Gloucester Fishing Schooner by Alfons - BlueJacket Shipcrafters - scale 1:48 - first build

[Alfons]

Thanks russ, Bob x 2, and Elia. I am quite happy with the outcome.

 

During the last week I have soldered brass rings to the lugs, allowing for future installation of foot ropes and stays. Next step is blackening.

 

I am also working with the complete assembly of the bow spirit, paying special attention to the painting process. I am shooting a few pictures as I move along, hopefully I will be able to post the full story within the next week or so.

 

Thanks for dropping by.

/Alfons

[Alfons]

Here is an update on the jibb boom assembly.

 

I spent a few hours cutting the slots for the two brass discs. For a while I did consider not using discs, just drilling holes. But as always, the details adds up to a much more nice result in the end. No cutting corners here.

 

 

Secondly, I made the two pieces that will hold the jibb sail in place. I also had to decide the color of the natural part of the boom, serving as master for masts and booms. I ended up using the same color as for the deck, without any primer being applied prior to painting. Once dry, I gave the boom a good rubbing with fine steel wool. The result came out pretty OK, and I feel confident using the same technique on other natural rig parts.

 

 

That about as far as I came, before cleaning my work bench and putting all tools and stuff in boxes. The reason is that we are about to sell our flat, and I need to display a clean office, rather than an cosy man cave

Hopefully I will be back in the game again soon, maybe even with a more spacious man cave, allowing for rigging to get started. In the mean time, I will follow you all at MSW.

 

Thanks for dropping by.

/Alfons.

[Wintergreen]

Very neat as always Alfons

Hope your switch of living area will goes smoothly, because I assume your moving to a bigger/better suited place.

 

We'll wait for your updates, be assured!

[russ]

Alfons:

Nice work on the sheaves. That was carefully done. Much better than simple holes.

 

Russ

[captainbob]

Nice work, Alfons,

 

Doing things like putting in the sheaves instead of just holes encourages us all to add more detail to our builds.

 

Thanks for the push.

 

Bob

[Timothy Wood]

Beautiful work Alfons, you have the skill and insight.  Truly an inspiration to all of us.

Keep the photos coming!

 

Cheers,

Tim

[cog]

Alfonse,

 

Havenlt been around a while, you have come up with some stunning details. Sorry to hear you have to diminish on building, but if you may have a larger building spot ... that should be worth the wait! Good luck moving. I've done my share of that and not enjoyed it much. Hope yours goes smoooothhhly

[Alfons]

Håkan, Russ, Bob, Tim, and Carl, thanks for your nice worlds and encouragement.

 

My tools are still packed away in boxes   But I am more than eager to get started on the Schooner again. The final painting of the bow spirit and jibb boom needs to be completed, as does final detailing of the dory. All working steps are planned in detail in my mind

 

The good news is that we have sold the flat, and have started looking for something more spacious. Hopefully I will be up and running at full speed latest by beginning of September. I will be on parental leave from June to December (this is one reason why we have so high taxes in Sweden..), hopefully I will be able to work on the rigging during this time.

 

Thanks for dropping by.

/Alfons

 

[jpeghiny]

Alfons,

I too have sold my house and am in the process of moving.

Best of luck to you and we'll catch up sometime in the winter!

Jamie

[Alfons]

Fellow ship builders. At last, I have started working on my Schooner again, feels great to be back. But rest assured, I have followed many builds in MSW during the last 6 months.

 

I can't help noticing that the forum has taken a turn to period ships during the last year or so. Don't get me wrong though, I really appreciate all the efforts and nice logs of such builds as well. Hopefully there are still a few of you left that will apprechiate my Schooner log.

 

Anyways, I have completed the bow spirit. It is now complete with rigging details and dry fitted to the ship. I shall wait to glue it in place for a while, since the model will be so much more fragile once the assembly is fitted. The most challenging parts in completing the bow spirit were achieving a nice and clean mask between the black and white paint, and furthermore getting those tiny rigging details in place. Furthermore, soldering the jibb boom wye was a real challenge, as decried in previous posts.

 

I am happy with the outcome, the assembly appears crisp and without any real visible flaws.

 

I have started planning my next major step, which is to mount the model to its brass stands to my display board. Am i right in thinking that the water line needs to be horizontal, and that the full length of the ship will be "covered" by the length of the display board? Are there any rules of thumb when it comes to the brass stands positioning relative to the masts?

 

Enough said, I hope you enjoy the following pictures.

 

Over and out

 

/Alfons

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note the small bolt head on the underside of the jibb boom end . There are two iron rings in the jibb boom wey, allowing for both foot ropes and jibb boom guys to be fitted to port and starboard sides.

 

[ZyXuz]

very detail on the bowsprit

[Elia]

Alfons,

 

Rest assured there are schooner fans here very interested in you Smuggler build!

 

That is beautiful detail work on the bowsprit and jib boom.  Very clean and crisp.  Those sheaves look very smart in the jib boom, as does all of the ironwork.  I like that lower eyebolt 'nut' detail.  Sweet.  Very very nice sir.

