rvchima

Status - 225 hours, 68 days
The decks, railings, and smokestacks are all attached and the working base has been replaced with a beautiful cherry base from Bluejacket Shipcrafters. It may seem like there's not much left to do, but looking ahead in the instructions it's obvious that there is plenty. There are masts, gangways, lots of rigging, and support braces to build. There are 3 lifeboats, 2 anchors, and a capstan to build. There are flags, lanterns, a steam whistle, and other accessories to add.
 
My wife and I are getting ready for a trip to Utah to see 5 national parks, so I won't be posting for a few weeks. Don't worry, I will finish the model eventually.
 

Smokestacks
The forward smokestacks came nicely turned from hardwood. I curved the photo etched trim pieces and attached them to the tops. The stacks are braced side-to-side with three tubes each surrounded by 3 rings supporting 4 wires. The kit did not include the brass tubes so I substituted aluminum that I had on hand. The kit came with extremely thin brass wire so I substituted black thread. Assembly was fiddly but not impossible. I can't imagine how the rings and wires could offer and structural support, so I suppose they were purely decorative.

Trim and Railings
The photo etched trim hangs down from the deck above and supports the tops of about 150 columns that go down to the deck below. The instructions say to use 1 mm square walnut strips, but they are hard to paint and keep smooth. I found some 1 mm square x 20" long styrene strips on Amazon that would be delivered the next day. I expected a 20" long package but received a small envelope with the strips rolled up inside. They straightened out some, and when cut to 18 mm lengths the bends didn't show. Everything got attached as follows:
Glue trim around the top Glue top of column to trim Glue bottom of column to deck Glue railings to bottom of columns Glue walnut trim to railings It only took a couple of afternoons.

The Texas deck got a little porch in front and railings around the top of 6 staircases.

 
 

Status - 225 hours, 68 days
The decks, railings, and smokestacks are all attached and the working base has been replaced with a beautiful cherry base from Bluejacket Shipcrafters. It may seem like there's not much left to do, but looking ahead in the instructions it's obvious that there is plenty. There are masts, gangways, lots of rigging, and support braces to build. There are 3 lifeboats, 2 anchors, and a capstan to build. There are flags, lanterns, a steam whistle, and other accessories to add.
 
My wife and I are getting ready for a trip to Utah to see 5 national parks, so I won't be posting for a few weeks. Don't worry, I will finish the model eventually.
 

Smokestacks
The forward smokestacks came nicely turned from hardwood. I curved the photo etched trim pieces and attached them to the tops. The stacks are braced side-to-side with three tubes each surrounded by 3 rings supporting 4 wires. The kit did not include the brass tubes so I substituted aluminum that I had on hand. The kit came with extremely thin brass wire so I substituted black thread. Assembly was fiddly but not impossible. I can't imagine how the rings and wires could offer and structural support, so I suppose they were purely decorative.

Trim and Railings
The photo etched trim hangs down from the deck above and supports the tops of about 150 columns that go down to the deck below. The instructions say to use 1 mm square walnut strips, but they are hard to paint and keep smooth. I found some 1 mm square x 20" long styrene strips on Amazon that would be delivered the next day. I expected a 20" long package but received a small envelope with the strips rolled up inside. They straightened out some, and when cut to 18 mm lengths the bends didn't show. Everything got attached as follows:
Glue trim around the top Glue top of column to trim Glue bottom of column to deck Glue railings to bottom of columns Glue walnut trim to railings It only took a couple of afternoons.

The Texas deck got a little porch in front and railings around the top of 6 staircases.

 
 

Status - 225 hours, 68 days
The decks, railings, and smokestacks are all attached and the working base has been replaced with a beautiful cherry base from Bluejacket Shipcrafters. It may seem like there's not much left to do, but looking ahead in the instructions it's obvious that there is plenty. There are masts, gangways, lots of rigging, and support braces to build. There are 3 lifeboats, 2 anchors, and a capstan to build. There are flags, lanterns, a steam whistle, and other accessories to add.
 
My wife and I are getting ready for a trip to Utah to see 5 national parks, so I won't be posting for a few weeks. Don't worry, I will finish the model eventually.
 

