The Confederacy came to me about two thirds done. All of the framing and planking had been complete, and some of the deck fixtures and other pieces were also complete. Fortunately, there are clear notations regarding what had been left for later, and what was installed. Here are some pictures of her state on arrival to the Lehman Shipyard.
So, picking up where the plans left off, I started with installing the timberheads that go on the bow of the ship along the cat rail. Each timerheard is a laser cut piece that I removed, then beveled along the top on all four edges with a miniature file.
They’re mounted on the front rail first, with small, same-size posts between the rail and the bow of the ship. The rest of the timberheads are evenly spaced along the rail, then all are planted black. It took a little bit to match the blacks with what was used previously, but it all came out close enough to be unnoticeable.
After completing the timber heads, I noticed a piece of molding was missing from the front. I wasn’t sure if it had fallen off or hadn’t been installed yet. At any rate, it needed to be done.
I matched the wood, then scored it using a metal ruler and an X-acto knife. After a couple of attempts, this gave me a straight light down the center of the wood that I could use as a guide. I then dug out a bit more of the wood and scored it deeper using my sharp end tweezers.
Once the piece was mounted, I needed to do a little research to determine how Augie treated the wood on the ship so I could match it as closely as possible. As it turns out, the magic combination was a mini-wax brand Pre-Stain, followed by a stain color called “Natural” and finally and acrylic lacquer coating. It turned out to be a very close match indeed.
The Lehman Shipyard 