Half Moon by usedtosail - FINISHED - Billings Boats - 1:40 Scale

[usedtosail]

I attached the three lower rails to the hull. Since I couldn't clamp these I used medium CA to attach them. This was not without consequences though. I had to clean up excess glue along them in places and touch up the finish around them. I think they came out OK.

 

 

I also painted some of the decorations for the transom and hull. Most of these are plastic pieces but once painted they look pretty good.

 

 

The next step will be to attach the rudder then make the upper hull rails.

Edited October 30, 2020 by usedtosail

[usedtosail]

I finally attached the rudder to the hull. Because the tiller was already attached to the rudder I could not attach the gudgeons to the hull and slide the pintles into them, so I glued them to the pintles after gluing the pintles to the rudder, making sure they were all aligned. I was then able to slide the whole assembly onto the stern post and glue the gudgeons to the hull. I was a bit skeptical but it worked very well.

 

 

I then made the upper rails. The lowest of these is bent around the bow but the others are just straight sections on the sides of the hull. I bent the two rails and then painted them and two straight wood strips with a red and white pattern, as on the replica. I first painted all the rails white, then masked off the white sections with 1mm wide pieces of masking tape that I wrapped around the top and bottom of the rails.

 

 

I mixed up some red paint with some black to mute it a bit, then painted the areas between the tapes.

 

 

After removing the tape pieces, this is how they looked.

 

 

I still had to do some touch up painting on some of the edges between read and white but overall it worked pretty well. I have the bent rails glued and clamped on the hull now so the next post will show them on the hull.

 

I also made some ladders for between the decks. For the first try I used the Byrnes saw with a regular blade to cut 1/16" slots in the ladder sides for the steps. This worked OK and the shortest ladder I made this way came out good. The other two ladders are taller and the spacing between the steps looked off a bit. I then used the mill to cut the slots, cutting both sides at the same time. I glued the sides down on a piece of wood so that they made an A shape (sorry I should have taken a picture) and then milled across both sides in one pass. After making the four slots for the steps I soaked the wood in alcohol and removed the sides. After they dried I cleaned them up with a square file and glued the steps in. I'll have pictures of them in the next post also.

 

[usedtosail]

I completed the new ladders and here they are on the right with the old ladders on the left. Now they need some oak stain before adding them to the decks. I am going to add the jack staff between decks before I add the ladders, so I made it and will stain it too along with the slotted trim piece that goes on the bottom of it.

 

 

I continue to add the upper rails to the outside of the hull. I have to do these one or two at a time so it is taking some time.

 

[J11]

She's looking ship shape, nice planking along with contrasting lines on the hull. Look forward to more updates.

 

[usedtosail]

Thanks Jonathan and for the likes.

 

I have all the rails on the outside of the hull now. I only need to touch up the paint on the ends where I sanded them flush with the hull.

 

 

You can also see that I have started the rail on the inside edge of the fore deck. It just needs to be stained. I will be adding similar rails to the to stern upper decks. The ladder is not installed yet but it is just there to see where the rail needed to end. I learned from Popeye's build log of this kit that the Corel model has covers for the sheaves in the hull that are lion heads. He ordered them from Corel but I decided to try my hand at making them from Sculpey. I rolled some out to a thin sheet then marked off the dimensions of each one with an awl. I then used the awl to draw a lions head albeit a pretty abstract one. After the Sculpey baked for 90 minutes I was able to separate the individual covers. The drawing was there but hard to see, but once I painted them gold I could see the lions head pretty well. Anyway here is what they look like after painting.

 

 

I will glue these to the hull and then drill through the hole in them into the hull for the sheaves. I am not sure how to secure the lines in these holes when it comes time for rigging. I don't think I trust just gluing it into the hole. Maybe I can tie a small piece of wood to the end of the line and slip it into the hole, then pull it tight to the inside of the hull? You can see in the above picture the display cradle which is provided in the kit, although I had to adjust the lengths of the dowels between the ends to get it to fit right. I painted it black to hid the edges of the plywood. You can also see the ladders and jack staff pieces now stained and ready to install. I have started making the gun port lids and jack staff opening cover.

[usedtosail]

So it turns out the sheaves are on the main deck not the lower deck so I will have no problem rigging the lines through them. After I finished adding the rest of the rails and staining them, I glued the ladders in place. I glued the sheave covers to the hull and drilled through them for the sheaves. I assembled the gun port lids and glued them to the hull too, along with the transom decorations.

