Bill Hime

Great work Bug !!!
I have the feeling that I look at the work of Augie !!!!!
 
Sjors

Beautifully matched, Bug.  

just found out...so sad....didn't know him much, yet i miss him....guess that't the kind of fellow he was.....much respect to his family....good to moonbug to keep the spirit alive....................vic

Bug or Sean; don't know which name you prefer to go with,
in my opinion that is what I think what Augie would have done.
Beautiful done!

Looks like a perfect match to me Bug! Nice work! 

I noticed this afternoon that there was a strip of molding missing from the bow of the ship. Not sure if it dropped off somewhere, or if Augie was waiting to put it on after the  timber heads were installed, but it was nowhere to be found.
 

 
  Now, I didn't inherit the handy little scoring tool from Chuck and the fine folks at Model Shipways, so I had to take a couple cracks at it old-school style. I laid my metal ruler along the wood, and first scored it with my X-acto knife to ensure a straight line.  Now, when I say "ensure" - I mean took me a couple of tries and a couple of wasted little strips of wood.
 

 
Then, I gouged out the score a little wider with these handy tweezers.  And finally, I folded a piece of 400 grit sandpaper in half, and sanded the groove.
 

 
After mounting the strip, it was time to dig back through the log and find out how to match the coloring.  Turns out, Augie favored a coat of Miniwax prestain, followed by Miniwax "Natural" color, and finally an acrylic coat.  As luck would have it - I have a pretty extensive "Mini-wax" collection, so I think I got her pretty close match to the upper strip.
 

Good morning,
 
      One additional bit - As I've said, I think it's obviously pretty important to be familiar with the gal you'll be spending so much time with, so I ordered a couple books, looked at a couple Augie had, and did some research on the Confederacy when she came to the shipyard.
  
       I didn't want to post it here, because I'm sure most people following Augie's log are already much more familiar with her than I; but if anyone is interested, I put a short synopsis of the Confederacy's history on my blog: http://lehmanshipyard.blogspot.com/2016/02/usf-confederacy-history.html for the other folks who follow along but don't have access to MSW.
   
         It's a combination of a few different sources, and there are of course some inconsistencies from author to author. History seems to be nothing if not malleable.   

Good start, Bug.

Bug,
Seems like you are doing what Augie did, Confederacy will be a masterpiece.

Good morning,
 
      I accomplished some actual work last night on the Confed.  After several hours of research and trying to get a good handle on where Augie was headed, how some of his ideas differed from the the plans (leaving some rails natural instead of painting, etc.), what he'd left for later, and what he'd done -  I picked up with something simple just to get me going; adding the timber heads to the railing. 
 

 
      After separating the timber heads, I beveled the top of each one.
 

 
      I started by mounting the lower portions of those on the bow, then matched up the top half. 
 

 
     Finally, I spent a little time looking up and matching paint combinations and painted.  I still owe them a couple more coats then a finish of clear lacquer.  
 
 
Off we go...!  

My friends,
 
I see that there are some builders who put a memorial in this build log.
Popeye has opened a topic in shore leave as a memorial to Augie named Augie Bruno.
Please use that topic for expressing your feelings and not this build log.
We will thank Moonbug for the task he is willing to do.
I know that there are a few builders who are using this build log as a guide.
So please, let it be a build log.
 
Thank you all.
 
Sjors

Hello all,
 
      We all lost a dear friend, great supporter and member of our Shipbuilding family when Augie Bruno passed in December.  No one was as proud of his work or shared in his enjoyment of the hobby more than his lovely wife Diane.
 
    After being contacted by Popeye, Diane expressed how helpful and wonderful it would be if someone were able to finish Augie’s work on the Confederacy – both as a tribute to Augie, and as a way to keep us all connected with his memory. As Augie and Diane’s home is only about 15 miles from me, I was asked if I would be willing to take over Augie’s build.  
 
