Bill Hime

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!

Yeaaa.. we want more 'This n' That'  Woo Hoo     
 
Lookin' forward to the updates Bill . 
 
All The Best
 
Eamonn

Nice to see you back Bill. When are we going to see this and see that?

Mumble mumble mumble....It seems all I do is reopen this shipyard...Well, I best get busy. Won't be long and people are gonna be ask'n to see this and see that.
 
Hello everyone!
 
Bill

Mumble mumble mumble....It seems all I do is reopen this shipyard...Well, I best get busy. Won't be long and people are gonna be ask'n to see this and see that.
 
Hello everyone!
 
Bill

Mumble mumble mumble....It seems all I do is reopen this shipyard...Well, I best get busy. Won't be long and people are gonna be ask'n to see this and see that.
 
Hello everyone!
 
Bill

Mumble mumble mumble....It seems all I do is reopen this shipyard...Well, I best get busy. Won't be long and people are gonna be ask'n to see this and see that.
 
Hello everyone!
 
Bill

Mumble mumble mumble....It seems all I do is reopen this shipyard...Well, I best get busy. Won't be long and people are gonna be ask'n to see this and see that.
 
Hello everyone!
 
Bill

Additional thanks and appreciation to all who have stopped by.
 
BILL ---- nice to see you back.  Looking forward to your progress on the Pride of Baltimore.

How beautiful! Augie I think you have refined your skill set with every step. This is a museum piece in the making !
 
Bill

How beautiful! Augie I think you have refined your skill set with every step. This is a museum piece in the making !
 
Bill

How beautiful! Augie I think you have refined your skill set with every step. This is a museum piece in the making !
 
Bill

Time for an update and the celebration of a milestone.  We've reached 1,000 hours into the build !
 
The planking of the quarter deck has been completed and some of the details (speaking tube, mizzen rail) added.  The deck is planked only to the midline to allow some of the gun deck and great cabin work to be seen:
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
The planking is, of course, Swiss Pear and the treesnails done with the 'drill and fill' method  The finish is Natural stain under WOP.  I'll provide some more detailed photos as the final details are added.
 
 
 
 

This is a simple and smart idea. Thank you for sharing!
 
Sincere Regards,
 
Bill

This is a simple and smart idea. Thank you for sharing!
 
Sincere Regards,
 
Bill

Nice job Mark, that finished up nicely. I'm looking forward to seeing more as you progress, as I'm a big fan of the POB.
 
Hopefully 2015 is a better year for you. 

I have not had a lot of time to work on the POB II but based on Russ's comments above I have started working from the top down which seems to be helping to bring the two lines toward running parallel to each other.  The chevrons indicate where there is some pinching and narrowing going on especially at bulkhead L and K.  Which I think was going to probably happen anyway.  Toward the front I still have not fully managed to smooth out things and there is a dip at this butt joint but it seems things are moving in the right direction.  At least I think so.
 
 

Mark:
When I plank, I do the upper belt of planking first, then the bottom belt, and then finally the center belt. It looks like yours is coming along fine. However, I would plank that center belt from the top down since it is the upper edges of those planks that are most likely to need spiling.
 
With the wider spaced bulkheads it is not always possible to get the arrangement of butts to work out perfectly. So long as you get the butts so that there are none lining up on adjacent planks and there is at least a bulkhead or two in between butts with a strake or two between them, it should be fine. When I plank, I mark out on the frames about where the butts will fall so I know ahead of time how they will work out.
 
Russ

I then decided that maybe I needed to bring the bottom up. So here are two shots after doing that.  My planks will now run smoothly across the bottom.  I can see trouble developing at the top that I will have to spill some planks to smooth out that line also.  My thinking is to try and get the two areas running horizontally and fill in from front to back in a stair step pattern to better see how each plank needs to be formed at the same time matching up the but joints.  So here is where I left off.  Please let me know if my approach is flawed, ok or something else.  It’s ok to through hard balls too   
 
In the end this will all be painted so in the big scheme of things it does not matter all that much other then I am trying to do it right and it is a means to me becoming a better builder.

In an effort to improve my own skill I am looking for comments on my planking.  Specifically in the photos that follow I started planking from the top and bottom of the hull.  This makes perfect sense to me but my trouble lies in trying to match the butt joints to conform with standard planking rules of four bulkheads between buts and but joints separated by three rows.  You can see here in order to try and do this I am trying to use a stair step approach but I am not sure if I am going about this right or not?  I would appreciate any comments from some of you master craftsmen out there.
 
Thanks in Advance.