I just tried out this Airbrush Sprayer for the first time. It has a gravity feed system on it with a little container on top that doesn’t have a lid. I decided that it’s pretty good for doing the quick job because it’s dead easy to just pour a bit of paint on top and spray and then to clean up afterwards.
Here is my entire set up for the Airbrush. I put the Holder on to the Compressor. I guess I will have to be careful about where I spray.
I’ve finished sewing the Spanker on to the Gaff. I still need to include some long pieces of line but I’m holding off on that until I finish messing around with measuring out the exact distance the Pins need to be that the Gaff and Boom hook on to. That’s one thing about Artesania Latina is that they don’t give very good instructions and if you’re not careful, you can really mess yourself up. I’m not sure what kind of knot I used for the loops around the Gaff. I went up and over and then down through the string and then back through, on to the next hole.
I’m not working on the Boom. I ended up breaking the end off while trying to put an Eye Pin into it so I’m waiting for the Superglue to dry before continuing.
I’m starting the Boom and Gaff for the Spanker. As well as sewing it all in. I had to skip ahead because they really didn’t provide good instruction on the exact height of the Masts, so I have to guesstimate by making the Spanker first before gluing in the Pin Ring around the Mast and the Base.
I made those holes to be able to paint different sized spars.
I’m just demonstrating how difficult it is to thread one of these Strings through the Block. I bought these little Threaders on Amazon. I think it was like $5 bucks for like 30 of them.
I’m finally getting around to trying to do some organizing for the work station before my HMS Surprise arrives.
I did go through the rigging instructions for the Belem and it appears that it’s pretty comprehensive and at this rate, it’s going to take me probably about a month more to complete.
I brought this plastic drawer down from my Art Room. I changed out all the Art stuff I had in there to a beat up old drawer that my ex roommate had in her room. Besides, this one is more sturdy.
I figure, Top drawer for Tools, middle for Paints and the cutter.
Bottom drawer for Clamps. Clamps Clamps and more Clamps. Like a friend of mine told me… you can never have enough Clamps.
Those little Plastic Cups you see on top? Those are the Salsa Containers that I always keep when I go to the Mexican Restaurants. They’re the best containers you can get for mixing little amounts of Paint. The Black right there, I’ve had all through this build. I did chuck the White one out today because it had old dried up paint about to half way up it!
I was having some problems with the Mizzenmast. For one thing, it didn’t seem to slide into the hole right and I couldn’t tell where the Lower Hook was supposed to go for the Boom. The measurements they gave me didn’t seem to fit the Mast. I measured 65mm from the bottom, but when I tried to slide it in, it jammed on the Pilot House and came off. I’m leaving it off for right now until I get the Boom and Gaff aligned up right for the Spanker or else it won’t be right.
I kind of wish that I would have waited to glue the Pilot House in until I had the Mizzenmast lined up. The Ship looks like the Pilot House is supposed to butt right up against the Mast, but on my model, there is space about 2 mm. No big deal though, aesthetically, it doesn’t look bad if I have it all lined up. So, I’m working on the Boom right now, which is supposed to be 172 mm and it’s 6 mm wide on one end and 3 mm . on the other. The 6 mm side tapers down to the the Hook which hooks on to the Boom.
As you can see… the Mast isn’t exactly lined up with the Semi-Circle hole on top of the Pilot House, which is why I wish I would have waited to glue this in. Oh well… I’ll know better next time. I mean, it doesn’t look too bad as it is.
I have started work on making the yards for the foremast. I just finished the Main Royal Yard.
It was exactly 131 mm long and 5 mm wide in the center and two millimeters on the ends.
On one side, I sanded
it all down using sandpaper but first I cut the end down to the 2 mm diameter with a small file before I tapered the rest to that point.
I thought to myself that surely there has to be a better way?… So I used the sanding wheel on my Dremel for the other side. It cut all the meat down pretty rapidly but I’m afraid I got too carried away on one side so it’s not as even as it is on the other.
But you know what? I’m not going to worry about it because if you look at Wooden Sailing ships?… almost nothing on those Ships are perfect. I was looking at that Ships on Horatio Hornblower and the wood is cracked and warped and everything else.
Look at these Ships
Today I’m going to begin making the Yards.
As you can see, there are 5 Sets of Yards and Sails that go up to the Main Royal Sail.
Today, I have completed the Mizzenmast. The only thing left for me to do is to wait until I have some daylight so that I can play with my Airbrush. I did find the Brush that I like the best. This one has a push button on top that took me a minute to figure out. You actually have to Push it down and bring it Back. It takes a bit of practice to get the feel for it. I only have to paint the little VHF Marine Radio Antenna. I was supposed to have 2 of them but I lost the other one for some reason.
I completed the Replacement Water Decals as well. I’m going to begin with the ones for the Sides. I ruined the ones that came with it because I didn’t time it right. Apparently, you only have a very narrow window between around 30 Seconds to 60 Seconds. If you don’t wait long enough, it won’t come off and if you wait too long, it will float away from the paper on you and sometimes will double back on itself. If it does that?… You still have a chance of straightening it but it’s best that you’re not in that position in the first place. Perhaps one of these days I’ll do a demonstration on Water Decals and post it on YouTube.
The Mizzenmast is basically done. Only thing left is to paint the Antenna once I get enough daylight.
At first, I kind of panicked because the Mizzenmast wasn’t fitting into the hole right. I think I was just trying to set it in there in some kind of weird way probably.
