Bluenose by CPDDET - Model Shipways - Scale 1:64 - First ship build

[Retired guy]

Coming along brilliantly Dave 👍

 

Regards

Richard 

[CPDDET]

Thanks Richard!

[CPDDET]

Thought I would post my building the bowsprit, even though it’s not totally finished.

 

First off I would like to thank all of those who were kind enough to detail how they built this piece, including Suburban Ship Modeler, Ed KU20, Retired Guy and many others. Never could have done it without their documentation.

 

I really wanted to build this part from scratch and decided to use poplar wood. It’s a step above basswood, cheap and readily available at big box stores like Lowes. But I fount still to be a bit too “fuzzy”, although it does give a bit better detail than basswood. Cherry would have been a better choice as it’s also readily available (at least where I live) not too expensive and allows much better detail than either poplar or basswood. When my skills progress further I will invest in more expensive wood types.

 

While the plans call for the bowsprit to be painted white inboard and black outboard, I decided that I might want to stain the outboard portion and cherry wouldn’t have worked for that unless I wanted to do the masts in the same wood, which I didn’t. The poplar allowed me the option of either painting or staining the outboard portion.

 

I started with a ¼ inch, square piece of poplar and turned it on the lathe

 

Then, after taking several measurements, I marked the spar in locations for the taper at each end.

 

Putting the spar on the mill, I cut grooves at the marked locations. The more the taper, the deeper the groove and vice versa. This would allow a guide when sanding to shape.

 

I locked the spar in a vice and carefully sanded the top and sides to the proper shape, leaving the bottom of the spar a straight line (per the ships plans)

 

Putting the spar back in the lathe, I cut the 2 stepped areas at the forward tip.

 

After trimming the square area to the proper length, I tapered the sides

 

I marked the square area for the chamfers

 

Then put the piece back in the mill to cut the chamfers

 

This is the finished square area. As you can see I didnt cut the tenon on the end as I didnt think far enough ahead and cut a mortise in the Samson post for it. But a test fit showed a nice snug fit between the deck and platform, and the tenon wouldn't show anyway.

 

And this is the top view of the finished bowsprit

 

All and all I was pretty happy with the shape, as it’s a bit tricky to get right with the bottom a straight line and the top kind of “humped”.

Now it’s on to “dress” the bowsprit, which will put my metal working and soldering skills to the test.

Edited April 4, 2022 by CPDDET
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[Nirvana]

Dave, that is beautiful milling. Now I want a milling machine as well. But IRS wants my money first🤔

Cherry is very nice to work with and available at stores like Ace etc.

[CPDDET]

Damned IRS! 🤪

[Nirvana]

My bowsprit is all done by hand, lots of sanding and manual carving with knife. 
Not as beautiful done as yours but I think it will pass for a less picky eye than mine.

[CPDDET]

3 minutes ago, Nirvana said:

My bowsprit is all done by hand, lots of sanding and manual carving with knife. 
Not as beautiful done as yours but I think it will pass for a less picky eye than mine.

Your ahead of me. At 71 years old my hands aren't steady enough for a carving knife. 

[Nirvana]

Maybe a sherline mill isn't so expensive after all, take a look at this unit!

 

[CPDDET]

5 hours ago, Nirvana said:

Maybe a sherline mill isn't so expensive after all, take a look at this unit!

 

Holy smokes!

[Ed Ku20]

Dave, awesome job on the bowsprit!  It looks great.  However, you've given me a case of tool envy!!  Gonna have to think about investing in a milling machine for my next build.

[CPDDET]

3 hours ago, Ed Ku20 said:

Dave, awesome job on the bowsprit!  It looks great.  However, you've given me a case of tool envy!!  Gonna have to think about investing in a milling machine for my next build.

Yes, it's nice to have such a tool. But it's a huge learning curve for me. Having no experience at all with a mill, or lathe for that matter, has hampered my ability to use it to it's full advantage. These tools are great but having the knowledge on how to use them is the real key. No magic pill here.

[CPDDET]

Started off making the battens for the jib stops. Had some scrap cherry so decided to use that.

 

Then, after consulting with my usual mentors, made the bands and eyes. My plan shows the eyes slanting toward the ship so I cut the eye pieces at an angle to achieve this and drilled holes in them.

 

This was the set up I used to solder the eyes to the bands. I found that using silver bearing solder paste worked great. It has a low flow temp, 450 degrees, and has flux mixed right in. I was able to place very small amounts where needed using a soldering pick. The brand I used was “Solder-It” but solder paste is much cheaper if purchased at a jewelers supply, like Rio Grande. The weights I used to hold the hemostats in place are just BB’s in small ziplock bags. I got 4 pounds of BB’s for 10 bucks on Amazon.

 

 

 

Mounted the band on a drill bit shaft. Then mounted the drill bit on a hand vice and the hand vice on a bench vice. This gave me a sturdy mount to file the eyes into a rounded shape.

 

Test fit before final cleaning and blackening

 

[Ed Ku20]

Wow!  Looks awesome Dave.  I knew you would come up with something special.

[GrandpaPhil]

Looking good!

[CPDDET]

Took me forever but finally have the shackles mostly done for the bowsprit rigging. 

 

Started off wrapping a thin brass strip around a 1/16 brass rod. Then drilled a hole in each one for the pin. The rest of the shaping was done with files.

 

Still have to clean these up and blacken them. The pin (a small brass bolt being used) will be trimmed after being installed.

