Andrea Gail by Popeye the Sailor - 1:20 scale - Finished

[popeye the sailor]

you may very well be correct Patrick......I never thought of that      looks as though I may have to adjust the two top cables.....try not to hit them,  but it's very hard not to.   shouldn't be too tough to do........or I'll restring new ones      thanks for the good words.

 

yea.....I couldn't leave them like that.  turned out to be a minor problem though.......the repair was very easy.  I'll get the lines terminated with the hooks I made,  and post a bit later.   got to go.....Gibbs beckons!   pictures coming 

[BenF89]

Long time reader, first time commenter

 

Chiming in to say, first and foremost, this is one of my favorite builds to follow. There is something about modern workboats as model subjects that really excites me (probably because they are the types of things I would like to help design one day).

 

Second, I can confirm that IRL does indeed mean 'In Real Life.'

 

And finally, I share the sentiment that I'm torn between wanting to see the finished product, and not wanting the updates to stop! Keep up the good work - the quality is a goal for a newbie like me to aspire to.

[trippwj]

Nice recovery, my friend!  The details you put into these are absolutely mind boggling (however, before you get a swelled head, it does not really take much to boggle my mind....)

 

As to our Dutch friend and his IRL - I suppose that is better than the other Dutch word he taught me

 

Pfffffffffffttttttt!

 

Cary on - we all wonder what is next!

 

:im Not Worthy:

[mtaylor]

I think he taught us all that word, Wayne.    :D    

[popeye the sailor]

gee......I'd better get this update posted......and pronto!   thank you all for the super nice comments...can't tell you how much I appreciate it.

 

Ben:   quite a comment.....I'm a bit humbled.  I'm glad you enjoy the log.  there are quite an array of these kits out there {I'd like to check out a Dumas kit}.  build what you like...you'll have more fun with it.....save the challenging kits for later .   not sure about the time frame......but there isn't that much left to go,  and Andrea will be finished.  I have a couple more on the roster,  but I haven't decided which one is next.  thanks for following along,  I really appreciate it!

 

Wayne:  thanks a lot for the kind word......but I'm just a novice,  no swelled head here       just a regular joe.........>click heels three times<......just a regular joe 

[popeye the sailor]

Carl.......sorry......I am sooooooooo late with this! 

 

I guess it was my day to break things.   a little while ago,  I broke my favorite pair of nippers!   all I was trying to do was cut a piece of brass         *note to self:......the right hand tool works better,  you know!*

 

 

anyway.......the reel came off......not without some breakage though.   it was an easy fix,  and after re-spooling the reel,  it was back in place.......just like it never left.

 

 

after it was dry,  the reel was re-rigged.   it had to pass through above the bottom bars of the 'X',  but I was very happy to see that the lines do not touch them.  they are close.......but there is a gap.......and that's allI wanted to see!

 

 

I had made some hooks for terminating the lines,  hooked to the eye bolts of the bulwark posts.

 

 

I also tightened up the starboard side cable,  between the two sections......I still have to do the port side cable.  it's not as bad,  but I'll do it anyway.

 

 

 

the two single blocks suspended under the aft bar.

 

 

my focus at this point are the counter weights and those vents.   I'm hoping that I can produce weights that are just heavy enough to keep the rigging assemblies taught.   as for the vents,  I cut some wider stuff,  but the curve is a bit too wide,  so I may have to combine the two different sizes of wedges.   I need four of them.

 

 

 

it's going to be interesting,  I can tell ya that! 

[GLakie]

She's starting to look as complex as a square rigger Dennis!  You're doing a bang-up job on her. 

[Piet]

Nice  fix Popeye, she's looking really very spiffy!

 

Cheers,

[cog]

Just recovered meself mate, almost went cold turkey    ... it does look better from this side too! Give Gibbs a pat on the head from me, he must have waited patiently for you to finish ... A sadness is washing over me ... just a few more updates ...

