Sharpie Schooner by VTHokiEE - FINISHED - Midwest Products - 1:32

[Azzoun]

You're speeding along, this model took me 6 months to build!  haha  

 

[VTHokiEE]

13 hours ago, Azzoun said:

You're speeding along, this model took me 6 months to build!  haha  

 

Thank you for this; I actually felt like I was crawling along at a snail's pace, but having great works to look at (like your gallery really help). This forum has so many talented builders sometimes you have to remind yourself that everyone's pace is different. I'll probably start slowing down now though as I'm reaching the area (getting my blocks and metalwork set up for rigging) which I'm not entirely certain how to do. I'll probably try to closely emulate Hopeful's and your builds. You wouldn't happen to have any closeup shots of your spars, gaffs, and blocks?

[thibaultron]

I like your jig for making the scuppers!

[VTHokiEE]

27 minutes ago, thibaultron said:

I like your jig for making the scuppers!

Thanks! It was my first ever jib, so while it wasn't much I was pretty proud of myself :)

[VTHokiEE]

More pictures to come later, but does anyone have a suggestion on what to use for a deadeye chain plate? I finished my deadeye strops and I was planning on using a thin strip of brass, but now that I’m about to make them I’m not certain (the strips feel too flexible, 0.01mm, maybe I need thicker brass?).

 

Picture of deadeyes if it helps:

Edited November 3, 2019 by VTHokiEE

[VTHokiEE]

I made up two blocks for my travelers, blackened the travelers (I need to do some more practice blackening, I think I'll look into the sparex route for cleaning):

Next I made the deadeye strops from some brass wire:

I made 9 rings, 2 were poorly soldered and broke so I had to go back and make an 8th, but I didn't go back and retake the pictures. I did a trial rund with the thin brass strips for the deadeye chain plate and decided that it looked reasonable.

After I attach these to the hull (hopefully this afternoon), I'll start tacking the metalwork on the booms and spars.

 

[VTHokiEE]

Small update, added the mast deck rings and worked on the gaffs. I also began fabricating all the metal work for the masts (making all these pieces is a time consuming affair for a novice, but I think they are turning out well 🙂).

 

EDIT: I forgot to ask, the anchor is white metal and the chain appears to possibly be copper (?). I don't believe either will blacken in the birchwood casey brass black that I have. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm considering whether to purchase some Jax or replace the components and I'm open to suggestions. Thanks!

Edited November 11, 2019 by VTHokiEE

[VTHokiEE]

Small update, I purchased a received a replacement anchor and chain. Also, I've finished tinkering with the masts and almost everything I can without sewing the sails. To date I made some sail templates out of card stock and have been trying to figure out when I can learn how to use a sewing machine.

 

[thibaultron]

You might concider silkspan sails rather than using the material supplied, which is both to thick and too course a weave. Search the forum for info on making them.

[VTHokiEE]

11 hours ago, thibaultron said:

You might concider silkspan sails rather than using the material supplied, which is both to thick and too course a weave. Search the forum for info on making them.

Oh boy, you've sent me down a rabbit hole 😁. I really like what I've seen from people using silkspan, but it seems like it is no longer being manufactured (?). I'm trying to track down what a suitable replacement might end up being (I assume balsa planes are still being covered with something similar but maybe not). You've caught me at a good point though, I was just about to start transferring the templates to the fabric and I should probably at the very least use a different fabric.

[Aero]

Sig Models still sells Silkspan.

 

 

https://sigmfg.com/products/sig-silkspan-tissue

[VTHokiEE]

4 minutes ago, Aero said:

Sig Models still sells Silkspan.

 

 

https://sigmfg.com/products/sig-silkspan-tissue

Thank you! I wonder if they stopped production for a period around 2015 (based on the threads I saw) and have since resumed.

[Aero]

4 hours ago, VTHokiEE said:

Thank you! I wonder if they stopped production for a period around 2015 (based on the threads I saw) and have since resumed.

Don't know about the production. I was browsing the Sig website last week and noticed it was still listed.

[VTHokiEE]

I tried making a few paper sails from tissue, paper, and the supplied cloth as practice and while I see great results with silkspan and paper on the forum my attempts did not really replicate what I see so I decided to pick up some additional fabric learn how to use a sewing machine and see what I could come up with. These ended up being slightly smaller than the plan (I think my hem folds were not precise enough) but overall I was reasonably happy with them. Currently I'm thinking about if I dare add a bolt before adding reef lines to the sails.

[VTHokiEE]

Hopefully someone can provide some input regarding boltropes. Before I started this build I purchased some rope to replace the kit thread. I have created a test section to represent the hem of the sail and added the boltrope (at the time of purchase I may not have been fully aware of the existence of a boltrope ). To my eye the rope looks too skinny so I am tempted to not use one and instead place some grommets/eyelets at the corners of the sails. I could order a large diameter rope, but It would only be used on the boltropes as I don't think it would fit the deadeyes (and maybe blocks) that I have already prepared. Does anyone have any thoughts on the subject?

