Elia

I mentioned earlier trying to scan the frames and use photoshop to help show where the frames were not symmetrical.  Now that I am farther along, I tried this again, and improved my technique to the point where it is useful, so I thought I'd explain here.  This would probably be most useful to the scratch builders out there; I presume most kits with laser-cut bulkheads would be pretty symmetrical out of the box.  This works best for the frames in the middle...the end frames with a lot of bevel get a little bit more difficult to see what is going on.  Even in my image below, you can see some ghosting on the inside top section of the frame from the bevel there.  When there is a lot of bevel, that ghosting can make this technique more difficult.
 
Here's what I do....I assume anyone continuing to read has some knowledge of photoshop
 
1. Scan the frame.  I used a piece of green plastic behind it to provide better contrast.
2. Load the scanned image in photoshop and use the crop/rotate tool to ensure the image of the frame is perfectly level.  I compare the tops of the frame with the grid lines that the crop/rotate tool overlays on the image.
3. Duplicate the background layer and select that duplicate (top) layer as the current layer
4. Turn the top layer into a negative...Image->Adjustments->Invert
5. Reduce the opacity of the top layer.  If you set it at exactly 50% your image will be a solid gray.
6. Flip the top layer....Image->Transform->Flip Horizontal.  Sometimes at this step or the next one you realize the frame may not have been quite level.  Go back to step 2
7. Select the Mover tool and use the left and right arrows to move the top later so it lines up as closely as possible with the bottom layer.
 
The resulting image looks like the one below.  Any brighter and darker areas are places where the frame does not match between the two sides  (The bright and dark areas are mirror image of each other).  The bright areas are the parts of the frame that are excess compared to the other side....i.e. trim off the bright areas to get the frame perfectly symmetrical.  You can see with this frame I did a pretty good job with the graph paper technique.  Just a little sanding or shaving would get it perfect.  If I was really particular about this, I could scan the other side of the frame and repeat the process.
 
Hope this makes sense, and hope it is useful to someone out there.

Thanks for the likes and follow.
 
Here's a bit more detail about my current step.  I have the outer profile of the frames pretty well done now, I think.  I have been going through them again, comparing frame "N" to frame "N-1" and frame "N+1" and tweaking as needed.  I then drag the point of a drafting compass along the outer edge of the frame to draw a line to define the inner edge, and repeat that on the other side of the frame.  That provides a guide for carving the frame down to size, and to make them all consistent width.  The first picture below shows the line drawn on the rough frame; the second is after the frame has been carved down to the line.  I have this done on 20 of the 32 frames.   After that, final sanding of the frames and carving the timberheads at the tops of the frames.
 

 

Decisions, Decisions
 
There are a few other decisions I'll need to make as the build progresses....
1. The kit is supposed to be a more realistic plank-on-frame kit, though as I understand it, the exact construction of America is unknown.  But it sort of begs to have some of the planking and decking left off to show the work that was done on the inner structure.  But I am more of a "complete looking model" fan.  And, the kit makes no provision for the sub-deck.....if one were to leave some of the planking and decking off, it seems like the subdeck should be represented as well.  For now I am leaning toward completely planking and decking the boat but we'll see.
 
2. The other decision is how to finish the model.  I generally like the looks of models that are left with a natural wood finish...stain or oil rub or whatever...but also like a more realistic finish.  I see some of the builders of the Mamoli kit used actual copper plates on the hull.  The Bluejacket instructions advise against that, indicating that the makers would have tried to make the hull as smooth as possible with tiny gaps between the plates and no protruding fasteners, so any embossed plates that have such features are out of scale.  But real copper would look nice.  I suspect I will wait until I see how well the planking goes and at that point decide if I need to hide any mistakes with paint or copper.
 
3. As mentioned, I may or may not use the supplied blocks and rigging line.  I also will need to decide how to rig, but the common thing seems to be the unrealistic but more pleasing method of having the spars positioned as if sails were present, with the rigging providing something of an outline of the profile of the sails.  Again, plenty of time before I get there.

Thoughts On The Kit
 
The kit is interesting and appears well made.  In the picture above, you can just see bits of a few of the frames.  The kit comes with a set of pre-cut frames.  They actually carve a hull, slice it like a loaf of bread, and (I presume) make two kits from it, giving each kit every other frame.
 
The keel, stem, and stern are printed onto one quarter inch thick basswood, but must be cut out, and there are no other laser cut parts.  There are pre-carved bow and transom pieces.  Overall the quality of the wood seems very good.
 
