Elia

Russ,
 
I'm joining the audience a little late!  You've got an attractive and unique topic here, and you've got a very well planned and executed build under way.  The hull (bulkhead) framing looked true and aligned; the stanchions (both plan and execution) look smart, and the hull planking is coming along very well. I'll be sure to keep up.
 
Elia
 
PS I'm also glad to see your injury has apparently passed and you're back in the model shop!

Spent an hour or so finishing up the main backstays.
 
Rob

Surprisingly, I was able make all three booms and both gaffs over the weekend.  I really expected these to take longer.
 
Main Boom
 
I started with the main boom.  The kit provides laser-cut jaws that were cut loose and cleaned up.  The boom itself was made from a tapered dowel.

All the various holes were drilled after the jaws were glued in, and brass wire was used to simulate bolts on the sides.  Everything was stained to match the masts and deck.

On the masts I used eyebolts to simulate fairleads, but here I decided to try and make them from scratch.  The main boom has a couple fairleads secured with rope.  I made them from brass tube that had a groove cut into the outside edge for the rope.  Unfortunately I had to use a little CA glue here to keep everything together, and I realized after I was done that I had put the knot on the top.  Oh well.  Once I get everything rigged it probably won't be noticable.
 
The assorted bands were also made as indicated on the plans, using brass strip, wire, and eye bolts.

The eyes for the lazy jack line were made from some rigging rope with eye splices, stapled into the sides of the boom.

The other end of the boom got a couple sheaves, done the same way I did the ones for the top mast.

Fore Boom
 
The fore boom was a bit simpler, as it doesn't have jaws or sheaves, and has fewer parts.  Instead of the jaws, it appears to have a 'cap' on the end with some hardware to attach to the gooseneck on the fore mast.  I made this by gluing on some 'U' shaped brass strip (drilled with holes), then using some brass tape around the end of the boom to finish out the 'cap'.
 
'
The other end just had a few typical brass bands.

Jumbo Jib Boom
 
The jumbo jib boom was also very simple, but does require another special end to be made.  This one connects to the traveller on the bowsprit.  From the plans, this appears to be a wide band with two  wires on the bottom, both bent into a squared-off 'U' shape.  I made the band from the thin brass sheeting that I acquired for the metal sheet on the mast.  Then I drilled four holes in the bottom and glued in wire.
 

Fore Gaff
 
Next I moved on to the two gaffs.  I started with the fore gaff.  By this point, it was getting pretty routine.

Main Gaff
 
Then on to the main gaff.  This one has a number of stops that need to be added.  These were made by gluing on 1/32" pieces of wood, then sanding them down to the right shape.

 
Then suddenly I realized I was done.  
 

Just for fun, I made some temporary rigging lines (just some thread with hooks on either end) and hung all the booms and gaffs.  I just wanted to see what everything looks like on the ship.
 

With these completed, I'm basically done with construction and ready to start rigging.  I really didn't expect to be ready to rig for a few more weeks, so I haven't done as much planning/prep as I need. I'm going to start by pulling the masts/booms/gaffs back off the ship (nothing was permanently installed).  Then I'm going to do a pass over the whole ship and look for anything that I want to correct or clean up.  I think this will be much easier before I get rigging in place.  I know I need to adjust the top mast iron fids as Bob pointed out, stain and tie down my barrels, glue the dories oars in place (they are loose right now), and remake the connector between the gooseneck and fore boom (with the boom attached, it doesn't sit right).  I'm sure I'll find other things to clean up while I'm at it.
 
During all that, I'll start researching the rigging that I haven't figured out yet.  I plan to do as much rigging as I can with the masts off the ship - at least the standing rigging.  I took a lot of shortcuts while rigging my first build (I just tied knots everywhere), so I'm looking forward to trying to do this one correctly.  We'll see if I'm able to use the right method of attaching lines/hooks/eyes to blocks in the right places
 
 

It has been a relatively slow week of ship building, but I did manage to get the rest of the main and fore masts finished.
 
