mtaylor

Sweet work, Ben. I'm looking forward to seeing more. As for the chocks... good question as I've not done them on any build. Do you have any of the TFFM books? I think David A. explains how to do chocks in Volume 1.

Thanks B.E. and Kevin. Kevin, You're right.. but then, I think it goes with being modelshipbuilder.

Crackers, As has been said before... Google Image Search is your friend.

I'll have to re-read the book, but I remember reading in the "Billy Ruffian" that the crew named the guns. It's not hard to believe as military men have named their equipment for seemingly forever.

Harvey, What Huss said..... also I find that putting Pledge (furniture polish) on the blades helps also. Along on the blades and tables of the scroll saw and the table saw. The polish seems to keep the blade cleaner and clears the chips faster. Before I started doing this, the blades would get gummed up really fast.

Rich, The "re-center" idea is a good one. You've got a good attitude in this, I guess that's why your build is fantastic. Job hunting and modelshipbuilding are much alike. The world has changed greatly in the last decade. What I'm hearing is HR's don't call back with a "no". If they did, you'd ask questions and their answers could get them in hot water with the legal department. Too many lawyers I guess. Mark

With all this brass, I feel like I've walked into the Officer's Club. Oh wait... Sjors had a bigger table made... and there's a bar...

You're definitely on the homestretch, Adriaan. I'm looking forward to picture with all the decks in place and lights on.

Beautiful work, Wefalck. I hope your traveling abates and you can spend some time on this project. It's become more than a ship with the diorama bringing things to life.

Popeye, Two tall ships at once? Very nice planking. What did you use for the caulking?

Mobbsie, I have no clue but what Grant said makes sense. Makes me wish we had a coppering guide in the articles section that is like the planking guides. Edit: Wait a minute.. I discovered we do have one: http://modelshipworldforum.com/resources/Framing_and_Planking/CopperSheathing.pdf Not sure if it will help though. You might to look at some of the Vanguards and Aggy's and see how they did it. The Vics might help also.

Dave, Excellent progress. One thing I see.... the Charley Noble is facing the wrong direction. The usually open to towards the bow, otherwise the smoke goes back down to the stove.

Uh-oh, To paraphrase with apologies to Rod Serling: "You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead - your next stop, the DarkSide!" You've gone beyond kit on this Brian. Very impressive and well done.

Augie, She's looking great. Actually better than great, I just can find the dinosaur (thesarous) right now to look up the right work. I'm both impressed and inspired by your build.

Thanks everyone. It is I who needs to thank everyone for not only the inspiration but the encouragement to push my limits and become a better modeler. I'm not there yet, but my confidence level is building. Decisions, decisions... Popeye, The pumps and capstan are loose right now as at some point there's artillery to be built, fitted, and installed. Fat fingers and small parts in the way aren't a good mix. Harvey, Your Conny is practically a scratchbuild..

Thanks for the nice comments everyone. I'm at a point of comtemplating the next step.... more furniture? I have the fireplaces to do. Or finish the planking in the Great Cabin? Or maybe...? I'm thinking I'll finish the Great Cabin before the fireplaces. In looking back, I can see errors and areas that could be better overall but when I did them, my skills just weren't there. But as someone has said, it's the next ship that will be better. Hmm... I just realized that I'm putting off the exterior planking..

Thanks Harvey. Don't toss the kits... just bash them. Thanks John. You don't have to worry. It's back in the bottle now that I'm done ripping the capstan apart.

Thanks Popeye. Michael, Oops... I meant pics of models...Sometimes my fingers out type my brain.

Harvey, Narrower towards the rear? With a slitting blade...yes. Also, use a push stick between the blade and fence and you'll be less likely to pinch the wood and more likely to keep your fingers.

Congrats Capt'n Andy.

Blackie, The easiest way is to open the hole in the deck slightly and then shim the mast with wedges to get the desired rake.

Try making the cut in two or even three passes... I think there's a limit on the depth of the cut with the various blades. The slitting blades don't have the teeth offset so you could just be loading up the cut with sawdust and that's what is grabbing the blade.

Thanks Mike. Ok.. I lied.. not intentionally... I couldn't wait to shape the whelps. It has a few rough spots to be cleaned up, but I'm pretty darn happy with it.

Thanks for dropping by and the kind words Aldo, Juergen, and Mobbsie. I've been working on the gundeck capstan. I'm on hold for the foredeck capstan as it's smaller and I wanted to see how the big one went first. Taken several tries but that part of learning. Mostly, I had issues with the power tools.. the mills specifically in setting things up. Somewhere around here are probably 10 to 15 bits of things that went flying off before I figured how how to get everything clamped down perfectly.. Live and learn. I also had to do some research. The plans and most of the builds I've seen for French ships show the capstan style from the late 1600's to the mid-1700's. I finally located several pics of some ship models for the mid-late-1700's. First picture is of the parts (but not the whelps). This was the fun part.. using the rotary table. Had a bit of problem figuing out how to secure things to it. Took a couple of runs to various hardware stores for some M6 screws and nuts but I got it sorted out. Below are the parts set up for rounding off and starting the machining. The spindle has been machined down. As for the chunk on the left, I ended up using a tapered wood screw to center the wood square pieces and secured with washer and nuts. I didn't get a picture of that. After machining in the pawl slots on the bottom and the bar slots on the head, I assembled everything (but not glued) for a size check. Twas a bit too high. After re-sizing the height, I finished the shaping of the head and then reset the height again.... it was still to high. It's been taken apart, re-machined for height and reglued. Right now the whelps blanks are drying in position and I'll spin it on the lathe to shape them. Probably tomorrow. I hope. Side note.. I have an old coffee cup that is kept about 1/4 full of alcohol. Simple matter to drop the whole assembly in and in a bit, it comes apart. Wipe off the softened glue and the parts are as good as new. Save a lot of re-making parts when some part of the assembly need re-work or replacement.

Is the fence straight and parallel to the blade? It might be pinching the wood between the fence and the blade.