The kit also comes with quite a few metal components, both brass and britannia.  They look good, but I am unsure about some of them.  In particular I am not crazy about the britannia metal blocks instead of wood blocks, though I can see both pros and cons, and the plans do indicate that the blocks were painted white.  The brass ring mast hoops also seem questionable.  I have plenty of time to decide if I will use them or replace them. 
 
Also the rigging line is black and white, instead of the more traditional tan.  Again, I have plenty of time before I decide to use or replace that.
 
But overall, the kit leaves a good impression.

Hi All.  This is Gary from Austin, Texas making my first post.  I have recently acquired the 1/48th scale America kit from Bluejacket and hope to log its build here.  I have been lurking here a bit, very impressed by the knowledge and craftsmanship shown in many of the build logs.  And frankly I am a bit intimidated as well.  But I did not find any other build logs for the large Bluejacket America model so I hope my efforts add to the community, if only because of that.  I have seen several build logs of the Mamoli version, and I am sure I will reference them more in the future.
 
Over the last many years, I have built a handful of wooden boats and ships.  The most ambitious project was Model Expo's Niagara.  Sadly while building that I realized two things: 1) I do not enjoy rigging 2) I am more interested in small work or pleasure boats than warships.  The Niagara has spent maybe 8 years in my closet with the standing rigging half done while I went on a boat building hiatus. 
 
Then in October, 2015, completely by accident, I drove by Bluejacket's HQ/Store/Gallery in Searsport, Maine while making my way from Boston to Acadia National Park.  I made a quick U-turn and stopped in.  I guess I left there inspired, as since then I built their Swampscott Dory and their Lobster Boat.   Around the beginning of this year I decided to challenge myself a bit and ordered their plank-on-frame America.  And yes I realize it requires some rigging, but it is minimal enough that I should get through it!
 
Don't expect quick progress.  I still work full time and have too many other hobbies.  I've had the kit for about 2 months and have worked on it less than 30 hours so far.  Progress will appear to be quick initially as I'll make posts to summarize those 2 months of work.
 
But first here is a picture of the freshly opened box when I got the kit:

 
 

Bowsprit
 
Busy few days, and I'm supposed to stop working on my ship (or doing ship related things on the computer), so I'll just post a quick status update, and I'll catch up on the details later...
 
I've been working on the bowsprit.  I ended up making 2 because I wasn't happy with the shape of the first one.  I've started rigging it, which has been 'fun'.  I took a LOT of shortcuts with rigging on my first build (basically just tied all the lines off), and I'm trying to do a better job with this one.  Of course the first four lines I run require an eye splice, and I don't know an easy way to do those.
 
Lots of brass pieces had to be made for the end of the bowsprit.  Everything was made from brass strip and brass wire.
 
Hoping I can get the remaining rigging prepped over the next few days so I can get this installed.
 

The dories are done!  And I'm not kidding, oar am I?
 
(Sorry - I've been saying 'dory', 'kid' and 'oar' way too much the last week or so).
 
The remaining dories were finished up over the weekend.  It didn't take long, just a lot of repetitive work to cut the rails, drill all the holes for the pins, cut+install the pins, and add splash rails and rope.    They aren't perfect, but I'm pretty happy with them.  I think they did turn out better than I was expecting, and certainly better than I could have made with the kit's parts.
 

With the dories completed, I turned my attention to the two kids.  These little racks will hold the two stacks of dories on the deck.  Each kid is made from two long rails with a couple cross bars.  I cut the 4 rails to length and notched them where the cross bars will hit.
 

The cross bars were made from the same material.  They were cut to length, then all the parts were pinned onto a build board and glued together.
 

To make the angled pieces that will support the dories, I used a contour gauge to get the shape of the dory hull at each of the cross bars.  I transferred this to some sheet wood and used that to mark off the pieces.  There are two pieces for the bow and two for the stern (x2 since we have two kids).
 

These were cut on my Proxxon scroll saw, cleaned up, and glued into place.  
 

While the stain was drying on these, I turned my attention to the oars.  I decided to only make 4 oars - two for each stack of dories.  Obviously they would have carried more, but I think if I tried to show the actual amount, you'd just see a pile of oars instead of the detail in the dories.
 
I made the oars from some strip wood.  I cut several lengths of wood and clamped them together.  I marked the shape of the handle on one side, and filed them down to rough in the shape of the handle.  Since they were clamped together, I was able to do all of them at once.
 

