Charles W Morgan by texxn5 - FINISHED - Model Shipways - 1:64

[gjdale]

Dang, you can teach an old dog new tricks.

[texxn5]

Well put Grant....that's a good one.  Gotta love Larsen.  This old dog is definitely learning new tricks.

[texxn5]

Managed to get a little more done last night.

[texxn5]

Starts to get really fun once it starts to look like a ship instead of a bunch of crude wood.

[Sjors]

That looks great John !

 

You let her the natural look?

 

[trippwj]

Golly, John - you are just flying through this one!  Looking very nice each step of the way!  Your deck looks great, particularly when you consider that these were built for function over appearance!  A working whaling ship would have had a rather wornlooking deck, even with ongoing cleaning, since the whale blubber and oil was all processed there.

[texxn5]

Hi Sjors, thanks for the comments. I plan to leave the deck natural, and paint and copper the Hull. The inside of the Bulwarks are a light yellow ochre, which I intend to use.

[texxn5]

Thanks Wayne, yes things are moving right along much to my surprise.  The deck is definitely looking like a working ship, and back in the day the decks were a mess, even with cleaning and they always smelled bad as probably did the crew. 

[JPett]

Ahoy John

 

WOW, you have really made some progress since my last visit. I was kind of thinking you left on V-K . "lol" Where did you go, ship building school

 

She looks great, very impressive work

[texxn5]

Hi J.Pett, yes I've been busy. I haven't left on my extended trip yet. My RV keeps getting delayed and at last check it should arrive here tomorrow or Monday. So then it will be about a week before we hit the road. Headed to Maine, then back down the east coast to Florida then back home sometime in February. Just meandering down the road with no agenda.

Thanks for your input.

John

[JPett]

Ahoy John

 

Have a safe trip. I hope you like seafood, your hitting some of the best places in the country for it. Its one of the things I miss here in TX. The seafood is awful out here but I will say "the Steak is unbeatable"

[texxn5]

Yes, I love seafood.  I grew up near Corpus Christi, but learned to really eat seafood in Hawaii about 35 years ago.  I've also lived in Costa Rica and lived on seafood.  I even opened a seafood restaurant while I was there, called La Cebechera, and love Ceviche, so needless to say, I'll be eating a lot of seafood.

[texxn5]

Today, I got the catheads in, and the mooring chocks, and head chain chocks, and finsihed bracing the platform for the anchor deck. It will be planked later on. On the catheads, if you don't study the plans thoroughly, you can miss the eyebolts for the jib boom shrouds. I photographed it for anyone in the future. The Thumb Cleats are not discribed or shown well in the plans, as well as on the parts list they are identified as Longhorn Cleats for Davits. So I eventually figured out which ones were to be used. None of the Brittainia parts are discribed well, so careful matching to drawings is necessary for identification. It was cool to start using the metal parts and to begin the details.

[texxn5]

A few more for reference.

[Sjors]

Nice work John,

 

Let those pics coming   

 

[texxn5]

Thanks Sjors, I'm trying to document everything as I go, especially since the instructions are very vague. I spend more time trying to figure out what something is than actual construction of the ship. Your welcome for the pictures. Your build is coming along nicely also.

[Sjors]

Thanks John,

 

I know what you mean.

I have only a Spanish Manuel but also pictures, so I have to do it with that .

 

[texxn5]

I'm surprised someone hasn't translated that. At least you have some pictures, I only have some vague drawings. I have found another build on another site, but the pictures for the most part are distant and not close up, and when they are close, they seem to be in shadows where detail is involved. It is much better than nothing though. The log was 7-8 years ago, and never finished. Sounds like you do have it worse than me. Maybe decifering these things educates us more....myself, I'm having a huge learning curve.

John

[lambsbk]

Looks good John. I agree, the details are making this build start to pop.

[texxn5]

Hi Dave, yeah, it becomes more than a chunk of wood.  This is starting to get fun instead of rote construction.  It's all in the details. 

Thanks,

John

[rafine]

You're coming along really nicely, John. I built the Morgan from the ME kit some years ago and it turns out really well if you stick with it. You will enjoy doing all the fittings,furniture and details.

 

Bob

[texxn5]

I drilled out a dowel to make the insides of the chocks since these were not provided in the kit but look unfinished if not installed. Not as good as laser cut, but are ok. Moved on to the Head Trees and Cheek knees as well as installing the Anchor Hawse Pipes. Got everything in then saw something suspicious and identified a small piece of wire that is supposed to be in the back of the Catheads. This is only a line on the plan with no identification at all. I had to tear out the catheads to drill the hole for them since there was no room once they were installed. Frustration is occurring, becasue it would be very easy for the designer to simply add an arrow and say "small black wire", instead of letting you discover it when it's too late. If the anchor deck had been in I would have really had a disaster. The small wire eventually will hold a wrapped chain around it which holds the anchor in place when stowed. I will photo this tomorrow once I regain composure. Beware for future builds. Here's todays finale. I'm quitting for the night.

[texxn5]

a couple of more

[texxn5]

Hi Bob, welcome aboard. Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad someone else has built this. Did you have a build log, or photos that might be available? I am enjoying the build, however, the plans and instructions get vague which is why I am trying to construct this log with a lot of photos and discriptions for future builders that might access this. Maybe they can avoid my mistakes.

Thanks again,

John

[texxn5]

Here is the repaired catheads.  First is the plans where if one looks at the drawings, the profile drawing shows only a black dot below the curve piece that attaches to the bulwark, and the overhead drawing to the left showing the bow only shows a simple line through the cathead.  There is no identification of the wire.  It is very easy to overlook without very careful scrutiny.  I have taken college level engineering drafting, as well as designed irrigation systems, so I know how to read blueprints, yet still find details or clarification on certain items in these plans to be lacking.  The next pictures show a before and after the repairs for reference.  Thankfully, I discovered this before it would be real difficult to fix.

Edited July 12, 2013 by texxn5

[texxn5]

Here are before and after repairs

[JPett]

Ahoy John

 

I like to think there is a lot of "assuming"  when these plans are drafted

 

If you get my drift

Edited July 12, 2013 by JPett

[gjdale]

Nice catch John.

[texxn5]

Hi Jpett, you are right, there is a lot of assuming going on here.  If I had pictures for reference it would sure help.  Unfortunately, when I visit the ship next month, there won't be much to photograph because it is in a restoration and will have only been re-launched a couple of weeks.  There are models in the museum, which of course I will photograph the h*** out of.  Unfortunately I lost my photos from the last time I visited about 12-13 years ago.  So drift we will until that time....lol.

[texxn5]

Thanks Grant, barely in the nick of time!