[Jim Lad]

Nice re-work, Popeye!  She really is looking pretty exciting right now.

 

John

[kees de mol]

Looks interesting to me allready. I like it how everything comes together now.

[Greg the peg leg sailor]

G'day Popeye

Been off air for the past 2 days or so. We had a very bad storm, lost power for over 2 days. No Internet, no model work etc. Borrrring. Weĺl it's looks like your fishing boat is just about ready for her maiden voyage. Great job.

Greg

[popeye the sailor]

thanks for the kind comments and likes!  did a bit more after my last update,  but it's small at the moment.   I was looking at how the counter weight looks in the instructions, and I see that it is made from three parts.   strange I thought,  so I got the part numbers and checked out the inventory list.   I can't say that I was surprised to find that they are made of wood.   there can't be a lot of weight to them,  if they are made of wood.

 

gee Greg......don't know if I should have put a like to your post.......but I'm glad you made it through OK.   I remember the October storm we had a few years ago........we were out for about a week.   I tried to build in the day time,  and at night by candles  {many of them}....but neither one was very fruitful.   hope there was no damage left by the storm.......clean up is always the pits!

 

thanks John........still unsure about the fish boxes.......not even a crab cage.   I'm still looking around though.

 

thanks Kees.........the extra bits I'll do at the end,  will fill in the gaps.  but,  it won't even come close to the detail you put into your builds.    simply awesome work,  my friend 

 

I'll try to stretch it out Carl......can't say for how long.....she coming together at her own rate now.

 

so......I'm going to try and make the counter weights out of brass.   the stock I bought earlier has no size on it......but it looks to be around 1 mm thick and 10 mm wide.   I have some bigger cutters....short of using a hack saw,  and I will see what I can come up with.   I was going to use the top parts of the gallows,  that I disassembled.....but they are too thick to solder anything to them to look good,  and there are the pre drilled holes that are too far in,  to use rings that would be to scale.   way too much prep.

 

so,  thanks again to you all for the comments and likes.   the build may be close to the end.......but it's been an amazing journey,  and I'm glad that you folks enjoyed the log.

[Greg the peg leg sailor]

G'day Denis

We were quite lucky! No damage except for some spoilt food from the freezer. Trees are down all around us, but thanks to God not on our house. Roads has been flooded and sadly about 6 people has lost their lives. It was at cat 2 cyclone. We never had a cyclone in our area before, too far south. I think it's the climate change.

Thanks for asking.

Cheers

Greg

[Omega1234]

G'day Denis

We were quite lucky! No damage except for some spoilt food from the freezer. Trees are down all around us, but thanks to God not on our house. Roads has been flooded and sadly about 6 people has lost their lives. It was at cat 2 cyclone. We never had a cyclone in our area before, too far south. I think it's the climate change.

Thanks for asking.

Cheers

Greg

 

Hi Greg

 

Dennis beat me to it.  We've heard about the storm as well and I can only say that I'm glad you got through it okay.  

 

 

Dennis - If this is the end, then I'm going to sadly miss your AG build log.  I kinda got addicted!!!!  Maybe I need therapy, but it was, as they say in the classics, a "damn good build".

 

I can't wait to see Mo and Curly come to life.

 

All the best!

 

Patrick

[popeye the sailor]

WOW!  well..again Greg,  Very glad you made it through alright.  sounds like there will be a lot of clean up to be done.   sad when you hear of lost lives.   the world is going through such changes,  that all we can do now,  is batten down the hatches and hope for the best.

 

yea,  it's something Patrick........but it's not the end just yet.  there are four more aspects that I need to make...I think that's all.......and then what I can do with the added stuff.   I have others on the roster,  that I need to get back onto....boy......I'll be glad when I can get caught up.   I can see myself doing another fishing vessel........I have the Boulogne Etaples still.....and the Syborn {their on the roster}.   the Andrea Gail is still on the table......and it isn't coming off until it is finished.   more to come soon!

