HMS Bounty's Jolly Boat by Peanut6 - Artesania Latina Ref. 19004 - Scale: 1:25 - First build wooden ship

[Peanut6]

Ok HHH, you made me laugh, thanks.  If there is any positive from the afternoon, the Colts won and it looks like my underdog pick of the weekend is going to come thru for me.  But honestly I'd rather have my rudder in place.  Got the glue remnants cleaned off the parts and decided to give it a rest for the night.  Tomorrow I'll try to reattach my aft keel portion so I can re-reattach my stern post (yes, its come loose before) and then I can get back to working on the gudgeon.  And if I'm lucky get the transom bulwark back on to boot.  Ah, maybe getting the bulwark may be to much to hope for.

[HardeeHarHar]

I'll be interested to hear how things turn out Kev! On the positive side if successful, you can take solace in the fact that re-reattaching is a lot better than re-re-reattaching.

[Peanut6]

Haven't gotten back to my Jolly Boat after cleaning up the pieces getting them ready for reattachment.  Work has really picked up and it's just gotten way to cold to be working in the garage (mid to high 30's max).  Guess I'll be waiting till spring.

[Peanut6]

We had a little bit of a warm spell last week and the boatyard wasn't all that bad.  I prepared to reattach a section of the keel that had popped off, and of course the next section was loose and just fell off into my hands.  All that was left was the bow section which is firmly attached.  Cleaned up everything once again, reattached the keel pieces and the transom post and let it sit over night.  I was able to position the rudder and the the bottom gudgeon so I could mark and predrill for the nails holding on the gudgeon.  Didn't quite get the gudgeon positioned exactly how I would have liked but just went with it as I've been struggling with this step for far too long and just want to get past it.  Trimmed my nails to the proper length and  attempted a dry fit.  In the process of installing the rudder into the gudgeons the top pintal and the transom post broke free, the transom post is loose again and it looks like the same secion of keel is also loose.  Saw why I was having such a difficult time getting the rudder into the gudgeons.  The top pin was just a bit too long and evidently the extra tweeking to get it into place was enough to break things loose again.  But I got to thinking about how much I was able to man handle things while I was planking and really couldn't understand why I was having such a tough time getting things to stay together.  I've decided it is one of two things, if not a little of both.  Could be that my PVA is past its shelf life plus trying to glue stained surfaces together.  I really don't want to use CA so I'm going to try one more thing before I replace my PVA.  I'm going to get the smallest Dremel ball end bit (maybe 1/32" diameter) and carve a snake track into the interfacing surfaces of all problem pieces.  My thinking/hope is that the main problem is the stain.  If I create this serpantine trough down the middle of the pieces, just deep enough to get past the stain it will give fresh wood for the PVA to soak into.  The troughs will be mirror image to eachother so there could/should be a handful of intersecting points to hold things together.  If that doesn't work than it has to be my PVA is too old and getting past the stain probably was needed regardless.  If all goes well my next post will have pics of the rudder installed and even the aft bulwark reinstalled.

 

kev

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Now I understand your problem better. A question - is the PVA peeling off easily? And is the stain oil-based? I’m wondering whether this is the issue, that the stain has created a barrier. Although I’ve glued countless bits of timber I’ve never stained it first as I would always be wanting a fresh, clean surface but also because my (furniture) joints sometimes need a little bit of tidying and blending. If it was me I think I’d do a little testing with a fresh bottle of PVA at this point, glueing stained/unstained. Either way, your plan to carve small grooves sounds like a good one. Alternatively, if there’s enough meat, how about drilling a load of shallow holes along each mating surface and, to go the hole hog, pop in some dowels. Just about anything will do but cocktail sticks spring to mind.
 

I don’t have any experience glueing wood with CA so don’t know if that permeates better than PVA. Gorilla glue also has its uses so long as you can clamp parts together, but it can be messy. And to go a little left field, industrial mastic-type adhesives just might do it; I’ve never used them to actually glue wood together but I’ve sealed stained and varnished window and doorframes without issue and could imagine it working.

 

The boat itself looks wonderful and I feel your pain. To have produced such a lovely item and then see it fall apart in my hands would be heartbreaking.

