Bluenose 1921 by GGibson - FINISHED - Model Shipways - 1:64

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

2 hours ago, mtbediz said:

I stay away from the idea of adding sails to the models I build because I could not achieve a realistic appearance in my first models I built. I also noticed that the sails concealed the detail work on the ship and the details in the rigging. Of course, if you can give the sails a realistic appearance, this will contribute to the model, but I could not achieve this.

  'Saw a fairly large Bluenose 2 model where the sails had 'just started' to be raised ... lending an 'action' element to the presentation (that might have even been improved with a few scale figures).  I could see plenty of rigging and construction details since they weren't blocked by fully extended sail cloth ... they were still mostly gathered.

[John Ruy]

WOW!  Nicely done Greg, very good detail with your blocks, hardware and rigging. Over all excellent work, she is looking Great. 👍 

[GGibson]

2 hours ago, hamilton said:

Looks gorgeous Gregg!

hamilton

Thanks, hamilton!  Your Bluenose build log was one of those I had readily available for research and "how did they do that" questions.  Appreciate your comment, sir!

[GGibson]

1 hour ago, John Ruy said:

WOW!  Nicely done Greg, very good detail with your blocks, hardware and rigging. Over all excellent work, she is looking Great. 👍 

Thanks, John!  I cannot give enough thanks to you for your guidance in being just enough ahead of me in your Bluenose build for me to be inspired and trudge forward.  You've answered plenty of my queries.  You are appreciated!

[bhermann]

Looks very good, Gregg.  I like that you brought the gaffs down to the boom.  So many of the sail-less schooners I see raise the gaff to where it would be with the sails installed which looks a bit strange to my eye.  Actually seeing your rigging choice gives me yet another alternative to consider - this should add another couple of years to my analysis paralysis!

 

If you would like to elaborate on the difficulties you had with the silkspan, I'd love to hear about it.  I am convinced that this is the sail material to use, and I am almost decided NOT to sew anything.  I can understand that you may not want to clutter your log with this info, so don't feel bad about not responding.

 

Great photos and explanations, as usual!

 

Bob

[ccoyle]

Your model is looking quite impressive, even sans sails!

[GGibson]

3 hours ago, bhermann said:

If you would like to elaborate on the difficulties you had with the silkspan, I'd love to hear about it.  I am convinced that this is the sail material to use, and I am almost decided NOT to sew anything.

 

Hey, Bob!  Thanks for the kind words.  The difficulties I had regarding making sails really, I don't believe, had anything to do specifically with the silkspan itself.  It was just the general preparation of the sails in general.  I absolutely agree that using silkspan is the way to go.  I was just having trouble making clean, tight folded edges, keeping the sail sizes proportional to what they needed to be, etc.  I also thought about furled sails using the silkspan, but was concerned they would just end up looking like rolled up tissue paper.  I was probably destined to do this Bluenose without sails from the get-go.

 

But I definitely think that, with proper knowledge and technique, the silkspan sails would be the way to go.  FYI and FWIW, I got my supply of silkspan from Sig Manufacturing (sigmfg.com) and got two different sizes to test... the "00" light sheets and the "GM" medium sheets.  Next time I want to make sails, I believe the "GM" medium sheet would be good for sails.  The "00" light sheets were... pretty thin!  Someone else may have also used their "SGM" heavy sheets, but I thought I read somewhere that the heavy sheets didn't work as well. <shrug>

 

Again, Bob, appreciate the read and the nice comments. 👍

[GGibson]

1 hour ago, ccoyle said:

Your model is looking quite impressive, even sans sails!

 

Thanks, Chris! Those comments, with your wealth of experience, means a lot to me.  Much appreciated, sir! 

[Der Alte Rentner]

Gregg,

 

Not only does your Bluenose build impress, so does your build log.  The attention to detail, the quality of the photographs, and the presentation are all exquisite.  IMHO, yours is the gold star standard.  Congrats on a gorgeous build and best of luck going forward, with or without sail.

[GGibson]

1 hour ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

Gregg,

 

Not only does your Bluenose build impress, so does your build log.  The attention to detail, the quality of the photographs, and the presentation are all exquisite.  IMHO, yours is the gold star standard.  Congrats on a gorgeous build and best of luck going forward, with or without sail.

