Elia

Finally I feel I know enough to start the rigging.  I did the starboard shrouds, the fore stay and the spring lines.  I had to do the deadeye lacing three times and the spring lines twice.  I made a jig to help make the thimbles but I’m still scrap a lot.  I may have to remake the jig.  Still a long way to go but at least I’m started.
 
Bob
 

                         Starboard side
 

                         Main shrouds
 

                        Fore shrouds
 

                        Main topmast looking aft
 

                        Main masthead
 

                        Fore masthead

YOu can either order pieces online or find a local hobby shop that carry balsa wood strips.
 
OK, decided to move forward and lace in the main sail. Probably a good idea to do it now since the more rigging to work around the harder it is. I didn't do all the loops up the mast and down the boom, just enough to hold it in place for now. The "hypotenuse" of the sail must have been a little longer than it should have because it doesnt pull tight and causes the sail to lay an inch or two to the side, Not a problem when seen from the side. My main problem with the main sail was the lower reef lines, those came out the worst before I started using my sewing machine better, but I kept it. I'll just 'pretend' the sail is old because of use.
 

 

I used the tan thread that came with the kit, and stropping the blocks turned out better than I thought it would.  They are a bit longer than is shown in the instruction book, but I think they will work.

Floyd, not offended at all...yes, my love for sailing is more of a visual thing that I hope to someday learn. I love learning term, so that was a good lesson. I've learn a lot during the bluenose build, and more here.
 
Henry James, I realized I didn't answer your question before, but the brass wire I used was around .020" or 0.019" brass wire. I know the kit suggests rope, but I liked the brass.
 
This kit is almost finished. I'll even say my next update of pictures will be the final showing. I already attached the 3 sails. I'm dressing of the rigging of that, and will finish any final rigging. The end of this build came faster than I was expecting!

OK, I decided to to the finishing touches on this today, and posted the final pics here:
 
http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/gallery/album/901-endeavour-j-class-yacht-1934-801-amati/
 
Thanks for everyone following this thread and build. LIke I said before, the end came faster than I expected. Now for a little break and think of the next possible build.

Greetings,
 
The port spray shield is complete. The assembly was easy for the most part, I glued the straight part if the shield first then slowly added CA while I worked my way around the bend.
 

 

 

 

 
Cheers,
Tim

I then added some wood filler and with some sanding, got my first coat of primer on. This is my outdoor sanding station FYI. Very relaxing with or without Tecate.
 
I will reassess the finish on the hull and with some minor wood fill and then another coat of primer should be ready for paint.
 
Between coats of primer, I was planning on using 220 grit sand paper. Too much or should I go higher in grit?

Hi all! Guess what? It's Friday...and you all know what that means. Yep. It's the weekend soon. Yay.
 
Well, Ingomar's just emerged from an in-depth session of painting. Her hull's been sanded and painted; probably more than 10 times over the past couple of weeks. After that, I applied at least four coats of thinned down gloss varnish as a clear coat. But, before all that, in terms of preparatory work, I did my best to clear up all the rough edges and clean things up. That way the finish would scrub up really nice and crisply. Nils, if you're reading this, after some consideration, I'm still in two minds about painting the drop keel the brass colour. It sounds good, but I wonder if it would stand out too much? I may still do it later. Thanks for your advice, though.
 
I've also made the twin drum windlass in the bow of the ship (it still needs a bit of finishing off. I don't have the ability to replicate all the actual gears of an authentic windlass, so I kinda cheated and made a modern-style windlass, such as what would appear on large modern yachts today; albeit a simplified version of one.
 
The following photos illustrate the paint finish of the hull, as well as the windlass.
 
Have a great weekend and all the best!

Frank, Bob, Omega,
 
Thank you all. Bob - it is very nice to have a liitle time to work on the boat, and share/interact with everyone here. I am many times just quietly catching a look at MSW, even though I don't have much to add.
 
Omega - I do sometimes shoot photos with my phone and on many 'quick' shots it does a surprisingly good job. But when the opportunity presents itself - I always prefer shooting with my DSLR.
 
