Hello,
Short blog post this week. I've been waiting on spare parts from OcCre, have been working on a repair project for a customer and there was a convention on Sunday.
I've attached the chainplates on the side of the hull of the Fram and immediately ran into a problem (of my own making). I didn't take into account the width of the round rope blocks when cutting the wood strip. Which means they're too close together and are in each other's way. Luckily, there are two sizes of blocks: 4 & 5 mm. Not too much difference to be extremely obvious, and the smaller ones fit next to each other decently.
This is what I mean: the 6 on the left are the 5 mm blocks, which were spaced out better. The others are 4 mm, because they're too close together and the larger ones didn't fit.
While working on the other side, the next problem popped up: I ran out of nails. At first I thought I'd use the spare nails I have for sale in the
shop, but as it turns out these have flat heads. Part of the aesthetic of this ship are the prominent nail heads, so another request was sent to OcCre.
My previous request was for some extra chain. I asked for two lenghts, thinking I'd get 20-30 cm of chain, plenty for the second anchor and the bowsprit. I got another padded envelope last week, and to my surprise OcCre sent me about 5 meters (!) of chain. That's more than three times my own length and makes for a rather big heap of links...
Once again: top notch customer service!
The rest of the week, while waiting for the spares, was spent on making masts and mast accessories. The drill method keeps paying off, as I was able to sand the wood to a nice taper in no time at all. I've got the foremast ready, along with the gaff and boom and the pole that will hold the yardarms. (It's been fun looking up the names of sailing rig terms. I foresee a deep Wiki dive into sail rigging in the near future. :-) ).
Here's the foremast parts, unassembled but in their relative position. Knotting the tackle blocks is a bit of a pain, and I ended up using a drop of superglue on each knot to make sure they stay in place.
I'm currently grinding down the first yard. I cut the wood dowel a centimeter too long, so I can clamp that into the drill without damaging the actual part. The yards are a bit difficult to sand because they taper on both ends. There's only two of them, though (Fram is
square-rigged only on the foremast, and
fore-and-aft rigged on the other masts). You'll notice the difference in colour: the finished pieces are dyed with
Sapelli dye, and then receive a coat of
satin varnish.
I'm in happy expectation of a kajillion nails from OcCre this week, so hopefully I can finish the hull soon and then fully concentrate on the masts and rigging. Oh, and the lifeboats as well.
That's it.
See you next week!
