Elia

It has been some time since my last update and with a little time off of my feet I've been able to do little things here and there on Arethusa.
 
I have begun making masts....first time in oh, about 5 years!  I'm following my method I wrote about in the downloads section some years ago.
 
Here are some photos showing the major steps.  My only process change has been to use a plane to remove material instead of the rasp/file originally shown.




 
On the hull - I touched up the anti-fouling paint and hull sides, made some little scroll art at the bow names, and applied Dullcoat over the outer hull.  It is the first time I've used Dullcoat and I am happy with the results.  The shininess of the acrylic paint is gone and hull details are more clearly visible.  One odd and funny (to me!) aspect of the photos - you may see what looks like scupper run-off 'weathering'.  It isn't.  What you are seeing are reflections from clear, highly glossily packing tape I used to seal the 'work stand' box. 



 
On the deck I finished painting the checker boards.  I've deviated from my 'pristine' modeling approach by applying a semi-transparent paint layer to those details and the deck battens.  I think it gives appearance of worn painted boards and battens.  Also worked on were attached the windlass brakes and connecting links.  Luckily I hadn't glued those down yet - I found one of my soldered joints to have broken.




 
And a final photo showing the two lower masts.  The masts have been tapered and cut to length, only requiring flats and rebates where a host of spar related hardware goes.

 
Cheers,
 
Elia
 

... deck and equipment:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Matija
 

masts and rigging:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
Matija

Beautiful work Matija.

Beautiful work Matija.

Winch,:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
and completed winch
 

 
Matija

Nils,
toothwheels are cut from brass sheet
 
Here's another example (black toothwheels is from  unknown machines) :  
      

winch which was used on Adriatic traditional ships - Trabakul & Bracera

... Winch:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
[
 

 

 
 
 
... follows more pictures ...
 
Matija

on bow of the ship had drawn decoration. II made that part wrong,
 
.. first attempt of wood:
 
line is 0.5 mm wide
 

 

 
... does not looking good
 

 

 

 
... attempt with metal, wire 0.5 mm
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
greetings, Matija.
 

Thanks everyone,
.. more pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Matija

Matija,
 
Very nice detail work.  That second ship's wheel looks great, and an improvement over the first.  I also really like those pumps.  On my schooner model those are still two details (the ship's wheel and the pumps) I'm not quite happy with yet.  Did you cast one or both of those?
 
Cheers,
 
Elia

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 98 – Planksheer / Main Rail continued
 
The planksheer rail around the stern was made from hard maple.  Although the remainder of the rail is Castelo, my stock was too old and dry to bend around to the required curve.  No problem with the maple.  All the maple will be painted.  In the first picture the section around the stern has been formed and is being beveled to fit against the slanting frame timbers.
 

 
In the next picture the rail is being positioned and pinned at the proper heights using the height gauge.
 

 
This fitting took some time.  The bevel of the rail is most pronounced at the very stern and is vertical at the forward ends of the piece.  With the pins setting the heights, the rail was glued into place as shown below.
 

 
Lots of clamps required for this.
 
There was a lot of waiting during the forming and gluing of the stern rail, so work continued concurrently at the bow.  In the next picture, planking above the main rail is proceeding.
 

 
Space has been left for the main rail itself.  This will be installed after it and the surrounding planking are painted – as described earlier.  In the next picture all of this planking has been treenailed.
 

 
Once the planksheer rail around the stern was installed, the rail was continued forward on the port side.  In the next picture it is held in position with pins and is being glued.
 

 
Planking of the upper sides will now continue up to the top rail – the fancy rail.
  
Ed

Hi Dimitris,
 
Thank you for the compliment, for the 'likes', and for stopping in on Arethusa. I work slowly these days, enough so that you could take another long break from MSW and still catch up with my progess again.
 
Cheers,
 
Elia

Hi Dimitris,
 
Thank you for the compliment, for the 'likes', and for stopping in on Arethusa. I work slowly these days, enough so that you could take another long break from MSW and still catch up with my progess again.
 
Cheers,
 
Elia

Well, she's done.. Here's a pic of the Bluenose Schooner.

Cabins and equipment on deck:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Matija

It has been some time since my last update and with a little time off of my feet I've been able to do little things here and there on Arethusa.
 
I have begun making masts....first time in oh, about 5 years!  I'm following my method I wrote about in the downloads section some years ago.
 
Here are some photos showing the major steps.  My only process change has been to use a plane to remove material instead of the rasp/file originally shown.




 
On the hull - I touched up the anti-fouling paint and hull sides, made some little scroll art at the bow names, and applied Dullcoat over the outer hull.  It is the first time I've used Dullcoat and I am happy with the results.  The shininess of the acrylic paint is gone and hull details are more clearly visible.  One odd and funny (to me!) aspect of the photos - you may see what looks like scupper run-off 'weathering'.  It isn't.  What you are seeing are reflections from clear, highly glossily packing tape I used to seal the 'work stand' box. 