 

Thanks, Peter! Appreciate you following this build and thanks for the very kind words!  I feel like I started out my build log with as... much... detail... as I could write, but as it got closer to the end, especially with the rigging, and without the sails detail, it was more of a "let's get this moving" attitude.  

 

I will hopefully get to my own Constitution build soon enough! <shrug> 🤷‍♀️🤣

[GGibson]

Well, let's see if we can complete this Bluenose!  What's left?  Flags and rope hanks on the belay pins.

 

FLAGS

 

As almost everyone else who has built this Model Shipways' version of the Bluenose, they included the wrong Canadian flag in the kit.  So, I found a good copy of the Canadian Red Ensign on the internet and worked on getting some good prints (both regular and inverted or mirrored) simply using the Paint program on my laptop.  Still not sure if it is "historically accurate", but I wanted to have a 2nd flag on the foremast, along with the Canadian Red Ensign on the higher main mast.  So, I chose the Nova Scotia Provincial flag for the foremast.

 

I should also note that the Canadian Maple Leaf flag that was included in the kit measured approx. 82mm x 41mm.  This size seemed a little too large as I held it up at the main mast.  So, when designing the size for the Canadian Red Ensign, I decreased it a bit and printed it at 70mm x 35mm.  I then made the Nova Scotia Provincial flag at a slightly smaller dimension of 62mm x 31mm.

 

 

In reading on other MSW build logs about how others printed their flags on heat transfer paper, I recall that many of them were printed on inkjet printers.  Although I have an inkjet printer, I also have a laser printer that has better quality print, so when I was preparing to do these flags a few months ago, I opted to purchase the laser printer heat transfer paper.  

 

 

Well, in my pure stupidity and loss of thought, when it came time to print these flags this week, I still thought I needed to print them on my inkjet printer.  To make things even worse, I thought I would try printing these flags using the silkspan, as I thought they might hang better than using regular sail-type fabric.  Well...

 

 

...it didn't turn out so well!  Ha!  The print wasn't adhering to the paper well and it got way too hot under the iron.  Oops.  Long story short (too late for that), I eventually realized that a) I needed to print to the laser transfer paper on a laser printer, and b) regular sail cloth was working much better than either of the silkspan thicknesses that I had.  Once I successfully printed both flags on both sides of the cloth fabric, it was time to shape the flags.  Since my Bluenose was completed without sails, I wanted the flags to appear as much "at rest" as I could get them.  Using a series of dowels and clamps, I worked on shaping them, keeping them in these contraptions for days at a time.

 

       

 

I would also spend a lot of time rolling them between my fingers to try and "soften up" the fibers in the fabric.  (One note there - wear nitrile gloves to prevent any possible fingerprint smudges on your flags!)  I also clipped some weight to the bottom fly end of the flags to help shape the flags.  I should note also that, in one of my attempts to shape the Nova Scotia Provincial flag, I tried some spray starch on the flag which caused the colors to run, so I scratched that and didn't use starch anymore.

 

 

This is how much I was able to curl/shape the flags.

 

 

Using a 5/64" drill bit as a size guide, I wrapped 0.51mm wire around the sleeve grommets for the rope to pass through.

 

 

After tying each flag to the mast tops, I was pretty pleased with how they looked.  Whether it is accurate or not, I tied the Canadian Red Ensign flag halliard to the main mast's starboard sheer pole and the Nova Scotia Provincial flag halliard to the foremast's port sheer pole.

 

 

ROPE HANKS

 

There are many tutorials available (whether on individual build logs, separate topic discussions, or YouTube videos) on how folks have made their rope hanks to hang on belay pins.  I made a little jig to create the ones I would hang on the Bluenose.  If I were to do it over again, and I will do it on the "next ship", I would hang the loop over the edge like some others have shown.  After saturating the rope loops with glue and drying, some of my loops also got a bit stiff and didn't bend and hang as perfectly as I wanted.  But they look good to the casual observer, so I am moving on.

 

 

        

 

I will do one more final walk-through on my Bluenose, but I think we are pretty close to finished.  

 

As always, appreciate the reads, likes, comments and criticisms.  Thanks...