[Peanut6]

Kevin-the-lubber, thank you for stopping by and taking an interest in my build.  To answer your questions: no the PVA doesn't peel off, it sets up hard just as the first time it was used and yes my stain is oil based.  The stain was purchased very early in my build long before I learned that water based stain is what should be used for this very reason.  I've been able to remove the PVA by scraping it off with the edge of my hobby knife.  It kinda' dusts off or flakes off in larger pieces.  This tells me the PVA isn't penetrating the wood and the only reason I can think of is the oil based stain barrier.

 

As stated earlier, I can't drill a perpendicular hole to save my life so I'm not considering the dowel method you suggest, it just isn't within my skill set.  I can't even use my pin vise for the predrilling I did for the gudgeon nails.  I got some painters tape and wrapped the shank portion of the drill bit a few times, for better "grip",  and turned the bit between my fingers to help prevent the bit from snapping in two.

 

I've recieved another confirmation that my serpentine goove isn't really a bad idea, so I'm going to give it a shot.  Thanks again for your visit to my build log, your sympathy of my problem and suggestions are greatly appreciated.  And your positive comment of the appearance of my little Jolly Boat is very encouraging.

 

kev

[Ken_2]

kev:  I just started a build of this boat, and I am finding your build log very helpful.  Thanks.  Your planking job looks stellar.  I am hoping I can do half as good as you did.  Looks sweet!

Ken_2

[Peanut6]

Ken_2, thank you so much for the visit to my build log and your kind comments, they are greatly appreciated.  To be honest, I am rather pleased how my hull planking turned out, granted it took me a couple tries and had to purchase more planking material to get it done.  I wound up using bits and pieces of many techniques that I researched and of those offered to me.  I'm sure your hull planking will turn out great, just take your time.  I can't express how much it means to me that someone finds my build log helpful.  It is very humbling to actually make a positive contribution while in the company of so many great builders.  If at any time I can offer an opinion, please don't hesitate to ask.  I visited your build log and will be following along.

 

Spoiler Alert:  I now have my keel, transome post and bottom gudgeon attached with a removable rudder.  PVA is drying on my removable tiller with just a little more work to do before I consider that task completed.  Will post pics when it is done.

 

kev

[Kevin-the-lubber]

It sounds like the S-grooves worked? nb. You really have made a nice job of the planking, if you'd said this was your 40th plank on frame I for one would have thought 'oh, so that's how it turns out when you've learned how'.

[Peanut6]

Kevin-the-lubber, actually didn't need to do the "S" grooves it turns out.  When I disassembled by dry fit, the transome post had come free of the transome but the keel pieces and the transome post to the keel were all firmly attached to my great suprise!!!!!  I decided to just put it all back together using CA because of the brass.  I figured that with the gudgeon nails attached to the transom post at the aft end and on the hull planking on the other end there was no way the transome post was going anywhere.

 

Thank you for your comments on my hull planking, it is greatly appreciated.  Being such the novice that I am, drop planks and steelers still look very challenging in being able to execute the joints correctly.  Some of the more complex builds I've read still perplex me in that some locations appear to violate the "no less than half plank width" rule.  Guess I'll figure it out when I get there.

 

Saving my last little piece of brass to make my horse for the boom rigging, I've made the tiller for the rudder from scratch and have the stained assembly drying (did all the glueing required prior to staining ha-ha, believe it or not I can learn from my FUBARS).  Then a bit of serving, just for looks, at the hand end and its done.

[HardeeHarHar]

Stoked for you Kev!!!!

[Peanut6]

Finally struggled thru and got everything back together and holding so far.  Here is the rudder showing the elongation of the slot at the pintles.

 

 

Next up is the the tiller I made rather than using the brass rod as shown in the instructions.  I’m saving the brass rod to make a horse to handle the boom rigging.  This is a two piece assembly.  The little knob at the end is a separate piece.  I predrilled a hole in the flat side and followed it up to largest diameter it would take.  Rounded off the corner ever so slightly.  I then carved down the end of the tiller to a depth and diameter to fit into the hole.  Glued it up to reassure myself my PVA was good and then stained the assembly.  Yup, learned from my earlier mistakes.

 

 

And the tiller on the rudder.

 

 

Here are my oars, followed up by a close up of the formed handles I created.  I used a triangle shaped file to create the start of the handle and sandpaper to smooth out each end.  I surprised myself in being able to get them looking pretty much the same, that is if you don’t look for very long.

