Philadelphia by Elijah - Model Shipways - 1:24 Scale - Continental Gunboat

[Tigersteve]

Love the finish and wood color you’ve achieved. 
Steve

[Elijah]

Thank you very much, a lot of the credit goes to Kurt Van Dahm for supplying me with the stains he used on his model.

[mikiek]

The interior or your boat, both materials & colors is so cool looking. I'd love to see you take a few macro photos of that. I suspect it would be very realistic.

 

Glad you got the cap rail off.

[Elijah]

Thanks Mike, that’s a good idea, I think I will when I can.

[Elijah]

Got the cap rails on. I had to trim the largest one on the starboard side to ensure they would come out even at the bow, so I hope that doesn't throw anything off. Anyway, moving on.

 

 

[rafine]

Wow, that looks great.

 

Bob

[Chuck]

Looks fantastic!!!  I really enjoy your updates.  😃

[DocBlake]

Outstanding work, Elijah!

[Elijah]

Thanks Bob, Doc and Chuck! It’s really an honor hearing that from you Chuck, considering how much of your materials I use. They really do wonders for the overall feel of any build.

[Elijah]

I don’t have the tackles rigged yet, but thinking ahead, I’m wondering how I’ll secure the guns to the model. The instructions suggest using pins and Kurt’s articles suggest using a small wooden dowel. I’ve tried looking through a few logs on here and I haven’t been able to find any other method. Any advice? Right now I’m leaning towards the dowel, but I’d rather have something a little less visible if possible.

[vaddoc]

Elijah you are building a fantastic model, looking forward to the rest of the journey. Love your work bench!

[JesseLee]

I love the look and finish of the deck planking!

[Elijah]

Thank you vaddoc and Jesse! 

[Elijah]

So after a chaotic few months of school (let’s be realistic, they were all chaotic this year) and graduating and getting a job, along with a bunch of other stuff, I have finally made some progress on the Philadelphia!

 

The first order of business was finally finishing rigging the cannons. I got the tackles rigged, but I haven’t done the final assembly because I’ll be installing them a little bit later, but at least the rigging portion is done. I still haven’t figured out how exactly I’ll mount them, but now I’m leaning towards Kurt’s dowel idea.

 

 

 

After that, I decided I was tired of looking at the broken shot rail, so I added the cannonballs which resolved the issue.

 

 

 

At that point I was in the mood to finish things, so I finished the hawse pipes. I’d been avoiding them for ages because I had been nervous about the glue joint, but it really was nothing to worry about. I painted the photo etch parts before adding them to the model, but I left the underside bare so as not to have a glue-on-paint joint.

 

 

 

I then added the catheads and mooring bits, which really changed the character of the bow. 
 

 

 

Finally, I made the thole pins. These were a bit tricky because I had to maintain them at an even height above the rail, but there are several obstacles inside the hull which forced me to cut some of them shorter than others. I used a small piece of wood as reference for all the heights, and when I needed to shorten a piece I just placed it upside down and marked the amount of wood above the reference height as a way to know exactly how much to cut off. 

 

 

Anyway, that’s where I’m at now. I’m very eager to try to finish this before I leave in the fall, but we’ll see if I can do it. I’ve spent most of this build preparing parts to go on without actually adding them, so for the most part, the rest of this should pretty much be a matter of rigging. I have to be extra sparing with my line now because Chuck is no longer making it, so I may reconsider my plans for having sails, but we shall see. Alright, that’s all for now!

 

Edited June 12, 2021 by Elijah
Sorry, my bad connection messed with the photos. They should show up now!

[Tigersteve]

Great work as usual. 
Steve

[DocBlake]

Really beautiful, Elijah!  I hope I can see her in person next year in Manitowoc!

[mikiek]

Holy crap Elijah - pardon the French but you have amazed me in so may ways. I remember when you first signed in - working with your build and what seemed like some school on the side. Now graduating (congratulations), getting a job and still finding some time for "leisure work" . You are truly an amazing young man! And the build just keeps getting better and better. You are a model for kids your age to aspire to be.

[Elijah]

Thank you very much Steve, Doc and Mike!

I will say, it's been quite eye opening how difficult it becomes to get stuff done as you get older. I just hope I can make it to Manitowoc next year! I haven't gotten much done in the way of building since my last post, but I did do the Mac race so here's a couple photos of our boat taken by the helicopter guy who flew over us, (credit to him/her) . We raced in section 4 and unfortunately placed 10th out of 11, but it was still a lot of fun!

 

[mikiek]

Looks like fun!