 

 

I am in the process of making the hatch coaming and hatch covers, which will be added next.

[usedtosail]

The kit provides a couple of square laser cut pieces that you are supposed to plank over and glue on top of the deck planking for the hatches. Instead I left the hatches unplanked when I planked the deck. I used the table saw to cut a rabbet into a 1/8" square strip of wood then cut out the four sides of the hatch coamings. I am using 45 degree angle joints for this which I know is not right but that's what I did. Here you can see my hatch coaming on the right hatch with the supplied hatch cover piece on the left.

 

 

I then cut strips of wood for the hatch cover and glued them into the rabbet on the coamings. I used 1/16" thick strips so they would be flush with the coamings. I then gave everything a coat of oak stain and wipe on poly and here is how they came out.

 

 

I then started making other deck furnishings like the pump and the deck pin rails. For these I made the posts by first beveling the tops of each one using the disk sander. I sanded four 45 degree bevels and then sanded the top at 90 degrees to get a flat top. I then used the table saw to cut a decorative groove in all four sides. I then glued the three posts together and used the mill to cut the slots for the pin rails to fit into. I also drilled four holes in each post to make two sheaves, instead of just drilling two holes as the plans showed. I used an X-Acto knife to carve away a bit of wood between each set of vertical holes and a thin round file to create the illusion of a sheave. Here I have 3 of the six done on this side. I did the same with the holes on the other side, then cut then to length on the band saw. I cleaned them up, stained them and gave them a coat of wipe on poly. I will add a pin to the bottoms and drill a hole in the deck for the pin when I add them to the deck, so they don't pull out later when I rig them. The sheaves are used for the yard halyards.

 

 

I have the pump made but I will wait until I add it to the deck to get a photo. I am now starting to work on the head rails, always a fun adventure.

Edited November 16, 2020 by usedtosail
Typo

[usedtosail]

I finished the deck pin rails and glued them to the deck using a piece of wire as a pin. I then glued in the pump which is a tight fit between the ladder and pin rail.

 

 

 

There are four windows that go on the side of the hull. Instead of painting black beneath the window frames I glued black construction paper onto the back of the frames. I thought about putting acetate between the paper and the frames but I didn't like the look.

 

 

The first item to be installed on the head area is a decorative piece that is laser cut and fits in the opening in the stem. This piece is very fragile and there is no way I could have cleaned up the laser char so I painted it black after gluing it in place. I did break it into two pieces getting it out of the laser cut sheet, but I was able to glue each piece in place. One thing to note is that the instructions show this piece installed the other way round but it is clearly taller on one end as is the opening, so that is the way I glued it in. It did not fit the other way and I did not want to try sanding it shorter to fit.

 

 

 

Edited November 19, 2020 by usedtosail
Clarification

[usedtosail]

I added the head rail supports to the stem then glued on the head rails. Next are the planks for the head area, which on this model get put on under the supports, which does not seem right to me but I am doing it that way. I have the two outside planks glued on. All of these pieces will be painted black eventually, but for now I just painted the ends of the head rails and planks where they are glued to the stained hull to make it easier later when I paint the rest of them.

 

[usedtosail]

The head area is coming along. I added the planking under the supports and painted them and the supports. I then added the decorative side pieces after painting them white. The plans show two thin strips along the edges of these but I painted black strips along them instead. I also had to trim these down to fit correctly.

 

 

 

I have the upper rails ready to add. I painted these in the same pattern as the other rails and they look to me like they came straight from Santa's sleigh.

 

 

I have also been working on other fittings like the capstan and large V shaped cleats. As most parts of this model the capstan looks a bit simplified to me but I will use it as is.

 

 

There is a knee on the inside of the transom which came as two laser cut pieces. I remade the knee part because the kit supplied piece had a large notch in it for the rail that I didn't use. It was also the wrong angle for the deck.

 

 

I also remade the top piece which the flag staff goes through. The laser cut piece had two problems. The hole was made straight through the piece but the staff is held at an angle. I could have drilled it out at the correct angle but the other problem was that the hole was not in the right place as the flag staff did not sit flush to the transom as shown on the plans. I drilled the hole in the new one at the right location and angle and glued it to the top of the knee using the flag staff to make sure it was centered. They look white but that is just a trick of light as they are still unfinished and will be stained like the reast of the interior.

 

[usedtosail]

The head area is finished. Here are the upper rails in place with the knees added to the lower stem at the hawse holes.

