JesseLee

I like the additions!

I like the additions!

Well I'm back on track at least after the destruction, painful, but glad its behind me....
 
The bigger channels are completed now and ready to be glued into position, I'll be leaving the attachment of the smaller channels for the topmast backstays until after the quarterdeck is glued into position.  A final finish has been put on the hull, which means that I can now start to put some of the detailing in place in conjunction with fitting the chains.  There seem to be a number of position where space will be tight, so fingers crossed previous planning works out.
 
For reference, I've marked out the expected position of the quarterdeck ports (and the previous template position with a dotted line) but will not be cutting these out until the quarterdeck is in place.  This shows them in relation to the actual position of the deadeyes, with a bit of imagination (I used string and a mock up of the masts) its clear that the previous port locations would be obscured (the second and third from the stern are the tricky ones).  Even though not obscured, the 4th port from the rear was moved so the port separation is equalized as much as possible.  My advice to anyone modifying the kit (or even building from the box) is to leave the positioning and cutting out of any these quarterdeck ports until after the final position of the deadeyes is known.
 
Unfortunately, the PE hinges supplied in the kit are too small and dimension, and too bulky, for the sizes of the sweep/airing ports estimated from the AOTS plans.  Luckily I had purchased a PE set for (I think!) the HMS Grenado way back and it contains some useable hinges.  These smaller PE sets are pretty reasonably priced, and I've found can be handy to have as they contain a multitude of potentially useful fittings (hooks etc.) which can be used to supplement the older 'bare bones' CC kit PE sets.
 
These were given a few coats of paint to bulk them up a bit as although they are theoretically the same scale, the ports on Grenado are of smaller dimension.  Placement on the airing ports proved a little challenging due to the elevated profile of the black-strake that runs through these. 
 

The longboat is finally finished! I added a water cask and mooring line. nothing is glued down so I can remove any or all the boat components. I'll make the ship's sweeps next.

I made the longboat tie downs from elastic cord I bought at the bead store. This way I can take the longboat on and off at will while it stays snugly tied down when on. 

A little bit more progress.
The two masts are painted and I made some inroads with the mast tops. I let the photo's do the talking.
Cheers, Peter

I finished the long boat oars. Now I'll make the ship's sweeps then tie the whole thing to the deck.

Jesse, your rigging is looking simply fantastic! Nice job! I'm glad you've beat the weather. 

Many thanks Ed,
 
as already mentioned, the shipmodel making will run idle for some time, as I have to find a suitable place to display the Chebec in our home .......
The next project will most probably be  the seagoing "Hainan Djunk" in scale 1:30....., as my mind is going "pregnant" with that one for some time already
 
Nils

Hi Martin,
 
thank you so much for your kind words, they are very much appreciated....
 
I have been doing some necessary repairs and sanding and paint freshups around house and garden lately and there are still some things to be done before the cold and wet period sets in. The glass casing for the chebec has not been started yet, but is one of the to-does on my list.
To overcome the rather boring time without a new shipmodel on the slipway, I have reactivated my ( for PC ) Microsoft Flight Simulator and have discovered some beautiful regions to explore in the world, but not only that, I have as well also tried out a wonderful train simulator to explore the main- and narrow gauge lines of New Zealand recently....
 
Cheers,
Nils

Did something a little different for the cleats. I have had glued on cleats come off in the past so I wanted them more secure. I measured and marked where they are and drilled small starter holes for them with a small twist drill. I then used these small drill/reamer tools I got many years ago. They twist i and open the hole. Then you can use them like a mini file or rasp to remove wood. I slowly did this form one hole to another to open up a slot through the boom and gaff. I pre-shaped the cleats out of scrap I have.  When all is shaped and ready I put glue in the open slot and push the cleat all the way through so it is sticking out of both sides then shape them up down to proper size.
 
Don't know when I will get back to the shipyard. One of my Aunts died and I will be going out of town for a few days, leaving there and going straight to a Dr. appointment.  I will most likely be very sick from the travelling and my body will crash on me for a few days when I get back.
 
