Pygothian

Figuerres:  You're right about the lantern. See below.
 
Thanks, Russ. If you do enough of those coils, you start to get the hang of it.
 
Final details and the finished model:  Although they weren't actually the very last items done, I'm treating the lantern, the anchors and the flagstaff as the final details. The lantern was made from an old street lamp that I found in my model railroad scrap box. The lamp portion was heavily reworked and the brackets were made from brass rod and brass strip. The anchors were made using the kit castings with the stocks made from boxwood. The cable was run back over the bitts back to the main hatch. The anchor bouys were made from pieces of tapered dowel and then rigged. The flag staff is shown on the plans, although it seems awkward with the boom. I chose to install it mostly because I liked the way it looked. 
 
Photos of the finished model follow the photos of the final detail work.
 
Bob

Hi Pete,
yep, it's an AL kit and I think, like the rest of the modellers, I've found discrepancies in the kit and the instructions too. This is a great forum and as you can see from the other modellers, we're not the only ones that have discovered the short falls of the manufacturer. There's lots of information and tutorials here in MSW and if you haven't checked it out, I'd encourage you to do so.
 
To answer your question on bending planks and beams, at first, I tried using a plank bending tool but only manged to knip the end off the plank or cut it in half.......dohhh!!! After that, I made my own jigs out of some MDF wood and 4mm dowel (I got that tip from another modeller). I've attached a couple of photos. I soak the planks or  beams in hot water for a while and then place them in the jig. Depending on the type of wood and radius of the bend such as the hull planks, I had to try and ply the planks between my fingers to soften the grain and encourage them to bend. If necessary, I repeated the process a few times until I could get the bend correct and put them into the jig. When bending the walnut timber, I found that it needs a longer soak time and I needed to keep the water hot while the timber is soaking. I only did a couple of planks or beams at a time and let them dry fully in the jig before I removed them and fitted them to the model. With the sideways bends in the walnut timber like the deck rails, I also clamped them down to keep them flat and stop them from warping while in the jig. I guess the thing is  to take your time, nothing needs to be rushed.
 
Have a great day,
Cheers,
rowand

Hi All,
 
Another small update. I managed to get some more planking done over the last few days and the second layer is almost finished, there is only one plank left to make on the starbord side and five planks, includinng the two planks that fit into the drop plank, on the porrt side.  
 

 

 

 

 

 
The light at the end of the tunnel is becoming brighter  I hope to finnish the second planking tomorrow. I will post some more pictures when it is finnished
 
 

Build Update:
 
Completion of the Exterior Planking:
 
My Syren hull really turned out to be a tale of two halves.  Being that this is the second model that I have ever planked, and that it was a lot bigger than my Longboat, it was a first rate learning experience.  I planked both sides down below the waterline pretty much the same, then I continued with the starboard side until it was complete.  Next I completed the port side, finally putting the wales and sheer strake on.  
 
I had a lot of fun with this step for a couple of reasons.  The first being that, I learned how not to do it on the first side.  The second, that during the planking process I went on vacation to a family camp, which had a wonderful craft space.  Our days were packed with hiking, sailing, and fishing, but the evening was dedicated to crafts.  So I took my Syren with me and worked on it over vacation.  Part of the fun in that, was that so many people came over to investigate what I was doing, that I got to talk about the hobby to quite a few people.  Thirdly, my son has taken an interest in what I am doing, so I have been able to start instilling a desire to make things in him.  I hope that I am also passing on some skills as well  .
 
Crafting on Vacation:

 
The Last Plank:

 
The Next Generation:

 

 

 

 

 

Part 8. Copper Plates/Rudder

Copper plating went fairly well. I know there is a copper plating schematic included in the practicum
that shows a more complex plating pattern, I'm not sure how many builders follow that, I know I didn't.
The hardest part of coppering is actually keeping the copper plates clean!!

I used a fairly rudimentary method of stamping and cutting the plates.  I found an old
rc reciever and cut some of the connection pins down to match the pattern suggested. To do the port
side I cut them down again.
I then stamped 4 at a time until I got tired of stamping and then cut them to size using an exacto.
The most time consuming part, however, was removing the backing from the plates before attaching.
Once the plates were attached I burnished them with a piece of balsa.
Drilling the hole in the transom for the rudder was scary, but went fine, as did the painting, staining and
plating of the rudder itself.
I cut down some nails and glued them to the pintles, covered with copper plating and glued them to the rudder.
I made a bit of a mess glueing the gidgeons onto the hull. There's quite a bit of CA on the surrounding copper.  I'm probably going to attemp a cleanup with some laquer thinner.  If anyone has another suggestion for cleanup I'd welcome it.
 
