I’d stop but then the OCD part of me would not be able to rest
Bluenose 1:64 by Model Shipways - Build log
- Thread starter HughLo
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- bluenose model shipways
Nicely done. This step was the one I lost the most sleep thinking about how to do it well.
After each step I have the sense of joy and accomplishment but it’s followed quickly by a sense of apprehension as I start thinking about the next step. I know it’s not next, but I’m already thinking about the deck furniture, especially the stuff at the bow. And don’t get me thinking about rigging
7/4 to 8/5
The Rocky Mountain Shipwrights workshop is on Saturday (7/6), and I thought I would use the time to catch up with friends and figure out what I would work on next. Even though I had planned to work on the eyelets next, I was not sure they would be the best fit for the workshop. After a bit of research, I decided to do prep work for the rudder.
At the workshop I sanded the rudder to taper it from front to back as well as top to bottom. I still need to shape and glue a dowel near the top, but I did not bring one so it will have to wait. Once I get home, I will attach a sanded 5/32” dowel to the top of the rudder after using my GOXAWEE to carve a small gouge into it and add a little filler. I will wrap it up by sanding everything smooth and then adding two coats of gray primer.
It still needs to be painted red and a touch of black, but that can wait.
Next up are the pintles and gudgeons, and based on a number of build logs, including the Suburban Ship Modeler and GGibson over on MSW, I decided to glue the brass strips to a piece of wood and mark out where the holes will go on the pintles and gudgeons. The pictures in their build logs helped plot this out plus GGibson stated his measurements between the holes so I was able to draw it out on a board once I got home.
I am hopeful this method will go smoother than my drilling did for the chainplates. I was able to drill the holes in them, but I fought with it throughout the entire process.
If this method works better (low bar in my opinion), I will go back and edit my last post recommending drilling the chainplates in the same fashion.
So, about an hour prepping to board and glueing the six strips down, and then about an hour to drill the thirty holes - without an error. I definitely recommend this method for the pintles and gudgeons as well as any future chainplates.
At this point, I have come to the realization that I am struggling to find time for building. I know they are excuses, but life is getting in the way. From some painful teeth/jaw issues (compounded by the fact that my dental insurance doesn’t kick in until August 1st), to our 100 pound Great Pyrenees getting sprayed by a skunk three days before a trip to North Carolina to visit family, to some major on-going renovations to our patio and deck (including preparing to add a 12x20 gazebo), compounded by some child custody and support issues for my daughter and her kids that have been in the court system since January of 2023 - yes over a year and a half and he hasn’t physically seen the kids or helped financially at all, not even a bag of diapers. Deadbeat in every sense of the word - and that comes from a single dad who raised two daughters with truly little assistance from their mom and even less that was not court enforced. And did I mention my wife has Parkinson’s and had Deep Brain Stimulation surgery recently?! I am not looking for sympathy, just stating some facts.
But with the bad comes the good… I’m getting closer to my dentist appointment and have done ok on a combination of OxyContin and klonipin, we were able to get rid of most of the skunk smell with a combination of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and dawn dish soap, the NC trip was great (other than the CrowdStrike issue that occurred right after takeoff while we were in the air), the patio and deck are coming together nicely, and we believe the courts are finally catching up with Mr Deadbeat (but in the meantime we’ve been able to spend a lot more time with the grandkids - I even started a wooden boat model with my grandson - more on that in a separate post), and my wife is doing great. It is just a lot of stuff that is not letting me focus on my Bluenose.
And then just as things started to move in the positive direction, COVID hit me with a vengeance. I am up to date with my boosters and have had it previously, but this was a bad bout of it for me. I was able to get on paxlovid and at least it made me feel a bit better, but it’s expensive ($200) and one of the side effects is that it leaves a really nasty taste in your mouth - a taste that does not go away until it’s almost time to take the next dose. I am feeling better, but it knocked me down for a solid 4 days and made me miss my dentist appointment as well as our club’s workshop on Saturday.
So finally, after a number of days lying in bed, today was the first day where I felt like doing anything other than napping. I.E. - It is Bluenose time.
With my scattered mind I decide to get things ready for the bowsprit. I cut it from a kit supplied 3/16 dowel. I drill the hole for the bowsprit at the tip of the bow and widen it until the dowel will fit through it.
It will need to be shaped, but right now I'm just getting the bowsprit and creating the hole.
I drilled out the Britannia mooring chocks, first with a 1/64” drill bit then followed with a 3/64” bit. I cleaned them up with some 400-grit sandpaper and then used a 1/16” bit to drill the hole for it in the rail then widened it with a small file.
I will paint them yellow on the outside of the hull as they line up perfectly with the yellow line of the hull once they are installed.
I then marked and drilled the holes in the stanchions for the eyebolts and rings using a 0.5mm micro drill bit. I spent quite a bit of time trying to make sure I was going to put them on the correct stanchion, only to find out that while I am sure they were used on the actual ship, nothing connects to them on the model - so they are just for decoration.
I then added the rings to the eyebolts and cut about a third of the shaft of the eyebolts off.