 

 

For the lion figure head, the stem had the profile of the lion laser cut into it and they supplied two plastic pieces to go on the outside. I painted the end of the stem and the lion pieces red and glued them to the stem.

 

 

I added the capstan to the deck and added the cleats and kevels to the rails on the inside.

 

 

Next I am adding the eyebolts to the decks and rails, and also finishing the transom knee so I can install it too. I have also starting going through the "rigging plan" which is very confusing, so I can make a list of the lines to add, what size rope to make for them, and where the lines run. The plan provided is very confusing but I am starting to make sense of some of it. The problem is mostly that all the drawn lines on the plans are the same for everything - rope lines, edges of sails, parts of sails, masts, yards, and label lines. And the only lines that are labeled are those that go to a belaying pin, to correspond with the belaying pin plan that was provided. The others you just have to find amid all the clutter. Oh well, it is a challenging puzzle which I enjoy anyway.

[popeye the sailor]

hi Tom......I finally caught up toy you    still getting use to this new format.......sorry it took me so long.   the whip staff is covered with a canopy.....there should be a diagram of it in the instructions.  the bulwark posts look great......I made mine from odd cuts from the parts panels,  sanded to fit along the inside.  yours are very uniform......nice     you didn't say if you had any paint bleed through........the colors I chose for mine are from the rebuild of the vessel.   I worked with paint shop to make up the decals for the decorations.  the red and white was prominent in the pictures,  but a member on the site told me that those colors were seen as either a war ship,  or a pirated ship.......he couldn't understand why I did them like that.

 

  you must be going by this picture

 

a lot less red......reddish........    it's a very nice look,  whatever the case....it's not really know how she was decorated back then...mostly theory.  what I did for the paint work was to seal the areas to be painted.....if you didn't cement between the planking as you did it,  is you can give the areas a couple coats of diluted white glue.  this will get into the gaps and cracks and seal them when it dries.  you can also use a flat lacquer.  refer to my log to see more.....the diamond strips and such.   they are images of playing card diamonds....copied to paint shop,  replicated and joined together.  one drawback with this model,  is that the mast roots aren't that well done.   I've made up some templates that will be used to set the rake when I get to the point of masting.......she's looking really good my friend.  I'll try not to be such a stranger  

[popeye the sailor]

oh....forgot to mention the tack line decorations........yours look nice     I saw a log on the Corel kit that made me request their fittings of these tack decorations......it's in the log too  

[usedtosail]

Thanks Popeye for the compliments and great information. I lucked out as there was no bleed thru that I could see so I was very relieved. I tried to get the Corel tack line decorations but was having trouble ordering from Cornwall (wouldn't take my credit card) so I decided to make them instead. Those are the pictures I am working from but as you can see I am taking some artistic license with the paint job. I like your decals and thought of trying to duplicate something like that but decided to go simpler. I tried making decals for my Cris Craft build with marginal success, mostly because there is no white on the decals so they were hard to see on the mahogany finish. I'll keep that in mind when I set the masts. There is nothing that holds them at all except the hole in the deck. You just have to be careful when you set up the shrouds and stays to keep them at the right angle I guess. I usually have my masts pretty loose that way anyway but we will see. It will be fun finishing these models together. I have made the canopy for the jack staff hole but I am waiting to permanently install it until the mizzen mast is in place, as it is a tight fit there. Based on the scale, it looks like the person doing the steering would have their head and maybe shoulders sticking up through the hole in the deck.

Edited December 12, 2020 by usedtosail
Added image

[usedtosail]

I drilled holes in the back of the channels and glued three pieces of wire in the two smaller ones and four in the larger main channel. I then drilled holes in the hull and glued the channels in place.

 

[usedtosail]

With the channels in place, I cut tenons in the bottoms of the three mast dowels and fit them into the holes in the decks. I blackened the chain plates and stropped the lower deadeyes with 28 gauge wire, leaving a small space to get the chain plate through the strop. I used thin CA to hold the strop to the deadeye with the joint of the strop at the bottom with the holes aligned correctly.

 

 

I used an angle gauge to set the main mast at the correct angle and tied a line to the it where the shrouds come together at the top. I used the line to mark the angles of the main chain plates then bent each chain plate at the channel with the bottom hole on the trim below the channel. I tested the fit then cut off the excess chain plate and crimped it around the strop.

 

 

 

I then drilled holes through the chain plates into the trim and glued nails in to hold the ends of the chain plates. I also glued the chain plates into the slots of the channels.