 

 

 

 

Next is a view of the cheeks on the mast.  I felt I needed to increase the mating surface of the cheeks to the mast for better adhesion.  I scored a center line down the length with my xacto to serve as a guide for my triangle file.  Then made a very shallow V groove.  Followed that up with my round file to match the diameter of the mast.

 

 

The next two show the foot of the mast with the bowsprit support in place and the “fix-it” I had to come up with to handle my mast tapering blow it.  I used a file to make a small flat on the mast, again to increase mating surfaces for better adhesion.  The first one shows the aft side and the second shows the bow side.  That ugly looking glob just below the bowsprit support is the spacer I created to compensate for the unnecessary tapering I did.  What I did was take 2 pieces from scraps of my hull planking, squared them up and glued them together.  I then created a convex curve on one side to match the curve of the mast reinforcements.  Then calculated how thick this spacer needed to be, in the fore and aft direction, and created a hole/curve to match the mast.  I then very carefully cut the desired “C” shaped portion of the hole/curve out of the glued together boards.  Then I added just a drop of glue to the mast and placed the “C” shaped piece in place.  Then fitted the mast/”C” shaped piece into the curve of the mast reinforcements using the already made metal work and let it sit over night.  I was quite pleased to see that I was able to remove the mast from the reinforcement piece and the “C” shaped piece came with it.

 

 

 

 

And that leaves us with the last picture with everything in place at this point of my build.  There isn’t a blanket big enough to cover up the elephant in the room.  As is readily seen, I really messed up the attachment of the bottom gudgeon.  It is so disappointing to have worked/struggled so much fixing, re-fixing and re-re-fixing my mistakes to have this as a result.  I knew the leading edge of the rudder needed to be parallel to the transom, the bottom of the rudder is to be even with the keel and the bottom gudgeon needed to be parallel with the pintle.  I was able to get everything positioned as needed and used a finger clamp on the rudder keeping everything in place, or so I thought.  I marked the aft holes to be drilled then the forward holes.  Some how, some way, some time during this process the gudgeon obviously shifted.  I removed the rudder and gudgeon so I could drill the holes for the nails.  Was able to get all four holes to sufficient depth without breaking through or breaking the drill bit, I was so relieved.  Using CA I got the gudgeon and nails installed and gave it a look.  Something didn’t look right.  It wasn’t until I got the rudder to within 6 inches of the boat that I saw my error and was so angry with myself for making such a mistake, I just couldn’t believe it.  At this point I believe I’m just going to eat it and let it be.  I’m sure some day, after I’ve looked at it for far too long, I’ll consider looking to fixing it . . . . again.

 

 

 

[HardeeHarHar]

All that hard work is paying off, your oars are amazing, and the tiller is too!  Fantastic die hard attitude and perseverance shows through and overcomes all “issues” encountered.  :-$

[allanyed]

Peanut,

For future reference, the following may be of interest to you and others.    I have no doubt there were differences from boat yard to boat yard, and era to era, but a sample of the information at The Art of Making Masts, Yards, Gaffs, Booms, Blocks and Oars as Practised in the Royal Navy and According to the Most Approved Methods in the Merchant Service, 2nd edition, printed for Steel and Goddard, London, in 1816  follows:

Ships' sweeps and oars are made of hand-masts, or rafters, as per table. They should be chosen straight-grained, free from large knots, shakes, or rind-galls. They are first sawed, or jammed in a snatch-block, and hewed nearly to their size; then raised on horses, and completed by the drawing-knife, spoke-shave, or plane. Open handles are nailed to the sides of the loom in the direction of the flat of the blade, made of oak, about one inch and three-quarters deep, and two inches and one-quarter thick, hollowed to admit the hand easy between that and the loom: the length of the handle is one-third the length of the loom.

                                                                    DIMENSIONS OF SHIPS' SWEEPS & OARS For a  36 Gun Frigate

                                      Lengths                       Loom                   Blade                   Handle

            Sweep  Handle Loom Body  Blade    Square        Broad         Thick         Diameter        

                                                                                     Inner  Outer  Inner  Outer

              44′      1′10″  16′ 8″ 11′ 0″ 14′6″     5 ¾″      5"           11″     4 ¾″  1 ½″     1 ¾″  

Barges and lighters', and ships' boats', oars are made of fir-rafters, similar to ships', without handles to the sides of the loom.