    I had the pleasure of sharing a cup of coffee, some delightful cookies, and even more delightful stories with Diane – and she assured me that this is indeed what Augie would have wanted.
 
     So, it is with a warm heart, and substantial amount of humility that I’ll pick up where Augie left off.
 
     Thanks already - and in advance to Anja, Popeye, Mark and Sjors for their support. I’ll do my best give Augie’s build justice, and do right by Augie and Diane.  
 
    As it stands – I’m embroiled in research, as this is my first American built ship, and I feel it’s important to get to know her as much as I can before I continue the build. Hope to have some actual progress to show soon, but in the meantime – here she is in her new shipyard.
 

 
 
- Bug

Wow, FINALLY!!! It's here! I chose the Pride of Baltimore as my side build while building the USF Confederacy. I'm waiting to see if the Confed might be marked down during the holiday shopping season. So I ordered the Pride so I can dig in and get the doors of the C.W. Hime Shipyard open for business.
 
Today's the day! This is a Model Shipways kit. I ordered it through ebay from a wholesale hobby outlet. As advertised, everything remains in it's original packaging. It even had an enclosed invoice dated 1999. 
Tonight the Admiral and I are taking inventory of the kit. I'm also paying close attention to the integrity of the wood since this kit has been sitting since 1999.
I'm already planning on replacing the Basswood planking/decking with Boxwood. as of now, I do not plan on painting the Pride except for her mast where black is noted.
I have built cabinets of the highest grade. I have done historical restoration in libraries, manor homes and more. But I do not kid myself for a moment, this is a very different endeavor. Here, among all of you, I find myself once again an apprentice.
 
I look forward to the challenge and most of all learning, adding to my skill set, and perusing what has beckoned me my entire life, building tall ships.
I welcome all of you to pick up a chisel, choose your favorite mortise and set a peg!
 
 
Warm Regards,
 
Bill Hime
 
 

After reading jcoby's last post I decided to play around a bit and see what the transom might look like installed with the knees aft edge flush with the end of the stern. I cut a piece out of the 1/32 sheet included in the kit approximately the size of the transom. After a little trimming of the slots the outboard knees sit in and a bit of sanding here and there this is what I came up with. The piece I made in the last post is not glued in place. It does push out the transom into very gentle curve, which the plans seem to indicate is normal as opposed to perfectly perpendicular to the stern. Of course I am no expert at reading plans. There will be a trim piece installed across where the deck and transom join All in all I think it will do, but welcome more thoughts.

One piece not included in the laser cut plank shear is the aft piece. However, it is in the plans. In Bobs Practicum he does not include this piece and simply runs the deck planking in solid runs across the deck. In keeping with my goal of trying to build the ship as true to life as my skills allow I made this piece. In addition, I will be planking the deck based on previous guidance from jcoby in his build log. Thanks again for that. I started by marking a 3/16 line across the shape of the stern. I then used part of the scrap from the plank sheer (so inboard curve was already made for me). Then I just trimmed up the aft edge. Photo is before aft edge was trimed.

Now that that is done I have a lot of tough decisions to make on how to go about doing the deck and bulkheads. I plan to stain my deck. Can anyone tell me if paining over stained wood is a problem?  I am trying to decide what I need to painting before or after construction of upper deck area, the plank sheer, bulkheads, and supports will all be painted.  I am also still on the fence whether it is best to build the cabin comings first or after laying the decking.  I also plan to add a few details jcoby did not.  There is separate planks under the windless,fife rail (larger then deck planks) and a small round hatch in the bow I want to add.  They will hardly be noticeable in the end but I am trying to come up with a plan on how to do all this.  In addition, as I want to make her as she is in real life, I will be adding the props and drive shafts to the hull.  I have not seen anyone add this feature so I will be running solo.  My first thought is silver solder metal bands and support tubes for the prop shafts.  I will need to order tools for that from some ware as I have no experience with this kind of soldering. Which is a great reason to go that route .  I also thought plastic, or wood could be used.  The prop shafts will be brass rod and the props are cast parts that came with the kit.  Any additional thoughts are welcome.     

