mtaylor

Thanks Rusty for the info.  I have a small sample and after seeing your use of it, I'm thinking this wood could be very useful.

Tom,

End mills are best left to what you can buy commercially. If you're doing side milling or special shapes and using the mill like router, different story. 

I wish MSW had never crashed.  Roma used nails, broken bits, etc. for routing.  I've played with it a bit when I did the bitts on my Triton Cross-Section.  Once the through holes were drilled, I could connect them with a slot (faking the sheave) using a broken drill bit. 

Rusty,

You continue to push the bar higher..  Love the colors.  I never thought of redheart for bulwarks but that looks great. 

Question, I understand redheart darkens with time.  Do you know if a finish will stop that?  Or like cherry, does it just get darker and darker?

Gents, my book was just delivered this morning.  Its every bit as spectacular as you said.  It will take pride of place in my bookshelf.

Now don't just put on the bookshelf...     :P  

I did my share of crashing... er... flying, control line craft back in the late 60's.  Great fun... and great angst with the crashes.  I should have started with a trainer.  Live and learn.

What Jay said is correct and also great advice.  If you've not built a ship (or any wood model, for that matter), start simple with an easy kit, then something more difficult. This will build your confidence level and also give you knowledge and experience.  The other item is a build log.  You'll get help and encouragement. 

Piet,

Thanks for sharing this.  It makes history come alive for those us without that personal connection.  I can only wonder what that visit did for you and your grandson. 

Looks good Robbyn.  We have to remember that the macro lens is not our friend.  If it looks good at normal viewing distance, it's good to go. 

Thanks guys.

B.E.,  to my knowledge they used butt joints.  But look at the cross-section attachment.  This ship has a blending of the wales to the planking.  I'm still figuring out how to get the taper right.

Wow.... looks great Meredith.  I like the colors.

Thanks for the kind words, gentlemen. 

Mario,

It's been in the 80's until Friday.. it's now 106^o F here. 

Well, it's been a week of hell at work with long days and seemingly short nights and this coming week isn't promising to get any better.  But I did manage to finally get the first strake laid and after a bit of tweaking, I'm happy.   I flipped the photo to see it "right side up".  This is the first strake above the wales.  I'm planking upward... or downward....or fiddlesticks...towards the chain wale as this is lower in profile than the wales and I can sand them without damaging the wales. 

The wale line goes pretty much straight back from the bow and about 2/3rds of the way, it starts sweeping upward.  The width is pretty consistant from 6 planks wide at the stern, through the mid-ships to about 1/3rd of the way from the bow then ends up a the bow 6-1/2 planks wide.  I'll get creative with some wider wood at the bow area or slip in a stealer... maybe a half-checked stealer... ???

Daniel,

As always, not only a wonderful build but informative and fun.  By the way, that man at the end of the table.  Why is he sleeping instead of eating?

JP,

While I agree with everyone else about the treenails, it is your ship.   But paint????   Seriously, do what you think is right. 

Adriaan,

In spite of setbacks, she looks good.  Those little details keep adding to the appearance.   I hope the infection gets cleared up and no more antibiotics will be needed.  Nasty side effects with most of them it seems. 

My, you have been busy... all that and still managed to breathe and eat?  Wow!

Cool serviing machine.  BTW, remind me again...who's serving machine did you buy?  I don't feel like digging back x-number of pages.  Been a long week last week and this week is shaping up the same way.

Augie,

Just a super nice job of rigging you've done.   But please catch something and come back.  I have a mental image of Sjors in charge...... 

Just great... absolutely a great bowsprit. Well done, Popeye.

Good to see you escaped from vacation, Mario..   :D    

Looking super nice.  I guess now we can tell that the stern is where the rudders are?

Sjors,

First, sorry this is late:  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! 

And, then what do I see.. there's a build log in here!!!!   Great job on the transom!!!! 

Kevin,

Nice work on the rudder and hardware.  If you don't copper the frontside of it, consider painting it with copper paint.   Hope your guy wins....

Grant,

Lovely work on the fiddly bits.   Hope the paint is looking better.

Beautiful metalwork, Ian.  What you're posting is a tutorial unto itself.   Thanks!

Been off in the hinterlands of hellweek at work.  Come back and aaacccckkkkkkk.....

Mobbsie,

Good catch and a great fix. Everything is looking top-notch. 

The fun stuff is starting.... deck furniture and the guns... 

I think we'll all be looking forward to seeing what you come up with.  No rush.. we seem to be a patient bunch.