hexnut

Spent some time today finishing up the woodwork for the case.  Just finished laying on a coat of tung oil.....
Glass shops were not open today so probably monday I will order.
The drawer will be installed after the case is complete.  The forth corner post is in the other room...it has decided to develop a slight bow.
All this maple came from an 90 year old tree that died in my yard....it lay dry and dormant for about 5 years before I had it cut down and sectioned into 10 and 8ft legths that I had milled into 1 and 2 inch thick boards.   I milled these pieces from that tree....it almost looks like walnut..so dark and knotty...with no rot.
 
Rob

Spent a bit of time tonight on the spanker port shrouds......

I'm converting this old table into a case for my GR model....I need to do some work on the base run of the glass frame but it will fit nicely on the table face....of course the maple will be stained and treated to mimic the same color of the table.
 
I have the top section drying in the garage and its still gigged up.  I have to mill out the corner posts and router out the top glass recess in the top frame.
I will be siliconing all the glass edges accept the right side..it will be free so I can open the case and turn the model.  The top will also be removable.
I'm thinking of green felting the base......on the table top...so the wood base of the model will be more prominent.
 
Rob

Spent some time today adding the main spanker and topmast stays.
Some pics.
 
Rob

Today I glued the spanker mast in place and am preparing to build the lower stays and their rigging.
 
Rob

I wanted to add this new image to give some balance to the entire rig of the ship.
 
Rob

Placed the spanker in the hull for some balance and measurements.  Making sure everything is correct before I finalize the stepping and glue the mast in place.
 
Rob

Here are some images of todays work.   I set the topsail and am finishing up its rigging with sheets and downhauls.
Pretty close to stepping the mast in the hull.
 
Enjoy.

Did a bit more on the spanker.

Doing a little off ship work on the spanker mast.

Finally I gave the boom and gaff a wash of tongue oil to even up its color and to preserve it.
 Rigging the sails will be done off the model as is my habit.  A bit more details to finish up before then.
Thanks for all the likes and views.
 
Rob

Here are some general views of the gaff being added as well..along with its lift/blocks.

Worked a bit more, by finishing up the boom and adding the cleat to secure the topping lift and the blocks for the boom sheets.
Also finished up the spider fife rail.

I them moved on to the spanker mast build..beginning with making the boom and gaff and the hoop rings.
I made the lift truck for the purchase block and mounted it to the spanker.

Spent some more time on the GR...I started by finishing off the mizzen pennant and old glory.
 
Rob

Pat..if feels so good to be back working on the GR

Well today I got to spend several hours in the shipyard..and I was able to finish up the main braces for all the yards.
Still need to remove tape and add some rope coils..but I'm getting close to beginning the spanker mast instal........
Anjoy....
 
Rob

Next I began work on the top mizzen top mast and royal haul purchases and running them to the crab winches..

Post 27
 
Mid-point on the diorama
 
It’s time to look at what we have now and see want we want to develop and what might be better removed. I start off with what now is my favorite view. Naturally it is not one of the four views I use for study, but a low angle from a corner
 
219 looking in from an angle, we see seaweed coming along and all the colors of the schooner. the rudder is missing and i assume would not have been installed.  I plan to have it sitting ready to go in.  I would have coopered before installing gudgeons over some tar separating the copper.  I never thought about it before.  Since i am using tape I would hardly notice.  but since only one falls into the copper as completed , I need to decide.  more to come on that one.
 
220 here we back away and see the new supply of seaweed.  I plan to experiment with a brownish wash and dab with a sponge.  I want some yellow to survive as that is the fresh air-filled pods that float in the sun.   the browner Spanish moss did not work, and I will use some of it to make up bushes.  I wonder how to make eel grass? Also, at the moment one end of the main mast in the rough is looking at you. there is so little room i am not sure yet what to do to stage the work going on right there.
 
