Geoff Matson

Bob Great job on the gun ports. And that is not dust, it is called patina!

Jay great to see you back at it. I too have been off for some Honey do stuff and the holidays. I hope to get back at it in Feb. Nice and cold in Northern Illinois and that makes modeling an easy choice. Sorry you found some hick ups. But if you don't address them now you every time you look at the Conny, you will be reminded. The fixes are looking good. Keep tying knots and making sawdust.

Hello Steve. For the ore locks all I did was run some thin pieces of wood through a Byrnes Draw Plate to make them round and then drill and glue them in place. Boats are looking good. Keep making sawdust and you will be done before you know it.

I think your choice of what to put in the boat will work out great. Mine were just to full of stuff. You are doing a nice job and am looking forward to seeing more.

Yes David that is great part about belonging to the club. It sure is great to exchange ideas with all the members

Wes Great details and outstanding craftsmanship. I can't wait to see what you will come up with for a case. You are going to have get one of those optic cameras so you can see all the hidden details. I would hate to see what the inside of my Conny would look like.

I finished my off ship rigging of the Foremast. I installed about 2/3rds of the rigging on the masts themselves and the rest I made up the lines and stored them in plastic food bags to keep the clutter down until I am ready to actually install the rigging for real. I was quite happy with this method as I did not worry about everything getting all tangled up. What made the rigging the shrouds a lot easier was the fact I could serve and seize the lines off the mast and then just slip them over the tops and then tighten them up. I did the same thing with the deadeyes and blocks. That way when I am ready for the final rigging all I have to do is tighten up the seizings.

Yes Harvey I am serving the shrouds where they go around the masts. About an inch and half or so in the middle and then seize it to the mast. I did not serve the whole length of the first shroud. just where it goes around the mast. I am kind of serving the lines where ever they go around wood. When I get to the tops, just seizing and no serving. Trying to figure out how to make a mouse for the lines that need it. May just go with the wooden facsimile and paint it black. Because of the scale of the Conny some of rigging details kind of get lost. So doing the best with what I have. Hope your rigging is going well.

Still working on rigging the foremast. The deadeyes and blocks are just dry fitting into the line and will be adjusted once put on the model. So far I have been happy with my off model approach to rigging. The platforms holding the mast has worked well. It makes it easy to use the third hand to do the seizings and the miniature clothes pin I picked up at Hobby Lobby really work nice holding things in place. I am learning a lot about the names of the lines and their points of origin and attachment.

I have the shrouds done around the foremast. Things are just dry set.

Alexi I have been working on and off on my Conny for over 5 years. I finally retired in May and now put more time into her. Over those five plus years my modeling skills have improved some and I wish I could go back and redo some things. If I were to do it again I would leave out the copper nail heads on the plates. Too big for real scale. I would have just done the copper plates the same way without the nail heads. The one thing I did do was to copper both the hull and the rudder at the same time. That way they the color aged the same. On the ships boats, I put too much stuff in the boats. Maybe next time just a few of the boat ores. The ship boats just have too much stuff and you don't see any of it. I might not have darken the deck the way the practicum said. But when you look at the real pictures the color is quite close. With a scale of 1/76 the details are hard to add and be in scale. That's why in the future I will probably go with 1/48 or larger. I am doing the rigging right now and really enjoying the Byrnes Ropewalk. I feel as though the rigging will be more in scale, check out the kit instructions on that one. I did rig the anchor and the guns with some of the kit supplied rope. That was before I got the Ropewalk. The best thing about modeling is the end result is totally yours. Do it your way and have fun. But be careful, you will get hooked on details PS Think about doing the copper plate. The ship is so large you will have plenty of wood to show off your skills. I just think the Conny looks great with the copper plates.

Looking good Alexi. The only problem with the Conny is that it is such a big undertaking. There a lot of things I would have done differently. It is great to see you thoughts and ideas. Maybe next time I will incorporate some of the new ways to build her. Until then I can watch as you build continues. Sorry no experience on the gun deck.

Dan Check with Bob F. I think I remember him making a sanding stick to do the job.

Thanks for the heads up Jay. Right now the shrouds are just sitting there. I think my idea will work out well. I am working on the fore topmast now. I noticed in Bobs plans he leaves off the rigging parts for the sails and since I am going to add the sails I will do the same thing. Maybe a little less of a rats nest. The one thing I have found out is the line made with the ropewalk is a little stiffer than the kit supplied line and just looks and fells better. I am not hardening the line with weights or anything, just taking it off the ropewalk, give it a couple of quick stretches and attaching it to the model.

I started to rig the Foremast with shrouds. I am using Lizbeth 20wt 3 strand thread for the shrouds. The shrouds are served with Gutermann 50wt thread one the center 5 inches. Then the shrouds are seized to mast with Lizbeth 80wt thread. All thread seizings and servings are glued with watered down white glue. Here are a few pictures.

Hey Dan I used some cutter from Disston that I bought from Menards for my Dremel. They worked great for fairing the inside of my small boats for the Conny. I even think Dremel makes also. I just used them at slow speed and went slow. Be careful not to go too deep. Hope this helps

Jay I thought that's what you had done. It just makes more sense that way. Oh well, lots of knots and line to look forward to.

Here are my thoughts on my masting and rigging efforts. After talking with some of the modelers from Model club I have decided to rig as much as I can off the model and rig it from the deck up as opposed to cluing the masts all together into one big mast. This way I hope keep the rats nests of line to a minimum and not break anything in the process. I made some blocks to keep my masts parts together while I rig them and will assemble on the model as needed

Jay Great tip as usual. That's what I am doing right now with my Conny.

Looking real good Wes. Putting in the extra details will pay off later on.

Boats are looking good, the cleats came out just fine, I know they can be hard to make and you made it look simple. Nice job all around. Don't worry about making fast progress. Sometimes the best modeling you can do is walk away for a little bit and get a new perspective on what you are trying to do.

Jay I am not sure about the dying either. I think if I can find the right color of line I will try to go natural. However If I were to dye the line I will have to experiment with it to see which way works best. I am leaning toward making the line and then dying it. Thanks for your interest.

I have finished my off the model rigging of the Bowsprit. I was happy with rope made on the Byrnes ropewalk. Here are few pictures. The bowsprit was just dry fitting into the hull. Now onto the shrouds.

Jay So far I am on the Standing Rigging and am happy with the natural result of the black mercerized cotton line. So no dying yet. Will have to access things when I get to the running rigging.

Thanks for you post Jay. It will help me when I get to that part on my Conny.