robdurant

A quick update... I've added the first three rows of planking on starboard and port, and also filled in the stern between the bulkheads with balsa. To get a nice curved shape, this seemed like a necessity, especially as this model has only a single planking layer.

Thank you for all the likes. The new prop arrived (38mm instead of 32mm, but with the same 4M (4mm) thread for the propshaft), and I'm much happier with how it fits the prop cutout at the stern. These George Sitek props are beautiful, and really lift the whole model. The Sitek props on my model of Cottesmore have taken on a beautiful patina with that deep bronze colour instead of the bright brass, and I'm sure this one will do the same over time. I've begun the planking process... this starts with the transom piece, which I pre-bent using the rib-bending iron. Then the uppermost planks were added (the top row is a 10mm strip, then the following strips are 7mm), lining up with the tops of the bulkheads. I love this stage where the hull lines begin to appear.

Well, one very enjoyable holiday later, I'm back, and this evening I decided to sort out the rudder post, where it sits in keel as it extends aft. The instructions don't say anything about the base of the post, and I was concerned that if it simply sat in a wooden hole it would a) wear loose over time, b) provide a way for water to get to the plywood over time. To avoid this, I ordered some 3.2mm brass tube, and I've used a 3-4mm length of it to create a socket for the rudder post to sit in. The hole for it was drilled using a drillbit on the end of a brass tube that was put through the rudder post to ensure it was lined up well. Once the hole was drilled, the brass tube was glued in place with Araldite, along with some araldite to hold the other rudder and prop tubes in place. In the photo below, the post dropping down is the rudder post provided by billings. The brass tube is beneath it, and the drill I used for making the hole is lying on the building board to the right. And here's the finished article. Once it's all in place, (and once planking is complete) I'll trim the rudder post at the top back to the hull, but it's helped get everything lined up neatly. Thanks for looking in

Welcome aboard 😀

That's really helpful, thank you

Hi HOF Yes, a prop shaft, plastic propellor, rudder post... nice, brass fittings. There isn't any help in the instructions to guide radio installation, and the mistake I made was waiting until after I'd assembled the frame before I cut out the channel for the prop shaft. I'm planning to use fibreglass resin, but to use the planks themselves as the 'glass' structure within the resin. I may change my mind... we'll see Rob

I had a little time to spend on Nordkap today, so here's an update. I've added access to allow the tiller arm to be maintained without ripping up the deck, and begun installing the prop shaft and rudder shaft. A little fore-planning is required for the prop shaft, as I didn't want to install it and find that the motor was in a ridiculous position inside the hull (especially to find that it had to be mounted too low...) the flat surface where the prop shaft exits the hull gives some idea of the angle required. I replaced the prop shaft with a 5" M4 shaft from George Sitek, along with a brass prop... I mistakenly ordered a 32mm prop when I realise now I need a 38mm one (so the 32mm prop looks a little small in the photos)... but the updated prop has now been ordered and will replace the smaller one when it arrives. Here are some photos of progress... The tiller access... And the prop shaft... The next job will be to add doublers on either side of the tubes to strengthen them, and fix them permanently in place with epoxy. Thanks for looking in Rob

With the help of some of the planking pins, I glued the deck down. Once the glue was in place, I placed the deck, and the Aliphatic glue (Carpenter's glue) gave me enough time to predrill holes for planking pins, and secure the deck to make sure it was well in contact with all of the deck beams. Clamps were used round the inside of the deck opening. I left it overnight to set, and then pulled the pins back out with some needlenose pliers... nice and easy. And here's a different shot showing something of her lines... Thanks to those who've looked in

A big thank you to whoever fixed the title on this log... I've added the bridging pieces to the tops of the bulkheads and the stringers that run across the tops of the bulkheads to tie them together. The deck was added again while all of this dried to ensure that it was all lined up. It all seems to have gone quite cleanly. I also began to build the ship's boat davit while I was waiting for glue to dry. The photo below is after all the clamps were taken off...