There is probably an easier way to fix this but I will try and illustrate how I fixed the problem.  I started by trimming off the ends to the proper length with the knee in place.  I then used the laser cut portion as a template to draw a new piece.  I did this on the same sheet that held the original plank sheers.  I then used a straight edge and x-acto knife to trim what would be the two prongs.  These I then carefully glued in place.  I then carefully used the x-acto knife and a jewelers file to widen the slot as needed for the stern knees to fit in place.  Then I sanded the top and sides to match the rest of the plank sheer.

Finally here are a few shots after the repair, sorry the photos are not  great.  I hope this helps at least document the problem for other POB II builders

The second problem with the Plank sheer is it is to short aft, approximately 1/4" .  The second photo shows this and you can also see a piece of the starboard piece has broken off as well.  There are eight knees that mate with the hull and the stern here. The two outboard fit in this slot in the plank sheer.  As is this will leave a gap.  This is the problem jcoby mentioned previously.  Here are two photos showing what I am talking about.  

Nice. At least the kit got the reefer white and cream colors right. Pretty much everything else is wrong.
 
The red trim is more of a burgundy and the decking and mahogany colors seem reversed. The mooring blocks are way darker than called out for. Now I'm curious what she looked like at launch. Have the colors changed over the years? I wonder how much was changed after the demasting as well. That must have been an awful mess to cleanup.
 

 
Also interesting that the post notches aren't like called on the plans. And the real ones are much easier to reproduce in scale. And that the blocking under the rails/winches is raised a bit over the decking. I don't think that's called out on the plans.

Update: I have made small progress on the ship but big progress in making up my mind on final design considerations. Another problem with the kit plank shear partly the fault of the kit and partly me sanding it too much when I planked the hull is it ends up flush toward the stern with the sides of the ship.  I glued some bass wood strips on to the plank shear sides then trimmed and sanded it down.  Some of this will be trimmed later to fit the trim piece at the stern but it should be flush with that trim piece.  I also attached the filler pieces for the hawse pipes at the bow.  These fit between the plank shear and the whale plank.  This could get missed if you don’t study the plans closely, so I did it now. I have also been adding some putty here and there and prepping the hull for painting.  It has been sealed here with one coat of wipe on Polly, two more to go.
 
As I mentioned previously I have been playing with a variety of stains and oil finishes on the Patauk, Castillo Boxwood, and the Bass wood in the kit.  This has been an education in itself.  Not as fun as working on the model but very enlightening!  That Patauk really changes drastically depending on the oil and finish.  While it is extremely beautiful it comes out either to red or to orange for my taste so I have decided on yet another change.  I have found two stains I like for the mahogany not sure which I want to use just yet.  One is on the golden side and the other more brown. The boxwood really does take the stain much better than the basswood.   When I get closer to that point I will have to decide.  I have also decided to use Castillo Boxwood for the spars, deck, and some of the deck furniture.  I have received some beautiful sheets from Crown Timberyard.  I have also finally broke down and purchased a Byrne’s saw.  I am now struggling to learn how to mill my own strips which is proving to be very challenging too.  I may not be making much progress but I am sure learning a lot and having a lot of fun!
 
Cheers!

Bill we both seem to drift in and out on the same tide. Welcome back. Now get to work!
 
Cheers,
 
Mark

Absolutely beautiful Augie !

Absolutely beautiful Augie !

I wasn't going to post this photo of the QD main rail but it keeps 'calling' me.
 
Note the simulated sheaves in the lower stanchions.  The lower rail is doubled to produce a nice beaded effect whereas the upper is a single so as not to make it too massive.  I left it in natural finish (rather than the suggested black) as I'm going with black for all the belaying pins and, against the swiss pear deck, we see a nice contrast.
 

 
Onward to the long forgotten bow!