 

[hamilton]

Love to see the proud Nova Scotia flag flying high on the foremast - great work Gregg!

hamilton

[GGibson]

Funny how you don't see things necessarily with the naked eye, but after you post some zoomed pictures, you're like "How'd I miss that?!?"  🤷‍♂️  Did find that I missed placing a few rope hanks on belay pins on the foremast pin saddle and on the main mast fife rail, so added those.  I am sure there are more misses, but I'm going to call this Bluenose finished.  Started this Bluenose in November 2022 (well, technically, it began some 18 years ago, but that's a story I told in one of my first posts...), so it's been almost two years of solid shipmodeling.  This is now my 4th completed model and no question it has been my most challenging and most enjoyable.  Isn't that the way it's supposed to be?

 

A million thanks to those who have followed along with me, to those that I have admired in their own build logs and have learned from during that time, those who continue to inspire me to do better.  I have tried to do much less "settling for ok" with this Bluenose than in the prior three builds, but still have done some things that I have been disappointed in my results.  But... I am learning and enjoying this retirement hobby too much to walk away.  I am just committed to doing better with each new build.  So... on to the next one!

 

Again, thanks to all for your follows, likes, comments and criticisms.  You are ALL appreciated.  Here are a few final pictures.

 

     

 

     

 

      

 

      

 

[hamilton]

You've built a truly gorgeous version of the Bluenose Gregg - love her without the sails so the focus can be on the beauty of the hull lines and the lovely spider's web rig. Hope you've got a nice display area worked out for such a fine rendition.

hamilton

[JacquesCousteau]

Congratulations on a job well done!

[GGibson]

Thank you, hamilton!

 

Thank you, Jacques! 

[John Ruy]

Congrats Greg… Wonderful work you can be proud. So much attention to detail. Great job. 🍻

[Knocklouder]

Very nicely done,  Congratulations 

Bob M.      

Edited yesterday at 12:45 AM by Knocklouder

[GGibson]

1 minute ago, John Ruy said:

Congrats Greg… Wonderful work you can be proud. So much attention to detail. Great job. 🍻

 

Thanks, John!  You helped me SO much through this build process, words cannot express my appreciation, sir.  You are appreciated!

[GGibson]

Just now, Knocklouder said:

Very nicely done,  Congratulations 

Bob M.      

 

Thank you, Bob! 

[Ronald-V]

Lovely detailed build! Well done! 💫

[ccoyle]

Congratulations! That's a very handsome model!

[GGibson]

6 hours ago, Ronald-V said:

Lovely detailed build! Well done! 💫

 

Thank you, Ronald! 

 

1 hour ago, ccoyle said:

Congratulations! That's a very handsome model!

 

Thank you, Chris!

[bhermann]

Congratulations on a well-executed and well documented - and beautiful - model. Gregg.  I have very much enjoyed watching her come to fruition and your thoughtful commentary along the way.  With winter coming and more inside time I am hoping to finally re-start my effort, although I'll be thinking "Wish I'd done that as well as Gregg did".

 

Also looking to see where you go next and will be following along there - I think I hear the Conny calling

 

Bob

[Ryland Craze]

Congratulations on finishing this beautiful model.

[GGibson]

4 hours ago, Ryland Craze said:

Congratulations on finishing this beautiful model.

 

Thank you, Ryland!

[GGibson]

4 hours ago, bhermann said:

Congratulations on a well-executed and well documented - and beautiful - model. Gregg.  I have very much enjoyed watching her come to fruition and your thoughtful commentary along the way.  With winter coming and more inside time I am hoping to finally re-start my effort, although I'll be thinking "Wish I'd done that as well as Gregg did".

 

Also looking to see where you go next and will be following along there - I think I hear the Conny calling

 

Bob

 

Thank you, Bob!  Appreciate the kind words, but there are certainly other Bluenose builds that have done much better.  But... mine was a fun build, indeed.

 

Before I get to the Constitution, which I am anticipating will take years to complete based on what others have done, I want to work on the Pavel Nikitin Santa Maria.  It appears to be a much different type of build than what I've been used to, and I am thinking that it won't take quite as long as the Constitution, so... I have that one already on the table.  No rest!