                                                                            DIMENSIONS OF SHIPS' BOATS’ OARS 

Lengths                       Loom                   Blade                    Handle

            Sweep  Handle Loom Body  Blade    Square[1]       Broad         Thick           Diameter        

                                                                                     Inner  Outer  Inner  Outer

                                                                                       16 Foot Cutter (6 foot beam)

              19′      0′ 10″    5′ 0"   7′2″    6’ 0″     3 7/8″    3″          6″     2 ¾″    7/8″             1 ¾″

 

                                                                                 25’ Cutter and 28’ Pinnace (7 foot beam)

              20′      0′ 10″    6′ 0″   6′ 10″  6′ 4″       4″      3 1/8″    6 1/8″ 2 7/8″  7/8″          1 ¾″

 

                                                                                    30’ Barge  (9 foot beam)

              21′       1′0″     8′6″    4′6″   7′0″       4″      3 1/8″    6 1/4″ 2 7/8″  7/8″               1 ¾″

 

 

---

[1] The looms of boats' oars were often made round.

 

 

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Lovely work. I think all of us relative newbies have to swallow the odd mistake, accept that the experts went through it too, or be forever fixing small errors at the risk of losing motivation. Another way to look at it (my way now) is that 99.9% of the people who see your model in the flesh won't know a rudder from an udder and will only see the beautifully crafted end result. 

[Peanut6]

Thank you HHH and Kevin-the-lubber.  I half figured that most people wouldn't notice the rudder (but knew eveyone here would so I just owned it up front) and hope they'll notice the better things I was able to do.  I had mentioned in an earlier post about serving the knob end of the tiller but I've decided against it.  Thinking about scale, right now I'm guessing the diameter is 1.5" to 2.0" and I don't feel good about it getting any bigger.  But I may do some wrapping on the oars where they would normally be resting is our pseudo oarlocks.  I really like the looks of a Turks Head, I think its called, but not sure if it could be differentiated with just a simple wrap.  In prepping the text for this post I found another I had started regarding the metal work completion but I don't believe I ever posted it.  I'll have to double check. 

[allanyed]

Kevin,

The problem is not always how others that see our work, for many of us, we are our own harshest critics.  When I say to myself something is good enough, I know it is time to walk away for a minute, hour, day, or week, then come back and rip it out and do it better.   Does this cause a loss of motivation?  For me, absolutely yes it can, and it has happened five or six times for periods of weeks or even months over the past 45 years.  At those points in time I just forget the wood and go to working on research or drawing  plans for a future project or go fishing.  

 

Constructive criticism from a master model builder is more welcome for me than tons of praise from those that don't know the rudder from an udder. (Great saying 😁)   By constructive criticism, I mean don't just point out what I did wrong, give me the solution or better yet, show me where to find the solution on my own.   

 

Allan

Edited April 27, 2022 by allanyed

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Quite true, Allan. I should think very few modellers are ever entirely satisfied with their efforts.

[Peanut6]

Allanyed, I agree completely agree with you, we definately are our own harshest critics.  Prior to starting my oars I found similar info to what you provided in my copies of Historic Ship Models by Wolfram zu Mondfeld and Ship Modeling from Stem to Stern by Milton Roth.  The first book mentioned had numerous examples of different oars from different eras and purposes/applications.  The second book actually had an illustration of an oar used on boats the same size as my Jolly Boat and was shown at 1:24 scale (my Jolly Boat is 1:25 scale).  That particular illustration showed a leather wrap which led me to wanting to do some sort of wrap on my oars.

[Peanut6]

" . . . 99.9% of the people who see your model in the flesh won't know a rudder from an udder . . . "  totally priceless   

[Peanut6]

Metal work:  Got the metal work done quite a while ago.  Don't remember exactly when, probably during a break near the end of the hull planking or immediately after I finished it.  When ever it was I wrote down some quick notes.  I didn't post then so what follows is what I had in my head at that time.