 

[ccoyle]

To me, in the bottom picture it looks fine. BTW, I have had good success with gluing bolt ropes to sails (using dilute white glue). The lashing used on real sails is virtually invisible in modeling scales. 

[VTHokiEE]

28 minutes ago, ccoyle said:

To me, in the bottom picture it looks fine. BTW, I have had good success with gluing bolt ropes to sails (using dilute white glue). The lashing used on real sails is virtually invisible in modeling scales. 

Thanks a lot for the feedback; to be on the safe side I ordered a 2 larger sizes of rope just in case (you can never have too much rope right?). In the example picture, the rope was glued on with white glue and I'm going to use that method for the final sail as well. The lashing seemed too much for me and as you mention, it would be too visible on the model. 

 

BTW I've been meaning to thank you for for the card model tutorial on building the V108 torpedo boat. I'm slowly working through it and your log has really helped.

[cdrusn89]

Tim - on my Endeavour sails I used cotton material I bought at Hobby Lobby. On the cardboard "tubes" that the fabric comes on there is a "weight" number - I bought the white fabric with the lowest weight number (about 200 if I remember correctly). I "painted" one side with 50/50 white glue (Elmer's)/water after stretching it on a wooden frame. If you want sails a different color (like tan) I would add some acrylic paint to the glue/water mix (although I have not tried this - coloring silkspan with acrylic paint/water mix works fine). Even thin fabric is out of scale but at 1/35 it looks a whole lot better than at 1/96.

 

I used Syren .018 tan line for the bolt rope but I enclosed the rope in a 3/8" wide fold of fabric at the edge. If the bolt rope has to be visible I would use matt media (Michael's) or white glue to attach it.

 

My experience with silkspan was for sails that were furled (see below) and it works great in that application as almost any fabric is going to be too bulky to look realistic if furled.

Edited December 6, 2019 by cdrusn89

[VTHokiEE]

Gary - thanks for the tips and the advice! 

 

I've finally finished one of the sails. I glued reef points to all the sails and then slowly started gluing the bolt rope around the jib (unfortunately not as tightly to the sail as I hoped in all places). Next up, the bolt rope for the other two sails.

 

 

[VTHokiEE]

Accomplished some work on the foremast sail. Attached the mast hoops, boom and gaff to the foremast:

Next I added parrels to both the boom and gaff(on my next build I need to really practice knots and learn the correct knots for the correct location. Does anyone have a recommendation for a beginner to learn knots and rigging?):

And finally the metalwork to the top of the mast:

Now to move on to the main sail.

[kurtvd19]

On 9/6/2019 at 9:00 PM, VTHokiEE said:

I had a few hours tonight so I attached the bulkheads and cut out the deck. I penciled in the planking lines and unfortunately at least one line went astray, is there any easy way to remove pencil from the wood to redo that one? I've noticed that sanding doesn't seem to work well.

Denatured alcohol will wipe away pencil line - just remember to only use a white cloth or the alcohol will leave a colored rag's color on the wood.

 

[VTHokiEE]

I printed a small jig to create rope coils after rigging the lines. First I tie off the line with a cleat hitch (for the first few I simply glued figure 8s to the cleat).

Next, I wrapped the line around the jig a few (3 or 4) times.

The I used the channel to thread the line around a few times.

I added a drop of glue to the coil and after it drying i slid the coil off the jig and glued it to the cleat.

 

Here is a shot of the foremast dry fitted.

[ccoyle]

You are very nearly there and lookin' good!

[VTHokiEE]

I'm going to have a much larger post soon, but I have a quick question. In my opinion these deadeyes are too far apart. What do you all think?

 

[Retired guy]

I would agree with you, what dimension does the drawing say 

 

Regards

Richard

[VTHokiEE]

3 minutes ago, Retired guy said:

I would agree with you, what dimension does the drawing say 

 

Regards

Richard

Thanks!
 

Unfortunately I’m ad-libbing at the moment. The kit doesn’t have deadeyes, I added them because I liked the look from other build logs, but they didn’t mention a dimension. I think I’m going to at least half the distance, but maybe even take it down to a quarter.

[thibaultron]

I would say, no more than half. A quarter would not allow much adjustment on the real thing.

[VTHokiEE]

1 minute ago, thibaultron said:

I would say, no more than half. A quarter would not allow much adjustment on the real thing.

Thanks! This is all being done by eye for now so fingers crossed 🙂

[VTHokiEE]

Okay here is a redo on the shroud and lanyard. I think it looks much better.

 

[Retired guy]

Yes that is much better 👍

 

Regards

Richard