Adrieke

Yesterday was an okay day.  I took that pesky display board inside the house Thursday evening and yesterday morning the stain and poly had cured just fine.  It came out nice and smooth, like velvet.  
 
I also cemented the centerboard to the keel last Thursday and cemented the trail boards to the bow.  I decided to just paint a simple design on them using gold paint.  They don't look bad at all this way.  
 
So, yesterday, Friday, I could finally mount the little sloop to the display stand.  I did make bamboo pins to help secure the sloop to the posts and used Titebond glue.  Everything worked great. I could now attach the boom holding rope as Dee_Dee suggests.  I did raise the boom somewhat to allow some slack in that rope so the boom can swing.  I am leaving the parrels on it for my convenience in rigging and fastening the sail. 
 
I also moved the lanyard cleats a little higher on the mast because they may get hooked into the boom fork.  
 
So, it looks like I'm ready for the sails and that's another can of worms.
 
Here is the boom to mast detail in how my hold down rope looks.  It's not completely finished yet but yuns get the idea.
 

This shows that hold down rope.  It may allow the boom to lift up more then we really want but so be it.  As you can see i have temporarily tied the boom up a little.  The boom will be lower when the sail is attached.  That little eyebolt on top of the boom is to tie the sail lacing cord to.
 
Cheers,  

I decided to make the display board today.  I took a 3/8 inch by 6 inch basswood plank and routed the edges with my Proxxon hand tool.  I put the tool in the Poxxon drill press thingy and routed the edges.  Came out okay. 
 
I sanded the board with worn out 300 gritI sandpaper so as not to raise up the nap.  An old trick I learned from a furniture finisher.  Sometimes he would wet the surface to raise the nap and then sand it.  I then prepped it with a pre-stain conditioner and let it do its thing while I primed the centerboard.  Yeah, that thing has yet to be cemented to the keel and now that the model is raised on the pedestals I can finely install it.  After the stain has dried I'll rub the board with a soft cloth and then a piece of hardwood.  Another trick I learned when in aviation tech school.
 
I also modded both pedestals for the display board, making one a little shorter and the other a little longer by adding a wooden washer below it to make the waterline of the model close to to be parallel with the display board. 
 
When all that was done I figured that the pre-stain stuff had done its work and stained the board and the posts with white oak stain.  It came out surprisingly nice, even though it was basswood.  
 
Tomorrow I'll paint the centerboard white and cement it to the keel.  I'll also made two bamboo pins that'll go into the posts and keel to make it a sturdier on its legs so to speak.  
 
After the model is permanently mounted to the display board I can begin with the rigging and sails.
 
Here are a pics.
 

The display board - still fresh and sticky from the stain.  In real life it's a lot lighter in color.
 

This shows the model temporally mounted to the board. I put the mast on yesterday and when you squint real hard you can also see the forestay.  
 

This is a little closer up.  Oh yeah, I also made the centerboard puller upper cable with a handle on the end.  You can barely make it out but in this pic it's draped over one of the fish bin hatches.  
 
Cheers,

Today - - - what did I do today - - - oh yeah, in the morning after my morning coffee I decided to make the trail boards.  Wont cement them on yet because I'm not sure yet how to finish them.  Yes, they'll be painted green but what kind of decorative motief to put on it.
Then there is the question of a name and where to put it.
 
I needed to scrape some of the white off  at the places where the trail boards are to be cemented.
 
I installed the bowsprit with my previously made hardware and also installed the lower stay. 
 
Then it was time for me to drive down to see my urologist / oncologist for the 3 month visual check.  I got a little scare last week.  His assistant called me and told me that the lab found questionable stuff in the urine sample.  Well, when the doc looked inside the bladder he was very pleased and told me that it looked perfect, better then three years ago when the cancer was found, not to worry about the lab findings.  This was good news and I'm a very happy camper  
 
After I came back I had to get my passport pics taken and complete my passport renewal forms.  Gwen wants to mail them out tomorrow.  Passports, did he say passports?  Yup, Gwen and ur daughter Marianne cooked up a plan to go to the Netherlands this June for three weeks!!!!!!          
 
