Bluenose by hamilton - 1:64 p.o.b. - from MS plans

[Tigersteve]

Looking sharp!

Steve

[hamilton]

Thanks Steve!

hamilton

[gjdale]

That’s looking just lovely Hamilton.

[Mic_Nao]

This sailboat has a magnificent silhouette. Well done !

[hamilton]

It really is hard to deny the beauty of old Bluenose.....thanks for coming by Grant and Mic!

hamilton

[hamilton]

A few modelling sessions in a single week is a real rarity for me these days, but a welcome one! I managed to eke out some time last night and at lunch today to make the bow and stern sections of the caprail. I made templates of these parts from the plans, and rubber cemented them to a sheet of 1/16" basswood. A bit of work with the scroll saw, sanding blocks and files and I think they came out ok. You'll notice that the main sheet hole in the aft caprail section looks pretty squiffy on the template and on the tracing I took from it on the basswood sheet - this was corrected more or less during the refining process.

 

I hope to be able to spend time this weekend finishing the cap rails and adding some details on the inboard bulwarks, hull and rails - then I think it will be on to the rudder and mounting. Happy modelling all and enjoy the photos

hamilton

 

 

[hamilton]

A little more progress on Bluenose to report. After fashioning the bow and transom main rail pieces, I examined the plans to break the caprail into three sections - the first two will feature the inboard extensions for the belaying pins and the final one aft will complete the rail up to the stern piece. 

 

The first sections forward were completed yesterday and today. I started with a 1/16" x 1/2" basswood strip and cut it to the length of the pieces needed. I then laid this strip along the top of the bulwarks and traced the shape of the forward taper of the hull onto it. After cutting this edge, I used a compass to mark the width of the cap rail and then used the same method to trace the pinrail extension.

 

These pieces were then cleaned up using needle files and sandpaper and a slight chamfer added to the outboard edge. As a final preparatory step, I marked out and drilled holes for the belaying pins - these are smaller than they eventually will be, but I wanted to get pilots in before installing the parts.

 

I also further cleaned up and finished the bow and stern main rail pieces - also adding pilot holes for future placement of belaying pins on those parts. The bow piece was then installed permanently and a final trimming of the outboard edge completed. I then refined (as much as my weak eyes and low-level modelling skills allowed) the scarf joints, finished the edges and bottom of the cap rail sections and installed them - adding a final finish to the top. 

 

Though the plans recommend finishing the rails black, I have done so in white, as I did on the 1:100 scale BN I built back in 2012. I like the way that the white rails contrast with the black hull and the black monkey rail to be added later. The photos below show the rails with two coats of titanium white, to which I'll add at least one more plus a final protective finish.

 

Enjoy and happy modelling to you all

hamilton

 

 

[hamilton]

Hello again

 

The caprails are now complete - a little rough round the edges, but with a bit of detailing and clean-up they should look just fine. The little "bench" that sits beneath the stern caprail was a little tricky to get right and even now it's a little off kilter, but I'm more or less satisfied with it. The process of making and installing these pieces is identical to that described above, so I'll leave you with the photos and sign off! Enjoy!

hamilton

 

[GGibson]

Looks really nice, hamilton! 

[hamilton]

Thanks very much Greg! It's been a slow but fun build! If you measure your fun in years, this is the best hobby!

hamilton

[hamilton]

A very minor update to keep this log active. I've spent the last couple of sessions starting in on detailing the outboard hull, inboard bulwarks and rails. I fabricated and installed the splash rails at the bow and the anchor pads positioned at the aft end of these rails. I also made the hawseports and fashioned the bowsprit shroud chainplates from 1/16 x 1/32" basswood - figured that it would make little difference visually to use wood or brass for this and since the wood is much easier to work with (at least for me) this seemed to be the best route. The photo below shows these before they were painted black.

 

If I can get through some house chores and day job obligations I hope to be able to get to the bench today to work on more of these elements - ringbolts on the inner bulwarks, bobstay chainplates, the aft mooring chock and mooring cleats along the rails, etc. - the little details that really start to bring the model to life. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying a relaxing Sunday

hamilton

 

 

[aliluke]

Hi Hamilton

Just catching up on your logs. The Bluenose looks amazing.

 

I doubt I'll ever stray into scratch building except for the small parts. I avoid power tools and suspect they are vital...

 

Cheers

Alistair

[rlb]

Looking fine, hamilton!

 

Ron

[hamilton]

Thanks Alistair & Ron

 

Nowhere near where you guys are at, and after a long hiatus from regular modelling I feel like I need to relearn quite a bit, but this one has been satisfying. Thanks for stopping by!

hamilton

[hamilton]

Hi there

 

Another small update as I continue to detail the inboard bulwarks, the rails and the outboard hull. At this point, I've added the mooring chock (needs quite a bit of cleaning up as the photos show), some belaying pins and started on the "monkey rail" - a term that really makes no sense to me even in the context of the usual fancifulness of nautical jargon...but anyways....