 

 

 

[Ed Ku20]

Nice job Dave!  You got the top of the shackle really thin.  I know that it takes a lot of patience to do that much filing!  Get ready....you're going to need a bunch more of these little babies for the rest of the rigging!

 

Keep up the good work!

Ed

 

[Retired guy]

Coming  along nicely Dave 👍

 

Regards

Richard

[CPDDET]

Finally got back to building the turnbuckles. Life gets in the way this time of year with spring yard work and camping trips.

 

I really wanted the turnbuckles to be open on both sides, as a real one would be. The challenge was to open one side and then rotate the brass tube as close to 180 degrees as possible to open the opposite side.

 

I began by drilling a 1/32 hole in one end of a 1/16^th brass tube, about 3 inches long. I used the tried and true “block method” to get it centered on the tube.

 

Then drilled a 1/32 hole in a piece of brass scrap and used an old 1/32 drill bit for an alignment pin. Tacked down the rest of the tube with CA to hold it firmly in place.

 

Put that in the mill and, using an end mill, cut down to open one side.  

After a soak in acetone, I flipped the tube over and opened the other side. Then used my rotary tool with a cut off disk to separate the individual pieces.

I fashioned the simulated “bolts” from 22 gauge wire.

Now I have to clean up all the pieces, and the previously made shackles and get the either blackened or painted black before assembling.

[Toolman]

Nice work.  I'm taking this all in for my BN build.

[CPDDET]

Been awhile since my last update. I was stupid enough to dash out onto the wet patio in flip-flops and found out 71 year old's aren’t supposed to do the splits. Injured my right hamstring and just now getting back to normal.

 

I used the mill to make the links needed for the bowsprit rigging. Sorry I didn’t take more pictures, sometimes I get so involved in the work I forget to take photos. I cut a strip of 1/64^th thick brass and used double stick Nitto tape to mount it to a piece of wood. Then used the mill to cut out the centers of each link. Used my rotary tool with a cut off disk to separate the individual links. A quick filing rounded off the outside edges to finish them off.

 

 

 

 

Then it was time to assemble the shackles, turnbuckle and to attach them to the bowsprit. Used small brass bolts for the shackle pins. These close-up photos make things look a bit rough but from normal viewing distance they look pretty good. Just need some paint touchup.

 

 

 

Had to sand off the hull paint to firmly attach the bobstay plates. Here’s a pic of the installed plates with the links. Still need to repaint.

 

 

So it’s onward and upward, have to make the plates and staples for the backrope now.

Dave

[Ed Ku20]

Dave, nice job on the turnbuckles. I like the way you opened both sides. What did you use for the bolts in the plates?  I'm surprised you removed the paint? I dipped the bolts in some CA and inserted them in the holes. This held the plates securely for me.  You always go the extra mile!  Looking amazing. 

Ed

[CPDDET]

Thanks Ed, that's quite a compliment coming from someone with your skills.

 

I didn't want the plates to adhere only to the paint on the hull so decided to sand off the paint and attach them directly to the wood.

 

Used a #74 drill bit to "tap" holes through the plate and into the hull after securing it with gel CA.

 

The "bolts" are brass nails. Shaft .026 and head .055. The ones I had were much too long so I cut them down to about 1/8 inch. Dipped the end in gel CA and used pin push pliers to set them flush.

 

At this point not sure if I should do the rigging for the bowsprit now or leave it until I get to rigging the rest of the ship.

Lots to do before I get to that point.

Dave

 

 

[Ed Ku20]

I pre-rigged the bowsprit off the ship.  I notice a lot of modelers do this.  Then you can either complete the rigging onto the ship or wait until you are ready to do that step.  I did it right away as my first rigged piece.  It was kind of a way to cut my teeth before getting into the masts & spars.  For me, I thought it was a bit easier without other rigging interfering with the bowsprit rig.  Plus I was anxious to get some rigging done!  Keep up the great work!

[CPDDET]

Thanks ,Ed. I'll consider things as I finish up the remaining plates.

[bhermann]

That is some great work, Dave.  The turnbuckles (and the rest of it) look really good!

 

FWIW, I rigged the bowsprit bobstays, guys, backropes, stirrups, footropes, and jib stops right after completing the installation of all the hardware.  Like Ed, I was looking to get my feet wet with rigging as Bluenose is my first wooden build.  It has been sitting now for several years waiting patiently for my return.

 

Bob

[CPDDET]

Been awhile since I’ve posted an update on my build. Life just gets busy sometimes and of course its summer so a week long fishing trip to northern Minnesota was in order as well. But I’m back in the shipyard and making some progress.

 

Collected all the pieces needed for the guy plates. All the necessary parts for all these plates were made before hand.

 

 

Then installed the Bobstay plates with links, Guy plates with staple and shackle and Backrope plates with link and turnbuckles. Got both port and starboard done.

 

 

Lots of paint touchup to do now as I wanted the plates glued directly to the wood and not just the paint. Plan is to mask and use the airbrush but might brush it, still trying to decide on that. Then I think I will be ready to rig the bowsprit but have to order the needed lines as I don’t want to use those that came with the kit.

Dave

[Retired guy]

Hi Dave nice to see you back on the Bluenose,

Tricky little parts aren't they, I still got to make a load of shackles for mine. 

 

Regards

Richard 

[carlo_l]

Impressive level of details. Bravo!

Carlo

[CPDDET]

Thanks to everyone for the compliments, support and encouragement. 

Richard: I suppose I should count up how many shackles I still need but not sure I really want to know. LOL

[CPDDET]

God willing and the creek don't rise I'll get the bow repainted today. 

Dave