popeye the sailor

your pulling my leg Frank........but then again,  I have so many builds going,  it's hard to keep up.   I wanted to stay away from paints,  but you may have given me an idea.   where I want to try adding diluted white glue  to the thread,  I wonder what would happen if I combined the two.........flat black water base with diluted white glue........two birds with one stone.  I'll let you know good buddy,  to see how it works.

thanks for the good word Frank! 

I have thought of that John........the admiral even suggested it.  I'll have to look around.  craft stores do have some,  but you have to be careful,  some have elastic stretch.  thanks for the suggestion and your kind word.

I forgot to mention a major player concerning the anchors.   when I went to snake a wire into the fairlead,  I found that I forgot to open up the center keel area,  to make this possible.  I wanted to get away from having to cement the chain in the fairlead holes.  I guess this can't be avoided.  again......if I had the foresight,  I could have drilled the hawse holes at the bow,  and perhaps moved the fairleads to the front of the winch assembly.......it might have looked more plausable.   this little bit of insight,  almost makes me want to buy another kit and fly her under another flag.......do all of my little changes,  and add this in.  I think it would look cool!   I've made more progress,  and I will try to get it up as soon as possible

you had to do it huh..........Sjors did it,  and now you.........SALUTE!!!  couldn't have happened to a better guy 

I'll look forward in seeing the start of your project Tex! 

nice update Paul..............superb workmanship!

hope your brother sees good recovery....look forward towards more updates

sorry to hear of the problems your having..........hopefully you will have them ALL sorted out!

looking good Alex 

great stuff Micheal!  those fittings and shackles make this the most realistic build..........superb job! 

OK>>>>>>>>here I am,  back at 'er!   I still have some work to do before I can start the rigging.   I wanted to do something a little different with the anchor.   they only give you one in the kit.   my idea was to snake a chain from one fairlead to the other,  and rig up two anchors.   the anchor is in two halves.......to be cemented together.....I will make two out of these.   they were cemented to a piece of basswood.  they will be cut out and shaped to make them.

here is the diagram in how the anchor is to be rigged.

I also begun fitting the dead eyes......I still may go with three shrouds for the main mast.   I have looked at the Mamoli kit and they show it.

the mast hoops are also being set up to be sewn to the sails

I have been looking around for different sizes of black thread around here....I'm going to have to find a good place to get some.   in the meantime,  I have all this white thread from the other Billing kits,  and I want to try dying some.  I was told that the use of regular dye might degrade the thread,  so I thought up another method........using India Ink.  this turned into a comedy fest......it started with a pine board and large push pins. 

doning rubber gloves,  I started it using cotton balls.......not a good idea.   it was grabbing on the thread and coming off on it.   After switching over to an old wash cloth,  this went a bit better.   the other thing was that I really didn't keep an eye on the spool.  it ended up on the floor........Gibbs kept a really keen eye on it for me.     as I was wiping on the ink,  it caused the thread to twist more and more {the residual twists of the thread itself}.....ans soon I ended up with one heck of a knot!  I tried to unravel it, but it was no use.  I cut my losses and terminated this run.........I threw it away.

I had another spool.....this one I slotted at the end.....to keep the thread from coming off the spool and I stuck it in my pocket.  this worked out much better......much better control.   I got to the end of the board,  so I terminated this run........I have enough to start.......probably enough to do the entire kit.

I tried to do a good close up for you.......it did come out pretty good.   I will probably give this a coat of diluted white glue after to seal the thread.   it is stretched to some degree,  to bring it down to the minium thickness.   I hope to have more progress real soon.

you know.......it's funny.   On my United States build,  they say to paint that a yellowish color.   I'm not sure if I should do it,  but I will pose the question on the thread when I get to that point.   personally,  I kind of like the idea......I have the perfect color for it too.......if I do it.

paint looks good........never used an acrylic before,  although,  a lot of other folks here have and they like it.

Nice job Sarah!   I didn't rinse the sails I stained on the Susan A.   I left it full strength!   feels good to be  'almost finished'.......huh! 

looking forward in seeing your update Mobbsie...........duty calls!

getting back to a build that has been left for a short time can be tough.........one tends to come back to it with a different perspective than was intended.   it's a good fix your doing......I'm sure you'll make a positive from it.

I'm sure there are many accounts.   we will never know what was done in the heat of battle.   decisions had to be made......whether it was to drop and fix the tiller lines,  moving the aft most guns to the stern.......or if guns were even mounted there at all.   from the different accounts found in books,  to the model manufacturers adding them in to make the kit more interesting........we build as we see them.

I've used CA.........but I use white glue more.

looking good Ron.  your right about where I am on the Goth.....putting the blocks on the masts.  I know how you feel,  I can't wait to start rigging as well.  well done! 

nice work Sherry!  I've been toying around with the idea of lighting as well........my friends keep bugging me    hope to see you planking soon!

you did a super job Bob......a lot of really cool detail    I'll keep an eye out for your Yawl build......I hear you on that!

Yepper! almost finished!........looking really good!

just work it while your planking   your doing fine!

very nice Sjors!   you've really made some serious progress!

great progress larry........gonna look even better planked!

looking forward in seeing your progress Ron 

oh my goodness!..........so sorry,  I had no Idea.   I'm putting them to good use!  well, I'm glad you found the log......I'll be getting back to her shortly......I hope you'll follow along 

I'll let you know when I get it............ha...ha....the admiral just asked me what the importance is in getting it 

nice to see some progress Sjors.......those lids are pretty fiddldy work