Cap'n Rat Fink

Greetings Cap'n,
 
Very nice work. Looks like you have everything well in hand.
 
Seeing the Rat Fink brought back memories. I had a model of the Outlaw when I was a kid. Was it tough to resist the temptation to add a couple of Big Daddy touches, such as bubble canopy or chromed Caddy engine? How about a round front end end like on the Orbitron? He was quite the designer.
 
wq3296 

Mario












 
 
OK I THINK I HAVE EVERYTHING IN ORDER. I AM VERY GLAD TO ADD THIS BUILD BACK INTO MSW. IT WAS JUST FUN TO DO....
 
TAKE CARE EVERYONE. GOTTA GET BACK TO THE J.O.B. LUNCH IS OVER..............
 
MARIO

Hi everyone

I stumbled apon this when trying to think of a way to make the mouse on the mast stays look realistic without having to weave the cover to get that knittled look. Here is a photo of the actual mouse for the Endeavour replica vessel




I am using rope from Syren Model Ship Co for the stay, it is cable laid four strand rope.

First I worm the rope on my Domanoff serving machine. I'm using black cotton so its easy to distinguish during the worming process, (the stays will be painted black later to simulate the tar)




The rope is then served just beyond where the mouse will be



The eye is formed by unpicking the ends of the rope, gluing them down to simulate a splice



Then it is served over the splice



The mouse is made by drilling a hole in a piece of dowel. The dowel is sanded to a cone shape on the end then cut off and sanded to shape and slipped onto the rope.




The create the woven effect over the mouse I am using a flexible cloth wound dressing, its self adhesive so very easy to attach.







The lower part is served. A little bit of PVA glue on the join will stop the self adhesive letting go in the future.



The completed stay

I started this build a few months ago and having just joined this forum/site wondered if anyone would be interested in the progress so far.
 
I'm guessing that I'm around 2/3rds the way though it but I would be more than happy to post the progress history from buying the kit on a well known auction site, tracking it across the USA, the Atlantic and the UK and trying, with problem eyes and fingers, to build this beautiful fishing/racing schooner.
 
 

Guys I use a simple little jig. I use two straight strips of hardwood with a small screw and nut. I position the mast and the rack of the mast. I wedge the bottom of the jig where the deck meets the bulwarks. Then I wedge the cross hairs up against the mast. It works well for me while I rig the mast. Once done I just remove and my mast is right where I wanted it. I do not have a picture of this procedure of mine, but here is a quick drawing.
 

Guys I use a simple little jig. I use two straight strips of hardwood with a small screw and nut. I position the mast and the rack of the mast. I wedge the bottom of the jig where the deck meets the bulwarks. Then I wedge the cross hairs up against the mast. It works well for me while I rig the mast. Once done I just remove and my mast is right where I wanted it. I do not have a picture of this procedure of mine, but here is a quick drawing.
 

Guys I use a simple little jig. I use two straight strips of hardwood with a small screw and nut. I position the mast and the rack of the mast. I wedge the bottom of the jig where the deck meets the bulwarks. Then I wedge the cross hairs up against the mast. It works well for me while I rig the mast. Once done I just remove and my mast is right where I wanted it. I do not have a picture of this procedure of mine, but here is a quick drawing.
 

Jay just go the modelshipbuilder.com front page click on projects and you find the aft magazine section project of Jeff's. I'm a member there to.
 
Mario

Small update...
After doing the forward outer bulwarks several times, this is best I have at the moment.  I'm going to revisit these again after the rear outer bulwards are done and if I have to, again after the planking.  I find my skills just aren't quite where I want them in going from 1 plank width to 3 with some compound curves tossed in for good measure.
 
On the plus side, they look a darn sight better than they did the first couple of  times I did them. Also, they will end up with carvings, a channel, and deadeyes, maybe an anchor in front of them.  They feel smooth to the touch but to my eye, they look funky.  Hahn just used a single plank which at full size would have been 8" at the aft end and about 24" at the other.
 
