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
 

Earlier than my steering wheel endeavor I had fabricated the cat heads and installed the chainplates. All of the deck furniture remains only temporarily placed for context.
 


 


 
Funny thing about the deadeyes - they don't want to stand upright, as in the photos. They lay over, free on their pivot pins...
 
And last, but not least, thank you to all those who've 'liked' my updates!
 
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
 

Earlier than my steering wheel endeavor I had fabricated the cat heads and installed the chainplates. All of the deck furniture remains only temporarily placed for context.
 


 


 
Funny thing about the deadeyes - they don't want to stand upright, as in the photos. They lay over, free on their pivot pins...
 
And last, but not least, thank you to all those who've 'liked' my updates!
 
Cheers,
 
Elia

This past winter and spring I pondered how to fabricate a few of the remaining deck furniture  details for Arethusa.  The steering wheel, the cat heads, and potentially remaking the deck pumps, due to the fact that over time, as I stared at my original sculpey ones, I found them a little less than attractive.  We’ll see if I remake the pumps or not.
 
The Gloucester schooners of the late 1800s and early 1900s employed cast steering wheels over the built-up wooden wheels we see on many earlier period ships.  One of the principal manufacturers of the cast wheels was A.P. Stoddard Company of Gloucester, MA.  The wheels contained a cast rim, a cast hub, and 8 spoke/handles.  The overall dimensions of the wheels ranged from about 30 inches in diameter (of the rim) to 36 inches diameter.  
 
The design I am using was for Elsie, a similar vintage and approximately similar sized schooner to Arethusa.  The Elsie plans from Model Shipways contain views of the wheel, but enlarged to 1/24 scale, twice the size of my model.  This wheel was also printed in a series of articles Erik A.R. Ronnberg wrote from the Nautical Research Guild's Journal in the 1990s. (I think).  So I used CAD at work to create a 1/48 scale set of ‘wheel’ drawings.  Since the wheel details are quite small at 1/48 scale, I only focused on the major geometric details.  The Elsie wheel is 48 inches (true) from brass cap of one handle to the opposite side handle brass cap.  The rim is 36 inches OD, and 30 inches ID.
 
In this post I’ll show you my approach to making the ships wheel.  What follows is my fourth or fifth attempt at the wheel.  I first tried making one from sheet styrene.  No luck.  Then I tried using boxwood and styrene.  Again failure.  I followed that up with an all boxwood wheel’s rim.  Nope, no good.  At the top of my wish list of of modeling power tools is a lathe… but with largish scale home projects ongoing I can’t justify such a purchase right now.
 
What I found I was struggling with was the fact that the flanges and the web of the rim as very thin at 1/48 scale.  Couple that with a detail the cast rims present - ‘cylindrical’ swells around each spoke at the rim - and, well, I was stumped.  Then, one night something struck me - why not make the rim’s web from two thin sheets of brass.  Once I had the ‘rings’ of the web formed it seemed it shouldn’t be too difficult to crimp them around spokes, or at least spoke mandrels. 
In my ‘brass’ box I had a nice amount of 1/64” thick by 1/16” wide K&S brass strips.  I also had brass sheets stock but attempts to cut out the rings to an acceptable shape proved difficult for me.  I annealed the 1/64 x 1/16 strips and found a suitable mandrel with which to form the web rings.  
 

 
The mandrel was part of a VW Passat B5 tie rod extraction tool (from a past project/era).  I first crudely formed the strips into flat rings, re-annealing throughout the forming, to allow the rings to take a smooth shape.  I then used the mandrel to allow final forming along the underside of the bolt head (following picture).  
 

 
The ring’s ends were then soldered together to form what are essentially thin brass washers.  For this step I used silver solder paste and my butane torch.
 
The next picture shows the crimping of the two ring webs around 0.020 brass rod, which at scale is slightly larger than correct, but available and easy to work with.  These are demonstration rings, as my originals had passed this point of the process before I paused long enough to consider taking pictures.  I used the CAD print to mark where the spokes would be placed.
 

