Brazzera by Seventynet - FINISHED - MarisStella - scale 1:32

[donrobinson]

Excellent job on the planking Ian, it may have taken longer but it was well worth the extra effort. Holidays coming up?

[Seventynet]

Thanks Don and others for pushing the like button. We're headed to Hawaii to get out of this ridiculously cold weather for a while. If you're not getting away I hope at least you enjoy skiing or some other winter related activity. 

Best, Ian

[Seventynet]

Good Morning Shipmates,

 

It has been a long voyage without significant discovery. Since I am about to embark on shore leave I present my latest progress on the Brazzera.

 

I have finished both sides of the hull from the scupper plank down. All planks (essentially 4 per strake), except maybe one or two, have been spiled at the bow and stern giving me a more level look without planks riding up at the bow and stern. Obviously this necessitated different walnut stock (from MarisStella, Don and my own), hence the multi-coloured planks. Not that you don't get that from a single source too.

 

For those interested in following this approach, the widest plank blanks would be about 35 mm with most being about 25 mm. Also keep in mind that in order to optimize the grain running lengthwise at the hook where the maximum bend will occur, you may want to have blank stock considerably wider than 35 mm. A consideration for doing this would be whether you decide to paint the hull which is obviously called for. Why go to all this trouble if you are going to paint? In the absence of spiling this hull poses severe edge bending challenges (I suppose less so depending on how you line out the geometry). Check out Zoran's log on the Brazerra/Trabakul to see the difference in his hull geometry. Just my two cents.

 

I have no idea whether spiling like this this would be a sacrilegious trespass to traditional Brazzera shipwrights, but unless someone tells me that this definitely would not be done, I will use this same method for my Trabakul when I get around to it. I would appreciate it if people weighed in on this issue. It will not offend me if I am called on my approach.

 

Some pictures are with mineral spirits so that I could spot excess glue. A couple of pictures show the notches in the planks at the bow before and after planking. There are actually two but they don't seem to both show up in the pictures.

 

Best, Ian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thumbs.db

[donrobinson]

That planking looks great Ian. Your technique, whether it is historically correct or not, has turned out a beautifully planked hull and that is what we are striving for and what you have accomplished. I have seen pictures of a Trabakul being restored and it had strakes that did not go completely from bow to stern but stopped well short of either end. I suppose  at 35mm wide = almost 4 ft in real life would they have had access to planks this wide and could they actually handle something this large and heavy. I do not have the answers, however, I do know I like the looks of yours 

[Seventynet]

Thanks for all the likes everyone and thank you for your comments Don. I am always grateful for your sage advice. I wonder whether the physics of bending and twisting a real plank and hence the need to spile or not is directly comparable to small scale models. I've always wondered whether it would be easier to bend and twist a real plank. Maybe it's the other way around?

 

best, ian 

 

 

[Seventynet]

Thanks a lot Zoltan, just keep up with the beautiful work on the Santa Maria! I get a lot of inspiration from your builds. 

 

Best, ian

[MarisStella.hr]

Hi Mr. Ian ... seems to be a nice job ... and You were afraid of this, ... watching from this angle, it looked completely OK ...
Regards, Zoran

[Seventynet]

Thanks Zoran, it did turn out to my liking. I can't wait to get at the top planks and wales so that I can move on to the decking. You have created a beautiful model. I am on the other side of the country for a while so unfortunately the shipyard work must wait. 

 

Ian

[Seventynet]

Ok Folks here we go with a small update. I've installed the scupper strakes and the rest of the planks to the gunwale.

 

I used a 1mm mill bit attached to my dremel to cut the scuppers before I installed them. I also pre-bent the strakes before I cut the scuppers because I was afraid that they would break if I edge bent them afterwards.

 

The top planks need to be sanded down to approximately the top of the bulkheads and then a 5.0 * 0.5 mm sheer strip needs to be fitted along the top from stern to bow where it joins up with that unique shape at the bow (see the circled picture below). No dimensions are presented in the plans so I think I'm supposed to consider it a personal touch.  This boat is beautiful and in spite of its challenges I love it.

 

The hull has been lightly sanded but needs a bit more before I add the rubbing strip and numerous wales.