Okay, I had some extra time and installed the mast.  I also installed the fore stay.  I used 0.1 mm brass wire for both the bowsprit and fore stay instead of the kit suggested black thread.  
 
To simulate turnbuckles I used small pieces of 1 mm brass tube.  I had to drill these out with a #72 drill bit so I could double the wire  back through them to secure it and then a touch of solder.
 
I think that I really need to make the display / mounting board for this little thing to give me a steady base for the rest of the rigging.  The kit suggested one is a joke and this little boat deserves something nicer.  I have a small plank of basswood that I can shape on my mini router and then stain it in oak, walnut or something like that.  I have two nice looking pillars for the keel to rest in.  We'll see how this basswood idea works out.  I looked in the craft sore but they had nothing I could use that looked anywhere near decent.
 
Okay, here are a few pics of today's efforts. 
 

This is a close-up pic taken with my Canon 100 mm macro lens.  I was too lazy to get my tripod and set the aperture smaller for better depth of field.  Here you can see the bolt I made a few days ago with two washers and a nut.  You can also the fuzzies from that #*^%@( boxwood on the samson post.  Looks like I need to take care of that too.  
 

Same camera setup.  Here we have a washer and the nut "screwed" on.  I secured it with a dab of CA.  I don't think that bowsprit is going anywhere soon 
 

Same camera setup.  Here you see the backstay installation.  You can also see where I scraped off some of the paint for the trail boards.
 

 
Cheers,

Well, it's been a few days but I was not sitting on my hands.  Had to do other things that took priority over model building.  Yes, there are a few more important things - - - when the Admiral suggests that something REALLY needs taken care of - - - 
 
In any case, I painted the trim work green and put some poly on the decks.  Looking okay but the trim needs some touching up.  That'll be an ongoing thing with me I'm afraid.  I keep seeing things that could be just a tad better.
 
While the paint was drying I started making the cabin door hinges from 0.1 mm brass shim, 1 mm brass tube with 0.5 mm brass rod for the hinge pins.  All very fiddling work but it went off like clock work, no problems.
 
Next came the job cementing these little parts to the doors and then the frame parts to the door frames.  First I cemented the door parts to the doors with CA. Okay, now to cement the frame parts.  I taped booth doors together front and back with masking tape and then set them int the door opening.  As the pics show I also secured the doors to the bulkhead.  Hey, my mommy didn't raise a dummy 
 
I then clamped the model into my small Proxxon vice by the cutwater so she stands bow down.  This way the door bulkhead is now horizontal.  The small fame parts could now be placed on the frames and slid into the hinge pins.  So far so good.  A little touch of CA and holding them tight against the frames till te CA had done its grasping job and presto, job done.
 
Now I had to give it the hingeing test and wouldn't you know it, one of the tubes was not soldered on correctly.  So, that one had to be redone and reinstalled.  No problem, just another 15 minutes and it was back on.
 
The only problem is that the doors won't open all the way when the fish bin hatches are on.  They'll just have to squeeze through a narrower opening, sorry guys     
 
I could now finish with paint touch-up on the door bulkhead.  I'll have Gwen, the Admiral, look at it tomorrow and let me know where else I need to touch-up.  
 
If the paint job is satisfactory then I can start with putting the bowsprit on and rigging that.  Then the mast and rigging it.  Hmmm, we are slowly getting there.  The sails will be a challenge for me 
 
Here are a few pics of my efforts of the last few days.
 

This shows the three parts that make up the door parts for the hinge.  A similar setup applies for the frame parts, except that I made them smaller as shown in the next picture.
 

This shows the completed door hinge assembly.  
 

This shows how I jigged the doors so I can cement the frame ends to the frames.  Sorry, I didn't take a pic with the boat bow down in the vice but it worked like a charm.
 

This is another shot of jigging the doors.
 

This shows the completion of the door hinge installation.  I think it looks a little better then the paper hinges I had on previously.  This is taken before I repainted the bulkhead.   
 

