HM Schooner Ballahoo by egkb - FINISHED - Caldercraft - 1:64 Scale - First Proper Wood Build

[egkb]

Hey There Jeff & Caleb .. Thanks guys (and the Likes)  Yea, she is beginning to come together now and not before time    This past couple of days I have actually been having a think on what to do next .. and coming up with Sherbourne ! (I have a bit of a stash of boats to choose from)  I have all the research material to hand and there are plenty of build logs to get inspired by, honestly I think it was always gonna be Sherbourne  (re-examines Dirks dang brilliant Sherbourne Build Log.. OK no pressure then   )

Weirdly I will miss doing Ballahoo when I finish, having focused so much time and study on her ..Not there yet though, still the Shrouds and a few Stays to go, did someone mention Ratlines 😐

 

All The Best Folks

 

Eamonn

[Edwardkenway]

Coming along nicely Eamonn, going to be a great little boat when she's finished. 

I will definitely be here if you follow on with Sherbourne 😁

[egkb]

Hey Gang ..  Did a bit more on the main Mast..  I got the Boom installed along with it's rigging today.. Had to have a couple of bashes at the Main Sheet Blocks (they refused to behave themselves  so I went away for an hour or two and when I returned , success    )

You can now get a much better feel for the Rig, as all its spars are in place and all that is left is the Shrouds/ Backstays and Guy Pendants, Oh and the Flag Halyard..

 

All The Best Folks and Thank You for taking the time to look in and comment or hit the like button, It is always appreciated !

 

Bye For Now

 

Eamonn

 

[Retired guy]

Lovely work on the rigging Eamonn getting very close to the finish line 👍

 

Regards

Richard

[egkb]

Hey There Richard .. She sure is heading that way, even Karen (My Wife) said yesterday that it looks more and more like a finished boat now and that the Boom gave a proper feel for its shape.

 

Thanks For Dropping By and for the Compliment on The Ballier    (That goes for all the 'Likes' too folks)

 

All The Best

 

Eamonn

[egkb]

Fore Mast Gaff's Guy Pendants are now in place .. and I rigged a Main Sail Clew Sheet with its Block and Tackle under the boom, the end of which is rove through the Sheave in the boom and kept in place with a 'spike' (would be attached to the Clew of the Main sail if one were attached)

The Ballier is beginning to get 'Ropey' looking now   

 

All The Best Folks .. As Usual Thanks For Stopping By And Liking or Commenting .

 

Eamonn

[Blue Ensign]

Shaping up very nicely Eamonn, something very attractive about these schooner and cutter models.

 

B.E.

[egkb]

Hey B.E.  .. Yea She is beginning to come along now for sure..  Agreed! there deffo is something about them that is pleasing, those small (ish) American boats seem to have it too.

 

Thanks for looking in

 

All The Best

 

Eamonn

[egkb]

Hi Again Folks .. Feels like ages since my last update, but I haven't been sitting around   I was serving shrouds and setting up the first Starboard and Port Pair, they are served to just below what you see in the photo of the Mast Top..  The next one each side will be fully served (Only 3 Shrouds Per Side on Balliers Fore Mast)

 

All The Best Folks And Thanks For Looking In At Ballahoo

 

Eamonn

 

 

[egkb]

Hi Dirk .. Yea, I wasn't sure what to do there, I have some very fine thread coming soon (slowly as you cam imagine  )  so I will see what it's like .. worst case I'll paint it black or darker to suit .. but I should be able to 'wrap' it easily enough (my in stock of thread is too thick unfortunately)

 

 

All The Best Mate

 

Eamonn

 

[egkb]

Thanks Dirk .. Might just give that a go on Monday .. Jeez your work is wonderful !

 

Eamonn

[egkb]

Hope ye Are All Enjoying The Weekend Folks ..  Just a quick Update from today's activities..

 

The Fore Mast Dead Eyes are all completed, next up the Main Mast which only has a pair each side..  These are partially served to just below the Gaff (as per the Fore Mast shrouds) and I will try to get them fitted tomorrow or Monday..  Then I'm going to take Dirks advice and see if I can serve the Mouse on the Fore Stay...

 

Here's a few photos of what it looks like at the moment ..

 

All The Best Folks And Thank You For Looking In.

 

Eamonn

 

Edit ..  Forgot to mention the After most Shroud Port & Starboard are Served over their Full Length..

 

 

 

[Mr. Hornblower]

Almost there,  Eamonn, you'd better send the press gang ashore for some hands! 

Rigging is looking exquisite.  It's way beyond me, I'll say.

 

Cheerio,

Caleb

[egkb]

Thanks Caleb,  every step now is a giant step closer to the finish  

 

Eamonn

[egkb]

The Main Mast Shrouds are now in place and awaiting Ratlines ..  I want to set the Back Stays up next though then look at that Fore Stay Mouse (and tidy up all the loose rigging etc) before moving onto knocking up a pair of Anchor Buoys.

 

All The Best Folks and a Big Thank You to all Posters and Likes, without ye looking in I would have a much poorer build here !

 

Eamonn

 

 

 

 

[Edwardkenway]

She's just dandy Eamonn 

I admire your work ethic on her rigging 😉

[egkb]

Thanks Edward, what a nice thing to say !

 

Eamonn

[jwvolz]

Looking good Eamonn

[drtrap]

Nice work Eamonn!!