Jesse

Fortunately we have not lost power even though a lot of people around me have. Good time to work in the shipyard. Hearing the driving rain and howling winds makes me imagine what it was like to be at sea on way back then in such a violent storm. 
 
Anyway, made the Gaff and the Boom. I have done as much pre-rigging as I can before they are attached. The instructions said you can paint them or not- your choice. I was going to leave them with a light golden oak stain but had to do some patch-up work on the Gaff where it got some wood marred and gouged from an accidental drop on the floor and got stepped on. At this point I saw that the paint would completely hide this so black they now are. This also hid where I had to re-glue both jaws because of the very poor wood supplied in the kit. I wish I had made them from better wood to start with.
 
Completed all the rigging for these two. Found it much more difficult to get into the tight places to tie off to the belaying pins than it used to be for me. My kit was missing the beads for the parrels but I had plenty from earlier builds. 
 
Jesse

Did something a little different for the cleats. I have had glued on cleats come off in the past so I wanted them more secure. I measured and marked where they are and drilled small starter holes for them with a small twist drill. I then used these small drill/reamer tools I got many years ago. They twist i and open the hole. Then you can use them like a mini file or rasp to remove wood. I slowly did this form one hole to another to open up a slot through the boom and gaff. I pre-shaped the cleats out of scrap I have.  When all is shaped and ready I put glue in the open slot and push the cleat all the way through so it is sticking out of both sides then shape them up down to proper size.
 
Don't know when I will get back to the shipyard. One of my Aunts died and I will be going out of town for a few days, leaving there and going straight to a Dr. appointment.  I will most likely be very sick from the travelling and my body will crash on me for a few days when I get back.
 
Jesse

Fortunately we have not lost power even though a lot of people around me have. Good time to work in the shipyard. Hearing the driving rain and howling winds makes me imagine what it was like to be at sea on way back then in such a violent storm. 
 
Anyway, made the Gaff and the Boom. I have done as much pre-rigging as I can before they are attached. The instructions said you can paint them or not- your choice. I was going to leave them with a light golden oak stain but had to do some patch-up work on the Gaff where it got some wood marred and gouged from an accidental drop on the floor and got stepped on. At this point I saw that the paint would completely hide this so black they now are. This also hid where I had to re-glue both jaws because of the very poor wood supplied in the kit. I wish I had made them from better wood to start with.
 
Completed all the rigging for these two. Found it much more difficult to get into the tight places to tie off to the belaying pins than it used to be for me. My kit was missing the beads for the parrels but I had plenty from earlier builds. 
 
Jesse

I SHAPED AND PAINTED THE FIRST OAR. I SHARPENED THE BLADE AND ROUNDED THE HANDLES

Evening, 
Been a while, time for an update.
Admittedly, haven't been working on Niagara as much as I want to.
During the Fall, a lot of family and friends visit for the foliage. 
Good food, family and friends...…...good times, good times!
 
I drilled out the hole for the rudder.
That was nerve wracking! I was going to drill it out with my Dremel......was.
I was looking thru other ship builds and I saw where it was drilled out and the planking around it exploded.
Did not want that!
 
I wrapped some tape around a 1/8th drill bit for finger traction and did it by hand.
I'll clean it up with some sand paper.
The Hawse holes will be done the same way. No power tools here!!!

I built the Forecastle Hatch.
Seemed easy enough.
It was the paint that would prove difficult. 
 
I used a Golden Oak paint I had left over from another build.
Yes, Its as orange in person as it is in the pics!
 

The paint has been stripped off.
 
I've been thinking of staining it a dark stain to contrast the some what light deck stain.
I'm still chewing on that one.
 
I started building the Galley Hatch over the weekend.
Should have pics soon.

Most building of late has been Carronade.
I only do 4 at a time. Feels rushed If I do all at once.
Just feels like more of a controlled process.
I'd feel overwhelmed with all 20 guns at once. 
 
Below are primed and ready for the first coat of red.
 

 
As with any Cannon being built, eyebolts are always in the picture.
We all have our own methods.
Here how I do it. I use a pick like tool Model Expo sells as a "Rigging Tool".
 