[augie]

Glad to hear AG will be in place until completion.  I can't keep up with all of your fleet at the same time 

[popeye the sailor]

no.....I promised......she won't leave the table,  until she's finished.  although,  there was a time today,  I wanted to remove the cover off the Boulogne {she's on the other table,  along with the Syborn},  and do some work on her too.  but........I was a good boy........I didn't.    .....or maybe finish the funnel work on the Syborn.......NO!   ......got to stay on track!  

 

rest assured Augie.......

 

.......which brings me to what I DID do today.  I did find out that cutting those larger diagonal pieces of round stock,  really wasn't working for me.   I went back to my earlier attempt,  and I made it work.   I managed to come up with two,  of the four that I will need.

 

 

one looks longer......and that will get cut down to match.   once they are sanded to shape,  I'm suing white glue as filler for the tiny cracks and gaps.   since I'm not a big fan of watching glue dry either,  I thought I'd do some checking,  for the diagrams of the parts panels.  since I found that the counter weights were made of wood,  I pulled up the PDF's for both of Billing's instructions,  for the two versions of this vessel.  both were made of wood......but I got to see what the parts look like 

   I made some adjustments on my tin snips......got them working much better....and I cut out the main parts.   there are the two center parts and four wing parts.   shaping them was a bit dangerous.......I cut one of them in half,  so I had to make another.   I had also drilled the ring hole .

 

 

I needed a jig.......cut a slot down the middle for the center piece,  which needed to be set in place at an angle......and sculpt out an angled area to meet it.

 

 

the parts were set in place,  matching them up,  so it all looked even

 

 

it still ended up being a little wobbly.....helped a bit after I anchored the board to the table with a clamp,  but still had to use tweezers to keep the pieces in line.   what came of this was these.

 

 

 

now comes all the filing.......removing the excess solder and round off the sharp edges.......smooth out all the cutter marks, and it was time to balance them.   I had a hunch they would hang weird on the chain.   now,  it's a good thing I drilled those holes,  because the diagrams of the weights show that they have what I would refer to,  as a balance bar running through them.   using one of my picks,  I ran it through the hole and let it hang.......the front dropped down.....not good. 

     drilling another hole 2-3 mm beside the hole,  and adding this bar,  made the difference

 

 

here's a better picture

 

 

I don't know folks can take pictures of their fingers.......the one hand camera thing........is not my thing      here is the other one after I balanced it

 

 

so,  here are the counter weights,  ready for paint.  I did it Piet!   I did it! 

 

 

the two vents got their brass locator tabs fitted and a paint job

 

 

I drilled three of the holes in the fore deck already.........just need to do the one on the port side,  by the pilot house.

[mtaylor]

Love it Popeye.  Nice metal work.

[Greg the peg leg sailor]

G'day Denis

Don't go too fast, I don't want this to end! Looking good and great metal work.

Cheers Greg

[Piet]

Great looking pieces of metal-work Popeye!  Isn't metal work fun and easy?  Those metal pieces are much closer to the real thing and in scale then you could ever achieve with wood.  Sometimes we must go to metal to make it look right and you have done so marvelously.  Bravo!!!

 

A few posts back I mentioned that there were a few shrimp and fishing boats at the show in Fayetteville but kinda naked compared to yours.  They are very nice looking models but after seeing what you have been doing on yours I was missing something.  I was expecting more stuff on them.

 

Okay, I have taken a picture of them and thought post it here for all yuns to see and compare.  Now y'all can see what a added detail does to a model.

 

 

Again, I'm not even implying mediocrity or ho hum workmanship, far from that but I expected more detail on working boats.

 

 

Well done Denis!

