popeye the sailor

well........I've managed to repair some of the damage that Murph has done.  the Toyota is as good as new..........nothing a length of pipe and a saws-all couldn't fix       the smoke is clearing,  but now I seem to be having a bit of a problem with my left ear........plugged up.......can't hardly hear out of it.....WHAT?
 
I have done a little on the Goth......tying on blocks to the fore mast and starting to get the spirit yards in order.   here is a picture also of the 3.5 eyelets.......or mini hearts.
 

 

 

 

 
the smaller double blocks under the top are home made.

thanks Mobbsie........I wish I had something to report to celebrate your return.   I hope to have the planking done soon.....then on to sanding

watch out sherry........he liable to outfit for you the ones that shoot blanks   LOL!

After test fitting the instrument panel to the chart house I determined the chart house was 3/8" to short.  I cut two pieces of scrap wood to side and glued them to the chart house.  After they are dry I will fill the gaps and give it a coat of sanding sealer.
 
Cheers,
Tim
 

 

I have done more planking to the other side,  in order to even it out on both sides.   I have done some tapering to the planks so far in the process.   now that I'm reaching the chines,  it will require more.
 

 

 

 

 
I don't know what the thought was in creating the ribs with such an edge at the chines.   in past pictures of the hull frame,  you can see just how much of an edge there is.   this must be removed and rounded to compliment the contour of the hull below the water line.
 

 

 

 
 

Hello Popeye; Indeed, there are a lot of paint schemes on this ship.  This will be my version 

Just catching up Popeye, making very progress my friend, deck and hull planking look great.
 
mobbsie

Nice catch here Larry.  That gun port gap has all but disappeared  .  I guess most of us learn early on that you really can't spend too much time on fairing.  I realize now that my 'hey, that looks pretty good', assessment of my own fairing resulted in an awful lot of 'fine tuning' midway through the planking process but at least not a major rework.
 
Here's to us both nailing it next time around

Do I hear the sound of distant war drums beating, you have the guns Sjors but do you have enough balls to conduct a longgggggggggggggg fight, I wonder.
 
Guns are looking good my friend.
 
mobbsie

Pinrails pictured for future builders.

Here are a couple of more

mine ain't no walk in the park either...........most of my builds are painted.   the only one that is a wood grain hull is the Gothenborg,  and I second planked that one.   there's still a couple of flaws........if you look in the right places    to be able to single plank the Half Moon...I hope I can get it right      I still use the putty........one of these days,   I hope to attain the level that I see some of them done in.   work in progress     thanks Adam !

nice work on your build Bob........that is a very old kit,  somewhere around 25 years old.  I built the Nordkap.....an old kit that had been stored in an attic.......with all that you WOULD have had to do, if you used the parts from the kit.   cutting all the parts out wasn't easy,  and I did have to make some of the parts from scratch,  due to the age of the wood.   billing is famous for sheet bulwark panels.....they do sometimes use a plywood that is hard to work with....I have resorted to planking them,  getting a much more desired effect.  I do wonder how you can call the kit inaccurate,  since your doing most of the build scratch,  and using another person's practicum.  it is a proven fact that most kits have some inaccuracies in them,  either in fit or design.  another aspect not really taken into consideration,  is that if a kit is done to a certain timeline,  and the builder decides to do it in another timeline,  this will make the inaccuracies that much more obvious.  I think that if we got kits that had all the bells and whistles,  there probably wouldn't be such a great hobby.........folks would have given up due to bordom
 
Billings back in the day,  had a weird reason for not including the fittings kit..........if the builder decided that the hobby wasn't for them and gave up on it {condensed version.....what it all boiled down to}...........I think it's printed on the back of the box.   I guess it's not too bad of an idea,  given the cost of the kits today.......but I haven't seen where other manufacturers have done this.   I've built a few Billing kits......the instructions are so vague,  that I've taken to use them as a guide,  more or less.  sites like this one,  are very good places to learn and read about techniques that some use in their builds.   you got what you paid for......an old kit......and by the looks of her,  your doing a fantastic job!       I look forward in seeing more progress on this fine build 

Hello all and thank you Popeye, Kevin and Sjors for stopping by the boat yard, really appreciate it.
 
