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

[GuntherMT]

Glad they came through for you with the deadeyes John.  Going to be finished in no time!  

[Guest Tim I.]

Looking good!

 

- Tim

[lesterpalifka]

looking really great John...as a suggestion you might want to make the rigging on the shroud dead eyes black as on the real ship we covered them in pine tar with a coating of black varnish which is a combination of pine tar ship black and shellack........i'll email you some pictures oof the rigging so you can see.....Lester

[mobbsie]

Hi John,

 

No worries mate, glad they came through for you.

 

You've certainly made good use of them, lovely rigging mate.

 

Be Good

 

mobbsie

[texxn5]

Hello to everyone and thanks for all the likes and comments.

 

After 4 days of hard labor I managed to install and finish the Cutting-In Tackle. These are the lines that handle the Blubber and whale parts much like a crane. I went into this procedure in depth on my website as there is not much info on this on the plans or instructions. Please refer to the website for anyone interested. I'll just show some photos here for reference. I used Chuck's 5/16" and 9/32" specialty blocks for this and I am really happy I did. The kit blocks were just a rough laser cut oblong circle and unusable....why did they bother??? This was rigged here at this time as nothing is in the way and I'm really glad I did it now instead of later.

[texxn5]

Some more

[texxn5]

A couple of more

[texxn5]

Finished off

[GLakie]

Nice job John! Good call on replacing those cheesy kit-supplied blocks with Chuck's. Makes a world of difference. I'll be doing the same on mine when I get to it.

 

Cheers

[GuntherMT]

Nicely done John.  Your log is making me look forward to seeing the real CW Morgan next October at the conference!

[texxn5]

Thanks George, they are so cheesy I can't even believe they call them blocks. I'm going to photograph them and post it in a minute - they're that bad.

[texxn5]

This is what Model Shipways calls a specialty block.

Edited February 20, 2015 by texxn5

[texxn5]

Thanks Brian, you will definitely enjoy seeing her for real. I'll probably go back next year to see her restored. I saw her in Sept '13 prior to rigging but that was the 4th time I'd been aboard her over about 25 years.

[GLakie]

This is what MSW calls a specialty block.

They look like a vitamin or something.   Hard to believe they actually charge for those.   

[texxn5]

More like an enema or similar....

Edited February 20, 2015 by texxn5

[Piet]

Very nicely done John, the research paid off!

 

Cheers,

[gjdale]

Great work John. Replacing the blocks was certainly a good call.

[lesterpalifka]

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!... that rigging is looking fantastic John... keep up the great work...blubber hook and tail hook looks great....

[texxn5]

Thanks guys for all the comments. Changing the blocks made all the difference. Thanks Lester, glad you like the results.

[popeye the sailor]

been a while since I looked in John.......been very distracted lately    seeing your progress put a smile on my face though......you've done a super job......especially with the block issue you had.   she looking really sweet!

[texxn5]

Hi Dennis, thanks for stoping by, hope all is well on your end. Glad I got a smile out of ya. The block solution getting them from Chuck made all the difference in how it turned out. His quality is unsurpassed. Thanks for the kudos!

[Guest Tim I.]

John,

 

Your Morgan is looking stellar. The Cutting in Blocks turned out great!

 

- Tim

[texxn5]

Thanks for all the visits and likes, much appreciated. I started installing the Ratboards today. It took me most of today to figure out how to lash them and find a suitable thread to use. I'm using a square lashing. This is going to take forever and I'm going to go nuts before this is completed. I got 5 done for the day.

[GLakie]

Looks good John! And it looks like they'd be as difficult, or worse, than regular rope ratlines to install. 

 

Cheers

[texxn5]

Hi George, yeah, these are actually more complicated than ratlines. With ratlines all you need is a clove hitch. I detailed the procedure on my website for lashing them and have photos of the steps. It was too much to duplicate it here so I just showed the results. Thanks for stopping by....

[texxn5]

Thanks to all who stopped by and hit the like button. Finished the Port Mizzen Ratboards, built the port side Running light and installed it. Also discovered (thanks Lester) that the bottom Ratboard is actually a metal rod and it is served, so I replaced it with the proper configuration.

[JerseyCity Frankie]

Oh dear I worry the lashings on those ratlines are made of too thick stuff. 

[texxn5]

Hi Frankie, I can't say I disagree with you. It seems to swell up when I stain it. I have really had problems finding a thin enough thread that can be worked with. In tying these small knots it's difficult to handle the ends of the thread. The problem now is that I have too many of them installed to change them out without destroying the Mizzen.....still thinking

[texxn5]

Hi Frankie, I really want to thank you for pointing this out to me. As I sat back and looked at it I rally could see how bad it looked. I hate to have to tear things apart, but I started trying. I was so caught up in what I was doing, I failed to look at it objectively. Your comment woke me up to my oblivion. It is a slow process but I'm tackling it now. Part of the problem is that I glued the string with Testor's Green cement and it is the devil to get loose. Plus the fact that the string I used is cotton, so it comes apart. Have no fear - Chuck is here to bail me out. I have some of his light brown .008 line that I had set aside for something else and it works perfectly - only problem is I don't have enough of it, so I have to get an order in to him asap. Thanks again, I'll post pictures shortly.

John

[JerseyCity Frankie]

It pained me greatly to say anything at all critical of your otherwise really impressive model. I had strong misgivings about saying anything! I know myself, I have a hard time accepting criticism, its a character flaw of mine.