Aussie048

Here are the latest pictures of my Bounty Launch project. I have installed the floors and they were a bit more of a challenge than I expected. They were not difficult by any means but I could not thing of a good way to clamp them so I went with the Super Glue method. I'm pretty happy with the results. Stain is next after a good going over to get rid of any glue spots and do a bit of sanding.
 


 
Thanks for looking,
 
Al D.

After a day of indecision when I woke up this morning I realized I had to cut the new planks.  I removed the plywood planks and used them as the pattern for the new oak planks.  I used 1/6th inch thick red oak to cut out the pattern with a scroll saw.  I cut them a little oversize since the originals did not fit as well as they should.  After dry fitting I did a little final shaping with a 1 inch belt sander.  Finished them off with a couple of passes through the thickness sander.
 

 
Making them a little wider really helped to place them a little higher and get them level without leaving a lot of bulkhead to cut off.
 

 
Hopefully they will tie in nicely with the oak deck planks.
 
 

I added oak veneer to the keel and it flushed up nicely to the scrollwork.  The first two pictures show what it looks like without and with.  I plan to cover the exposed plywood ends with oak and plank the deck as well with oak.
 

 
The gunwales or sheer strakes (or whatever the Viking equivalent is) are not the best kit pieces and you can see in the third picture they look sort of unexciting.  They will have shields on the upper plank so most of it will be covered.
 

 
I clamped a couple of scrap pieces of oak to the ship to get an idea of how it will look.
 

 
I have enough oak on hand to do both sides I am just not sure if it is worth the time and effort.  Also not sure if it will make the rest of the hull planks look weak.  Stain tests with the oak and plywood might help me make up my mind.  Advice is very welcome.

Not much progress to report, been a busy week and busier week end.  I did decide to take Popeye's advise and replace the "fins" on the crows nest with square material.

 So I gave some thicker stock a ride through the band saw to create the stanchion stock.  From there I took apart the large nest and soon discovered that I lacked enough hands to hold everything in place and aligned while the parts were glued!   I predrilled the top rail on the large nest and made a spacer from corrugated cardboard, every other stanchion was inserted and glued once set it was rinse & repeat...

  Moving on to the smaller nest...I removed every other fin, which left the top rail and base firmly connected and spaced.  Next holes of the appropriate size were drilled through the rails and the new square stock inserted through and glued in place, once the glue set the remaining fins were removed and the process repeated.

 

 From that point it was a matter of filling and sanding, still have to prime and paint, pics follow, sorry about the poor lighting
J
 






 

additional pics promised yesterday

Got more completed on my HM build today, I had read that port covers should be planked the same as the hull, so the single pieces of plywood supplied would not be correct.
  I decided to use them as the interior part of the port cover, assembly photos follow.  I also got the rub stark applied to the hull.
THX
J

Hello all,
Thought I'd post updates to my HM build, got the new gun ports made and installed.  Started by laying them out on some re-saw ceder I had laying around.  They were sized to match the kit supplied covers.  One side was left long to be trimmed down later...it is glued to the ships center support.  The hull openings were cut to accept the resized port sleeves,  the new ports were roughed in, sanded flush and filled.  Re-planking remains but that is for another day.
THX
J

Hi all,
Resizing the port openings for the new frames turned into a disaster.  The roto-tool got away more then once , 3 of the kit supplied backing pieces broke away and once set in place the frames showed the openings were anything but true, more filing or chiseling to true them would have left the openings way to large, so I'm backing up.
  I've striped of the outer layer of planking and plan to make new wood sleeves to fill the openings then re-plank up to the edges.  Pics follow
THX
J

more pics...

OK, if we’re through name calling we can go on.  So moving right along.  I want to do everything necessary to the hull before I finish the deck. I put down the seven planks that make up the king plank. Why it is raised above the other planks I do not know.  The bowsprit is mortised into the sampson post and just set in place.  I mounted the staples that nothing is attached to.  Also the bowsprit chain plates (is that the correct name?) have been mounted.
 

raised king planks.
 

 

 

The sampson post doubles as the crutch for the jib boom.
 

 

 

I have added a cleat to bottom of mast and added some eye pins...currently making boom rest..
 
I am wondering about the copper straps that go around mast, would I be best painting them black or trying for an aged copper look?? Ollie

Adding 15 hrs to log

Thanks guys, helps heaps and makes much more sense now....
 
So I figured I should start on some minor rigging and have done up the catheads and anchor ropes... Wouldn't surprise me if there is some inaccuracies but I'm pretty happy with the result. I hope my anchors are sitting right..
 
I need to figure out what to tie off to considering I.have omitted the bitt heads.. Should I.just.add a cleat at bow where bitt would have gone?? last picture shows the kit diagram.
Regards Oliver

I had begun on the transom this past Friday.   still some more to go before it will be complete.   I'm going to lean more toward the Billing diagram with it,  instead of the picture I've shown you......I like the added detail it brings to the build.   first,  I added the decorative molding that encases the transom......then the 'brim' at the top of it.
 

