ChadB

Hey Patrick,

I'll be following along on this one! I served on the USS Barry (DDG-52) and had a friend on the Curtis Wilbur back in 99-03. We both worked on the AN/SPY-1D radar- those things that look like giant stop signs under the bridge lol.  It looks like a fantastic kit!

Chad

Only half a year late to the party, but the finished product looks amazing, Justin! Bravo!

On 11/6/2021 at 1:56 PM, mtaylor said:

Looking at your build log, Justin, I have no doubts about your being able to build a display case.

 100% agree with Mark. There's no reason you won't be able to make the display case also. Worst case you give it a whack and it doesn't work out, right?

Glad the build log is helping... your comments are the exact reason I spent so much time making it so detailed. Keep up the amazing work!!

Chad

Awesome work!!!!! Your cross section looks absolutely fantastic!!! 👏👏👏👏👏

Chad

On 9/13/2021 at 9:08 PM, bdgiantman2 said:

As I continue to slowly make progress with my building jig top-piece, I have a survey for those of you more experienced model builders than me. Like ChadB on here, I am planning to make my model with the winged transom pieces in the stern as most real ships styled back then. Using the plans by RobnBill (Bill Edgin), the deck transom is 3/16" thick and he shows no other wing transoms in his plans. Should I use the same thickness for the rest of the transom wings or go more with the same thickness of the other hull ribs, which measure 3/8" thick double-layered?

 

Thanks so much for the input in advance.

 

Brian D.

Hey Brian,

Looks like a good start! I am pretty sure I have the drawings of my transom at home that I can share with you if it would help. Even if I don't I could take some measurements to help you out! I don't think I'd want to go through the process of trying to figure that all out again...

Chad

Nice looking jig and a very good start to your frames!

You will find that the tolerances for your frames shouldn't be a huge issue on this build since the frames are all mostly square. I think as long as you can't see the black lines of the edge of the frame drawing then you have left enough. It can't be said enough though- if in doubt leave more!

Chad

Good luck Justin! Looks like you are off to a good start! Don't be afraid of cutting out frames- it's not too bad. The key is finding the sweet spot where you don't take too much 'extra" off of the frame piece but don't leave so much that you are fairing for days. I'll be following along!

Chad

Beautiful work as usual! I love your idea for making carriages! Could you go into a little more detail about how you made the initial block in the first photo?

Thanks!

Chad

Johann, Joe, John- thanks for the kind words!

Not a huge update, but an update nonetheless. Waterways have been installed- they ended up being more of a pain in the butt than expected because of the need to drill out the cannonball divots and making them neat. I feel that similar to treenails, it would be easy to make them look incredibly sloppy if not lined up and even. I think I got it where I'm happy with it considering I don't have a mill. In the end I also am not a fan of cutting down the deck beam ends into a tab to fit between the clamp an waterway like I did. The idea is to make things easier but I don't know if it accomplished that and also made some of my beams a bit less sturdy. In the future I would notch the clamp and waterway as was done in the original ship. 

I also cut down my frame tops. When I made my frames I didn't leave enough wiggle room on top so a few were a bit under the correct height for the rail. My solution was to cut them all down 5mm below the rail height which is why they look a bit low. I will add a 5mm cap along the top that will just get covered up by planking and I figure make things a little more rigid anyway.

Thanks for looking in!

Chad

On 4/16/2020 at 5:41 PM, Schooners said:

Chad,

Hey, I am checking in to see how your are doing on the Eagle  Love this ship and your build.  Let me know.  Am I greedy for wanting more frequent updates?

Schooners- thanks for checking in! Sorry I am just seeing your message now as I have been off the forums pretty much since my last update and nose down in decking or just enjoying the summer! Now that the rain has arrived back in the PNW I will most likely be getting back to work!

JpR62, stuglo- thanks for the kind words and for checking in!

Not a huge update and kind of a boring photo from my phone but deck framing has been completed. I am currently working on waterways.