 

 

I marked the locations of the channels on a thin piece of wood that is the same thickness as the channels and filed slots to fit over the chain plates. I will paint this black and glue it to the edge of the channel to cover the chain plates.

Edited December 29, 2020 by usedtosail
Added another image

[usedtosail]

Sorry for lack of progress these last 2 weeks. I have been hospitalized recovering from COVID but am back home now. I think this week I will be ready to get back to work on the Half Moon.

[usedtosail]

I finished the channels by gluing the external strips over the chain plates then adding some wood filler and painting them black again.

 

 

Next up is the ship's boat. The kit provided a plastic hull and some wood pieces to fit on it, but I don't like it at all. My preferred method for these boats is to make them up in layers to make the hull, then add wood details inside and out. I have some plans that I scale to the size of boat needed, then glue the templates to sheet wood with a glue stick. I roughly cut out the outside shapes with a jig saw but use an X-Acto knife to cut out the center sections. I find this alot easier than using the jig saw where I have to remove the blade for each lift. I also used the X-Acto to cut closer to the exterior lines.

 

 

I have since removed the paper templates and glued the lifts together, so the next step will be shaping the hull inside and out.

[usedtosail]

Whoops I forgot to take a picture of the boat hull stack before sanding. Sorry.

 

Here is the hull after a few hours of sanding. I mostly used the Dremel with the small sanding drum and the two burrs shown. I also used a small flat file to shape the inner transom area and the pieces of sandpaper to finish up inside and out. It is not done yet but it is getting there.

 

 

[usedtosail]

Well another change of plans (Plan C?). I ordered my next kit, the Vanguard Duchess of Kingston, and while I was on the Vanguard site I ordered the 18' Cutter kit, which at this scale is about 12', which with some modification should make a great dingy. The layered version I was working on seemed too narrow to me. So here is what the kit looks like.

 

 

I started by removing the base and the bulkheads from the MDF and the keel and transoms from the small laser cut sheet. I placed the bulkheads in the base and glued the keel onto them, which fit nicely after joggling the bulkheads to get everything in position. I then placed thinned wood glue in the joints and set it aside to dry. (BTW I fixed that third bulkhead from the back that was not all the way into the keel after I took the picture).

 

 

I have also started working on the two crow's nests but so far I have only started to remove the pieces from the laser cut sheets. A few of them delaminated some so I had to glue the pieces back together, which is annoying. I'll show progress there as I put them together.

[usedtosail]

I faired the bulkheads for the dingy and glued a top plank to them. These are pear wood planks that are laser cut and very easy to work with. I soaked it in hot water for a minute and it was very flexible. When it dried I started doing the same with the plank on the other side, but in the process I broke off the stem. I was able to glue it back on with CA and it seems to be holding well, so I was able to bend and clamp the other plank to dry. I started gluing the main crows nest pieces together but every time I tried to glue one of the support pieces in place it delaminated. So I made new supports from a strip of basswood. I cut them roughly to shape them glued them together into a block that I could shape and trim to the same size. When finished I soaked them in alcohol to separate them.

 

 

I also started assembling the bowsprit. I sanded the dowel in the lathe then glued on oversize cleats that I will file down when they dry. I used a round file to shape the underside of the knee that fits on the tip of the bowsprit and glued it on. Now I need to make new supports for the fore crows nest.

[usedtosail]

Planking the dingy continues, as well as assembling the main crows nest. I am using the smallest office clips as clamps and so far they are working well. On the crows nest I have added the new supports to the middle ring and glued them to the bottom ring. The top ring in the picture has also been glued onto the tops of the supports this morning. I put a weight on the top to hold it down while the glue dried.

 

[usedtosail]

More planking on the dingy, now from the keel up. The thin pear strips are really nice to work with as they bend easily after soaking in hot water for 1 minute. Another nice feature in this mini kit is that there are openings in the bulkheads that allow me to use those thin clamps to hold the planks flat to the bulkheads while I curve the ends of the plank.

 

 

I filed flats in the main mast and glued the cheeks on. I had first used the cheeks as a guide to glue the crosstrees to the underside of the crows nest, then used the crows nest to get the cheeks in the right position.

 

 

I assembled the fore crows nest but the middle ring was very wavy, so I soaked the whole thing in alcohol to separate the pieces, then reglued them, this time using a piece of wood as a gauge to set the height of the middle ring as I glued it to the supports. It came out much better.