Smokestacks
The forward smokestacks came nicely turned from hardwood. I curved the photo etched trim pieces and attached them to the tops. The stacks are braced side-to-side with three tubes each surrounded by 3 rings supporting 4 wires. The kit did not include the brass tubes so I substituted aluminum that I had on hand. The kit came with extremely thin brass wire so I substituted black thread. Assembly was fiddly but not impossible. I can't imagine how the rings and wires could offer and structural support, so I suppose they were purely decorative.

Trim and Railings
The photo etched trim hangs down from the deck above and supports the tops of about 150 columns that go down to the deck below. The instructions say to use 1 mm square walnut strips, but they are hard to paint and keep smooth. I found some 1 mm square x 20" long styrene strips on Amazon that would be delivered the next day. I expected a 20" long package but received a small envelope with the strips rolled up inside. They straightened out some, and when cut to 18 mm lengths the bends didn't show. Everything got attached as follows:
Glue trim around the top Glue top of column to trim Glue bottom of column to deck Glue railings to bottom of columns Glue walnut trim to railings It only took a couple of afternoons.

The Texas deck got a little porch in front and railings around the top of 6 staircases.

 
 

Smokestacks
The forward smokestacks came nicely turned from hardwood. I curved the photo etched trim pieces and attached them to the tops. The stacks are braced side-to-side with three tubes each surrounded by 3 rings supporting 4 wires. The kit did not include the brass tubes so I substituted aluminum that I had on hand. The kit came with extremely thin brass wire so I substituted black thread. Assembly was fiddly but not impossible. I can't imagine how the rings and wires could offer and structural support, so I suppose they were purely decorative.

Texas Deck & Pilot House
 
The captain's and crew's quarters were on the top deck. Since the captain had the biggest quarters the deck was called the Texas deck after the biggest state at that time. The pilot house sits on top of everything, giving the captain a commanding view of the river. Construction was the same as lower decks - basswood frame planked with walnut, leaving room for LOTS of windows and doors. The pilot house itself has 15 windows and one door. Everything was framed with red styrene, and a trim strip of photo etched gingerbread was added inside.

There is still a lot of photo etched trim to go. I pre-painted it while still on the sprues.

Ken, again I love following your thought processes. Looks like you will have an outstanding model. 

Topmast shroud ratlines
 
I decided to rig the topmast ratlines first.  I am not sure that I will do that in the future.  I have seen builds in which all the details of the lower mast rigging is completed before the topmasts are even mounted.  Apparently, it worked for them.  Something to think about in future builds.  The ratlines were rigged using BJ's .005 cotton line.  It is a bit stiff, which means that the knots must be very tight so that they close properly, and do not show daylight with loops sticking out, but which also means that the ratlines have a stabilizing effect on the shrouds.  I used cow hitches on the outer shrouds and clove hitches on the others.  The cow hitch does not have an end sticking out sideways, but does not hold very well, requiring glue to  secure it.  Much has been said about how boring this process is, but I found that tedium was the least of my problems.  For me, keeping the ratlines reasonably straight, and the shrouds perfectly straight was an immense challenge.  I probably should not detail my ratline rigging technique, as it is unique, time consuming, and most likely not the best way. 
 
I did, however, adopt a widely used method for keeping the ratlines properly spaced and the shrouds straight - a cardboard pattern with the ratlines and shrouds drawn, inboard of the shrouds:
 

 
 
Here is what I ended up with:
 

 

 
 
This brings me to where I was when I deleted my entire log.  I would like to thank those who encouraged me with their "likes", and especially Mort Stoll for his constant support throughout the process.
 
 

Texas Deck & Pilot House
 
The captain's and crew's quarters were on the top deck. Since the captain had the biggest quarters the deck was called the Texas deck after the biggest state at that time. The pilot house sits on top of everything, giving the captain a commanding view of the river. Construction was the same as lower decks - basswood frame planked with walnut, leaving room for LOTS of windows and doors. The pilot house itself has 15 windows and one door. Everything was framed with red styrene, and a trim strip of photo etched gingerbread was added inside.

