Armed Virginia Sloop by GuntherMT - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1:48

[xken]

Brian, great details and very clean, crisp build.

Keep up the great job you are doing!

[GuntherMT]

Wow, lots of likes and comments.  Thank you all very much.

 

 

Your stain and color choices are also complementing each other beautifully.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

 

Nigel, the only stain used on the model is the cleats, the barrel of the ships wheel, and the body of the pumps.  Everything else is just wood or paint with clear poly.

 

 

Brian, I am going to unabashedly plagiarize your design of the pumps for my SM b/c I love how they came out. Hope you don't mind!

 

You won't be plagiarizing me, the pumps are built exactly per the kit plans with the exception of using paper for the bands instead of brass, so go right ahead!

[dgbot]

Marvelous woodwork and craftsmanship. 

David B

[GuntherMT]

The catheads turned into an unexpected issue.  The angle built into the laser cut parts appeared to be completely wrong.  When the 'flat' on the bottom of the cathead was placed on the cap rail per the plans and instructions, the base was standing proud of the inside of the bulwarks near the deck by about 1/4".   Not sure if they are cut wrong, or if I somehow managed to get the angle on my bulwarks that far off of what they should be.

 

The solutions that I could think of were:

1) Cut an angle into the cap rail making the catheads stick up at an angle more severe than that shown in the plans.  Issue being that I was not sure the cap rail had enough thickness to actually support that angle, and the base of the catheads on the bulwarks would be lowered, possibly enough to interfere with the waterway.

2) File the bottom of the cathead  to make it fit, again causing a fairly steep angle, and presenting issues with how to shape the bottom edge of the cathead once that much of and angle was built into the 'flat'.

3) Modify the catheads by separating them into two pieces right at the corner, and changing the angle.  Issue - getting them aligned properly upon re-assembly, and making the join neat enough to not be visible on completion.

 

I eliminated #1 almost immediately, as if it didn't work right, I would have the problem of wrecked cap rails which would be a huge task to replace.

 

#2 seemed to be a problem with the shaping and the angle both.

 

So I went with #3.  Using the UMM micro-saw, I carefully sliced the cathead into two pieces, right at, and parallel to the 'flat' where the cathead would sit on the cap rail.  I then filed the piece that would go on the bulkhead, a little bit at a time, test fitting until I hit the right angle, and to keep the mating surface reasonable close through the entire process.  I then drilled a small hole into the bulkhead piece, and inserted a small brass nail cut to leave just the pointy tip exposed.  I then pressed the two pieces together carefully aligning them.  The tip of the nail gave me a point to drill the hole into the top piece, and I then replaced the pointy brass nail with a slightly longer one cut to be a pin to help secure the two parts together.

 

I took a picture after the first one was complete, overlaid on the one that was still unmodified to show how much angle I changed.

 

Seemed to work ok, so I cut the other one and followed the same procedure, and then mounted them both on the rail.  Right after that I realized I forgot to drill the other hole in the cathead for the rope.  Doh!  So I carefully drilled out the other hole while supporting the cathead with a finger.

 

Issue defeated.  I'll decide after I finish all the knightsheads and swivel gun supports whether these will be painted per the instructions or left natural, as I'll need to do a fair amount of touch-up painting where I removed the paint to get a good joint between the bulwarks / cap rail and the catheads.

[Mahuna]

Hi Brian - good thinking.

 

Seems to me that you're ready to leap into the scratch-building side of the pool.

[GuntherMT]

Hi Brian - good thinking.

 

Seems to me that you're ready to leap into the scratch-building side of the pool.

 

You are an evil person.  

[GLakie]

Good catch and great save Brian. Can't even see the joint. 

[JesseLee]

Good fix!

[GuntherMT]

After the catheads, I decided to make a timberhead, which came out pretty decent for my first try.  Only made the one for now, need to make 5 more.  I made this using a barret file for shaping.

 

Next up was the stairs.  I made an angle in my little planking jig to make the ends parallel based on the bottom angle on the ladders, and then used the mill to cut groves for the treads.  I'm not very happy with how they came out, but they do look much better just staring at the boat than they look in the pictures.  I'll ponder whether to make some new ones to replace these.