Mast Caps
 
The mast caps were made from brass strip.  I shaped the inner bands around the appropriate masts, then soldered them into a larger outside band.  I made the bails and long links from brass strip as well.  (They really should have been brass wire, but I went with strips so I could better control the 'hole' that would hold them in place.  The process for the fore and main mast caps was the same, but with slightly different pieces.  The fore mast cap gets the two long links, while the main mast cap skips those but adds an eyebolt.
 
The parts for the fore mast cap...

And the fore mast cap installed, using more of the small brass bolts I acquired for my shackles.

The main mast cap...

Top Masts
 
With those complete, I moved on to finishing up the top masts.  I had previously shaped the top masts back when I first started on the masts, so now I just need to add the details.
 
I started by replicating the mast tackle sheaves.  From the plans, it doesn't look like I actually need to use these for anything, but the plans call for them, so I added them.  I made them by drilling two holes, then using my mill to shape the curved inner part.  Since I'm staining my masts a light natural color, I stained the inner part of the sheaves a little darker so they look like they are made from something else.
 

The shoulder bands at the top were straight forward - just a couple brass bands with eyebolts glued into the masts through some holes.  Those really should have been pieces of looped brass wire soldered on, but I wanted them to be a little sturdier.  Plus, gluing them into the mast through holes in the bands helps keep the bands in place.
 
The gilt ball and truck gave me a lot of trouble.  I probably tried making these 4-5 different ways.  The ball is pretty simple, but the truck is problematic because it needs holes to act as the sheave for the flag halliards.  I've seen some builds omit these, and I was very, very tempted to skip them after several hours of failures.  What ended up working for me was to trace the round shape of the truck onto some 1/32" birch plywood sheet (basswood just fell apart when tried).  I then drilled a hole in the center to match the size of the top mast's tip.  Then I drilled two small holes on either side to form the sheave.  The holes are just big enough to get some thread through for the flag halliards.  I carefully cut it out and sanded it down.
 
Here's the truck installed without the gilt ball...

The gilt ball itself was carved from a dowel rod.  I drilled a shallow hole in the bottom that covered the little bit of top mast that poked through the truck, and glued it all together.
 

It is a little bigger than it should be, but I think once all the lines are rigged up it will look fine.  For the record, attempts that failed: carving the whole thing as part of the mast (destroyed two top masts that way), carving it all on a separate dowel to be glued on, making the truck from a slice of dowel, making the truck from brass, and making the truck from a basswood sheet.
 
The last piece to the top masts were the iron fid bars to hold them in place.  For these I just drilled a hole in the bottom of each top mast and used a piece of brass rod as the fid.
 

For now the fids are not glued in.  I'm going to wait to permanently install the top masts until I get the rigging lines installed.
 

Then I made a bunch of even smaller mast hoops, which was easy but annoying.  Those got installed on the top masts.
 
Mast Coats
 
Finally, I made the mast coats.  The kit provides some laser cut pieces for these, but I decided to go a different route.  When working on the lower masts, I used some larger dowel rods to make the pin saddle.  I had drilled a hole through that dowel rod that fits the lower mast exactly.  Naturally, it took several tries to get that hole centered, and I kept a few of the rejects.  I made my mast coats from one of those rejects.
 
I started with a dowel that had a hole drilled through it for the mast.  The hole is off center, but that's OK.  I think the mast coat was canvas or leather, so it probably wouldn't have been uniform all the way around.
 
I used my mill to thin out a bit around the top, then rounded things off below that.

The piece was then cut free.
 

The unpainted mast coat temporarily fitted to the main mast...

Once painted and temporarily installed (again, not permanently installing anything yet), I'm happy with how it turned out.
 
The final, painted mast coat on the fore mast...
 

And now I'm done with the fore mast and main mast!  I'm going to start in on the main boom next, followed by the other booms and gaffs.  Once all those are done, I'll prep as much of the rigging as I can before anything gets installed.
 