There is still a lot of photo etched trim to go. I pre-painted it while still on the sprues.

She's looking great Tim. I am totally impressed that you managed to waterproof everything and squeeze all that gear into that awkward hull. I hope that you will post videos of her on the water.

Texas Deck & Pilot House
 
The captain's and crew's quarters were on the top deck. Since the captain had the biggest quarters the deck was called the Texas deck after the biggest state at that time. The pilot house sits on top of everything, giving the captain a commanding view of the river. Construction was the same as lower decks - basswood frame planked with walnut, leaving room for LOTS of windows and doors. The pilot house itself has 15 windows and one door. Everything was framed with red styrene, and a trim strip of photo etched gingerbread was added inside.

There is still a lot of photo etched trim to go. I pre-painted it while still on the sprues.

Texas Deck & Pilot House
 
The captain's and crew's quarters were on the top deck. Since the captain had the biggest quarters the deck was called the Texas deck after the biggest state at that time. The pilot house sits on top of everything, giving the captain a commanding view of the river. Construction was the same as lower decks - basswood frame planked with walnut, leaving room for LOTS of windows and doors. The pilot house itself has 15 windows and one door. Everything was framed with red styrene, and a trim strip of photo etched gingerbread was added inside.

There is still a lot of photo etched trim to go. I pre-painted it while still on the sprues.

Beautiful job Chris! I never paid much attention to card models - until now.

Beautiful job Chris! I never paid much attention to card models - until now.

Texas Deck & Pilot House
 
The captain's and crew's quarters were on the top deck. Since the captain had the biggest quarters the deck was called the Texas deck after the biggest state at that time. The pilot house sits on top of everything, giving the captain a commanding view of the river. Construction was the same as lower decks - basswood frame planked with walnut, leaving room for LOTS of windows and doors. The pilot house itself has 15 windows and one door. Everything was framed with red styrene, and a trim strip of photo etched gingerbread was added inside.

There is still a lot of photo etched trim to go. I pre-painted it while still on the sprues.

Beautiful job Chris! I never paid much attention to card models - until now.

Texas Deck & Pilot House
 
The captain's and crew's quarters were on the top deck. Since the captain had the biggest quarters the deck was called the Texas deck after the biggest state at that time. The pilot house sits on top of everything, giving the captain a commanding view of the river. Construction was the same as lower decks - basswood frame planked with walnut, leaving room for LOTS of windows and doors. The pilot house itself has 15 windows and one door. Everything was framed with red styrene, and a trim strip of photo etched gingerbread was added inside.

There is still a lot of photo etched trim to go. I pre-painted it while still on the sprues.

Not As Bad As I Expected

 
I started those rails yesterday about 5:00 and had them done by 9:30, including dinner and dishes. I pre-painted the column stock. The column heights varied by about 3 mm from fore to aft, so I cut each slightly over sized and sanded for a snug fit. Like Rodgerdodger, I built a brass and wood jig for drilling the columns. Masking tape on the back prevented tear out.
 
Rodgerdodger used music wire for the rails. My instructions said that the rails were metallic thread. My kit has some very fine 0.2 mm brass wire, but also some 1 mm brass rod.* I used the brass rod, and pre-bent it to match the plans as closely as possibly. Then I threaded 4 rails through 6 columns in the proper order, arranged everything on the deck, and applied CA with a glue looper. I only broke two columns in the process.
 
*One problem with this kit is that it includes lots of parts with no explanation as to what they are for.

Texas Deck & Pilot House
 
The captain's and crew's quarters were on the top deck. Since the captain had the biggest quarters the deck was called the Texas deck after the biggest state at that time. The pilot house sits on top of everything, giving the captain a commanding view of the river. Construction was the same as lower decks - basswood frame planked with walnut, leaving room for LOTS of windows and doors. The pilot house itself has 15 windows and one door. Everything was framed with red styrene, and a trim strip of photo etched gingerbread was added inside.

There is still a lot of photo etched trim to go. I pre-painted it while still on the sprues.

Beautiful job Chris! I never paid much attention to card models - until now.