Cutty Sark by rfolsom - Billing Boats

[HIPEXEC]

Nice work!

[dgbot]

Your railing and coppering look great. I am glad you and your wive are better.  The flu is not nice.

David B

[rfolsom]

Thanks, everyone, for the nice comments...  David; flu was not nice!  Didn't miss too much work, but after coming home completely drained, I could barely do anything else but sleep and stare at videos...

 

Nenad: I messed around with the foredeck, but want to drill accurate hawser holes and add more detail to the carrick bits before fixing it completely, so that's why I decided to work amidships with the bulwark paneling for now.  Looking forward to your new recipe:  are you keeping me in suspense?

 

Bob

[dgbot]

I am glad you are feeling better. In my case the flu would be lethal. My immune system is shot until my body recovers from my transplant.

David B

[rfolsom]

Hello, everyone!  I decided to not be lazy, and sit down right after work with the ship, and tackle my problems with the bow.  I had pre-fashioned the bowsprit  before installing the forecastle deck (which I broke during re-alignment), and when I went to temp. fit the bowspriit into place, guess what?... No bowsprit!!

 

After combing my workspace for over an hour (this piece is NOT small, about the size of a pencil;  where did it go??), I gave up and decided to remake the piece.  (I have a mounting area underneath the forcastle deck, not in view, that will accept the bowsprit... 2.5 hours of sanding and shaping, tapering and fitting, I am now at the same place I was two months ago...

[rfolsom]

The bowsprit will be cut off and final tapered later on;  right now it's going into my "Bag 'O Spars" that came with the original Billing's kit (I hate losing parts..).  most of these spars are pre-tapered, and upon initial inspection (around 2.5 - 3 years ago) they all match quite nicely to scale.

[rfolsom]

Forecastle deck is fixed....  (after 3? months...)  I will not do nibbing here, I installed covering margin planks.  I think I found a happy medium at where the forcastle deck rests ....

 

Anyhow, I'm done with this step;  just need the iron frames on the inside of this area...

 

~Bob

[popeye the sailor]

nice fix on the fore castle deck Bob.....all that's left to do now are the two lockers

[NenadM]

Very succesfull fix, my friend. About self-dissapearing bowsprit ... who knows what for is this good ... it is sure somewhere around (check Admiral's flower pots) , maybe, as usually, just in front of you ...

[rfolsom]

Thanks, Popeye and Nenad;

I won't be keeping shaped spars lying around my work area anymore;  one man's stick is another man's 2+ hours of work...

 

Here are some prototype pics of the forecastle deck's iron frames:  I believe I will use a strip of aluminum (can) 1/4" wide, folded in half, cut to length, and then the "wings" carefully folded out and riveted with the ponce wheel..

 

Proto-1 on left took many failures, and about an hour...

 

Proto-2 took one try from a strip and about 5 minutes...

[clearway]

gonna look great when they are in place and painted up Bob. Nice to see the anchor deck back in place too.

Keith

[rfolsom]

Thanks, Keith;  hopefully now I can get over the "grrrr" aspect after fixing the damage...

 

Affixed the first four pairs (of 10) of the forcastle frame ends;  needs some tweaking and painting, but overall I think it will be acceptable..

[NenadM]

Rivets on them? Bravo! you lead me to devil's road ...

[HIPEXEC]

Your workmanship is very nice!

[rfolsom]

Thank you, Nenad and Rich;

 

I'm pretty much done with the frame ends on the forecastle deck;  right now I'm trying to fit the two heads into place underneath the main rail...  Will probably fill the gap with more "ironwork"..

[NenadM]

It seems that them are a little disobedient ?

[rfolsom]

Disobedient, maybe;  They were made almost 2 years ago, directly from Mr. C's plans, long before the main rail was put in, so some shaping must be done.  Upon consulting Lou's many fine pictures, two of the iron frames seem to perfectly straddle each "head" (or toilet...  outhouse?)  So I think I will have to incorporate them into the build along with this framing and all the other bulwark details.  (I originally wanted to install them later... We'll see...)

[rfolsom]

Ok,  heads are almost where they need to be;  more ironwork, (the frames);  made in Al.  Testing, but hope to seal the heads (toilets) with Al. simulation framing....

[dgbot]

You are doing a fine job.

David B

[NenadM]

I like it !!!  Go on, Bob !

[rfolsom]

Thanks Geoff, David, and Nenad, for the nice comments;

 

And now, back to my little "side station";  - the top of a small bookcase commandeered to manufacture the bulwark paneling...  I'm not so sure why this is such a scary thing for me; I just need to make the *&$# things, affix them to the ship, and move on...

 

Yes; I know it's a boring post, but it helps me move on with a little bit of accountability...

 

Cheers!  

 

~Bob

 

[NenadM]

Scary, because you want this section as precise it can be. I understand

[rfolsom]

Yes, I think the inner bulwark details will add alot to the build;  I just need to plow along and not worry about mistakes.  It would be highly doubtful for most people to notice a mistake in a completed build.... but It would be impossible for people to notice a mistake in an unfinished build that remains in a box in an attic for 100 years...

[NenadM]

I think, Bob, it is not in your nature not to worry about mistakes 

[popeye the sailor]

been out of the loop for the last week or so.........I must say, you've made some great progress! good to see your moving ahead.......looking really sweet!

[rfolsom]

Thanks, Popeye! I feel like I'm starting to get back into the build again.

 

Well, as I'm working on finishing the main rail, adding the bulwark details, etc.  I keep bumping into the catheads, so off on another tangent....

 

Looking at the catheads, I thought about my skills, and my tools, and drilling the 3 sheave holes.  After much thought, I decided I was not able to drill the sheave slots with any semblance of accuracy into a solid 4 x4 mm block, so time to test....

Edited July 9, 2014 by rfolsom

[rfolsom]

I'll be test building a cathead in a laminar fashion;  7 layers, hopefully outlining the sheaves;  I tried using 1/32" basswood (my thinnest basswood) but the 7 layer stack proved to be 1.5 mm too thick.

 

Borrowing planking (sapeli?) from my first build, (I believe it's 0.3 to 0.5 mm thick) the stack of 7 was just about right;  four full length layers, with 3 piecemeal layers outlining the sheaves.

Edited July 9, 2014 by rfolsom

[rfolsom]

Painting the inside of the sheave slots, and then gluing the sub-assemblies together:

[rfolsom]

These seven layers, with the bleeding paint, look pretty gnarly, but it cleans up pretty good after sanding:

Edited July 9, 2014 by rfolsom

[rfolsom]

I'll be using sanding sealer on the outside to smooth out the "bumpiness" of the sapeli wood before painting.  Unless I can find pre-fabricated 1/8" metal disks to use as the sheaves, the sheave slots will probably remain blank...

Edited July 9, 2014 by rfolsom