After same time adapting to the new work place, a bit of free time allowed me to work on the ship.
In the same fashion as marked in the Practicum, i had to replace all dowels provided in the kit. Most of them were warped and pretty much useless. The boom was completed sometime ago. The dowel was shaped by measuring the diameter on few reference points from the plan. The final tapering was done by hand... Then the jaws for the boom were traced from plan and glued to the boom and final jaws shaping was done afterwards. The holes thru the jaws was drilled after the boom was completed, very carefully as wood can split. So start with tiny drill bit, don't use Proxxon, do it by hand, and progressively make the hole wider with different drill bit size. A bit time consuming but what the heck, it is a hobby.. The holes are used to hold parral beads, used to provide smooth move for the boom with less friction on the main mast...
The boom ready for assembly..
I was searching online for breads that are appropriate in size and shape to be used on the boom. Was able to locate some available in the amount of 1000 per bag, which i think it will be too much for this project so i decided to make my own. Could not find a use for 993 remaining... They will not be fully rounded, rather in the shape of a tire and i think close enough for this application. First, one tootpick was picked from the pile that had the best shape. Then using a custom made size template (two nails and a piece of scrap wood) i cut about 10 of them, in the length of 1.5mm. The sanding took place to remove any strings and to bring the beads in appropriate shape.. Using a Proxxon (as a mater of fact any other drilling tool will do the work) i drilled hole thru the appr. center of each bead.
During this process some of beads just flew somewhere off my work bench - that is why more were cut....No way i will be able to find them..
Then the string was run thru them and whole assembly was painted in flat black.
The boom ready to be mounted...
The boom was left in natural color, not painted, just stained in Golden Oak like the rest of the wood..
Before mounting i fixed all mast hoops up on the mast since they are sitting on the top of the boom jaws...
Then the other end of the rope with beads was run thru the holes of the jaws and secured with touch of glue on the top of the jaws and rope was bent and forced to the jaws. This way the rope beads does not stick up from the jaws....
The excess rope was cut and secured with a glue on the bottom of the jaws as well. Not sure what others will do but i decided not to make a knot on the beads rope since it will bring the boom up and boom will not rest properly on the mast.
The hoops were released and rested on the top of the boom..
So if you come very close you might noticed that beads are not rounded but looking from a normal distance i dont think this will be an issue.
From the opposite side...
Then i seized a 4mm double block around the boom in preparation for a boom sheet assembly..
Since i forgot to install this block ahead of time, i had to lift a boom in order to get more room for tools and hands... Just watch for these small gotchas..
And completed...
Waiting for other tasks...
Happy modeling..