thibaultron

Thanks for the likes on the build so far.
The rear carriage (hounds) now has the iron work installed. The parts went together well. The only finicky part was fitting the gasket material square nuts. I found a piece of small diameter brass tubing in the scrap box and used it to push the nuts down in the bolts after applying a dot of CA glue. The brake mechanism parts are prepped and ready for installation. Will be starting on the front hounds next.

The parts of the rear axle assembly are painted and ready for assembly. With the painting finish,I went back and forth on whether to to go with a new off the showroom floor or a has been on the Chisom trail weathered look. My wife settled it for the latter option by saying its not a "circus wagon". After primer,I used thinned flat red with a  spot of black mix and used fine sand paper and rubbed with a piece of leather to give it a sun bleached,well used look. I went over to an old red barn and tried to replicate the look of the paint on it...They must have used the same red oxide,skimmed milk and lime paint on the wagons. I epoxied the axle to the axle bed. To keep everything squared and aligned while gluing I made up a jig. The ironwork comes next.....

Hey howya goin John mate, great to have you along for the ride I'll be following along mate. Great tutorial mate thanks.  
 
Soon there will be enough of us to change the name from Model ship World to Model Stage Coach World mwahahaha.   

I need some of the etched brass parts to assemble the rear axle assembly. I decided to blacken the whole sheet instead of the just the parts as needed for each assembly . This  is also the safest way to store them till needed. I searched the forum for blackening tips and after reading up,went with the following.  I started by carefully by sanding the front and rear surfaces with 1500 grit paper.My wife donated an old 8" x 8" baking pan. Using latex gloves,I filled this with enough acetone to just cover the sheet and cleaned off any photo resist and oil left on it. I left the sheet to dry,rinsed the pan and refilled with white vinegar. I left the sheet in the vinegar for 15 minutes,agitating and lightly wet sanding the surfaces again with the 1500 grit ,followed by a thorough rinsing. I then immersed the sheet in a solution of 7 parts water to 1 part BC Brass Black for 10 minutes. I removed the sheet,rinsed,wiped the film off and returned to the pan to repeat the process twice more until it was a uniform black after the film was rubbed off. It was then rinsed and returned to the pan with a baking soda solution,then rinsed again and left to dry on a paper towel. I am really happy with the results. I have used BC Brass before but I was never happy with the result,it was always crusty and not uniformly black. I now know it was not the product at fault,but bad prep and impatience on my part

Started on Rear axle assembly. Turned down the axle shafts to fit hubs. Followed Dan's #11 blade scraping method,followed by polishing with 600 grit paper.Then primered,painted black and sealed with Dullcote. The other wood parts Have been trimmed,sanded and sealed with Dullcote. I am trying the Dullcote as a sealer/primer after reading online how it is popular with model train layout builders. Seems to work well,lays really flat,dosen't lift the grain and sands easily. I will know for sure when I paint the parts red tomorrow. I masked areas to be glued in the hope to be able to paint and then assemble as I go with minor touch up as needed

The origins of Tailgating at sports events.
 

Hi to all,
Decided to join the 'Wagoneers' over here on shore leave after seeing Dan's and the other wagon builds in progress. I needed a break from the Unicorn for a while and wanted to try my hand at something different. I chose the Chuck Wagon partly because I live on a cattle ranch and partly for nostalgia from old films. I really like the Kit,instructions,and the plans. All the parts with exception the ply sheet used for the wheel rims are first class. The ply is kind of rough with splintering and gouges on top and bottom surfaces,which I don't think can be rescued with filler. I will send an email to John at Model expo to see if replacements can be sent.

Dry fitting the fore mast and trying to determine where to add anchors for rigging that must be done later. That little brass box that can be seen in the lower right hand side of some of the pictures must be glued to the rear legs of the mast. Each of the legs have little relief cut outs that were machined into each leg to correctly position the box.
I must say that the mast parts are far better engineered and rendered in this set than they were in the USS Essex mast set. Those were much more difficult to assemble whereas these have been much simpler even though more complex.

