Jim Dabrowski - A Bluenose Retrospective

As a bit of a retrospective, here are a variety of picture of my Bluenose model over time.

The hull of the Bluenose model ship being planked.

This is the hull as I was finishing up planking it. This picture is from 2012.

The deck of the Bluenose model before being planked.

This is the deck before it was planked. The hull is finished, now it was time to do the deck.

Starting to plank the deck of the Bluenose model ship

This is how the deck was planked. Unlike the hull where it was a bunch of shorter pieces, the deck planking I did in long strips about half the length of the boat.

Deck planking of the Bluenose model ship completed and stained.

All the decking is finished and stained.

The hull of the Bluenose model ship being painted.

Here is the hull in the process of being painted. As you’ve seen elsewhere, it was black on the bottom, red on top, with a yellow stripe between the two, topped by white rails.

Bluenose model ship with some of the deck housing being put into place.

Making more progress. This is from 2020 - 8 years after I finished the deck After the deck was done, I had to do all the stanchions (the little bits of wood sticking up from the deck holding up the rails) and then reshape and install the rails along the top. Was quite tedious. Then I finally got started on building all the deck housing stuff. Each of those things, hatches, entry ways, etc. are all fashioned from scratch.

Close up picture of the winch and other deck machinery at the bow of the Bluenose model ship.

Close up of the dorys on the Bluenose model ship.

A couple of close ups of some of the stuff I had to build on the deck. Up top is the winch for hoisting the anchors and the gaffs. Below are the four Dorys I had to make from scratch. Yep, each one is individually crafted with ribs and planked. I made those little tiny oars myself too. Each one is about 1.5” long.

The bowsprit of the Bluenonse model ship

After all the deck stuff was done it was time to get started on the masts. This is the bowsprit.

Picture of the 2 masts on the Bluenose model ship

And here we see both the fore mast and main mast with their mast hoops in place.

After the masts were completed and installed, it was time to start rigging.

Close up of the ratlines on the fore mast.

And here I’m working on the ratlines that both help to stabilize the masts and allow a way for the sailors to climb up them to get to the sails on the top. This here is from 2023.

The jib and jumbo jib of the Bluenose model ship

The foresail of the Bluenose model ship

Finally getting to the sails.

And finally it is finished.

Picture of the completed Bluenose model ship.

That’s a brief summary. If you go to my archive page, you should be able to see all my boat-related posts from over the years. I haven’t been very consistent about documenting my progress and there are lots of gaps. But you can see a lot more of my early work on the ship. I hope you enjoy looking at all this.

Take care,

JIm