Ships bow not quite right

[squbrigg]

I know that not everyone is as ...... er ......... odd ........ as I am! But I sometimes take things to extremes, even for me, especially when it involves a mistake in one of my ships. Perhaps that knock on the head did more damage than I thought!

I've been working away at yet another half model of a ship, a 64 gun ship of the line this time, and I'm not sure what went wrong. Perhaps the drawing wasn't quite right, perhaps I was too aggressive in my carving, but the bow of the vessel ended up wrong, the lower part was too "sharp" for the period and while the rest of the hull was perfect, that bow area just wouldn't get right. I checked my curves and it was out by almost a 1/4" in places. Can't have that!!!

Now I know that 99.999% of the people would never notice a thing wrong if I finished the hull as is, but I would know.

So................................................ ............................................... out comes the band saw and I zipped out the error. I hope I can fix it, as I'd hate to have to recarve the whole hull. But if I must, I will. Time will tell on how well I can repair this.

I am really beginning to believe my wife when she says I'm somewhat of a perfectionist! I need to rest now, taking that piece out took a lot out of me too!

Anybody want to buy an "almost right bow"? Cheap!!!

Bob

[Mike_B-NY]

That's what I call gracefully bowing out of a bad situation <BG>

Sorry... Good Luck with the "do over"

[Just Carving]

1/4" out?!?!?! Well, that just WON'T float!! (And especially now, Bob--ya got a great big gaping 'ole in yer 'ull!!) Happy

Bob L

[xsailer]

I don't blame you Bob. I would have done the same thing. A lot of extra work but worth it.

[Ashbys]

Bob ,

I would save the piece , would be good to use of a shipwreak relief. And yes i think it would drive me crazy to know it wasn't what I wanted .

But the rest of it looks great !

Ash

[tucker1931]

Hey Bob, man oh man, I've got half a garbage can of mistakes here so I don't think I'd get too shook up over a little bow error, who the heck will know it's not quite perfect but you. I sure looks good to me, but then again, what do I know. Good luck with it there old buddy.
Cliff

[squbrigg]

I've rebuilt the bow and sanded the hull fair, all ready to begin building up the hull fittings and such. I'm much happier with the repaired bow, much happier!

Bob

[squbrigg]

Now that the hull shape is good, it's on to building in the detail.

Feels good watching it develop.

Bob

[Paul_Guraedy]

Bob, each time I see one of your ships I think, "O.K. he's not going to be able to top this"..........and each time I am wrong. Excellent carving and excellent repair work. I think all of us fully understand the need to make even the smallest correction that our minds are blowing out of proportion. My wife is always on me about this! But, when I walk up to one of my carvings the first thing I do is look at the part of that carving that "bugs me" to see if it's really as bad as I think. Oh well, I guess in the end it makes us better carvers.

Really enjoy your progress photos; but, for us landlubbers would you put in a little explanation? Then we won't have to show so much of our ingnorance. My first question, what is that curly que thing?

[squbrigg]

Glad you are enjoying them Paul. That queer shaped "q" at the front end is the stem. It projects like that because it forms the backbone of the "head" assembly, which serves several purposes.

The bowsprit is tied to it, the bowsprit being another mast which projects forward instead of up, to provide a base for the fore and aft sails that are used to balance the ship and help keep it's head pointed in the direction the ship wants to go.

The stem and head assembly is also home of the "heads" ... or the toilet for the crew. Round seats "seat of ease" that the crew used to pass their bowels, and the seats were nothing but a framework that opened directly into the water below, no flushing. Seawater from waves washing over the bow would clean most anything that may get attached, or in calm weather, a man would be sent with a long handled scrub brush to clean the neads. Not a place to delay in rough weather, and for that reason, constipation was often a normal complaint aboard a sailing ship!

The head assemble also supported the figurehead, that was carved seperately and attached to the forward top part of the "q".

The stem was supported by the head assembly, which provided strength to the projectio. The head assembly was made up of cheeks, upper and lower head rails and a flooring structure.

I've attached a couple of pics showing a completed head assembly including figurehead and seat of ease, so you can see what is yet to be installed. The bowsprite is not yet installed in the ship pictured.

Bob