Hi Russ:
 
Thanks!
 
Most skipjacks have a hard chine, bottom planks laid in a herringbone pattern, and are built without true frames.  Kathryn and a small number of others was built with traditional frames, longitudinal bottom planks, and a rounded chine.  The construction process between the two styles is very different.

That is a good solution to difficult problem. We had vessels down on the Gulf Coast with a hard chine, but I am not sure if they shared this particular characteristic. Very interesting feature.
 
Russ

Part 24 – Hull Planking – Preparing the Chine
 
I was able to develop a workable approach to installing the chine.  First, some background:
 
All of the cross-sectional drawings in the HAER documentation show the rounded chine and also show the frames as rounded at the chine.  One drawing, from Page 6, actually depicts the planks used in the chine area and shows them cupped around the frame.
 
                        
 
I had not been able to determine an approach for making this type of chine plank for the model.  I have been in contact with one of the people who worked on the Kathryn rebuild, and he told me that during the rebuild the chine planks were installed as thick planks and then were planed to form the rounded chine.  Looking through photos from the rebuild, it can be seen that the chine area of the frames was made flat, rather than rounded, so that flat planks could be used for the chine.
 
                        
 
The frames that were installed on the model have the rounded chine, so these needed to be modified to allow flat planks to be used.  The first step was to line off the chine using drafting tape, and then to mark the upper and lower boundaries of the chine on each frame.
 
                        
 
Using the marks on the frame, a sanding block was used to flatten the chine.
 
                        
 
The following photo shows the model with all of the frames flattened in the chine area.  The chine in most of the frames is the same width, but this decreases for the last 6 or 7 frames approaching the stern.
 
                        
 
Thick planks were milled for the chine.  Although the documentation indicates that 3 planks were used in the chine, I decided to use a single plank to simplify the construction.  The planks were lined out on each side to allow beveling the sides of the plank so that the hull planking could sit flush with the chine.  The chine planks are significantly thicker than the hull planking that will sit next to the chine.  This will allow the chine planks to be rounded after all of the hull planking is installed.
 
A compass was used for lining out the planks.  The metal point was reversed so that the compass would ride along the side of the plank and give a consistent width of the line.
 
                        
 
The planks were lined out for the bevels on each side.
 
                        
 
The bevels were then cut into the planks using a stump cutter in the rotary tool, followed by some final sanding.
 
                        
 
                        
 
The chine planks would need to be bent to fit properly.  I decided to install the planks as short sections that were pre-bent to fit the respective location.
 
Bending was performed by soaking the piece of chine in boiling water, and then using a plank-bending tool to form the shape.  The tool was held vertically in a bench vise.
 
                        
 
                        
 
All of the pieces required for a side were made before any was installed.  The pieces were labeled for sequence and direction.
 
                        
 
The following photo shows the port side chine after the initial installation of the chine pieces.  It can be seen that a lot of subsequent shaping is required before there would be a fair run of these planks.
 
                        
 
The following photo shows the starboard side after some initial shaping, and the port side awaiting shaping.
 
                        
 
Both chines have now been installed and shaped for their final configuration
                        
 
                        
 
                        
 
                        
 
Next up is the installation of the hull planking for Kathryn’s sides and bottom.
 
Thanks everyone, and Happy Fathers Day to all the Dads (and Grandfathers) out there!
 

Thanks Ed.  Even though they're not ocean-going, it's amazing to think of the kind of beating these old skipjacks take during the winter oyster season.  This photo is from a book on working skipjacks and it shows Kathryn in 2016, some few months after the recent rebuild.  All of the plank seams show - needing a new paint job already!
 

Hi Brian - sorry to hear you're not well.  Get better soon.
 
Unfortunately I meant today and tomorrow.  We leave on a road trip on Thursday morning - going places that are a little less warm than here.
 