I was able to use white vinegar to remove my initial fingerprints from the copper.

Sanding the sill and lintels to match the bulwarks.  I started with the big sander.  It takes off wood in a scary hurry, so I had to use a light touch.  One slip and I'd be rebuilding big sections.  I got away with it.
 

 
Back to sanding blocks and files to do the inside curve.
 

 
Trying to get the "graceful" curve.  Satisfied so far.
 

 
The tops of the sweep ports need to be 1/8" above the sills, so I made these little spacers to help make the job easier.  The little tail on the spacers helps keep the spacer in place and makes sure I don't accidentally place the spacer in place with the wrong side facing up.
 
 
 

Making a little progress after getting back in town from a trip.
 
After attaching the keel and knees and letting the whole thing sit in the DeskMate for a couple of days, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the BF warp was completely gone.


 
 
Now time to add the bulkheads.  I found one that was missing a sizable portion of the middle ply and the bulwark extension was hanging by just a thread of the outer ply.  The picture is not so good, but you get the idea....
 

 
What to do, what to do?  I braced the bulkhead  and shot it full of expanding foam.  After it cured, I carved off the excess foam and hardened the exposed surface of the foam with some glue.  Came out pretty good I think.  Was a lot easier than trying to carve wood to fit exactly in the hole.
 

 

 
Gluing in the bulkheads trying to be very precise with alignment....
 

 

 
It is no secret that the bulwark extensions on the bulkheads are fragile.  But, in my kit, they were extra flimsy.  I think the laser cutter was set too hot.  Instead of making a nice little line on the surface of the wood, the reference lines burned thru the first ply and, in some cases, half way thru the center core.  You can see how that would make them even easier to break than normal.  I think I probably broke off half of them at one point or another.  If you're getting ready to start your own Syren, you may want to dab some CA on these reference marks before you remove the bulkheads from the plywood sheets.
Has anyone else had this problem, or was I just the lucky one?
 

 
Out into the garage for the next step.  Going to make lots of sawdust cutting and fitting the filler blocks.
 
Used balsa filler blocks to stiffen things up.  Shaped and sanded the filler blocks to match the bulkheads. 
 
Used a drum sander on a drill press to do the initial shaping/faring of the bulkheads. 
 

 
Back inside to start working on the gun port framing.  Used a batten and the gun port template to find a nice line across the hull.  Turns out the reference lines on my kit were dang close.  My line never varied by more than 1/32" from the reference marks.  This step is just a lot of cutting, trimming, sanding, and gluing.  Kind of relaxing.  I found that Binder clips really helped with the sills.  After dry fitting, the binder clips make a nice little shelf to sit the sill on when gluing it in and help to keep the sills nice and level.
 

 
To make it easier to install the lintels, I made little 15/32" spacers.
 

 
Now I didn't have to worry about measuring anything.  Just sit the lintels on the spacers for perfect parallel installation.
 

 
Now it's back out into the garage to sand the framing down to match the bulwarks....
 
 

I finished the planking the deck and drilled all the treenails.  I decided to follow the color scheme of the Roberts Collection model; at least to a point.  Chuck Passsaro has placed photos from his trip to Annapolis in the Gallery section under, “Contemporary Models from Museums and Private Collections.”   I should go down to Annapolis myself since it isn't that far.
Next up is to plank the outer hull along with the wales.
You can get to Chuck’s photos from here: 
     ‘http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/gallery/album/448-fair-american-rogers-collection-annapolis/’.

It is looking good.   Just as the others mentioned you should shorten the length of the garboard quite a bit.   Otherwise the remaining planks will need to be tapered too much along the stem.   I show in red the approximate amount.  I would suggest after the garboard plank is in place that you divide up the remaining space at each bulkhead so you can see just how the remaining planks will run and how much they need to taper.  Use a tick strip at the widest point of the opening midship to determine how many planks you will need.  Once you know how many planks will fit at that widest point you can mark the width of that number of planks at every bulkhead in the opening.   This will show you exactly how the planks will run and how much they need to be tapered.
 