Then I removed them from the clamp and did the rest of the shaping by hand with sandpaper.  The handles were rounded off and the blade was shaped. Once I was happy with the shape, I stained and painted them.  My color scheme wasn't based on any actual research - I just went with something I thought would look interesting.
 

Suddenly, I had all the pieces I needed to put these on the deck.
 

I decided that I didn't want to just tie them down.  I wanted to be able to remove these if needed once I start rigging.  So, I made a set of 'S' hooks from brass wire and seized them to some tan rope.  I sized the ropes so they hold the dories firmly, but are still loose enough that I can unhook the ropes and remove the dories.
 

Finally, the dory kids were glued onto the deck and the dories and oars were put in place. 
 

 
I haven't actually glued the oars in - they are just sitting in the dories at the moment.  I've got some small buckets on order, and I want to see if the dories look good with a bucket in each one - that may impact how I arrange the oars.  I'm also waiting on a couple more styles of wooden barrels.  
 
According to my list of stuff to do, I think I'm done with everything on the deck and below.  I *think* I'm ready to start in on the masts!
 

Update on the dories...
 
I've got all 4 dories built, but only one is "finished".  I found that it was easiest to cut all the pieces for the 4 dories at once and do the basic assembly and painting in an 'assembly line' process.  However, once it gets to adding the rail and final details...that takes some work.  So I'm doing the last few steps one-at-a-time.  
 

 
I decided to make the thole pins from brass rod and leave them unpainted to match the rest of the metal on my build.  These should probably be blackened, but since I'm leaving all the other metal pieces as raw brass, I think it makes sense to leave these as brass as well.  
 
Compared to the prototype, I used thinner stock for the seat support rails and for the seats themselves.  I also positioned them lower, which should help to keep things nice when stacking these on the deck.  The rail on the one finished dory was made from 1/64" thick sheet material.  
 
Obviously the dories aren't finished and I haven't built the racks to hold them, but I think they are looking good sitting on the deck!
 

 
 

Ok, masts and spars ready. Let the  rigging begin! The last mile! Well, in my case, more like a marathon, the real sailboat is waiting, and so is the garden. Let see if I can be done by end of Summer.
I am planning to have her with furled  sails. I am still heavily inspired by the model Eric Ronnberg built that can be seen at the Essex Cape Ann museum, of which I took many pictures, going back and forth between Chapelles's book and these pictures.
I'll try to post pictures of work in progress.
Cheers!
 

Work continues on my dories.  I've got one completely finished, and the other three are built, but need their rails, splash rails, etc. installed.
 
As a diversion, I've been looking into sourcing some barrels.  I've seen some builds that build a structure to hold barrels (which looks amazing), I've seen some that add barrels tied to the cabin, and some that don't use wooden barrels at all.  I'm not really wanting to build a structure with barrels, but I'd like to tie a few to the cabin.
 
I bought a few different sized wooden barrels from Model Expo, and they arrived today.  I think the size looks OK, but I'm not happy with the finish.  They are pretty dark, and I'd like something a little more 'raw' that I can stain to better match the colors on the ship.
 
So...a few questions for those Bluenose experts out there...
 
Do these barrels look about the right size?  Am I horribly out of scale?
 
Does anyone have a good source for wooden barrels that are unfinished, ready to be stained?
 

So, I started in on the dories...
 
The kit provides 1/64" thick laser cut pieces for each of the 8 dories as well as a little jig you can assemble to help make the boats.  I'm only planning on using 4 dories on my ship (two stacks of two instead of two stacks of four), so I figure I've got 4 extras to play with in case I mess up.
 
I built the jig and started trying assemble a dory.  I had a heck of a time.  Even with the jig, I couldn't get the pieces to line up and stay in place while I glued them.  It wasn't any fun and I quickly realized that making 4 of these was going to be an unpleasant experience for me.
 
So, I decided to ignore the kit's parts and scratch build a dory.  The plans indicate that the kit's dories are simplified - they use a single sheet for each side while the actual dories used three lapped planks.  It seems like I could make some frames, attach them to the bottom, then glue on the three planks.  Certainly more complicated than the kit's approach, but I think it could be more fun.
 
I started by scanning the plans for the dories into the computer.  I used some illustration software to lay out the five frames, the bottom, and the pieces for the bow and stern.  I simplified the frames a bit - the plans show the frames are made from two pieces that overlap in the middle.  i'm going with one solid piece for each frame.  That should be easier to work with and a little more sturdy.
 

I cut out one set of the templates and glued it to a sheet of 3/32" thick basswood.  This will make the frames a little thicker than they should be, but I'm worried that if I go thinner they will be too fragile.  I used my little Proxxon scroll saw to cut out each of the pieces.  Most were pretty easy, but 'frame C' took three tries.
 

