CaptainSteve

Thusly, wi’ the completion o’ the construction stages, Our Hero didst look-eth ahead … “Indeed-eth,” he were heard to bemoan, “e’en matters o' colouration be-eth behind me.” Now, to say that CaptainSteve hath allowed his ownself to get-eth a little carried away throughout the past 38+ pages wouldst, verily, be-eth an understatement !! “Arrrrg-eth …” Our Hero were seen to hang-eth his head. “In sum total, there be some 79 pieces, bits ‘n’ parts that hath been made and await-eth permanent fixation unto me Launch ?!?!?” “Methinks, mayhaps, I didst go-eth overboard, just a tad !!” Verily, o'er the next seven-day, CaptainSteve shall be giving most serious considerations unto matters o' Interior Decoration and Home Design. EDIT: For those amongst the Horde who are pedantic enough to count, the total of seventy-nine includes the grapnel anchor, already affixed into position upon the bow grate.

At precisely 'leven hours and twenty-five minutes past Noon-tide, on the Fifth Day of the month o’ April, in the Year of Our Lord, Two thousand and Fifteen (Anno Domini), CaptainSteve didst, finally, re-insert-eth the final bung into the final bung-hole o’ the final barrel o’ his Launch build. “Verily,” Our Hero were to declare, “the matters o’ miscellany have-eth, at last, been put-eth behind me.” Indeed-eth, his legendary list doth finally appear-eth suchly ... Uncharacteristically, he refused to go into any great detail, saying only, “I doth refuse-eth to bang on further as to the details o’ me barrels. Shouldst thou wish-eth to learn more, then see-eth Tuffart’s brilliant barrel tutorial ‘ere.” Suffice-eth to say, his only comment were, “’Ere be pictures.” In addition, minor surgery didst prove-eth necessary on the rudder, as Our Hero doth explain-eth. “Some clumsy buffoon were to be a-breaking the bulbous bulb a-from the end o’ me tiller-arm,” he didst state, most accusingly. (And, precisely, who might-eth THAT have been, CaptainSteve ??) “Ahem … “, he didst bluster, “That matter-eth not. But ne’er fear, for I didst make-eth one anew.” Finally, Our Hero were to use-eth the dot-matrix printer employed most pragmatically upon his flour sacks ‘tother eve. “I be a-seein’,” CaptainSteve were to mention, “that in Cap’n Rat Fink’s log he be a-adding initials to a replica o’ Bligh’s personal feed-bowl …”

Words fail me, Matt !!! (As anyone who has read my log will know, THAT takes a lot !!) Honestly, she looks beautiful !!

'Tis good to see you back in the ship-yard, Ken.

Arrr !!! Now THAT be a thing o' beauty !!! A fine job, Matt. Break out an extra rum-ration for the Brothers tonight.

'Tis good to see you back on deck, Markku !!

Thanks, Phil. But I fear that bread may be getting a little old and moldy. Indeed, I did actually flick some black paint onto the face of each an' every 'loaf' ... that's supposed to be mildew. (Oh well, CaptainSteve has ne'er claimed his family name to be Rembrandt) Welcome aboard, Nigel !! However, you are correct, as my build is coming to an end. Indeed, the stewardesses will soon be asking people to return their trays to an upright position. (Although, there be nothing stopping you from going back to the beginnin' at any time you so wish)

I'm also in favour of the smaller blocks.

I look forward to learning your results !! With the additions you are making, I reckon this will be a very interesting build to follow.

That it is !!! There be just the barrels to go. A few pages back, these were re-added to the list, since Tuffarts and Matt put mine to shame. I'm a-working on them at this very point in time (Well, that is, I'll be getting back to working on them shortly.) Arr ... If only that were possible, Mobbsie !!! But that low-life scoundrel, Fletcher Christian, refused to give us any fire-power whatsoever when he cast us adrift. Forsooth, them birds have been a right PITA e'er since we first took sight o' land !! Land-sakes alive, I but wish we could skewer a few more o' them for our dinner !! The only thing that seems to curtail the constant swoopin' and a-poopin' is when it be teeming down with rain. I just cannot seem to enjoy my dolphin fillets as much when flavoured with added noddy/boobie poopin's !!

A-fore continuing further wi' the matters o' miscellany, CaptainSteve didst take-eth a journey unto his local bakery, whence he travelled in search of Hot Cross Buns. He were to explain-eth, “Being the Easter season, and seeing as how me Launch be nearly complete, I didst wish to purchase a treat for Bligh et al.” But even a-fore some sharp-witted member o’ the Horde could begin to point-eth out the many, many historical - not to mention, logistical - difficulties in such an under-taking, Our Hero were to go on, “Howe’er, the queues be-eth so long that I didst abandon this folly in the end.” Instead, he didst settle for applying some colourations unto his Sculpey baked goodies which had been made on the yesterday. As he didst mention above, CaptainSteve were to select-eth the four better-looking Flour sacks. However, e’en as he were to be a-doing so, Our Hero didst contemplate trimming the count o’ them to three. Time, and interior design layout, will tell. “These”, he were to hypothesize, “wouldst be holding the Loyalists remaining measly stock o’ bread taken from the Bounty. As such, I doest figure that Bligh would be a-keepin’ a close eye on them, and they be kept up the stern end o’ the boat wi’ himself and his officers.” “The other two bags be left empty,” CaptainSteve were to point out, somewhat needlessly. “I shall fold-eth ‘em over so that none couldst see-eth the appalling look o’ the writings on their fronts.” Our Hero be a-figuring these empty sacks couldst be lazily positioned somewhere in the front sections o’ his Launch as an additional detail. And, as he were to turn-eth his attentions unto an afternoon spent a-lathe-ing, he didst quickly remember the List: “Arr …. “

