Aussie048

As five hands sometimes are not enough for rigging, I build myself a small rigging bench.
 

 
An inclined plane with a pin in the middle ...
 
 
 
... and two hairgrips on a holder. The holder can be fixed also pointing the other direction - or being left off - ...
 

 
... and even tiny bits can be worked on with ease :-)
 
For serving small parts I included a hook on a thread. Turning the part in between the fingers, it is still nicely held under tension and does not wobble around  :-)
 

 
These are the nice bits one can do with it ...
 

 
... and even to be repeated precisely :-)
 

 
Gruß, DAniel

The bosum´s mate´s whistle sounds across the deck ...
 
... I will make you spin, dirty old landlubbers, ...
 
Jack, Ben and Phil are looking with astonishment. The head still heavy, but not from the lovely sound of the beautiful voice, no, much more from yesterdays rum in the cosy inn "at the funny anchor", where this lovely mate made them sign in, for a funny cruise with plenty of entertainment and great atmosphere.
 
... I will teach you, go to the crow´s nest, fetch some eggs for the captains breakfast ...
 
And here they they find themselves standing on the messenger, supposed to pull it clear the capstan on the outgoing side ...
 
Jack thinks ... Breakfast ?!? Eggs ?!? Can I have some too? ...
Ben thinks ... what massage was I supposed to get? ...
Phil thinks ... who is he talking too, this funny ol´man ...
 

 
... I will take you apart and reassemble you for new, even your mother won´t recognise you any longer ...
 
... and with a loud SQUACH Jack finds himself taken to pieces, lying helplessly on the deck, having NDE-kind of visions just ... 
 

 
... just to find himself pulled back together again pulling the messenger.
 

 
... and I will fix your head ...
 
Phil feels a strange pain in the back ...
 
 
 
... how I will have a hold on you, ...
 
... his knees shaking, after a first cut his knees went straight, after the second, leaving a deep cut, thats allows the knees to be bent more with some loving and tender brutality ...
 
... but he still was happy, as he saw Ben´s fate ...
 
... I will teach you what it means to show balls ...
 

 
... who, after a tender squeeze into the family jewels, opened his legs a tad more to have a better standing.
  
Already more willing to show working position ...
 

 
... our three freshwater sailors reassemble themselves on the messenger, but the bosum´s mate only yells ...
 
... I ... WANNA ... SEE ... MORE  ... 
 
... with a friendly and sweet sounding whip of his starter accompanying each syllable.
 
So the back leg bent even more to put more grip onto the front one ...
 

 
... and ... heave... heave ...heave ...
 

 
... and an unnoticeable smile deep on the inside of the mate´s sinister soul comes from enjoying the effects of HIS successful work :-)
 
And how our three new-bees will become dirty, sweaty and stinking lowerdeck rats, this will be told in one of the future dafi´s sailor's yarn.
 
XXXDAn

"A machine that will serve me well"
 
These are the words, that B.E. used when he got his little serving machine.
 
So here comes my interpretation of it.
 

 
Famous for my lifetime-supply of old Fischer-Technics (luckily my son never was interested in), it can be either turned by hand ...
 

 
... or the motor can be switched down. As it is works by friction and not by the gearwheel, the drive can be stopped easily while working just by holding the axis if any correction is needed
 

 
I did not use hooks but tubes, a wire is used to get the lines through ...
 

 
... and the other side is hold by a toothpic squeezed into the tube. Like this I can shift the serving area to the left or right if longer distances are needed.
 

 
First tests on the trials of the mainstay show a nice result, still showing the structure underneath.
 

 
But it not just works for the big ones, here are the tests for the thinner ropes, this one 0,5 mm thick.
 

 
Here some serving tests. Right the 3/0 fly fishing yarn with the charm of dental floss - very uncool. On the left my usual 8/0 yarn, much better :-) After serving a touch of CA on the ends, still some diluted white glue along the sausage. And juch-huui!
 
Still tried the 6/0 one, the black one on the right, that is a tad thicker and goes therefore faster in serving, that it will be.
 

 
Also tried the direction of serving. Going with the cuntlines - here serving rightwards - results in the serving line getting stuck in the groove and running of, like seen on the right side of the orange one. So always against the cuntlines, that it means :-)
 
And the result? The modelling ropes have the bad habit to flatten if taken around sharp turns. Totally uncool. Not with Dr. dafis non-patented serving machine! Here a rope of 0,5 mm wraps itself gently around a 0,5 mm drill and nicely keeps its form.
 