Once all the pieces were cut, I scored the bottom piece to simulate individual planks and marked the location of each frame.  I glued all the frames on using PVA, and glued the bow and stern in place using CA glue.  Even without the planking on the sides, it was already starting to look like a little boat.
 

I used a sheet of 1/64" thick birch that I had laying around for the planking.  I cut three strips for each side and installed them from the bottom up.  Each plank overlapped the lower one by a little bit as shown on the plans.  With pieces this small, I ended up getting glue everywhere, but since the whole thing is getting painted, I'm not too worried about it.
 

Next I added the other details, like the battens at the bow and stern and the thwart support for the seats.  Everything was primered and painted, then I installed the seats and a cap rail.  The plans call for the dories to be a cream or buff color, but I've seen a few other Bluenose builds that used a greenish-gray, and I liked the way that looked.  So I painted the outside with a greenish-gray color.  I went with tan for the inside, and painted the seats and cap rail white so they had some contrast.
 
I didn't do a very good job cutting and fitting the cap rail, so that is something I'll definitely have to rethink on the next one, and I'll probably go with thinner material for the next rail.   I also used material that was too thick for the seat support rails and seats.  I'll need to switch to a much thinner strip next time, and probably mount the seats a little lower (they ended up too close to the cap rail).  I also realized at the very end that I had forgotten the cleats.
 
I didn't bother adding the spray rail, thole pins, or oars as this was just a prototype.  By the time I got that far, I had proven this approach would work while also making enough little mistakes that I won't end up using this first dory.  So no point in 'finishing' it.
 


I dropped my prototype dory on the deck to see if the color choices work, and I'm pretty happy with how they work.  The dory stands out, but doesn't look out of place on the deck.  I also set the dory on the original plans and verified that the size turned out correct (always a concern when you're scanning in and manipulating plans - one small scaling problem and the size can end up off).

After the templates were designed and printed, building this dory took about 3 hours.  Since I need four of them (and this one was just a prototype that won't actually get used), that means I've got about 12 hours of dory-building ahead of me.  But I found this to be much more fun than building the ones provided by the kit, and I think they will look a better than the kit's dories once I sort out a few issues.
 
And now I've got a three day holiday weekend and my wife will be out of town, so I hope to get all four built in the next few days!
 

Well, it has been a long time.  I wish I could say I've made tons of progress, but it has been a crazy few months.
 
Back in January, I was on a roll.  After finishing the winch assembly, I jumped right into chain plates.  The Bluenose has 20 chain plates, so I decided to prepare them all at once.  I cut strips of brass and made a jig to help my get the holes drilled on my little Proxxon drill press.  
 

This worked really well, and very quickly I had 20 brass strips with decent looking holes and filed tips.
 

 
These were then painted black, and I started the process of installing them.  This required drilling some holes in the main rail and creating a 'slot', being careful to make sure I stayed on the outside of the bulwarks.  I attached the deadeyes (after staining them) using wire.  I got through all 10 on the quarter deck.
 

This all happened within a few days of my last post.  Before starting in on the chain plates for the fore deck, I decided to take a week off.  Then disaster struck.
 
We have a service that comes and cleans every other week.  For years, they have cleaned around my work bench.  This time, they decided to actually clean my work bench.  The remaining 10 chain plates were lost.  I'm guessing they got 'wiped' onto the floor and vacuumed up.  This was incredibly demotivating, and I decided to take another week or two off.
 
Fast forward a few weeks, and we were starting a remodel of our house.  This included all new floors (I've wanted to replace the carpet in my office/ship-building-room for a while so I stop losing tiny pieces in the carpet).  Since they needed to replace all the floors, I had to pack up my entire workbench for over a month.  The ship was carefully wrapped up to protect it from dust (our entire house was covered in dust for weeks), and stored in one of the 2 rooms that wasn't being touched - a bathroom.  It was a little unnerving to have my ship sitting in a bathtub for weeks, but it survived.  I decided to hold off on starting the build back up until ALL the remodeling was done in order to avoid issues with dust.  The whole process took about 2 months.
 
So finally, today, I have everything set back up.  The workbench is unpacked.  Power tools (mill, drill press, scroll saw) are back in my make-shift shop (a walk in closet in my office).  I'm ready to dive back in and re-make those 10 chain plates.
 