As I near the completion of Barque Stefano, I had a hankering to build something that was simple, where I could just follow the instructions, straight out of the box. Time will tell how closely I manage to do that, but having looked longingly at Nordkap as a teenager, she was the vessel I settled upon. Here's a picture of what she's meant to end up looking like Nordkap builds up into an 81cm l.o.a, 21cm beam vessel - so there'll be loads of room in the hull for all the radio gubbins. She's also small enough not to be too cumbersome to move around when building. I bought a new building board, and set about separating the laser cut frames from the "sprues". Then I looked at the plans and noticed some strange discrepancies... There are two sets of measurements on plan 1 - the first shows the gaps between the forward extents of the frames (4-7) - this should measure up to 159mm. A second set of measurements show the filler blocks that will sit on top of the keel - these are 48mm, 50mm and 50mm - 148mm, leaving only 11mm for three frames - but the frames are 4mm at the least - closer to 5mm in fact... The instructions simply say that the frames are "quite vertical" and then leave the builder to work it out. Instead of guessing, I decided that using the deck would be a neat way of ensuring that the frames were essentially in the right position, so this part was cut out as well and used as a guide to get the frames in the right place. So... so far I've fitted the frames, and added the blocks in between - which have all turned out to be around the 48mm mark. This _may_ come back and bite me later, but I feel much more confident knowing that the deck fits with the frames in their locations, than simply hoping for the best. The observant among you may notice a curvature of the keel (higher in the middle than at bow and stern - it's around 4mm, although it looks worse, perhaps because of lens distortion in this photo) - ironically, having cut the keel parts to be 55cm and 52cm respectively, I now realise that these are perhaps slightly short for the deck... removing the deck after gluing the frames in place got rid of this curvature entirely, and so I probably will need to modify the deck a little down the line, but that's fine - it'll be millimetres here and there, not centimetres, and the hull will be the right shape. The next step is to add the stringers along the bulkhead tops, and as I do that I can ensure the keel is straight. I'm not worried about modifying the deck to fit, I just wanted everything to be in the right ballpark. I've also added the doublers that create something of a rabbet at bow and stern. More soon Rob

Over the past few days, I've made good progress on the bowsprit rigging, including making the "whiskers" on the catheads, which were soldered from 1mm and 0.5mm brass rod, and then sprayed with white primer. The topgallant shrouds were also set up. I wanted to use black card for the strapping on the cathead whiskers, but also wanted them to be strong enough to withstand knocks and bumps, so rather than simply stopping them at their inboard extent, I have them bending 90 degrees, and fitting into a hole drilled into the cathead itself. This provides lots of strength, and I'm confident they'll withstand gentle knocks... Hopefully I'll avoid anything more dramatic. Adding the "hooks" for the rigging first... Then bending them to fit... and trial fitting them in the holes drilled in the cathead. They were fitted before I bent them vertically up, so that I could ensure they both bent up the same amount... and black card was added to simulate the metal straps... The finished article, once rigged... (rigging required that I make some 0.5mm rope, and then stained it... For those interested (and as an aide memoire for myself, it was made with #100 DMC Cordonnet crochetting thread, 1x thread per strand, 3x strands). The rigging was fastened using #50 DMC Cordonnet thread, and fixed in place with watered down PVA. And as mentioned at the beginning, I've also rigged the top gallant shrouds... Rather than adding deadeyes, I've copied the way these were rigged on my Ethalion... It's nice to feel that progress is being made.

Thanks for the likes. The chains are now all added to the bowsprit.

Topmast shrouds and ratlines are complete. I've been doing a little work on the bowsprit, adding the inner and outer bobstays using the kit supplied chain, which was chemically blackened. The chains were attached using black thread, which will be trimmed one I've put some glue on it to stop the knots coming undone.

Not much to report, but I've finished the ratlines on the Main topmast... Onto the Mizzen topmast now...