 

The most challenging thing I have found so far on this build is working with 5.0 * 1.7 mm planks. Edge bending this dimension is not easy. All strakes above the scupper were edge bent without too much damage. Virtually all planks under the first 4 beneath the scupper planks are spiled. 

 

I did discover a highly sophisticated bending technology that I will now share with you. It consists of an aluminum camping pot, clamps and a heat gun. I clamp one end of a previously soaked plank to the pot, fire up the heat gun and walk it down the plank while pushing the plank down - then clamp the end. Works flawlessly. The biggest advantage is the heat gets applied equally on both sides of the plank with the pot transferring the heat to the underside of the plank. Different diameter tin cans are currently being hoarded.

 

Anyway a few pictures.

[donrobinson]

Your scupper planks look great, as does all the planking. Super work. I wish I could tell you the hard part is over

[Seventynet]

Hi Don, thanks for looking in and the words of encouragement! I'm lucky you are breaking the trail with Trabaccolo. I think I spend more time figuring out how to do something than actually doing it. As you've pointed out, frustration is good; it leads to more tool purchases!

 

Ian

[Seventynet]

Thanks Zoltan. I can't overstress how effective this simple plank bender is. I imagine a hair dryer would work just as well but the heat gun works perfectly.

Best, Ian

[donrobinson]

I forgot to ask, what is that in the top left hand corner of the third picture?

[Seventynet]

1 hour ago, donrobinson said:

I forgot to ask, what is that in the top left hand corner of the third picture?

Well what do you know, it looks like a Sherline 4410 with DRO. I ought to look around more often...

[donrobinson]

[Seventynet]

Thanks for the likes and looking in everyone. While the progress may not seem like much, in fact it isn`t much , it marks a milestone for me. Aside from a coat or two of poly I am on to the deck. I will decide on a paint scheme later.

 

I will mention that I don`t know how the heck anyone can edge bend 5 mm by 0.5 mm walnut the way it needs to be bent to form those lower wales. Obviously people do it but it is beyond me. I put many hours in trying. I gave up and milled my own stock and spiled it. The light wood is yellow cedar (edge bent). It bends well and sands better than basswood - but it isn`t much harder, so beware if you`ve been using walnut, this stuff is much softer and clamp marks will show up very easily.

 

 

[donrobinson]

So happy to see an update.

The yellow cedar is a beautiful addition. I had a little bit of a laugh with your comment about bending the wale planks, not easy but you found a way of accomplishing it. Good stuff. She is looking good and you are doing a super job.

I'll be looking forward to your next update.

[Seventynet]

Thanks a lot for the kind words Don and others for the likes. One thing that MarisStella could do to improve on the kit in my opinion is offer the same walnut stock in wide enough strips to allow spiling - as an add-on option. Sure you can do as I did and mill your own, in no small way from your stock and efforts Don , but the variation in wood is tremendous. Perhaps my readiness to spile is overdone, especially with the hull planking but I'd do the same thing again if I was to do it over. However, I don`t know how anyone could argue with me when it comes to the 0.5mm wale strips. If you're looking in Zoran, this is not meant as a criticism, rather as a possible way of improving the kit. I know you probably shuddered at the approach I took on one particular area of my hull . I'll leave it for others to discover .

 

Best, Ian

[donrobinson]

I like your idea of offering a "spiling package" as an option. Hopefully Zoran sees this and gives it some thought. Looking at their website I see they offer some walnut boards but I could not see any 1.5 mm walnut boards. Knowing Zoran, and his great service, I'm sure if one was to contact him he would be more than happy to help out and put a package together.

 I have ordered the DRO for my mill and lathe

[Seventynet]

It doesn't look like the DRO will be too difficult to install.

 

Ian

[Seventynet]

Good day Shipmates,

 

I thought I'd post my current progress as I will be away for a while. So, since last time I have double planked the deck, installed the deck rail, the timbers, the hand rail and the main hatch (not glued in place).

 

First layer of walnut planking. The 1.5 mm thick planks are continuous. They need to be sanded down by 0.5 mm. It becomes obvious here how important it is to get the bottom of the scuppers location right.

