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Independence 1775 by DocBlake - Artesania Latina - 5/16" scale.


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Thanks, Stoyne!

 

I'm looking ahead to masting and rigging.  I'll need to fabricate the masts from scratch.  They are 5/16" diameter at the base and this size is not generally commercially available.  I don't want to use the walnut supplied in the kit because of the big pore/wide open grain.  My choice is down to cherry or swiss pear.  The areas of the mast doublings will be dyed black.  Black spars will definitely be made of swiss pear, natural spars of birch.  Because of the black doublings, I'm leaning toward swiss pear for the masts.  Any opinions?

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You can never go wrong with swiss pear it always looks good, although, I would have a hard time painting or staining it. Mostly because I don't have a huge slab of it in my shop ;)  :P

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With the completion of the elm tree pumps, the deck furniture is complete.  The pumps in the kit were cast metal and awful!  I just received my cannons today.  I bought 6 pewter cannons from the Lumberyard:  Their 1/4" scale 4 pounders are exactly as long as a 3 pounder in 5/16" scale which is what I need .  The carriages are supposed to be swiss pear, but they aren't terribly pink, and the wood itself isn't surfaced the best - kingd of rough.  I may need to make these from scratch.

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I decided to make my masts and sprit out of swiss pear.  They need to be 5/16" in diameter at the base, and tapered.  Obviously there is no commercial source so I'll make my own.  The first step is to drill a 21/64" hole in some mild steel.  Then I cut out mast blanks on the table saw a hair larger that the hole.  I sharpened the tip of the blanks, then chucked them into my 1/2" electric drill.  Using the steel as a drawplate, I pushed the spinning wood through the hole.  The resulting dowels were a bit rough, bu I have at least 1/64 to play with and they clean up easily.  Once they're at 5/16", I'll taper them.  Here's a photo of the blanks and the resulting unsanded dowels.  I also linked to a You Tube video showing the technique.

 

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Edited by DocBlake
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I like how you opted for the slanted coaming similar to the Armed Sloop/Patrick Henry. Makes for an interesting contrast as does the color contrasts in the wood :)

Build on hold: HM Sultana 1/64th scale

 

Current Build: 31 ton Doughty revenue cutter as USRC Active 1/64th scale (in progress)

 

Future Interests: Ballahoo, Diligence, Halifax and beyond...

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  • 1 month later...

After a nice, relaxing vacation, I'm back working in "Independence".  I made the new main mast and foremast out   of swiss pear, tapered them and squared the tops where the doublings are.  The topmasts are made of maple.  The bowsprit is pear and the jib boom is maple also.  Since I plan to dye the masts black between the doublings, the cheeks, trestletrees, crosstrees and bolsters will all be pear, also.  I placed a sailor on the quarterdeck to give a sense of scale.

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Good to hear your holiday was relaxing, nice work Dave. The swiss pear and maple look good together

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Really great job; I enjoy watching your log.

What scale is the sailor?

Cheers.

Ken

 

NO PIRACY 4 ME! (SUPPORTING CHUCKS' IDEA)

 

Current Build:  

Washington 1776 Galley

Pilot Boat Mary of Norfolk

Completed Builds:

Continental Boat Providence   (from Completed Gallery)  (from MSW Build)

Continental Ship Independence  (from Completed Gallery)  (from MSW Build)

Rattlesnake   (from Completed Gallery)  (from MSW Build)

Armed Virginia Sloop  (from Completed Gallery)

Fair American (from Completed Gallery)  (from MSW Build Log)

 

MemberShip Model Society of New Jersey

                  Nautical Research Guild

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 Thanks, guys!

 

Ken:  The sailor is 44mm tall, which is 5'6" in scale height...typical height for a man in the mid to late 18th century.

 

Clare hess chose to stain his masts black between the doublings.  I think it looks good and I've added a photo of the result.  But I also like the look of pear and maple, without any black stain, as my masts appear now.  I've not yet cut the topmasts to length nor made the fids.  what do you all think?  Black stain or natural wood?

 

masts1.jpg

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black.jpg

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The black doublings are a typical treatment and it looks good.

 

Russ

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Its been awhile since I last visited your build. What a beauty she has become. Great work. Well done.

Looks very nicely and neatly rigged.

Regards, Scott

 

Current build: 1:75 Friesland, Mamoli

 

Completed builds:

1:64 Rattlesnake, Mamoli  -  1:64 HMS Bounty, Mamoli  -  1:54 Adventure, Amati  -  1:80 King of the Mississippi, AL

1:64 Blue Shadow, Mamoli  -  1:64 Leida Dutch pleasure boat, Corel  -  1:60 HMS President Mantra, Sergal

 

Awaiting construction:

1:89 Hermione La Fayette AL  -  1:48 Perserverance, Modelers shipyard

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I vote natural, I myself could not bear to hide those colors

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I tend to agree, Don.  The ship is "stylized" anyway.  Bulwarks are redheart, not vivid red pain, and the planking below the wales is all holly, and it doesn't follow the waterline.  The detail at the doublings is some of the most interesting on the ship and I think it tends to get lost with the black dye.

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The way I see it Dave, you have gone to all this work "painting with wood" why crap out now and use paint or stain. Carry on, it is looking super!!

