popeye the sailor

I've made a little progress of late.   all of the mast hoops are set and ready to be sewn onto the sails.   it wasn't too bad....only twenty hoops to tie thread onto.   the finished ones were held at the top of the mast, while those that are drying.......a small touch of glue on the knots......were kept separate on a lower level.
 

 
I did more....even started to do some on the fore mast.
 

 
soon,  they were all done though.
 

 
next was the dead eyes.   I did some looking,  and I do believe that there are three dead eyes for the main mast.   it makes sense...and quite logical,  since there are two steps to this mast.   lucky I have extra parts for this......came out looking pretty good.
 

 

 
now I have to get the blocks and reef lines on the sails.........and then,  I can begin the sail rigging.  to make it a bit easier,  I may do the hoop / sheet attachment before the shrouds......they won't be in the way.  more progress soon 

this is a very interesting build you've undertaken.......a vast difference than what roams the surface.  I tip my hat for the reasons behind it, and for showing us this build...something few have done in the past.  I did a few sub kits in my younger days  {plastic},  and used to think that they were sort of boring.   but lately,  I have been seeing some that defy the imagination....so life-like and menacing.   the sharks of the sea,  they called them...and rightfully so.   I am amazed how the construction of the hull is going........you definitely have it spot -on.
 
   superb job.......I'll definitely have to keep an eye on this one!

Hello fellow shipwrights,
 
Yesterday, on my way back from my birthday party held by our financial advisor, I stopped by at "Hobby Lobby" in St. Augustine and bought some needed "stuff."  I got a few blocks of balsa and 300 lbs cold pressed watercolor paper.  It's nice and heavy, close to 0.4 mm thick.  Just what the doctor ordered for the simulated steel hull plates.  I'm a happy camper.
 
Today I stopped by the local Home Depot and got wood filler and epoxy resin with fiberglass cloth.  I found that I really need to reinforce the planking on the inside to give it some more stiffness.  Even with the planned styrofoam it is still too spongy to my liking but that's the breaks in this business.  Trying to safe weight by skimping on bulkheads and now I have the extra work to do. 
But hey, I'm not going anywhere and this way I am assured of a good solid hull.
 
This afternoon I did some fine tuning on a few bulkheads that were not quite right by adding some veneer strips.  Even the long steel straight edge didn't catch it.  But that's okay, you can't win 'm all.
 
I made a closeup pic of the upper starboard planking over the main ballast tanks.  No remember that these still the raw planks without sanding.  The holes are for the pushpins to prevent the planks from splitting.  This just the base planking, they will be covered by the heavy paper and polymer adhesive.
 

Closeup of center top starboard planking over the main ballast tank/mine tube area.  The holes are for the pushpin "clamps."  These are 1/4 inch wide by 1.5 mm thick poplar planks and you can see there is quite a span between bulkheads.  2 mm planks may have given me the desired stiffness but then I'll be outside my scale.
 
Cheers,

Hi Andy, checking in since I was in the neighborhood, the other thread of build logs. The last photographs look great, As I was perusing the image it occurred to me that I am not the only one who gets so wrapped up in the task at hand the the space on the dockyard gets smaller and smaller until there is no room to move. Then one makes a resolution to be better organized and......... well you know the rest of the story.
 
Michael

Sjors! she looks superb, and you even added the subtle detail of not having all of them open the same height! nice work!

Sjors! she looks superb, and you even added the subtle detail of not having all of them open the same height! nice work!

Arr, gee fellas - now I'm getting embarassed - I'm just having fun!
 
B.E. - The kids love it.  One of the other model makers who I see quite a bit has exactly the same experiences with the kids.  The really interesting thing is the number of teenagers who say things like, "That's so cool."
 
John

There's hope for the future of the hobby John if you are surrounded by a mob of interested kids. I am prepared to bet that your exquisite little cutter will stick in the minds of at least one or two, and some way down the road, they will appear on MSW influenced by the beauty of what they saw in 2013.
 
Regards,
 
B.E.

Well, an update on the Stag at last.  I didn't get a lot done yesterday as we are in the middle of school holidays at the moment and the museum was crowded with families - always fun when you're surrounded by a mob of kids asking questions about your model.  At one stage I dropped a needle on the floor and had a group of kids crawling around the floor searching for it for me (they found it, too)!
 
I've finally started rigging.  The standing rigging of the bowsprit it done and I've made up the sets of shrouds ready for seizing in the deadeyes.  The lower mast is also permanently fitted now awaiting shrouds.
 
 It's usually at about this time in a build that I get really paranoid - always thinking that I might have forgotten to rig something essential before going on to the next stage, but even so I love rigging - even ratlines.
 
