vaddoc

Indeed, it is a constant battle to prevent the admiral filling up the garage with stuff. One needs to be determined, cunning, adaptable and plenty of other words but it can be done. No insulation for me Bob, the admiral knows it and that prevents her sending stuff my way...

I would suggest a second work bench. The one you have is for your boat, you may need space for soldering, for a scroll saw, a drill press, a disc sander, space for drawing...heavy solid benches work better for me. I use a couple of bar stools. You will also need a lot more light. It needs to be coming from all directions to eliminate shadows. Because of the detailed work we do, we need unusually strong light. Think of the number of lumens you feel is enough, then double it and then double it again and this will be your starting point. Your wooden walls will not reflect a lot of light.

What about the Proxon? It is even more expensive but I think it uses blades instead of sand paper

Lovely model indeed, you ve done a great job. Make sure before you put anything on that you wont get a patchy appearance if the coating does not get uniformly everywhere, your deck is pretty busy. Maybe just leave the wood as is?

Welcome Steven! Do start a log and indeed, show us some of your previous work. Vaddoc

Not big at all, anything smaller than 1:10 is just fine!😁

You need to use special masking tapes, the paint will bleed under any other. I use Tamiya which comes in different widths and can be stretched to accommodate the curvature of the hull or frog tape. The tape needs also to be low tack so that it does not lift the paint underneath. Do not use electricians or ordinary masking tape. Frog tape is fine Make sure the tape is well tucked in at the bow and stern. If it seems that there might be a gap or it has not stuck well, start over. The paint will find its way through otherwise. Make sure the hull is smooth, any imperfection will show. Resist putting thick coats of paint. I generally mark and paint first the waterline, then mask and paint each half in turns. I would not paint the whole hull black, not needed.

Just finished going through your log Bob, this is a very nice boat and those guys in the video were handling her very handsomely in that tight space! It has a pretty complex and fun rigging with a flying topsail and Highfield levers etc. Your photos gave me a few ideas for the rigging of the Deben which is similar. You re off to a good start, looking forward for the rest of the journey

Looking at this from another point of view, I build boats for the journey it self, the fun and the challenge involved. Of course I have learned a lot and learn more as I progress. The final outcome, the boat it self, although I try to make it as good as i can, is not as important. This is why I scratch build. So best to choose a boat that will be fun to build and tick the right boxes rather than the one that fits the mantel piece. Even building a kit, there will be an awful lot to learn and to overcome. As to which kit you should go for, lots of good advice available by others

Much appreciated Kurt.

Kurt, you ve mentioned stay-brite before. I looked into it at the time but did not really understand how it works. Could you explain a bit more? More specifically: I presume it just needs a soldering station and not a torch? Does it need flux? Does it have gap filling capabilities or does it need to be tight fit like silver solder? Finally, what are the advantages over silver solder paste/torch? Many thanks

Well Mark, I am following what the books say. I did quite a lot of search on the topsail previously, usually topsails are attached to the top mast with hoops or to a pole. The problem is that someone needs to go up the mast to set it up or send the pole up which is fiddly. The Deben has a flying top sail which is easier to set up but needs lots of tension as there are no real attachment points to the mast. Instead it uses a leader, which is simply a line from the top mast to the deck and the top sail clips on it on 2-3 points. This leader needs to be seriously tight hence the need for blocks. The books mention an elegant solution which is to tie the bottom end of the leader to the topsail downhaul so that one pulls the other and all get very tight. This is what I followed. As for the jibs, the top jib will just need straight lines, the flying jib one block (for each sheet) but the staysail will need some serious power so couple of blocks each side. I am struggling a bit to find space aft though, the main sail sheet and the backstays also need to be added as well as the rails. The Deben is a small boat, just five tons but this is actually the rigging plan!

I did tried Shellac Bob, never really liked it! Also I dislike the smell of methylated spirits. You can get "boiled" Tung oil which polymerises much faster but I have had no problems with the normal one. Smells fantastic too! I think the main advice should be to test on scrap wood, not on the model! A few months ago I was too impatient to test thinning my polyurethane varnish and applied directly to my rudder, painted 3 colours each with a dozen coats. When the varnish congealed I had to sand it and start again!

There are many options to seal and finish wood and everyone does things differently, what works for one does not work for another. But technology has moved on and a lot of modern products are excellent. I almost exclusively use water based sealers and paints, they dry and are ready to sand in 20 min and are not toxic. Very easy to use and a very long shelf life. A quick touch with the sanding paper makes the surface smooth, even reflecting light if needed. I ve been so happy with the results that really did not look further. For darker woods I like Tung oil very much. Try a few things and see what you like.

My 2 c Justin Making blocks is very time consuming. It can be done with a good result but needs to be approached as a separate stand alone project. A lot of time needs to be invested initially to standardise a method of making the blocks using whatever tools one has. Then the stropping will take a while, they are fiddly little buggers. Getting Chuck's blocks is a good option but you ll certainly be able to make acceptable blocks yourself. It will take lots of headscratching and time though. I think I made about 70 for my current boat and that was a gigantic work but I am in no hurry-I kind of overengineered it though. This can be a tedious task and if you d rather build your boat, get Chuck's blocks.

