alross2

Starboard rail is done. Only 125 more stanchions to go... Once both rails are complete, I'll mask off the deck and paint the rails and channels white.

And, the cap rail in place.

Starboard aft rail with all stanchions in place. Each stanchion has a slight inboard cant to it, so it's best to simply place but not glue then into their holes, then align them one by one with the top rail taped in place, The pegs on the stanchions will be snipped off flush with the top of the rail and will be covered with a .015" laser board cap rail.

Test fitting the stanchions and cap rail. Don't wan't to stick all 250 stanchions into the chock rail and not have them line up correctly!!

A momentous occasion - the first rail stanchion has been glued to the chock rail!🙂 Only 249 more to go...😱

Hatches, covered and open showing coal. The closed hatches have laser-cut battens, as well.

Working on the channels this morning They're laser-cut with the chain plate slots included. They're easy to set up as the second slot aligns with the center of the mast holes in the deck. The chain plates will be cut to length and a template will be provided to set them at the proper angle. The turnbuckles will attach directly to the chain plates.

Finishing the masts today. The boom jaw rests have locaters etched on their underside to make it easier to align the four brackets.

Admin · 6m · Been busy making sticks this week. Still have to add eyepins and blocks to the short booms and gaffs. The blue tape on the masts is just to keep the sail rings from sliding off before i add the boom jaw rests.

Dontcha just love laser? .015" laserboard, one piece.

Plans show it as the light load waterline and it seems consistent with this photo.

Experimenting with the mast. The bands are black construction paper that will be cut from lasered strips. They are closer to scale thickness than britannia and look like wrought iron, so you don't have to paint them. The items between the blue tape and the doubling are 24 sail hoops lasered from .015" laserboard. The T shaped object is the laser-cut glut. Once that is attached, a black paper strap ("barn door") will finish it off. The boom jaw rest is five pieces of lasered 1/32" ply with a copper tape chafing plate.

Test fitted the mast components today. Assembling the trestle trees is a bit fiddly, but everything fits snugly. Still have to drill the hole in the topmast for the fid.

Some of the deck furniture and sticks placed on the hull to get a sense of what it will look like. I still have to fit the houses to the deck camber.

Got the bottom paint on this morning. It's regular red oxide automotive primer and is redder than it appears in these photos. In an hour or so, I'll remask and do the white sheer rail, chock rail and waterway.

Did you know that the tryworks kit that comes with BlueJacket's 1/24 MORGAN cross-section kit is also available separately? While it looks rather complex, it is really quite an easy build. There are about individual laser-cut bricks that are applied over a laser-cut frame. The pots and stacks are cast resin.

Here are the laser drawings for some of the items I changed over from photoetch to laser. The red lines are cut lines while the black lines are only etched into the surface. These are companions for the deck houses and the scrollwork for the gammon knee.

Here's a little surprise I didn't tell you about. This is a side project I've been working on while also doing WYOMING and OREGON. This is an HO scale waterline kit of a generic centerboard schooner. It is based on MATTIE/GRACE BAILEY and is named ELLIE MARA after Nic's daughter. The hull is cast resin with laser-cut details and the usual britannia fittings. Overall length is about 14". It should be in production in a few weeks. Contact BJ for details.

If it works, use it....😈

Did a little experimenting. Photoetch is becoming increasingly expensive, so I'm seeking alternatives for items which do not require the strength of metal. Previously, small detail items that weren't feasible to make from 1/64 ply were photo-etched. Now that we're using laserboard, things are different. Here are some items cut today from .015" laserboard. The spreader is two pieces laminated together with thin CA and is amazingly strong. The other items are a window frame, a ladder, and the facia for a companion.

Black primer on this morning, along with the anchor chafing plate and hawse lip. Chafing plate is laser-cut .015". laser board

This weekend, I was looking at the chock rail photos and something didn't look right. I finally figured out that I had put them too far inboard. Duh! I redrew them on Sunday and had Shane recut them this morning. It only took a couple minutes to strip off the old ones and install the new ones. Much happier now. 11 Seen by 8 Like Comment Share

The chock rails are now glued down and I've added a spacer forward. It's 3/16" at the bow tapering to 1/8" about six inches aft. A few minutes with a block sander will fair it. The brass pins are just to align the holes.

In a rare moment of weakness, I felt bad for the modeler having to drill 250 evenly-spaced holes in the chock rail for the stanchions. The chock rails are now four pieces of laser-cut 1/8" basswood with the holes already there. And, they actually fit the hull... Chock rails are not yet glued down.

Hull is fully decked and has the waterways added. Transom is shaped with integral "fashion pieces", and the hull now has its third coat of primer. . Deck planking. I used about one hundred fifty 1/16" sq. x 24" basswood strips for the deck. Transom fitted. Deck planks inside the waterways are masked. Third coat of automotive rattle can primer. That's a 12" ruler on the hull bottom to give you an idea of scale.