I use 28g wire and wrap around the tool head. 
 

While holding the wire with the left hand and the pick in the right.
 

Twist about 2 times, then gently force down the neck of the pick to form a loop.
Need a bigger diameter eyebolt, force it further down the neck of the pic.
I would go about 1/3 of the way down the neck. That seemed like an appropriate size.

I remove it from the pick to fix it up a bit before clipping of the tail of the wire.
 

1 eyebolt.
 
Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

It works for me!
 
Tom E 
 
 

Slow but sure I'm trimming out the longboat. This is the fifth week of working on it!

I've added my version of oarlocks and built the rudder

I had some small boat chocks left over from another kit that I modified to fit this longboat. They work fine.

I've glued the floor boards, grates, seats and gunwale trim. 

I have completed the pumps, which are now installed.
Also mounted her on a proper base and pedestals.
I am going to leave her half rigged (foremast only) for the moment.
So a few repairs of chainplates and deadeyes to do, and pendant flag to be hung, and then I will be finished....definitely in the final furlong.

I scraped down the decks, put a light coat of Minwax light oak finish on it, let it dry briefly, and ran a rag over to remove the excess stain.  After letting it dry, I put 2 coats of polyurethane over it while lightly sanding between coats with 400 wet/dry sandpaper.  As you can see, the treenail and caulk impressions left showing provided a nice bit of detail even though it’s probably a bit over scale.  Here is a photo of the deck with its finish applied.

                                                 
    Almost forgot to duplicate the fore deck.  Using rubber cement, the plastic deck was glued down to a section of wood decking, carefully lining up the deck seams with the plastic pattern.  I shaped the deck section with my belt sander using the same method that I used to make the main deck.  The center notch for the bowsprit was carefully cut out by hand with a thin fine toothed backsaw and finished off with a fine file and sandpaper while still glued to the plastic pattern.  Very carefully, the pattern was peeled away (at this point it was very fragile) and the bottom side of the decks surface was filed to match the bevel of the bowsprit. 

                                                            
    Treenail impressions were made and the deck was finished as shown here to match the main deck.

                                                           
    Now that the hatch and mast partner beams were done and clamped in place, I used plastic cement straight out of the tube, applied it to the keel seem, and set it aside to dry overnight.  Taking the deck pattern in hand, the remaining beams were located, numbered and drawn in place perpendicular to the center line.  Using my rubber cement again, the remaining beam blanks were glued in place on the deck pattern, numbered and set aside to dry.

                                                         
    Once dry, the pattern was flipped over.

                                                         
  Now the projections were marked on the beams which gave me the proper curve going into the hull sides.

                                                       
  By drawing a line inside and parallel to this marked line (to allow for the ledger thickness), the length of the beams at the top edge of the ledger could be followed.  However, with the varying slope of the deck sides to be accounted for, both ends of each beam had to be filed to match. (The cuts were basically a curved compound angle.)  A very tedious business this!  (This was especially true at the three beams at the bow.) Every beam was different and you had to go at it carefully or you could take off too much. 
    After a lot of time trimming to fit, the beam ends were then located with the dividers and marked on the ledgers.  Now some real fun began.  As clamping the beams in place was not feasible, each beam had to be held in place with a locking tweezers while applying some thin CA.  (At times I thought that I could really have used another pair of hands!) While waiting for the glue to take hold was in reality just a few seconds, it seemed to take forever trying to hold the beam steady.
    Most of the ships main deck frames have now been installed, but I am unsure at this point about having the main hatch left open or not.  I am also unsure about leaving the transom as is or removing it and replacing it with wood as you can see here that the plastic seam is a poorly matched fit.

                                                         
   That is why the final three deck beams haven't been installed yet, as I need to leave a little access space to get the lower deck slipped into place and replacing the transom.


 
 
 
 
 

The paint I used for the inner hull of the longboat is:
Model Master
#1735
color: Wood
 
I bought it at Hobby Lobby

I was about to ask the same thing.
 
Jesse

I painted the outside of the hull white and painted the inside wood colored. For the picture I dry fitted some stained pieces and it looks ok to me.