Half Moon by popeye the sailor - Billing Boats - 1:40 scale kit

[popeye the sailor]

yea....I know Bob {hangs head........then shakes it}......I should listen to myself sometimes.   currently,  I'm in the process of trying to make some adjustments to the original one.  hopefully,  I can make it a bit better,  like the fore mast nest.   I was in the process of looking for more pictures today........and I stumbled across a site by National geographic.  this is used by schools as a teaching tool for kids.....so, gather up the young'uns and watch these videos......it's kinda cool.

 

Life on the Half Moon - National Geographic Education

 

I am also in the process of assembling the first sections of the masts......had a near death experience with one of them......snapped the upper part of it,  in which I was whittling it down to fit the nest.   luckily,  I'm still able to use the dowel.....I haven't cut it down to length yet.

   hopefully,  I will have an update for you soon 

[Sjors]

It should be about time that we get an update from you     

With pictures please ! 

 

[popeye the sailor]

soon Sjors........very soon 

[jastrząb]

I'd like to see more pics of your wonderful progress

[Mirabell61]

I did a bit more with the planking.......here are just a few random pictures of her so far.

 

#1.JPG

 

#2.JPG

 

#3.JPG

 

Popeye,

 

very nice and smooth bow planking, all the planking Looks good,

well done !

 

Nils

 

#4.JPG

 

in one of the pictures,  you can see the turn of the chine { I believe it's the correct term}.   I don't believe this is the way it's supposed to go.   I think I need to sand these to more of a contoured curve shape.

 

 

more as I go.........

[popeye the sailor]

thanks Pawel and Nils......welcome to the log.....I hope you enjoy it.

 

OK Sjors........here's that progress I promised you 

 

 

I got wrapped up with a couple of aspects.........and my picture search.  I did come up with something strange.   here are a couple of pictures......I guess there must be more than one copy floating around.... notice the aft artwork:

 

 

 

I hope they didn't do this,  just to mess with my head.......don't know how I'm going to do all this,  but if they're not careful.......I'll do it  my way,  and really mess'em up! :D

[popeye the sailor]

I'm kinda wondering,  if this is also to denote port and starboard......something I've never seen before.

 

 

anyway......................................I mentioned the whittling I was doing on the masts.  I needed to get the top capping down to the size that will fit into the nests.  so, I cut into the mast with my miter box and saw,  and cut away the excess....later sanded smooth.

 

 

now,  I had mentioned perhaps making a new main mast nest,  but I chose to repair the original one,  only because it has the pre drilled holes.

 

 

later, I chose to rip off all of the upper railing and start over,  adjusting the post in the area I started from,  and the redo.   I assembled the framework that the nests will be located on.

 

 

the fore mast nest was assembled to the mast......since that one turned out OK.

 

 

 

after the railing was finished on the main mast nest.....there was still an area on it that wasn't right.  I am making the change yet again.

 

 

while I was working on that,  I continued on other aspects,  between drying times.   the capstan is an assembly,  consisting of a  bunch of little pieces....most of them are missing.   so I opted to use the parts that the nests would have been made up with.   after making up a scratch base ring for the supplied capstan post,  the railing parts were cemented around the base.

 

 

then,  the bow spirit was assembled.  it is not trimmed to size yet.

 

 

I had some smaller dowel to use,  instead of the supplied dowel for the capstan bars.   I added some brass banding to spruce it up a bit more.

 

 

I did the same for the pump,  and stained other parts that can be readily assembled onto the ship.  I'll lightly stain them with the mahogany stain to match them up with the rest of the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

[patrickmil]

The fiddly bits are looking good Popeye.

[popeye the sailor]

I also need to get a move-on with the exterior hull work.   I'm just going to go with the best looking scheme and be done with it     the way I did the railings,  will make it hard to follow the flow of the lines,  but I will try to make it work.   the first aspect was with the railings themselves.....the red and white striping.  I took a bunch of thin mahogany......in different widths,  and painted them white.   I sorta goofed here when I masked off for the red........I should have cut the tape down and cut down on the length of the dashes.

 

 

yea........I used that crappy blue stuff!   it didn't come out as good as I wanted it to......but it is salvageable,  so I guess it's not a total loss.   just as well.......I don't have much extra stripping left.

 

 

 

I tried a piece of it on the model.......touched up,  it will look better 

 

[captainbob]

Nests are much better.  Good work.

 

Bob

[popeye the sailor]

thank you Patrick and Lawrence......once I do what I need to do with the exterior work,  I can give her the flat sealer and get these parts on the ship,  where they belong.   thanks for the good word 

 

 

thanks Bob......i had made the adjustment to the starboard front.......the new railing made it look better,  but it made the port side stand out a bit.   I'll get it right yet    thanks for the good word 

[augie]

Pump and capstan standing proud!

[Jim Lad]

Great progress Popeye!  The crows are going to be really happy with your re-working of their nests!

 

John

[Sjors]

Thanks for the pictures Popeye   

 

As usual a great job on the capstan and pumps !