During this break, I crossed the 1 year mark on my build.  I thought I'd be further along by now, but I've kept detailed notes on my progress and I see where the time went.  Since future builders of the Bluenose may stumble across this build log, here's how the last year went:
 
Build started April 1, 2016. Framing (keel, rabbet, bulkheads, fairing, stern blocks) - 16 days. Planking the lower hull (up to the deck) - 28 days. Planking the bulwarks, scrapers, transom - 11 days. Planking the deck - 24 days. Cleaning up the hull (hawse pipes, mooring chocks, etc) - 6 days. Painting the hull - 68 days. Rails (main rail, buffalo rail, monkey board) - 34 days. Hull details (rudder, name plates, scroll work) - 41 days. Deck structures (cabins, hatches, companionways, etc) - 28 days. Aft deck details - 4 days Fore deck details - 4 days Machinery (engine box, countershaft, windlass, hoisting, etc) - 31 days  
The first big stall came with painting, which took over 2 months, mostly driven by waiting a week or so between coats.  The second big stall has been my chain plate disaster/remodel.  
 
So, here I am, 1 year into this build, ready to dive back in.  I have just a few things to knock out (chain plates, anchors, dories) before I start building the masts, which obviously leads to rigging.  My best guess right now is that I have 8-12 months left.
 
I'm excited to finally be able to work on the ship again, and I look forward to being able to post an actual update with progress!
 

Thanks for the encouragement everyone!  
 
I got the remaining 10 chain plates re-made today, and hope to get them installed over the next few days.  I think I can finish this build before the end of the year, then on to whatever is next.  I was chatting with my wife the other day, and explained that I'd love to build the 18th Century Longboat next (kit already in the closet), followed by the Syren (which would be my first ship with guns), then maybe the Constitution (which she loved - an excuse for a trip to the east coast), then maybe the Victory (also something she loved, an excuse for a trip to the UK).  After that...probably scratch builds?
 
Is it bad that I'm only 2/3 done with my 2nd build and I've got the next 5-10 years of ship builds planned out?

Ok...a very productive weekend!  I feel like I'm back in business and making good progress.
 
I rebuilt the chain plates that were lost a couple months ago, and got them installed, then moved on to the anchors.  I made some notes back when I built the catheads about how the anchors were going to be hung from the side of the ship.  I found a great drawing on page 399 of Chapelle's The American Fishing Schooners 1825-1935.  Those notes ended up driving how I set everything up.  I might have made some choices that are not actually correct, but the layout I ended up with made sense to me, so I ran with it.  (Of course, I know nothing about how ships actually worked...never learned anything about ships until I started building models.)
 
As many do, I left the starboard anchor disassembled and on the deck.  I cleaned up the cast metal anchor pieces and painted them black.  I made the tapered wood 'bars' from some 3/32" square stock and stained them to match the other wood on my ship.  I saw in the plans that sometimes the anchors were attached to chain, other times attached to rope, so I went with rope.  I'm using some of the rope from Syren Ship Model Company that I ordered a while back (I ordered a full set of replacement line for all the stuff provided in the kit).  Even though this anchor will be left disassembled on the deck, I added a little black rope to the 'bar' so it wouldn't look quite so bland.  A little bit of extra rope was left coiled up.
 

The port side will have the anchor hung from the rail.  I started by using some chain to secure the end of the anchor to the anchor pad.
 

Next, I made a chain/rope combination like I saw in the drawing I found.  This has a hook one end of the chain, with the other end of the chain secured to some rope.  The hook will go into the cathead.  The chain will loop through the ring on the anchor, then swing back up so the rope can go through the sheave on the cathead.  The rope will then be tied off on the belaying pin next to the cathead.
 

This was hooked in place, the used to secure the anchor to the cathead.  
 


I'll add a rope coil to that belaying pin later when I'm adding final details.  Obviously these little catheads don't have actual sheaves, so I just ran the rope over the end of the cathead.  
 
I ran the anchor's rope through the hawse pipe, wrapped it around the winch, and left a little extra rope coiled on the deck.
 

While I was at it, I went ahead and installed the chain box, and filled with some left over chain.
 

So, I'm now done with chain plates and anchors.  All I have left before masts are the dories, which should be fun - kind of like little mini-builds in themselves.  I'm excited to back at it, and looking forward to getting those dories going during the upcoming three-day weekend!
 

 
 
 

Dave,
 
Your Bluenose build progress looks great. It is good to see the deadeyes, the shrouds, and the rat lines going up - all vey very nice. I also like those sails very much. These schooners just look grand with a nice set of sails.
 