Thank you @rwiederrich - yes, it's definitely a personal choice, and not one that's historically accurate, perhaps. I just like the look

Thank you, Ian

Okay - time for a short update... I've added the futtock bars - it took me a lot of head-scratching to work out how to do this neatly, but I ended up using 0.5mm brass wire, with a loop at one end, that was tied to an eyelet in the mast, having hooked the other end through the eye in the bottom of the deadeye strop... They were tested for size, then blackened before final fit. The parts... And the fitting... And then I went on to put on the topmast shrouds, and I've begun the ratlines... Progress is being made As before, the ratlines are DMC Cordonnet #20 Ecru thread. The same stuff I use for rope-making. It's lovely stuff to use for tying ratlines - very forgiving, and once brushed with watered down PVA, I've had no problems with knots coming undone. Once the topmast shrouds have their ratlines, I'll need to add the futtock bars for the crosstrees on the fore and main masts. Thanks for looking in and taking an interest. Happy building Rob

And a last post for today.... I've roughly shaped the bow, changed the lighting, started playing with moving the camera, and added some texture...

Well, it's a bit of fun, but I'm definitely making progress learning blender now... Here's a few seconds of the hull so far at dusk... I haven't closed off the bow or stern at the moment... it's more of an experiment... Once I'm happy with it, I can up the rendering settings, and it'll look much sharper, but I thought some might be interested.

Hi all, Thanks for the likes. I've completed the main shrouds, and added the mainmast stay. This one had to go on first, as it attached to a pin inserted into the jib boom. (That was my kludge fix for gluing the foredeck down too early!). Having said that it all went together okay, and looks fine. I've finally added the deadeye strops (Caldercraft) and fixed the tops to the masts, now as well. I've also done some tidying up, gluing down the anchors, fixing the anchor chains, and removing the excess, which was just sat on the deck up till now. I've also added the eyelets underneath the pin rails round the fore and main masts. Not a lot to show, but it is progress These parts are very fragile, and I can see trouble ahead when it comes to tying things off... time will tell how much of a headache this proves to be. Happy building to you all Rob

Progress is being made, and confidence is growing I'm pleased to see that the flow seems to be good between each frame... Next is some work on the transom...

Hi all, A tiny update... I'm still working on getting this into Blender to check out the stations before I commit too heavily to real components (and working on Barque Stefano, too)... I've managed to work out how to get things neatly out of QCAD (the 2D CAD programme I use) into Blender, so progress is becoming more simple... Here's a teaser with deadcentre and '7' frames in place....

Rattling down continues... Work has just begun on the ratlines for the Starboard Mizzen shrouds. Port Mizzen shrouds are done, now. In retrospect I didn't tighten the shrouds enough, and it's caused them to become slightly wavy on the mizzen mast. This was my nervousness at making sure they didn't pull out the deadeyes from the rail. Not a disaster, but not quite as neat as I would have wanted... Oh well 🙄 This is all part of learning about this homemade rope... it doesn't behave quite the same was as the caldercraft rope I used on Ethalion. It's much softer and more easily stretched out of shape.

6mm at 1:63 is around 38cm or 14 7/8 inches - so a big step, but not crazy. Here's the 6mm guide template for anyone who wants it, in PDF and CAD (*.dxf) format 6mm Ratline Template.pdf 6mm Ratline Template.dxf

A small update today. I spent my day off yesterday beginning the ratlines for the mainmast shrouds. I was pleased to complete the starboard side. I use 6mm lines placed behind the shrouds as a guide, and begin by adding spaced out lines, then filling in the gaps, gluing each row as I complete it. The ratlines are #20 DMC Cordonnet Crochet thread... The same stuff I use to make ropes. I'm pleased with how it looks, and how easy it was to tie. As a natural thread, it takes the watered down PVA really well, and is easy to clip to length once dried. That's it for today. Happy building, all Rob