I'm thinking I'll learn a little something doing the stern ones at this point as they go from 8" to 16" without the compound curves so I'll be able to practice some more on doing stealers.  Not there yet.. but working on it.
 

Good progress during the holidays.

Work in progress; I completed belts "A" and "D" and belt "B" is in progress.
I am trying to go by the book, although I took some liberty, especially when when it comes to nibbing.
I think end result will be fine, although I am still worried about this transom piece...

Things are progressing slowly, I redid the transom part three times, and I think I now have it right, we'll see...
I finished gluing the planksheer and the 1/16 square strip on the outside of the planskhseer. I am ready to start planking.
A few pics of work in progress:
Gluing the square strip along the plansksheer:

 
Close up of stanchion and planksheer, The stanchions will need to be sanded. Not all of them are in this shape, some were damaged and will need some reconstructive surgery 

 
 

I finished preparing the bulkheads, adjusting them so that the planksheer fits nicely and is flush with the outside of the bulkheads. I beveled each bulkhead roughly and will do a final sanding before planking. The transom gave me some worries, as usual, and I decided I will do the beveling after it's glued in place.
After dry fitting everything and ensuring  everything looked properly aligned, I glued all bulkheads with the planksheer  in place, for ensuring proper bulkhead alignment.
 

(that yellow carpenter glued looks really ugly when dried).
 

 
Next, glueing the planksheer and the 1/16 square strip along the hull; then I'm ready to start planking.

Center keel and Keel-Stem assembly
 
The construction of the center keel is different from I have seen in previous kits. The center keel is made of 2 parts, but each part is made of two similar laser cut pieces, each 1/8 inch thick. So the first task is to glue together each part to form the two half keel parts ¼ inch thick.  Needless to say, great care must be taken to ensure that the two pieces are perfectly aligned and flat during the drying process. I used 3/16 pieces of scrapwood (the thickness of the bulkheads) to ensure the slots are aligned perfectly:
Then I let the two parts dry comfortably resting under a gentle 10 lbs of weight.

 
I then assembled and glued the two halves of the center keel, ensuring the waterline aligns perfectly with the plan. After assembly, I cut the rabbet per the rabbet line using mostly a mini planner.
I then assembled the parts of the keel stem and rudder (also each made of two 1/8 inch laser cut parts) and glued the keel/stem assembly, again using a lot of weight to ensure everything is flat.
Finally I drilled a few holes in the stem and glued-in 1/8 dowels along the stem to ensure integrity of the whole keel and stem.
The instructions says to taper the stem and sternpost  before glueing but I prefer to do it after the whole assembly is completed:

Here is a closeup pic of the rabbet and dowel at bulkhead A, also showing the tapering of the stem:

Next, I will start working on shaping the bulkheads for dry fitting before glueing the bulkheads.
Till next time…
Stephan

Here is the first (and also the front) frame set.
 
Since this is the most visible one, I decided to make the front frame somewhat like the real thing. I used nine pieces and used some pear to give the chocks a bit of contrast. I still need to show the scarf joints towards the top, but decided to make those two parts out of one piece.
I also used steel rods (15 inch long real) to hold the parts to the second frame (thus making up the frame-set).
 
I am keeping the frames rather 'fat', because (unlike most other cross sections that are in the middle of the ship) all frames have a different shape and I want to keep enough room for sanding them when all are done.
Of course, the keelson still needs to be trimmed and all will be dry fitted until I am satisfied they are a go.
BTW the picture shows this set in the second position. It really belongs in the notch in front of the keel/keelson.
  

One more picture. 
 
The keel and keelson have been notched to receive the frame sets when they are band-sawed to shape. 
My milling machine did a nice job of making clean cuts, but it was a bear to keep track of where I was for each cut. Both the horizontal and vertical positions had to be noted as I went along.
 
The width of the slots is .197 inches (two times the frames) and the depth is about .170 inch for the keel and .080 inch for the keelson. Thus, when I cut the frame sets there should be a .250 inch saddle that fits inside these notches.

