Prince De Neufchatel by emeneink - Model Shipways

[Jimz66]

Looking very nice sir. Very nice. 

[enemeink]

Beautiful craftsmanship! I hope the lapse in postings doesn't mean that the project has been abandoned.

Will we ever be allowed to see the completed model?

 *cough cough cough... pardon the dust and cobwebs.... I haven't abandoned this. It's still on the workbench and not shelved. Life has been busy, and I haven't had time for much else thanks to my odd desire to go back to school and finish a degree, and pursue another. Damn life goals... Will this be the year I polish this off? I'm hoping so. I actually started about a week or two ago. but since I hadn't touched this is so long I 1.) forgot where I left off. (seriously. looking at rigging plans and trying to decipher where I left off and needed to be was a head scratcher). 2.) lost my touch/technique and my work quality looked pretty poor. 3.) spent time going back and fixing things from #2 that I wasn't happy with.  So. Two weeks back and I think I have my groove again. Pictures will be forth coming.

[enemeink]

annnnd here's an update.

 

 

 

See ya next year! haha kidding

Edited March 16, 2018 by enemeink

[enemeink]

bow spirit standing rigging is complete, well as much as I can tell. I have started shaping spars to get those moving. Good times! Enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 16, 2018 by enemeink

[Barbossa]

Welcome back !

[enemeink]

It’s been awhile. Again. But in my defense, I’ve completed two degrees, moved homes twice, and displaced my workbench about half a dozen times. However, I’ve never truly put the ship away or given up on it. I’ve merely put it off. So I’m here, still.  And looking to get back at it. I’ve been lurking on and off. So I’ve never truly left, I’ve just been absent. But I need to do some repair work to a broken spar that was a work in progress that became a casualty of the moving and shuffling. Luckily it was only a small piece and easy to fix. Hopefully now my work bench is in its final work space and won’t ever have to move again.

 

Also, I have plenty of broken image links. This may have already been discussed at great lengths in my absence, but apparently Photobucket has decided to disable third party links, unless I pay a $399 a year subscription. Yeah not going to happen. So I’ll start moving these out of photobucket and just put them here. I just need to figure out which ones are missing.

 

This would also explains why the older source material pictures I was referencing seems to have all but disappeared from the internet… good times.

[enemeink]

Managed to get my bench set up and the spar repaired. I now need to add a couple of blocks and it'll be ready to be attached.

[enemeink]

I've decided to put the spar off until the other mast is completed and installed. It's been slow battle with spring "trying" to warm up...

 

As I was making the mast I realized that I was missing one of the mast caps (#8 on the drawing) so I had to make one from scratch. The small walnut strips I have worked the best and we're fairly easy to shape. I just need to make the cheeks and top and I can get it painted and sealed. Also I wrap the painters tape on the mast to keep finger oils and dirt out of the wood as I'm shaping the mast, since this will be stained a natural color.

[enemeink]

When I started this kit back in 2009, I never would have thought that I'd be here, almost 16 years later and still not have this finished. To be fair, I never stopped or gave up on her. I've just had long breaks in between. I started before I had children, and well, children and life took priority. But I'd sit down and work in spurts over the years. I've moved 5 times since starting this kit, but it never got tucked away in some forgotten corner. She just sat quietly on my work bench and listened to my kids grow from toddlers to teenagers. It would sing it's siren song and call to me when I need to clear my head or have a quiet moment to myself. And there I would work on it for 5 or 10 minutes when I had the chance, in between dance recitals, family movie nights, hikes, or date nights with the Mrs. 

 

I haven't been as diligent at taking pictures as I should have, as progress has been imperceptivity slow, for years. But I'm close to finishing. And I have been for years. But this year I've been committed to at least 5 minutes per day to finish, doing something, even if it's just dusting. But life still goes on. and sometimes 5 minutes per day, is 5 minutes every other day. Or an hour on the weekend. I'm on the shrouds now. Once those are done it's just the fore braces and I'm done. I still don't know where I'm going to put her display case (that I either need to buy or build from scratch). But that's tomorrows problem. 

[ccoyle]

23 minutes ago, enemeink said:

I never would have thought that I'd be here, almost 16 years later and still not have this finished

 

But it looks like you will indeed finish -- which is something that can't be said for a lot of ship modeling projects that get started! So keep plugging away!

[Dr PR]

Very nice model! I started my current topsail schooner build almost 40 years ago, and am finally getting close to the finish! Like you marriage, family, house and work really interfered with my ship modeling!

 

I am looking forward to your finished model - however long it takes.