 
And smaller parts? No prob, if well planned, some of these can be ...
 

 
... nicely placed on the same line like Münchhausens duck hunting :-)
 

 
So have a nice day until it will be shouted again: "Mom, he did it again!!!"
 
Sincereily, dafi
 
PS: This kind of machines can be found in many variations on the net, either to buy or DIY. But this was a great opportunity to proove dear darling wife that it was a wise decision to keep all these items in the cellar, and not to sell, swoop, give as present - or even through away - already many years ago ... XXXDAN

Known for my non linear working scheme, I tackled something I was pushing for a while, the lettering for the figurehead.
 
After long search I found the (possibly) smallest letters available. After all these years of building the first PE ;-)
 
First a template to get a feeling for the space and needed sizes ...
 

 
... and really it is the smallest of the set ...
 

 
... after cutting the letters I placed them on the backside of a Post-it, as this one glues not too heavily.
 
Then side 1 "Honi soit q(ui)", the last two letters underneath the volute ...
 

 
... and side 2 "mal y pense" .
 

 
For glueing I gave up the CA quite fast, and came back to the hint to try paint. The best was the matt varnish I had for my decks.
But not easy to cut without zoing and free ticket to nowhere, and placing on the right place before the paint is too dry ...
 
And afterwards the next task: the letters on the side of the stem.
 
Creating some cleanroom atmosphere ...
 

 
... and after some nerve wrecking long moments, tada ...
 

 
... "Dieu et mon Droit",  ...
 

 
... and a last one to enjoy.
 

 
Amicalement, Daniel

As usual, the last details always need most attention and especially work ...
 

 
Whaddat? A dogstopper. Where from? From deep inside, there where fixing bits on bitts is the most fun, located at number 2.
 

 
And it is rather clear immediately. As the turns around the bitts won´t give enough grip for the anchor cable, the cable is further held by several stoppers. The dogstopper secures the incoming side of the cable against the outgoing side before and after the bitt.
 

 
In front of it we have the bittstopper, alternatively done without the short strop and lashed directly against the bitt ...
 

 
... and behind  we have n# 3, 4 and 5 three deckstoppers, short strop against an eyebolt and with a thinner rope for lashing. 
 

 
This thinner rope is turned around several times inside the cuntline before being lashed up.
 

 
 
Greetings, Daniel

thanks Geoff    for an kit with missing pieces,  it's been a lot of fun.  thanks for the good word and looking in 
 
 
I look at so many builds here.......it's hard to see them all.   I skimmed through your logs....... I was glad to see how quickly you picked things up.  now I see your doing two builds......the more you do,  the more you'll learn.   your doing very well........keep up the good work!

Mike,
 
Sounds like you're making your way!
 

 
Cheers!!
 
Andy

thanks Bob and Ferit.   I got ink cartridges     I'm almost done with the starboard side....just have the trail boards to do.   I have a set of the diamonds printed.......and I find out that I'm out of bonder.....crap!   I'll have to go and get some tomorrow.....then perhaps,  i"ll be able to show you that bit of progress.
 
so.....yes,  the starboard side is done.......started with the rails.....
 

 
...and then the striped trim
 

 
I made one set of decals......still need the bonder to seal them up.  I might have to make an even smaller set......I think these are still too large.
 

 
still need to make up the circles......I did the trail boards
 

 
now.....both sides are finished.
 

..... Continued
 
(Thank you Geoff and Caroline)
 
The unit after milling the slots. I must have miscalculated one of the cuts, but I later managed to correct it by cutting and gluing tiny portions of wood back in. The repair turned out invisible :
 

 
The spokes needed the sections where they join the hub and rim squared off, and also reduced in thickness to keep the spokes central :
 

 
The first three spokes glued in. I used CA for a temporary fix to keep them aligned :
 

 
After gluing in all the spokes I cut another 10 thin segments of the rim and hub and Epoxied them on. Then it was back into the lathe to trim them down. The pic below is how they came off the lathe before cleaning up :
 

 
Cleaned up with a very sharp Xacto :
 

 
Last step, and the scariest   , was to soak the unit in Isopropyl Alcohol to soften the PVA which attached the wheel to the block. I held my breath when I started removing it, but ..... SUCCESS :D :
 

 
A little bit of final cleaning up is still needed after the alcohol has fully evaporated.
 