 

 
on the back rail,  I added a piece of the striped stripping and the ornament on the top
 

 
now,  as I mentioned,  I created the circles and lines on paint shop.   the one that is included in this computer is bare boned......can't do too much with it.   I have downloaded paint shop 10.....I just need to install it,  and I'll see how much more I can do.
 

 
after importing the scanned copy of this design into the decal maker,  I ran off a sheet.......but I think the image needs to be beefed up a little.......it may be hard to see.
 

 
if this was the decal itself,  you would not see all this white,  but it will fit something like this on the ship
 

 
there are other parts that will adorn the transom.........two crests,  the moon,  the stars,   and the logo for the East India company.  the stars are going to be interesting.......they are the studs that I found in the paper craft dept, at Hobby Lobby.   I still want to go back and buy those other stars I saw......I will be sure to show them when I do.  for some of the folks that have ship star decorations.......they will find these quite useful.   anyway.......I painted all of these parts.
 

 
the Billing diagram shows that there are four gun ports....two on the transom,  and two just below the counter.   these I have to make from scratch....they are missing in the kit.   they are 10 mm squares of basswood......for the hardware,  I'm using dark mahogany stripping......they are in the beginning phase.
 

 
the mahogany was painted flat black........two of them will be painted blue,  and the other two will be stained the color of the hull.......there's still more to do to them 
 

Today I finished off the cap rail and gave it a coat of Tung oil
 
the first picture shows the continuation of the joints at the corners.
 

 
I used the old pencil lines trick to line things up
 

 
All the pieces glued and doweled.
 

 
Placed back on the boat
 

 

 

 
tomorrow I will get back to the cabin hatch boards.
 
Michael

OK, leave over, the kids are back at school, and the garden has been weeded and covered in a truck load of mulch.
 
I thought as a sorbet, I would make the anchor bouys. as you can see from the photos, a bit of off cut dowel and a file and they came out quite easily. I then spent two days serving the ropes that hold them, fitted them just like a real one and compared them on the shrouds, and at 1/48 they would have looked fine, not at 1/60. the term clunky comes to mind.
 
As such I used un-served rope and pained them black and much more to scale. If you look at the photo of them from the AOTS in the next post you will see the proper way are are supposed to look, but I'm just not Dafi and can't work at that scale.
 
 

Up to date, after several years. The new site is really easy to upload to and file sizes are bigger and quicker. Well done. I am up to fitting masts and I am spending a lot of time serving shrouds. The mast coats again used plastic backed foil from Lindor chocolates. It works really well. 

Hi guys,
 
Here are some pics of the upper masts and most of the stays on.  She wasn't a lofty ship as launched. The Brits added more when they took delivery, McKay gave her an extra wide rig instead, with the main yard being 95 feet long. I feel that he wanted to get power this way, maybe to minimize heeling as she was a passenger ship. Any of your views on this would be interesting.
 
Bruce

I've been busy on a customers RR project and am catching up a bit. I'm now ready to start putting on the jib boom rigging. As I've mentioned, I'm working stern to bow. This is giving me easy access to the areas I need to attach the stays to. Not sure why books recommend the other way like a real ship. I don't have real live 1/96 people to work for me on there.
 
I'm pretty bust on these RR projects right now, if you want to know anything about the photos let me know.
 
A can't figure out why I can't rotate the photos, I can't even find some that need it in the file!?!
 
By the way, this latest RR work has allowed mew to add a brass casting set up,[jewelery set up]. Once I get it figured out I'll be able to use it for my ship modeling. And heck, I'll make some freaky jewelery too.
 
Bruce

Thanks for the great replies everyone. Micheal, do you want to part with any of that wood? It would be great as part of a base.
 
Seeing the increase in clipper model interest on this site I thought it would be good to include several pics of where the masting and rigging is going.
 
I'm tying to post a pic of her real figurehead too. It's rotting away in some old guys garage down under.

I'm picking this log back up starting with the rigging stage of this model. The masts and yards are complete, and the hull's deadeyes and etc. are on.
 
My goal with this model is to accurately depict the appearance of a prime example of a clipper ship. My concern is to depict all components scaled correctly and to do all at the best of my ability hoping to show the highest development of the wooden merchant ship.
 
I like speed. I like the example these ships made in the form follows function regard. These ships came about at a period in history when speed was essential. Generally they were driven without mercy as a true racing machine should be. As an old worn out motorcycle racer and builder these clippers really grab me by the guts
 
You see the model after she has had a first attempt at the standing rigging stripped from her. As with most of the build I've had to do everything at least twice.
 
I'll post as time and health permits, hope you enjoy the rigging process.
 
Bruce

I'm still working and not just daydreaming about my next project.  Chesstree installed - bit of glare as the tung oil dries - hoping to tackle the fenders and ladders next

Crossed the fore lower and topsail yards over the weekend, with halyards, trusses and  lifts installed. Everything hanging loose for now. Also got the breast stays rigged. 
 
 
 
 

spanker mast

topmast and crosstrees