After 432 days of building, seeing the masts up on the ship is a great motivation.  Even though I've probably got 2-4 months left, I feel like the end is in sight!
 

 
 

Lower Masts
 
Moving on to the upper portion of the lower masts....
 
I added the band for the futtock shrouds on the main mast.  I simplified it a bit because my 4 attempts to do it "correctly" failed miserably.  After several hours, I decided to simplify it to just a band with some wire.
 

Trestle Trees and Spreaders
 
Next I moved on to the mastheads/trestle trees/etc.  I've spent a good amount of time over the last few weeks drawing these in 3D (first in SketchUp, then as a way to learn TurboCad), so I had a pretty good understanding of their construction.  Despite that, I managed to build them without the cross blocks.   Oh well...
 


I built out the trestle trees and spreaders for both masts, then painted them white.

With the basic assembly complete, I moved on to all the metal work.  I started with the iron gates that hold the heel of the top masts in place.  I made these from brass strips, but soldered on some brass rod to simulate the connection points (which I imagine to be very similar to how the two parts of a door hinge are pinned together).
 

Next up were the clips at the ends of the long spreaders.  These were also made from brass strip, with a couple holes drilled in each side to simulate bolts.  As I've done in other places, brass rod will be glued into the holes to form the actual bolts.
 

The spreader bars were made from brass wire.  I didn't bother trying to simulate the bolts on these...I just crunched the wire in a pair of pliers to flatten out the ends and glued them on.
 

Moving on...the main mast has a couple 'shackles' that attach to the trestle trees, where the quarter lifts connect. I made these from brass strip, bent into a 'U' shape.  I drilled holes for simulating bolts, and used my mill to make the strips a little more narrow where the quarter lifts will attach.
 


Various eye bolts were installed per the plans.  I ended up using eyebolts in place of the fairleads dictated by the plans.  I wasn't confident that I could model anything remotely resembling a fairlead at this scale (at least nothing that would look better than an eyebolt).
 
That pretty much completed the trestle trees, so I moved on to the bands.
 
Mast Bands
 
I made all the bands in one sitting, each one sized to exactly where it needed to go.
 

Holes were drilled in each band using my little drill press (I'm getting really good at drilling precise holes in brass).  The bands were then installed on the masts.  No glue was necessary since the bands fit nice and snug.  
 

I drilled through the holes into the masts, and glued in the assorted eyebolts.  Gluing those eyebolts in place should give me the little extra bit of stability.  
 
Spring Stay Bail
 
The spring stay bail was added, made from some brass strip and eye bolts.
 

 
All that's left on the masts is the mast caps.  But I'll take a short break (this post is getting long), then I'll post again with the mast caps!
 

Nirvana - Sure, I can send over the SKB files, as long as you promise not to judge me on the quality of the models   You can get the model here.  Note that the scale of individual parts (and the pieces that make up those parts) is not at all accurate.  I was primarily just trying to figure out how the parts go together.  There's also a lot of places where the model is 'hacked', with lines in wrong places, incomplete shapes, etc.
 
Dave B - I never thought I'd use the mill as much as I do, especially since I have a small one that can stay set up all the time.  Just did the tenons for the masts with it - they came out perfect and only took a minute or two!

Mast Planning
 
Over the last few days I've been knee-deep in fore mast details.  I decided that before I do any work building the masts, I want to fully understand every part and how the assorted rigging gets attached.  This led me to doing various drawings of everything.  I'm sure experienced modelers just know this stuff, but I'm still new to all this, so having to draw everything out really helped me to understand how everything was constructed and rigged.
 
I thought I'd post a few of the drawings.  Be aware that nothing is to scale - I was only trying to map out the general construction and rigging.
 
I started by drawing up the fore mast (lower and top masts).  I mapped out all the various parts that need to built.  I used SketchUp to model the individual parts (not all accurate, but close enough that I understand the construction).
 

