- Joined
- Apr 8, 2023
- Messages
- 189
- Points
- 103
7/14 to 10/23
Back in July I answered a post on SOS from a modeler getting rid of some of his models that he had not started and felt he’d never get to. @jprince was offering the Willie Bennett for free, just pay for the shipping. He lives in Saskatchewan, Canada and I live outside of Denver Colorado so shipping would be about $25 us. Even though I’m nowhere near being ready to start a new build, I gave him $30 and have had Willie sitting on my shelf waiting.
My current build is the Bluenose, but due to other things in life, progress has slowed down, pushing Willie further down the road. In a recent e-newsletter put out monthly by my local ship building club (Rocky Mountain Shipwrights) there was an article talking about working on multiple ships at the same time. While I’m personally working on two (I’m also working on a Buccaneer in Mexico), the two are definitely separated, not just physically because of the miles, but also I mentally separated them. So in many ways, I only work on one ship at a time.
There were two things that stood out to me in the article were that sometimes you need a break from your current build for any number of reasons plus for me and other members of the club is that at a certain point in a build, transporting a model becomes a challenge. The reason this is important for members of the Rocky Mountain Shipwrights is that we have a monthly workshop where you’re encouraged to bring in whatever you are working on. Sure a lot of the workshop is guys (and girls as there are a few women in the club) just hanging out and talking. I generally get a fair amount of work done during each workshop, but the conversations are always just as satisfying as the work.
Currently I bring in the Bluenose, but I know as soon as I start on the rigging, I won’t be able to. And that’s where the article comes back into play. It suggested having a second model to work on that can be safely transported to the workshop. So that’s been in the back of my mind. The added benefit is that means I’d get to start on Willie sooner that I was expecting especially since my progress on the Bluenose has been slowed.
And here we are in the middle of October… I’m still at a point where I can safely and easily transport the Bluenose, but I am at a point where I won’t be able to work on it, at least for several days. Today is set up for an annual boat show our club puts on at a local wood-working business, Rocklers.
The show is not just for finished models, but also for those in progress, like my Bluenose. So today I’ll take it over, and I won’t be able to work on it until Sunday night at the earliest. I know it’s only 4 days, but instead of not being able to do “anything”, I’ll be able to begin work on Willie.
Ok, first things first - parts inventory. Normally pretty much straightforward, but a couple of curveballs with this kit.
The kit calls for the hull to be built (just like the actual ship) upside down. To do so it’s recommended to cut out the template and tape/glue it to a “building board”. After making a copy of the template, I headed to the garage to find a suitably sized board. I found one that would work “corner to corner”. I then cut off the other corners. Ta-da… my building board.
While I’d really like to jump in working on it, I know once I start building the keel/keelson, it will be difficult to store. So at this point, I’m putting my Willie away until the Bluenose is at a non-transportable stage (basically once I start the rigging).
Work time: 3 hours
Total work time: 3 hours
Back in July I answered a post on SOS from a modeler getting rid of some of his models that he had not started and felt he’d never get to. @jprince was offering the Willie Bennett for free, just pay for the shipping. He lives in Saskatchewan, Canada and I live outside of Denver Colorado so shipping would be about $25 us. Even though I’m nowhere near being ready to start a new build, I gave him $30 and have had Willie sitting on my shelf waiting.
My current build is the Bluenose, but due to other things in life, progress has slowed down, pushing Willie further down the road. In a recent e-newsletter put out monthly by my local ship building club (Rocky Mountain Shipwrights) there was an article talking about working on multiple ships at the same time. While I’m personally working on two (I’m also working on a Buccaneer in Mexico), the two are definitely separated, not just physically because of the miles, but also I mentally separated them. So in many ways, I only work on one ship at a time.
There were two things that stood out to me in the article were that sometimes you need a break from your current build for any number of reasons plus for me and other members of the club is that at a certain point in a build, transporting a model becomes a challenge. The reason this is important for members of the Rocky Mountain Shipwrights is that we have a monthly workshop where you’re encouraged to bring in whatever you are working on. Sure a lot of the workshop is guys (and girls as there are a few women in the club) just hanging out and talking. I generally get a fair amount of work done during each workshop, but the conversations are always just as satisfying as the work.
Currently I bring in the Bluenose, but I know as soon as I start on the rigging, I won’t be able to. And that’s where the article comes back into play. It suggested having a second model to work on that can be safely transported to the workshop. So that’s been in the back of my mind. The added benefit is that means I’d get to start on Willie sooner that I was expecting especially since my progress on the Bluenose has been slowed.
And here we are in the middle of October… I’m still at a point where I can safely and easily transport the Bluenose, but I am at a point where I won’t be able to work on it, at least for several days. Today is set up for an annual boat show our club puts on at a local wood-working business, Rocklers.
The show is not just for finished models, but also for those in progress, like my Bluenose. So today I’ll take it over, and I won’t be able to work on it until Sunday night at the earliest. I know it’s only 4 days, but instead of not being able to do “anything”, I’ll be able to begin work on Willie.
Ok, first things first - parts inventory. Normally pretty much straightforward, but a couple of curveballs with this kit.
- It had already a little bit of work done (very little, but nevertheless that changes up the look of the parts).
- There is a parts list in the instruction manual as well as a stand-alone list - and they are slightly different.
- One board (1/8”x1/2”x22”) has been partially used. I believe it was used as intended, but time will tell.
- There seems to be an extra piece of balsa wood in the box (or at least it doesn’t appear on the parts list).
- The list of parts that appears to be the most correct shows there should be four 6” sheets of 3/64”x 2” while the other shows one 22” piece of 3/64”x2”. I have the 22” board, so I’m assuming I’m ok.
- I’m supposed to have 2 medal castings of rudder horns, and I have 4. Better to have too many than not enough.
The kit calls for the hull to be built (just like the actual ship) upside down. To do so it’s recommended to cut out the template and tape/glue it to a “building board”. After making a copy of the template, I headed to the garage to find a suitably sized board. I found one that would work “corner to corner”. I then cut off the other corners. Ta-da… my building board.
While I’d really like to jump in working on it, I know once I start building the keel/keelson, it will be difficult to store. So at this point, I’m putting my Willie away until the Bluenose is at a non-transportable stage (basically once I start the rigging).
Work time: 3 hours
Total work time: 3 hours
