vossiewulf

Sigh. Will be thinking about you. As for your decision, do the best you can- that's all you can do.

I asked GatpGPT to compose a short story about the woman sitting on the stairs.

"The Ferry Queen of the Brazos"

Maggie Leclair sat on the creaking stairs of the Lula, her boots muddy from the morning rain and her braid wind-tossed by the river’s breath. She watched the slow churn of the paddlewheel behind her, its steady rhythm echoing the quiet persistence of her own heart.

Most folks in the Port of Cuero called her “the Ferry Queen”—half teasing, half awed. It wasn’t common in 1923 for a woman to run a riverboat, but after her father’s stroke left him speechless and her brothers took off for oil fields in West Texas, Maggie had stepped up without blinking. She knew every board of this vessel, every knot of the rope, every mood of the river.

“Morning, Miss Leclair,” a man called from the deck, tipping his hat as he guided his Ford Model T onto the barge. Maggie nodded, lifting her chin with the calm command of someone who’d earned respect the hard way. Not through loud words, but through years of steady hands, early mornings, and storms faced alone.

Her passengers were farmers, traders, dreamers, and drifters. Some stared, puzzled by a woman at the helm. Others left with a quiet story of her fearlessness—like the time she navigated the Lula through a flash flood with two wagons and a preacher onboard, her face streaked with rain and grit.

But today, she paused on the stairs—not to work, just to feel the warmth of the sun on her cheek and the solid comfort of the boat beneath her. The world was changing—faster cars, new roads, railways growing like vines. The Lula’s days were numbered.

Still, as the river lapped against the hull and another stranger stepped aboard, Maggie smiled.

For now, she ruled the water.

Having grown up in Annapolis and sailing the Severn River and the Bay, I approve. Nice job Mike

Sorry to hear that Keith. Hang in there.

I have a Nakanishi Emax Evolution. Obviously it's a considerably larger investment at roughly 10x the cost of a Dremel rotary tool, but is also 10x better than a Dremel. I can't even tell it's on either through noise or vibration when it's running at 10k RPM, and you can barely hear it at 40k. There is zero runout on the handpieces, the basic handpiece is much higher torque than a Dremel, and you can buy special high-torque handpieces if the basic isn't enough for you. Unfortunately at such a high cost brushless micromotors are beyond most people's budgets, but if you want to know if there is a better option out there, yes there is.

11 minutes ago, JGoff said:

So I’m thinking the inner bobstay? Anyone know?

There should be an inhaul and outhaul that attach to the traveler, a bobstay underneath and two guys, one on each side.

Glenn, I ran into the same issue with my Lady Nelson. Unfortunately Lennarth Petersson's book isn't perfect either, as discussed in the thread I started on cutter rigging:

I've ended up doing Chuck's Cheerful rig at 75% scale on my 1:64 Lady Nelson, while taking some rigging info from Petersson's book. But the bottom line is that there appears to be no standard cutter rig, there are some with two yards and some with three, with varying heights and rakes. So you have flexibility.

It's very nice but with no means to mount it on mill it's going to be of limited utility.

More to NRG's benefit would be a Ship Modeler's Handbook Vol.2. Seems there is a significant market, and although the first one is a great start it only scratches the surface of articles and lessons that would be useful to new modelers.

Put your CA bottles in the refrigerator and they won't go bad. 

14 minutes ago, grsjax said:

Aliexpress has the drill press for ~$50.

I wouldn't recommend them. I got one at about $80 shipped, the runout on the chuck is really excessive. Which is too bad, it's otherwise reasonably well made with a smooth high rpm motor which is perfect for #60-#80 drill bits.

The variance in number of guns is always with respect to the armament on the forecastle/quarterdeck/poop, obviously the number of gunports on the two gundecks is fixed at the time of building. And it seems in this case that the author of Nelson and the Nile forgot to list 10 carronades on the poop deck, resulting in him being 10 short when you do the math.

Model Shipways has the "Shipwright Series" of simpler boats that are specifically designed to teach new builders what they need to know before taking on more complex projects. You're right that you don't want to start with the Constitution, that is a multi-year complex project under the best of circumstances.

Steve, I took a diamond file to my round-nosed pliers to make one side much smaller for the purposes of smaller loops in hooks and eyebolts. I believe Phil prefers to use drill bits of the right size. Either will work.

17 hours ago, SaltyScot said:

Dang, that sucks, Vossie. Here's hoping those few weeks fly by and you are back at the table soon and good as new!

17 hours ago, Knocklouder said:

Get well soon, we will add you to the growing list of members who are in my " thoughts and pray list.

9 hours ago, Danstream said:

I am sorry to hear that about your health! Get better soon Vossie, we are missing you.

Thanks guys, I appreciate the thoughts!

John, if you put no blocks or other connectors between the bulkheads, those bulkheads will  be free to vibrate independently when you're trying to fair them with sanding blocks/files and that process will not go easily. Even small blocks that lock the bulkheads together will help you fair the hull more cleanly.

Had an MRI on my back this past week, my fracture has still not healed so it's several more weeks of bed rest and back braces for me and no workshop time. Yay fun...

I wish all the best for your wife Glenn, will keep fingers crossed.

9 minutes ago, Digitalis said:

That brings me to a question I have. It looks like this kit requires a second veneer layer of planks over the first one. Is that absolutely necessary? If I do a good job on the first layer, is there still a need for the second?

First, the wood for the first planking layer is chosen for its cheapness, not its appearance. The second layer is made of better, more attractive wood. Second, the kit is designed assuming two layers of planking for the fitting of the keel and rails and such. Further, to be honest, your first layer of planking probably won't go as well as you hope it would unless you have extensive small scale woodworking experience. You need that first layer to figure out what the heck planking is and what the factors are and how to handle them. Your second try will go much better. 

I much prefer ball end pin vises. I have three, each with a different chuck.