CaptainSteve

Internal planking was the hardest step so far.  After a couple of days banging my head against the wall of trying to get the planking of the bow correct I gave up.  I thought I was pretty good at bending (both edge and otherwise) but I could never get this wood to get around that curve.  The wood just kept splitting and folding and it looked horrible.  I choose to do the same thing that Mike Y did and just placed a "wall" up front which helped and was so much easier.  An initial few coats of paint and it is starting to look a bit better.
 
Looking forward to the next few steps
 

Isn't this another kit that was designed by Chuck Passaro? You're right that you solved the problem well and are moving on, but out of curiosity's sake and future needs, you might could drop him a PM and see if he has any input on bending the wood that MSW is including in the kits these days. You're right, woods have different fundamental bending processes and you could do everything right and still have problems with certain woods.
 
The beauty of the steam cleaners is that you just tell the admiral you're buying an excellent tool for cleaning bathrooms and kitchens to total sterility, and she approves and awards you a medal of bravery  

New tools are always welcome!  I feel I am incredibly lucky to have found the magic words that allow me to buy anything I want.....  “Shoes and purses “    With those three magic words I can pretty much buy anything I want without any hassle questioning or guilt trip.

Thanks to all who follow the progress of my build.
Since yesterday was Holy Friday and I was on leave, I was able to advance on the laying of the boxwood panels.
For the 20 small side panels, no particular problem, they position themselves on top of the thwarts.

At the stern, I photocopied the plan and cut out the useful parts to precisely determine the position of the panels.


A piece of wood of the right height quickly shaped will help to install the panels.



Time to add the paper friezes.
 

Hi Rob,
I wish you a happy Easter and all the others.
Hopefully we all have some relaxing days with nice weather.
 
Here is a quick update to the construction report:
The strop for the preventer bobstay is covered with real leather.
The leather has a thickness of 0,2 mm, self-split.

Amazing...just amazing.
 
Rob

The F-8's other claim to fame, that Slog has already shown, is that it's the only production aircraft that had a variable incidence wing. It was an odd feature in that it was fairly Russian in its sledgehammer approach to solving the competing needs of supersonic wings vs. wings that would allow a reasonably slow approach to the carrier- the hell with that complex swing-wing idea, we'll just tilt the whole damned wing! Problem solved! Pass the vodka comrade!
 
Also, anyone with a vague interest should watch the below, it's one of the best Dogfights episodes and its title is The Last Gunfighter 
 
 
 

Amazing work  - so different with those super details sets.
 
OC.

Exquisite work, Slog ... as always !!
(Also, I note that you are buying the new maxi-sized Tic-Tacs, these days)
 

Mark, that will have to be close enough for me. At 12 mm its just a hair over 2', but they dont fall through my holes and filled with rope nobody but us here will know.
 
I managed to retie the hook to my Gaff Peak Halyard. Its was moderately easier than I expected, it only took 2 tries. I was able to move things around and get my fly tying vice close enough to hold the block. The scary part was the stern was hanging off the end of the work bench. I had constant visions of knocker her off to the floor. 😧  I ended up tying the hook to the strop with a constrictor knot and then looping the strop around and tying that off with another constrictor. Then soaking the whole mess with 50/50 white glue and water. After that I walked away it can dry overnight. I will wrap some hitches of fly thread around the join then see how well it holds under tension.
Back to where I was last Saturday..😂
 
Carl, Our "honeymoon" last October was blown off course by hurricane Wilma. 2 hours after we left port the captain came on the PA and announced a change and why. We could still see the hills of above the Port of LA we were so close to home. So, instead of the Mexican Riviera we cruised our home state of California; San Francisco, San Diego and Ensenada just over the border from San Diego....Two cities we go to at least once each year......... I told Better Half right then "this isnt our honeymoon". We still had a great time, good food, good wiskey, all was well. Just a lot of money to see two cities I have been to and a third I can drive to if I had the urge.
 
Sam

Thank you Mark. Yes indeed I was checking things directly on the ship and there's no way a sail could have been fixed there. I appreciate your confirmation, and thanks for the appreciative words!!!  
 
Best to you!

You are correct - the lower mizzen yard is only used to hold the lower corners of the mizzen topsail.  Very nice job you are doing,by the way!
 
Mark

Small update, but more of a question.
 
