JesseLee

For the netting that goes on the Bowsprit horses and battens I decided to make a jig and pre-rig most of it off ship to make it easier to tie on after. I tied two threads to four wire pegs spaced the same as the Bowsprit horse lines. I laid a piece of netting down over them and carefully glued the it to the threads where the overlaid. I glued the battens down onto all of this (pre-measuring the spacing). When that dried I used a curved sewing needle to help me thread and tie the edges. Removed it all from the jig and trimmed the edges. This made it much easier to tie the netting to the horses.
 
I used G-S Hypo Cement made for gluing watch crystals to glue these tiny spots. It has a very tiny needle applicator end that works very well for tiny rigging knots. (forgot to take a picture - will have to add one in later, my camera died and is recharging). 
 
Jesse 

I have tapered shaped the boom and gaff. The laser cut jaws supplied have split several times in the process of gluing them. I'm going to try to see if CA glue will soak into them and strengthen them after they are lightly stained. Will probably have to tear them off and re-make them with better wood. 
 

More progress on the Standing rigging. Have added the Main royal stay, Fore topgallant stay, Fore royal backstays, Fore royal stay,  Jib stay, Jib stay traveler inhaul, Flying jib stay, Flying jib stay traveler inhaul and the Bowsprit horses. It is difficult to show each of these lines individually. 
 
I found it very difficult to rig the inhauls and tie to the belaying pins on each side of the Bowsprit. There is so little room to reach into in this area - I'm glad I'm past that now. Forgot to photograph this, will have to add a picture in on an upcoming posting.
 
Jesse
 

Thanks for the 'likes' again everyone.
Made a start on the lower masts. They make a great change on the overall look of the ship. Still have to add a few bits and pieces to complete them but I thought it is worth sharing a few photo's.
I thinks I am in luck with how they fit in the holes on the deck. I made the tenons a bit longer and gave them a snug fit. Then I rotated the masts to a position where the tilt angle was just about right. I marked the positions and started building up the mast assemblies.
So when Gluing time comes in the distant future it doesn't look like I will need a big setup for the positioning of the masts (fingers crossed). Here a some photo's.
Cheers, Peter.

I stained the inner parts and the inside of the hull. The hull had too much smeared around PVA glue from installing the ribs so the stain is not even. I bought some wood colored paint and will paint the inside of the longboat when the stain dries.

I've dry fitted all the parts inside the hull except for the rear gunwale seats which will be cut to size when the rest are glued in position. I don't know if I'm making the windlass yet.

Beautiful work Tim, I'm half way through the Scottish Maid and your work is exceptional.....well done. 
My next build will be either the Benjamin W, Latham or Bluenose 11 . I like the shape of the cutters .
Once again well done and good to see other Aussies on this fantastic site . I have no friends who are into modelling so when I found this site I was really excited.

I cut all the seats to size for snug fits and stored them in a cup for later installation. I started building the floor grates for the longboat. BTW the actual seats are narrower then the paper forms I made.

I've made rough sized templates for the seats. When I cut the wood, I can fine tune the shape to conform with the hull by sanding.

I'm prepping so I can install the seats. I've glued on the seat supports and cut stiff paper into strips the width of the seats. I will use these paper strips to size each seat out of wood. I am not going to glue any of this stuff down until I stain or paint the inside of the hull.

I glued on the starboard seat (thwart) support.

I fabricated the floor boards as one piece so I can remove them when I stain or paint the inside of the hull. There's a sliver of a construction piece in the stern holding them all together. I'll remove that when it's finally installed.

Some small progress. I've all but finished the metal components of the cannon carriages. The brass bolts need to be painted, but otherwise, they're pretty much done. I'm not so sure I'll be rigging them just yet though. I need to order some more blocks from Syren because I am literally one block short of having what I need to rig them. I also need to get around to the task of drilling the holes in the hull to receive the eyebolts for the rigging. Not the most exciting part of the build, but it must be done.  Also on the agenda is to order some light grey paint to paint the hawse pipes, which might as well be put in now. That, and I can put in the mast partner too around this point. In any case, there are a number of small projects to attend to, but I'm trying to tackle them mostly one at a time. 
 
The 12 pound cannon

The 9 pound cannon carriages

 
Eyebolts with rings to be attached to the 9 pound cannon carriages

The 9 pound cannon basically finished (minus trucks)

 

On to the next phase....installing the floor boards

By the way, I've soaked and pre-bent all the ribs before gluing them to the hull. And, yes, this is quite a project for a small item

Work continues. I've attached the jibboom and added some paint.

SPECIAL EVENT CELEBRATION.....
This photo has a very special meaning for me personally.  As I have said in an earlier comment, this model of the USS Constitution will be my last major tall ship.
With that in mind, and knowing just how much I struggle with tying ratline clove hitch knots, this posting is to celebrate the last ratline clove hitch of my life.

Midway down the Mizzen topmast shrouds (port side).

Another day, another few more ribs.

Destruction...
 
Need to jump in and get going with the destruction to correct the gun ports so this doesn't derail me.  There will be 3 or 4 ports per side that need to be moved, so doing individually would not make sense.  Fortuitously, I had used a strip of 6mm wide box for the uppermost strake.  With one minor exception, the rough cut ports don't extend below this so replacing this one strake seems to be the way to go.
 
