What's on my desk? Part 62.
Good morning!
Cycling season has started, which is always conducive for my modelling. I fall asleep watching the race by itself, but having it on in the background while modelling helps me concentrate, while not missing out on the cycling. Win-win situation there. :-)
Anyway, on to the Fram build.
I've basically finished the hull and can now concentrate on the masts and rigging.
Some small stuff still needed to be added.
Last time I fixed the railings. These needed pegs inserted, which will hold rope later. I glued them using wood glue, so I hope they'll stay put.
Three small rope reels needed to be made and added to the deck. Made up of PE parts, a small cut wood part in the middle, and rope (of course), these are really quite small. Here's a comparison with a 1 cent coin.
The life preservers were also painted and roped:
With these small items done, it was time to finish the lifeboats. I had planked them previously, now it was time to fill and sand. They then have two ropes inserted and need a tarp covering. The tarp is a piece of fabric (linen?) that you cut using a full-scale template and paint. I decided I wanted to keep the fabric as intact as possible, so threaded the rope throught he fabric, and only then knotted the pulley block in it. The first one was done with tweezers, but I brought a sewing needle from home and that made the work a lot easier.
Here's a picture of the different stages:
The green paint stiffens and reinforces the fabric. The triangles for the fastenings underneath the boats would be very fragile otherwise.
Once all the boats were done, I hung them on the davits. Now that I have a needle I can thread and knot the first attachment through the rope going around the block, and not have to rely on superglue so much. Eventually all four were in place:
One of my customers suggested leaving one or two boats open to show off the interior ribs. I selected the one with the least amount of filler coming through from the outside, put an extra layer of paint on the ribs and installed four benches. The only issue with this is that without the cover, the ropes aren't centered and the boat hangs askew (google that word sometime :-) ).
I like a bit of asymmetry to my model builds, so this is a nice eyecatcher.
Boats done, it was finally time to install the bowsprit. At first it didn't fit straight, so I ground out the location a bit more with my Dremel and a round grinding bit. Then I insrted it, glued it with wood glue and started rigging. First some rope was wrapped over the base and through a hole in the keel. Next up were the rigging lines. You really need to study the rigging plans and figure out how to thread them. I used only two lenghts of rope here.
The chains were a bit harder to fix, but it worked out just fine.
Finally, I fixed the foremast parts together. All the yardarms are loose, they'll need extensive rigging to reach their final angles and locations.
There's a platform thing two thirds of the way up. I neglected to take into account that I would have to slide it over the mast to its location and had already knotted all the pulley blocks... I had to remove one of the arms, put the part in place and re-glue the arm.
The mainmast has a more extensive platform, so I'll have to remember to fix that one before knotting the pulleys.
That's it. This week I'll shape the other masts with my trusty drill. A bit tedious, but it'll be worth it. Looking forward to rigging the entire thing. :-)
See you next week.