Deck fittings. This brig kit comes with many features to adorn the deck. After finishing the capstan and gallows bitts I assembled the three hatches from the provided wood pieces and plastic grates. I used Apple Barrel brand acrylics (from the local Michaels craft store) for all the painting. "Toffee" color looked pretty good for the grates and "Chocolate Bar" mixed with Olympic Waterguard clear sealant gave a nice darker color for everything else. The wood grain highlights very well on these pieces using this diluted mix.

One nice thing about using the J-B Kwik epoxy to glue the plastic to wood is that its black color looks like rogue bits of tar -- so no clean up needed.

I added a few smaller details to the deck fittings using supplies I had on hand. Some brass picture hangers were cut and bent to add some doors and hinges to the companionway hatch. I also made a weapons rack to feature an axe and three swords from my disarmed Papo figures. Two plastic beads became the wooden funnels for the anchor cable on the fore hatch. Fun details.

This is where these SC&H kits really shine. They include most everything you need to assemble the ships, while still leaving you many places to experiment with modifications and additional details.

Mystery fittings. My deck hatch fits down pretty snug. While it's easy to get it off by applying a little pressure on each corner from underneath, you obviously can't do that once the deck is in place. So to prevent a future "its stuck and I can't get it off" problem I added some brass "easy lift" mystery fittings on the edges of the fore and main hatches. I screwed them down into four 6/16 inch oak blocks on the underside of the deck hatch, with a little bit of epoxy in the grove.

(SNAFU report: The second one actually broke off as I was screwing it in (argg) so two of the four fittings ended up being one rotation higher than the other two. Ah well.)

Outsourcing. I also put in my first order to Model Expo to get some belaying pins, cannon balls, barrels and a few other goodies. While I'm trying to scratch-build all the stuff I can do well enough, some things for me are better just outsourced.

Distractions. While I've decided not to pursue any type of black powder cannons until I've sailed her for a year, the idea of putting a water cannon up on the forecastle, like I was thinking about doing with my Beagle, seems like something I should ponder a bit before I glue down the deck for good. Ponder, ponder, ponder...

Week 8