But what else can I expect from you ?

 

[mtaylor]

Nice work, Popeye. 

[DSiemens]

I like the way you did the paint on the rails. Very inventive.

Edited March 1, 2014 by DSiemens

[popeye the sailor]

thanks Augie.......missing parts.......no problem!  just shuffle them around a little! 

 

thanks John......I wanted to keep the base.....it will just make it easier.   I'll get it straightened out 

 

anything for you Sjors....has Anja changed her mind about the feet? :D   thanks for the good word

 

thank you Mark 

 

thanks Daniel......they are part of the outer hull paint work.......now, all I have to do is get up the nerve to do the rest   thanks for the good word 

[dragzz]

hello popeye  looks like u are vary good on the build so far keep up the great work

[popeye the sailor]

thanks dragzz!

[SkerryAmp]

Pumps, Capstans, Crows Nests and Crows Feet - Moving right along my friend, moving right along.

 

And boy, wish I had seen this before i did my trim, that masking job you did sure would have been a smart way for me to do it - had I thought of it!!

[riverboat]

Nice work Popeye, you are definitely a scratch builder!!!

[popeye the sailor]

thanks Adam.......I actually did the rails separate,  and put them on after.  it worked out better that way  {masking can be a real pain} 

       thanks for the good word !

 

thanks Lawrence.....been a bit of a break though......our furnace decided to crap out {a s-l-o-w, agonizing death}.    we had a new one installed today........out with the oil and in with the Natural gas.  I hope it saves me money!  thanks for the good word! 

 

thanks Frank.......there's a fine line between scratch and bash.....but I am having to scratch out a few parts.  the crow's nests seemed to be the biggest problem.....a lot of the parts were missing in the kit.   the main mast nest gave me some trouble, but I think I have it sorted out pretty well.  now that the heat is back on....I assembled the fore and main mast.  the second steps are just dry fitted at the moment,  but I did that after I took these pictures.  I hope to have more up soon.  I'm not sure if I'm up to snuff with some of the other folks here,  I favor chalking it up to  "creative modeling" 

 

 

I hope no one get nose bleeds easily........we're going to up

 

 

 

here is what the frame work under the nests looks like

 

 

thanks for the good word Frank!   I'm still playing catch up here on the site.........I hope to see your fine build in the list! 

[Sjors]

Very nice Popeye !

 

You are keeping it white ??????  

 

[DORIS]

Beautiful build, I love wooden models and admire all people, who are able to create ships from this stuff.

Have a great time and a lot of joy during work.

Best regards

Doris

[patrickmil]

Very nice work on the masts and crows nests Popeye. I can't wait to see more.

[Bindy]

Wow that looks so good Popeye, but I do think you are more the scratch than the bash

 

I love the photo angles too thank you although I think I might need to sit down for a few minutes and recover from the vertigo haha

[captainbob]

Glad you didn't freeze without the oil heat.  Must have been hard building the boat with gloves on.    She's looking good.

 

Bob

[popeye the sailor]

yepper Sjors.......I'm keeping it awww-wite!.....you wascally wabbit........... it is a good question......where I made so many changes,  it's going to be hard to stain the nests.  I think I'm going to need to get a little creative.   thanks for the good word

 

thank you Doris for your kind comment....actually I'm kind of humbled.....   I'm many levels away from the fantastic work you do...with the materials you work with.......I'd be a life-time,  in attempts to equal......but it's fun trying      thank you very much!

 

thanks Patrick!  I think the nests are the biggest hurdle I had to get over.  now that they are complete,  there are only a few other aspects that I'll need to address.  thanks for the good word 

 

thank you as well Bindy.......I thank my lucky stars,  I know Bashman!   here is the only known picture I've found of him........ .  I have to rely on an emoticon,  since there are no real pictures of him         thanks for the good word 

 

thanks Bob........ttttthhhhanks fffffffor nnnnotic'in         it was so cold in the house the other day,  I couldn't even type on the computer.   we have the new natural gas furnace now.......it was 32 degrees this morning,  and I didn't even turn it up......felt good {we turn it down for sleeping}.  yesterday,   they must have hit the cable connection downstairs........internet was knocked out for a while.

    by the afternoon,  we were up and running again......but behind on just about everything.   today......it's almost 50 degrees..... tomorrow.....6+ inches or more of gooey wet snow {I think they have rocks in their heads} :D   as soon as the dust settles,  I can get back to the table.  thanks for the good word 

[augie]

Congrats on the new furnace.  You may need it for a few more days this season!  Looking forward to your getting back to normal.

[mobbsie]

I've had to turn our heating off it's been that warm of late, I don't envy you guys one little bit.  

 

Popeye we have a saying over here, you've probably heard it, " it's cold enough to freeze the b-lls off a brass monkey" with no boiler for a while mate have you still got yours.  

 

She's coming along really nicely mate, all the little bits are great and I like the highlight bandings, well done with the crows-nests also, your patience and determination to get it right has paid of in bucket loads.

 

Be Good

 

mobbsie