Tonights effort has been put into filling and sanding for the new positions for the Channels, also while the wood filler was drying sorting out some deck elements, i dived into the Heller kit for the Chimney because the one that came with the original kit was way to small and the wrong shape, the Staghorns, the poop deck Snatch Blocks, the Boat chocks, ( of which there were only six large ones so i had to cut four of them down to medium and had to make two small ones which i did out of planking material and sapele veneer as the base ) and positioned according to John McKay, unfortunately before i had realised i cut down two snatch blocks which could have been used for the forecastle and are now going to be used as cathead Cleats.....DOH.

I thought it would be a lot easier to put the deadeyes into the chains while they were still in there sprue to not lose anything to the carpet munchers, working out which way was the best way turned out to be a bit of a mission, after trying a couple of things i found using a sprung pair of tiny pliers to open them up turned out to be the best way, on the fore and main channels you use 5mm and 3mm deadeyes, there was a couple of times i tried to put 5mm into the 3mm slots and wondered why i had so much trouble and then you realise you've been a complete idiot, the Mizzen channel on the Heller etch needs 3.5mm deadeyes so they are on order which gives me time to sort out some more deck elements.

Thank you Tom your comments are much appreciated, i turned my attention to the poop deck hammock cranes, these are part of the Heller aftermarket upgrade kit, after priming the whole sprue with red oxide they were painted black and the holes drilled out a little wider to take rope.

Looks very nice indeed.

This is coming on beautifully Paul! A lovely job. I really must try and do something to my old girl soon - even if its only to finish off the fore-channels so they are all on together!
I keep getting waylaid with other builds!

Robin.

Just had delivered C Neapean Longridge's book on The Anatomy Of Nelson's Ships, what a great read, on my visit to the 'ol girl a few years back i took lots of photos as reference for my build and took photos of the Shrouds, it didn't register at the time but there were Cleats on the shrouds and looking at the cleats supplied with my photoetch stock i'm thinking how the hell am i going to get them on there, they are 0.5mm X 2mm, it's impossible, so reading through Longridge's book i discover Shroud Cleats, (i never knew they existed before) so searching the internet i come across "Dry Dock Models" who want £40 for 24, now they are a great product but Vanguard do 48 for £12 delivered and they are 1.5mm x 5mm something my eyes and fat fingers can handle, they might need a bit of thinning out and rounding off but nothing a diamond file and a bit of patience cant handle, the 3.5mm deadeyes i was waiting on slipped straight through the photoetch and had to order 4mm instead but that turned out ok because they will go go in the futtock shrouds which are 3.5mm, so all is not lost, anyway this evenings project has been to start on the hammock netting, the paper templates were transfered onto an A4 sheet of paper which was stuck onto some cardboard, then the patterns were cut around 2mm oversize and the netting was glued onto the card with PVA, the next step is to soak thread in some diluted PVA and place the thread 2mm inside the pattern and let it all dry and cut out trim the netting with some nice crisp edges, i can't take credit for this method as i saw it Bernd's build log a good few years ago (if you haven't seen it go take a look it's an amazing build), the patterns cut out on the card were kept in case it all went tits up.

Looking great as usual Paul! (Of course, with my extra wooden bulwarks I managed to avoid all the poop deck ones!! )
Thinking on the fitting, maybe if you cut a short piece of dowel just a little thinner than the width of the cranes it might be easier to tamp the netting down flat as opposed to the sharp point on the cocktail stick.
Keep them coming, my 'Ol' Vic' fingers are itching!

Robin.