Cheers,
 
Elia

The plans do not show a binnacle but the contemporary model does.  I decided to build one.  The binnacle was made out of pear and is glazed with mica.  I toyed with the idea of putting a compass and lantern inside but for the time being I have left it empty.  The "sliding" door on the back is tack-glued so I can remove it later if I decide to make them.  The binnacle will eventually be attached to the deck with ropes via two eyebolts in the deck.  I have shown it in the correct position just abaft the mizzen mast.  The chimney is turned brass and will be kept bright.  The tiller has also been reinstalled...correctly.
 

 

 

 

It has been a while since my last posting, not for lack of working on Atalanta but for a lack of acceptable results.  The next items to make were the rails surrounding the stairway.  There are four iron stanchions supporting a rail on three sides.  The aft two are shorter to compensate for the angle of the quarter deck.  My first thought was to turn the stanchions.  There is a ball top and a flared base.  Sounds simple enough...  I tried every imaginable rpm and feed rate and universally the piece snapped off before completion.  I looked at Dan's Vulture log and he stated that he was able to turn the stanchions.  Suffice to say, after way too many hours of frustration, I gave up.  On to Plan B.  I used segments of brass tubing threaded on to the correct diameter brass wire for the ball and flare, silver soldering them in place.  Then I hand-filed the appropriate shapes.  Two of the stanchions have a single eye soldered on to them and the other two have a figure of 8 so two rails could attach to them.  All told, this deceptively simple part took almost 8 hours (otherwise known as an entire weekend).  
 
The upper capstan is temporarily positioned and the cleats have been installed.
 

 

 

I've installed the bulkheads and the sternpost.  Some of the bulkheads were very snug and I had to do some sanding to get them to fit properly.  They went together quite nicely.
 

Haven't made a lot of progress.  I added some bracing over the joints of the keel, market the bearding and rabbet lines and started cutting the joint.  It's going fairly well.  I got one side done but will give my hand a rest before I start the next side.
 

 

Thanks Russ, HH and to everyone for hitting the like button.
 
So I bought myself a new soldering iron for Christmas and began on some little projects. The main and fore fife rails were wooden, but I decided to make them out of brass and blacken. Thick pads were installed in the designated spots at the mast holes, later on for the windlass as well.
 

 
Next up are the two bilge pumps. I found the patents as well as an advertisement drawing for these which greatly help in their construction. Even with my new iron, these proved to be quite a challenge. If I wasn't careful enough, soldering one spot would cause catastrophic collapse of the entirety. But after many attempts, the resulting pumps didn't turn out too bad.
 

 
The handles were finished out with a half hitch spiral. And yes, the pump action does function. Thanks again to everyone for your encouragement and support. Here are the patent images.
 

Matt -
 
Very very nice detailing. I really like that boom buffer and the ship's wheel. You mention soldering it? The rim looks super - did you turn it on a lathe?
 
Cheers,
 
Elia

The winch machinery is complete, which finishes up all the stuff that is permanently mounted to the deck.
 
The jumbo jib boom crutch was built from the kit's laser cut parts and some wood strips.
 

 
I ended up having to add some CA glue to the joints at the top - they were flexing too much with just PVA glue alone and I was concerned they would break during painting.  Some wood filler was used to clean up the joints between the posts and the knees.
 
As I did with the windlass, I decided to break with historical accuracy a bit on the colors and finishes.  I'm making the mounting brackets and handles brass so they stand out a bit, and I'm going to paint the end caps on either end of the winch's main bar white to match the ones on the windlass.  I think all of these would have likely been black metal on the ship, but making them look a little different will make the details stand out more on the model.
 
The kit ships most of the parts for the winch already assembled on a metal rod.  I completely disassembled these so I could paint things separately.  
 

 
I started by gluing the mounting brackets in place.  I used a scrap piece of brass rod to ensure they were properly aligned during installation.
 

 
Then I installed the winch's bar.  I reattached one of the end caps, then slid the bar through one of the brackets.  Next I slid the larger and smaller gears on, then slid the bar through the other mounting bracket, trimmed it to the right length, and installed the other end cap.  Finally I glued on the clutch assembly below the main gear.  The winch's metal rod was left unpainted during installation since sliding on those pieces would have stripped the paint anyway.
 

 
With everything in place, I finished up painting and installed the pawls and control bar.  I kept the bar simple.  The plans show multiple pieces, but I made it out of one piece of brass rod that was bent around the rod.  The end caps were painted white except for their gears, which were painted black so they would stand out.  The mounting plates for the pawls were painted white simply because I felt they stood out too much when painted black like the pawls themselves.  The whole thing was then glued to the deck.
 