 

Cheers,

[augie]

Yup.......  you did it!  Marvelous, mate 

[Greg the peg leg sailor]

G'day Denis

I agree with Piet 110%. There's a saying in Australia: the difference between your your AG and the other boats " are like chalk and cheese". They have a long way to go to be anywhere as good as yours. As Piet said they are "naked in comparison. "

Cheers

Greg

Edited April 23, 2015 by Greg the peg leg sailor

[Sjors]

Very nice Denis !!!!

 

And for all the American, Russian or where they are from......IRL means..... In Real Life !!!!!!

Or in our circumstance by Skype !

 

And Pfffffffffff is a normal, Dutch word !!!!!!!!!!

 

Pffffffffffffff

 

Sjors

[popeye the sailor]

thanks very much for the kind words and the likes!  what I was looking for,  by making them from metal,  is the weight factor.   I was looking at both of the instructions I have on this vessel,   they are made of wood.   on the # 608 static version of this vessel,  chain is not used,  and the lack of weight made the rigging look limp,  with no tension at all.  they might be a tad over scale,  but comparing them in place,  they fit OK.......so I'm not complaining 

 

thanks for the picture Piet  {I envy the heck out of you right now}.   don't be angry with me........but I wrote about you in my Word Press log:

 

https://gundalowdrydock.wordpress.com/2015/04/21/the-andrea-gail-120-scale-part-81/

 

I looked at Dave's Blogger site,  hoping he posted pictures of the gala....I would have posted it as well.   again......what Dave and you achieved there,  is to be commended,  and if there's any way I can spread the word,  I'd do it in a heartbeat!  I hope I can attend one in the near future...I don't see this as a 'one time event'!

 

models done out of the box can be just as good,  but it does show just how generic kits can be.   it is as I've always said....they make the kit......and when that kit crosses your threshold,  it becomes your kit...you are the builder.  imagination goes a long way at this point......and I don't think ability has anything to do with it.   to see what is shown...to research what certain aspects do...even a newbie can expand on the subject and surpass what the kit supplies.

     I'm not talking from a swelled head........I'm just a regular guy.....not an expert by any stretch.   I would try and add the extra detail to plastic kits,  but it wasn't till I did my first wooden kit,  that I felt the freedom,  that these kit offer.  I've seen some very interesting and beautiful models created here,  and I guess you can say I learned something from all of them.  I'll probably never learn everything there is to learn.......but I'm sure going to have fun trying 

     I thank you folks for your kind comments.......and giving me the sense that I've raised the bar.  I don't think I have,  really.......I'm doing just as I always do.......this particular build simply made it easier for me to reach out a bit more.  I'm sure the next build will put me right back where I was....and I'll be just as happy.  keep on thinking free 

[Jim Lad]

Nice bit of blacksmithing there, Popeye!

 

John

[popeye the sailor]

thanks John........had to think a bit,  but it worked out 

 

I didn't get to do much yesterday.......the bow vents were cemented in place.  I have to make two more.

 

 

the starboard counter weight was hung on it's chain.  this is Model Master flat black.......I was hoping it would be less glossy.

 

 

 

 

...then the port side was hung.   I tried to keep them pointing toward the front,  but I think as time goes by, and the model is moved,  they are going to settle any way they want      I had dabbed a small section of chain with white glue,  and fashioned it into a pile.   after making another hook,  the stanchion was set up.

 

 

 

this is the last day of my vacation / time off....sad to think it's over.    quite a bit was done during this span,  but she's not finished yet.    the day is still young though 

 

 

[Greg the peg leg sailor]

G'day Denis

Back to work to have a rest! You deserve it mate. You done a lot of work on AG.

Cheers

Greg

[GLakie]

It's amazing the amount of detail you're putting into her Dennis. Like Piet was saying, the other fishing boat models I've seen just look a little bare in comparison. Not to take anything away from them, just the difference between going the extra mile or not. Nice work!

 

Cheers

[augie]

They look to be hanging nicely Popeye.  Really well done.  Perhaps you should consider early retirement and open up a ship's chandlery!