 

Between the few miniature pliers I had, the tools my son gave me from that were supplied with a "Star Wars" metal model kit he received as a gift and the loan of a couple more from the Boss's Rosery making kit she made up, I had a pretty good selection of metal working pliers to work with.  I completed the metal work for the bowsprit support, mast truss and mast truss reinforcements.  My first attempt at the mast truss was a complete failure.  You can only bend, straighten and rebend thin brass sheet so many times before you have more pieces than you started with.  I wrapped the brass strip around the mast to get the necessary curve.  But trying to bend the tabs at the proper location became an exercise in futility.  I spent a few hours trying to figure out how I might better accomplish this task.  I remembered reading in a build log where the author used the remnants from the hull frame sheet as a guide in checking the faring of the hull.  The wheels started turning and I decided to try a modified punch and die method.  I took some scraps from my planking and glued them together face to face, squared them up and put the appropriate sized radius on one edge, and rounded of the sharp corners.  Then I laid the brass strip across that edge.  Using the appropriate section from my old mast, I pressed the brass down into the radius using a small pair of pliers.  With the mast section still in place, I then bent each down to form the tabs of the truss.  I didn’t turn out exactly as I had hoped (tough to hold everything in place with only two hands and the tools available) but it was much better than the first attempt.  The tabs still didn’t match up with the mast support as I hoped, but it looked as though with some careful fiddling I might be able to make it happen.  But the question was whether there would be enough tab surface for the truss reinforcements to secure against the mast support.  I bent up one truss reinforcement to see if I just might have enough of a truss tab to make this work.  Got it done without any issue, kinda' surprised myself.  Gave things a test fit to see how it looked.  Indeed it seemed as though I just might be able make it work after all, that is if I were super careful and very lucky bending up the second truss reinforcement.  Seeing how much 3mm brass strip I had left with still the bowsprit support to bend later, I was getting very nervous about having enough material to get everything done.  Especially if I failed on my second truss reinforcement.  To be on the safe side I decided I should see about getting some more brass sheet.  Luckly my preferred hobby supply store had the correct thickness in stock and was able to pick up a 1" x 12" piece.  The metal Gods were with me, the second truss reinforcement turned out just fine.  Did a dry fit and my mast was actually held in place with my completed metal work fixin's.  I had just a bit of difficulty with the bowsprit support.  Round things have a tendency to turn and/or roll, which is a good thing unless you don’t want them to.  Finally got the bowsprit support bent and it looks just fine.  I'm sure I'll know if it works when it's time to insall the bow sprit.  I’m going to wait to trim it to length and drill the holes at installation.  I’ll hold off on pics of the individual pieces and show them installed.

[allanyed]

Kevin,

For the future, you might want to consider either softening the brass or using copper.  Copper is softer and far easier to blacken with liver of sulfur than brass is with BW Casey or other blackening agents.

Allan

[Peanut6]

allanyed, thank you for the suggestion, I'll keep that in mind.  I have a log book that I jot down all the "In the future you may want to consider . . . " items and links to helpful web spots I find during this build.  Come to think of it I can't recall why I didn't blacken my brass.  I had originally planned to as I got a bottle of "Blacken-It" very early in my build.  Now I can only guess that I got excited/carried away about positive progress when I attached the bow eyelet/ring and top gudgeon and just plain forgot about it.  By that time it was too late.  I don't think the thickness was an issue, only .016" thick.  I bet it was due to my lack of experience and/or the tools I had available to me.  Heck, even if I had the perfect tool(s) for this job I didn't know how to use them properly for what I was trying to do.  Definately will do much more research next time.  Thanks again for your comments and visit to my build log, it is greatly appreciated.  

[Peanut6]

I find myself with very little to do but the masting and rigging . . . . I think.  I started by drilling out the holes in the blocks and deadeyes to 0.75mm (.0295”) per the instructions.  I opted to go one size up, .03125” just to make sure I could get the line thru.  Finally taking a much closer look at the blocks and deadeyes, now knowing what I might be looking for, I found the blocks could have been better.  Holes were off center on the single blocks and the holes on the double blocks were also not horizontal with the edge, plus I seriously question the spacing between holes.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that the single blocks were already at my desired diameter.  I had to go thru 3 bits to get to my desired diameter on the double blocks and was scared the holes would break into each other, but they didn't.  And that whole breaking a drill bit thing was always in the front of my mind.  I also discovered the collets of my pin vise don’t go that small.  I wound up wrapping the shank of the bits with tape to create a larger diameter so I could easily roll the bits between my thumb and index finger.  The deadeyes only needed just very minor “dressing up” and they were good and were in a much better condition than that of the blocks.  I decided to seize my chain plates and bottom deadeyes first.