I have completed the roughing in of the deck structure.  The photos revealed a few ares that need some minor trimming but overall I'm satisfied.   We are talking of fractions of m m's but it's important for the side panels to lay nice and flat and even.
It seems that my VOC ship is taking a backseat but I'll get back to it shortly.
 
I took a bunch of pics from different angels, primarily to see where I need to do some shaving with sandpaper.  I made a 10 inch sanding block that seems to work really nice.
 

Final check for level of all the stations of the deck frame.  I have put 4 brass nails in the side of the hull at water line 7, two on each side.  This allows me to check the hull for level and consequently also all the structures and components for level.
 

Kinda like a bird's eye view of the completed deck structure. I already suspected a few areas that needed some trimming and the photos confirmed it.  I'll note them and sand them down a little.  
 

A shot along the port side from the bow.  The dark area on the center of the top stringer seems a little high but that's an optical delusion 
 

A shot along the starboard side from the bow.  Same optical illusion is seen here.
 

A bird's eye view of the completed deck structure from the bow.
 

A profile shot of the port side.
 
Cheers, 

didn't matter when we got it..........the feeling and thoughfulness was still there.......it never left

Planking looks really really good Popeye!!  I have yet grasped the whole idea of planking and much of mine is faked with plenty of putty and sandpaper!!    Yours however,  very very nice!!
 
-Adam

Very nice Sjors... crisp and clean. Well done.
 
As to the wolves back in the Netherlands... good.... every nation needs apex predators.. other than politicians I mean

Thank you for the kind words, Popeye.  I would say this kit is closer to 40 years old, not 25, as it included photographic slides (remember those from the sixties and seventies?) of the original ship.  As far as calling the kit inaccurate, maybe I was a bit premature, as the bulkheads were quite close to Mr. Cambell's plans, which were not (to my knowledge)  included in a practicum, as he made them in the 1950's for the original (?) restoration. (Plans that is, not bulkheads)  Believe me, If I found a practicum on this ship I would be using it right now!  I don't mean to sound critical of any manufacturer, or any kit;  indeed, the fun of the build is trying to make it as historically accurate, or personally fulfilling as possible.  As a child, I completed Revell's Conny and Cutty, and was always disappointed that it didn't look like the box.  At 12 years old, it took me half an hour to glue the two plastic halves of the hull together, which seemed like eons.  Now, at 44, I spent 7 months planking the hull, and wonder if I rushed the job.

nice work on your build Bob........that is a very old kit,  somewhere around 25 years old.  I built the Nordkap.....an old kit that had been stored in an attic.......with all that you WOULD have had to do, if you used the parts from the kit.   cutting all the parts out wasn't easy,  and I did have to make some of the parts from scratch,  due to the age of the wood.   billing is famous for sheet bulwark panels.....they do sometimes use a plywood that is hard to work with....I have resorted to planking them,  getting a much more desired effect.  I do wonder how you can call the kit inaccurate,  since your doing most of the build scratch,  and using another person's practicum.  it is a proven fact that most kits have some inaccuracies in them,  either in fit or design.  another aspect not really taken into consideration,  is that if a kit is done to a certain timeline,  and the builder decides to do it in another timeline,  this will make the inaccuracies that much more obvious.  I think that if we got kits that had all the bells and whistles,  there probably wouldn't be such a great hobby.........folks would have given up due to bordom
 
Billings back in the day,  had a weird reason for not including the fittings kit..........if the builder decided that the hobby wasn't for them and gave up on it {condensed version.....what it all boiled down to}...........I think it's printed on the back of the box.   I guess it's not too bad of an idea,  given the cost of the kits today.......but I haven't seen where other manufacturers have done this.   I've built a few Billing kits......the instructions are so vague,  that I've taken to use them as a guide,  more or less.  sites like this one,  are very good places to learn and read about techniques that some use in their builds.   you got what you paid for......an old kit......and by the looks of her,  your doing a fantastic job!       I look forward in seeing more progress on this fine build 

I have done more planking to the other side,  in order to even it out on both sides.   I have done some tapering to the planks so far in the process.   now that I'm reaching the chines,  it will require more.
 