Im guessing you will probably need six more plank strakes to complete that side of the hull once the garboard is in position.
 
Chuck
 

February 20, 2010
 
 
Not only do the upper stern strakes need more sanding, but there's an even worse problem lurking there.

When I dry fit the sternpost, at the very top the planks tuck in too much. It's hard to tell from this photo, but the three or
four strakes at the top of the sternpost do not meet flush with the edge of the sternpost--
 

 
 
I decided to go for the fix on this one.

I applied alcohol to the problem area. Note, there was minor bleeding of the marker ink with the alcohol, so anyone who thinks to try the inked paper caulk--BEWARE. I don't think it has ended up causing a permanent problem in this case, but don't be surprised like I was!
 

 
 
I also removed the shim I had put on to push the sternpost back about 1/16th of an inch. I needed to take the shim off because the alcohol was loosening it anyway, and it would give me deeper access to the planks--
 

 
 
Next I pried the loosened planks away from the deadwood--
 

 
 
I made a small shim to push the planks out, so they would meet the sternpost more correctly--


 
 
Then, after filing the excess part of the planking shim away, and sanding and filing the ends of the planks, I was able to glue the sternpost (and its shim) on, and then more sanding--
 

 
 
Those top planks still need some work, and I'm not sure I'm going to be able to get those few caulk joints to look the way they should, but the fit to the sternpost is better than it was. The photo (as they often do) is making things look worse than they really are.
 
 
 
December 7, 2009   [i've grouped a couple of older posts regarding treenails here, to keep all of them together.]
 

After weighing many factors, I think I may go with bamboo for the treenails, so I have started manufacturing them. I tried first with some bamboo chopsticks, and it was hopeless. They were very weak, and I couldn't make it past one or two holes in the drawplate.

Then I remembered some bamboo gardening stakes I have. They were very weathered, and I wasn't sure they would be any better than the chopsticks, but they actually are working guite well.

For the hull I need 1" treenails, which is .020". That's the third from the smallest hole on the drawplate. I was quite skeptical about my chances of working down that small (I can barely even see the hole!). But I've made about fifteen "straws". When I
took the picture I had about 7 done--
 

 
 
They are about 7" long, so if I need a 1/4" long treenail (being conservative here--1/8th inch might be enough) that's 28 per straw. I might need 1000 or so, so I probably need between 30 and 40 straws.
 
 
 
December 9, 2010
 
 
With some technique advice from other members, I was able to join the .016" club--
 

 
 
Couldn't do it without pliers, and it seemed like it took as long to do those last two holes as all the previous ones!

The small one also makes my .020" straws look like logs in comparison! .020" is right for the hull, but maybe I'll need the smaller size for the deck. Good thing that's a ways off.
 
 
 
January 4, 2010
 
 
After making all those bamboo treenails, I tested them out, along with some other techniques, on my hull section mock-up.

I wanted to see how simulated caulking on the hull would look. The upper four caulk joints use black craft paper ("construction" paper is what I've always called it, but I don't know if everyone knows what I mean by that). The lower four joints use regular medium weight computer printer paper made black with a "sharpie" magic marker. I like the way the thinner joints look--they are much closer to scale [And indeed, as you have seen, that's what I used]--
 

 
 
The treenails are kind of a mess. I took the old planks off and put them back on (with the new caulk joints) so some of the old silver wire spots moved around a bit. But here's the key:

The blue circle shows bamboo treenails in a hole that was drilled with a bit just a little too big. I was waiting for the right one (#76 .02") to come in the mail.

The red circle shows bamboo treenails with the right size hole. I was unhappy with all the bamboo treenails.
They look too dark to me. If they were larger, they might not have gone so dark, but this is the right size.

The green circle shows .020" holes filled with a watered down slurry of pearwood dust and glue. When I went over it with
the tung oil varnish, I think it may have disolved some of this filler because many of them look like dark empty holes now.

The yellow circle shows.020" holes filled with a slurry of full strength glue and pear wood dust. This looks the best to me (actually you can barely see the good ones, but that's about right). The only problem here is that the results weren't consistent (some still showed as a dark hole). I need to make sure the "paste" gets down into each hole.
 

