rlb

Hi, and thanks at all ❤️
 
 

Hi ☺️
 
 

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

Today is the day my friends, I am going to mark this ship Finished. Lol. What a journey  .


Bow lines are on. @Gabek sent me a message on how these are done. One look at his plans , Neanderthals don't rig. So I came up with this , it will do. Lol. 
 Then I moved on to  seizing the bolt rope on the sails. After that I needed 10 rope coils, whipped them up pretty fast, on my  Isaiah  coil jig.



So I am closing the book calling her done.
 I am going to put all the figures on  and put it in the display case  in the near future.  I will post some final pictures and thoughts of  the build then. 
  Here she is , and I love it. Grinning 😀 😅 .




I have so many to thank, I am pleased  😄.  I wonder if I can enter this for the October  page on the NGR calendar  next year lol. It will be MSW first  Finished log for the Amati Mayflower model.  I am going to have to  to let them know I am finished so they can mark it in the Data base, it will be neat to see the  Finished  marked  beside Knocklouder's  log lol . One more done 3 left to go, I have to pick one,

  but dreaming of   the Duchess of Kensington  by Vanguard Models.lol
 Ok, like I say up to the case she gos 
Thanks for putting up with my typos and humor  lol.
Bob M.

Sounds like an epic trip, JJ!   Have fun.
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

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

Post One hundred and Seventy-one
Album photo's
I have at last got around to taking the completion photo’s which will form part of the Photo build record book that I’m currently putting together.

4395
4361A

4392

4364

4365

4391

4390

4396

4369

4405

4395

2161A

2145a

4397

2162a

2164a

4380

4379

4388

4494a
I am currently faffing around with a clinker built 18’ cutter, and ‘Indy’ is yet to be enclosed in her case, so the story has not quite ended.
 
Then there’s the 26’ Launch, still on my mind.
 
Cheers,
 
B.E.
 

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

A  (very) long introduction to my latest project – the repair and completion of a model of the barque ‘Herzogin Cecilie’ for the Australian National Maritime Museum. I will be working on the ‘Duchess’, as she was known, in my time at the museum, while the ‘Meteor’ model will come home, to be worked on when I can.
The Story Of The Ship

