Enterprize by Rick01 - FINISHED - scale 1:48 - Topsail Schooner

[vossiewulf]

Woohoo! The answer is carefully! (ducks)

 

Take a look here. I pinged them to see what AU shipping rates would be, here it's free shipping. They seem to carry a pretty large range of mid-price Japanese carving tools, which means like the ones I bought the steel will be very good but you may need to do some reshaping of bevels and flattening backs etc.

 

Look at this specifically. If you look at the people who viewed this also viewed list you'll see they have a series of knives like this, from mid-length to pencil handles with blades of varying shape and length, find the one(s) that work best for you. Best case you have at least three, one with the cutting edge aligned to the handle's long axis (straight blade) a skew like your marking knife, and something that faces more or less forward. The best I think is curved edge with tip almost facing pure forward, but keep in mind that sharpening curved edges is considerably trickier than straight edges.

 

There are at least a half-dozen basic ways to sharpen knives in terms of the kinds of stones. The performance/cost sweet spot IMO is Japanese water stones, good quality stones can be had for not much.

[Rick01]

Thanks for the links - I searched EBay pretty well from here and these guys didn't show up at all! I'll bookmark them for further investigation.

[Rick01]

Bowsprit step completed after a couple of tries and two days of fiddling to get everything to line up.

 

 

Bowsprit roughed up as it was needed to ensure the step fitted and sat in the correct position. I had to ensure it was tapered correctly, starting with an 8mm dowel placed in the chuck of a hand drill used as a lathe I tapered it to measure 7 mm down to 6 mm and then had to square the end to fit the step at the correct angle - that was a real pain as there was a lot of guesswork and fitting by eye, however I got there in the end. Getting the curve needed 24 hours of soaking but it did come out OK.

 

 

 

[vossiewulf]

On 6/10/2017 at 5:00 PM, Rick01 said:

Thanks for the links - I searched EBay pretty well from here and these guys didn't show up at all! I'll bookmark them for further investigation.

I got a reply from them BTW, they say they ship to Australia.

[Rick01]

Getting on slowly. Bow section near complete and looking pretty crowded.

 

Foremast is a temporary installation to get positioning of windlass etc. correct. Catheads have been rigged before fitting as it's so much easier than trying once crammed into the space available. Work is a little slow at the moment as I tripped a couple of weeks back and broke my femur - all pinned screwed and plated OK but sitting for any length of time to work on the model is rather painful!

[Rick01]

Construction is a little slow at the moment - as an amputee I'm battling with a broken hip (not that big a problem) but the crutches together with a partial tear of my rotator cuff and an inflamed bursar are causing mobility problems!

However I've managed to build lower and upper masts and started to dress them so I should be able to start some of the rigging shortly. I should probably add that fine work is a real problem due to the restricted movement of my shoulder. 

 

[Rick01]

I know the build is slow but I'm getting there. Lower masts now stepped

and main mast top plus boom etc. fitted.

 

Majority of the rigging has also been added with the ratlines yet to be installed and some loose ends tidied up.

 

 

[Rick01]

A little more progress. Fore mast being worked on now

 

Fore gaff, boom and yokes under construction

 

and assembled ready to be cleaned up and dressed.

 

[Rick01]

Got a few steps further.

Bilge pumps made and located but not yet fixed in place. Fore boom also completed. Ran out of parrels so gaff is still dismounted.

 

 

Bowsprit completed together with dolphin striker.

 

Little bit of the rigging also under way. This area is causing some problems - I've been on crutches for near 9 months and this has played havoc with my shoulders, surprisingly with fine work your shoulders seem to take quite a bit of strain which has meant that much of the rigging is on hold 'til I'm walking without crutches again - quite soon I hope.

 

Rick

 

[jct]

Super fine

[Rick01]

Down to the final bits now. I've approx. 30 rope coils to make and attach, anchors to secure, a stand to make plus a case and I'm finished. I'm back on two legs at last but 8 months of crutches have ruined my left shoulder so fine rope work is a bit of a pain but I'm getting there. There are problems with it but for my first scratch build I'm happy.

[Wintergreen]

Rope coils are fun. Just like ratlines. 

Just kidding, you've done a great job with your first scratch project Rick.

 

Regarding coils, it will help if you wet them with diluted white glue and then coil them, is my experience.

 

 

[Rick01]

Completed at last - I still have to make a stand and case for it but otherwise I've actually made a Scratch built model!! May not be the best one on the forum but I'm happy with the result.

 

Rick

[Freezing Parrot]

That's definitely something to be proud of! I bow to your skill, sir! (Wait, am I supposed to doff my cap too, or something?)

[Rick01]

 

1 hour ago, Freezing Parrot said:

That's definitely something to be proud of! I bow to your skill, sir!

Thanks Mike - I had good plans to follow and honestly it's more a "workman like" model than anything else. It is fun to get  one uder your belt once you've knocked over a couple of kits.

 

Rick