This is certainly an unusual shape. Looking forward to this journey, I ll take that sit in the back.

There is a heat wave here in England and the garage is getting a bit too hot so work is suspended till it cools. However, I have finished the mast part of the running rigging. 7. Topsail leader. This is essentially a line running down from the top of the mast to a block at the tabernacle. Its purpose is to provide a somewhat fixed point for the luff of the topsail to be attached. This is shackled to the top sail downhaul so that both can be tighten with the same line. 8. Topsail downhaul. As above 9. Topsail outhaul. This is attached to the clew of the topsail, through a sheave at the end of the gaff and then led down to the cabin roof 10. Topsail halliard. No purchases needed. This concludes this part of the rigging and all the lines should be visible on the photos that follow. I used two bought shackles as they have the advantage that they can be removed. This is important as the rigging for the topsail needs to be taken down when the sales are furled an in this case the topsail halliard will be shackled to the leader. You may notice an unused block at the starboard side attached to the tabernacle, it just needs to be removed. The black thread on the gaff and boom are just to keep things together Next probably to do some work on the boom, I ll need to make a mock main sail. The worrying part will be the sheets for the foresails Vaddoc

Thanks, it was indeed a very fun boat to build. I still have not got round to taking some photos for the gallery!

Hi Richard, very nice work, the boat is coming out fine. How did you apply the ink to the wood? It seems to have taken up the colour evenly, I like how it looks.

Thanks Vlad! The Deben is a very fun boat to build and like your clipper, I think deserves a large scale! Now, I d like to share with you a few more models that I ve been building. You see, I have a 3 and a 5 year old and this lockdown is an opportunity for some creative time together by doing school projects. They actually take a lot of time but the girls love it! Back to the boat, I must admit I am having a great time. Progress is now very fast, I mostly draw info from the books by John Leather and Tom Cunliffe. They do have limitations though but more on these later on. Also, the size of the boat creates a problem taking good photos. Another problem is that I am running out of single blocks, I think that I will have just enough. I really do not want to make any more! So far , these are the components of the running rigging that have been installed 1. Jib topsail, which is combined with the stay and self tensioning 2. Jib, which is set flying with some powerful blocks 3. Staysail, again with powerful blocks. Next, it was time to add the gaff. It has a sheave for the gaff top sail. 4. Throat halliard. It is currently made fast to the port pin rail but Cunliffe is adamant it needs to be on the starboard side so I ll change it later Yes, the hoops need to be bellow the gaff-fixed later on 5. Peak halliard. The wire will look fine once the sail goes on and there is a bit of weight and pull on the gaff 6. Topping lift. This again has some powerful blocks. The line will be tied to one of the mast pins-this pin will be shared with the topsail downhaul as the two lines will never be used simultaneously. The topping lift is the upper most block The next 3 sketches explain how the rigging works. S1 means single block one ended, S2 two ended etc I then actually moved the topping lift to the other side of the mast to make room for the lines rigging the topsail The next two photos show how things are currently. I started rigging the topsail but run out of time. Certainly the mast is starting to look busy! I now am confident that there will be enough room on the boat for all the above components. However, I am concerned that there will not be enough room for the sheets of the foresails. The two books I mentioned earlier, "Gaff Rig" and "Hand, reef and steer" do not elaborate enough on how the sheets are arranged. I searched the net and also watched several You tube videos and this is what I came up with: The jib top mast is a weak sail, does not need a block and the sheet goes straight to the stern The jib will have on each side a single block, one end of the line tied to the deck, the other through the block, through a lizzard and straight to a cleat at the stern The staysail needs powerful blocks The problem is that 3 cleats will be needed at the stern on each side, and with the Highfield levels and the main sail sheet blocks, I do not think there is enough space. Maybe I should not have made the cockpit so generous. Anyway, we ll need to make do. I also would like to add a boom vang but I ll leave this for later.

Is your rope 3 strand Vlad? I mean, is your rope made of 3 individually made smaller ropes? If so, splicing is very satisfying and ultimately quick and time effective. If your rope is made from threads, splicing does not work well. I used splicing extensively in the past and that was my experience.

Danbloch, it is difficult to recommend a very specific finish as things work differently for different situations and people. For example, I never liked shellac and I use a lot a water based sanding sealer, Tung oil and water based varnishes-enamel varnishes if I need extra tough protection. A lot of people use wipe on poly-never used it myself. Matt varnishes can be temperamental if the mat medium within is not stirred carefully. I think you need to try a few finishes on scrap pieces of wood and see what you like and what works for you. Cheap plywood is great to try finishes. Also, there are a lot of threads with relevant discussions with a wealth of information-have a look. Do not try your chosen finish on the model itself, a failure on a large surface will need a lot of work to fix.

Just came across you wonderful log, this will be a great model! Clearly you are having to much fun! I think the scale is spot on, you are capturing the feeling of massiveness that you get with these large ships. Looking forward for the rest of this journey.

It seems that back then, if you had just a plain grey plane, nobody would actually want to fight you! I do have some thoughts but currently there is a lack of both time and funds!

Indeed, your boat looks very nice! Yep, your description of model boat building seems accurate enough. Welcome to MSW!