I'm hoping to have Kathryn's hull planking finished before we leave.

Next weekend or today?  I've got strep throat so I am not going anywhere this weekend while the penicillin does it's thing.

Looking great as always, Frank.  You can certainly tell that structurally she was built for the bay and not the horn.  Beautiful clean work.
 
Ed

Thanks from me, also, for this great build! Fantastic workmanship, and the clear explanation of the reasons for each step, it adds much to the interest of the build.

Thanks Brian.
 
I'll be around all weekend. Stop by if you're in the area.

Bummed I won't be able to get over and see her on Saturday.  Excellent progress and instructional posts with photo's as always.

Part 23 – Hull Planking – Transom and Wale
 
Planking the hull starts with planking the transom, since the side planks overlap the ends of the transom planks, and the bottom planks butt up against the angle of the transom.
 
Transom planking is pretty straight-forward, as in the following photos.
 
                        
 
                        
 
                        
 
The first side plank to be installed is the sheer plank, or wale (known as ‘the bends’ in the Chesapeake area).  It’s hard to determine from the HAER drawings whether this is one plank or is made up of multiple planks.  Some of the photos of Kathryn seem to indicate that it is made up of multiple planks, but for the model a single plank is being used.  The bottom of the wale also contains what appears to be a bead that is painted red, and in one photo it’s obvious that the wale is somewhat thicker than the rest of the side planks.  On the model the wale is 1 inch thicker than the rest of the side planks.
 
The bottom of the wale is shown on the HAER lines plan, and was used along with the bottom of the deck to develop a plan for the plank, as in the following photo.
 
                        
 
Using a height gauge, the bottom of the wale was marked on each of the frames.
 
                        
 
The wale on the model is installed in sections approximately 20 feet long.  This corresponding part of the drawing was glued to appropriate stock, using a glue stick, and the plank was roughly cut on the scroll saw.  The plank was then sanded to the lines using the disk sander for the bottom, or convex, side.
 
                        
 
The concave side was shaped on the spindle sander.
 
                        
 
The plank was soaked in boiling water and was then clamped to the hull overnight to allow it to conform to the shape of the hull.
 
                        
 
The process of shaping, bending, and then gluing the plank took 24 hours for each length of plank.
 
                        
 
So, after 4 days the installation of the wale was completed.
 
                        
 
                        
 
The planksheer will sit on top of the wale and its outer edge will be flush with the wale, so some time was spent in making sure that the top of the wale was even with the deck beams.
 
Kathryn’s chine is rounded, and the plank ends of the side and bottom planking feather into the chine.  I’ve been spending some time trying to work out an approach to installing the chine.  I’m hoping that this will be completed in the near future, and that will likely be the subject of the next post.
 
Thanks everyone!

Thanks Piet. Can't wait to see the Java, and at 1:35 scale, should offer a good opportunity for detail work.
Seems like the fiddly stuff takes a lot of time. Most of it is figuring out ahead of time how it all folds and goes together. I've never detailed a British ship like this and the range finders are quite a bit different than other ships from the same period from different nations, not intuitive for me at all. Interesting antennae arrays in any event. 

Nice progress on the fiddly stuff Craig. I'm lucky being able to follow you in this build because I have ordered the Hr. Ms. Java from Pacific Crossroads in 1:35 scale. This way I can see what to look out for.
 
Cheers,

The case was well worth it Mike - it compliments the build so nicely!  Scott

Hah!! How could I miss this?  Was going thru the kit box and found the flag. It's paper and it just folds over a rope. I'm trying to decide how to rough it up a bit.

Thanks for checking in Don. Yup, Niagara is on the front burner again although I have been debating whether to get something else started as well. I learned a lot about rigging on this build. Not that Arrow & Niagara are the same but just general techniques. The Lauck Street tutorials really showed me a lot about seizing and how to do one almost anywhere on the build. That was huge for me.

Sweet looking model and case Mike, nice work.I will sit back now and watch for more of the Niagara