 

I then made and placed the boom crutches, which can be seen in the above photo, and then assembled the binnacle.  Fairly happy with how it came out, but I mis-placed it just slightly, but since it's pinned, I think it will stay here!

 

Shots of the overall ship as it sits now, and close-ups of the binnacle.

 

Still to go - 5 more timberheads, the pedestals for the swivel guns, and the channels and chain-plates.  After that we start looking at masts and rigging!

[GLakie]

She's got a great look to her Brian! You're doing a fine job! 

[gerty]

Beautiful. Great work Brian

[thomaslambo]

Brian,

 

Really beautiful work....and thanks for taking the time to document your process for stropping the single blocks (very clean work)     

[GuntherMT]

As some (or all) of you may have gathered by now, I'm quite easily distracted by "shiny things".  My most recent distraction was that I finally decided that I needed to finish my work room, which required quite a bit of re-working.

 

First I removed the temporary hanging lights I had rigged, and spent far more time working over my head than I have done in a very long time, which reminded me that working on overhead stuff truly sucks.  I used Wiremold to tap two circuits out of my overhead light fixture (was wired for a ceiling fan that was never installed in this room).  I then hung 3 awesome LED light fixtures from Costco (3700 lumens each @ 4000K, for only a 30 watt draw), these are all wired to the same circuit.

 

 

So much light, it's awesome.

Next up, launched into a furniture assembling marathon, and replaced my two 20" deep, very crowded work benches with 3 x 30" x 60" surfaces, allowing me to move both existing work benches to the back side of the room and dedicate them to my ever-growing collection of power tools.  Thanks to Frank for pointing me at Ikea for these fantastic table-tops and shelf units.

 

 

I still have to mount two more of these LED fixtures, which will be on the other circuit so they are separately switched over the two work benches, but that will come later.  I've got a ton of work now just to get organized into the new area, since everything has to be relocated to the new drawer units under the new work area.  

 

Hopefully my next update will have actual ship progress again, now that I'm pretty much done with the room layout (and there is no room left for any other additions).

[GuntherMT]

Ship update!

 

After redoing the workshop, I got back to the final deck details prior to starting to work my way forward and upward!

 

I completed the timberheads, swivel gun support posts, and the channels in preparation to begin the chain-plate fabrication next.

 

 

I think I'll make a dummy mast so that I can attach rope to get the angle on the chain-plates correct, and then make some sort of a jig (I've got some ideas from other build logs here) for positioning the upper dead-eyes later.  I've decided to replace the kit dead-eyes with Syren ones, and I've got them assembled but not sanded yet.  Also, after messing around again with the kit brittania cast swivel guns, decided to throw them out, and ordered brass swivel guns which I'll need to fabricate a yoke and handles for.

[GLakie]

She looks splendid Brian. The color scheme really makes her stand out. Like the workshop too. Fairly simple in design, but very practical and organized. 

[Mahuna]

Hi Brian

 

I missed your post on your new workshop until this morning - looks great!  The lighting is perfect.  

[mrangus]

The paint is spectacular Brian. Really eye-catching.

[GuntherMT]

In order to get the angle for the chain-plates right, I cut a piece of basswood to the proper length for the main mast, then cut the bottom to fit at the correct angle, and built a step into the top at the height of the cross-trees.  Using this false-mast, I could run rope around the mast to get the angle correct (hopefully!).

 

Yesterday, I spent a large chunk of the day doing touch-up painting, getting an extra coat of paint on all the new stuff I've added, so that I can put some poly on it after it's all dried.  I then made bowsprit mark II.

 

For the re-made bowsprit, I started with 3/8" square boxwood from Crown Timberyard, and first shaped it to a slightly oversized octagon using a lovely little jig that Frank loaned me on Saturday.  Once I had that done, I shaped the base of the bowsprit, cheating heavily by using the mill, and then using the lathe, turned the round portion down to size at half-inch intervals, and then used 220 grit sandpaper, still in the lathe, to finish it to a smooth taper.  I then used the cut-off tool to cut off the tip, which I then sanded to shape by hand.  Finally, I cut off the larger square piece where it was chucked into the lathe, and completed shaping the base to the correct angle to sit on the fore-deck.