 
 
I'll chew on these experiments for a while. But it looks like I am going to abandon all those bamboo treenails I painstakingly made!! And the silver wire I bought!
 
 
 
 February 22, 2010
 
 
Now it's on to treenailing!
 
I've decided to go with the bamboo, partly since I can't bear for all those slivers I painstakingly drew down to tiny size to go to waste!

I'm starting on the very bottom of the hull, which will be the least visible part--so if my beginning workmanship isn't the best, it won't be too obvious!

Near the middle is a portion that I sanded down, to see how they will look. They're so small, that even though they are still darker than I would have liked, they really fade away from a distance--
 
 

 
I thought my caulk joints were very thin (and most of them are), but next to the treenails some of them look positively fat!  On balance though, I still like the caulking--
 

 
 
Only a thousand or so more to go! I'm so glad I'm only doing half the hull--and this is a small ship to boot!
 
 
 
February 23, 2010
Here's a picture--as close as I can get--of the sanded down treenails. The treenail diameter (1 inch) should be four times the caulk width (1/4 inch). Just by eye it looks--close enough. 
 

 
 
 
February 26, 2010
 
 
I still don't know whether treenails or iron spikes are historically accurate for this ship, but I'll settle for them just looking good!

I looked at three sources for the treenail pattern. (Goodwin, Underhill and Davis) The one that was the most helpful and seemed most accurate was the one by Charles G. Davis in "The Built-Up Ship Model". It looks a bit random at first, but there is a very sound logic to the way the treenails are placed. However, Davis didn't show what it looks like where the butt joint of the planks interrupts the pattern, so I improvised there--


 
 
[i have not seen this pattern used in any other models--maybe because it's 'busier".   Every model I see uses the simpler pattern, which according to Davis, would be for single frames, whereas this was correct for doubled frames]
 
 
 
February 27, 2010

 
I've marked about 3/4 of the locations, and I have a growing patch of treenails.

Doing about two planks worth at a time (or about 50 treenails), I start the holes with a push pin, drill them, and glue the treenails in. Then repeat for another small section.

I do wish I had something that would cut these off flush. [How about the No.11 knife or a razor blade?] My supply of treenail straws is being used up faster than I thought it would, and surely there are or will be a couple of straws worth of waste in those bits that stick out.
 

 
 
 
March 1, 2010
 
 
I ran out of treenail straws, so I draw down two or three, use them up, then draw down 2 or three more, etc.

I'm a little more than half done, and the bow is marked and drilled--
 

 

 
 
 
March 6, 2010
 
 
Another small milestone in the long modeling process--the lower hull treenailing is done!
 

 

 
 
After looking at the next photo I realized I wasn't completely done--
 

 
 
When I first looked at that photo one empty hole near the left center jumped out at me. I filled that one, looked at the photo again and noticed another!

Hopefully there are no more empty holes, but I can't guarantee it!--
 

 

 
 
Now, I will sand it down. Then some thinking about what to do next.
 
 
 
March 6, 2010
 
 
Here's the hull sanded down and with a couple coats of finish on. It looks pretty glossy, but I haven't steel wooled it yet--
 

 
 
Next I made a rough working stand to hold the hull upright. First cut a couple of templates for the supports out of cardboard--
 

 
 
Then cut them out of a piece of scrap wood with my jeweler's saw--
 

 
 
Then glued them on to a base. I need to do some fine tuning of the support curves, and then I'll put some foam padding on the supports, and it should be good to go--
 

 
 
 
Ron

October 2, 2009
 
 
I had it in my head that the first few stern half frames were perpendicular, and not canted. When I went to the plans to make a template for the frame placement on the deadwood, I discovered that all the stern half frames are canted--
 

 
 
It's not a lot, but the gap at the keel is less than at the top of the frame--
 

 
 
Before I go back to the model, I'll make a template to guide me in spacing the frames--
 

 

 

 
 
I taped it onto the keel, aligning the rabbet line, and traced the curve and marked the frame locations--
 

 

 
 
And, flipping the template over, did the same for the other side--


 
 
Now I needed to fix the non-canted last frame. I considered leaving it, and adjusting the spacing of the rest of the frames, but I decided to do the right thing.