Started off on the port side using isopropyl alcohol and a sharp blade to try to pry the 1mm thick strip from the 1.5mm thick template.  Although I eventually got there, its a real dogs breakfast (mess).  I just couldn't get the isopropyl to penetrate where I needed it sufficiently without compromising the surrounding structures (the template is laminate strip which will de-bond as well if too much isopropyl is used).  As you can see in the pictures, a couple of shards got stripped away in the process where the box strip had been edge glued and but not sufficiently softened.  The isopropyl also got onto the painted surface below and marred the finish, so this will need touching up.  Once replaced, filled and finished, hoping this will not be noticeable.
 

 
Before tackling the starboard side, the approach needed to be amended to allow the isopropyl to penetrate more thoroughly and evenly.  Took a  while, drilled a multitude of holes in the strake to be removed and then applied the isopropyl.  Despite taking a while to drill, this was SO much easier and gave a MUCH cleaner result.  It also allowed the glued edges to soften sufficiently to debond cleanly.  Now the scary part is over, the strake can be replaced and the template ports filled before getting back to where I was with the channels....
 

 
 

Thanks for the previous likes everyone.
I have finished the bowsprit assembly including the rigging so I would like to share that milestone with just a few photo's.
Next I will make a start on the masts.
Cheers, Peter

Bowsprit is finished and the cap has been installed. Test fitted the jibboom and flying jibboom.

Thanks for the encouragement gents, certainly helps one stay motivated.
 
Channels:
 
I realize I'm continuing to bounce around, so apologies if this is not the most sequential log.  Have been continuing to work on the deck fittings, none of which are glued in place yet (posts to come), but diverted to the channels.  I think it will makes sense to have the channels and chains in place before any of the cannons are finally fitted - they just seem to be  too exposed to not court disaster.  This seems a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation so any advise here would be gratefully received.
 
I'd share the approach to the channels in an earlier post, so luckily work was more just final finishing.  I wanted to introduce the rather pleasing profile on the edge as it seems to reduce the perceived bulk of the channel noticeably to my eye.   I have to say, this has been some of the most challenging 'scraper work' I've yet done.  Getting clean (or as clean as I can!) edges on all of the compound curvatures, as well as dealing with scraping across end grains at the fore and aftmost faces proved a real challenge.  To add to this, I realized that the batten that keeps the chains in place also needs to be profiled.  I'm taking the approach of temporarily gluing the batten in place, profiling, and then will de-bond using rubbing alcohol.  The thinking being that once these are shaped, it should be relatively straightforward to glue permanently once the deadeyes and chains are in position.  Each one will be carefully notated so I can match them up again.  I've put on a very thin coat of wipe on poly to enhance the visibility of the profiles surface and see where I am...there will definitely need to be a little fine tuning once all are done, bit hopefully this illustrates.
 

 
I'm following the NMM plans as closely as I can, which show both the initial draft with open quarterdeck, as well as the changes when the quarterdeck bulwark was built up.  Not only does the position of the channels change, but the alignment of the chains.  Not having had the plans earlier, I had used the kit supplied template as a foundation.....  I have now reached the point in the build that every Artois class builder doing an open bulwark version seams to reach, which is the realization that the position of the quarterdeck ports  need to be modified - wish I'd ordered the NMM plans sooner.  The gunport openings changed when the position of the channels was changed with the addition of the built up bulwark.  This will require the position of the gun ports to be corrected.  How I wish that I had simply planked over the kit template rather than planking around the ports, it would have made a fix unnecessary.  I'm moving on while I consider how best to do this.
 

 
 

Evening, 
Time for an update.
Spurred on by a stained deck, I have been somewhat busy.
The work week does get in the way of my ship building tho!
 
For several weeks now, more than I like to admit, I have been wondering how many blocks are under the uppermost Crosstrees.
Looking thru numerous builds, looking at the plans...….frustrated.
Then I found the below on one of the plans.
I had just never seen this before, believe me, I looked!
 
Its the second paragraph that grabbed my attention.
 

 
Sooooooo, I did that
 
Started stropping 1/8 Syren blocks.

 
I used a simple seize to tighten things off.
Then I'll hang from the straight part.
 

 
Only needed 4.
 

 
If it's wrong, It's easily re-done. 
 

 
 
 
 

 
I also started on some deck furniture.
I'll start with the Forecastle hatch.
Work my way aft.
 
It starts with a box.
 

 
With a small square strip around the top. 
This will be covered with planks.
 
I'll start with planks, then I'll start using the grating on the other pieces.
I wanna get a feel for building furniture.
 
I'm still learning!

Tom E 
 
 
 
 
 

I'm starting the longboat's frame or skeleton. I sanded the hull so much I can see daylight through some spots and there are still some charlines?

Work is progressing on the bowsprit. I started with the kit supplied dowel but after sanding and staining it still looked like a dark dowel rod. I noticed that the diameter was smaller than the plan drawing so I bought a new basswood dowel rod and and remade the bowsprit. I'm much happier with the results. The jibboom and flying jibboom went off without a hitch.
I assembled the dolphin striker and lathed the jack staff
My question is: does the bowsprit sit on top of the stem or is it cut into the stem? My angle "looks" too steep to me.
 
Richard