DocRob

If you think, I'm dancing around rigging as long as I can, you're absolutely right . I decided to start with the bowsprit, there are no ratlines at least. The wooden parts and fittings are glued on and varnished, but the bowsprit itself is not glued in place, as rigging is simpler separated from the hull. I found, I need to pad a piece of plank under the bowsprit, to get the angle right enough to accept the figurehead. I also added the anchor cable and fitted it around the winch and through the holes in the hull. Cheers Rob

I'm officially jealous Peter, not only for the perfect presentation of your progress, but even more, that you have a full crew at hand, only for preparing priming . The engine and plumbing looks absolutely great, makes me want to build one as well. Cheers Rob

Muchas gracias hombres, you will not have to wait for too long. Mayor works including all the interior painting will be done today, then tomorrow, reshuffeling stuff back to normality and then it's doors and windows to paint for our contractor. Even last week, I managed to do some things, so lets see. Cheers Rob

I remember you being followed by a submarine kit somehow Carl, mysteries, mysteries, ...

Thanks Peter, on to the rigging, but not before I weathered our actual heat wave and the painter has finished his work in our houses and I don't have to move everything everywhere. Cheers Rob

All the mast parts are done, except for the fittings. Some sections have delicate shapes, where you have to ponder a while for the best approach to get it done. Finally work was faster and better, as some routine started to develop. I also altere the layout of my machines on their base board for better handling and faster measuring. Now I have to think about how to add the masts, completely assembled as in the manual or building them up section per section for possibly easier rigging. Cheers Rob

Indeed Gary, I was positively surprise, that nothing flew away. I even wore safety glasses with my eyes so close to the thing. Cheers Rob

Thanks, I will try this method with lead foil from wine bottles, should work great and substitutes at least partly a punch and die tool. Cheers Rob

Some situational music from some San Diego outcasts from long ago, The Beat Farmers singer Country Dick Montana has some words for you . Hope you feel better afterwards. BTW: Figures conversion is looking promising. Cheers Rob

You are welcome Martin, wooden ship modelling obviously has a longer history than our normal plastic kits. I'm very satisfied, that my first tries in this area are supported by a well designed kit. To do. I have the greatest respect for those, who do it the old way, like you described. Do you have pictures of your fathers models? Cheers Rob

I checked everything concerning my setup today and found that the cutting tool seemed not to be totally tight in the collet. Maybe because of the high frequent vibrations, the tool itself moved in the collet. It's my only explanation for the issue. Cheers Rob

Today, I put the patched mast into the lathe and turned the upper square part round, where it meets connecting parts and nothing flew away, phew. The picture shows, how it looks now, but nothing is glued. This area of the mast will be painted black, which will hide the patched part. I milled some more square areas onto the middle segment of the mainmast without issues today. It takes time, but I'm seeing an end to preparing mast and yards. Cheers Rob

Many might not be the right term, at least from me . Wooden ship models are even more time consuming than plastic models. HMS Sphinx is very special to me as I always wanted my own frigate and it was a present from my wife, the first model related one. Cheers Rob

Thanks Kevin, I will look for the displays over there on MSW, where I'm a member now too. As I have no special display in mind, I will ponder about that when time comes. Cheers Rob

Poco a poco, step bay step, like we say here in Spain. We will find a place for the Duchess, WHEN she is finished . BTW.: HMS sphinx is lurking on my shelf. I wanted to have a frigate all my live, this will be the jewel at last. But I like the DoK nearly as much, it is just a gorgeous ship. Cheers Rob

It's a long way to the finish and this part of the build gives me the creeps more than building up hull and decks, but yeah, once it's done it will feel special and The Duchess will be the only kit accepted by my wife in the living area. Cheers Rob

I'm afraid, but nope. I know what you mean, but I've fixed the mast in the chuck of the dividing device and it was perfectly aligned, milled the two flattened parts and then milled the square part with only turning the dividing head for 90° each time. The setting of the Z-axis remained locked the same all the time and the mast part was never unchucked through the process. It's a mystery to me . Cheers Rob

Thank you Gentlemen, it's not only a new language, it's a delicate process of learning and re-learning. When I was young, I was an engineer for Scientific institutes, working with all kind of machinery on a very advanced level, but this is different. First off all, it's wood and second, as it's cave work, it's not about all around professional equipment, it's about how to achieve things, with what's there. It's a time consuming process and even with proper preparation not error free (I still have no idea what happened to my square on my mill ) Cheers Rob

Wow, you are experimenting a lot in your last builds Gary, specially with the figure painting and now sculpting. I never liked or built artillery, but it's enjoyable and inspiring to read your WIP, with the techniques executed by you. Cheers Rob

Puh, it was a long, but busy time since the last update, but in the moment our houses interior get painted and that causes a lot of work and distraction from modelling. The other obstacle is more modelling related and is about learning, how to work best with the lathe and the mill, something I never tried before, at least with wood. I prepared all the yards on the lathe either with chisels or sanding paper to their designated conical shape. Then it was time to turn the mast tops on the lathe, which have a bit more complicated shape. The Kirschen chisels I bought, seemed a bit big for the mini lathe, but they are sharp and of good quality and did the job. Now it was time to start with the lathe onto the mast parts. These are mostly slightly conical and have flattened and/or squared ends in different sizes in the area of the mastheads. I started with the relatively simple mizzen mast to establish a good workflow and have now prepared the mizzen mast parts completely. While working on the lower part of the main mast, disaster struck. The flattened parts were milled with the dividing head and then I made the 5 mm square part, which worked great on three sides, thanks to the dividing head. On the fourth side, somehow the cutting tool went too deep into the material, which was difficult to see for me. I can't explain, why that happened as the tool was fixed, as was the mast chucked. I stopped where I was and filed the part to 3 mm depth and decided to add a 2 mm strip as a substitute and glued it on. I hope this will hold up on the lathe, where I have to turn some millimeters round on the end of the square part. Not perfectly square Resquared Cheers Rob

Thank you Kevin, it would be great to see some pics of your SS America, ready or not. Cheers Rob

I think you mean the Tankette build, but there is no real wet mud and I can't remember, which products I used. I can only quote myself from an older post. Thanks Phil, I build up residues with mud / earth washes, with added pigments in different earth shades. I start with the darkest and as a last step, everything got blended with mineral spirit. This way the impression of build up residues becomes more 'real', as it flows more into the corners and hidden places, where dirt will always accumulates. On this on, used the same technique Cheers Rob

Yes Bill, the mill uses collets from diameter 1 mm up to 3,2 mm, so you need a few passes for larger areas with the biggest cutting tool having a diameter of 3 mm. It will work fine for the square areas of my wooden masts, combined with the dividing head, i received today along with a small chuck. I will show these later due to an ongoing renovation of my house. I will buy a small indicator along with a small precise angle, to help align everything right and to know, how precise the machine works. Cheers Rob

I like a mix of both best, surely depending a dio setting. Wet mud for the tracks and some on the wheels after the application of dry caked mud onto the running gear. Cheers Rob

You could avoid cleanup through heave weathering with mud, Phil . Cheers Rob