guess I forgot to hit the post button. I should have an update soon

I was in and out most of the day today. I did manage to do something with this today......hopefully more this evening. circles........I think I found a suitable circle template to use this template comes from the Mary Ann......I forget what purpose they served in the build. I like to keep some of these shapes. you never know when they will come in handy. then there are the port and starboard cap rails. they need to be trimmed and shaped to fit the bulwarks, and then a transom rail can be fitted. there are two portholes that will be located in the hull for the bow cabin below the fore deck, that I still need to drill. with these two obstacles out of the way, then maybe I can get on with the pain of masking this bad girl, and do some paint

yes Nenad.......it more fitting I have another one I found that looks really cool, but it doesn't fit either. so, I went back to what fits better. anyway.....I promised I'd show you what I scored in my recent scavenger hunt. as I mentioned, the lighting kit was about $70.00.....I should have looked closer the first time. I wouldn't have been so shocked. I decided to go piece meal with it to save a little. first, the transformer for $19.99. this will attach to the bus board that I got for $9.99. I'm going to take a close look at this, because if I can do it, I want to cut this down to about 3 or 4 outlets. the rest will be hardwired in the hull, for the lights that have plugs already on them. I'll cement the plugs in place, so they don't fall out with time. I found the website.......these are exclusive to Hobby Lobby. they don't carry any of the metal parts for them.........if I can do what I want to do, all I will need is solder and heat shrink tubing. I also picked up a package of outlets and these really cool bulbs, that are supposed to flicker. they will be perfect to set up near the windows. as far as the wood goes, I didn't go back to get the correct thickness. I took some 1/16 & 1/32 flat stock and glued it together.......it's being pressed as we speak. I'll see how this works out when I trace and cut them.

I don't know Nenad......tough choice. two if you can center the star a bit better....if not, three good job on the lettering, the rope is a nice touch.

the Lettie looks great bob....congrats with finishing her I hope the doorway isn't a source for wind or a stiff breeze........I had my America next to a window, and that resulted in a bit of a repair job. superb work.......really nice pictures of her

I was out today.......I got the wrong thickness wood......1/8 instead of 3/16. bad guess on my part. I also had a closer look at the light kit and almost had a heart attack......they want $70.00 for it! I looked at the piecing out the parts, and walked out of there spending $37.00. I'll show you what I got soon. you never know John.....what was meant for one thing, can be fashioned and altered for something else.

Sjors, she looks absolutely beautiful.....such a work of art! I am astounded by the size difference.....it would be interesting to see the exact size difference of the Corsair, in comparison to the Fonz. but it's really cool to see your fleet all together! congratz, my friend.........now you have more time for the Aggie!

Nenad: just the spice Sjors: I was glad to show you just one of my future ideas. I still need to get to hobby Lobby for the wood......and maybe even the lighting kit. I really like to get the tree boat up to speed with the Jingle Belle John: I don't throw anything away. in the few years that I've been doing this medium {5 - 6 years}, I've amassed quite a bit of inventory......I have a filing system that works fairly well for me. I have a separate one for the wood....I have some old pictures, perhaps I can take some updated ones to show you. thanks to all for the likes and the kind comments

so, here is what I'm looking at Sjors. in checking out the capping rails for the Boulogne, I took them and dry fitted them on the Jingle Belle. now I wish I had a picture of the parts panel......you could see how efficient they were in utilizing most of the panel blank, when they laser cut the parts. some of them aren't so good.......quite a bit of cast off after the parts are punched out, which is good in the event that you'd need to make another part. perhaps I can do that later, when I cut the parts out. so here is the Jingle Belle with the rails, during my search for the rails, I happened on the box I had found in the cellar. this is full of eyelets, in about several different sizes and colors. I started to separate them.......I set up several medicine pill bottles to put them in. I had to stop though, because it became to monotonous. this will take time. these can be used a number of ways........but the two best aspects for them are hawse holes and portholes. they can also be used for sheave holes as well, if one can be satisfied with them being totally round. when I first found this box, a future project came to mind. I have some parts, that I came by a while ago........there is a story but it's kinda long, and I'm sure you don't want to hear it. these are parts that belong to a Billing's Danmark kit. I got the main part of the keel, the bulwark panels {2} and the lower panels {2}. I also got some of the fitting parts, brass rods, and a block of balsa {which I already used}. to look at the lower sections, these eyelets would be perfect to insert in the holes to dress them up. I have the plans for the Danmark as well. My plan is to take the parts diagrams and have them blown up 1:1 to the model, later to be transferred to wood.......but just the hull parts, since.....who knows, it might not even be the Danmark when I'm done. the reason to show you this.......I've been wanting to, and the face that I was looking at them when I was talking to the admiral about the cap rails. I need to get the wood to make them, and she made the suggestion that I use the bulwark panels to make them true.....these panels are of the thickness I need. but, in checking them out, due to the laser cut holes, it would be a terrible waste of wood to try and cut them out. so, it's errand time.......I will take the admiral with me.....perhaps we will do some more scavenger hunting. I am glad to finally be able to show this to you. it's another project that I have in mind, and when I'm ready to roll it out........your surely to be the first to know! I'll try and cook up some meaningful progress when I get back

sorry 'bout that Sjors....I was doing some exploring yesterday. I need to make the cap rails for these two, so I turned to the Boulogne to see if there were supplied parts for them....and there are {for the curvature of the bow}. I then went into the 'parts panel box' that I created for them, and dug out the templates to trace them. trouble is, they need to be made thicker than the flat stock that I have on hand. I don't want to glue them together as layered, to make them thicker.........I rather make them from solid pieces. not seeing any useable wood from the parts panels {yes, some of them are sacrificed when I really need a particular wood}, I thought a bit further. I do have what I need, but I hate to ruin the pieces........I have to show you......I'll be right back.

yepper! super job Omega a display stand is in order for her.........do you have a certain style thought up for it? very well done!

seams no one is kutting you any slack....are thay?

you spoke to Andy huh......... jee, haven't really thought about it........windows are big enough. I've added them to three of my other builds.........not a bad idea. I'll keep it in mind Piet!

you wear the hat well Michael

thanks Nenad.........not that I plan to drop it any time soon almost breaking things off is a constant worry for most.......just my way of heading it off at the pass! whoa Baby!!!! that the high test brand! I only do regular I think it best to just have a radio behind it or something......the vibrations mat tend to jar things loose thanks for the idea though. if I started to do things like that, I think 'ole Nick would get the impression that I was trying to horn in on his turf!

what can I say Ed......she's my sounding board. I've run many ideas by her........a few times, even pulled up some pictures for me. she won't do sails though it's nice to hear that other folks have admirals that are behind them in what they do.......I know Michael's does. thanks Michael......it would be even more fun if both boats were up to snuff with one another. the real fun part is yet to come....outfitting them thanks John for the vote of confidence. now all I need is for Phyl to see your post........I can just hear it now......."see......even he knows you can do it!" I'm thinking........... I guess you can say that.....get a bunch of revved up carolers on board........someone sneaks some beverage on board {name your poison}.........they'll be kum-buya 'round that tree in no time! the results of the scavenger hunts have to be kept sealed for the time being. Christmas is a time of surprises......t'wouldn't be fun if you knew what you were getting thanks for the good word Lawrence. thanks to all who hit the like button

we're building models..........not sentences we know what you mean. dinghy looks fine to me.......don't know why you want to do another. looks perfect in the hold