Cheers,
 
Elia

Thank you Hans, I realized that these boats are very wet, so I sealed up the floor in the cockpit , and created an access in the cabin ( to add ballast if need be ) I just finished the second stage of the epoxy on the Deck and will have pic's later
 
Best Regards,
Pete

Another Great day with the Boat , ( this Boat has become my favorite build  ) That being said, I sealed up the Cockpit floor, cut an access in the Cabin cut out the Mast step and installed the Cabin. now the only entry into the boat is thru the cabin. (  she has to be water tight , like a wine bottle with a cork in it ) I then used West System Epoxy on the Deck , the same way I did the Hull. I also used Epoxy on the Comunications Tower securing the Brass Tubes to the Base ( wich I shaped to the Correct specs ) I then turned my attention to making the Spars, This is a tapered Mast , I first cut the mast to length, ( I left the label on the Boom side of the mast ) I then with the mast on it's side cut the taper in the forward section ( never touching the Label side ) then I put the Mast label side down and maked and cut the taper on the sides of the Mast then sanded the 1/4 round on the tapered section to give it the correct profile. The mast is ready for spreaders ( and then will have Epoxy applied, for stregth ) The communications tower is still being held in place by the Fishing weight and has not been installed , Here are the results

Thank's Jay I am having a blast building this one, she's right on the money and going together like butter , I look forward to seeing the Masting complete as well . I started calling her " The Sled "
 
Best Regards,
Pete

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
 

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
 

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
 

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
 

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
 

Small progress update Arethusa. I've been working more of the fiddly bits of ironwork for the deck. Following are chainplate assemblies.

I mentioned previously that I was 'stuck' on making the double stropped lower deadeyes. I had fashioned the strops from 0.015" diameter brass wire, looping it around two pins a given distance apart on a wood board. I pinched the wire adjacent to each pin, and soldered the overlap of the two free ends with Stay Brite solder. After trimming the excess, and sanding the soldered end into somewhat reasonable shape I used a drill bit which as about the same diameter as the deadeyes to create the strop shape. Pliers were used to straighten the 'lug' ends of the strop. Once those were all formed I painted the entire strop dull silver except for the non-soldered lug end.

Here is a photo of the some of the parts in manufacturing sequence. On the left is a straight strop after the one end was soldered and sanding/filed. Next to it is a formed hoop strop, the deadeye, the brass rivet, and the chainplate. Next is the soldered assembly. And last is the assembly with the rivet stem trimmed off.



Here is a photo of all of the parts prior to mass soldering production:


Here is a photo of my soldering pad and the assembly secured with wire and a pin:

I placed the manufactured 0.8mm head diameter rivet head at the end of the strop which had been soldered so that the other end, which would be soldered to the unpainted strop was as far away from the strop soldered joint as possible - to mitigate as much as possible the heat from the full assembly soldering from damaging the first soldered joint. This may have been overkill, as the second soldered joint was made using TIX, which has a melt temp of 270F, whereas Stay Brite has a melt temp of 450F or so. In any case the plan worked acceptably. There were variations in forming of the strop loops, and the soldered joints, resulting in more than I want, but all in all acceptable to proceed with.

The final parts assembled, trimmed, and touch up silver paint applied.


Soon I'll install them on the ship.

Cheers,

Elia

The build log reconstruction begins...
 
