Bill Hime

Dave, your mast looks great. We really enjoyed meeting you and your wife today. Looking forward to working together for sure
 
 
Bill

Dave, your mast looks great. We really enjoyed meeting you and your wife today. Looking forward to working together for sure
 
 
Bill

Dave, your mast looks great. We really enjoyed meeting you and your wife today. Looking forward to working together for sure
 
 
Bill

Very nice work! You will learn a great deal on this first ship and even more from the many gifted shipwrights here at MSW. Welcome!
 
 
Warm Regards,
 
Bill

Next, it was time to taper down the bowsprit.  First, I defined the section before the flare:
 

 
The flare for the bowsprit is different from the others, as the base of the flare is actually narrower than the portion of the bowsprit that comes before it.  Soon after I began, I noticed that my whittling blade for my X-Acto was getting a bit dull, so I spun this dowel in my drill, tapering it with a coars grit sandpaper until I had the right shape.  I finished up with some fine sandpaper to give it a smooth finish.  Here is the result:
 

 
I like to check the shape of the finished dowels with the plans.  It was a perfect match:
 

 
Next, I had to drill what the plans described as a "2 mm hole" near the base of the bowsprit.  The bowsprit bitts have a crossmember that is made of a piece of square 2 mm x 2 mm dowel.  This dowel is meant to pass through the hole in the bowsprit, as a means of holding it onto the ship.  Unfortunately, I only had a 1 mm drill bit, so I used that in my pin vise:
 

 
Next, I use a needle file to enlarge the hole until it was large enough to just barely accomodate the dowel (this took almost an hour, but it turned out great):
 

 

 
Here is the completed bowsprit:
 

 
Finally, just for fun, I took a few pictures to show how the ship will look when I finally attach these pieces:
 

 

 
Today, I took some more measurements of the hull and marked the points on the bulkheads that would form my planking bands.  Using a piece of masking tape that I cut down to a narrow width with my X-Acto, I marked out the bands (I had to adjust the top band to make it a little narrower at the bow so that the lines looked a little more natural).  Here's what I came up with:
 

 

 

 

 
So, what do you guys think of the lines?  I'm going to mark the locations of the tweaked bands and apply them to the other side, adjusting them until they are symmetrical.  
 
Thus far, I have spent about 36 hours on this build.  I should be able to get the rest of the yards tapered down before my planking wood arrives.  I'll let you know how everything turns out!
 
On a very positive note, I had the pleasure of meeting up with another forum member (Bill Hime) this evening.  He sent me a message a few days ago, and it turns out that we live only about 20 minutes away from each other!  We are both very excited at the prospect of being able to enjoy this hobby together, in person, and I highly recommend that other members make an effort to meet fellow hobbyists in their area.  We are already making plans to get together next weekend to toss around some ideas for our builds, and we've even discussed sharing tools and perhaps each working on the same model side-by-side so that we can help each other out and learn together.  It should be a lot of fun!     

So beautiful! Sjors, your making rigging look easy...and we know that it is the exact opposite!
 
 
Bill

Hi Dave.
Im'e glade to see you forward planning. It always pays off.
You have been studying the planking tutorials. Good.
Your build is looking good.
Still following with interest.
 
Regards Antony.

Yeah, I think I might be getting a bit anal and over-analyzing the situation (which I tend to do on projects).  I'm pretty sure that no matter how I plank the first layer, the second layer will go down smoothly after everything has been filled and sanded smooth.  Thanks!

Very nice work! You will learn a great deal on this first ship and even more from the many gifted shipwrights here at MSW. Welcome!
 
 
Warm Regards,
 
Bill

Thanks John, George Richard and Popeye, and for others who hit the like button.
 
Before tackling the capstan I have a few other things I want to do, starting with the pin rails. The supplied belaying pins are OK but are a bit too long, so I will snip off about a mm or so from the bottoms. I made a simple jig out of a piece of wood with a hole to put the pin in and the right amount sticking out the other end to snip off. I am using the XY table on the drill press for the rails. I drill the holes for a few rails at a time using the whole span of the vise.
 

 
I am staining them with two coats of oak stain. Here are the rails that will go aft of the open waist.
 

