HMS Atalanta by tlevine - FINISHED - 1775 - 1:48 scale - from TFFM plans

[tlevine]

Thanks for looking in Nils.  I have not yet decided whether to leave the build as hull-only or to mast and rig her.  A lot of that will depend on my mood when she is completed a few years from now.  It will be placed on a stand with two pedestals.  The keel has already been drilled for them.  This is an entirely scratch built ship following the Fully Framed Model series by David Antscherl and built using costello boxwood as the primary wood with holly decking. The plans were obtained from the National Maritime Museum. 

[tlevine]

Having heard Mr. Excitement got his picture posted, Sadie got jealous and tried to give me her best "I'm excited" or is that "Feed me" look.

 

 

I have applied the finish to the deck, hatches/coamings and inner hull up to two (scale) feet above the upper deck clamp.  I am a little disappointed that the holly turned so yellow but there is still a reasonable contrast between it and the boxwood waterway.  On the other hand, the cherry on the hatch coamings really pops.  The last picture shows the change in the color of the boxwood with the finish applied and sanded with 400 grit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dvm27]

I was also a bit disappointed when I finished my Druid decking and it yellowed a bit. I've found that dilute sanding sealer is the only way to keep holly white.

The model looks terrific.

[druxey]

Even so, holly will darken with time. After a decade or so it will look more like boxwood.

[tlevine]

Greg, it may also be the holly I am using.  This wood is cut from billets I have had approx. 20 years.  I used the same finish on the Swan cutter (the holly is from Jeff at HobbyMill) and I looked at it today and it has barely yellowed after almost three years. 

 

Druxey, if it yellows that much over time, I guess I won't worry about it.  The whole idea is to have some contrast between the two woods, rather than a monotone, and even the minor color difference provides for that.

[EdT]

Tony,

 

All oil based finishes - tung, linseed, soya, watco, polyeurthane, etc and - yield a yellowed finish. Greg has the answer. The waterbased sanding sealer he uses is acrylic and is non-yellowing, even over long periods. This is one of the primary benefits of acrylic polymers - from latex paints to acrylic window glazing. Beeswax, which I used on Naiad, also yellows, but microcrystalline wax - a petroleum based wax - I believe does not.

 

Yellowing is not all bad. Sometimes the wood finish benefits from some "warming up." I find pear a bit light and whitish without at least beeswax, but I did some early finishing with tung on Naiad and had to remove it. I thought it turned the pear orange. Much is a matter of personal taste.

 

Druxey, I would be interested in knowing if you think holly yellows naturally or if the yellowing you observed over time was on finished holly.

 

Ed

[druxey]

The yellowing is caused, I think, by exposure to light. This happened on wood finished with a light coating of sanding sealer. Under an area covered by a temporary support, the wood remained white. This happened in just a few years. Now, 13 years after construction, the holly is almost indistinguishable from freshly cut Castello box in colour.

[EdT]

Interesting. Was the sanding sealer water-based acrylic? Some copolymers (eg. acrylic/vinyl acetate) will yellow on extended exposure to light. Also, some water-based sanding sealers include some of the usual yellowish resins - like polyeurthane. Product name? Sorry for the inquisition. I am considering using some holly on the next project and also the acrylic sanding sealer.

 

One test to see if its the finish is to scrape a bit off, but you proably don't want to do that.

 

The sealer that looks promising to me is General Finishes EF. Seems to be essentially all acrylic. Technology is fairly recent (10 years). Maybe I'll do some tests.

 

Thanks,

 

Ed

[tlevine]

Thank you Ed and Druxey regarding the yellowing of holly.  I think Greg used the GF product on Pegasus.

[druxey]

Ed: this was solvent based sealer, not acrylic.

[tlevine]

I have started making the pillars between the upper and lower decks.  The pillars in the hold were simple affairs but these have a spindle on the top and bottom.  There is a drawing of the pillar on the plans and I did my best to copy it.  On one end, the spindle has two turns and at the other end only one.  I am turning them on a Sherline lathe using a duplicator from Vanda-Lay.  http://vanda-layindustries.com/html/duplicator.html   The outline for the pillar is ground onto a single edged razor using very thin grinding discs designed for use in dental labs.  The spine of the razor was removed to allow it to fit into the duplicator holder.  The rough shape was made with the cutting tool and final shaping was done with a triangular needle file.  The top square of the pillar is 5" and the bottom square is 6".  I will remove the extra wood on top after I have a few more pillars made.  The good news is that all the pillars do not need to be made at once.  Since I am averaging one keeper to two throw-aways, that is a good thing.

 

 

 

 

 

[mtaylor]

Nice work on the pillars, Toni.   Was the duplicator a bit of bear to install and setup or fairly easy? 

[tlevine]

Mark, I have owned the duplicator for several years but because I don't need to use it very often it is always a challenge to set up.  The total set-up time, including making the pattern was about an hour.  Getting a decent pillar...another hour.  After that, at my 2:1 throw-out to keep ratio, each good pillar took another half hour.  The biggest problem for me was holding the pillar square in the chuck.  My two choices are the standard three-point lathe chuck and a Jacob's chuck.  With either one, the blank tended to be just slightly off center, resulting in incomplete cutting of the spindles on one side of the piece.  With the next batch I plan on using an oversize blank to compensate for this and then trimming down the square ends to the correct size after it has been turned.