That gave me a pretty good idea of all the metal work, and all the possible places that rigging might be attached.
 
My next step was to take this and draw on all the rigging.  This was fun (really, it was).  I got all the lines on there, but the various hardware (blocks, hooks, etc) aren't exact.  I decided to leave those kinds of details for another drawing since this one was getting cluttered.  I color coded all the different types of lines.  Since I did this in Photoshop, I can easily turn off groups of layers to hide/show various types of lines.
 

Once I had a good idea of all the rigging on the fore mast, I made a spreadsheet of all the lines and figured out the size of rope to use, etc.  All that was left was to figure out the exact hardware and runs of each line.  I followed the general concept I used for the bowsprit, where I listed out each run and illustrated the various details.
 

There were a lot of revisions to this one, and I had to consult other sources for some of the details.  For example the throat halliard wasn't detailed enough in the plans to figure out exactly how it runs, so I had to consult Chapelle.  It is still a work in progress, and will likely be refined/updated as I go.  But I think this gives me enough of a roadmap that I can start building the fore mast.
 
All this is overkill...but as someone who knows very little about real ships and rigging, forcing myself to map everything out has really helped me to understand how everything comes together.  There were many things that I would have done wrong if I hadn't gone through this process (and probably several things I still have wrong!)
 
I'm out of town this weekend, but I think I've got everything ready to start actually building the fore mast when I get back next week!

Unsurprisingly, progress has slowed.  Since the last update, the main thing I have done is carve the rabbet from the keel.  I followed that by doing more fitting of the frames.  I carved the rabbet along the lines marked on the keel, but in the middle of the boat especially, the distance from the bearding line to the rabbet line seems to be too great.  The bottom most plank would not lie anywhere close to flat against the frames.  I have been compensating for that by deepening the notches in the keel that the frames sit in.  I probably have more work to do there to make sure things are all even.
 
I am also not real happy with the shape of the last 7 frames, where the bulwark notches in from the rest of the frame.  The notch should be more progressive than it is...instead it is about the same depth on all the frames.  I may need to glue on some wood there to correct this.  Meanwhile, I have started marking and carving the tops of the frames to form the timerheads.  I have just the last two frames done. 
 
I still need to decide how much, if any, of the planking and decking I am going to leave off to expose the frames.  I am leaning toward "none" but if I do decide to leave some off, I want to make sure the visible frames are finished nicely, and perhaps even detailed to appear to be made from multiple pieces.
 
Below are two pictures of the rabbet and one of the timberheads carved on the last two frames.
 

 

Dry Fitting the Frames
 
Yay, it is starting to look like something.  I pretty much have the frames to their final shape inside and out (minus carving out the timberheads/bulwarks stanchions from the top 3/8ths of an inch or so), and have press-fit them into the notches in the keel to get an idea of what it will look like.  Obviously when I glue them in I will be much more careful about getting them straight and level.  I still need to do some work on the keel before that, such as carving the rabbet and tapering the keel a bit.  

This is tonight's work. I began the lower belt on the starboard side. The garboard strake is complete and I have worked in the forward planks of the next strakes above. There is a good deal of twist in these forward planks in the lower belt. Like the rest of the planking, they are spiled and tapered and then soaked in hot water. I clamp them in place wet and when they dry, I can glue them in place with very little clamping needed.
 
Russ

Russ,
 
I'm joining the audience a little late!  You've got an attractive and unique topic here, and you've got a very well planned and executed build under way.  The hull (bulkhead) framing looked true and aligned; the stanchions (both plan and execution) look smart, and the hull planking is coming along very well. I'll be sure to keep up.
 
Elia
 
PS I'm also glad to see your injury has apparently passed and you're back in the model shop!

Russ,
 
I'm joining the audience a little late!  You've got an attractive and unique topic here, and you've got a very well planned and executed build under way.  The hull (bulkhead) framing looked true and aligned; the stanchions (both plan and execution) look smart, and the hull planking is coming along very well. I'll be sure to keep up.
 
