Adrieke

@ Mick,
 
I have make two picture where you can see how the serving machine works.
I hope that this is clear for you.
 

The first shrouds are on it.
Also the deadeyes and the lanyards.
The first two pictures shows you the served rope.
It goes to where the futtock staves are coming.
I think that it is right but when I'm wrong, please say so.
 

tys all canoe21  tys u so much after i got the corel victory i got no money left lol for te white glue i will get some 
 
adrieke   no nothing is glued yet i wont glue nothing till i check 2 or 3 times frist just to be sure its right
 
 
hello popeye   how u been its will fixed real soon

I made pretty good progress on the Amanda, and finished the Titanic for my grandson, so I got to try out Michael's suggestion. Duck soup! Very simple, very elegant solution:
 

 
It needs cleaning up and painted flat black, and it's done! I'm delighted.
 
Michael, you've gotten me through this process and also your help on the pilot house windows. There's just one more sticky wicket: the eagle on top of the pilot house. Any ideas?
 
Tom

John E.
 
I am new to this forum, but I agree with the others here; you are being too hard on yourself.  There are two critical lessons one must learn when doing something artistic.  First, nothing will be perfect and second, when it is time to stop and move on to the next part of the project.  Most people pick up on the first one quickly, but the second one is a lot tougher to learn.   
 
Over the years I have done model and high power rocketry, oil painting, watercolor, scale modeling, wooden ship models, photography, stained glass, woodworking and even some writing.  I am a mathematician/engineer by profession so I can be a little obsessed with getting stuff right, but most of my hobbies have taught me to learn to put the paint brush, pen or glue down at a certain point and declare a project is done.  The same thing applies to individual steps in a project.  I could keep pouring time and effort into a particular part, but I really won't improve it significantly for the time spent.  I have learned to accept that it won't be perfect, but it will be good enough.
 
I have a stained glass project that amazes everyone who sees it.  Most of the mistakes I made in that project I have long since forgotten, but some I notice every time I look at it.  I don't let it bother me; I appreciate it for what it is. 
 
Even if you decide your ship isn't great I urge you to keep it around.  We all learn from our mistakes and keeping your bireme around will help you remember things that didn't go quite as you planned and maybe try something different the next time.  And it will give you a great reference point when you complete your next project.  You can look at your bireme and see how much you have improved.

yes I might replace it later on :mellow:
 
for now work continues on the steam stack cables. its tedious but I am enjoying it , possibly because I know its now all coming together

the 3 red arrows show where the mast has been broken , its holding for now

thanks dragzz and its just me being clumsy
 
unfortunately Brian my budget for the rest of the years has been blown so I ll have to do with what I have.
 
thanks sudomekh . I will learn don't you worry 
 
thanks Popeye

the steam stacks have been installed and I am now working on the reinforcement cables

 
you can see the mast has got some masking tape around it. this is because I have now broken that mast 5 times in 3 different places   I have no dowels left
 
what I might do is check if I have plenty of dowels from the GF. I would need to remake the 3 parts as these dowels are a different color
 
 

yes I might replace it later on :mellow:
 
for now work continues on the steam stack cables. its tedious but I am enjoying it , possibly because I know its now all coming together

the 3 red arrows show where the mast has been broken , its holding for now

i promised my admiral that i would stick to a budget every month, even if its only a few dollars

yes I might replace it later on :mellow:
 
for now work continues on the steam stack cables. its tedious but I am enjoying it , possibly because I know its now all coming together

the 3 red arrows show where the mast has been broken , its holding for now

yes I might replace it later on :mellow:
 
for now work continues on the steam stack cables. its tedious but I am enjoying it , possibly because I know its now all coming together

the 3 red arrows show where the mast has been broken , its holding for now

yes I might replace it later on :mellow:
 
for now work continues on the steam stack cables. its tedious but I am enjoying it , possibly because I know its now all coming together

the 3 red arrows show where the mast has been broken , its holding for now

yes I might replace it later on :mellow:
 
for now work continues on the steam stack cables. its tedious but I am enjoying it , possibly because I know its now all coming together

the 3 red arrows show where the mast has been broken , its holding for now

hello all iam back after a nice break so as u see here i have installed the doors and framed the windows so all is going well here are some pics

Thanks Adrieke.
 
Now that the paddlewheel is running pretty good, it's time to build the next deck. I chose weathered planking using the herring bone pattern. I knew I didn't need to plank inside the second deck staterooms so I didn't do anything to the hatch covers.
 

 
I want to add lights to the end staterooms with the curved walls that could be turned on and off separately from the main staterooms. The windows in those rooms are separated by means of internal bulkheads and I didn't think its worth two bulbs for such tiny space. So cutting an opening in the bulkheads inside of the rooms lets one bulb light up two windows.
 

 
Here is where HO scale comes into play. The KoM is a 1:80 kit but I am pretty sure most finished boats get HO scale figures to add life on the decks for nice pictures. HO is pretty close at 1:87 and many detail parts are manufactured commercially for scratch building structures. The window castings in the AL kit were replaced by windows made by Tichy Train Group part #8026 and the louvred shutter by Grandt Line Products #5175. The windows are a tiny bit taller than the opening but allows interior lights to shine out. I did have to trim the window frames in order to be flush with the outside edge of the wall. The shutters originally are 87 scale inches tall but when cut in half match perfectly to the windows. This photo shows the difference between the AL castings and the replacement parts. Note the ventilator grate assembly. I didn't realize there weren't enough pieces to fill in the gaps. 
 

 
Planking the curved walls of the staterooms was a challenge. There are a few tapered planks that aren't very noticeable.
 