 
I am going to put two pieces of thin wire into the back of each one to give them more support in the bulwarks.

So beautiful! Sjors, your making rigging look easy...and we know that it is the exact opposite!
 
 
Bill

Looked through your entire build log this morning. Great work. As for switching from maple to cherry, great choice. Cherry holds crisp lines and is very stable, especially if you put it aside for a time and come back later..no surprises. It looks like your "give it a go" on the cannons went very well!
 
Beautiful craftsmanship here. I'm following for sure
 
Warm Regards,
 
Bill

And... the coach sides and ends have been completed, the 'glass' installed and the four sides permanently assembled. After some fien adjustment, the corners came together quite nicely. For the statisticians among us, there were 53 separate parts required just for the outer surfaces of one coach side alone! Next, the coach roof.

Beautiful work again druxey, any chance of a little "how to" on the hinges

Thanks for dropping by, everyone.
 
The outer sides of the coach have been completed and gilded. The coach is only test-fitted together at present. I'm now in the process of panelling the inner sides and refining the fit of the corners of the coach. The latter needs particular care: take too much material off a corner and....
 
The door hardware has been added. The door knobs are of brass wire whose ends have been melted. If done correctly, the ends of the wire will form a small spherical ball. The 'bronze' hinges are pieces of bamboo treenail and paper, acrylic painted.

Very nice work! You will learn a great deal on this first ship and even more from the many gifted shipwrights here at MSW. Welcome!
 
 
Warm Regards,
 
Bill

I repeated the process for the second flare, and there were no hang-ups this time.  Here's a shot of the overall shapes of the flared sections:
 

 
And here's the top of the main mast during a test fitting of both caps:
 

 
At this point, I cut the other end of the mast down, bringing it to its final size (I had left the bottom a little long in case I wanted to put the mast in the drill to spin it during its final sanding.  The last step was test fitting the mast in the ship.  It was a nice snug fit, and I think it looks great:
 

 
Here's a photo of the mast in the light of day, with the tops of the flares flattened out as much as possible:
 

 
And finally, here's the unfortunate gouge in the top flare caused by the irregularity in the wood:
 

 
I'm thinking that I might rotate the main mast so that this gouge is directly underneath the overhang of the bottom cap, where it will be hidden fairly well by the cap itself and the rigging.  Alternatively, I could mix some walnut sawdust with a drop of wood glue and try to fill in this little chip, sanding it out once the glue has dried.  I believe the main mast is painted black from the bottom of the lower flare to the top, so the "filler" would be hidden.  I still haven't quite decided yet.
 
Anyway, that's my progress so far -- I have spent about 27 hours on this model, in total.  I think tonight I will try to shape the topmast, which will be a little tricky since it's so thin.  I think I will spin the dowel in the drill and sand it to the proper shape this time, as I don't think I could plane such a thin dowel very accurately.  Wish me luck, guys!

Thanks for the kind words and useful information!  I'll have to check out that site, tkay11.  Well, last night I finished the main mast.  I have to say that I'm quite pleased with the results.  I finished rounding out the section in between the two flares, then I started cutting out and shaving down the final portion above the second flare:
 

 

 
This was the result:
 

 
Here's a shot of the full mast, so you can see the various tapers at this stage of the process:
 

 
Next, it was time to cut the mast down to size.  I gave myself a little bit of extra room at the end in case of splintering:
 

 
Then, I filed the end down:
 

 
Here's another full shot of the mast at this point:
 

 
After sanding the final section, I performed a test fitting of the cap, and it fit just like it was made for it (which it was):
 

 
Now it was time to undertake what I considered to be the trickiest part of the process -- shaping the flares.  I started out using my method of cutting the angle with the mast in the vise:
 

 

 
I should mention here that throughout the process of shaping the mast, I encountered some hard spots in the wood that gave me trouble.  These spots would catch on my plane or X-Acto blade and create small gouges in the wood.  Usually I could sand these out fairly well.  Anyway, I came across one of these spots during the shaping of the 2nd side of my first flare, and it ended up taking a small chunk out of the flare.  I was not aware of this hard spot until the accident happened, and once it was done, there really wasn't much I could do about it.  I'll show a picture of the defect later.  Once this happened, I decided that it would be better to carve the flares by hand, since it gave me more control and allowed me to be more careful.  Anyway, here are some shots of the top flare after I was done smoothing it out:
 

 

 
Here it is during another test fitting of the cap:
 

Great progress.
 