A drop of CA glue on the shaft and slide it into the predrilled holes… but no, the 0.5mm holes were too small. And given the tiny diameter of the eyebolt shaft, if you try to push it in, it bends. Argh.
On a test piece of wood, I drill a 0.6mm hole (the next bigger size that I have) and check to see if an eyebolt will fit - and it does! So, I re-drilled the holes using the 0.6mm bit and started glueing in the eyebolts and rings. Most of them go in as expected, but four of them do not slide into the holes and the shaft bent. Instead of connecting four rings to four eyebolts to replace the bent ones, I decided to do them separately. I trim the shaft and glue the eyebolt into the hole and then attach the ring.
These four replacements are a pain as it is difficult to pinch the ring closed while the eyebolt is already attached, but at least there are only four of them.
Jumping back to the rudder, I paint the small shaft black.
Once dried, I add two coats of clear satin finish. Now it is really time for the pintles and gudgeons, but I will cover that in my next write up.
Grandson’s 1st model
A while back I picked up a youth kit of the "Bermuda" from Alice Sampson's (a Rocky Mountain Shipwright's club member) company Seaworthy Small Ships. Alice and her business partner Julius Spradley recently took the helm of the company and will continue the production of a wide range of wooden toy boat model kits. These high-quality kits allow new and younger modelers the ability to discover the joys of modeling plus their model can sail in about any body of water.
Since my grandson is seven ½ (he will tell you that he is 8), I thought I would give it a go. He knows about my ship models and was excited to start his own build. After a quick rundown of the overall process, he started sanding... and sanding, and even more sanding. After he was a bit tired of hand sanding, I let him use my hand-held orbital sander.
He enjoyed using a power tool "all by himself” and heard more than a few times that the tool we will use most often is our patience.
We then added the fin and talked about painting. He wanted a rainbow pattern but accepted my idea of a red hull with a black stripe. The rainbow would be on the "deck" and "sail". I then explained why we needed to first paint it with a primer.
And while he asked a couple of times "why is it grey?", he humored his grandfather, especially when I gave him the can of spray paint. I wish I would have taken some pictures, but my hands were full of a 7 1/2 year old holding a live can of spray paint...
We then let a few coats of primer dry.
On his next visit, we went after the red hull - which first meant taping it off. As with the primer being grey, he asked a few times about the green tape, but again humored me. I put the first piece of tape on, while he did the rest, although I helped keep it where we wanted it. I then let him loose with the brush-on acrylic red paint and he did a few coats.
On his next visit, we removed the tape, and he was AMAZED at the results - saying they looked "like an artist had done them". I pointed out that "he" was the artist.
We then taped off for the black stripe and again I let him do a few coats.
Unfortunately, that is where we stand as both of our lives have been busy plus I have had covid. Next up will be taping off the deck for the rainbow pattern.
Work time: 7.5 hours
Total work time: 251.5 hours
The Rocky Mountain Shipwrights workshop is on Saturday (7/6), and I thought I would use the time to catch up with friends and figure out what I would work on next. Even though I had planned to work on the eyelets next, I was not sure they would be the best fit for the workshop. After a bit of research, I decided to do prep work for the rudder.
At the workshop I sanded the rudder to taper it from front to back as well as top to bottom. I still need to shape and glue a dowel near the top, but I did not bring one so it will have to wait. Once I get home, I will attach a sanded 5/32” dowel to the top of the rudder after using my GOXAWEE to carve a small gouge into it and add a little filler. I will wrap it up by sanding everything smooth and then adding two coats of gray primer.
It still needs to be painted red and a touch of black, but that can wait.
Next up are the pintles and gudgeons, and based on a number of build logs, including the Suburban Ship Modeler and GGibson over on MSW, I decided to glue the brass strips to a piece of wood and mark out where the holes will go on the pintles and gudgeons. The pictures in their build logs helped plot this out plus GGibson stated his measurements between the holes so I was able to draw it out on a board once I got home.
I am hopeful this method will go smoother than my drilling did for the chainplates. I was able to drill the holes in them, but I fought with it throughout the entire process.
If this method works better (low bar in my opinion), I will go back and edit my last post recommending drilling the chainplates in the same fashion.
So, about an hour prepping to board and glueing the six strips down, and then about an hour to drill the thirty holes - without an error. I definitely recommend this method for the pintles and gudgeons as well as any future chainplates.
At this point, I have come to the realization that I am struggling to find time for building. I know they are excuses, but life is getting in the way. From some painful teeth/jaw issues (compounded by the fact that my dental insurance doesn’t kick in until August 1st), to our 100 pound Great Pyrenees getting sprayed by a skunk three days before a trip to North Carolina to visit family, to some major on-going renovations to our patio and deck (including preparing to add a 12x20 gazebo), compounded by some child custody and support issues for my daughter and her kids that have been in the court system since January of 2023 - yes over a year and a half and he hasn’t physically seen the kids or helped financially at all, not even a bag of diapers. Deadbeat in every sense of the word - and that comes from a single dad who raised two daughters with truly little assistance from their mom and even less that was not court enforced. And did I mention my wife has Parkinson’s and had Deep Brain Stimulation surgery recently?! I am not looking for sympathy, just stating some facts.