The four masted barque ‘Herzogin Cecilie’ was built in 1902 at Bremerhaven by Rickmers Schiffbau AG as a cadet ship for the prestigious German shipping company  Norddeutscher Lloyd. She was built to the very highest standards as she was designed to not only be a cadet ship for Germany’s most prestigious shipping company, but also a floating ambassadress and showpiece for the German Second Empire. She was met with great excitement and media acclaim wherever she went.
Her name, Herzogin Cecilie, is from the German – Duchess Cecilie – as she was named for Herzogin (Duchess) Cecilie Auguste Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, who was later to become the fiancée and wife of Crown-Prince Wilhelm of Germany.
The ‘Duchess’ as she was affectionately known, engaged in the wheat and later nitrate trades to the Americas prior to World War I sometimes with salt, timber, or coke as the outward cargo. She found herself isolated in the port of Coquimbo, Chile, when war broke out. This put her in a difficult position as she would certainly have been taken as a prize of war if she had attempted to return to Europe from her neutral port.
She remained at Coquimbo until June 1920 when she loaded nitrate at Celata Colosa and sailed for home. As soon as the cargo was discharged at Ostend she was handed over to the French Government as part of war reparations. The French didn’t want the ship and decided to sell her. She was finally purchased by the well-known Åland Islands owner Gustaf Erikson on the advice of his most experienced captain – Reuben de Cloux.
Thus began the final, and probably most well recorded, era of the ship’s career. Erickson sent her to Australia looking for wheat cargos – cargos that could be loaded slowly and cheaply in the small Gulf ports of South Australia – cargos that could survive the long, slow voyage back to Europe without damage and without losing value. His Master of choice for the ‘Duchess’ was the same Captain de Cloux who had inspected the ship at Ostend, a man who sailed the ship hard (and somewhat expensively as he was prone to carrying canvas too long and losing sails in strong winds). She made twelve voyages to Australia in all, mostly to the South Australian Gulf ports, but also to Melbourne – usually with outward bound cargos of timber. In between her Australian voyages she also made several nitrate voyages to South America.
Reuben de Cloux stayed in command of the ‘Duchess’ until the middle of 1929, when he went into retirement as a Ship Master and handed over command to his First Mate, Sven Eriksson, a distant relation of the owner, Gustaf Erikson. Gustaf was evidently not too happy about offering command of the world’s most famous and best loved sailing ship to the inexperienced Sven, however the very tight-knit network of Åland Islands family connections is thought to have forced his hand.
During the period when Sven was in command the ‘Duchess’ continued to regularly win the so called ‘grain races’, with the fastest voyages home from Australia, but this may say more about the speed of the other ships involved than the ‘Duchess’ as there are several extant letters from Gustaf Erikson to his Captain reminding him to always take in sail early and not on any account to risk losing sails in strong winds!
As the 1930’s advanced, luck began to run out for the ‘Duchess’. In June 1935 her donkey boiler exploded while she was discharging grain in Belfast, killing two of her crew and injuring several other people including the Second Mate. Considerable damage was also caused to the ship’s structure and rigging. Only essential repairs were carried out at Belfast, the remainder being completed in Erikson’s own shipyard in Uusakaupunki, Finland, and the ‘Duchess’ sailed on her final voyage around the world on 29th September, 1935.
The bad luck continued as she sailed up the Kattegat on her way to the North Sea. She sailed straight into the stern of the German trawler ‘Rastede’, causing heavy damage to the trawler, which had to be towed into port. The ‘Duchess’ was held entirely responsible for this collision, and it later cost her owner dearly. After the collision, Sven simply continued his voyage to Australia.
She sailed from Port Lincoln, in South Australia on 28th January, 1936, arriving at Falmouth, for orders, on 23rd April and on the 24th she sailed for her discharge port of Ipswich on what was to be her final, very brief, voyage. At 0350 on the 25th April, in heavy fog, she struck the Ham Stone in Soar Mill Cove and, leaking badly forward, settled to the bottom with her poop still above water. Several attempts were made to get her off, but it was not until 19th June that she was finally refloated and towed to Starehole Bay near Salcombe, where she was once more allowed to settle on the bottom. On 19th July Sven Eriksson wrote to Gustaf Erikson that several seams had burst and a bulge in the plating was noted on both sides near the mainmast.

Her back was broken. The ‘Herzogin Cecilie’, the beautiful ship, was now a total loss! Her rusted remains can still be seen in the sand at Starhole Bay to this day.
 
The Story Of The Model
The model of the ‘Duchess’ has a long and complex history.
Back in 2007, one of the museum’s model makers, Col Gibson, was asked by two friends if he would be interested in seeing a model of the ‘Duchess’ that was owned by their neighbour. Of course, Col said, “Yes”, and in February 2008, while he was having lunch with his friends, they introduced him to their neighbour, Vera Grainger, and her model of the ‘Duchess’.
Vera’s husband Malcolm, the builder of the model, had passed away and Vera expressed an interest in donating the model to our museum however the model couldn’t be accepted into the National Collection unless complete, and thus the “Duchess” model’s long association with the Australian National Maritime Museum and the museum model makers began.
 Work on the model had commenced in South Africa prior to the Grainger family migrating to Australia in 1978 and had continued here up to the time of Malcolm’s retirement, however after he retired the model languished with the hull and most of the deck fittings completed, and some of the spars completed but quietly resting in a box. Vera expressed an interest in the model going to the National Maritime Museum, and wrote a letter and report to the museum concerning her gift.

The model as received by the museum
 
Nothing further happened for about two years, when Col had an unexpected visit to the model makers’ bench by then Senior Curator Dr. Stephen Gapps, who was enquiring about the fate of the model described in Vera’s letter and report. This visit finally resulted in the model being collected from Vera’s home and taken to the home workshop of another of the museum’s model makers, George Bambagiotti, as he had agreed to complete the model.

