Jim Dabrowski

And I was able to finish Step H as well! 

After getting the mahogany from Australia, I was able to finish outlining the grates that go on the deck. Step H, you may recall involved building that deck house and attaching the grates to the ship. 

Here is the grating on the fore upper deck (oh, and my toes in the distance)

Next is the grating in the mid-ships. Those large holes in the corners are where ladders/stairs will go later. Those y-shaped pieces will hold a small row-boat. You can kind of make out the eye-bolts on the corners. That’s where the boat will be tied down. This part isn’t glued down yet, it just has some flanges on the bottom to hold it in place. This will let me remove it later to add stuff like cannons to the lower deck. 

And finally, the aft-upper deck where the final grate went right up by the deck house installed earlier. 

And that’s it. I’m now on to finishing up Step I which primarily involves me sanding and shaping the hull in preparation for planking. 

Stay tuned!

JIm

Step G is complete—Finally! 

I got my wood! It arrived last week and I’ve been able to get going again, catching up on my steps. 

To finish up Step G I outlined each of my grates in the mahogany. I liked making that big one up top. It turned out real nice. Then I varnished them and that completed Step G. 

Next up, Step H.

JIm

I’m in a bit of a weird state right now with the Flying Dutchman build. 

In Step G, I needed to build some grates like this: 

I’m supposed to outline each one in mahogany like the one in the bottom-right. But, the kit didn’t include enough to do that so I had to order some. Despite the company I ordered from saying they were in the US, my wood is coming from Australia. 

So I moved ahead to Step H. In that step, I needed to build a small deck housing and install the grates on the deck. Well, OK, I can build the deck house. It looks like this: 

Cute, isn’t it? 

So that was about as far as I could go on Step H, so let’s look at Step I. In that one, I have to build some doors! 

Here they are in progress. And then I glued them all on. 

Here they are in the fore of the ship. 

And a couple in the aft. And you can see I installed the deck house as well. Those big holes in the deck are where the grates will go. 

Now it’s pretty much down to sanding and shaping the hull in preparation for planking. That’ll be Steps J, K, L, and M. So I’m stalled a bit right now. Once my mahogany arrives I can finish the grates, install them and that’ll pretty much complete Steps G, H, and I. The good news is, the wood arrived in the country and is just awaiting clearance through customs. Hopefully I’ll have them by the end of the week and can continue forward. 

Until then, take care, 

JIm

I made these five grates for step G. Now I’m supposed to frame each one in mahogany like that one there but I didn’t get enough in the kit to do that. 🫤 So I ordered some more. I’ll probably move on to Step H in the meanwhile.

Step F is complete! 

Wow, some of these steps go by quickly. 

Next up, in Step G, I get to build lots and lots of grates. Should be interesting. 

Here is a sneak preview of all the little bits I get to put on this model. This is fun. 

Those barrels will go in the bottom of the ship. That big old Flying Dutchman figurehead on the front and lots of bones that go on all over the place. 

JIm

Step D is complete! 

I added several upper-deck-like things and a few walls. 

Not entirely sure what’s up with the staining of the decks. I’m using the same stain and the same wood planking as the other decks but these turned out significantly lighter than the others. I’m OK with this since this is supposed to be a ghost ship so overall it’s supposed to look worn out, beat up and spooky. Hopefully the mis-matched deck staining will just add to the charm. 

Next up, Step F where I start to put on some walls! 

Stay tuned. 

JIm

All trimmed and sanded and dots poked in them. Now to varnish and stain and put them on the boat.

Planked up several sections of deck. Here is what they look like front and back. Next step, clean and shape them up.

Putting my copy of LOTR to good use weighing down some planking while the glue dries.

Step D is complete. 

For this step I had to attach cross-pieces to the bulkheads (you can see them through that big rectangle hole in the deck), then cut out and install the upper deck. Before doing that, the center portion had to be planked just like I planked the lower deck. Lots of 65mm long pieces of wood all glued down. The portions in the front and back of the ship aren’t planked because those will be rooms and you won’t see inside them when it’s all finished. Finally, I stained the deck with Judea Bitumen just like the lower deck. Actually, staining the deck is part of Step F, but I learned from doing the lower deck that it’s better to do that while it’s not attached to the boat. I think this staining job went much better than the lower deck. 

Here’s another view, more from the side. 

That’s it for now. Stay tuned for Step E where I attach some of the upper-upper-decks and even some walls! 

JIm

Wow, step C completed. I’m moving along quickly here. 

Got the entire lower deck glued in place and added a few small details. A couple of stairs/ladders, and a capstan. 

This is a bit better view of the details (forgive the crappy lighting, you’d think I’d have better lighting here where I work on building this). 

Next up, a little bit more work on the lower deck and then the upper deck. 

Stay tuned! 

Jim

Step B is complete. 

This is going to be the lower deck of the ship. Those five pieces are of plywood and I had to cut each one out, then cut a whole bunch of 65mm long strips of wood and glue them on. The lines between the planks and the dots are all made from pencil drawing along the sides or poking holes in the corners after they’ve been glued on. Then some sanding and finally a coat of clear, satin varnish. 

The next step, step C, I get to put those on the bulkheads and add some details. Stay tuned! 

JIm

The instruction book for the Flying Dutchman model has steps labeled A through X. Here is a picture of my completed Step A. 

I had to cut out and stain the keel and all 15 bulkheads, then glue them in place making sure they’re square to the keel. (They mostly are.) 

So that’s it. My plan is to keep posing pictures of each step as it’s completed so stay tuned! Currently working on step B, planking the lower deck. 

Take care, 

JIm

And so it begins...

Toward the end of my Bluenose build, I was swearing I was done building model ships. Then my wife saw this and convinced me to buy it. So now I’ve started another…The Flying Dutchman! 

JIm