[Maury S]

Toni, The over-sized stock seems to be a good solution.  The pillars look good.  Nice detail.

Maury

[druxey]

Holding a square workpiece in a three jaw chuck is a good way to drive yourself crazy. If you don't have a four-jaw chuck (and most of us don't), try making the chuck end of the workpiece octagonal and then rounding it off. Now chuck it - rather than after turning it! You might improve your success rate this way.

[tlevine]

Thank you Maury and Druxey.  Since there are several more pillars to make I will continue to experiment.  I was just about to try your suggestion, Druxey, when "me" time was over and family time began.  I will be away from my workshop until mid-August so any further attempts will have to wait until then.

[capnharv2]

Toni,

 

What wood are you using for the pillars? If you're using boxwood (or some other harder to find wood), do you run some samples of other, less rare woods when setting up your duplicator?

 

Beautiful job on the model. I wish I had the time/talent/patience to do as well.

 

Thanks,

 

Harvey

[tlevine]

Thanks for looking in, Harvey.  I am using the Costello boxwood for the pillars.  The few pieces of "real" boxwood I have are reserved for future attempts at carving.  This wood is really no more costly than cherry and turns nicely.

[themadchemist]

Thanks for the tutorial on grating construction. Grant Dale directed me your way for instruction and your method of gluing addresses exactly what concerned me. Thanks for taking the time to share your methods. The Atalanta is a beauty. I'm in IL also and the March 2012 and 2013 photos really so how one year makes a world of difference. I still can't believe the July weather we've had.

 

I also love your display cases. Nothing like having your own ship museum in house.

[tlevine]

There has been nothing to show for the last few weeks since I turned in my workshop and tools in for a tent and hiking boots. 

 

 

Now I am back and have started on the structures which sit on the lower deck.  My plan is to erect the fore and aft bulkheads first and then install the upper well. 

 

The foremost structure is a breast hook which is located between the lower and upper beams.  On the Mylar plan this is shown as a horizontal structure but on the NMM draft it is canted up 30 degrees.  This was made using a template out of 8" (scale) stock.  There are nine bolts that secure the breast hook to the frames.  Because of the angle, the bolts are all decorative.

 

The bulkheads are made of 2" x 6" material.  I made a sheet of eleven rows of planks long enough to fabricate all of the fore bulkheads (approx. 14" long).  The location of the various bulkheads was confirmed from the plan and was identical to the plan shown in the book.  The first five beams had to be temporarily installed so that notches could be cut into the bulkheads. I have attached pictures with the beams in place and removed to show the notches.  At this point, nothing has been permanently installed.  The next steps include fabrication of the lanterns and doors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jim Lad]

Toni,

 

You seem to have come a long way since I went on holidays!  Sweet!!

 

John

[mtaylor]

Nicely done... Lanterns?  Wow...     Hope you had a great hiking/camping trip.  Where was that photo taken? Beautiful country.

[druxey]

A pleasure to see more progress, Toni. Looking great.

[tlevine]

John and Druxey, thank you.  Mark, the picture was taken in Glacier National Park, Montana on the Grinnell Glacier trail.  I forget which mountain that was.

[Kevin]

i always look forward to your updates

[dvm27]

Looking terrific, Toni. Cabin bulkheads are very well done.

 

Beautiful photo also! Two weeks earlier you would have run into me on the same trail.

[tlevine]

Thanks for looking in, Kevin.  Greg, I have actually run into people I know when hiking.  No small feat when you consider this park is 1300 miles from home.

[tlevine]

Over the last few weeks I have been continuing work on the lower deck bulkheads and doors.  The fore doors are a simple affair with drilled holes for ventilation and a z-brace on the inside.  The hinges are from the photoetch sheet from Admiralty Models and the door knobs are brass pin heads.  Because the doors are very plain looking, I left two of them ajar to break up the line of wood paneling.  The aft doors are more visually interesting and so are shown closed.  These doors have a lower "floating" panel and ventilation is via louvers.  When making the doors it is important not to simply notch the top of the door for the beams but to notch the entire header where it would interfere with opening the door completely.  

 

 

 

 

There is a lantern on both sides of the bulkhead separating the boatswain's store room (port) from the gunner's store room (starboard and not shown).  The small piece of wood between the 3rd cant frame and the lower deck hook is a piece of scrap that fell in the space.

 

 

 

The next task was to make the upper deck hook and eking pieces.  On the lower deck, the hook was rabbetted for the run of the deck planking.  On the upper deck this is not the case.  Although not very apparent in the photos, there is a round-up on the hook to match the round-up of the beams.

 

 

 

[EdT]

Beautiful work, Toni.  Love the lanterns.

 

Ed

[dgbot]

Great work Toni.  It is a shame that much of it will not be seen.

David B