  Danny

finished hammock rails are pictured on page 17 of this build

The last weeks I have been busy with the chain plates. I have now completed them, on both port side and starboard side. See the pictures. Lateron I will attach the deadeyes to them.
Meanwhile, I have also made and installed the blocks that are located on the stern whales. I had seen them many times in the museum photos, but was only alerted to them when Michael mentioned them.

Thanks for looking in again, and the kind comments John, Ben, Pat, Sherry, David, David, Grant, Steve and Doris. I appreciate it .
 
Ship's Wheel
 
Making the Ship's Wheel is one of the most challenging, but FUN, parts of the whole Build. I used some of the method shown in TFFM, with some other ideas of my own. I used English Box, as some of the 32 parts are very thin and needed the best timber available.
 
First I turned up the 10 Spokes. These were done using the Digital Readout on the lathe. If I'd failed with these then I'd have had to look at "Plan B" - buying a ready-made wheel. The only "failure" I had was with the first one .... I wasn't happy with the thickness of the handpiece (too thin). Version 2.0 looks better  :
 

 
I started by making a "building block" from a piece of 10mm thick Pear. The Rim of the wheel is 3" thick, whereas the Hub is 5" thick, so I turned out the centre portion 1" deeper to allow the hub to be centralised in the wheel (measurements are "real life"). After marking out the limits of the rim I cut and glued the hub to the block, and also the 10 segments of the rim. I used PVA to glue the pieces to the block but Epoxy to glue the segments of the rim together, for reasons which will become apparent later on :
 

 
Next I turned the rim and hub to size :
 

 

 
Leaving the block in the chuck I transferred the unit to the Mill, and cut the 10 slots for the spokes with the aid of my Indexing Attachment :
 

 

 
Continued next Post ....

Here are some pics to show where i am at in my build. I'm starting to get into the rigging of the build. Started to think about how I am going to put into this build a fishing net in the stern area of my Mare Nostrum.

Well I am back at the work bench again. Getting everything organized to continue my build and my build log of my Mare Nostrum. Just getting the tools out and refreshing my memory to where I left off......the boat building bug has started.

pics of the cabin built and placed into its spot on deck.

More pics of my build.
 
 
 

Got some deck furniture built and painted. Pics of those deck furniture in place on the deck of the Mare.
 

More pics of deck getting finished and painted
 
 

Got the hull fully painted. I have enjoyed this build and I recommend this kit to everyone. 
 
 

This kit does come with a stand to display your finished Mare Nostrum. I didnt like the look of the stand, looked to small. So I scratch built my own stand. My first small step into scratch building in this hobby and enjoyed it. Pics are the stand holding the hull in its new home.
 
 

Got all sanding done with the hull. I have decided to paint my Mare Nostrum. Here are some pics of hull all primed coated.
 

Got to step that I was most worried about..PLANKING.  I got alot of info and tips for this step from other great members of MSW in their build logs. MSW, its moderators and administrators make this a great site for anyone in the hobby. 
 
 

Got the deck shaped , fitted, and glued. I started the deck planking. Every step you get to see the shape of your Mare come together.
 
 

One more thing about hatches. Most of the time the grating of hatches is left uncovered on models. But in real life they are covered when the weather is bad.
I decided that the Pelican will be at anchor loading and unloading cargo; hence the main hatch grating will be removed and set aside. So is the roll of canvas which will have a couple of lines to hold it and be placed near the grating.
The second hatch shown below will also have the canvas partly rolled and fastened as shown on the third small hatch. This way I still show the grating as well as the canvas covers.

I simply used a piece of cloth and painted it brown. It is held together with some PVA

Thank you Geoff and Tom, I need to get back to my Connie, but I just had to make some more sawdust instead of loose ends of rope. When I am finished with the two skylights I will stop this Pelican for a while.
 
Just to show how the first skylight turned out, let me continue where I stopped above.
When the window panes were painted black, I matched them with the walnut pieces for the ends and sides.
I had to notch the ends so the windows sat inside the frame. Again I used my mini mill to do that.
Then it was a matter of gluing the parts together.

Instead of a wooden strip on top I decided to use a piece of brass. It gives it a bit more 'character', I think. As I look at these pictures, I see more touch up work to be done, but I will hold off until later.

 
Now I have to do the same thing with the smaller skylight.