George Bambagiotti holding the stripped down model
 
Malcolm Grainger had commenced the model using plans for the ship as she was originally built, but many major and minor alterations had been made to her structure over the years, even when still under the ownership of Norddeutscher Lloyd. It was finally decided that the model should be altered and completed to show her as she was when she was engaged in the grain trade to Australia, as that was the most relevant period of her life for Australian maritime history, and the way most of the world remembered her.
George started cleaning and disassembling the model while Col started on the required research. Researching such a well-known ship sounds easy – there are literally hundreds of photos of her and many books; but the books usually don’t mention alterations to the ship, and almost all the photos are undated, so trying to find out exactly what the ship looked like in early 1936 was no joke.
Progress was much slower than anticipated due to many factors, sadly including George’s increasing bouts of ill health, but he was not easily put off. I remember sitting on his bed at a Rehabilitation Hospital together with Col as we tried to work out exactly how various parts of the ship actually looked at the time of her final departure from Port Lincoln.
As time started to drag on, Janos Nemeth and I were asked to contribute to the build. Janos, because of his well-known expertise with small carvings, was asked to make a new figurehead for the model, and I was asked to build a new suite of boats. I was also asked to consider rigging the model, with Janos asked to assist with this if needed.
The two final blows were the closure of the museum due to Covid in March of 2020 and, far worse for his colleagues and friends, the death of our dear friend George on 27th February, 2020. George’s death was a shock to all his friends at the museum, but most especially to the team working on the ‘Duchess’! While we coped with our grief at the loss of our friend, we also had to consider the future of the model, as the ever-worsening Covid pandemic with its threats of lockdowns made future actions uncertain. We also had to consider relieving Lyn Bambagiotti of the worry of having the model stored in her garage.
Fortunately, the museum was able to arrange to have the model moved to the museum prior to everything locking down, but we then lost track of our lovely ‘Duchess’. She had been sitting dreaming on one of the museum store shelves while Col and I wondered what had happened to her until a recent visit to the modelmakers’ desk by one of the museum curators. Not only was the safe ‘Duchess’ in the model store, but the museum wanted the model’s status to be resolved!
Things then started moving quicky. Several of the museum’s senior staff became involved, and the project was suddenly moving again. Our beautiful ‘Duchess’ is now on the upper gallery of the museum in her own secure display case and work table, and will be starting to sort our the mess on the model and the mass of possibly relevant bits and pieces that were collected from George’s home starting next Monday.
 
Sorry for it being such a long introduction, but it's been a pretty complex story!!
 
John

Small update, I’ve added the upper laser cut planking panels to the model, these will be the ones used in on the final model, with a few slight modifications that I’ve overlooked but corrected on my model. To begin I placed a board across the beam to ensure the proper height of the panels and I clamped them as I went along, once I was happy with their location I ran a batten underneath both of them to ensure that the planking that will follow below will have a smooth joint and continuity with the laser cut panels, once the panels were tweaked to fit right I then glued them into place using CA.

you can see below that I made some adjustments to the aft panel so the forward one would line up with the gun ports.
You’ll also notice the grey primer, I find this necessary with MDF as it’s super porous and soaked up three coats of solvent based primer. The primer also will not swell the MDF and allows it to be sanded smooth in preparation for whichever red you choose for  your port framing.

The batten ensured that I could set them right back where they belong without losing the correct position. I kept the front one clamped in its location while I glued the stern one, this ensured that there was no lateral movement of the aft panel.

The same process was repeated for the front panel.
 
I also begin the lower wales, you’ll notice the same process where I used a batten I reference to the marks on the bulkheads “W1”. The batten goes on the lower side of the line, once the batten passes the eyeball test then it’s time to start the wales, now the wales on this model are over 1/8” thick so unfortunately they will have to be done in two pieces, the first layer I’m cutting them at .080” with a significant taper in the front to fit the rabbet and allow for another layer to go over it and fit in the rabbet as well.