There are lots of really great hints on most aspects of model making at the late Hubert Sicard's site called Ship Modelling for Dummies, which you can find at http://www.shipmodeling.ca/aaplandusite.html
 
The site has a great number of videos as well as detailed hints and tips, mostly using jigs you can make yourself at extremely low cost.
 
It costs USD40 for a lifetime's access, but is really worth it. I thought of this site since tapering masts using a drill is one of his specialities.
 
Tony

Thanks for the encouragement, guys!  I'm on the fence about the filler blocks.  Since my model already has partial filler blocks at the bow and stern, I think it would be a little tricky to fit additional ones in...  I might give it a shot without them, and add them if I find them necessary.  I can't go too much further with the hull right now, as I am currently waiting for my sheets of 1 mm thick lime and walnut to arrive from Crown Timberyard so that I can begin spiling my planks.  I don't want to plank the decks yet, as I'd like to get the bulwarks planked and painted before I do that.  I went ahead and tapered one of the planks that came with the kit, just to see how it would look.  After bending it around the bulkheads and beveling the edge so that it met flush with the stem, I was quite pleased with the results.  I also took a practice run at tracing a plank's curvature for spiling.  I used masking tape (since it's low-tack), and ran it smoothly across the portside bulwark.  Using the edge of my pencil lead, I rubbed against the edge of the bulwark, through the tape, and it gave me a nice pattern of the curvature of the bulwark's lower edge.  I didn't take any pictures of this process, but I'm sure I'll have plenty to show you guys once I begin planking.  I feel fairly prepared for this task, and I can't wait to get started!    
 
Since I didn't want to be idle while I wait for my sheetwood to arrive, I decided that I would take a stab at tapering the main mast.  This has been a process I've been dreading -- the mast materials that come with the kit are round dowels, and I don't have a lathe.  I spent a good deal of time reading about the various ways that people taper their masts, as well as trying to determine the best way to proceed in order to achieve a perfectly tapered and straight mast from these round dowels.  
 
My first idea was to place the dowel in a drill chuck and secure the other end, forming a makeshift lathe.  So, I tried it out -- with my drill on a level surface, I tightened the dowel in the chuck.  At the other end, I took a plastic zip-tie and formed a loop, securing the "tail" of the zip tie in a vise.  Then, I slipped the end of the dowel into this loop, and checked to see how the dowel turned.  While this method might work, I found that it was hard to tighten the chuck around the dowel in a way that let it spin completely true -- there was a bit of wobble, although it was lessened by the zip-tie loop at the end.  I was not satisfied with this setup, as I felt that the slight wobble might lead to a less-than-straight tapered mast.  Plus, the only tools I had for tapering the dowel on this little "lathe" were some files and sanding sticks.  I found that using these tools on the dowel while it was spinning put some downward pressure on the dowel, causing it to bow slightly.  I thought this might be detrimental, and might even lead to the dowel breaking when it got thin enough.  The situation would be even more precarious when I started tapering thinner dowels for the yards, etc.  Another problem was getting the taper right -- even with the miniature "lathe," it would still be up to me to work the file/sanding stick up and down the length of the dowel to get the proper taper, and that seemed difficult and very time-consuming.  
 