 
On the deck I finished painting the checker boards.  I've deviated from my 'pristine' modeling approach by applying a semi-transparent paint layer to those details and the deck battens.  I think it gives appearance of worn painted boards and battens.  Also worked on were attached the windlass brakes and connecting links.  Luckily I hadn't glued those down yet - I found one of my soldered joints to have broken.




 
And a final photo showing the two lower masts.  The masts have been tapered and cut to length, only requiring flats and rebates where a host of spar related hardware goes.

 
Cheers,
 
Elia
 

Shipwrights,
 
A little more progress on Arethusa - masts and spars.  I've completed the basic shaping of the lower masts, upper masts, and the booms.  In this photo, top to bottom, are the main mast, the fore mast, the main topmast, the fore topmast, the main boom, the fore boom, and the jumbo boom.  Note the scale on the bottom of the green cutting mat in inches.  The grid squares are 0.5 inches per side.  The main and fore masts are just slightly greater in diameter than 3/8 inch.  All were formed from square stock bass wood stock.

This closer in photo shows the peculiar shaping of Gloucester schooner spars.  While circular in cross section, they are decidedly not axisymmetric.  The edge of the spar adjacent the sail is straight.  The opposing side is tapered.  The maximum diameter occurs 2/3 distance from the jaws (at the mast) to the tip.  My spars shown still contain a little excess material at each end of the spar.  They are shown with their jaw ends to the right in the picture.

 
[these were taken with my camera phone - quickie photos on the dining table]
 
Cheers,
 
Elia

More Pictures

OK, I'm back. All the pictures previously shown gets us to the completion of the hull planking.
 
Here's some more pictures.
 
Eddie

Hello all,
 
Well I’m happy to say I’ve completed the planking on the portside too. No stealers or drop planks this
side either. All that is needed now is a good deal of sanding and then some wipe on poly. I have to say
planking this way is more time consuming but it works so much better and the run of the planks is much
easier to maintain. Definitely the way I will plank from here on out!
 

 

 
One thing I want to point out is that I handle a model a lot when I’m working on it. 
Because of this I would inadvertently rub off some of the pencil marks. To make sure
I didn’t lose the main belt line mark I used a sharpie to mark them. Then if I accidently
rubbed off any markings I could go back to the main mark and redo them.
 
After I check the hull over and make sure it’s all set I will move on to the stern.

Rigging is making some progress...

Hi All,
 
Well I decided to try and do kind of a build log for the Benjamin W Latham by Model Shipways.
 
This will be my first wood ship build. But by no means my first wood kit build.
 
A little background before we get into the build. I'm a retired Design Engineer for a Civil Engineering firm. I build and fly RC Sailplanes and have built, designed and  scratch built numerous sailplanes. I love building, but I don't need anymore sailplanes or for that matter have room for them.
 
I wanted to build something else, and something with a bit of a challenge. I've always loved the old ships and square riggers, so I decided to build one to feed my hunger for building. I wanted something with a bit of a challenge, and with my sailplane building experience, I figured I could build an intermediate model as my first kit build. However my sailplanes have 10 foot and 11 foot wings compared to this whole ship that's only 24". So I definitely have a new challenge.
 
Now, I'm not trying to be a perfectionist or build this as 100% authentic. But something closer to maybe 90-95% authentic or per plans. I have made a couple changes to start with and a couple mistakes as well. So you purist out there, don't blow me out of the water.
 
The first and main thing I changed from the kit was the deck planking. The plans call for 1/16" wide strips for the deck planking. I've read and understand the reason the original Latham used narrower planks for the deck. But I just didn't like the looks of the narrow deck planks. So I decided to use 1/8" wide strips instead.
 
Also, I'm not going to build the Seine boat as part of the kit and display. But will build it separately and display it as a different kit.
 
I started the build a couple months ago and have been taking pictures as I go and have pretty much completed the hull, with the exception of a couple additional items that still need to be added. But basically I'm about to start with the build of the Masts and Spars. From this point on I'm totally lost as how to proceed and this is where the real challenge will begin.
 
Hopefully some of you out there can help me along with the rest of the build.
 
So I'm going to try and post pictures of what I've built so far and get you up to date before I continue building,
 
Any tips, ideas, suggestions, criticism etc is welcome. So please chime in. 
 
So my next post will be the beginning pictures of the build and I'll continue posting pictures to get you to where I am with the build to date. So here goes. Hope I can post the pictures.
 
Eddie

See, I said I was getting a little more time at the museum.
 
The outside of the the hull is now faired (although I'm bound to find minor issues as I plank) and the planking battens are in place - on with the planking!
 
John
 

 

 

Matija,
 
Thank you very much. I have slowly been puttering along since my last updste. I am thoroughly enjoying watching your Bluenose build.
 
Cheers,
 
Elia
 
PS thank you also to those that have visited my log during my 'quiet' period and 'liked' it.