Bluenose by Worldway - Model Shipways - Scale 1:64

[Nirvana]

Nice save!

Since the steering wheel house won't have any moving parts, going solid is a quicker way.

[AON]

Now that I can see the difference, rotating it was the second dumbest thing I've suggested today.  The first is between me and the wife... we'll let that one lie, collect dust, and be forgotten.

[Worldway]

I started today by marking the waterline with a home made jig I put together.  It wasn't the best in the world but it did the trick.  I simply drilled a hole into a piece of scrap and used a square to make sure I was vertical.  I got the height measurement from the drawing using the bottom of the keel as a reference.  I measured the distance from the keel to the water line closest to the rudder and added the distance the ship was sitting off the surface in the jig.

 

 

Once I had it marked I masked off the area then proceeded to spray paint the red lower portion.  I will try painting the black upper section tomorrow.  Because of the white base coat, I will use that to incorporate the stripe in the hull.  I'm not sure what I will do for the yellow stripe yet.  I may use vinyl strip as David has mentioned above.  It may be the easiest.

 

It seems that my problems with the bow cap rail actually revert back to the stern.  Because I needed to extend the distance at the bow, I realized that the stern was sitting back a little too far.  Not that it overhung too far off the back.  Somewhere, I made something not completely correctly or built something to a slightly wrong dimension which resulted in a small misalignment.  The main sheet boom buffer wouldn't fit under the bench so I had to slightly extend it by about 1/8".  Shown below are before and after pics.

 

[Nirvana]

What I realized before created my waterline was to have the keel level correct. You will get that from the plans.

After that I used a laser level to get my line........ if it was correct or not is up to question. But using Amati build holder will not be the best way to the water line right.

My final waterline was okay.

[Tigersteve]

I like your homemade waterline jig. Looking forward to seeing it painted.

Steve

[Worldway]

Today I finished the bulk of the hull painting.  I still need to add the yellow pin stripe but that will come later.

 

Initially I painted the hull white then marked the waterline.  After masking the waterline with tape I painted the lower half red.

 

 

I then masked about 1/8" or so above the red to include a white stripe prior to painting the black

 

 

Once I did that I painted the upper part black.

 

 

 

I was quite happy with how it turned out.  There was minimal bleed through and the little there is can easily be touched up.  As mentioned previous in my log I used Washi Masking Tape that I bought off Ebay.  It was a while ago but if memory serves me correct, it was dirt cheap.  I think I got 30 rolls for a few dollars.  It worked very well and I was impressed with it.

 

I see that there are fresh marks where my hull was mounted on my build clamp.  I will sand them off and retouch them.  I will no longer use the clamp on this build and will very shortly build a proper base for it.  I ran out today and bought some felt to install in the base.

 

A couple of items I wouldn't mind help / advise on.  Although I'm no where near this point yet, but I'm wondering how the material that comes with the kit works for making sails?  It seems like a decent linen. However, when I was buying the felt at our local fabric store I also bought a meter of a heavier linen.  I'm not sure if I should use the kit material or the slightly heavier material that I bought.

 

I have also tried my luck at building the dories and quite frankly, they are a mess.  The kit material for this is very thin and the build fixture they provide is finnicky at best.  I may try my luck at scratch building a couple of dories.  The Bluenose had 8 dories because it used the dory trawl method for fishing. I think that 2 would still look proper to most people.

 

The above was taken from a page of the Bluenose II book I have.  I has a lot of great reference information.

[AON]

Paint job looks great.

I have no idea about linen sails.

I was taught to use silkspan and acrylic paint by David  Antscherl at a workshop he did a number of years ago.

[bhermann]

Derek

 

I am at the point of doing the sails in my build (sure, I've been at that point for a few years, but who's counting?).  I recall the kit material being too heavy, and using the heavier cloth you picked up would not be an improvement.  I have a quilter friend who provided me with some really light weight cloth that I am planning on using, although the silkspan that AON mentioned is rather intriguing.  The kit-supplied cloth is too far out of scale for my taste.

 

About the dories, I agree that the kit supplied material and jig is pretty chintzy.  I gave up on them early on after attempting to build one.  Now that I am retired and have more time, I may revisit that whole thing.  Or I may just say that I am representing Bluenose for racing and leave them off entirely.