 

Cheers,

 

Elia

[captainbob]

Beautiful work.

 

Bob

[russ]

The bowsprit detail looks good. Nice work.

 

Russ

[Alfons]

Thanks for the nice words, its good to be back in the game again!

 

/Alfons

[Alfons]

I am applying the final touches to the hull, preparing for mounting to model to its brass stands. The ornaments at the stem required some color. This turned out to be really tricky. 

 

First try, yellow paint applied with a small brush. The paint bled, creating a mess. 

 

Having thought about different approaches I came up with the idea to use a permanent marker.

 

Second try, gold paint applied. Much easier then using a brush, but still very challenging to keep a steady hand. i did not yet decide weather to go for a third attempt.

 

/Alfons

 

 

[olliechristo]

That does look tricky, I think you have done well and looks really good, second one with pen looks much better without any doubt..  Ollie

[captainbob]

Nice gold scroll work.  I've been wondering how I was going to do that on my next build.

 

Bob

[russ]

Alfons:

That scroll work looks fantastic. Excellent work.

 

Russ

[Timothy Wood]

_{She looks great!} 

[Alfons]

Thanks to all of you!

 

I have completed the area around the cat heads. Small details and tricky soldering. The most challenging parts were the iron bars that connects to the hull sides. I made them from wire, flattened in both ends and then filed to shape. Finally, a hole was drilled in each end. 

 

Once again, I got use of my bolt heads, great product that brings an additional level of detail. Can you spot them in the pictures??

 

Time has come to mount the model to its brass stands and to the base board. Having done that, I will dry fit all the deck structures and post a few pictures displaying the complete status as per start of 2014.

 

Next step is to complete all the ring- and eye bolts and other deck fittings. There are also a few cleats that needs to come on.

 

I wish all of you a merry christmas and a happy new year!

 

Best regards from a windy Stockholm.

/Alfons

 

 

 

Edited July 15, 2014 by Alfons

[gerty]

Nice job with the scroll work and I enjoy the pics !

Edited December 23, 2013 by gerty

[captainbob]

Beautiful work you set a high mark for the rest of us.

 

Bob

[Sailor1234567890]

Looking great. Keep up the posts so we can keep up with your build.

[Anthony corboy]

hi to you all this is my first txt to the forum I am a welder by trade ( boilermaker) I think you will find that with most welding brazing or soldering that if the alloy is of a bad quality you will never get it to take or  fuse together so it can be a bit hit and miss unless you no you have a good  quality casting or material hope this helps from Anthony

[Alfons]

I really appreciate your comments and feedback, thanks.

 

Anthony, warm welcome to MSW. Your comment about the quality of the alloy makes perfect sense. Mine, and perhaps others, problem, is how to separate good from poor quality. Perhaps you could offer me some hints?

 

/Alfons

[Anthony corboy]

hi alfons  thanks for the welcome , you would most likely have to contact the manufacturers of the products . I must say that the standard of work at sutch a small scale from you and the other modelers  is amasing . i think that there are other ways that these small workings could be made . it would be grate to see someone out there have a go at doing some small castings out of molten metal . in the past i have welded up some very small objects with tig welding its amasing how fine you can weld to with the tig welder , also the tig welder will do a beautiful weld on lead and copper and of corse  stainless and carbon steel . the welders that come out of china are grate welders with high frequency and are only a few hundred dollars it would not take long with a bit of practise to be able to use one . hope i have not gone on to long thanks anthony

[Sailor1234567890]

Any wide views of the model lately? 

[Alfons]

Anthony, thanks for your reply. I do recall having seen one or two postings were people had a go at moldings with metal, perhaps this was on the old forum though (before the crash). Anyhows, there is a topic dedicated to metals and soldering. Perhaps I can challenge you to make some creations using metal molds or even TIG welding, and post them for us all to learn from. All contributions are welcome. Did you plan to start building your own model? I can highly recomend it!

 

Sailor123...Thanks for asking. My build has taken a different turn then previously planned. Having dug my base board out from the closet, I realised that it is rather big, that is about 35" long. Once the Schooner is mounted to it, the model will take up much more space. Instead, I am now applying all remaining details to the deck. Currently, the chain plates and lots of eye bolts are under assembly. Nevertheless, I shall try to post some pictures during the comming days or so, stay tuned..

 

/Alfons

[Anthony corboy]

alfons I must say you have forced my hand I am now going to have to learn how to put photos on here lol . I used to look in on the old forum but was not a member , even then I learnt lots . ive made two models the hms supply and the Hermione Lafayette by AL and I am two years into the making of the soliel royal by mantua .I am lucky one of the builders on here is doing the same model and is well into the rigging and man has he dun some research into it . I will be using his build log as a bibble  as I am about to start the rigging . thanks for talking to a first timer . this really is a grate forum ,will keep watching your wonderful model develop .