 
Once all of the crimping around the spoke locations was complete I soldered the two web sides together.  For this solder step I used Stay Brite silver solder, which has a melting temp in the somewhere around ~500F.  I soldered in every-other ‘bay’ between spoke locations.  I did that so that when I soldered the flanges onto the rim I could alternate bay locations, providing some ‘distance’ between soldered joints in an attempt to minimize secondary or tertiary soldering from undoing prior soldered sections.
 
I used my trusty mandrel to form the inner flange of the rim, fitted it to the inside of the web ring, trimmed it, and soldered it on place, using the designated ‘clear’ bays for soldering.
 


 
I then used a wooden dowel as a back stop and drilled though the inner flange with my dremel.
 

 
Nearing the completion of the rim I used another mandrel to form the outer flange.  I clamped it in place, marked the spoke locations, and drilled the holes using the prior mentioned drill setup.
 
Parts were filed, flux was applied.  I used some of those 0.020 inch brass rods to maintain alignment of the holes to the rim web.  I used clamps to keep everything in place.  I snipped tiny pieces of TIX solder (melt temp around 270F), and located them.  Heat was then applied.  It looked great.  Really sweet.  I took off the clamps and went to remove the brass rods.  Oh CRUD!  [actually, insert colorful sailor language here].  The flux and solder had run…and the brass rods were soldered in.  I tried heat with the soldering iron, but no luck.  I was concerned about applying too much heat and having other portions of the assembly come apart.  So I set about marking and drilling out the brass rod material.  It worked OK, although the holes weren’t quite as well located as the originals.
 
On the second portion of the outer flange I chose to omit the brass rod ‘alignment’ aids and it all worked out well.
 

 
So here is the rim essentially completed.  The swells in the rim web are visible, and the rim flanges are reasonably to scale.   It is a little larger in OD than the plans.  Not perfect, but I’m happy with it.  Now on to the tiny hub.

 
Cheers,
 
Elia

Shipwrights - a little progress on my dearest Arethusa.  Third time is a charm, at least for me and the yellow cove.  I redid one last section of it on the starboard bow, eliminating the last offensive (to me) waver.  Done.  Yipee!  I have added the ship's name and hail port in the appropriate locations, using Woodland Scenic Dry Transfer letters, and have repainted much of the upper hull black.  I have completed the checker board guide installations, the boom buffer, the cleats, the chocks, and the stanchion located ringbolts.  I have also installed guide pins for the deck furniture to ensure proper placement and to ensure better retention of the components.  It is surprising how much time all of those little elements time.
 



 
Though not show here in photos I have completed 16 of the 20 double wire strops for the deadeyes, have stained the deadeyes (Minwax Ebony stain), and have fabricated/soldered much of the catheads.  I hope to show all of these elements assembled in the not too distant future.
 
Cheers,
 
Elia

Shipwrights - it has been a long time since I last posted progress on Arethusa.  I have been working away on her, in little snippets of time here and there.  Springtime turned to summer, when my modeling usually all but ceases, replaced by outdoor activities.  Autumn typically welcomes the shipwright (me!) back to his work shop.  This year my wife and I decided to embark on a large home improvement project and it has taken far more time and energy than initially estimated.  That resulted in less model time than I had hoped for.  I am now getting a little modeling time in and following are some progress photos.

 

The saga of the yellow cove stripe is almost over.  I had removed the offending strip of wood, per my previous postings, glued in the repair strip, and spackled, sanded and faired it.  I then painted the yellow stripe region.  After the painted dried for a couple of days I applied the 1/64” wide masking tape.  It was surprisingly difficult for me to get it to run straight and true along the new piece of wood.  ?!  Once in place I painted a light coat of the yellow over the masking tape to seal its edges for bleed under by the black topcoat, which followed.  The resulting stripe looks thin and yellow, as desired, though it wanders a wee bit. I think I’ll live with it.  As you can see if the accompanying photo I’ve added some white to the scuppers.  All of my remediation work had filled in the scuppers with spackle, sanding dust, primer, and paint.  I cleaned out the scuppers and applied some of my white paint as touch-up.  Once the chainplates are attached I’ll apply black topcoat and it should look tidy (at least that is the plan).



