Chainplates and Deadeyes

Deadeys on the ship are small round blocks with three holes drilled through them that are used to hold the lines that support the masts from both sides. In the case of this ship there are six deadeyes that attach to the caprail and are held in place by the chainplates that are bolted to the side of the ship. Two on each side for the fore mast and one one each side for the main mast.

These are tiny little pieces that required complete fabrication for each chainplate, a world full of patience with the paint, some creative knot tying due to the deadeyes are held on by a length of rope (in this case some fine thread) and a bit of glue.

These photos show all of the detail up very close, which makes it east to see the small amounts of excess glue, and the little bits of fuzz and dust on the model, all of which are not clearly visable normally given its size. I place a dime on the deck for size reference, and as you can see I have been working with some extremly small parts.

One more step and I'll begin deck furniture construction...

The caprail, rudder, splashrail, and some small details

It has been a while since I tore myself away form this project to post any new photos, so here are a few to show the work that has been completed in that time. The first thing to go on since the last post was the caprail, this is the top of the bulwarks which kept sailors from falling overboard. The caprail was made from a single sheet of basswood 1/32 in thick (or thin), measured, cut, stained, glued in place, carved and sanded (for many hours) to its final shape all the way around.

Next I painted the cleats and eyes for the bulwark details which will be used much later for the rigging of the ship, small holes were drilled in the stantions to glue these small details into as you can see in the photo above, these parts are extremely small.
The rudder was installed next, this proved to be tricky, but overall I am very satisfied with how it came out. The iron bands that hold the pins in place were made from extra copperplating painted black, The rudder has three pins that fit into three slots, also made of extra copper plating. This proved difficult for many reasons, mostly do to the need to install all six bands around some extremely thin and excessivly short pieces of black wire, after all sides were complete I installed the rudder, and applied a light coat of glue to keep everything in its place.
The splash rail, at the bow of the ship would have blocked the spray of the sea as the ship cut through rough water,this was made from two pieces of bent 1mmX3mm wood strips, which were tapered, glued together and painted black before instalation on the caprail.

The parts will only continue to get smaller from hereso I better not start complaining, the details will make the finished result a proud display, but unitl I can figure out the next step the one after that will just have to wait.

Finishing the Hull

Well it has been quite some time since I have posted, not to mention some time since I worked on this project. Of the many reasons for this the holidays were one, and my renewed joy of our PS3 would be the other.

Either way the hull is now very close to completion, I painted the outside of the hull, and as you can see it is black. This required about 5 coats of thinned paint to ensure a solid look. I then spent a great number of hours with the tiny pieces that make the bulwark stantions. They began as a 1/16th x 1/16th x 12in long strip of wood. I stained this piece before cutting it up, I carefully measured the spots for the stantions and marking them lightly. Next I measured each stantion, cut it a little larger than necessary, and carefully applied just enough glue with a tiny brush and stuck the stantions to the bulwarks.

The next step on the model is the caprail, but befor it goes on I wiil sand the excess off of the top of the stantions to ensure an even fit. After the cap rail the hull is for the most part complete and I will move onto the deck details.