I remembered that Pat had asked for a photo with a ruler against the model, so one of the photos shows my trusty six inch rule against the base.
 
John
 

Cause loosing all the stuff from the forum was a Bummer!!!
 

 
Bummer!

Thanks Popeye.....glad to see you aboard....any comments are always welcome......

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! 

Ok, I admit, a drunken hungover guy with an x-acto knife is bad, and painting with your hungover shaky hand is worse... but the Tamiya masking tape is so good that... nevermind...
 
How can you have so many builds going simultaneously? (i.e builds on "table" on "hold".  I bet you must have a nice workshop!  
 
In any case, I am patient and look forward to you finishing your United States build among others.  Thanks for you kind comments on my blog, its appreciated.

Hi Popeye.... don't think I've seen this one before.... great looking build you've got going.... next time you color some rope try using a small
top of something like a medicine bottle or anything that will hold your coloring media. grab one end with your tweezers and use a stick to hold the rope down in the liquid then pull it thru .,don't put all the rope in the liquid leave it out side of the liquid then pull it thru as you hold it down with the stick ..... let it end up on a pc. of paper towel pat it dry then you can roll 'er up!! you might want to try some water based  flat paint for your coloring. Make a wash or thin accordingly Thats all I use , works good for me. weathering powders work well too, thats what I used on my sails.   Good Sailing !!....
frank

Popeye,
 
Do you have a decent sewing store anywhere around you?  You can usually pick up commercial threads in different sizes fairly easily.  You could also try a shore repair place or an upholsterer's workshop for thicker linen thread.
 
John

I think we need a new topic in the general discussion page....
 
MSW's WIndbag of the Week Award
 
Given out to the person with the most posts over the course of one calendar week
 
Andy

OK, I think I got it up....no pun intended...but the link should be:
 
"C.W. Morgan - by - Texxn5 JohnF - MS - 1:64 Kit"
 
Pictures to hopefully follow as progress begins.....Let the Games Begin"

Hi mates,
a little step: foredeck. This is a test, the lower part - the fore area of the main deck - still lacks of its supporting elements. I thought that making the deck first, then beams, could help me to collocate upper elements (foremast, bitts) but it hasn't been a good idea. Difficulties have been, instead, more: the easier drilling of deck's holes is nothing in comparision with the difficulty to bend properly the deck.
 
Chees
Alex

More pictures!!!  I decided to try and scribe the planking.  My thought is I can scribe it and if it's awful I can plank over it.  
 

 
The deck planking came out well.  I'm very happy with it.  
 

 

 
The rest is so so.  From far away it's ok since it's such a small ship but up close it looks like it was planked by the three stooges.  I'm still in debate about it for a few reasons.  It isn't as well done as I would like but I do like the look.  I'm thinking though that with it in the bottle and with some channels going on as well as other fittings they won't be noticeable   So in effect it may work just fine.  
 

 
Also I'm adding the sealer,forgot the actual name, on the bottom which covers a lot of the planking lines.  Most of this will be under the ocean but I like having it.  
 
I am planning on building two or three of these so I may just keep this one as the practice ship and turn over the better ones to the pirates.  

Hi Ron..... looks like you'er ready to do some rigging!!...... Make sure you ck all the plan sheets for block installation on the masts and deck, Now is the time to attach them when nothing is in your way. It's looking good , now the fun starts!!!
Frank

I've been so busy playing with my ship that I've not updated my log for awhile.  Lets start with the IOU's
Wayne, here is a photo of the dead eyes going into the sponsons....

 
Keith - here is the penny with a completed ratline for persepective

 
When making the ratlines I used this cardstock comb that I made to keep the lines separated.

 
Ok, so I finished the 4 sets of ratlines.

 

 
Now that I've finished the ratlines (phew) I'm on to my next challenge, furled sails. Thanks to everyone who sent me photos of furled sails -that helped a bunch. The local club gave me some silkspan to use (which is lucky since the sail cloth I'd bought from ME was way too heavy for furled sails.) and I cut and died it with earl grey. 
 
I found that wetting the silkspan gave it a more realistic weight so I furled them while they were still wet and they held that shape when they dried. I'm going for the look that they've just been temporarily tied up, not the fully stowed perfect bundle that they do when they are fully storing the sails. 
 

 

 

 

 
I am working on running rigging tonight

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'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 was right!!!!   that looks awesome all framed out!    splendid job Sherry!   you can see the love and effort in it.....a simply superb job!

Thanks Popeye. The framing looks a bit rough, but I need to keep in mind it will be covered by planking.