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Hi John, I haven't checked in in a while, great work on the coamings and the grating! I haven't seen anyone do one of those by hand. I'm sure someone has, but I haven't come across it. Nice work! Ron

Glad you are back at it, Ben! Ron

Alexander, Thank you for your kind words. When I need inspiration, I don't have to look further than your own work! Ron

Thanks for this timely tutorial, Toni. It is exactly where I am at with my Oneida.

Sounds like an epic trip, JJ! Have fun. Ron

Dave, that is a great point. I have thought about it, and my initial thought was to greatly simplify the collar and do the canvas cover. Then I thought that fiddling with trying to make a cover, and realistically fastening it would be difficult. However, I didn't research to find out what it needs to look like and how others may have done it. Now I feel like doing some searching on this! I have no concerns that any work will have been wasted (after all, on one will ever see the stove!) At this point my options remain open. Ron

John and Dan, I enjoyed meeting and talking with you both. Always nice to get to know someone beyond their profile photo and user name! Mast collars: I started by cutting a bunch of pieces with a 45 degree angle and gluing them together. If I really wanted to get it right, I should have cut 22 1/2 degrees off each side of a piece, to have the wood grain radial. I was satisfied with just showing that the collar is made of eight simulated "wedges"-- These were then sanded roughly round-- Next I drilled out the center, glued in a short piece of dowel, and turned the piece round. After it was round, I drilled the dowel out-- Here you can see I've started roughing out the opening of the first one to fit the fore mast, and other has the dowel glued in-- I used my lathe, but lacking that I could have chucked the piece in a standard drill-- One difficulty was shaping the cut out to accommodate the rather sharp rake of the masts, especially the mainmast. In addition, my shaping of the masts was not perfect, with some variation in the eight sides. That and the rake made it so the collar will only fit on one way (hence the label "F"(forward) on each collar. Each one broke apart at least once as I was chiseling it out. That ended up being a good thing, as the joints became a little more pronounced after regluing. One down, one to go-- Here are some photos of the masts with the collars dry fit on deck-- I believe that is now a wrap for the hull and deck. I am not going to redo the gratings--the holes are only a tiny bit too large. They should be no bigger than 2 3/4", and they are 3". So with that, it's time to start making rope for the standing rigging. All for now. Ron

Thanks Joachim, welcome aboard! Ron

Oneida is getting ready for her playdate with the other ships tomorrow in New London, CT-- Ron

Congratulations on a beautiful model, hamilton! Ron

It's definitely a "forest of frames"! She's going to be a beautiful model, John, as your others. Ron

Hi Dan, I'm planning on going this year, but I was on the fence about taking Oneida, since I took her last year, and thought maybe I should wait until she's finished before bringing her out again. But with that encouragement, I think I'll bring her! Ron

Boarding steps-- I would have made the steps the full width of the hammock opening, but the carronade position wouldn't allow it. The hammock position corresponds to Chappelle's sail plan drawing and also the location of the outboard boarding steps shown on the hull plan, but a little foresight may have warranted shifting the steps and opening just a bit. Ron

The capstan bars are roughed in-- I need to soften some of the transitions between the square end and the rounded part, but they are dry fit into the capstan head, and on deck-- They'll also need a coat of Tung oil finish when done. The list is getting smaller of what is still needed before stepping the masts and starting the rigging. At this point I still need some inboard boarding steps, and I think I'll make some mast collars. I am also contemplating redoing the gratings, with a tighter grid. All for now, Ron

Thanks Joe, and all looking in. The hammock cranes and cloth are done. It was more work than I anticipated, but I think it was worth it. I got some practice making jigs and drilling small holes on the mill, and I learned about Silkspan. Here one side is done, and the other has been "strung". I was tempted to leave it this way, but elected to complete both sides-- Done. Work on the capstan bars continues-- Knotted boarding ropes hang over the boarding steps. I don't know why Lieutenant Woolsey is falling all over the deck in the previous photos, but he's found his feet here. I'll secure the ropes with a dot of glue on one of the lower steps, but for now the clips make them hang straight and give the idea-- I am reminded of something I read about Oneida being reported by an early crew member (I think) as being a "warm cozy" ship. They were probably talking about below deck, but the more enclosed and protected feeling with the hammocks in place on the rails does give me that impression-- All for now, Ron