I’m not really concerned with the length or butt joints of the first layer of planks as they will be covered up, just get a smooth run with tight joints.
Unfortunately I can not proceed any further until I complete the counters, I have a laser cut lower counter that I will be testing soon and from there I will plank the upper counter using the laser cut lower as a guide.


 
I will be off for a month in the Himalayas, hiking to Everest base camp and beyond, so I won’t have any updates until about June, possibly one more before I go but will see.
 
Thanks for looking in.
JJ

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


 
Ron

After going through all of that Ron, I'm assuming that you won't be covering your woodwork up with a canvas mast collar coat.

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

Step E began with an unnamed subset that showed part #52 that first needed the top portion folded over, leaving the number printed on the hidden backside. The top portion was bent over and formed into a curved roof top with two tabs stuck through it that would then project into the gilded trim part #T19. Part #T24 is then added to cover T19 and complete the trim subset as shown below.

    Continuation of the illustration of step E as shown here.

    The Mylar part #T4040, representing the stain glass in the transom, needed four strips of the double faced tape applied to its edges. Once again, the alignment was critical in its placement on transom part #116 so as not to cover up the slot openings.
Next, all of the gilded trim pieces T11 through T23 and the unnamed subset were added to the transom. This was followed with another unnamed subset of the forecastle below which included the deck, railing, two ladders and another fife rail that is stuck through the deck from below. The step was concluded with the application of the top cross bars of the deck gratings on decks.
Here is the ship at this point.

 

 
    At this point in the construction I still hadn’t noticed that I had installed the first subset and the gilded transom trim on the WRONG side of the transom! More on that later.

The actual assembly guide started simply enough with step A for the support stand. The part numbering system however, didn’t seem to follow any particular order. Step A, as shown below, started with part number 240 joined to part number 17 which was from an entirely different billet. So I had to do a lot of searching for the correct parts for each step.
    At least the instructions were well illustrated with contrasting colors showing the parts involved in each step, and the finished assembly shown in white. They included exploded views of subset steps like A1 shown above.
    Certain parts with a gilded finish were called out with a T added to it. For instance, Part T7 in step A1 above was the first use of one of those designations. The backside of these gilded parts are all covered with paper that needs to be peeled off to expose the pre-applied adhesive underneath.  Needless to say, careful alignment is required to allow the exposed edges to blend in with the piece below, because they can't be shifted at all once they are in place.  Wherever these parts are employed, this symbol is nearby. 

    As the instructions continued on to step B, the diagram for the assembly of the frames on the keel. The previous A1 subset shown in gray, was brought forward and its new placement was shown below.

    Just below that diagram, the lower deck part is shown in pink and shows its alignment below that with the framed up keel in white. The first instance of folding a part came up now and was shown as an unlabeled subset. Careful bending was required for this interior stair assembly, because the core of the part could easily separate from the vinyl facing. Lastly, the placement on the deck of the stairs and twelve of the cast black plastic canons was shown to complete step B. Here are a few photos of the state of construction at this point.

 

 

    Step C followed with the alignment of the main deck on the previous frame and several subsets, including the main cabin entrance wall, the next deck above that with its pair of stairs, the curved balcony railing, and the ships wheel.
Here is the ship below with the subsets from step C added to the ship and a portion of step D.

 

 

 

    Step D was actually more of a continuation of C than a separate step. The subset C1 was brought forward and combined with the upper cabin walls and attached to the main deck. The upper cabin walls, the Poop deck above that with its railing, a fife rail that passed through an additional upper rear deck, and various other fittings to go with it were all assembled and added.
    Step D continued with a pair of curved stairs with subsets D1 and D2. Those stairs were quite a handful themselves, between bending in the curve, inserting the seven treads, and anchoring the ends to the two decks without twisting them out of shape. They are shown below after their installation and the status of the build at the completion of step D.

 

 

 

To be continued.

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