It has been a long time since I’ve started a new sailing ship build, with my sailing ship model (Oneida) taking about 4 years to complete.  Ever since building Smuggler, an 1870’s mackerel seiner from Gloucester, I’ve been smitten by 19th and 20th century American fishing schooners.  There are a number builds, both in progress and completed, that have been inspiring to me – Bluenose builds, a couple of Ben Lathams, a scratch build of Columbia, and even a few of the “yachty” Americas.  Jim Lefever, who’s impressive Benjamin Latham build was a great inspiration for me, provided me with a list of great reading references on American fishing schooners.  After receiving a number of them as gifts, and reading through them, I knew my next build would have to be another fishing schooner.  I have to admit right up front that Arethusa, an early 1900s fishing schooner and the topic of this build, was never called the “Goddess of Gloucester”.  She was a goddess in Greek mythology.  The schooner was named after one of Thomas McManus's daughters.  I just thought that 'Goddess of Gloucester' fit to her will and made for a catchy name for this log.  Arethusa, the schooner, was big, beautiful, and had a colorful history – sounds interesting to me.  Enough about my motivations and ramblings….let’s get on with the ship.     Arethusa was designed by Thomas F. McManus in 1907 and built by James and Tarr in Essex, Massachusetts, in 1909.  She was what is termed a knockabout schooner.  Unlike traditional schooners, with bowsprits (and jibbooms, and flying jibbooms), knockabout schooners had an extended bow and no bowsprit.  The extended bow essentially placed the fore topmast stay at the same position as on a traditional schooner.  With that configuration of stay location the crew wouldn’t be required to climb out on the typically poorly maintained footropes aside the bowsprit in order to perform tasks involving the sails and rigging.  This was a Thomas McManus innovation, based on his observations and discussions with fisherman and owners, and was meant to reduce sailing crew injuries and deaths.   I am using Howard I. Chapelle’s lines drawing and sail plan of Arethusa from his “American Fishing Schooners”, plate 120 and figure 30.  “American Fishing Schooners” (AFS) has a great deal of detail in it’s appendix on most of the features of late 19th century and early 20th century schooners, and it is these I will use to build the details of the model.  If anyone knows of more details about Arethusa I would be most grateful to learn of them.  I have contacted Mystic Seaport Museum about their collection but found that while Arethusa is listed in their collection they don’t have any more information than that (little) which is shown in AFS.   Following are some excerpts from “Thomas F. McManus and the American Fishing Schooners”, by W.M.P. Dunne, on Arethusa: James and Tarr “...completed her on 25 September 1907.  Fifteen feet longer than the Pontiac, the Arethusa was, nevertheless, a deep, short ended knockabout, with the typically knuckled straight run of the keel (although with less drag), that Tom favored in this class, and more tumblehome.  Once again he experimented with the rig.  He stepped the foremast farther forward with the masts further apart.  Right from the start, the big fisherman earned a reputation as a speedster.  Captain Clayton Morrisey, the Arethusa’s first skipper waxed poetic: “She’s the slickest bit of wood that ever went down to Bay of Islands.  Nothing can touch her and an eight-year-old girl’s little finger is stout enough to spin the wheel no matter how fresh it breezes.”  “Can she sail?” exclaimed Captain Morrisey, opening his eyes as if he didn’t quite believe his ears.  “Why, when we were coming up from the herring grounds she cut out her 13 knots an hour for six consecutive hours.”     “We’d see a blotch of smoke away ahead on the horizon and in a little while would make out a tramp steamer bound our way.  Pretty soon the Arethusa was kiting alongside the tramp and then we’d lose sight of her astern.  She did that trick a number of times.”     In fact, with Clayt Morrissey at the helm in 1912, the Arethusa would easily outrun the Canadian Dominion fisheries’ patrol steamer Fiona, “whose commander opined the Arethusa was violating the three-mile limit.”           “At the beginning of 1921, soon after the new [prohibition] law was in place, Captain William F. “Bill” McCoy, a sometime Daytona Beach, Florida, boatbuilder, guided his fully-laden McManus schooner, the Henry L. Marshall, past the Tybee Lighthouse and up the river to Savannah, where, in the dark of the night, he discharged not fish, but 1,500 cases of illicit liquor.  With the proceeds, McCoy replaced himself with a new skipper on board the Marshall and went to Gloucester in search of the boat of his dreams, Tom’s speedy Arethusa.  Although McCoy had fished the Marshall legitimately until after the Eighteenth Amendment dried out the country, he had always thirsted for Arethusa.  With Gloucester feeling the effect of postwar economic contraction, the owners of the fourteen-year-old schooner…..sold her to McCoy in April 1921.  The Arethusa became a rum runner, a fast freighter of bootleg spirits.  McCoy renamed her Tomoka, added a bowsprit so she could carry two jibs, jumbo and jib topsail-and a lot of liquor (she had the capacity of 6,000 cases of illegal alcohol).     He brought the Tomoka to anchor just outside the then three mile limit of United States waters, but well within site of the beach.  He soon began a thriving business with New York and New Jersey bootleggers…. “  [this is where the term ‘the real McCoy’ came from]   Arethusa later returned to fishing, and was lost off Halifax in November 1929.  Her particulars are:   Designer                Thomas F. McManus Builder                    Tarr and James Launch date                25 September 1907 Gross tonnage                157 tons Molded length at caprail of        127’ – 3”     Molded beam                25’ – 0” Molded depth                13’ – 2” Registered dimensions        114.0’ x 25.6’ x 12.5’

continued...

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
 

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
 

Greetings,
 
The windscreen is complete an has been installed, (photos in the next post).  The next step is to cut the port cockpit spray shield from the 1/64" plywood along with the step from the supplied 3/32" basswood strip.  I will need to soak the spray shield in water to soften them which will allow me to wrap them around the supplied 7/16' dowel.
 

 

 
Cheers,
Tim

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
 

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