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Scottish Maid 1839 Aberdeen Clipper Schooner


seadog

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  • 2 weeks later...

OK...Here we are, I see that my last post was on the 5th...getting slack. I have been busy on 'little stuff' mast hoops and some really tiny cleats,, the main boom the yards for the foremast and the dreaded figurehead and she still needs work!


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Forlornhope mentions a seabase...yep. I recently got sent from the UK a 30cm wide plank of Lime. Can't get it here, despite lime trees being popular on town streets. Being a through cut, the plank was a bit cupped to I sawed it into 4 and then swapped the bits around and now have areasonable flat plank to carve into a sea.


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My table sawisa Ryobi, best I could afford a t the time. It rips quite well but the mitre fence is useless - too much play,and due to Ryobi's odd slots I can't replace it with a better one. So I tend to use a Japanese pull saw...accurate with a bit of practice. Love it.


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On small models I'd use milliput or watercolour paper or whatever, but this has to be a bit bigger and would cost a packet it milliput. Come to think of iy, the plank plus postage wasn't cheap either! I have carved a sea once before, for a friend who was doing a model for a boat building company. Like an idiot I used Cherry...talk about hard work. Looked good in the end though as it was decided to leave it natural (showoff!) and just varnish it.


The base has now had a ship shap(ish) hole routed in it and carving will commence when I receive a couple of chisels I've ordered. She'll be mounted (as it were) with a slight heel to port in a light swell with a lot of sail aloft...gotta be fun!


Thank you all for the kind comments.

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Cheers Kev, There are two ways that I know of to make mast hoops one is to wrap brown paper tape around a bit of doweling making sure not to glue the tape to the dowel! Then you roll a knife over it to cut slices. Didn't work for me. I fell back on a ring making technique I learned in a jewellry class in High school a very long time ago. Flatten brass or copper wire with a hammer - gently - wind around a suitable drill, cut into rings, making sure you file the ends square (easier than it sounds) then solder with either silver solder or a paste solder. The silver solder I have came from Cup Alloys in a syringe which allows you to place minute amounts accurately

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The cleats on the fore mast were also done with bent bits of brass wire.

and here she is having a trial fit into the base. I carved the hull to a waterline below the 'actual' load water line so that she will sit down into the sea. Gonna be a lot of wood chips around...

on-base_zpscc0d6637.jpg

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Rainy day, I thought some indoor tasks would be just the thing, so I've started carving the sea base. I have some new Flexcut chisels on order but they'll be another few days so I had a shot at resharpening the two old gouges I have. Gouges are a total sod to sharpen but I got them to a reasonably servicable state. This is the result so far, lots more wood to be removed. I'm considering training a beaver...waves_zps5973bf1f.jpg

The hole for the model is oversize to allow setting it in at an angle and the spare space around the edge will be filled in with milliput - white.

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Very good job on both the rings and the sea base. I have seen good examples using silicone, aluminium foil and other fillers but I think your technique is best for what you are trying to achieve.

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Thank you. I'd never use silicon or acryic gel , don't know how permanent they are and they look like what they are to me, not like water. With Plasticene or Milliput, if you're going to model rather than carve, you can get crisp edges to the waves, and yes plasticene lasts.

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Just did a sample bit of sea carving to see how it will look painted. Here's the carving

scotmaid_3_zpsb5051752.jpg

...and with a quick coat of gesso...

scotmaid_4_zps8d8abbf3.jpg

...and given a quick splat of oils...

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As this ship's usual waters were the North sea and Channel, I'll probably make it somewhat greyer than this, greener too.

When I dug out my somewhatneglected oilsI discovered that, probably due to the scent of linseed oil, Some idiot rodent had nibbled some of my tubes of paint - with particular attention to a tube of Cobalt Blue

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Cobalt blue (genuine) isn't just expensive, it's quite toxic. Reckon that's one really dead rodent now, daft sod.

I've also started sorting out the steering gear. I suppose I really ought to try and make a steering wheel......

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And boy, do things look scruffy! Once the wheel is on and rigged, I really must have a clean up before I go any further....

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P.S. my work area needs a little tidying too, methinks

s.work-area-mess_zpsa4e90291.jpg

No, don't see any problem there. Looks perfectly tidy to me. Possibly 30 seconds with a hoover, but only to keep the dust problem down when you come to paint...

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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Ha! You can't see the desk in this shot... ;) . So, today, despite the eventual sunshine, I spent a bit of time giving the base two thin coats of gesso and sorting out the steering gear. ..

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The sailor (shanghaied from the Cutty Sark - cheers, Callum) is there to temporarily to check scale. I think that the store bought wheel is a bit big, but since the alternative is making one, which I'm not sure I have the skills to do well. I'll probably try one as I have this one to fall back to in case of utter disaster!

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Rigging begins.... My figurehead is a bit big for her bra and is interfering, or being intered with by, the bobstay. She's about as small as I could possibly sculpt, so I'll probably have to live with the conflict...

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Rigging involves a lot of tiny fittings and I spent some time on the lathe knocking out bullseyes for the jib-boom stays etc.

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I've also been chucking paint at the base, but I'm not going to show that till the ship is screwed down on it and it's truly finished!

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