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I'm finishing up the masts.  The plans call for boom rests on both the main mast as well as the fore mast.  This is similar to what was found on "Hannah", "Chaleur" and "Gaspee".  "Sultana" and "Halifax" had boom rests on the main mast only, the sails on the fore masts being loose-footed.  As you can see from the pictures, Chaluer's fore mast boom rest was quite a way up the mast compared to  Independence.  The rest is only 3' 8" above the deck on  Independence, while the main is 6' above the deck.  By contrast, Hannah's fore mast boom rest is 5'6" above deck , according to Hahn's plan.  So while it would be okay to have booms on both the main and the fore masts, the boom rest on the fore mast should be raised significantly higher.  I'm leaning toward no boom rest on the foremast, with a loose-footed fore sail.  What do you all think?

boomrests.jpg

Chaleur      chaleur.jpg

Hannah      hannah.jpg

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I'm confused I'll stay out of this one:(:P

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On the Chaleur and Hannah, the fore mast boom rest causes the boom to be 'levell' with the main mast boom.  That looks right to me.

On the other hand, a lot of photos of these type boats have a loose-footed sail on the fore mast.  I'd choose between these two options.

Just my 2 cents.

Cheers.

Ken

 

NO PIRACY 4 ME! (SUPPORTING CHUCKS' IDEA)

 

Current Build:  

Washington 1776 Galley

Pilot Boat Mary of Norfolk

Completed Builds:

Continental Boat Providence   (from Completed Gallery)  (from MSW Build)

Continental Ship Independence  (from Completed Gallery)  (from MSW Build)

Rattlesnake   (from Completed Gallery)  (from MSW Build)

Armed Virginia Sloop  (from Completed Gallery)

Fair American (from Completed Gallery)  (from MSW Build Log)

 

MemberShip Model Society of New Jersey

                  Nautical Research Guild

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've been working on some smaller, fiddly things.  I glued the cap rails to the bulwarks, staining only the edges.  I need to attach the various parts to it before staining the rails black.  I completed the timberheads and the upright timbers that sit on the rail and frame the gun ports.  I also tried to blacken the brass mast hoops that came with the kit.  For some reason, I couldn't get them to come out right and they looked terrible on the masts!  What to do?

 

I came up with a solution courtesy of Gene Bodnar ( here's a link to the webpage that explains his technique:  http://www.modelshipbuilder.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?4024 )

 

Basically find a dowel of the proper size and wrap a few turns of waxed paper around it and secure the wax paper with tape/  Cut out a piece of brown grocery bag paper as wide as the space between the tape and coat it with white glue using your fingers.  Carefully roll the paper around the waxed paper-coated dowel, making sure to smooth the wrinkles as well as possible.  5 or 6 turns around the dowel should work.  When dried 24 hours a I put a coat of water based poly on the surface to harden it.  I removed the roll from the dowel (the waxed paper keeps it from sticking) and cut thin hoops from the role.  I carefully removed the inner waxed paper from inside each hoop and gently sanded the outside surfaces.  I coated heach hoop with Dull Kote lacquer to darken and harden each hoop.  The photo shows the hoops on the mast.  I think they look pretty good, resembling wooden mast hoops!  Better than the corroded appearing brass rings from the kit.

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Great job with the masts and hoops. For my 2 cents, I would include the boom and rest on the foremast. They would use that to hold the sail outwards of the main mast sails. Without it, they would not fill downwind. I think not staining the mast between the doublings is great. there are so many details rigged in that area that they tend to get lost in the black. On the other hand, the black also contrasts with the tan of running lines that would be there as well. So it is up to you. I left my Eagle's light colored. 

 

Keep up the work. Your attention to detail and getting it right is what will make your final ship special.

Bill

Chantilly, VA

 

Its not the size of the ship, but the bore of the cannon!

 

Current Build: Scratch Build Brig Eagle

 

Completed Build Log: USS Constitution - Mamoli

Completed Build Gallery: USS Constitution - Mamoli

 

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As you can see, I fit the taffrail to the model.  I've been thinking about a name.  I don't want "Independence" for a number of reasons, so I decided on "Clio".  Clio was the Muse of History, one of the 9 Muses in Greek Mythology.  There were three British naval vessels called HMS Clio, one launched in 1807, the second in 1858, and the third in 1903.  My schooner is circa 1765, about 40 years earlier than the earliest British vessel..  I think the name is historically appropriate.  In the photo, I simply typed the name "Clio" using New Times Roman font on a black background and sized it appropriately.  The final "Plaque" with the name is 1/4" high by 11/16" wide.  The problem is that the white "Clio" is kind of muddied in the computer printout, and the background black is actually gray.  I have two questions:

 

1) What do you think of the name "Clio" for this vessel?

 

2) Is there a way I can have a tiny laser engraved plaque or 3-D printed placque with the letters in relief so I can paint my own white and black to give me a clearer name plate?  Shapeways does 3-D printing, but I don't do CAD!cliostern.jpg.98edc3d78c9e7283c8a9a17b5434699a.jpg

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Looks great Dave, real nice job on the taffrail. Clio sounds like a good name for her

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Hi Dave.  Your model looks great regardless of what you name her.  

 

1.  Clio sounds good.

 

2.  Soon, yes and yes...  my ShopBot CNC is on order..  we are going to see Epilog Laser demo next Wed...  been doing my CAD tutorials every day!!

Mike Shanks

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You could try going to a place that sells trophies, not sure how small they can go but might be worth a try.

 

And Mike you are spoilt ..................I love it!!!

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