America by JohnRC - FINISHED - Corel - 1:155

[JohnRC]

20201230

 

Got started on the Yacht America (Corel, 1:155, solid hull) on Sunday – which became sanding day.  I also painted some of the smaller metal parts (anchors, cleats, bright work [primed only]) as glue was drying.

 

As of this evening I have the hull sanded, keel in place and part of the upper works completed.  I gave the hull a light prime coat of white paint along the way which actually helped bring out some of the minor hull imperfections that I hadn’t seen so it was back to sanding.  I filled in along the keel (machined slot was a hair too big in a couple of spots) so there was more sanding needed in that area.  Will do some more work on the hull tomorrow (hopefully finish at the end of this interesting year – yea!) and then plank the deck sometime this weekend.

 

[JohnRC]

20210109

 

Slow work the last few days.  Took time off to hit the mountains for some winter hiking & snowshoeing; will do some more during weekends this month.

A lot of painting these days – hull (upper and bottom), trim, fittings.  The upper hull & fittings are black, the trim piece is red and the bottom hull was painted with several coats of bronze until I got it looking like I wanted.  (Don’t have any copper paint in my stock and the stores are closed for several more weeks so bronze had to do.)  I also painted gratings, windows, anchors and bright work for the stern & bow.

 

Planked the deck and put a couple of coats of shellac on it.  Have installed cleats and rigging eyes.  Still have lots of work to do on the deck – cockpit area, skylight structure, windlass, some other items.  Decided to hold off on gluing on the railing on the top of the hull sides until I get things installed on the deck.  Have to figure out the cutting & installation of the rail around the stern curve.  Think I may need some of the 1x2 mahogany left over from a previous project.

 

[JohnRC]

20210115

 

Have made steady progress; hull is complete with all items installed including bowsprit (more shaping needed) and anchors.  Along they way I re-learned that one needs to read measurements on the correct scale (yep, there is definitely a difference between mm and 1/16’s of an inch) and sometimes you just have to say ‘enough for tonight; will finish up tomorrow’).  Being patient with the X-Acto knife, a set of ingrown toenail clippers (repurposed as plank nippers), needle files and some emery paper allowed me to finish the side rail cap including the rounded bow and stern corners.

 

The challenge this weekend and the coming week, when I’m not out in the mountains, will be recreating the sails so I can install them on the masts once they are shaped, installed and rigged.  Looking forward to what is still to be.

 

[Gregory]

Very nice little boat!  One of my favorite subjects..

[JohnRC]

20210124

 

This past week was all about sewing the sails and stepping the masts.  By yesterday afternoon I had the foresail lashed to the mast and was starting to run the rigging.  Stopped because I’d been working for about six hours and was starting to get tired; no need to make avoidable mistakes.

The directions said to fold in the edges over some small diameter line, glue them down and then use a pencil to draw on the reinforcing lines on the sails.  I decided to do it differently (sew the edges down after ironing/starching the heck out of the cloth then sew the reinforcing lines).  In the process I learned some things that will allow me to do this differently (and better) the next time I sew sails.  The reinforcing lines are a bit far apart as I had difficulty seeing exactly where I was each time I started a new line of stitching (when the stores open again I'll see if I can find a clear presser foot for the machine).  Also, I ran out of the light gray thread that I used on the 3 major sails (mainsail, foresail, topgallant) so the jib and spinnaker ended up with white thread as the reinforcement (perhaps I should have sewed all of the sails with white thread; the not-so-straight reinforcing lines wouldn't have stood out quite as much).  The end result is acceptable and I think they’ll look OK once I get them rigged.

 

I only finished the top gaff for the foresail but took two tries to get it right.  Still learning.  Hopefully the main sail gaffs will be done right the first time.

 

I won’t have much time available this week to work on the ship due to work stuff but hopefully I’ll get an hour or two during the week and part of a day next Saturday/Sunday to put in some time (weather dependent; if the weather is good I’ll spend one day in the mountains hiking).  The plan is to finish rigging the foresail/mast and then start on the main.  The plan is, as usual, flexible as I see no need to have clear ‘gotta hit them’ goals in this process.

 

[JohnRC]

20210131

 

As expected I wasn't able to get any work done on the ship during the week.  Saturday was spent rigging the foremast and sail and then starting on the bowsprit.  Managed to crack the circular pin rail at the bottom of the foremast while doing the 2^nd line; managed to piece it back together with some CA so not a major catastrophe.  Reading through the instructions and reviewing the plans I decided to work on the bowsprit after the foremast as the 2 jib sails are rigged to lines from the foremast.  Just figured it would be easier all around to finish the bow area before working on the main mast and sails.   

[JohnRC]

Done!  Completed hanging the rest of the sails along with the rigging.  The only things not finished are the pennant and the flag.  The pennant is OK so I treated it; its drying and will get put in place tomorrow.  I not happy with the flag – there weren’t 50 states in the US back in 1850.  I’m going to see if I can find the correct flag; if not, I’ll hang the one that came with the kit.

 

That’s it for ships for a while.  Have two different kits waiting in the wings:  Sopwith Camel rotary engine and ship’s cannon.  Haven’t decided which to do first.

 

[GrandpaPhil]

Congratulations! Well done!