Sailor1234567890

I would put a number of rectangular holes at deck level at the lowest part of the deck. The curvature of the deck has it raise both forward and aft. Somewhere just abaft of mid length on the deck is likely the lowest part of the deck. A row of rectangular holes just forward (or aft really) of the top timbers would be appropriate. Say 6-8 per side, depending on how long the deck remains low for.  Maybe more maybe less holes but I'd stay rectangular. It's easier to simply lop off the end of a plank after it reaches a top timber. Drilling round holes doesn't leave a big enough hole to drain the water properly. A round hole big enough would have reached up toward the cap rail weakening the structure too much. And drilling a hole is more work than lopping off the end of a plank I would imagine. You could ease the edges of the hole making it more like a D on it's side. Elongated. A yacht like vessel such as this would have been afforded that kind of luxury. At least that's how I'd do her up.

Nenad, I love reading your posts. You talk about "Her Majesty", your Admiral, family life and all the curve balls that life throws at us from time to time. You weather the storms and keep a positive attitude. I love reading through your translations into english as it's more fun to me to get it "as you say it" rather than perfectly transcribed. Keep posting. You regularly make my day.

At least we all know to test our sawdust now. Mission accomplished.

The stern of these ships are very complex structures. You're doing a fine job of it. Keep it up. I love watching the progress.

Beautiful work. 

I'd say Andy is spot on with his reasoning. And Sherry is spot on with her assessment. Visually stunning work you do. I'm absolutely amazed by your skills and the product you put out.

Awesome. Your lady is beautiful.

I caution you to test with the sawdust before you use it in your model. I did a similar thing with my canoe and noticed that the sawdust, even though it comes from a certain colour of wood, seemed to darken more than the wood it came from. Use the sawdust, just make sure you don't use the wrong colour.  

She looks awesome and continues to progress greatly.

Sit down, pause, two, three..... You'll figure it out. We'll still be here when you do.

Seems the command structure in most organizations are the same. At home they mean nothing. lol

I agree, looks good. Won't weather to a nice green tarnished copper look but it will always look slightly coppery as mentioned already. Great job. I love this schooner.

I agree it looks great there. It does scream out something odd to me about how the structural strength of the cockpit is built up in there..... The builder of the boat would most easily have built the cockpit as usual and added the semicircular binnacle. This would allow for the strength required for a cockpit filled with water to remain in one piece without collapsing. The two doors you mention would access the magnets under the compass to correct the compass when swinging the ship. Looks beautiful to me. Keep at it. I love this boat.

Those are called "chainplates".

What is the structure under the binnacle representing? I know it's supporting the compass but how is the cockpit's forward face built under the binnacle? Is the binnacle a half circle attached to the forward face of the cockpit? Is it structurally built into the cockpit? I think this has something to do with how you finish off the binnacle. When opening the little doors you talk about in the binnacle, do you open into the main cabin? Just into a semi circular binnacle? Just asking. Your work looks awesome. 

They did have small rudders but when a sail plan and hull are properly balanced, a ship doesn't need a large rudder. It acts as a brake anyway, slowing the ship down when used. Better to maintain course by carefully balancing the sails. Also, the steering mechanism didn't need to be big and powerful. It needed to be robust but it wasn't turning a large rudder so the forces (presuming the sail plan was properly balance) were relatively smaller. It's more of a trim tab really when you think about it. The threaded screw system that most of these ships used were very much strong enough to handle the stresses imposed on them. Yours is looking great. I am no naval architect but I do tend to think, like you, that the shorter wider rig was to help alleviate some of the lever arm that a taller rig would clearly have. I'm not sure if a larger lower sail produces the same power as a higher smaller sail but I do know that the wind speed changes as you go up in altitude so there is much to gain from a tall sail plan. If one were to look down from the upper yard of a tall rig such as the old four posters one would see the yards corkscrew down to the lower yard. This is because the wind changes speed and direction as you move up in the air column. The coriolis effect ensures of it. 

Yes, looking forward to seeing more progress on her. She's quite a ship.

A shame...... Do you know anything about paint schemes? Do you know if the details in the kit are representative or just approximative?

After a bit more research, Lady Nelson is the best suited kit for what I want to do. Still have to finish Cutty Sark and I'm not even close to that yet. 

Scottish Maid is a beautiful vessel. I am trying to find information online about her and keep coming up nearly empty handed. Where do you do your research for her? Are you using more than the instructions that came in the box or am I not searching the right places? 

Loving the progress you're making on her. Keep it up.

Lou, what you meant was that she FLOATED higher right? LOL

As far as raising the ends a bit, it was raised more in the bow and the reason was so that the bow didn't look droopy. Because the bow is closer to the centreline of the boat (obviously) a straight line will move further from the viewer when seen in profile view. By adjusting it up a bit aft and even a bit more forward, you compensate for this tromp d'oeuil. 

This slightly raised bit was the boot topping or boot top. Often times (though not in the case of our ship) a different colour of paint between the bottom paint/copper and her topside paint.

Simply masterful. 

These words are awesome: 

"Admiral put blanket over me, it is just the same as somebody cover me with mountine full of dreams,  and I dive deep  in wonderland and can not exit."

Mind if I use an iteration of them some time?

That wider plank next to the waterway is called the "margin plank". You seem to be doing well at it as well. Looking forward to seeing your progress. It's an awesome project you've got going there Nenad.

Beautiful metal work. Simply astounding.

Nice clean gallery windows.