 

Bob

[Worldway]

Thanks Bob, I agree with what you are saying about the dories.  Luckily this boat had two configurations, one for racing and one for fishing and the dories were removed for racing.  It is something, in my opinion, that won't affect the overall look of the Bluenose when complete and is also something that can be added in the future quite easily.  For now I may just leave them off and continue with the build.  

 

As for the sails, I don't know how to judge if the sail material is too heavy.  The kit material seems just fine to me and the heavier material I bought seems to be even more in line with a sail 'feel'.  Perhaps as you suggest, it is too heavy in regards to scale.

 

Alan, I have seen posts on the use of silkspan.  I am not familiar with it but who is one to argue with the teachings of David Antscherl.  I assume it is a very light material hence the need for acrylic paint to help strengthen it.  Perhaps I will raise the question of its use at our next meeting.

 

 

[AON]

Join the meeting on Sunday at 1:15 and you can ask him directly.

 

I have silkspan here and my sail I made at the seminar that I can show you.  I can drive over and you can look at it at a safe distance from me in your driveway.  Just give me a date and time.

 

The material reminds me of what they use for teabags and is more appropriate for the reduced scale.

[Worldway]

I spent part of the day working on a platform with which to set the Bluenose on.  I will use it for the rest of the build but may elect to build something more suitable for the finished model.  If I do decide to keep it, it will need a lot more finish work.

 

[Worldway]

I just finished the skylight and started to work on the companionway.  Again, I figure this would be easier to build if I started with a solid piece of wood.  I found some scraps and glued them together to get the desired width I needed.

 

 

Once completed I will still have to fabricate the Hoisting Engine Box and the Clutch Cover Box.  I think after that things will get a little tricky with the Jumbo Boom Crutch and Hoisting Machinery Support and the Windlass.  The Britannia fittings that come in the kit aren't the best but I'll have to work with them.  I did order some Pewter Black from Blue Jacket Shipcrafters.  It does a good job at blackening the Britannia fittings.

 

Once I finish up with the deck furniture and gear I will then paint everything.  I haven't decided on colours or how much I will paint.  I'm not too interested in staying true to the original Bluenose colours and colour detail.  That would mean more detail than I care to get into.  I will hopefully find a compromise that will still be appealing to look at and will be somewhat close to original.

 

Meeting with Alan and taking into consideration what Bob mentioned above, I've ordered some silkspan and will experiment with it over the next few months to see if I can produce decent looking sails.  If not, I'll revert back to the material that came with the kit.  As far as the heavier material I bought recently, perhaps I can make a shop apron or something similar from it.  It's definitely too heavy to be used as sails.

 

As you can now see, things have progressed nicely the last little while.  She's starting to take shape. 

 

 

 

 

[AON]

This will be one gorgeous finished model some day soon!

[Worldway]

Getting close to finishing the deck furniture.  The hoisting engine box is almost completed.  I just have to add the clutch cover box. I will build this bit out of a solid piece of wood.  I've glued up some wood and am waiting for it to dry prior to completing that part.

 

 

 

I glued up the arms of the jumbo boom crutch.  

 

 

Finally this afternoon I completed the samson post, bowsprit bits and platform

 

 

I'm hoping to be in position next week to break out the air brush.  I want to paint the deck furniture and the main rail.  Hopefully after that I will be in a position to finish the monkey rail and permanently install the deck furniture.

[Worldway]

Just a bit of an update.  Tomorrow I'm hoping to start painting the deck furniture.  I spent time today finishing last minute details and getting acquainted with my airbrush.  I've never used an airbrush so spent time watching videos on use and care.  One (or two) things I did was make my own batch of air brush cleaner and acrylic paint thinner.  Very simple to make with easy to get, inexpensive ingredients.  I put the bottles in a larger plastic pail as I they contain liquid with isopropyl alcohol and I'm not sure if it will react with the plastic bottles I have them in. In case there is a leak the larger bucket will contain the liquid.

 

I also bought a package of alligator clips mounted on wires.  I'm hoping they will work well holding the objects as I airbrush them.  I then drilled holes in a 2 x 6 to hold the clips while the paint dries.