 

I was searching on Youtube in hope of finding any additional tips/tricks that would help me.  I came across one video on seizing blocks to masts and gave it a look.  It was perfect, I just threaded my chain plate into one of the loops made while the other was used for the deadeye.  During the instruction/description of the process the author of the video gave credit for this method to our own Bender here at MSW.  I have to admit feeling a little “second hand pride” in hearing that.  The one thing I was missing was the preferred seizing line.  I knew the Boss had black thread in her sewing box but it is in our bedroom closet and she was still asleep.  No matter what sneaky Ninja skills I thought I might posses, there is no way I was going to attempt that extraction.  Then I thought I remembered seeing something I just might be able to use.  I inherited my Grandfather’s fly tying kit and supplies when he passed away years ago (to this very day I regret not asking Grandpa to teach me how to tie my own flies).  I looked thru the stuff and found 3 spools of black fly tying thread, the stuff many modelers suggest and swear by.  Now I had everything I needed, my 3^rd hand, bees wax, fly tying line and CA.  Well here is how they turned out.  I don’t think they are too bad for a first timer.  I was able to achieve my goal in that I think they look pretty clean and are all the same length.

 

 

 

In a previous post I talked about my completed metal work but didn’t have any photos.  Since I had the camera out I thought I’d get one.  As mentioned before, I’m not to thrilled with the bowsprit support (bottom left).  If I remember correctly, the last time I “fitted” it up, it was too “springy”.  I’m sure the nail, even combined with CA, won’t be enough to hold it down.  I believe I still have enough material to try and make another one if I can’t get this one adjusted/bent sufficiently to work.

 

 

 

I've read/seen that everything I can do prior to setting the mast and standing rigging should be done because after that it all becomes more difficult to accomplish.  I've got the culverin support sanded to fit with the swivel pin hole drilled and stained (except for the bottom and hull side which are to be glued).  Don't know why they call the armament supplied with the kit a culverin.  My research tells me that a culverin was a long 17th century French cannon used to shoot a much smaller projectile at a far greater distance than your typical cannon with a cannon ball.  I believe what we have here is more accurately described as a light swivel gun typical of the 18th century which fits the timeline of my Jolly Boat and the picture I found pretty much matches what we've got.  Next up I need to handle my horse for the boom tackle.  I didn't realize that the Jolly Boat builder that used this method on his boat used a second/support plate at the aft bulwark and "sandwiched" the horse between them.  I don't want to even touch my aft bulwark in trying to redo it to accomidate such a reinforcement.  But I think I'm still ok.  I was very concerned about having enough material depth to attach the horse.  The plans show the aft bulwark placed slightly inboard of the transom, but I aligned my aft bulwark even with the transom.  A mistake/deviation from the plans but I think it will save my bacon here.  Having placed my bulwark where I did leaves more of the top edge of the transom available below the stern thwarts.  If I can drill in just the right spots I'll go thru the thin stern thwarts and into the top edge of transom giving plenty of depth for securing the horse.  I'm spending so time studying the plans to fully understand the running rigging and sails so that I rig as much of the boom sail as possible and get my cleats in some type logical locations.  

 

 

Edited April 13, 2022 by Peanut6
description correction

[HardeeHarHar]

Your chain plates and deadeyes look great!!!  Well done amigo!!!

[Peanut6]

This morning I came to the realization I’ve had my Thinking Cap on backwards the last couple days.  I was so focused on getting my horse for the boom tackle located then bent properly I went about it the hard way.  First I located and drilled my holes thru the aft thwart into the end of the transom to a suitable depth with no problems, what a relief.  Then made numerous attempts at making a “bending jig” with a piece of scrap wood from the garage and some nails.  I figured a jig would be the sure fire way to accurately and symmetrically bend my horse into the desired form.  Got the first bend done using a pair of round needle nose pliers just right.  I found that I just don’t have the skills, materials and/or tools to create a fixture for the second bend accurate to the 2^nd decimal place.  Got to thinking which condition would be easier to adjust the legs of the horse to the existing holes, a horse too long or a horse too short (meaning length port to starboard).  Then the light bulb came on ever so bright (at least for this dim wit).  Why didn’t I just bend the horse to a length guaranteed to fit the given width and then transfer the leg locations to the thwart for drilling?  So my focus for the day is to plug the holes I drilled and touch them up with some stain.  They are very close to the corner, which will be a bit troublesome, but I’m thinking they shouldn’t be too noticeable if I can do a half decient job.  When I put the second bend in the horse I’ll have to be careful the legs aren’t too close to the plugged holes for fear of all the drilling problems an overlap would pose.