Now the four side views with presumed directions/
 
221 north: the wagon is delivering things that would not be floated.  Who is it to say that everything may have come by boat and there was a dock nearby?  Now I believe they were on a remote site on Westport Island with the slipway falling south west.  I plan to go see Barbara , our town historian to see if she can help me more in this area. I believe they were about 5 miles out of town.
 
222 west: here is the best view of the swooping lines exaggerated with the raised stern. I have lots of bark and saw dust and stuff to make the brown area more like a work shop. 
223 south:   the water side view.  Here I must think more of the scaffold.  What is it doing and why is it there? I also need to treat the slipway that gets wet twice a day.  all such structures today have treated wood, these would have been simple logs.   they would we wet covered in seaweed and maybe barnacles. 
224 east: to confirm this means east side looking west. the spars are the point here.   what to do? I think I want some spars done and even with fittings. They must have been working in parallel.  The question might be if they were built somewhere else.  For now, I assume they did it all here.   Also what to do at the front of the slipway?  These large frames would have had an A frame or gin pole to swing the keel,  frames and any other large timbers.  It would likely have come down once the need was over.  I plan to start building one but stop as if the large components had been removed.
 
Now for the story. What are we going to talk about, and what are the workmen doing?  
 
225 on deck they would be further along than we are now. I am making the windless, pumps large horse and other parts and will have most of them at least set in place.  I am now not happy with the size of the hatch planks and will remove and replace them with larger planks each with its own ring to lift out.    More to come on the deck
 
226 here we have someone painting the bottom. This approach leaves enough planking visible for the audience to see. I left some on both sides and the top rail for now
 
227  the adding of copper I think is fun to see. I have doubled up copper tape with its backing to have a ready supply of plates and will have then around the site and a pile near the work.  I am not sure how they cut it back then, I assume with a chisel.  
 
Next week more on deck, and yes these pictures, as always, help us see imperfection in the painting that need to be addressed.
 

Post 26
 
Complete the bulwarks, paint and copper the bottom
 
It is time to complete the bulwarks and exterior finishes.  I have always planned to have some copper going on the bottom as part of the diorama.  So lets get ready.
 
212 I took the kit provided cap rail to see if it fit.  Well almost.  You can see where I cut and then added in a new piece to fix the higher bow and wrap the hawse timbers.  I need to come back and drill that hole too
 
213 here the cap rail is all on.  I plan to leave this unfinished, as if it was just installed.
 
It is time to make the pumps.  I had two options in mind.  One is to make a small octagon plug and clad it with eight beveled sides.    The right way.  Or a short cut.   I took a 5/16" square  p[piece and made an octagon to the outside limits.  I rough drilled it out and will now file it to shape.  There is one at each end.  We’ll hope this works and yes, it is a short cut.
 
214 here we are part way through the filing to shape.  I will have a smaller dowel extend below through the pad and deck, so it is solidly attached.  I need to find a few more examples to see how to build the handle and plunger. 
 
 
 
Now for the bottom.  I need to paint under the copper so that wherever it ends,  the black paint is already there.   I also chose the dark green.  I went to the art supplies to get the paint.   I am a
paint brush person.   
 
215  I have stayed so far with the lamp black flat paint.  I read in the clipper ship books that in the 1850 they added a shine.  That might mean that that before then there was less shine.  I would love to learn more about what paint colors were on New England schooners.  Most documents paint centers on Navy craft.
 
216 here is the copper tape jig altered for ½ inch tape.  Unfortunately, I only have a ¼ “ponce wheel. Anyone is welcome to complain if they chose.
 
217 here is enough for one side.  I plan to have one of the crew painting in the diorama.  My thought is to assume they would have wrapped the keel first all the way down and around.  
 
218 I just got some new yellowish lichen that looks a lot more like seaweed.....cool!
Next time I plan to set up the diorama to see what the story is to be and then focus on that work alternating with completing work on deck.   I also have to figure out what to have for spars. 
 