I cut the frames loose at the keel, leaving them attached at the top--
 

 
 
I sanded down one of my spacers to match the narrower spacing of the keel end of the canted frames (The upper spacing remains the same as before)--
 

 
 
I scored the piece and broke it in half--


 
 
To apply glue to the keel attachment, I used another scrap of paper and applied glue to both sides. Then I held the frame away just a bit, and slid the paper into the joint to get the glue in there. I put my spacer in and pushed the frame tight--
 

 

 
 
Did the same for the opposite frame--
 

 
 
And rigged some rubber bands to hold the fix while it dries--
 

 
 
The completely right thing would have been to cut the frame pieces off completely and resand the keel ends to a very slight angle, but the difference was so slight on this first frame that I elected not to go that far. The next frames will have that edge sanded to the right angle.
 
 
 
October 3, 2009
 
 
[i posted that I was having a lot of trouble visualizing how the stern and transom are supposed to go together.  I knew from other builds and pictures how it was supposed to end up looking, I just could build it in my mind.  I got this reply from "Jim Lad"]
 
The stern is the most complex piece of framing in the entire hull Ron. If you're having trouble visuallising it, you could always do a rough mock-up in card to help your mind to 'click' onto what's happening there.   John.    
 
 
John, thanks, great idea to do a mock-up.

It's not complete or pretty, but it gives me some of the relationships between pieces that I was looking for, especially
concerning the rabbet/bearding line, which I have to fix pretty soon--
 

 
 
 
October 4, 2009
 
 
Here's my fix for the stern deadwood. [i didn't taper the upper pieces before I glued them to the tapered keel.  In addition to that, because the kit is not designed to be planked, I anticipated a problem with how the planking was going to lay in this area if I followed the framing plans exactly.]  I determined that the simplest, best way of fixing the problem was to move the bearding line up a little. This might be changing the hull lines slightly, but then again maybe not, because the Lumberyard frames in the stern are based on not planking, and not tapering the keel. So I think I'm on reasonably solid ground with my solution. I also know the attachment of the frames is not per actual ship building practice, but simplified for the model.


Anyway, I sanded the deadwood to put the vertical rabbet and the modified bearding line on--
 

 

 

 
I redrew the pencil line with my frame spacing marks.


My technique for sanding the angle at the keel end of the frames was pretty primitive. Just sand it by eye and dry fit. Then sand some more--
 

 
 
Here's a photo of two frames held together. The sideways angle of the sanded end is right, but the problem here is that the one frame is going to be "wider" than the other. I need to modify the vertical angle to get them to match--
 

 
 
Here I am holding the frames on to the hull to dry check the fit--
 

 
 
Here I've glued a frame set on, but before the glue sets I check to make sure the width roughly matches. Half the frame will get sanded away in the fairing process, so I only need to be within about 1/16th inch--
 

 
 
Another set glued up--
 

 
 
This is a frame that doesn't fit right. The horizontal angle is too much, making the outer gap too big; and the vertical angle is off, making the frame extend too "wide''--
 

 
 
This is the same frame with the angles corrected--
 

 
 
This shows the frame from the previous picture, and it's mate not sanded yet--


 
 
And now they match--
 

 
 
In this picture you can see a sliver of light between the spacer and the frame, indicating I tapered the angle on the spacer too much. (Tapering the spacer is only necessary on the shorter gunport frames) I filled the gap with glue--
 

 
 
And now I'm done with the stern frames!
 

 

 

 

 
 
Next job will be the transom pieces.

Whoops, slow down. Next job will be fairing the inside of the stern frames.


Ron

 

October 1, 2009
 
 
I have sanded the bow framing enough for now. Following is the installation of a stern half frame set.

First I needed to make some spacers from the supply of willow. I cut short lengths that would be easy to sand--
 

 
 
Using 80 grit sandpaper, I sanded and frequently checked the width--
 

 

 
 
When I sanded all the pieces to the right thickness, I cut them into smaller pieces that would be used to space the frames correctly--
 

 
 
Then I took the frames themselves--
 

 
 
And sanded the lower face flat--
 

 

 
 
Then I glued the willow spacers to the last frame in the hull--


 

 
 
Applied glue to the frame--
 

 
 
And to the spacer--
 

 
 
And placed the frames on the hull--
 

 

 
 
I checked the allignment, and when all seemed good I used masking tape to fix the frames into place until they set--
 

 

 

 
 