 
The control bar was added to the top of the engine box.  Again I used a brass rod so it would stand out.  I didn't plan ahead well enough, and there was nothing but empty space inside that hole on the engine box, so I didn't have anything to seat the bar into.  Instead I simply glued the bar to the side of the engine box hole.
 

 
The final step was to connect the winch to the counter shaft assembly.  The plans suggest doing this with some thread, but I wanted to use an actual chain.  My wife owns a jewelry business, so she was kind enough to give me a few inches of very tiny scrap chain.  I felt a little bad because the chain is actual silver and I immediately dunked it in black paint.  I'll consider it a sacrifice to the model ship building gods.
 
Installing the chain was a mess.  I'm not thrilled with the results.  If I had it to do over again, I would have built the chain back when I made the windlass, and glued the chain around the counter shaft's gear before it was mounted to the deck.  Trying to get the chain wrapped around that properly, and getting glue applied, was a real challenge once everything was fixed on the deck.
 
Overall, I'm content with this batch of work, but I don't think it turned out as well as some of the the other pieces on the deck.
 

 

 
This completes my 'machinery' phase, and finishes up the stuff that is permanently mounted to the deck.  I still need to do the anchors and dories, but since those are 'portable' on the actual ship I'm treating them as a separate project.
 
First I plan to make and install the chain plates since I think putting those in after the dories are installed will be trickier.

Despite the holidays being a surprisingly busy time, I've been able to get a good bit of work done.
 
As mentioned in my previous post, I made my own gears for the counter shaft assembly by milling down a 1/4" aluminum rod.  This was completely unnecessary, as I could have just drilled some holes through the kit-provided gears to overcome the broken piece, but I really wanted to play with the new mill.  In the end all my work won't really be visible, but it was fun to do.
 
With the gears made, I was able to assemble the counter shaft.  Since the holes in my gears were larger than those in the stands (I couldn't find a smaller bit that would drill into the aluminum), I mounted the gears onto a brass tube, then slide that tube over some thin brass rod that fits the holes in the stands.
 

 
With that out of the way, I finished up the chain box.  The plans don't show this on the deck, but there is a detailed drawing of the box included in the plans with a note that it goes 'just aft of the engine box.'  I went ahead and built it, but I'll wait to glue it down until I start running the chain later in the build.  The exact positioning of this will depend on how I lay the chain.
 

 
Now I come to the windlass.  When I first started looking at build logs for the Bluenose, even before I bought the kit, the windlass was intimidating.  It was actually pretty easy...it just has a lot of little pieces.
 
I started by cleaning up the cast metal barrel provided with the kit.  I painted the whole barrel black (I'll scrape off paint as necessary to glue things on).  I know that much of the windlass was actually wood, but I've never liked the look of wood-colored paint, so I'm just going with black.  
 
One end of the barrel got some brass strips glued on.  This whole end will be painted black.
 

 
The other end requires more work.  After staring at the plans for a while, and reviewing other build logs, I still wasn't sure exactly how this end was constructed.  Finally I found a photo on the Nova Scotia Archives website that had a good view of the windlass.  I based my approach off that, but a little simplified since I'm limited by what I can do at this scale.
 
I glued on some 3/32" square strips, and added some shaped pieces to make the whelps.
 

 
Then I filled in the spaces at either end with tiny pieces of wood.  This was a lot of trial-and-error.  I didn't try to get the pieces to fit perfectly flush - I'll sand everything down later.
 

 
Once all the wood was firmly in place, I added some wood filler in the joints and sanded everything down.  Then I stained the wood to match the other wood on my above-deck structures.
 

 
The stands were made from the provided laser-cut pieces and glued together.  This let me finish up the counter shaft assembly and get the gears positioned.
 

 
The brake beam was glued onto the bowsprit bits, and the two quadrants were glued onto the barrel.  With all this in place, I positioned the windlass and glued it onto the deck.
 

 
The pawl as installed, and I added the brass rods from the brake beam to the quadrants.  The counter shaft assembly was then glued in place.
 
Finally, I noticed the detailed drawings in the plans referenced a metal shield over the gears.  I shaped this from some brass strip and glued it in place over the gears.  Since I'm leaving lots of natural brass in other places on the ship, I decided to leave this piece unpainted.  I'm sure it was black on the ship, but I like the contrast that a bit of brass gives here.  I don't want all the machinery to look like a big blob of black painted stuff.
 