This is how my little sloop looks like as of today.
 
Cheers,

We went on a road trip to Melbourne last week and stopped over at a little place halfway called Eden
 
Beside the beautiful views there is also the Killer Whale museum.
 
It is small but had some nice model ships.
 
Interesting fact that at certain times the killer whales worked together with the Whalers to catch Whales

Week 19 - 21
 
after finishing off the painting of all the tiny parts of week 16- 18 its now time to place them in the ship
 
I have also worked on fitting the lanterns (with LEDs) and only one remains to be done
 
all the parts of the lower deck are glued in place and I have checked to make sure they are sturdy as the ship will be on the side when planking starts and I don't want any bits falling off
 
once the final lantern is in place I can glue the 4 parts of the next deck in place tomorrow.
 
I have modified two of those parts for the wiring so that all will be hidden

We went on a road trip to Melbourne last week and stopped over at a little place halfway called Eden
 
Beside the beautiful views there is also the Killer Whale museum.
 
It is small but had some nice model ships.
 
Interesting fact that at certain times the killer whales worked together with the Whalers to catch Whales

Week 19 - 21
 
after finishing off the painting of all the tiny parts of week 16- 18 its now time to place them in the ship
 
I have also worked on fitting the lanterns (with LEDs) and only one remains to be done
 
all the parts of the lower deck are glued in place and I have checked to make sure they are sturdy as the ship will be on the side when planking starts and I don't want any bits falling off
 
once the final lantern is in place I can glue the 4 parts of the next deck in place tomorrow.
 
I have modified two of those parts for the wiring so that all will be hidden

New day, new update !
 
The beams for the little boats are done.
Also the ( see if it is correctly ) poop deck screen bulkhead.
And the kings planck is on the deck.
Next task....deck planking !
 
Sjors
 
 

Cannons on the lower gun deck are done.
I have only make the blocks on the back not at the side.
You don't see them so for me it's no use to make them.
Also the clever cleats are on.
Now I can place the boat beams and place and planked the upper gun deck.
 
Sjors
 
 

thanks Scott,
 
you have given me hope that I can get this to work

thanks Scott,
 
you have given me hope that I can get this to work

This morning I started out cementing all the eye bolts, pulley blocks and cleats to the new woodwork.  
 
Then I masked around the cabin roof so I can paint it.  After the paint had dried enough I removed the masking paper.  Hmmm, I should have waited with the painting till after I was done fiddling around that area,  And in the course of removing the cabin doors to replace the hinges with something better looking I made a divot in the fresh paint.  Needles to say I now have to mask it all off again and respray the roof.
 
Yeah, I was not happy with the way the door hinges looked and decided to make new ones, most likely from metal.  They are rather simple to make and look more authentic.
 
I then looked at how the kit wants you to make the two cleats on the toe rails at the bow.  They are supposed to be made from wood and I guess, with a little effort you can make a decent looking cleat.  However, I thought - - - why not make them from metal    Soooooh - - I drew up a sketch and cut some pieces out of brass sheet stock.  Lacking a milling machine or any other fancy tooling I made them out of three pieces.  two that are bent into a cleat shape and a flat base.  I then soldered them all together and filed them into presentable cleats.  Yeah, it's all hand filing, no machining except for drilling the bolt holes. 
 
All I need to do now is drill the bold holes in the base and fashion a few bolts.  Actually, they'll be CA cemented to the toe rails and the "bolts" are for show.  I think I'll leave them bare in polished brass.
 
I'm now ready to paint the trim, I thimk   Oh yeah, fabricating door hinges first 
 
I didn't take any more pics of the stained woodwork, you've seen them once and they haven't changed much.  Here are a few pics of the two hardware pieces I slaved over.
 