Yep. I first tried using tea to stain the furled-up sails for the ship-boats on my USS Constitution build. In this case, the results were fine, but bear in mind that very little of the sail is visible. When it came time to consider the sails on my Launch, I found the results to be too even ... which would be perfectly fine, if that is the look you are aiming to achieve. No doubt you'd be aware I was going for a more weather-beaten look. One word of caution, don't leave the sail-piece soaking for too long. I found a long-forgotten sample which had been soaking (by then) for approximately three weeks ... there was almost nothing left of the cloth. Anywhere between six to 96 hours should be fine. Finally, I highly recommend running a few tests yourself to see what you think of the results. A test piece need be no bigger than 1" square.

Outstanding work !!

My apologies, George ...

Also, I have seen it written - just cannot remember where - that it is perhaps better to leave off a detail if the scale is wrong. Personally, I think the addition of your elevation screws is a brilliant touch .... don't over-shadow them.

Not to worry, Paul. Many times I, also, have been known to take my knife to parts of my build which displeased me. You mentioned super-glue ... I find that the tiniest drop of PVA glue, applied with a tooth-pick, will hold lines just as well.

Matters o' miscellany are to be dealt with o’er this holiday weekend, and being the wind-bag that he is, ‘tis to be suspected that CaptainSteve will make-eth many an entry in the coming few days. “But a-fore we go-eth on,” he were to go-eth on, “there be the matter o’ the list.” Begin-ething his weekend in earnest, Our Hero didst make-eth his final touch-ups to the bird-droppings along the spars. “A touch ‘ere, a bowel movement there … “, he were to explain-eth. “And it be done !!” Thusly, wi’ his rigging now complete, ‘twouldst appear-eth that he hath been photo-shopping again. Moving along-eth, and CaptainSteve did happenstance to notice two things … Firstly, there be the matter o’ baked goodies to be baked … ... but there be more on those another time. "Likely, in the next postin'", he were to posit, "when the paintin' o' them be done-eth with." And, secondly, there be the matter o’ something to place aforementioned baked goodies into. Verily, CaptainSteve be most excited by Ken’s suggestion above to re-purpose-eth tooth-paste tubes to become-eth sacks. ("Try sayin’ THAT”, he were to interlocute, “three times most hastily !!”) “But, then”, Our Hero continued on, “I were to be noticing that I doest still have a goodly amount o’ the sail-cloth left-over.” And so, after a liberal application of the Fray-Check to make the whole operation easier (“And possible !!”), CaptainSteve didst cuteth strips of cloth. Thence, utilizing the same method employed whence making his sail-bands, he didst take-eth a strip some 2½ inches in length, fold it o’er ‘pon its’ own-self, and didst proceed-eth to sew up the sides. Verily, each sack be 1" in height and it be 13/16" in girth ... “Here be me production line upon having made-eth four o’ these”, Our Hero were to explain. “There be a fifth underway in the background. There also be me first, crude attempts at writin’ ‘FLOUR’ on a spare piece o’ scrap cloth wi’ a Sharpie pen.” “I were to end-eth up”, CaptainSteve didst tabulate, “wi’ eight seven six sacks eventually. As I shall only be a-needin’ four or so, I shall pick-eth thee best o’ the bunch. ” Next up, matters of colouration were to be considered ... when aren’t they ?? Some light dry-brushing with yellow and even lighter flicks o’ brown paint were added thusly … Finally, stealing an idea from Cutty Sark scratch-builder, NenadM, Our Hero were to take-eth up a sharpened tooth-pick and didst, most pain-stakingly, dot-paint the wordin' on his sacks. “It be the earliest form”, CaptainSteve didst conclude-eth, “o’ the dot-matrix printer !!” "I jus' be a-hopin' that at least four o' these will pass-eth through Quality Control !!", was his closing comment.

Tony, Jay is known to MSWers as Modeler12 ....

CH, I lifted the following from my own log ... ... and was wondering if either of you had a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree ... ?? Sorry. I'll show myself out !!!

Lookin' good, Phil. That staircase will make a nice feature !!

Nice touch, Paul !!!

Oh !! My [iNSERT DEITY OF CHOICE HERE] !!!!! That is stunning !!!

Just wait until your swan gains her wings (sails) !!

Jay, You and your builds are the ship-modeller's version of "the gift that just keeps on giving ..."

Thanks fer the vote of confidence, Ken !! As you'd know, most of the populating items have been done and just await positioning in me boat. Incidentally, not all will be included. I don't want to hide too much of the actual boat ... just include enough to show the historical references. Still to come, I need to drag out my new Proxxon lathe to make some barrels, which will be shameless copies of the ones done by Tuffarts in his USS Constitution cross-section. In addition, despite constant searching, I am yet to find anything that remotely resembles the flour sacks to be filled (and par-filled) with loaves of bread.