 

 

I have roughly shaped the fore mast but the top portion needs to be thinned down a little more before the crows nest and mast cap will fit. Once that is done I can add the crosstrees to the fore crows nest and the cheeks to the fore mast.

[usedtosail]

The dingy is coming along. I finished planking and here is how it looked before sanding and before the plank ends were trimmed at the bow. Not great but I could work with it.

 

 

The next thing I did was to cut the transom off and finish the planks at the previous bulkhead. This gave it more of a dingy shape. I also added wood filler to the outside of the hull and sanded it back to get a smooth hull. I then removed the bulkheads as described in the instructions which went much better than I expected. After a little re-gluing of planks here is how it looks now.

 

 

 

I next have to sand the inside of the hull and start adding the flooring and seats. The flooring covers those bits of MDF that are still in there. While waiting for planks to dry I finished building the lower masts, crows nests and cross trees. I gave them a coat of oak stain today. I have also been making the rope I need for the standing rigging which is mostly shrouds and stays. The kit rope is not very good so I am pretty much making all my own rope for the rigging.

 

 

 

[Louie da fly]

That dinghy turned out very well.  On to the next project . . . 

[usedtosail]

Not so fast Louie. I still have to add the interior details to the dingy, starting with the ribs.

 

 

Second coat of oak stain on the masts and crows nests.

 

 

I did finish making all the rope I need for the standing rigging (I think) including the lines for the deadeye lashings and bow sprit gammoning.

[popeye the sailor]

sorry to hear you got sick Tom.......good to see you weathered the storm.  will you be able to get the shot,  now that you've had it already?

 

you've one up on me with the crow's nests.......most of those parts were missing from the kit I have.   they look very good......far better than the ones I hobbled together    was that vacuum form hull supplied in the kit?........if so I didn't have it.  your first attempt looked pretty good...........I'm sure this second one will look even better.  this point where you are now,  will put you just about where I am with mine.  glad that my log was helpful  

 

glad your feeling better.......

[usedtosail]

Thanks Popeye. I almost made it to the vaccination before I got sick. Since then I have gotten both shots so I have a lot of immunity now. How about you, did you get the Fauci Ouchi yet? Thanks for the kind words on the crows nests. They are far from perfect but I am OK with that. Yes, the vacuum formed ships boat hull was supplied in the kit. Based on the scale it just looked too small to me, as did my first attempt on the dingy. The Cutter kit from Vanguard was fun to build, even though I did not use any of the interior parts because they were the wrong scale, but the hull seemed just right for a dingy at this scale.

 

Here is what I have been working on.

 

 

The dingy interior is just about done, with the floorboards and seat support installed and the interior stained. The seats are cut and are drying after staining in the alligator clips, along with the cradles that came in the mini kit. I also made oar locks from brass rod that I soldered and blackened. Here I have touched up the solder with some black paint. I made oars which will be painted white on the shafts but the blades are stained. Finally I have been cleaning up all the blocks supplied in the kit, first with a file to round them, then a block tumbler to soften all the edges. Here I have stained them all. I have also gone through the plans and developed a rigging plan, which is basically a list of all the standing rigging and running rigging lines in the order to add them, along with the line and block sizes needed. I find this makes it a lot easier to keep track of the rigging as it progresses.

[usedtosail]

The dingy is finally compete. I finished painting the hull today, so now I just need to lash it to the deck.

 

 

I have also finished the oars for the dingy and the topmasts and flags poles.

 

 

Here is the bow sprit with the collars for the main, fore, and fore topmast stays. Next will be adding the gammoning lines to hold it down. Since I took this picture I have actually replaced these collars with new ones made with new polyester rope (see below).

 

 

I had made all the rope I need for the standing rigging, which was mostly made from nylon thread, but I recently bought some polyester thread that Chuck Passano suggested to use and I made some rope with it today. It came out so much better than the nylon rope that I decided to use it for all the rigging on this model. I have started making the rope I need for the standing rigging and will soon start on the running rigging.

 

 

It's mud season up here in New Hampshire so I have lots of time on the shop these days, so I have been able to make a lot of progress.

[usedtosail]

Here is some of the progress from today. Dingy is now tied down to the deck with the oars.

 

 

And I added the gammonings to the bow sprit with polyester rope that I made yesterday.

 

 

I also made the knight heads for the fore deck and the euphroes for the crows feet, as well as a bunch more rope for the standing rigging.