But with the bad comes the good… I’m getting closer to my dentist appointment and have done ok on a combination of OxyContin and klonipin, we were able to get rid of most of the skunk smell with a combination of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and dawn dish soap, the NC trip was great (other than the CrowdStrike issue that occurred right after takeoff while we were in the air), the patio and deck are coming together nicely, and we believe the courts are finally catching up with Mr Deadbeat (but in the meantime we’ve been able to spend a lot more time with the grandkids - I even started a wooden boat model with my grandson - more on that in a separate post), and my wife is doing great. It is just a lot of stuff that is not letting me focus on my Bluenose.
And then just as things started to move in the positive direction, COVID hit me with a vengeance. I am up to date with my boosters and have had it previously, but this was a bad bout of it for me. I was able to get on paxlovid and at least it made me feel a bit better, but it’s expensive ($200) and one of the side effects is that it leaves a really nasty taste in your mouth - a taste that does not go away until it’s almost time to take the next dose. I am feeling better, but it knocked me down for a solid 4 days and made me miss my dentist appointment as well as our club’s workshop on Saturday.
So finally, after a number of days lying in bed, today was the first day where I felt like doing anything other than napping. I.E. - It is Bluenose time.
With my scattered mind I decide to get things ready for the bowsprit. I cut it from a kit supplied 3/16 dowel. I drill the hole for the bowsprit at the tip of the bow and widen it until the dowel will fit through it.
It will need to be shaped, but right now I'm just getting the bowsprit and creating the hole.
I drilled out the Britannia mooring chocks, first with a 1/64” drill bit then followed with a 3/64” bit. I cleaned them up with some 400-grit sandpaper and then used a 1/16” bit to drill the hole for it in the rail then widened it with a small file.
I will paint them yellow on the outside of the hull as they line up perfectly with the yellow line of the hull once they are installed.
I then marked and drilled the holes in the stanchions for the eyebolts and rings using a 0.5mm micro drill bit. I spent quite a bit of time trying to make sure I was going to put them on the correct stanchion, only to find out that while I am sure they were used on the actual ship, nothing connects to them on the model - so they are just for decoration.
I then added the rings to the eyebolts and cut about a third of the shaft of the eyebolts off.
A drop of CA glue on the shaft and slide it into the predrilled holes… but no, the 0.5mm holes were too small. And given the tiny diameter of the eyebolt shaft, if you try to push it in, it bends. Argh.
On a test piece of wood, I drill a 0.6mm hole (the next bigger size that I have) and check to see if an eyebolt will fit - and it does! So, I re-drilled the holes using the 0.6mm bit and started glueing in the eyebolts and rings. Most of them go in as expected, but four of them do not slide into the holes and the shaft bent. Instead of connecting four rings to four eyebolts to replace the bent ones, I decided to do them separately. I trim the shaft and glue the eyebolt into the hole and then attach the ring.
These four replacements are a pain as it is difficult to pinch the ring closed while the eyebolt is already attached, but at least there are only four of them.
Jumping back to the rudder, I paint the small shaft black.
Once dried, I add two coats of clear satin finish. Now it is really time for the pintles and gudgeons, but I will cover that in my next write up.
Grandson’s 1st model
A while back I picked up a youth kit of the "Bermuda" from Alice Sampson's (a Rocky Mountain Shipwright's club member) company Seaworthy Small Ships. Alice and her business partner Julius Spradley recently took the helm of the company and will continue the production of a wide range of wooden toy boat model kits. These high-quality kits allow new and younger modelers the ability to discover the joys of modeling plus their model can sail in about any body of water.
Since my grandson is seven ½ (he will tell you that he is 8), I thought I would give it a go. He knows about my ship models and was excited to start his own build. After a quick rundown of the overall process, he started sanding... and sanding, and even more sanding. After he was a bit tired of hand sanding, I let him use my hand-held orbital sander.
He enjoyed using a power tool "all by himself” and heard more than a few times that the tool we will use most often is our patience.
We then added the fin and talked about painting. He wanted a rainbow pattern but accepted my idea of a red hull with a black stripe. The rainbow would be on the "deck" and "sail". I then explained why we needed to first paint it with a primer.
And while he asked a couple of times "why is it grey?", he humored his grandfather, especially when I gave him the can of spray paint. I wish I would have taken some pictures, but my hands were full of a 7 1/2 year old holding a live can of spray paint...
We then let a few coats of primer dry.
On his next visit, we went after the red hull - which first meant taping it off. As with the primer being grey, he asked a few times about the green tape, but again humored me. I put the first piece of tape on, while he did the rest, although I helped keep it where we wanted it. I then let him loose with the brush-on acrylic red paint and he did a few coats.
On his next visit, we removed the tape, and he was AMAZED at the results - saying they looked "like an artist had done them". I pointed out that "he" was the artist.
We then taped off for the black stripe and again I let him do a few coats.
Unfortunately, that is where we stand as both of our lives have been busy plus I have had covid. Next up will be taping off the deck for the rainbow pattern.
Work time: 7.5 hours
Total work time: 251.5 hours
Looks like a lot of fun building with your grandson.
My building has been slow this summer as well. Too much work amongst other things.