Cheers
 
 
 
 
 

Post 23
 
Diorama planning and materials
 
The work on the Bulwarks continues, and I can see it will for some time.  As each step requires a respite for paint or glue drying, I am now laying out and getting into the diorama.  This is all experiment or trial and error so let’s see what we get.
 
First up is to gather material.  I think I have enough to begin,
 
184 here is where we begin. The slipway rails.  I went through this zone with another layer of joint compound and set the pieces where they go.  I figure this is the basic unit and everything goes around it  
185 I have cleared other projects and leave the layout tabl3 for this phase of the project.  
186 at this end we have three boxes. One has clean sawdust the next dirty sawdust, from cutting the woods sticks and the large box has strips of bark and cuttings from the band saw work on those sticks.  The far pile of extra logs is for ???  We have of course the people, various milled limber and the thinner sticks for use in building a scaffold and ladder  
187 here we find two diorama products, to jars of paste dirt and paste rock from Vallejo. The ways ready are for more top cutting and installation as well as scaffold sticks and a few practice stones  
188 here we have a Vallejo would affects kit and the wagon to experiment with, the drill and tools to toothpick timbers together. We have collected the first batch of stones and some more sticks to try and make up spar blanks that look more realistic than the perfect dowels that came in the kit  
 
In the works or on order we have some diorama moss…brown and fall color lichen I believe and a need for a few more colored paints.   I also need to rough mill a few planks as the wood used for a scaffold would not likely have been perfect.  I also need to think if I should show some type of lifting rig , I believe the heavier items like the bowsprit, rudder and the like may have been rigged with a gin pole of sorts.   That may have to wait for another smaller scale build where there is room for these things.
 
cheers

Post 22
 
Get the first bulwark strake on and set up for strake 2
 
I guess if a plank goes full length it is a strake.  I will need to come back and add a few joists after, but since they go all the way I am calling them strakes.  I knew this was to be a hard part of the build.   planks are to bend in more than one direction, and we want crisp colors as we go.   One step forward, find we need to paint something. Paint something and find more defects…a few repetitions are in the cards, so here goes the bouncing ball.
 
175 here we are once bit twice warned adding the hold down clamps as we add the lower bulwark stake to the starboard side. 176 now looking at the next strake we see that the deck thickness of 1/16 needs to be accounted for.   I had assumed that to be the case and planned to add a 1/16 square piece. 177 dry fitting the piece we are reminded of the difficulty in the aft section.  If we keep building up, we shall exceed the height of the long knee just to the right of the clamp. I also think these strakes are sloping up too fast, and will re-glue and hold down the bottom strake before moving on. I believe looking closely at Essex that the bulwarks are on deck to the last station and then flare out.   178 here in a better view; we see the need to spile this strake all along to lover the height to half the remaining knee height. We also see across the deck that gap is a little too high. 179 The same issue took place on the foredeck and some spiling of this plank is in order. The other issue here is that the raised deck strake and shear planks need to be painted black before this white strake is added. 180 while painting the forward section it seamed foolish not to go ahead and mask off that top line and paint it out.  I can see if it is indeed what I want to show, if I want to add a molding etc.  also treating it like a primer I will likely need to sand it out and repaint later. 181 here is the port side painted. I do not love the dip in the line, but it is the line of the third strake.  182 here I am re-gluing to lower strakes overnight. I have added the block to train the plank to reverse their curve to meet the tombstone aft.  183 here I have painted the starboard side. I much prefer the line of the curve than port side. I can also go and fix this all up before moving to fast forward  
Cheers
 

Deck vents installed. Just the grills to put in each vent. Now for a breather as i am starting to do s,,,,it

Lots of stuff just arrived 

I have ordered these 3D printed air vents which are to scale. Hopefully they are what they say they are. If they turn out ok 3D offers the hobby  great possibilities. I have a number of friends that have 3D printers but no one is prepared to do the design work to get the pieces printed. I am thinking of learning some form of autocad so that i can do the design work and then send them for printing.