Was in a groove and decided to continue on with what I could. Sorting through the pages of Month 9 instructions and I found I could also assemble a couple of the cable supports. These were really straight forward. I followed the directions as far as assembly goes with my typical techniques of sanding, glueing, filling any small gaps, etc.

Once the piece was assembled, I went ahead and took a round needle file and shaped the holes where cables and/or ropes would run through. I didn't find any mention of this in the instruction, but having done pieces like this on other ships, that is general what is done. The goal is to create a nice rounded edge so a rope or cable could go in the top, pull through to the back and go into the bottom, and then pull back to the front...that sort of things. I indicated what I am talking about with the areas by the green arrows. Actually even carved out a bit of the wood so the curved area was inset within the post.

I will eventually stain and/or poly these but not sure what I want to do exactly yet. Will wait until more of the ship is done and I have a better visual idea of where these go and how they will look against the deck.

Excellent work, you are making it look so easy.

Mark

evening everyone & especially tenderfoot,

thanks for your idiots guide to building the bounty especially for wooden boat virgins like me!! currently have the endeavor sitting on the shelf for the past 6 years - will eventually do it - sometime.
stay safe everyone.
Sparky1962

Thanks everyone for your kind comments and support...it is inspirational and truly motivates me to continue posting updates. More to come soon, just awaiting the next month's shipment.

Episode 9 has arrived!

NOTE: Although I did add some additional embellishments to the galley stove the vast majority of it is simply built per the instructions.

As you already know, I did some reading of the Anatomy of the Ship while awaiting this months shipment. A few of the diagrams within the book detail the galley stove. Now that this shipment has arrived, and I have had the opportunity to look at the actual pieces, I have decided a path forward for the stove.

The first few steps will follow pretty much the path in the instructions. This assembles fairly easily. Note that I am not sanding things down too finely as I have chosen to paint this when it is done, as opposed to staining it. Something in my brain tells me a wood stove is just not a good thing and that I must paint it to look like cast iron...so I will. The upside to this is that paint hides many flaws...mostly minor ones, but I will take what I can get. To that, I am only sanding with 220 grit.

Making the main part of the stove was about as easy as it gets. Simply free the pieces from the template and glue as directed. Once I had the top and four sides assembled, I went ahead and sanding each surface to ensure all the pieces met smoothly as I don't want this to look like a jigsaw puzzle when I apply the paint.

Once I had each surface as smooth as I desired, I went ahead and took a sharp knife and carefully scored where the front door panel will go. These were almost gone due to the sanding. I am not sure if I am going to go with the doors supplied with the kit or do something else, so for now just wanted to be sure I had the reference marks for where they go.

Then it came time for the last couple side pieces for the flu/chimney/thingy. These were quite small, but still not too difficult. I used a needle file to create a bevel at each end at around a 45 degree angle. Then it was a simple matter of test fitting and filing the ends and sides until the piece fit snug into place. Even then, the piece was left a bit oversized on purpose. Once I glued it into place, I followed up with the same needle file to file it down so everything looked like one nice piece of wooden cast iron.

This is about the point where my galley stove stops following along with the instructions. From here on out I will be adding my own touches to get this thing more in line with the detailed drawing of the galley stove in The Anatomy of a Ship.

Also note how clean my finger nails are. That is so not typical of me. But I must say, they look good, so I had to call attention to them.

The diagram shows a handle for each large stove top cover along with some sort of knob thingy or a valve or something. Regardless, I had enough info in the drawing to mimic it. I then drilled three holes in each large stove cover. The hole closest to the smaller cover is where the knob thingy is located. To create this little bit I simply trimmed a copper nail a few MM from the head and then glued it into the hole. The end result looks strikingly close to the drawing.

The other two holes in the cover are for a handle. For these I took a thin piece of brass wire (about .7mm or so...sorry I didn't think to actually measure it). As with all things brass I first annealed the wire and then I bent it to shape as indicated by the green arrow in the photo. Once I was satisfied with the shape and size I then snipped off the excess and glued it into place. Repeated this process for both large stove top covers.

I couldn't believe, but the stove actually had a spit. To be honest, I didn't think sailors in those days ever got any real protein, so this really caught me by surprise. Either way, it had a spit so I decided to add one as well per the drawings.

To do this I took 8 eye-pins and trimmed the shaft as well as the eye so I ended up with a really small hook. You can see in the image below where I indicate in green where I trimmed each eye-pin. I then drilled eight shallow holes into the sidewall of the stove under the chimney. These holes are where I glued each hook into place.

Next, I took a 1mm piece of brass wire, annealed it, and straightened it before I glued it into place on the top hooks of the spit. I left it a bit long at this stage since I need to also create the drive shaft and make sure it aligns with the bar on the spit.

The condenser was next. I have no idea what this thing is for but simply guessing it was used to open a flap or panel within the hotbox of the stove, thus it would condense the space for the heat to the closed off area...again, complete guess and if anyone knows, please enlighten me.

To create this, I took a 3mm square stock and simply started sanding the end into an elongated cone. The final size is actually quite large when compared to the rest of the stove, but this is how it is in the drawings so I went with it. I then drilled a 1mm hole into the end of the condenser.

Using a 1mm piece of brass wire, I bent it 90 degrees not far from the end. This end I inserted into the condenser handle and glued into place. I then drilled a 1mm hole into the front most large stove cover right near the handle. Finally, I glued the condenser assembly into place and have it moved off over the corner. I did this simply because that is the way it was shown in the illustration.

TIME FOR PAINT!!!

I do still need to attach the drive chain on the spit, but felt it would be a bit delicate and also get in the way at this point. So it was painting next.

I applied a simple flat black primer to the entire piece - two coats. Once it was dry I thought it needed a little extra touch to help highlight the tiny features. At such a small scale, and because it will be tucked within the lower deck, a bit of highlight here and there would just help the eye notice the detailed work that went into the piece.

To bring out the details I did a good old-fashioned dry brush with some copper paint. I went really light with this as I still wanted to retain the cast iron look/feel. I did a couple applications in areas that I wanted to pull out a bit more and just worked the brush and the piece until I was satisfied.