The next frame was an incorrect one. It was not shortened for the gunport--
 

 
 
I laid the frame set on the plans and marked the location of the gunport sill--
 

 
 
Then I sawed the extra part off of the frame--
 

 
 
 
 
 
Ron
 

September 26, 2009
 
 
I've glued the keelson on, and then the stern deadwood--
 

 
 
I had already glued up the four pieces into one unit. So this was a simple job here. The lowest piece--which was glued to the keel long ago--has been shaped for the rabbet/bearding line. The upper deadwood now has to be shaped also. I think I will cut a template out for the bearding line. I also need to make some cardboard templates to help me get the rest of the frames on right--
 

 
 
Here's a photo taken in the window light, this is a truer color rendition--
 

 
 
The first set of bow cant frames are sitting there. I'm still puzzling over how best to go about this phase.
 
 
 
September 27, 2009
 
 
The Lumberyard directions are very simple on the cant frames. (I won't explain it all, you can check out the Oneida directions on their web site.)

I followed the directions but added a couple things to hopefully improve my chances of getting it right. [What I didn't do, and should have, was make a reliable jig--you'll see why a few weeks later in the build!]

First I glued a piece of 1/16th square strip wood into the rabbet to provide something for the frames to "stop" against [removed after the bow framing was done]--
 

 
 
Then I glued the first frames, using the willow "spacers" to make the shape--
 

 
 
I made a template to guide me. This is highly inexact, but I think it will at least let me know if I start going way off. The frames are cut very "full", and there will be a lot of sanding to get to the final shape--
 

 
 
All the bow cant frames are glued! At the lower edge of the next picture you can see the bollard, knighthead and hawse timbers, which will be the next pieces added--
 

 

 

 
 
 
The hawse timber looks a lot like a No.11 X-acto blade!--
 

 

 
 
Here are the last bow timbers in place, ready to be carved and sanded to shape--
 

 
 
The port side is roughly to shape now--
 

 
 
More sanding to follow. I'll get the bow pretty much done, and then turn to the stern half frames.
 
 
 
September 29, 2009
 
 
After the accomplishment of getting the bow timbers installed, I'm back to slow sanding. I did use the "dremel" to take down
some of the excess wood on the inside of the hull. You can see some uneveness in those starboard cant frames. But it'll be easier to even that out than it would have been to take all the excess wood off by hand sanding, it's so hard to get in there with the sanding sled.


Even as I sand, the stern half and cant frames are out, reminding me to start mentally gearing up for that work--
 
 
 
 
The general mode of work on this kit seems to be "get the oversize pieces together roughly, then sand it into shape." It's a very forgiving method, and doesn't require the utmost precision. I think it's actually pretty good for a novice builder, because I don't have the frustration of trying to make everything exact, but I can learn as I see it go together, and get some idea of what I would have to do to make it in a more precise way--next time perhaps! And in the end, it seems to be coming out
okay, so far.

Shaping the hawse timbers was trial and error. Sand the angles, test fit the piece, adjust, test fit, adjust, etc. However, only the angle that they fit together had to be right. The rest got sanded off after gluing in--
 

 
 
On the starboard side (left side of the photo) you can see a small hole on at the bottom of the hawse timber where I didn't quite get it right. But that side will be planked over. The port side which is better will be unplanked. (At least thats the current plan!)--
 

 
 
I could start on the stern frames, but this week at work is turning out to be kind of mentally draining, so I will probably wait till the weekend for the framing work. For now I'll just keep sanding the inside of the bow.

 
 
 
Ron

I wish you all the luck and patience with building you will need ( and you WILL need it, no doubt)
 
Read instructions manuals and plans 5x for each step
Think about them and analyze it 10x
Re-read it and re-think it again 2x
 
And then - cut and glue
 
(I did not, so run in deep trouble)
 
I ll watching your progress with great interest
 
Nenad

Now for the Grand Opening of "The Box"
 
I've been hanging out for this moment for over a month.
 
The box front

 
 
The side of the Box
 

 
Some close up details on the front of the box
 

 
With one quick snip of my scalpel, the sticky tape holding the box closed was opened to reveal a beautifully packaged ship.
 