The next technique that I tried was the one I ultimately chose.  First, I compared the dowel to the plans, making the necessary diameter measurements and marking the positions of the flared sections on the dowel itself.  I marked the ends of the mast on the dowel in such a way that I had extra space on either end.  Next, I took my X-Acto blade and scored along the lower edge of the base of the lowest flared section (the edge that would be closest to the deck).  I knew that the base of the mast would be tapered to this point.  The base of the mast needed to be ~7.8 mm, tapering down to 5 mm at the lower edge of the flared section.  With my X-acto, I began to shave material away from just under the bottom edge of the flare (about an inch below) up to my scored line, forming a distinct "shoulder" in the material.  I apologize for not having a photo to illustrate this process, but I hope I've explained it well enough.  Once I had a discernable "edge" carved out, I took my miniature wood plane, set the blade just barely below the bottom surface, and began to plane this 1-inch section very carefully, allowing the blade to shave off tiny curls of wood, up to the newly formed "edge."  Each time I ran the plane up to the edge, I would rotate the dowel just a hair, which kept the planed surface round.  The edge, which was still as wide as the dowel itself, gave me a nice surface for the body of my plane to slide against, keeping the cuts at a consistent depth throughout the process.  Here are some photos of my progress:    
 

 

 
I continued this process, gradually adjusting the blade depth on the plane to slowly decrease the diameter of the dowel below my "edge."  This photo shows the process as it unfolded (note how smooth the dowel is after planing, due to the tiny rotations of the dowel between each pass with the plane -- I had not done any sanding at this point):
 

 

 

 
I continued painstakingly planing this small section of the dowel until it's diameter was just slightly larger than the dimensions given in the plans.  I knew that I couldn't continue this process down the length of the dowel, as I would no longer have my "edge" to guide the body of the plane and keep the cuts consistent.  Even if I could somehow manage to make straight cuts in small sections of the dowel, I'd still end up with a mast that looked more like a bunch of progressively smaller concentric mini-dowels stacked on top of each other, which I would have to find a way to sand down.  So, it was time to change things up a bit.  I place my dowel in my keel clamp, which has level metal plates on the top edges, specifically as guides for planing.  Using a straight edge, I angled the dowel in the vise so that the face of the thin end was flush with the top of the metal plates, and the face of the full-size end was also flush with the plates at the opposite end of the vise.  This exposed only the wood of the dowel that needed to be removed in order to form a flat taper.  I then set to work planing this exposed wood:
 

 
I found that it was a bit difficult to run the plane smoothly down the length of the dowel, so at some point I ended up switching to an X-Acto whittling blade, running it at an angle down the metal plates instead.  This was the result:
 

 
When I had formed a flat taper on the dowel using this method, I repositioned the dowel in the keel clamp so that I could do the opposite side, and then the third and fourth sides.  When I was done, a had a fairly square tapered mast (it's a bit hard to see the square shape in this photo, but it's the best I could do):
 

 
Next, I place the dowel back in the vise and, following the same procedure, shaved away the corners of my square shape, forming a tapered octagonal mast:
 

 
I then used my sanding stick, running it against the grain (to remove more material), and rounded out the edges.  After that, I tightened the dowel in my drill chuck and wrapped a piece of 400-grit sandpaper around it, letting it spin a bit to further smooth it out.  The result was a glassy smooth, round, tapered mast:
 

 
Now it was time to reduce the diamter of the dowel in between the first and second flared section.  I basically just started repeating the process on the other side of the lower flared section:
 

 
In this photo, you can barely see my pencil mark for the second flared section, on the right:
 

 
Here's another photo of my progress:
 

 
And here's where I left off for the night, as it was getting past my bedtime:
 

 
This constitutes about 6 hours of work, for a total of 22 hours spent on this project thus far.  You'll notice that the flared sections are still untapered.  I'm planning to use the same method of tapering in the vise for these sections, although I will have to be a little more careful with them.  I'm really pleased with the results so far, and I have to say that I did feel like a shipwright while I was slowly but surely planing down this mast.  It gives me a great sense of accomplishment to see it taking shape!  I'm going to continue tapering dowels until my sheetwood arrives, and I'll try to document the process.  

As you say, it'll be painted over, so no need to worry. Just another learning experience.
 
And don't worry too much about the rabbet as it's not so hard to line the planks up -- as you say. Lots of modellers use filler if they don't line up. Again, as it'll be painted there should be no worry.
 
You might want to consider putting filler blocks between the bulkheads, especially at stem and stern. That would make the process of planking and fairing much easier. I used balsa, but next time I'll use something firmer such as pine or basswood/linden/lime.
 
