Continued to work on Issue 72:

- Boom irons fitted on the yards
- Fore topsail yard fully rigged

Issue 72 completed:

- studdingsail booms tapered
- they painted black and fitted to the yards

Another very nice update, looks good....

Regards

Alan

Today's work on Issue 73:

- remaining strips added to the central section
- sanded to octagonal shape
- chamfered the ends

Thanks Walter!

Continued on Issue 73 constructing the main and fore topgallant yards:

- the ends tapered with usual pillar drill method
- very ends made thinner
- slings fitted to the main one
- bindings added to central section
- yards painted black

Good progress today.
Finished Issue 73:
- main and fore topgallant yards fully dressed bith rigging blocks

Started Issue 77:
- mizzen top assembled and sanded smooth
- handrail assembled

At the moment I'm skipping all issues/steps which involves working on the hull. This is due to being too cold in the garage and I have no space to bring the whole ship into the house.
Hence I'm assembling all the yards, masts and probably further sub-assemblies (e.g. anchors) in advance until the weather gets a bit warmer and I can go out to the garage again.

Issue 77:
Today I started to fit the ribs onto the mizzen top, seven of them done.
Also holes drilled for the shrouds and eyebolts.

Issue 77 completed regarding the mizzen top:

- it's painted black
- eyebolts added
- rigging block added
- handrail fitted

Started on Issue 78:

WARNING:
Lessons learned from the main and fore mast plans, I checked the scale on the mizzen mast plan.
And, oh no... it's even worst than the other two plans. On the main and fore plans at least the dimensioned, individual masts (lower, top, topgallant) were correct to scale, only the assembled mast was slightly smaller scale.
But on the mizzen mast plan all plans, including the dimensioned, are out scale even if it's mentioned many times in the magazine and on the plan itself that you can lay the mast on the plan and just copy the guide lines.
Well... on the mizzen mast don't do it... just go for the mentioned lengths with a ruler without copying the lines directly to the dowels. See pictures below.

The other side of the plan (mizzen yards and booms) has correct scaling.

Working on Issue 78:

OK... so I decided to go for the "direct-measurement" instead of the written dimensions. Regardless which one is the actually correct size, I believe that the 5-6 mm different in length won't matter on the finished model.

- top of mast carved square
- flats sanded on the sides
- hounds and cheeks carved and fitted
- bibbs rounded on edges and fitted
- locations on the bindings marked, ready for tomorrow

Continued on Issue 78:

- Bindings added to the mizzen masts
- Belaying pin collar and driver boom saddle fitted

I had to make some adjustment in order to make the collar and saddle fit as desired.

The inner diameter of the collar is slightly bigger than the dowel and the tiny gap made it difficult to keep into its exact position until the glue dries, also the glue didn't hold it well. For the first attempt it came loose easily.
So I carved four tiny wedges and inserted them into the gap. This made it holding a bit tight but still possible to move the collar into the desired position. Once it was there I applied few drops of superglue around the wedges. When it dried I cut off the protruding parts of the wedges. Then filled the remaining gap with PVA glue (I found the area way too small to fill with milliput os similar material).

Regarding the saddle the problem was the same, its inner diameter is a tiny bit bigger causing it not resting on the dowel around its circumference. Also due to the laser cut the horizontal and vertical surfaces are not quite 90 degrees. To make it a perfect fit I cut a narrow piece of paper and glued it into the inner circle of the saddle with superglue to reduce its diameter. Then to compensate the angle I glued an even narrower paper strip to one side.
Once the superglue dried a gentle sanding made it possible to fit/settle on the dowel perfectly.