This is what happened when I accidentally dropped my feeler gauge (I'm forgetting the right name for it). I've had a good year's use out of it so the tears were brief.  Maybe the metal rods will come in handy.

Here is the second layer of yellow cedar decking completed; deck rails installed, hatches and entranceway holes and timbers glued in place. 

The approach I used for the final 0.5 mm yellow cedar deck planks was to cut them with a jig, square them with the Byrne's disc sander, and pencil the edges (not shown). I was not happy with the pencil approach so I will look for a different approach next time. If you're wondering about the rubber gloves...they gave me a better grip of these thin pieces.

The deck rail (the walnut on the periphery of the deck) is challenging to glue down because the 0.5 mm pieces immediately curl up upon gluing. The king plank is supposed to sit proud of the decking . The cap rail bow pieces were fiendishly difficult to bend but I got there eventually .

Thanks for looking in.

 

Best Regards,

Ian

[donrobinson]

Beautiful work Ian, that yellow cedar looks great

[Seventynet]

Thanks Don. I look forward to your next rigging post...must be coming up soon? I can see the light at the end of this tunnel. I'm really going to push myself to get this finished by the end of August.

 

Ian

[Seventynet]

Hi all,

 

A small update but I could not help it after getting the rudder and tiller completed! 

 

Nothing is glued down and lots of fiddly things to go before I can start rigging. But I have at least prepared all spars.

 

The bird picture is of a Merlin or Pidgeon Hawk that greeted us a few weeks ago on our back fence. The cloudy background is plexiglass on a bus shelter.

 

Thanks for looking in. All of my likes seem to have disappeared. 

 

Ian

 

[MarisStella.hr]

Hi Mr. Ian ... many likes from me for this educational build she is looking really very nice ! I like the wood changes... Sometimes, looking at Your works guys, I thought to myself : should I change the sort of the wood in the sets ?!

 

 the Hawk is fantastic too, it goes to the Brazzera in a brilliant way ... Here, they scream over the bays early morning...

 

Regards, Zoran

Edited August 5, 2017 by MarisStella.hr

[Seventynet]

Thanks for the compliments Zoran, much appreciated. I think the wood in your kit is very good, very high quality. I have all these different kinds of wood lying around so it is inevitable that I'm going to use some. It is pretty hard to beat walnut for planking...in my opinion anyway. I may have some rigging questions for you soon .

 

Not that I'm an expert by any means but I was just reflecting on the hull shape today and the relative lack of a keel and wondering how well it could sail to the wind. It looks like it would scream on a broad reach but would lumber and slide anywhere near a close haul. ??

 

Ian

[MarisStella.hr]

The rudder is like an extension of the keel... this is why it goes deep into the water , to keep her stabile... This was a cargo ship, always under heavy load, moving relatively slowly ...

Waiting for the rigging  

Zoran

[Seventynet]

Ah, thanks for that explanation Zoran. Let me say this has been a very good learning experience for me, especially on how to read  plans. The biggest challenge so far has been trying (and failing) to make hinges for the forward companion way and the copper and brass grudgeon and pintels for the rudder.

 

Ian

Edited August 15, 2017 by Seventynet

[Seventynet]

If you make it back here Zoran or if you have figured this out Don or anyone else, can you explain to me what the bowsprit fastener is supposed to look like? There are 3 plan views but I am still not absolutely positive what it supposed to look like. Is it a copper strap with eyes? Or is it a wooden cradle of sorts? And how does it attach to the cap rail? I can't seem to find any pictures.

Thanks in anticipation,

Ian

[MarisStella.hr]

Hi Mr. Ian ... here I am , at my computer, drawing as usually ....

I made some explanation for You : This is a special shaped bracket for the bowsprit, made of metal... there is the wooden bearing for the bowsprit firmly connected to the topgallant rail. The bowsprit lies on it... The bracket is firmly connected to the wooden bearing. One side of the bracket has a hinge with a shaft, it opens rotating over this shaft... The other side of the bracket has the hinge with a removable shaft, this shaft locks the bracket up... here is a sketch :

 

It does not have to be in the function on the model ...

Regards, Zoran

Edited August 6, 2017 by MarisStella.hr