 

 

I painted the cap rail and am in the process of forming the monkey rail base.  I used the leftover after removing the monkey rail from the laser cut sheet in order to form the monkey rail base curve for the taffrail.  I soaked the strip wood for 15 minutes before forming it but it still crimped in spots around the tight curve.  

 

 

 

Hopefully, if everything goes as planned, I'll be reporting on a successful paint job tomorrow.

[Nirvana]

Looking good! After a couple of times with the airbrush you will get hand of it. 

I worked with plain water to learn spray patterns before going to paint itself. 

[Worldway]

Disaster struck, and it's likely not what you're thinking, it's even worse.

 

I have a small shop and my workbench is at a height for standing while using.  A while back the admiral bought me a higher than normal chair so I could sit at the bench.  Excellent to have, one problem thought.  I'm not a tall man, only 5' 6".  In order to get in the chair I actually have to use a small foot stool to boost myself up with.  Once settled, it always seems I have to get up to grab something anyway so the chair was becoming more of an annoyance than a luxury.  However, today I was doing a lot of bench work and was happily using my chair.  In order to minimize the amount I had to come down off it, I moved a portable workstation closer to the chair.  It's where I set out a couple of drawings and the instructions and other things I could refer to when needed.  It's also where I store my Byrnes table saw.

 

After dinner I wanted to go down to the shop to get a few more things done.  I went to prop myself up in the chair and lost my balance.  I fell slightly backwards, stumbling, unable to get my footing and I inadvertently pushed the portable workstation over.  Of course, everything fell off the table on onto our cement floor, including my Byrnes saw.  I was devastated.  I didn't care about anything else that fell, just the saw.  I immediately picked it up, set it on the bench and started to assess the damage.

 

The most obvious was the fence.

 

 

But as I looked closer at things I noticed that the brass knurled nut on the fence slide wouldn't turn.  I removed the assembly and couldn't see any obvious signs of damage but the screw is probably bent and will need to be replaced.

 

 

I had one of the screws holding the table down break off.  It will have to be removed and replaced.

 

 

 

I also found another screw lying on the ground which broke off somewhere but for the life of me can't find where it came from.

 

 

From what I can tell that was the extent of the damage.

 

I've emailed Jim to get an idea of parts replacement costs, hoping I can replace a few parts and it will be good as new again.  If I lived closer I would likely sent the complete saw back to him to be rebuilt properly.

 

The worst part is, this saw hasn't been used a great deal.  I bought it with a thought that one day I would like to try my hand at scratch building and have slowly been amassing tools and equipment to do that.  I would hate to have significant damage on a saw that I've yet to truly enjoy.  But having said that, for the tumble it took, it came out pretty unscathed.

 

Here's hoping Jim will be able to send me what I need and I'll be able to make the saw new again.

 

[AON]

Sorry to read your tragic story.  I am assuming you didn't get hurt... or the shock of the damage to your saw has hidden any aches or pains you'll be feeling in the morning.  Check for bruises.

[bhermann]

Ouch!  I hope the repairs are as simple as what you describe, Derek, and hope you didn't do too much damage to the saw - or yourself.  I'm sure Mr. Byrnes will be most helpful.

 

Bob

[Worldway]

I spent the last two days painting and finishing the deck details.  I also attached all the eye bolts and belaying pins.

 

I haven't installed the dory kids yet because I'm still undecided if I will have the dories or not.  Also, I didn't spend as much time as perhaps I should have on the windlass.  The plans show wooden wedges installed but I thought, for simplicity, I would simply paint the windlass.

 

One problem I encountered was with the cathead.  The cast piece was very fragile and broke apart.  Even if it hadn't it may have been too brittle to use anyway.  Perhaps the blackening process weakened the fitting.  I'll have to come up with some other way of duplicating it.

 

 

 

It's been a lot of tedious work and has been a long time in the making.  The next steps are onward and upward.  I'm looking forward to the masts and rigging although I tend to think that it will be quite tedious as well.  This is my first attempt at rigging a ship so I hope it goes well for me.

[AON]

Very impressive work Derek.

Can't wait for the day I can come over and see it, or we get back to club face to face meetings and your bring it in to show!

The one schooner I rigged (my first and only involved rigging to date) was quite relaxing work.... although I found the ratlines to become a bit tedious after a short while.