Elia
 
PS I'm also glad to see your injury has apparently passed and you're back in the model shop!

Russ,
 
I'm joining the audience a little late!  You've got an attractive and unique topic here, and you've got a very well planned and executed build under way.  The hull (bulkhead) framing looked true and aligned; the stanchions (both plan and execution) look smart, and the hull planking is coming along very well. I'll be sure to keep up.
 
Elia
 
PS I'm also glad to see your injury has apparently passed and you're back in the model shop!

Russ,
 
I'm joining the audience a little late!  You've got an attractive and unique topic here, and you've got a very well planned and executed build under way.  The hull (bulkhead) framing looked true and aligned; the stanchions (both plan and execution) look smart, and the hull planking is coming along very well. I'll be sure to keep up.
 
Elia
 
PS I'm also glad to see your injury has apparently passed and you're back in the model shop!

A little more progress on the upper belt of planking.
 
Russ

The hull planking is moving along. With a rainy afternoon, I got several planks on today.
 
Russ

I know there are those who will not appreciate every little details or accomplishment, but I hope some of you will. The first plank has been cut and fitted. I always begin with the sheer strake. That establishes the curve off of which everything else will run. This plank has been spiled, tapered, and soaked. No glue yet. I will let it dry in place and when I glue it, it will have its shape and will need only finger pressure for a few minutes for the glue to take hold. Note the hi tech clamps.
 
Russ

I am lining off the hull for planking. Still some work to do making sure the curves are what I want. It is very close though.
 
Russ

The margin planking is completed except for some minor trimming at the transom. Feels good to get something accomplished.
 
Russ

Finally a little progress. I am working on the margin planking. I have settled on a process to make them that seems to work pretty well. While I have created templates for each of these plank in CAD, once you begin building the model, it pays to fit the components to the model instead of the templates created for them. Just makes life easier.
 
Here is a photo of the portside margin plank with a scarph joint and the blank for the next one aft that I am working with right now.
 
Russ

Well, I wish I had more to report, but there has been a lot going on lately. Yard work takes precedence so not much has gotten done in the shop. I injured my left thumb in a yard work accident and that also took some time away from modeling. Much better now and I am getting a few things done.
 
The margin plank is moving along. The most difficult area is in the bow so that is where I started. I am ready to glue the forward pieces in place.
 
Russ

The bulwark stanchions need to be trimmed down about 1/16" square or nearly square. Here is an instance where a choice that I made early on has worked in my favor. I decided to have the grain of the wood on the bulkhead frames run vertically. On the schooner model, I had it running horizontally and I had several of the bulwark stanchions snap on me. I decided in that case to make the stanchions as separate pieces that were glued to the inside of the bulwark planking. That worked but it was extremely fussy work. On this model, I really wanted to have the stanchions as part of the bulkhead frames so I chose to cut the bulkhead frames with the grain running vertically. The stanchions are much more rigid and they were fairly easy to trim using a small razor saw. This worked so well that I think I will follow this practice on subsequent models.
 
Here is a photograph showing their appearance after trimming. Not too bad.
 
Russ

Just one photograph for now. This is a bit out of focus, but you can see the sheer line is shaping up nicely.
 
Russ

I have moved ahead with the subdeck. I wanted to install this prior to finishing the sanding of the outer hull so I could have a little more rigidity while I complete the hull fairing. First I cut and fitted the paper template and then used the template to make and fit the actual subdeck. Once the subdeck is glued in place, I can proceed with hull fairing and then planking. Here are the photos.
 
Russ

Pat:
The challenge here is that the inside of the pilot house will be visible, as opposed to a schooner's trunk cabin interior which is not. In this pilot house, I will need to install the interior paneling, dashboard with wheel, and the bunk. I am working it out, little by little, but it is a challenge to get it to look right.
 
Russ