Prince de Neufchatel by Coyote_6 – Constructo – 1/58 scale - American privateer

[Chuck Seiler]

Square away that rudder mate!  

🤣

[Coyote_6]

Whew!  The holidays.  Am I right?

 

So here we are 4 months later with remarkably little to show for the time.  But to @Chuck Seiler I can attest I have indeed got the rudder and tiller squared away.  (At least mostly anyway!)

 

Starting the new year correctly at the shipyard with a safety brief, the assembled staff paid keen attention.

 

 

 

Here is the rudder installation completed.

 

The devil being in the details, we have:

 

The pinned "Wood lock" is installed with a removable pin.   The Wood Lock prevents the rudder from unshipping (falling off).

 

And of course if it did unship, the Rudder Pendants (brass chains) keep the rudder close to the to ship to facilitate repairs.

 

 

And of course the tiller yoke.  If you remove the pin, the tiller yoke can slide out of the rudder head.

 

 

From the external bumpers up and the whole deck/bulkheads/rails have 3 coats of wipe on satin polyurethane clear coat.  When cured,  we will be ready to start some rudimentary rigging (tiller rigging and guns to start).

 

 

 

Thanks for looking in, and wishing everyone  great new year!

 

Steve

[Chuck Seiler]

Is that going to be ready in time for The Fair?

[Coyote_6]

@Chuck Seiler  I think we can safely assume that she will not be ready by summer.   Most folks would say we're half done when the cannon, anchors and deck fittings are all rigged.

 

I hope to move aloft in the next couple months, I hope to build three ship's boats, and I haven't made any decisions on sails at this point.  So still a long way to go I'm afraid.

 

But she should be impressive to work on in the booth by summer!

 

Steve

Edited January 12 by Coyote_6

[Chuck Seiler]

I dunno, the new Guildmeister is pretty adamant about having entries.

[Chuck Seiler]

1 hour ago, Coyote_6 said:

But she should be impressive to work on in the booth by summer!

Good luck dragging a fully masted model thru the Fair. 

[Coyote_6]

More clear satin poly?  Yes please.

 

 

Two coats down, one more to go.  Then the entire ship herself will be done.  (Spars and yards will come later.)

Edited January 16 by Coyote_6

[Coyote_6]

Preparing to begin rigging on the deck (still).

 

Final touches to the hull, filled plank  gaps that were bugging me with Watco Poly.

 

 

 

 

And waiting for cure.  Always one coat away! 

 

 

The mail came...

 

and a new project along the critical path is in work.   The Serv-o-matic cherry is a pretty wood...

 

And the Serv-o-matic is ready for poly.  Always just 1 coat away.

 

[Dr PR]

This is developing into a very pretty model!

[Coyote_6]

@Dr PR Thanks Phil!  I keep getting hung up on little things but that's the learning part.  The hull is drying with a satin poly coat right now, but I did like the glossy look too.  Sooo many options.   I gotta say your Albatros is setting the bar pretty high - I am just trying to catch up with her!

[Coyote_6]

Let's celebrate today, February 1st 2025, as the day the Prince got her first permanent lines installed.  Two figure 8 stopper knots and a dab of CA on the working ends as whipping.

 

Welcome aboard the rigging portion of this build.

 

 

Edited 5 hours ago by Coyote_6

[Coyote_6]

So before we go too far, can I get a critique on my rigging process from some of you experienced builders out there?  Any input or recommendations appreciated.  Looking for convincing appearance and longevity.

 

Here's what I am doing:

 

For line, Syren's poly cotton blend rope...

 

For seizings, nylon or polyester fly tying thread...

 

To bind the seizing for longevity, Elmer's school glue straight from the bottle (a thin white PVA?).  A little drop top and bottom that soaks into the seizing...

 

And this is what we get - the "blocks" are held in place by the seizing tension and then the line tension when rigged tight.  You can see the Elmer's film on the seizings next to the blocks.

 

1.  Is the above process going to be reasonably successful going forward?  

 

2.  Are the materials chosen generally sound?

 

One particular complication is "weaving" an eye in the end of a line.  See the light colored line below (the dark line is seized with fly tying thread and Elmer's):

 

Trying to replicate a weaved eye as in Ashley...

 

I unravel ~1/8th inch and bind it back to the bitter end to form the loop was not able to get this to stick with Elmer's - only Superglue would work.  So I am using superglue (CA) for unseized eyes and a dab on the end of a line to "whip" against unraveling.

 

3.  So am I good here with the CA, or should I be doing woven eyes differently?  

 

4. PVA over CA, or are these equivalent?  I know this falls a bit into lore and opinion but I appreciate all insights!

 

 

Anything I should be doing differently?  Any advice at all on getting a good healthy start?

 

Thank you all in advance - I know you guys will get me on the right track.

(The boarding stairs were too easy! 😜)

 

 

 

 

Edited 29 minutes ago by Coyote_6