 

Much happier with the improved mark II version.  It's sort of hard to see in the photo's, but the edges of the octagon are much sharper, it's much more uniform, and the square foot is much sharper and better shaped in general.  It's a very tight fit through the bow.  In the photo's the original bowsprit I made from the kit basswood is the lighter one on top.

 

Edit: Fixed dimension of the wood stock.

Edited July 21, 2015 by GuntherMT

[Bobstrake]

Brian,

 

That's some serious workshop! It mirrors some serious ship building.

[aliluke]

Hi Brian

I still look into MSW now and again. Your sloop is looking really good. Fantastic sweep ports and scuppers - way better than mine. I reckon a little enhancement to the swivel posts is worth it. I just did a wee wrap of blackened paper around them to look like a strap tying them back to the rail. I also left the swivel post that sits among the shrouds dry fitted only until the shrouds were done so that I could adjust its position to fit with the shrouds. Some people leave this post off altogether because it is so hard to get right in relation to the shrouds but dry fit and later adjustment worked for me.

 

Well done on the sprit too - this was really hard in my memory especially to get it sitting down on the deck combined with its rake being at 90 degrees to aft rake of the mast. You've done a beauty with the shaping. The next phase of this build is the best with the masts and sprit in you really get the sense of extension from the hull of these parts and it takes on a whole other dimension and comes to life. It suddenly looks like the speed demon that it was.

 

I did a clean on my AVS a few weeks back - with all the dust gone I really like the way it has aged.

 

You're doing this cool little model real justice - it'll be a stand out - keep enjoying!

 

Cheers

Alistair

[GuntherMT]

Thanks for all the likes.  Thanks for stopping by Bob, are you ever going to finish the Carmen?  

 

Alistair, good to see you drop in!  I've referenced your photo's several times during this build, but I had completely forgotten about your straps, I'll have to consider that, it's a nice detail.  I considered leaving the post on the channels off for now, but ultimately, I decided that trying to get the paint off the hull for a clean fit and then re-painting while the shrouds were on would be quite difficult and possibly make a huge mess, so I decided to go with the plan location in relation to the shrouds.  I guess I'll find out down the road if that one bites me.  I don't plan to actually fit the swivel guns until near the very end of the build so that I'm not breaking them off constantly (I know I would).

[thomaslambo]

Brian,

 

Nice work... 

 

Gotta love MSW as we can gain knowledge/wisdom about our builds from others that have gone before us.

 

I also struggle with the timing of when to complete a particular piece of detail.  I find the more detail I add the more I increase the possibility of damaging it during a later stage of the build.  

 

Building my ship often reminds me of a game of chess 

[HIPEXEC]

Boyd is right....I learned a long time ago that model ship building is just like a chess game. You have to be very careful not to go down into a trap. You have to constantly be looking several moves ahead.

[GuntherMT]

So I'm learning that I really dislike working with the metal bits.  I'm not really equipped yet to do soldering on very fine parts yet (need one of those pinnable soldering mats of some kind), so I went with black coated copper wire to make the chain plates.

 

I made a simple jig after getting the length figured out on a very rough not-pretty hand made piece.

 

I test fit the first one and it was fairly decent, so I made all 4 for one side.

 

Then I bent them to fit the ship and.. I managed to flip the dead-eye in the jig on all but the first one, making them too long.  I'll remake all 4 after adjusting the jig slightly and adding side pieces so that it's not possible to flip the dead-eye the wrong way.

 

My system for these is quite simple, I'm making the joint where the cap of the channel will cover it, so the fact that it's not perfectly mated and soldered doesn't matter, and just joining the thing together with CA glue.  This seems like it is going to work just fine, but I'll end up having to re-glue them all to keep them aligned after bending them to fit, as the brittle glue joint between the two sides tends to fail when I'm bending them into the channels.  

 

They'll also be painted matte black so they aren't shiny.  If it doesn't work out, then I'll revert to doing something in brass, but I'm hoping this will work, as they seem to look just fine and once they are fixed in place with the nail/glue at the bottom and the channel cap at the top, they shouldn't be moving enough to be a problem.

[Mahuna]

Hi Brian - now you're getting into making jigs!  The glue joint might be better using epoxy glue, it's much stronger than a CA joint.  I like the Quik-Cure brand.