 
The last photo shows the windows and shutters. The wood color of the shutter blends with the wall color and are not very visible. The ventilator grid is not done yet. The photo above shows the grating assembly which was not the right approach. I decided to frame the ventilator with sapeli and carefully rebuild the grates to fit. This wasted most of the wood AL ingeniously cut for the grates.   
 

 
More, later
Rick

i promised my admiral that i would stick to a budget every month, even if its only a few dollars

i promised my admiral that i would stick to a budget every month, even if its only a few dollars

Tanks to all who dropped in and your "like" votes.
 
Hello Wacko Joe and John (Lad), ah yes, sheet metal work on aircraft is a little different, much bigger to start with and big tools and equipment.  I had stretchers and crimpers but at this scale that's impossible.  Here I have double compound curves to make that would be easy in an autoclave sort of devise.  John, a piece of cake? - - - more like hard tack 
 
My first attempt I rejected, didn't like the outcome.  First of all, the top piece was too short and the lower piece as well.  The shrinking of the forward part of the lower piece gave me some trouble.
So, I started with a second try.  Let's see how this develops.  I will leave the aft end of the left lower piece open for water drainage, lessens my work and worry for that dreaded ball shaped end.
 
This'll probably be the most difficult and troublesome part of the build.  It sure is a challenge though and may wind up with a third try.
 
Well, here is only one pic I took late this afternoon.  It's still in the beginning and rough stage.  At least the hole is now all squared away and finished to my liking..
 

So far this begins to look like something I can work with.  There is obviously much more to do with this thing.
 
Cheers,  

i promised my admiral that i would stick to a budget every month, even if its only a few dollars

Thank you, and you're most welcome Mark, Remco, Christian, Grant, Jeff, Maury and Neal .
 
Forecastle Planksheers
 
The Planksheers for the Forecastle and Quarterdeck need to be fitted before I can continue with the Timberheads.
 
For the quarterdeck I could soak and laterally bend the four required as they only have a shallow bend. Here's the first one fitted - there is a smaller piece still to be fitted on the inboard side :
 

 
The four on the forecastle are a bit trickier. I cut these from wide stock. Fitting the forward one around the Knightheads was quite a task - I had one reject, and used at least 30 "dry fits" on each before I was happy with the result :
 

 

 

 
  Danny

i promised my admiral that i would stick to a budget every month, even if its only a few dollars

Continuing on with the aft coaming area--
 
Here the blackened brass rods are fit to the skylight sashes, and dry fit on the frame--
 

 
 
The skylight hinges are trimmed short.  You can see where I've cut a small mortice in the skylight for them to sit--
 

 
 
The binnacle is started from a solid block.  I've also epoxied "glass" (cut from the plastic address window of an envelope) on the underside of one skylight sash--
 

 
 
The center is cut out of the binnacle block.  I've glued the hinges onto the skylight sashes, and you can see the effect of the glass in the skylight--
 

 
 
A top is made for the binnacle, and holes are drilled in the center.  A larger size from the top (the width of the compass) and a smaller one all the way through, to push the compass back out from below during test fittings--
 

 
 
In this photo you can see two sections of brass tube soldered together.  Inner tube will form a seat to glue the compass face to.  For the compass, I smeared the corner of a piece of white card stock with some stain, so it wouldn't be so bright.   Then I epoxied some "glass" to it.   After not doing a very good job cutting a tiny circle (that's where that little cut out in the corner came from), I got the idea to file the end of a brass tube to make a punch--
 

 
 
The punch worked great, but I ended up making another from the next smaller tube, as this left a little gap between the brass tube and the compass face--a hint of a gimble assembly--
 

 
 
After much frustration and delay with the companionway doors (re-gluing hinges multiple times), everything is finally there.  Some is glued, some is just sitting (the binnacle).   There's no hardware (i.e. latches, knobs, etc.) on the companionway doors, or the binnacle doors.  I'm still deciding whether to add anything to those.  I have a hard time controlling epoxy smears, and my CA has all gone bad, so for now they'll stay as is--
 

 
The binnacle is pretty short.   It's that way to stay below the companionway top, which overhangs its sides about and inch and a half.  
 
 
I think the visibility through the "glass" is just about perfect--
 

 
 
A longer "context" shot.   The deck is looking a lot more finished!
 

 
 
Ron
 
 
 

Continuing with the aft features:
 
I can't believe it's taken me all day for this progress, but here's what I've done.  (I often suffer from a need make progress,   but I must say--I did feel a sense of relaxation doing a lot this work--simply because it took so long, and I had to forget about actually finishing anything!)_
 
After making the top pieces of the companionway, check to make sure the capstan bars (in this photo a trimmed toothpick) will clear the companionway in it's open configuration--
 

 
 
Cut the pieces for the skylight "sashes".   A large part of why this takes me so long, is that I don't have milled wood the right size.   All of these pieces are sanded down by hand from larger stock--
 

 
 
Drill holes for the brass or iron (haven't decided yet) bars in these pieces.  Easier to do them in double sections before cutting them to their individual pieces--
 

 
 
Cutting the doubled pieces apart and filing the ends--
 

 
 
These are then glued on to the skylight sashes--
 

 
 
A number of hinges are made, out of brass sheet and wire, and then blackened, for the companionway, and the skylight--
 

 
 
Here's where I'm at.   The upper part of the companionway is done.   The doors have hinges glued to them.  The skylight sashes need some "glass" and their hinges, and then I'll glue the sashes onto the frame, and put the rods in--
 

 

 
 
Ron

the steam stacks have been installed and I am now working on the reinforcement cables

 
you can see the mast has got some masking tape around it. this is because I have now broken that mast 5 times in 3 different places   I have no dowels left
 
what I might do is check if I have plenty of dowels from the GF. I would need to remake the 3 parts as these dowels are a different color