 

The pins you see in the first shots were used to ensure a smooth run of the rails along the centre of the main rail. the aft portion of the monkey rail cap was cut from a sheet of 3/64" basswood - the same sheet from which I'll make the sections of it that comprise the port and starboard caps. I promise that the upward flaring effect you may notice in the final photo is an illusion of the camera!

 

The photos may not be of intrinsic interest - in reality a post like this feels to me more like a notification to the community that I haven't stopped working rather than something soliciting advise or feedback....but here they are and any and all comments are, as usual, welcome. Enjoy and bye for now

hamilton

 

[Tigersteve]

You are getting a lot done! Have you thought about the presentation yet? Not sure if you’ve discussed this earlier. This might be a good time to drill any holes you need to in the keel before any fragile details are added to the deck. 
Steve

[hamilton]

Thanks Steve:

 

Yes I do have a thought to mounting. I have cut out sections of the keel for mounting nuts and have already constructed a stand and some mounting posts. I have to replace one of the mounting nuts, but will do this once I reach a stage where I don't have to handle the hull too much and when it can be moved to a more permanent housing. All holes that need drilling have been drilled! One of the lessons I learned early on! Thanks again for coming bye - I like your Mayflower!

hamilton

[Tigersteve]

Thank you, sir!

Steve

[hamilton]

Hello all

 

I've now completed the rail detailing and installed the monkey rails - have still some ringbolts to add to the inboard bulwarks and the fore and main chainplates, which I'm a little intimidated by to be honest.

 

The monkey rail cap was pretty straightforward. I took a tracing of the curve of the monkey rail bulwark onto a 3/64" basswood sheet, trimmed the sheet along the tracing and marked out the width with a compass. I cut the part overlong because I wanted to use a trimming at the end for the part of the cap that runs down the curve at the front of the monkey rail (there must be a term for this that I don't know!). You can see this little off-cut in a photo below. This part was installed first and lightly sanded down so that the upper part of the rail ran over it. After installing the main cap, I then spent some time with sanding block and files refining the transition. 

 

The rest is just eye bolts and belaying pins - I can still not get blackening of brass done in the seemingly neat and tidy way I see in other builds. It always comes out somewhat fuzzy and flakey - I've read through as many of the blackening tutorials I can find and the results seem the same regardless of how I follow the tutorials....using acetone to clean the parts, diluting the blackening agent, etc....it always ends up looking pretty bad - what's your secret anyone who can produce cleaner results?

 

In any case, enjoy the photos and happy modelling

hamilton

 

[hamilton]

So I've finally more or less finished the detailing of the inboard bulwarks, rails and outboard hull. I realised that when I made the main rails, I forgot to account for an inboard extension through which the catheads run - I'll have to add this at some point soon. The chainplates & deadeyes need to be added for the fore and main shrouds, and I need to add the bobstay chainplates, decorative star, scrollwork around the hawse pipes and the name plates at the bow and on the transom - and of course the rudder! And the mounting! I guess I have quite a bit of work to do still....

 

In any case today I installed a series of ringbolts along the inboard bulwards as well as outboard on the splash rail and then some eyes for the bowsprit footropes. Nothing too exciting. But once this was done, I decided to work on the wheelhouse. I started by making the wheelhouse roof and coaming from a 1/32" basswood sheet and finishing both grey. For the wheelhouse itself, I took some 1/8" x 1/2" basswood stripping and cutting out 4 pieces to the fore-aft dimensions of the wheelhouse. When I sandwiched these together they were slightly wider athwartships then the wheelhouse, so I substituted one of the 1/8" thick pieces for a 1/16" piece and this ended up being perfect. I glued these pieces up and squared the rough edges using the disc sander.

 

The main part of the wheel house was finished white and the roof and coaming glued on - again very straightforward work. I am leaving out some of the details featured on the plans as, on the one hand, I don't feel that I have the skills to work at such a small scale on such fine details (mouldings around the wheelhouse roof, chamfers along the corners) and on the other hand, I was worried that attempting to add them would just make it look clunky....

 

The ship's wheel was "borrowed" from another kit, in which a generous manufacturer had packaged 1 too many - the wheel was almost to scale, but is a tiny fraction larger than the wheel depicted on the plans - I don't think it looks too absurdly large. I inserted a toothpick into it for purposes of painting, but then figured I would just use the toothpick as the wheel shaft - painted black with the wheel, There is a little pad, cut from 3/32" x 1/32" basswood, that I drill a hole in with a needle file and then widened gently using the toothpick - I then cut a short section out of this strip and finished it black for the pad.

 

Though you all probably know this, I feel obliged to say that by design the wheelhouse is shifted approximately 1/8" to port and the ship's wheel lies slightly to port of the wheelhouse centreline, which explains why in the photos it appears off centre on the quarterdeck.