 

 

5 minute epoxy is all you need - there are 5 minute, 15 minute, and a slow-cure.  I recently got some at the Hobby Depot store we were talking about.

[GuntherMT]

I've got some 5 minute epoxy Frank, but I hate using it because it smells awful and the odor permeates the entire house even if I'm only mixing up a tiny bit.  I may give it a shot anyway if I have problems though.  Thanks for the suggestion.

 

Also, I've been making jigs all along for various bits and pieces, although mostly just wood stuff up to this point.

[HIPEXEC]

Put a mask on when working with some of the exotic glues

[GuntherMT]

When I added the swivel gun pedestals, I completely forgot to drill the hole for the eventual mounting of the guns, so I needed to do the drilling while already mounted on the ship. I realized that this would be a smart thing to do now, before getting all the rigging in the way, so I had to decide how I was going to mount the guns when the time comes. As I've tossed the cast swivels in the proverbial trash can (I still have them, but am not going to use them), I will need to fabricate new mounts. I played around a bit and figured out what size of brass rod I am going to use, so from there it was a matter of how would I insert them into the pedestals. I chose to try something different, which may allow me to leave the swivels able to actually swivel. I cut off some very short pieces of micro-tube, which the brass rod would barely fit into, and blackened them. I then drilled holes into the top of the pedestals in 3 steps, using small drills, ending with a 1.60 mm bit to allow the blackened tubes to fit. 

 

Pretty happy with how they came out, and if I manage to make the mounts for the swivels actually decent (yay I get to practice soldering), I may leave them 'loose' so they can turn. I can always glue them in if I choose also.

 

Here is a pedestal with the tube mounted.

 

And here is a shot with the brass rod inserted to show how it will fit.

 

The yoke for the swivel mount will be attached to the brass rod which will drop into the tube.

 

After that little side project, I went back and began remaking the chain plates. This time I chose to put the 'joint' at the bottom where it can be somewhat covered, or at least disguised a bit, by the nails I was going to use to pin the plates to the hull. They came out reasonably well, although by no means perfect.

 

After initial placement, prior to painting. Way shiny (also this is massively over-exposed to show the plates against the black wale).

 

Massively over-exposed shot after putting the cap on the channel and first paint. 

 

And a only slightly over-exposed shot showing more what the eyeball sees.

 

If I was doing this over again, I'd ignore the plan locations and put the holes for the base of the chain plates slightly further up, so that the bottoms of the chain plates wouldn't hang below the wale and make it harder to disguise my bad joint.

 

In any case. The starboard side is done!

 

 

[GLakie]

Nice bit of engineering on the swivel-mounts Brian, and taking the future rigging into account. 

[GuntherMT]

Thanks for the continued likes and comments everyone.  Feel free to jump in with suggestions for improvement or telling me I'm making errors at any time.  This is only my 2nd ship, so I've got plenty to learn still.

 

Instead of finishing the chain plates and dead-eyes on the other side of the boat, I decided to play with power tools. The plans show a sheave in both the bowsprit, and the jib-boom, but the kit doesn't provide it, and both the plans and instructions say to just drill a hole for the line to run through. Well, the heck with that, I'm an idiot and decided to risk wrecking my bowsprit by building in the sheave!  I am pretty happy with how the one for the bowsprit came out, I used a small piece of dowel with a hole drilled through it and sanded down to size for the pulley.

 

Not super happy with how the one in the jib-boom came out, it's just so small that I had a hard time getting a clean slot cut. I didn't even try to insert a pulley. I'm hoping that with rope run through this it won't look bad.

 

And here is a shot of the bowsprit and jib-boom together. They aren't actually glued together, I have a bunch of work left to do adding little cleats and stuff to them. Notice the length of this assembly is slightly longer than the length of the hull of the ship it will be attached to!

 

 

Then I made the main mast. This is the longest piece of wood on the ship, and was somewhat challenging to shape because it was so long. Pictured here next to the remainder of the 1/2" square boxwood that it was carved from. The other pictures are close ups of the top and foot of the mast. Pretty happy that I pretty much nailed the shapes and size on my first go at it. I do have 1 spare piece of boxwood if I had totally messed it up, but glad I shouldn't need to use it.