 
So I'm done with the windlass.  It only took about a day (aside from the counter shaft, which took a couple weeks due to the custom gears).  Next up will be the winch machinery.
 

 

This last week has been spent playing around with new toys to try and overcome a problem.
 
I recently started work on the windlass and machinery.  The first piece I worked on was the countershaft assembly.  My very first step was to clean up the metal casting provided by the kit.  This piece is basically a rod with two gears on it.
 
Naturally, I broke this piece while working with it.  I snapped the rod.
 

 
I cut the gears loose from the rod, and I am holding on to those as a safety net - I can always drill holes through them and slide them onto my own brass rod.
 
But...I just got a new Proxxon MF70 mill and I've been looking for things to try and make with it.  I decided to take a stab at making replacement gears using the mill.
 
The larger gear is 1/4" in diameter, so I started with a 1/4" diameter aluminum rod.  I used a 3mm bit on the mill to do most of the work, and a 1mm bit to cut the 'teeth'.  I used my drill press to drill a hole through the center.  The rotary vise for the Proxxon made cutting the teeth pretty easy once I figured out the # of degrees between cuts.
 
It took 4 tries, mostly because I was still learning how to use the mill, but I did manage to make a usable piece.  It isn't perfect, and the teeth are different than the kit-provided piece, but I think it actually looks cleaner and more precise than the cast piece.  Once this is painted, I think it will look fine!
 
I was very happy with the level of precision on the Proxxon.  It cut through the aluminum easily.  I'm sure it might have a tougher time if I were doing something larger (and the Proxxon is very much for model work, not larger-scale machining like you'd do with a bigger mill).  All the milling was done manually (turning dials) since I'm still waiting on the motor mounts for my CNC conversion.  (Although I have gotten all the electronics working and the control software halfway written).
 
Anyway, I haven't actually made any progress on the ship, but I've managed to make a gear, and I've very happy with that accomplishment for the week!
 

 

 

 
 

Thanks Russ!
 
Over the last week or so, I've gotten the bowsprit bitts/samson post and the engine box completed.
 
The bowsprit bitts and samson post were pretty straight forward as the kit provides the key piece as a laser-cut item.  
 

 
The whole thing went together pretty quickly.
 

 

 
The engine box gave me a bit more trouble.  My first attempt was fine until I got it painted, then I notices a few too many imperfections in the wood.  I tried to fix them with some filler and repaint, but wasn't happy with the results.  The second attempt failed during assembly - I wasn't able to get it square enough.
 
My third attempt was successful.  This time I made a much more rigid internal frame for the box, then used 1/16" sheet material for the 'walls'.  The lift out door on the side was simulated by cutting one of the side panels halfway through (so it remained one piece, but looks like two).
 

 
The smaller part of the box was built similarly, but I left some open space on the inside frame since this piece has three holes in the walls.
 

 
The holes were made by drilling holes then using needle files to square them off.  They aren't perfect, but it is what I was able to do with the tools on hand.
 

 
The entire thing was primered and airbrushed white.
 
I decided to try and simulate the hinges on the top.  I used some thin brass strip I had on hand and some thin brass rod.  These were soldered together.
 

 
Once soldered, the three pieces were cut apart and each piece was cleaned up.  I filed away a lot of the solder (I always make a mess when soldering), and trimmed the brass strips to be shorter and tapered.  I touched them up a bit with some brass paint to make the color a little more consistent.  They were then glued on to the roof of the engine box.
 
I also simulated a small handle/latch using some thin brass wire that came with the kit.
 

 
I noticed after I glued it on the deck that despite all my attempt to double-check things, I managed to screw something up.  I glued the smaller portion of the engine box so it lined up with the outboard edge of the larger box.  It should have been even with the inboard edge.  I don't think anyone would notice this once the ship is done (except for me or another Bluenose builder).  So, rather than rip it off and risk damaging the deck, I'm going to leave it.
 
Fortunately when I was positioning it, I was using the inboard hole on the smaller box and the samson post as reference points, since the windlass/machinery touches both of those.  So really, the small box is in the right place and the larger box (which nothing else connects to) is just out of position by a small amount.
 

 

 
I don't think there is anything else I can work on to procrastinate - I've got to start in on the windlass and machinery.  It shouldn't be difficult, and it will be similar in process to a lot the work I did on some Model Airways WWI aircraft a few years ago (which use a lot of cast pieces to build up the engine).  My fear is that there is a lot of potential for detail with this stuff, and my ability to toss stuff and start over will be limited by the use of cast metal pieces.