I made a bolt and a new nut to bolt the bowsprit to the Samson Post.  I could utilize the two washers I made previously.  The bolt shank is made from 0.8 mm brass rod and the head and nut from 0.8 mm brass sheet.  The head and nut will take a 2 mm wrench    I actually made two nuts but one served as the head, which I soldered to the  brass rod.  I also "cut threads" in the shank for the nut.  Sorry, I just get a cick out of doing this kinda stuff, forgive me for having a little fun
 

This shows the cleats I made as described above.  The brass is 0.8 mm thick but I filed a good portion away to make them thinner and less bulky.  They are just temporarily laid on top of the toe rails.  I still need to drill the bolt holes and polish them before I can cement them onto the toe rails. 
 
Cheers, 
 
 

today I finished one of the bulkheads, adding the door and the two lanterns
 
 

today I finished one of the bulkheads, adding the door and the two lanterns
 
 

today I finished one of the bulkheads, adding the door and the two lanterns
 
 

I am  back
 
everyone have a good new year
 
all building has been on hold due to celebrating and then afterwards the discovery of some wood eating pests that most likely have gotten away with a few parts.
 
as my workbench is partially unusable it might be a bit for I start again. I first want to catch up with the pearl as I am 2 months behind on her

Well, as mentioned to George I decided this morning to cut to the chase and go to plan B and make a new mast, boom, gaff and bowsprit.  It "only" took 3 hours to make all 4 pieces, not including drilling the pilot holes for the hardware, that I did after lunch.
 
For the mast, I had a dowel very close to the right size and cut an extended pice that I chucked in my drill press.  I sanded a nice taper to it and then cut it to the proper length.
 
I also had a smaller dowel that was close to the gaff size and only had to sand it down with 300 grit sandpaper.  These dowels have been in the garage for several years and have not warped a bit.  My guess is that they won't warp in the future.
 
For the boom and bowsprit I used pieces of white pine molding.  It too was as straight as an arrow.  Those two pieces took a little longer to shape round but I was satisfied with the results.
 
I added the forked jaw to the boom as Dee_Dee suggested, also from white pine, might as well match the wood.  I did the same with the gaff.
 
Next came drilling all the pilot holes for the hardware and hope that the eye bolt for the boom end is low enough to allow the boom to swing.  If not I'll have to drill a hole from the front side due to access problems.
 
I also drilled a hole through the Samson Post uprights and the bowsprit for the securing bolt that holds the bowsprit in the Samson Post.  It appears that my washers and nut can still be utilized    I now have to make a hex-had bolt to match the nut 
 
Late this afternoon before closing down, I managed putting the stain on all four pieces.  I used white oak this time.  It turned out quite nice, light colored to match the bright paints I used.  Hey, I'm a happy camper     
 
Just a few more little pieces to add to the hull before I can put the mast and bowsprit in, such as the two fairleads at the bow, the trail boards and the centerboard.  The last one won't be cemented on till I have made the mounting / display board.  I still need to paint the trim, coamings, cabin roof and touch-ups.
 
Then it's the sails and rigging.
 
Here are a few pics of my efforts today.
 

Here you see that we have blankets on the bunks.  It was a tight fit getting the mattresses into the bunks so I hope they won't fall out,  I'll have to give it the shake test     This is what I mean by touch-ups!  Yup, lots of piddly detail work.
 

Cross wise view of te Plan B woodwork.  This is in the unstained condition with the hardware installed as a trial.  The hardware will be cemented in after I am finished with the staining process. It still needs a coat of poly.  You can see the forked end of the boom with an eye bolt in place.  Thanks again Dee_Dee!
 

 

 
Cheers,

today I finished one of the bulkheads, adding the door and the two lanterns
 
 

I am  back
 
everyone have a good new year
 
all building has been on hold due to celebrating and then afterwards the discovery of some wood eating pests that most likely have gotten away with a few parts.
 
as my workbench is partially unusable it might be a bit for I start again. I first want to catch up with the pearl as I am 2 months behind on her

today I finished one of the bulkheads, adding the door and the two lanterns
 
 

today I finished one of the bulkheads, adding the door and the two lanterns
 
 

hello John
 
they come with the kit , there will be about 25 in total I think. I am not use the small hooks that come with them to hang them from the beams as the wiring accomplishes that

Hello again all y'all.  I checked the painted dinghy this morning for anything that needed touching up but found every this hunky dory.  So I proceeded with lashing the oars to the seats to prep it for stowing.  I real life they stored the oars, rudder, helm and oarlocks inside the con.  I could have done the same but figured that this shows the oars and the rudder.  I can always change it at a much later date.
 