 

Here are some photos of the process and the completed wheelhouse. Enjoy and bye for now

hamilton

 

[hamilton]

Hello there

 

I really hope this post pushed the log over to a new page - this scrolling is painful!

 

In any case a small update documenting stern deck details - the main boom sheet horse, the main boom crutch pad, battens beside the wheelhouse to starboard and the "unidentified object" beside the wheel house to port, as well as two bollards. Not much to say about these bits - hopefully the photos will explain. The cabin you see in the last photo is the one I made a while back and that I will re-do as it turned out slightly asymmetrical the first time - hoping to salvage some of the parts for the rebuild, but.....

 

And now....lunch!!

 

Enjoy

hamilton

 

Edited March 25, 2023 by hamilton

[GGibson]

Hi Hamilton!  Looking really sharp, love all your deck details.  Will definitely be referring back to see "how did he do that?!?" when I get to that point.  I need to update my own Bluenose build log, but am at the "finished the fake stanchions and need to finish the transom and paint/stain" stage, so been reading yours with great interest.  Continued success (with minimum struggles)!!

[Nearshore]

Hi Hamilton,

 

Looks fantastic! Your attention to detail is amazing. Keep up the good work. 

 

Nearshore

[hamilton]

Thanks Nearshore and Greg!

hamilton

[hamilton]

One last update before the end of the weekend. I started working on remaking the main cabin. I managed to salvage some elements from the old one, but will need to remake the cabin itself, including the companionway.

 

I first took a tracing of the cabin dimensions from the plan and transferred this to a sheet of 1/16" basswood. After cutting this out and refining it a bit, I added some 1/16 square stock around the edges as a coaming. The outside edges of these were rounded over slightly and finished grey. The sides were built up out of 1/8 x 1/16" strips. The fore and aft sides were shaped according to the deck camber and all four sides were finished white. I added a couple of grommets, blackened, as portholes and then assembled these on top of the base with the coamings. In the photo that shows the cabin you'll see that the grommet is misaligned on the starboard side - it should be forward instead of aft - but these piece are dry fit only in that photo, so please be assured that the sides are installed correctly as of now.

 

The roof was made in a similar fashion as the base but I did not have time to do much more than  cut it out - and that was as far as got today. I'm going to take a short break from Bluenose for the next few weeks as things are stepping up at work and I will have very little time at the bench. So it's a brief farewell for now - hope to be back in April with more progress here.

 

In the meantime, enjoy!

hamilton

 

[GGibson]

Excellent work to-date, hamilton!  Appreciate your insight on what I expect on my Bluenose.  Enjoy your "time off" and see you upon your return.

[hamilton]

Alright - this is turning into page 6...66!! I haven't done this much scrolling on a web page since 1997! Making me nostalgic for Ask Jeeves, AOL and Netscape Navigator!

 

In any case, though I mentioned taking a break I did manage to squeeze in a bit of time at the bench over the last couple of days to work on the cabin - specifically the roof. I had already cut a base for the roof out of a basswood sheet. I then added some 1/32" x 1/8" strips around the edge as a border (finished grey), before planking the interior surface with the same material, finished white. The cabin is already installed on deck, so once I installed the trim, I just added the roof and planked it in situ (learned a lot of Latin in the 90s, too, because I was thinking of my future, obviously!). I think it turned out pretty ok. Here are the photos. I'm going to actively try to stay away from the bench now for a bit! No promises, though....

 

Enjoy

hamilton

[Beef Wellington]

Glad to see you progressing again!

[hamilton]

Thanks Jason! The model's progressing, yes! But this log can't seem to get off page 6!! Sorry if this is becoming an unwelcome obsession of mine....

hamilton

[hamilton]

Well it looks like what I thought was going to be a serious work crunch is not going to be as crunchy as I thought!! That's good news in itself, but it also means I've been able to keep at Bluenose over the last few days. I've now completed the cabin and made a start on the fife rail.

 

The last part of the cabin to complete was the skylight, which I had a previously constructed version of from my first go at the cabin - but this was do wretched that I knew I had to at least try to improve on it - I think the new one is a definite improvement, even if it isn't perfect. I am still waffling about adding brass rods to the skylights as shown on the plans, but I feel like this can be done at any time between now and the rigging so I'm going to give some thought to it.

 

I used 1/16" basswood sheeting to craft the triangular ends of the skylight, and connected these with 1/8 x 1/16" strip. These were glued up and another 1/8 x 1/16" strip was used at the peak. The lights themselves were made from 1/32" basswood sheeting, cut to measure and finished black. 1/16" x 1/32" strip wood was finished white and then installed around the edges of 1/32" sheeting for the skylight frames. Once these were added, I used small sanding blocks to refine the edges and added little bits of pinstrip tape to simulate hinges. The photos below show the process and the results, with the old skylight in one shot for comparison.

 

Happy modelling to all and enjoy the photos

hamilton