 

Speaking of chainplates - I have been working away on those details.  First off was making the deadeyes.  Ron (Oneida build) was very helpful in providing me a direction in which to proceed regarding making my deadeyes.  I followed his lead, similar to Harold Underhill, in making a jig to locate the lanyard holes and setting the height of the deadeye.  

 

I don’t know if you shipwrights ever see a detail on the full size ship that just sticks with you and you find you need to model it, but that happened to me on the deadeyes.  The large Gloucester schooners had deadeyes which were iron stropped to the chainplates.  That in itself isn’t unusual.  What is unique (in my mind at least) was that the strops were double wire loops.  Not one, but two iron strops restrain the deadeye to the chainplate.  I had purchased britannia deadeyes from Blue Jacket Shipcrafters for Arethusa but upon inspection I found I could not easily make the purchased deadeyes accept the double iron strop arrangement.  Thus I set off on making the lower deadeyes.  I used boxwood as it is hard, has little grain direction, and cuts and sands cleanly.

 

The larger deadeyes on the larger schooners were 7” to 7 1/2” in diameter and the width was about 5”.  On my model the ones I’ve made are 0.160” diameter (4mm) and 0.10” thick.  The smaller lower deadeyes were 5 1/5” in diameter, and my model ones are 0.115” diameter (3mm).  Interestingly these double stropped deadeyes are essentially flat faced, making fabrication a little easier.

 

My deadeye fabrication process was as follows:

 

Shape wooden rod from square stock using chisels to form first an octagon, chuck it in a hand drill, and use progressively fine grits of sandpaper to sand to the final deadeye diameter.



 

Using the little jig and a pin vise drill the three lanyard holes.



 

Chuck the dowel in my benchtop drill press.  Use the jig to mark the final width/cut of the deadeye with a fine kerf saw (on the drill press).



 

Use a triangular section file to create the strop grooves (on the drill press).  This was the most inconsistent part of my process as I didn’t have (or use/implement) some ‘tool rest’ with which to steady the file.  Remove the deadeye from the drill press and saw off the deadeye at the previously marked line.



 

Finish drilling through the lanyard holes.



 

I eased the holes with a micro “V” shaped gouge, followed by using the lanyard hole drill bit in the pin vise, rotated slowly, and angled to create a shallow groove.  All edges were then lightly sanded.



 

I have made the chainplates, both (16) longer ones for the lower shrouds and (4) shorter ones for the upper shrouds.  I used a jig to locate the chainplates for drilling the bolt holes.  The upper loops are soldered.  A few extras were made as I typically lose or mess up some when working through the fabrication steps.



 

I have fabricated the jumbo, jib, and flying jib stay ironwork from brass sheet stock.



 

I have made some cleats:



 

And some chocks:



 

And for the deadeyes I have begun making the double iron strops.  Here is a photo of my jig for forming the strop from 26 gauge brass wire.  I solder the one loop end, trim off the excess wire, and file it to resemble a hoop end.  I then use a larger drill bit shank to wrap the double strop around and straighten the hoop ends.





 

Once the strops are complete I'll proceed with assembling the deadeyes to the chainplates.  I intend to stain the deadeyes black and paint the strops (before attaching them to the deadeyes) dull silver (for they were galvanized).  I'm scheming now on how to solder the bolt and nut hardware, joining the iron strops to the chainplate.

 

Hopefully it won't been almost a year before I post further progress!

 

Cheers,

 

Elia

I've spent the past few weeks preparing for, and painting, the rails and hull.  For the most part it was turned quite acceptable to me.  There is one glaring exception, and I'll focus on that later.
 
Once the Monkey Rails were completed I proceeded to apply a sealer/primer to the rails, perform a light sanding, and then apply two coats of my white mix.  The only masking done was to protect previously painted deck and bulwarks.
 
A while ago, when planking the hull, I built an inverted stand for Arethusa, one that located the hull by the two mast holes and a number of contact points on the deck.  The stand allowed the inverted hull to located such that the waterline as horizontal, parallel to the surface it was placed upon.  This stand, very crude compared to some of the tools and stand folks here build for their models, came in quite useful a number of times.
 
I used the stand to mark the waterline with a pencil, a light line, on the hull.  I then applied two coats of the anti-fouling red/brown lower hull paint.  I purposefully carried the red paint up above the waterline mark.
 