Ok so Bowsprit, fore and main masts have been dressed with their respective sails... (so much for the update  )
 

Now the question:
 
I am ready to start work on the mizzen mast:
It is my understanding that ships with that large and inclined sail in the mizzen mast, did not carry a sail in the lower yardarm, because it would interfere with the operation of that slanted sail. Am I correct?
Would appreciate an educated answer. Thanks in advance!!!
 
 
 

Thanks for the likes, comments, and support.
 
It's slowly coming together.   Still have to repair some damage and work to convert this design to make it look "French".
 

Usually (very vague actually) they were about 18 inches long.  But that depends on the ship and lines being tied off.   As I said... very vague answer.

Yeah, pretty much, Craig.
 
And, the Super Crusader was very exotic looking.

Nice job Slog!
 
F-8, was called "the last of the gunfighters" as it still carried guns during the time where they were being eliminated in favor of missiles, which turned out to be a bad mistake at the time. Today of course guns are pretty much superfluous, the chances of planes evading both modern radar and dogfight missiles is really pretty slim.
 
As for the F-8, everything I've read says that pilots loved flying it, the maneuverability and power were very good for the time. And even though the F-4 proved popular, they should have gone with the Super Crusader, it would have flown rings around the Rhino.

Exquisite work, Slog ... as always !!
(Also, I note that you are buying the new maxi-sized Tic-Tacs, these days)
 

Exquisite work, Slog ... as always !!
(Also, I note that you are buying the new maxi-sized Tic-Tacs, these days)
 

Exquisite work, Slog ... as always !!
(Also, I note that you are buying the new maxi-sized Tic-Tacs, these days)
 

Nice save on the punch. Those bulwarks look great and very authentic.

When I started these bulwarks, in order to install the cap rail, then I could work on the quarter galleys and the planking at the wales and gun ports. It’s going to be a bit longer before I get there. Because my bulwarks are constructed off the model, I have the opportunity to install all the bulwark accoutrements such as pin rails, cleats, eyebolts, etc. now while it’s easier. It appears I’ll be building my model from the inside out instead of outside in like everyone else. We’ll see how well that goes. Here is the pair of bulwarks with all the simulated bolt heads.
 
Note: RP Toolz emailed me stating that they would send me two, not one punch. Also, they gave me a link to their Hungarian site where spare parts were available for sale. Still waiting for the package.

Things were going just ducky, until, when pulling the punch out from the punch plate, the punch handle separated from metal punch. I use some CA glue to fix that. The metal punch, by the way, turned out to be a drill bit turned around. The cutting part of the drill fits into then punch handle. The other end of the drill bit is ground into the shape of the rivet.
 
This worked, and I was moving along again until catastrophe struck. The punch snapped in two. This time I could not fix it as one half of the drill bit was still glued into the handle with no way to get it out. It broke flush to the face of the handle. I called UMM-USA, the company from which I purchased the tool from, but they didn’t have any spare punches. I emailed RP Toolz, the Hungarian company that made the tool with my story of my experience with the punch, asking how to purchase a replacement.
 
They responded right away asking for my address to send the replacement part, free of charge I assume as they didn’t ask for any money. Along with my address, my response stated that I expected to break more punches due the delicate nature of the punch, as these drill bits are quite brittle, plus that I was planning on making approximately 2,000 rivets. I again asked, how do I order more due anticipated breakage. Will see how this turns out.
 
“In the meantime, in between time, ain’t we got fun,” as the old song goes, I made a new punch. Now that I knew the punch proper was a drill bit, all I needed was the right size drill bit and a handle which I made from a dowel. The drill bit was found just by trying different size bit to see if they fit through the punch plate. After I inserted the drill bit into the dowel, I used a fine file, to round off the edge of the back end of the drill bit as best I could. It worked! Granted, my punch makes a flatter rivet but that’s fine as I trying to simulate the washer and bolt head on the real ship. Flatter is better.

Next, was the addition of the simulated bolts. I got into a rhythm of punching out about 30 bolt heads (a.k.a. rivets) at a time, and then applying them into position with Wipe-on Poly and repeat.

Then, the excess wood was cut away by turning the rudimentary bulwark over and cutting through from the backside of the backing’s cathead opening. Excess wood was filed off the ends of the bulwark and fitted into position to ensure proper fit. The kit supplied cathead was used to fine tune the final shape of the cathead openings. Whether or not I will use the kit supplied catheads, or make my own, remains to be seen at a future date. The rest of the bulwark constructs won’t need extensive bending (I think, I hope).