So, the dinghy is done and hanging from a sling on the loading boom.  All I need now are a few crew members wrestling her back inside   Some day I'll be making a few crew members but that'll be for next year.  Oh my, tha's next week already, hmmm, how time flies when you're having fun.
 
Yea, a few crew, some spare torpedoes, mines, an anchor and ammo and a  cases of Heineken beer 
 
Then there is the display board with the cover.
 
Okay, here are a few pics of the completed dinghy.
 

 

Here you see the dinghy v.2.0 in the sling hanging in the loading boom ready to be lowered inside her 'hangar" below deck.  I have also placed dinghy v.1.0 on the dock with a spare mine, torpedo, an extra pulley that has Remco inscribed on it, a few smaller pulleys and a hook.  
 

 

 

 
Cheers,

Hello again all y'all.
 
I went to bed last night a little frustrated about them dumb oarlocks.  But as I was laying there waiting for Mr. Sandman to come, I was thinking about how to tackle them then - - - click - the light came on    I suddenly remembered how I did it with version 1.0.  When I told Gwen about it she asked my if I made notes of everything I do - - - - - - good question, ummm - - - no dear.  Her response?  "that's not smart, isn't it"?  No dear, but I figured it was going to be a one shot deal so no need for them stink'n notes    She didn't buy it, "it's still not a smart thing to do."
 
Okay, with all that straightened out I proceeded to make the oars first so so I can use them as part of the oarlock making procedure.  I again made them from wooden toothpicks and whittled them down to about 1 mm diameter, using first a sharp mini chisel and then through a draw plate with a final sanding.  Next I cut them to the same length as the v. 1.0 oars and cut a slit in one end for the blades.
 
I made the oarlocks from 0.2 mm brass shim strips cut to 1 mm wide, cut them to estimated lengths and drilled 0.5 mm holes in the center for the pins. They'l be trimmed later and final shaped
I used a small discarded piece of oar lock shaft as a mandril and bend these little strips around it into a U.  Then put the U shaped pieces on the mandril, clamped it in a mini cloth pin, which is then clamped in a mini vice and put a small piece of 0.5 mm brass rod in the hole.  Next it was just a case of soldering the pins to the oarlocks.  Everything worked so well that there was almost no extra cleaning up to do except for trimming them all to the proper length and make a slight bend to the ends.
 
For the oar blades I used some poplar and shaved a piece of waste planking down to 0.5 mm thick.  One end I tapered to a wedge and shoved it into the slit I made preciously in one end of the shaft.  I used CA to cement it together and stared to shape it into an oar blade.   I think they came out okay.  The oar shafts may have to be cut shorter but I'll sleep on that first.  
 
Okay, we are now on third base and batter is up!  
 
I couldn't resist painting everything dark grey before closing the shipyard for today.  Tomorrow I'll do the final inspection and some more sanding and whatever is needed.  It may need a final coat of paint before I'm satisfied.  Then I'll tie the oars to the seats and hang her in the loading boom on the O19!  
 
Here are the pics of today's activities.
 

This is my crude soldering jig.  The quality is not very good, at this magnification the pixels make it fuzzy.  Perhaps you can still see the brass oarlock with a pin inserted into the hole.  Hey, it worked!
 

Here are the completed oarlocks.  It looks like a lot of solder on it but in actuality there was not really that much and only a little filing took care of it.  You can also see the slight bends I made to the tips of the oarlocks? 
 

This is just an example pic of how I made the oars.  It was difficult to see the slits I made in the shafts so I stuck a #11 blade in it.  the one above t has the 0.5 mm "oar blade" already shoved into the slit.
 

 

 

 
Cheers,