 
My first impression was wow, it looks very high end, and the sweet smell of timber filled my office

Greeting all
Well all is going pretty well, and I have added all the standing rigging to the mizzen and main mast, and just need to tidy it up. So only the foremast to do and then onto the next plan sheet. There is as I said earlier a multitude of rigging to do on this plan sheet, which also involves the bowsprit rigging. I have been looking forward to doing this. One thing I have not done is make up any yards , so a few of these need to be made up, and this will all add to the fun. So thanks to you all for viewing and all your comments and here's a few pictures of my progress. DAVID

That is an awesome idea, I love it. Will definitely try this technique out
 
Cheers
Rowan

Thanks ZyXuz..    I get lazy and use my phone to take photos when i should get out the 16mp Canon, which i did just now.. Detail cant hide then
 
So I thought i would share this technique i just came up with to make a bucket.. (I really dont like the look of those churned out by the thousand ones..)
 
So i found a nice size tapered lid off a epoxy tube and screwed the base to that and waited till everything was in position with bands to hold it tight, then I "spot weld" with CA and it popped out no worries after a few minures., just dont over do glue at this stage... Then i sanded inside round and mixed Araldite 24Hr super strength to coat the inside.. Tomorrow it will under go trimming and sanding down to a much thinner thickness..
 
Also a close up of water cask.. This time i cut the bands from aluminium cans in about 2mm strips and sprayed matt black before glueing on, then satin clear coated the lot...     Cheers again all commenting and helping .. Ollie

added deck pump

I am building the Royal Louis now and have painted the bottom of the hull white and the wales black. Based upon french late 18th century models. I am still considering whether or not to paint the bulwarks red.
 

 
Royal Louis model from French National Navy museum. 

If you've ever seen a piano that's more than about 25 years old, the black keys were probably ebony.   Also, many guitars have it on the fretboard. (I think that's the term for it)    It's a beautiful wood when finished but a real pain to work with.

I added the remaining planking down to the wales on the port side and was about to do the wales when Sam informed me that he would have previously omitted material on the wales ready soon, so I decided to wait. That brought about the end of my procrastination on the treenails. Probably to the surprise of no one, I decided to go ahead and do them.
 
After marking and drilling what seemed like an endless number of holes, I filled them with Elmers walnut filler.This is probably a little dark, but I liked the look better than using golden oak, which I have used in the past. Considerations of the small scale, and aging eyes and hands, led me to use an arrangement of the treenails which is more stylized than accurate, but which I think (hope?) gives the right impression overall. After filling and sanding, I applied a coat of Wipe On Poly for protection. Now, I can do it all over again on the other side.
 
Bob

With ebonizing, you're looking to create a luster that permeates from within the wood becoming aprt of the wood's characteristic. Paint, no matter the application, still sits on top of the wood.
 
 
Bill

Yards, running rigging, anchors and finished model:    Like the masts, the yards were made from dowels with the octagonal sections built up from strip wood. Unlike the standing rigging, which I do from aft to fore, the yards and running rigging are done from fore to aft. The reasoning, however, is the same -- ease of access. All of the yards are mounted on the brass pins that were previously added to the masts. 
 
Running rigging always involves choices as to what to include or exclude. On this build, I included all of the yard control lines ( Slings, trusses, parrels,lifts, ties, halyards and braces)  and many, but not all of the sail control lines ( clews, sheets, tacks, but not buntlines, leechlines or reef rigging for the square yards; halyards and downhauls for the headsails, but not for the other staysails ).
 
The anchors are from the kit. The stocks were made from boxwood. The buoys were made from tapered dowel.
 
Bob

This installment will finish up work on the hull, including the head, the hammock frames and netting, the lower deadeyes and chains and the boat:   Work on the head involved doing the catheads, the timberheads, the cheeks, the head rails and head timbers, the boomkins and the figurehead. All of this was done pretty much as set out in the practicum, with the exception that the timberheads were filed to shape from boxwood. My only second thought was that I would do the head timbers in one piece, rather than two, if I were to do them again. The figurehead was painted to try to match the boxwood of the planking. I also added eyebolts, as required for the rigging.
 
The instructions were followed for the hammock frames and netting with one exception. I used  #28 black wire, rather than rigging line, as the top line between the frames. I found it easier and more stable to work with. The deadeye chains were bent from wire, using a simple two nail jig and were relatively easy, but tedious. 
 
The boat was done "by the book" and was a fun project.
 
Bob