[egkb]

Just finished the pendant part of the Fore Mast Back Stays and I have to say .. If anyone ever suggests building a simple jig to help with attaching blocks to rigging please take them up on it, I made one today.. nothing more complicated than a scrap block of wood (in my case about 17cm x 7cm x 2cm block) with a small hole drilled in it, enough to accept the eye end of a sewing needle to about 1cm deep, I popped the needle into it and put the small block onto the point (using one of the blocks holes) this kept the block at a good height and rigid with easy access for attaching the rope and seizing it in place especially with one of those self closing tweezers held in a clamp...   

Previously I was attempting to hold the block in the same tweezers held in a desk top vice whilst trying to wrap the rope around it and seize it too ..  all my blocks were done in this manner and it doesn't half bring on a sweat (not to mention the old Hunt The Tiny Block In The Carpet game when it 'zings' out of the tweezers   )

Oh and the Jig took me all of 3 mins to make and that includes a 2nd hole drilled near the first to accept another needle in case I want to make a loop in the end of the block !!

 

Just remove the needle whenever you are finished as you have a very sharp object sticking up out of a block of wood (I marked the hole to make finding it easier as it is small) 😐 As Father Ted would say .. 'Careful Now'

 

All The Best Folks And Thank You Joe & Stergios for the nice comments and to all the Likes also

 

Cheers

 

Eamonn

[egkb]

Quick photos of my Jig mentioned above ..  it is a real time and patience saver ! 

You can hopefully just see the point of the needle sticking up slightly through the Block hole in the 2nd photo.

 

Photo 1 shows one of the most useful devices I use, the weighted 'tweezers' holder, it is a life saver for rigging as with the right tension on the thumb screws it can be adjusted easily with one hand simply by 'gently twisting' the joins or the base of the tweezers themselves, you can see my scrap wood jig in front of it too..

 

Note.. It took much longer to write this than to make that stropped block !

 

Cheers Folks

 

Eamonn

 

 

[egkb]

Fore Mast Back Stays done ...they too are served to just below the Gaff (same as the Shrouds)

 

Just the Main Mast Ones to do and then onto Ratlines and Anchor Work & Flag Halyard etc (The 'To Do List' is getting smaller by the day   still plenty left though not least a visit to the stand where I may make a kind of Launch Way similar to Dirks Sherbourne )

 

Thanks for looking in Folks

 

Eamonn

[egkb]

Ok Folks .. Bit of Dubz Style Deconstruction Time ..  I wasn't best pleased with the run of the Back Stays (where I made them off on the cap rail) so I put a Double Block in place of the Single (On the Running Part) and made them off at the Pin Rack ...  I want to point out that I didn't make a mistake and put a Single where there should have been a Double (If that's what you think 🙄😇  Honest..) ... The Plan is patiently wrong here, I'd show you but this Raccoon came in and ate that part ...  Cough Cough Ahem Ahem   ..

 

 

All The Best

 

Honest Eamonn Owner At 'We Don't Make Mistakes Boat Yards'   

 

The Fix ...

[egkb]

And The Back Stays Are Done ..    (with No Obvious 'Deliberate' Mistakes Either 🙄 )

 

Got a fair bit of rigging done today, kinda got a production line going.

 

All The Very Best & Thanks For Stopping By

 

Eamonn

 

[Jeff-E]

Excellent work Eamonn, all looking good. I wish I could get my shroud seizings to look so neat.👍

[egkb]

Thanks Jeff ...  That Tweezers and Clamp doodah from a couple of posts ago really helped here .. What didn't was the 'Bent Paper Clip' type thing I used to set the gap..  I would use something else next time around,  I understand that different lengths was normal (in real world) but it kinda upsets the run (and I'm unwilling to deconstruct that far, as there are 'dabs' of glue on all the lashings and I really don't want to have to re-do the entire Shroud Pair  ) I will try to get a better alignment when I adjust the tensions..

I see some folks use twisted wire to set the gap, where they have 2 lots of bent wire at each end to go into a pair of holes on each dead-eye as opposed to the single 'wire' version I used, where there was too much movement possible (even a couple of mm ruins the alignment and that's all it is here unfortunately)

 

Thanks For Looking In and To All The Likes Also..

 

Cheers

 

Eamonn

[egkb]

Hi Folks ... Quick Update ..

 

This past week or so I have been properly examining the Stand situation, it was never my intention to display Ballahoo on the Kit stand but instead to build a kind of Launch Way of one type or another (very similar to Dirks in fact)

So after a fair amount of browsing through various examples of 'Slip Way' Type Stands, I narrowed it down to the one below.. This is one I first saw on Dubz's Sherbourne build log and also on another Cutter (in a Museum I think) and it seemed perfect !

It isn't quiet finished yet but is about 90% there, all that's left is to fine tune the Keel supports and build the upright side Supports (4 per side) then stain the whole affair Medium Oak colour.

The Base the stand is sitting on isn't the permanent one, the knots are a bit prominent (though that said I kinda like it  )

 

All The Best

 

Eamonn

[Beef Wellington]

Really like the look of your stand there Eamonn, I to like the knots....but "down with that sort o' thing"...

[VTHokiEE]

I also really like this stand; I’ll have to take a look at Dirks and maybe get some similar inspiration. I can’t wait to see what it looks like at the end.

[egkb]

22 hours ago, Beef Wellington said:

Really like the look of your stand there Eamonn, I to like the knots....but "down with that sort o' thing"...

Careful Now ...  

 

E