[Worldway]

This could start to get very interesting.  The practicum I'm using for guidance doesn't do the rigging for sails.  The thought being is that the practicum is based on a beginner level and adding sails only complicates things.  However, I really want sails.  Therefore, I have a challenging journey ahead of me and will be using this forum for guidance as I go.

 

I did start by taking a length of 5/16" dowel and cut the base to form a 5/16" x 3/16" tenon on one end.  I got the idea of using a 1/4" sized block as a saw guide knowing if I cut down to the block I would be cutting down 1/16".

 

I then used my X-Acto chisel to remove the waste

 

 

Once the one side was complete, I shimmed it using a 1/16" spacer block to assure myself that I was cutting 180 degrees from the previous and repeated the process.

 

Nice tight fit

 

However, I noticed that I have a slight warp in the dowel.  It won't be as bad when I cut it down to length however I still want the warp removed.  Is there an easy way to remove a minor warp?

 

Also, the drawings says to taper the mast on the aft side & P/S.  What does that mean or refer to?? 

 

 

[AON]

Taper p/s means port and starboard to me but if it were tapered wouldn't it be symetrical?

[bhermann]

I remember the tapering of the masts to be an interesting topic.  I posted on my solution in my rebuilt log here (check post 33 for details):

 

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/217-bluenose-by-bhermann-model-shipways-2130-164/page/2/

 

It is one possible way to deal with the leading edge of the fore and main masts being kept straight.  I believe the booms and/or gaffs may have a similar shape as well.

 

Take it for what it is worth, Derek.

 

Bob

 

[Worldway]

Thanks for the information Alan and Bob, it proved to be very helpful.

 

One thing I did to guide me along was to label the foremast with port/starboard/aft.  It helped me to ensure I had the correct orientation with the mast.  Also I found the tenon at the base of the mast very useful in aligning or indexing the mast as required.

 

I cut the mast to length then tapered as required along the port/starboard/aft side. I found that by cutting the length of the dowel down to size and tapering 3 sides I virtually removed all warpage I have.  I then cut out for the cheeks and trestle trees.  I again used my guide blocks to limit the depth of cut and to index the mast. After installing the cheeks and trestle trees I installed the halliards, making sure they were tapered per the drawing.

 

After that I installed the halliard bands.  I used brass strips that came in the kit and cut them to length (circumference).  I drilled a hole for the eyebolt, installed it with the band and secured it with glue.

 

 

I made a lot of progress this weekend and am relatively happy with the results.  I realize there are some areas where I wished I had taken a different approach.  One big regret I have is not darkening the eyebolts on the deck furniture and rails.  I have a darkening agent which would have made it simple.  I probably should have darkened the brass bands and eyebolts on the foremast as well.

 

I think I'll spend the next few days trying to understand the drawings better and get a better understanding of the components that goes into the masts, booms etc. I was feeling a little overwhelmed (information overload) this afternoon and need to take a step back to review.  I want to compare my Practicum with the drawings to understand where I'm going and the steps that need to be taken. 

 

[Worldway]

I solved my Dory problem.  I downloaded a file from Thingyverse, rescaled it, emailed it to my local library and had them 3D printed.  For the $3.50 it cost I would say well worth it.

 

 

I need 8 for the Bluenose but ended up with 10.  It gives me two to play around with.  There will be two stacks of 4 each.  Only the top of each stack will need to be detailed.  I'll work on that over the next bit.  First up is to remove all the flashing and clean them up a bit.

[AON]

What material is this?

[David Lester]

That's a very cool solution for the dories, Derek. I found them to be a royal pain to do. In the end, they were acceptable (just) but I didn't enjoy building them. These look like they will work really well and save you a great deal of frustration.

David

[David Lester]

Also, I forgot to mention in my last posting - have you found this website: suburbanshipmodeler.com? You mentioned that you want to add sails and that Bob Hunt's practicum doesn't address the sails. The guy on this website built a Bluenose with sails and gives quite good instructions. You might find it helpful.

David

[John Ruy]

4 minutes ago, David Lester said:

suburbanshipmodeler.com

Thanks David, I have a MS Bluenose in my stash. This should be useful. 👍

 

Maybe Derek can help me out on this build. 😉 Now you know why I’m following your build, Derek. BTW, VERY nice work…