After painting all of the rails white and the hull red, and allowing a couple of days for full drying, I masked the edges of the rails where the hull black and rail white meet.  I also remarked the waterline with my handy dandy stand, and then masked the edge of the black paint at the waterline.
 
I had previously used a draw plate/template to form the very narrow cove along the edge of the waist plank.  In full scale the cove is something like 3/8” wide, so one can image how narrow it is for a 1/48 scale model.  I was able to carve a fairly narrow cove into the plank, but it wasn’t very even.  In the process of scraping it into the plank I felt it wander, almost catching on the wood grain as it went.  I’ve looked at this detail for quite some time and had mixed feelings about it.  I was proud of having made such a narrow cove, but unhappy that is wasn’t straight and perfectly parallel to the plank edge. Herein lies the problem I encountered.  I painted the yellow of the cove, two coats, extending the paint above and below the cove to ensure the cove was fully painted.  Once that paint had cured I applied masking tape to the cove.  I had found 1/64” wide masking tape from an on-line modeling supplier and purchased it.  This stuff is rather amazing in it’s narrowness.  When I tried to apply the tape to the cove I found it very difficult to get the tape to nest down into the cove - it wanted to wander about in the cove...reminiscent of when I scraped the cove some time ago.  
 
I applied tape edge sealing coats of each of the three paint colors - white along the edge of the rails, red/brown along waterline, and yellow at the cove.  This was done to seal the edge of the tape and not allow the over-coat color to bleed under the tape.
 
Once those had dried I was clear to apply the upper hull black paint.  Two coats were applied.  The white/black edge along the rails worked quite well, as did the red/black edge at the waterline.  There were one or two very minor bleed spots, but all in all I think a good success.
 
Now....back to that yellow cove.  Once the black paint had dried I peeled back that 1/64” tape...and....not good.  The thinness of the yellow was excellent.  But, the masked sections wandered along the wandering cove.  And there was appreciable black paint bleed beneath the tape.  I am very disappointed in this and am stewing over ways to correct it. 
 
Following are a few photos of the painted hull, without and with deck furniture.  The quarterdeck of these schooners had a unique deck planking run - the planks were set parallel to the cabin, as that was a large cutout in the deck (a strength issue), to provide as much continuous planking strength as possible.  Thus, there is some unique nibbing of the outboard planks along the margin plank/waterway.  
 
The fish pens and dory skids are shown also.  The bait gurry isn't located quite properly, either.
 

Cheers,

...more....

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’

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 82 – Stern Framing/Alignment
 
At the end of the last part, I promised to complete the description of adjusting the stern into its precise shape.  I have found that regardless of the care taken in aligning frames during erection there is always some degree of error that needs to be corrected at some later point – especially on something that will be as prominent as Young America’s beautifully curved stern. 
 
The heights of the stern timbers and the aft part of the poop deck were carefully set in the last part.  This allowed the poop deck transom to be installed as shown below.
 

 
There is a clamp on each of the glued stern timbers and aft cant frames to secure this piece – except in the case of two of the stern timbers that were about 3” outside the line.  One can be seen in the above picture.
 
After the glue on these had set, each of the glued timbers was through bolted with epoxied copper wire as shown in the next picture.
 

 
As discussed previously, these “functional” bolts are glued at both ends.  The two misaligned stern timbers were then clamped and glued as shown below.
 

 
I wasn’t sure if these could be pulled into place or would have to be removed and reset, but fortunately they could be clamped and glued without distorting the other timbers.  This picture also shows the concurrent installation of the cabin deck clamps, but this will be discussed later.
 
With the circular stern lined up, there was a bit of work to do on the poop deck top timbers.  There was a bulge of about 2” in the starboard side – enough to disrupt the symmetry of the poop deck when viewed from aft.  In the next picture this is being remedied.
 

 
The deck template has been pinned in place at three points.  The slight bulge is being pressed into the template with the rather large Jorgensen clamp.  The errant timbers were then soaked with water inside and out down to the middle deck clamps and left overnight.  I anticipated further wetting and using a hair dryer on this are but that was not necessary.  The timbers remained in their correct alignment when the clamp was removed as shown below.
 