Tony

After the bulwarks had soaked for an hour, I took my binder clips and clamped the bulwarks to the bulkhead posts carefully, making sure the top edges of the bulwarks were flush with the tops of the posts:
 

 

 
I used Zap-A-Gap to attach the bulwarks.  I mainly glued the bulwark to the edge of the false deck, since I knew I'd be removing the bulkhead posts later.
 

 
When I was done, I thought it looked pretty good.  The bulwarks are just a bit below the tops of the rear bulkhead posts and stern supports, but I can bevel those down to look better later.
 

 

 
In this photo, you can see that the little dip in the portside bulwark for the bowsprit to sit in is a little too far over to the starboard side:  
 

 
I'm not sure if I should have started the bulwark further aft, as the instructions weren't very clear on that.  I can always carve out a more aligned dip once the bulwarks are planked.  If I end up with some space at the aft end because the bulwarks were set too far forward, I can let the planks on the outside of the bulwarks carry out a little further and cut some small pieces to extend the bulwarks on the inside.
 
The bulwarks look a little strange where they meet at the bow, but this would be covered by the stem, so I wasn't too worried.   
 

 
I took my sanding stick and filed them down a bit, just for good measure:
 

 
All things considered, I think the bulwarks came out looking pretty nice.
 
  
 
Here's where things started getting challenging...  I wanted to cut a rabbet joint in the center keel so that my planks would fit flush with the walnut keel.  I had seen this done in the Lauck Street Shipyard video practicum for this model.  However, I don't really think this kit was designed to have a rabbet joint.  There is no mention of it in the instructions, and the center keel and walnut keel piece are both only ~2.8 mm thick.  With two layers of planking, each 1 mm thick, it would be physically impossible to bevel the deadwood down enough to get the planks flush with the sternpost.  I decided to try my best to get a good bevel on the center keel so that I could hopefully sand down the planking near the sternpost to make everything flush.  The instructions for this kit are really lacking here, as they make no mention of how to achieve the flush look.  Anyway, I started to draw out a bearding line:
 

 

 
Then, I started to carefully carve out a bevel, checking to see how it looked with the keel piece in place:
 

 

 

 

Here's how the Lady Nelson looked after I took the rubber bands and clips off.  The false deck looks great, with nice curves:
 

 

 

 
Next, I glued on the stern supports:
 

 

 

 
When the glue cured, everything looked great:
 

 
Next, I soaked the bulwarks in hot water, using a very sophisticated and historically accurate technique (holding them down in the bathtub with forks):
 

 
While the bulwars were soaking, I took my Dremel and got rid of the excess glue that had dried on the top of the center keel in the hatch openings:
 

 
I also took my sanding stick and made sure the edges of the false deck were flush with the bulkhead posts:
 

 

 

 
I decided to take a look at my fairing job, so I temporarily pinned a spare plank to the bulkheads.  For the most part, I was rather pleased with the results.  The bevels of the bulkheads followed the curve of the plank fairly well.
 

 

Thanks, guys!  I'm a little worried about my fairing job.  I had planned on getting the bulkheads glued in before I started fairing, but the instructions suggested that this be done beforehand, so I gave it a shot.  It was not easy to figure out how much to take off each bulkhead while things were only in the "test fit" stage, so I'm worried that the angles might be a little off.  I suppose I can always go in with a little wood filler and then sand the edges of the filled bulkheads to the proper angle if I find that this is the case...  
 
I had planned to spile the planks for each layer of the hull, but since I don't yet have my wider lime and walnut sheets from which to cut my spiled planks, I'm wondering if I should just plank the first layer normally and spile the outer walnut layer...  I don't think this will affect the final appearance of the hull, and it would give me experience with both methods of planking.  Decisions, decisions!

Hi Dave.
Nice model for a first time build.
And welcome to MSW.
The faring of the frames/bulkheads can now be finished. I normally do this after the stage you are at now.
There are plenty of build logs of the Lady Nelson on the forum. Read up and look for issues they have had during the build.
A very nice start and I'me real happy to see you making sure everything is square at this stage.
Will you be filling the spaces between the bulkheads with timber to help with the lines and planking ?.
 
Will follow along on this one. I like cutters. And the lady Nelson has nice lines.
 
Regards Antony.