-Chad

12 hours ago, Bob Cleek said:

I definitely agree with that. What I don't get, aside from laser-cutting by kit manufacturers, is why folks are looking for sheet stock. Sheet stock's milling is hugely wasteful of scarce, prime wide plank pieces, especially when one is only going to cut it up anyway, as compared to cutting the small pieces needed off of billets, or so it would seem to me. What's with the fascination with sheet stock? The original ships were never built with sheet stock. Just wondering, is all.

Because if you are scratch building framed models sheets are the best way to cut frame pieces. On a fully framed ship you will have hundreds of curved futtocks and floors, and spooning the patterns together on a sheet will create much less waste than using, say, a one inch wide sheet. 

On 1/21/2020 at 10:01 PM, ajromano said:

Anyone step in here? I maybe able to do this. Savannah now!

I've toyed around with the idea of doing this for quite some time and would love to do it when my kids are older and moving on with their lives (right now I want to give them all the time I can). I've slowly started tooling up for it and have been milling my own wood now, but want to get better because if I ever did it I'd want it to be the quality of the days of HobbyMill. I also have the added of benefit of having Gilmer Woods 20 mins from my house which would let me handpick the product. The major downside is that so far my back-of-the-napkin figures show that it probably leans more towards a labor of love more so than a profitable business. I wouldn't be looking to quit my day job but the time put in is time not modeling.

Chad

Congrats! Your full build isn't too far behind!

Chad

Looks great so far! From the looks of it you seem to have the plank bending down!

Chad

Looks great! In my opinion, the quality of your work has grown quite a bit throughout your cross section and full build!

Chad

Looks good Mark! I can't wait to see it when the filler blocks are sanded down and we see that sweet tumblehome!

Chad

Beautiful work Ben!

Chad

2 hours ago, Edwardkenway said:

Ditto Chad, I'm in awe of you getting that much detail into something so small. 😲😲

Thanks guys. I have a good friend who does ships and plastic models who turned me on to evergreen plastics when I was lamenting how much of a pain making the stove was going to be. It was a great material for some of the smaller details. I ended up using just about everything under the sun- plastic, aluminum, brass, copper, piano wire, HO train axles, and scale chain. Here is a photo before airbrushing that shows the hodgepodge (the black is plastic parts cannibalized from the first stove)!

Chad

Not a huge update but a couple small projects that took quite a bit of time. Finished the pump well and shot locker and the Brodie Stove. I did quite  bit of research on the well and shot locker and really never nailed down anything better than this. I'm happy with it and my kids thought it was awesome that the little sliding windows actually worked. The Brodie stove is actually my second one- the first I completed and then realized that it was too big. I had gotten lazy and pretty much copied the size directly from TFFM books. Second go around followed scale best I could (the stove on the Eagle was the one pulled out of the Alert- the first capture of the war by the Essex) and added a bit more detail I was able to find on a model from the Royal Museums Greenwich**. The stove will go somewhere safe until it's ready to go in. Next up is deck beams and some metalwork for the outside of the hull.

Chad

**  https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/37331.html

Your full build looks real nice so far! Sterns are not easy but yours is coming along very well!

Chad

They look great! You're definitely in the home stretch now!

Johann,

 While your entire build is absolutely stunning, I marvel at your metal work and attention to detail. Very motivational!

Chad

On 10/27/2019 at 3:45 AM, Nenseth said:

Just browsing through my collection.

For some reason it looks to small 🤔

Any suggestions as to what is an essential book that is missing?

I'm surprised you do not have "From a Watery grave: The Discovery and Excavation of La Salle's Shipwreck, La Belle." It's a fantastic book with boatloads of information on the ship, artifacts, and history of the expedition. It's written by the gentleman who oversaw the excavation.

https://www.amazon.com/Watery-Grave-Discovery-Excavation-Shipwreck/dp/1585444316  

I had missed one of your updates until Phil posted there was a gun barrel in there somewhere. Did you cut out your moulding and then scrape it or vice versa?The ends look a little soft which is why I was asking. I found it useful scrape it down in one long section and then cut cut it so you can discard the ends where you don't add as much pressure. Either way, it's an art! Great job so far!

Chad

Well done-beautiful work so far!