[HardeeHarHar]

I understand your thought process, but if I were to be an optimist, I’d bend the horse before I plugged the holes.  If by chance you get lucky, you’re good.  If you don’t, then stage 2 can be pondered.  However, I must admit I just “made mine fit”.

[Peanut6]

Great suggestion, nothing wrong with getting lucky every now and then . . . but the toothpicks have been fitted, glued and should be ready for trimming and touch-up staining in just a little bit.  At least I thought ahead just a bit and tested how best to trim the toothpicks down to the thwart with minimal sanding required.  If my little nippers do what I expect them to do, I won't be sanding all.  But if not, my #11 x-acto blade will also work just fine.  I firmly believe with the ends stained and being tight in the corners, you have to be looking for them to see them.  Guess that approach is where I'm hoping to get lucky.

[Peanut6]

Once again I apologize about the quality of the pictures.  This is my youngest daughters camera and I showed her the inconsistency of the photos I was getting and asked her why.  It was at that point I learned why she was so readily offering its use.  She told me she had the exact same problems and that is why she replaced it, “it’s just to flakey” she said.

 

We now have a horse, a light swivel gun, a mast and a bowsprit in place.  The horse is just dry fit for now as I still need to do the boom rigging.  I was able to get the holes plugged and touched up from my first horse installation attempt.  Bent the horse and transferred the leg locations with no problems.  I’m a bit disturbed with the look of the horse.  I got a couple dips/doodles in the rod when I “straightened” out one of the initial bends and then rebent it.  Realized that I was making the situation worse by trying to make it look better and just stopped.  I’ve decided that during the course of the boats life it took a knock or three along the way (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it).

  

 

 

Next up is the bowsprit support.  I was able to rework what I started.  I straightened everything except the tab.  I clamped it down on my 6” straight edge such that I could bend it over and round the bowsprit.  Then it was just a bit tweeking to get right.  Still just a little bit of spring to it but much better than before.  Applied some CA to the flats to close the loop.  I held my breath when I unclamped it, it was holding.  Another deep breath as I inserted the bowsprit to the correct location, fully expecting it to pop open.  Still holding.  Spent the next forever finger drilling the hole thru the tabs.  The way my luck has run with this build I fully expected to CA to give way just I finally got the hole finished.  Nope, held tough.  Could it possibly be that I’ve got all the “bad luck oopses” out of this build?  Got the hole location transferred, drilled and bowsprit support nailed into place (reinforced with CA) complete with the bowsprit located as it should be.

 

 

 

And lastly I just had to lash the bowsprit end to the mast.  The photo in the instructions of this step really looked messy and slipshod at best.  I wanted to create something much neater.  IMHO, I believe I accomplished this, at least to my liking.  I wound up doing a figure “8” around the mast/bowsprit junction.  I suppose I was basically seizing the two together.  The starting end got covered with each lap around.  I prethreaded a sewing needle prior to starting figuring it would be the best way not to waste any line.  When I completed the last lap I was able to slide the needle down the bowsprit, under the lashing pulling back unnecessary line back thru the needle eye to minimize wasted line when I cut it free.  l  Pulled things tight as I snugged things up.  Trimmed the loose ends and added a tough of CA to hold things together.

 

 

 

 

 

On to the standing rigging.  Think I have a plan on getting the chainplate deadeyes at the correct angle and shroud deadeye locations even.  I had asked about the shroud twist at the cheeks of the mast as shown in the instructions but didn’t get a response/reply so I’ve decided to seize a loop up top which I’m thinking might complicate things a bit.  As usual, I'll overthink this to death until I build up enough courage to just go for it.

 

 

Edited April 24, 2022 by Peanut6
typo

[HardeeHarHar]

That is looking good Kev!  I bet it feels very nice to see your hard work and deliberations pay off with some significant progress.  I wish I could say the same, but our bathroom renovations are coming along!