 

 
The alignment is almost perfect but it will be again checked and if necessary corrected when the cabin and poop deck beams are installed.  The last picture shows this area with the template removed.
 

 
With the frames in this area set accurately by their inboard faces, the outboard faces were sanded fair back to the specified 6” siding.
 
The large pine ribbands on the outside of the hull are now redundant in this area at least and will soon be removed.  This picture also shows the cabin deck clamps installed.  I will get back to that later.
 
 Ed

Prepping and staining the masts.
 
First the section where the trestle tress will be installed is masked off.
 

 
Both masts are put into the vice and the pre-stain conditioner is applied.
 

 
Fifteen minutes later the excess is wiped and stain is applied.
 

 
The masts drying in place.
 

 
The idea behind staining the masts was to give them the look of being oiled (slushed) to allow the mast hoops to slide easily.  I used Minwax pre-stain and walnut stain.
 
The base of the main mast:
 

 
And again after gluing on the guard (aluminum foil glued with PVA).
 

 
The fore mast after staining.
 

 
Bob
 
 

Some of the bands required simulated hinges.  Here's how I did them.
 
Originally I tried gluing a piece of wire the the band but it did not hold up to trimming and filing very well.  So I decided to solder the wire in place.
 
I folded the wire so it "clamped" over the band and then used two hemostats to hold it in place for soldering.
 

 
Then I cut the ends loose and filed the remaining piece of wire.  Here is the final result.
 

 
The main boom has a couple of sheaves built in at the aft end.  I started with the idea of making working sheaves.
 
Drilling holes at the ends of the sheave locations was where I started this.
 

 
I then started to  carve away at the material between the endpoints with a rasp.
 

 
After going at that for a while, I decided I liked the look well enough and stopped after carving some of the material.
 

 
Bob

Next up, I started on the main boom.  It has a different set of hardware than the gaffs after the initial shaping is done and the jaws are added.
 
First a pair of belaying pins are put into the jaws.
 

 
A cleat is added on the port side.  I didn't pin it initially but I knocked it off enough times that I added the pin later.
 
Gluing and clamping the cleat.
 

 
and after install and shaping.  You can see that I mark top and forward directions - otherwise I'd forget..
 

 
The main boom uses a parrel rope, but no beads.  As there is no need for it to run up and down the mast, that makes sense.
 

 
There is a band with a bail - this was a bit complicated for me.  I started by wrapping the top and bottom pieces over the boom.
 

 

 
The two pieces are clamped together while drilling the holes for the bail.
 

 
Then the bail is soldered to the bottom of the band.
 

 
The top of the bail is them placed over the bail, a piece of stripwood is placed over the band and clamped with clothespins, and glued in place with CA.
 

 
After drying the whole thing is removed, the edges are roughly clipped, then finish filed.
 
Here are several of the bands that will be installed on the boom.
 

 
And in place on the boom.
 

 
Bob
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

JP - I'm glad to be of service - it is one of my "big 3" reasons for doing a log.
 
Thanks for stopping by, Elia.  I find that I am rediscovering things as I look back through the old photos.
 
Dave - yeah, those sails are scaring the crap out of me.  I have two different piles of cloth in the corner of the room waiting their turn... it's coming soon.  I look forward to seeing your success story...
 
And now a word on tapering spars.  Bluenose has two different types of tapering going on... the traditional symmetrical, taper to a point type that is done on the topmasts, and an asymmetric, one side stays straight while the other narrows that is used on the lower masts, the gaffs, booms, and bowsprit.  I am going to start with the second type.  I am showing the mainmast, but I used the same process for all of these.  First I lay the dowel on the plan and mark the final width at the end of the dowel and the spot on the dowel where the taper starts.  Then I put the dowel into the vice with the section to be removed rising above the jaws.
 

 

 
Once that is positioned, I sand everything off that is above the jaws until I am left with a flat side that gets wider at the end of the dowel.
 

 

 
After this is done I carefully sand the flattened section until it is round all the way up the dowel again, taking care not to remove any material from the side that has no taper.  The finished product for the main and foremasts looks like this:
 

 

 
The masts just have a taper at one end.  The other spars are tapered at both end (so they have a bowed profile when viewed from the side).  This is done by applying the same technique on both ends, one after the other.
 