 

 

 

 
I don't know what the thought was in creating the ribs with such an edge at the chines.   in past pictures of the hull frame,  you can see just how much of an edge there is.   this must be removed and rounded to compliment the contour of the hull below the water line.
 

 

 

 
 

Dang, Adam - she is a fine looking ship!  Will wave as i pass by on the way north - 12 days and counting.....

Ahoy Mates
 
Mark: I can see it just fine with my Optivisor
 
Augie: I am with you. Its two steps back on a good day
 
Ferit: Fear not, I take very little seriously. Even less here
 
Back to the build  
 
I am posting a pic of my painting technic which I learned here on MSW (TYVM)
 
The wood already has three coats of Wipe on Poly. I used Tamiya tape in varying widths to get my line. It does drop in towards the bow but not into any treenails. Some are very close. If I don't like it I will re-tape that area and hit it with some more paint. I used some cheaper yellow painters tape to catch any "oops". Next I sanded down the tape line and then applied a thinned coat of WOP, same as I used on the hull. That will dry for 24 hours when I will sand the area with some 400 grade and then apply a 50/50 coat of Testors Classic Black. The first side needed three coats with 24 hours intervals, wet sanding each one and I see no reason this side will not need the same. This will be followed with the acrylic flat black (I nixed the other black (for now))  My plan is to work on the gun ports and at the end of my session do the painting. I am also coating the inside of the hull with PVA. I do not thin it much, just enough to move around. It has added some needed strength to the single planked basswood.
 
Next:
 
I have a question:    
 
As you can see I have already removed all my gun ports, oar ports and those flimsy upper deck supports. I want to now add one or two strakes on the gunwales. My concern is the black wales. I have noticed the WOP will reactivate the black paint and could drag some into gunwales. I am sure I could tape off the Wales but should I also consider pretreating the wood before applying it. Comments welcome
 
PS: I replaced the kit supplied wood with some Boxwood for the Gunwales and holly for the deck. The Lumberyard took very good care of me. There will be very little basswood upstairs

correct!   she will get some stain.   I have quite a bit of the Billing's Mahogany stain  that I'm going to try out.   once the hull is fully planked,  this can be done,  but there are areas on the stern and bow that will need to get masked off for paint.   I want to do something with the decal maker,  but I have a feeling that some of it will need to be done in paint  {red / white striping}.   I'm taking my time on the hull planking as you can see........I want the planks fitting good,  in order to get away from double planking her.  I've done a bit more....hope to have the planking completed soon

I find it hard to see as well........guess I'm too  'tuned'  into looking at the big picture    place a finger over your lips and repeat after me:
 
"if I do not speak......they will not hear.........if they cannont hear.......they will not look.........if they will not look.......they will not see" 
 
or........if you like the old addage:
 
" seek,  and ye shall find........if you don't,  then never mind."   I still say you did a splendid job

Thank you all for your kind words and likes, it really means a lot to me!
 
All the deck frames are now solidly pinned and glued to the hull    Today I proceeded to install the port side stringers.  They are cut from 1/4 inch poplar to 3.5 X 6 mm.  I used 1 mm wire brads as a clamping method and set the brads with a steel punch so I won't ware out my sandpaper    Frugal Dutch     No, not really because I need to have the sanding block make contact with wood to get a true shape.  The brads prevent that from happening.
So far it looks good but there are a few spots I need to shim a little.
 
As mentioned before, the purpose of these stringers is to give the 1 mm plywood side and deck panels a continues glueing surface.  The gap of the lower stringer is larger then necessary and of no concern because the 1 mm side panels are the ones that need a smaller gap between the it and the hull.
 
I'm now ready to turn the build board around so I can work on the starboard side.  I may or may not put the side panels on.  I need to go back to the stern section and make and install the diving planes, rudder and propeller shafts.  After that's done then I won't have to worry about damaging them later and can do almost everything else without lifting the boat out of the jig again, except for the finishing plating and painting.
 
Okay, here are a few pics of what was done today.  Pictures, yes pictures!  We know there is another Dutchman who likes to see pictures 
 

Head-on bow view.
 

Head-on stern view.
 

Bow side view.
 
Cheers,