Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length.

[Positive]

I began the DONNA FRANCISCA today.    The rough hull has been cut out, and since the photograph was taken, I have fitted the scored maindeck planking.
Bob

[DickyD]

Hi Bob nice to see another one of your ships on here.

I have just been looking back over some of the others you have done and a lot of the photos appear to have disappeared.

[Positive]

I don't know why that should be.   I uploaded them direct to MBM and haven't tried to erase them or anything.
Bob

[Positive]

The last one I did was RAMON DE LARRINAGA.    Have just looked and that is still there!
Bob

[Positive]

I have now assembled the display case for DONNA FRANCISCA.    This measures  18.8 by 6.9 inches and 7.2 inches tall.    These measurements include the 18mm quadrant around the base.    The acrylic looks “foggy” because the protective plastic coating is still on both sides.    The top has not been fixed in position because I work through the open top whilst making the inner base for the sea.
More work has also been completed on the hull.    The clipper bow and counter stern have been roughly shaped.   The raised poop and forecastle decks and the bulwarks have also been fitted.    It all looks rather rough at the moment, but will soon begin to improve.
Bob

[Positive]

I have been laid low with a bad cold for a few days, but am OK again now.    I have now completed the base and sea tray.   More smoothing has been done on the hull.   The next task is to fit and shape the sea.
Bob

[Positive]

I have now fitted and shaped the sea.   It still needs to be painted though.   I leave that task to my wife, so it may be done sooner, or later, but definately before the model is ready to go in it.    I can now move on to the hull plating and painting and also the fitting of the forecastle and poop planking.   It looks pretty awful at the moment, but it will soon start to look better.
Bob

[Positive]

The hull has now been plated and painted.   Amazing what a bit of paint will do in the "looks" department.    I don't anticipate a great deal of interest in this one as it was one of the relatively ugly type of latter day steel-hulled windjammers.    She had stump t'gallant rig that meant she didn't have any royals and it made her look a bit stumpy.   The loss of sail area was made up by having  longer lower, topsail and t'gallant yards.    A very great saving was also made on standing and running rigging by not having royals.

But in a gale of wind that would find an old wooden tea clipper struggling along under lower topsails and foresail with her eight or nine hundred tons of tea or whatever, would find ships like DONNA FRANCISCA smashing through it under full sail with her two or three thousand tons of cargo snug below in her steel hull.
Bob

[Positive]

I have now made the three deckhouses and chartroom and am also in the process of fitting the rope coils along the inside of the bulwarks.    There is a lot of deck detail to go on next:   capstans, winches, fife rails, pumps, ladders, capstans, catheads, rails, skylighhts, lifeboats, wheelbox and wheel etc.
Bob

[HS93 (RIP)]

Where do you get them Jumbo pens they look so realistic  


seriously the boat is very nice, I always think small scale  models are twice as hard to build as larger scale ones , that is why I want to try and build a 1/4 scale boat next.  

Peter

[Positive]

Hi Peter,
I suppose my answer as to why I need big pens is that I have very large hands!

Actualy building a miniature ship is so much easier than building large ones.     When you build large models, you are lumbered with making door handles, rivet heads and millions of other tiny details.     I moved from 8'=1" to 32'=1" literally over night in the early 1970s and found it much cheaper, easier and more convenient.

Bob

[Positive]

A lot more progress has been made, but a lot more deck detail has to be made and fitted before I will be ready to start the rigging, but at least I have now got the masts out of the way.
Bob

[The Antipodean]

I have read previous threads of yours on these models you build and have been fascinated by the detail you work into something so tiny.
Rigging those masts would terrify me.

Very impressive work.

[Positive]

Thank you,
The rigging is by far the easiest part of it.    I use fine copper wire, and there is not a single knot anywhere in the rigging.     To rig a backstay, I just take a length of thin wire and stretch it slightly with two small pairs of pliers.    This makes it perfectlyv straight.   I pick it up in the middle with tweezers, dip each end in glue and place it in position on the model.     The whole process takes less than 30 seconds!      The running blocks are just tiny blobs of glue.      I have very little patience which is why I gave up opn large models in the early 1970s.
Bob

[Positive]

I have now completed the deck machinery.    I was slowed down in this because my Unimat SL  lathe chuck failed (after 37 years use).     It took me over a week to find replacements for the main chuck and the tailstock chuck.    One had jammed solid and the other was so stiff it was hard to use!      Eventually, I located spares in Scotland and Illinois.   They both arrived safely, so I am up-and-running again!
Bob

[Positive]

I have now completed all the deck detail and rigged the lifeboat davits.   The most difficult part of the build is now over.    The rigging can be a bit repetitive, but none of it is particularly difficult.   
Bob

[Positive]

I have now completed all the sails and rigging associated with the jigger mast.     I am now about to move on to the fore, main and mizen masts.
Bob

[Positive]

The main and mizen topmast staysails have now been set and rigged as well as shrouds and ratlines on fore, main and mizzen lower masts.   In addition to this, I have completed all the topmast and t'gallant mast shrouds and ratlines for these three masts, but have not fitted them yet.
Bob

[Positive]

I have now completed all the fore-and aft sails and all the standing rigging.     The next task is to begin fitting and rigging the fifteen square sails.     
Bob   

[The Antipodean]

Looking good there Bob, still amazes me with the detail work that you do.


Ian

[Positive]

Thanks Ian,
Today, I spent the morning outside completing the display case and base and also putting the woodwork in the carrying case.   During the afternoon, I set and rigged the foresail (apart from the braces).
Bob

[Positive]

I have now set and rigged the foresail, mainsail and cro'jack.    The next ones to go on will be the three lower topsails.
Bob

[kiwi]

Hi Positive,
Two words describe your work.

Absolutely Brilliant.

Keep up the good work, and cant wait for the next one.
cheers
kiwi

[Positive]

Thanks,
I have now set and rigged the three lower topsails.
Bob

[Positive]

I have now set and rigged the three upper topsails.   Only six more left to set now - three lower t'gallants and three upper t'gallants.      The braces on these are a lot simpler than the topsails.     Consequently, the model is rapidly approaching completion.
Bob