Bob

For the symmetrical tapers I use a similar sanding technique (because I didn't trust myself to keep from removing too much material if I tried the "chuck the dowel in the drill" method I have read about.
 
First I lay the spar on the plan and mark corresponding points on the mast and the plan.


 
The I use the caliper to measure the width of the mast at one of the points
 

 
and to transfer the width mechanically to the dowel.
 

 
This spar has had several locations marked and transferred.
 

 
Then into the vice for removing excess material as I did for the asymmetrical tapers.  I do this in 4 different planes to form a square section which is then sanded round to finish up.
 

 
And here is the result.  The top of the mast will be shaped later to form the ball that belongs there.
 

 
After shaping, staining and painting (and a bunch of other work) this is what they look like.
 

 
Bob
 

Some more updates on the rigging. I rigged the boom which had a real trick run trough about 7 blocks.  And I'm only rigging one side to the mast before putting on sails, so the other  side can be rigged later..will make it easier for putting on the sails.
 

The model is almost finished ......
Mauro

Starting out on some rigging. I rigged the shroud lines first. The problem I was having was color, should I use black or tan? Standing rigging is usually black, but I see a lot of the standing rigging on endeavour tan. I started black on the shrouds, then made the switch when I did the forward stay to tan. I will continue with tan. I hope the shrouds dont standout out as an outcast in the end being the on black rigging. I like it so far. Here are a few pics of the rigging starting.
 

 

 

3/4 of the planking is done.
On the port side I have used some filler to see how it's gonna be.
And it is smooth !
Nice layer for the next planking.
Now I can close her and then it is totally filling and sanding.
A few pictures to show you.
 

 
 

I made the corrections on the studding sail lashings.  Figuring half inch diameter rope, I went with six turns to get three inches of lashing.
I will post some photos soon as I have now finished all of the running rigging I am going to do.  No leech or bunt lines as there will be no sails.  just have the spirit yard (if you can call it that, after 1830 US ships of the line had no real spirit sails).  Lee's book shows the way the yard was made, but not how it was rigged.  I will only rig two standing rigging lines until and if I can find out how it was actually rigged.  Working on the anchors and their rig now.  I also need the railing and net on the mast platforms.  I am not sure if I am going to make all of the 10 or 12 ships boats.  In the end I think six is going to be enough?

Here are some photos of the block process

I have been working pretty consistently on the ship. Since my last post I have been putting in a minimum of an hour everyday. and closer to two most days.
Serving every block connection that connects to the yards takes a lot of time. Also, lashing thimbles to every block that hooks to an eye bolt also adds time.
I had forgotten how careful you have to be trying to get your paws into the rigging to belay lines and add rope coils. running the lines can be frustrating when you go to tighten up everything and the block twists so you have to re run the whole thing It has been a long road, and it feels good to finally be putting up the yards!

I was showing a relative, (no, not my wife), this post and he/she commented that I never seemed to acknowledge the kind compliments I get from the commentors on on this post. So, I thought a little explanation and an apology is in order.

I was born half deaf, and in the era I was raised, my peers we not very understanding. As a result I pretty much a loner all my life with few friends. I turned to books and model making to fill the void. Also as a result my social skills are not very good. I am sort of bashful and except for my family unused to compliments. So, I do not always know how to respond. If in the future I do not seem very forth coming in my replies, I am sorry and I hope you will understand.

I have been working on the yards a lot lately.  There is a lot more to do than I remember from my Victory Model 30 years ago.  I am trying to get as many blocks as I can on the yards before installing them.  As this ship will not have sails, I do not need the leech or bunt line blocks, so I will be leaving those off.  Everything attached to the yards needs to be served, and attached primarily with rose lashings (or a close approximation).  I made the slings as you can see, and I am making the trusses now (no photos of those yet).  I am also putting on shrouds at the top gallant to royal yards tressel tree.  I will post photos of how I attached them later.  I also made and sort of installed the spanker and gaff booms.
 
I apologize for the messy deck, I will vacuum it clean when I finish installing the yards.  Once the yards are done, I think all that is left is the anchor assemblies, the davits, and the ships boats???