Still confused? Just wait until I start cutting the frame sets. It is clear in my mind; but sometimes that don't mean diddly.
BTW the keelson will be trimmed to a narrower piece. But I will do that after all the frame sets fit nicely. It will be the last part to be glued in place (for this assembly).

While I am glueing up the frame sets, I started on the keel.
It is made of 1/4 inch thick boxwood (a bit darker than normal) and a piece of 1/32 inch walnut for the 'false keel' on the bottom.
 
I made a copy of my framing plan and taped it to the keel. This will serve me to cut the curved top as well as notching the recesses for the frame sets. Keep in mind that a set is two pieces of frame and that the gap also represents two frames or one set. The numbers refer to frame sets (or a total of 15).
I intend to use my mill to do the notching.

I will do the same for the 'keelson' which goes on top of the frame sets and keel.
Confusion sets in, right? Unless you read the book by Harold Hahn.
 
When all of this is in place we will have the keel, frames and keelson all glued together, I hope
Meanwhile it's time to make more frame sets.
 

When I have a few of each type, I laminate them together using wood glue. 
This fixture may be a bit unique. I use toggle clamps that apply a lot of pressure. There is a 'caul-plate' (a piece of 1/2 inch plywood coated with wax), and the two parts will be bonded like that forever. I have tried to use shims to get the right thickness, but gave up because it was not necessary.
 
Then it will be a matter of taking the 15 frame drawings, glue a copy to each frame and start cutting along the lines (that are not clearly shown on the stiff paper). 
That comes later when all laminates are done, but I do intend to cut the inside of the frames first and then the out side.
 

Time to make some saw dust.
 
The frames come first. I am using poplar which is readily available at Home Depot and the white parts is what I looked for in some 1x2s.
Eighteen inch lengths were then ripped into strips 0.098 inch thick.
I have a Ryobi table saw which has a sliding miter table. It is ideal for cutting the small segments that come next.

 
The drawing shows how segments make up the frame shape. It is important that the wood grain follows the length of the frame pieces, but it is not critical enough to cut them as the full size frames were (are). However, it is important that the seams do not overlap in adjacent parts. Hence there are two different segments. The next pictures shown what I mean.
  
 
Rather than trying to laminate all eight pieces in one step, I first glued the four equal segments together. The plywood plate and wooden strips are my guides. Note this is for the forward frames which will be cut apart to fit against (not around) the keel. There are four of these sets. The other 11 sets (15 frames) have a different glue-up fixture that I will show later.
 
 
I might add here that the frame that is most visible from the front will have the various futtocks, etc.

Deck Beams.
The first step I took was to align the deck beams. I used the parts on the spar deck to fix the locations. The hatch covers, for example, have a beam on both sides. AOTS shows the cross beams (carlings) and joists which resulted in drawings for each deck. The one for the berth deck is shown below. The beam thicknesses were scaled from the books drawings, but again there were inconsistencies from page to page, so I am not positive about the results.
 
 
Frames.
For the frame shapes I used the cross sections H and O in the book (page 75) and generated others in between from the profiles shown on page 58.
 
 
This resulted in seven shapes for the eleven frame sets. I will ‘estimate’ the shape of the others which are similar to those for F and H. I copied these to scale on heavy paper and cut out the outside of the profile. These will be glued to the wooden laminates and sawn to size.
I intend to use the technique used by Harold Hahn to cut strips of wood and gluing them such that the grain is in the direction of the thin parts but also so the two pieces have the seams in somewhat different directions. I have done this with other frames as shown in the following thread: http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/2191-hms-pelican-by-modeler12-per-harold-hahn%E2%80%99s-plans/
 
Knees.
Special wooden blocks or knees are used where the deck beams meet the frames. Some of them are at an angle, others vertical. They are there to distribute the stresses imposed by the deck above. On page 60 of the book Marquardt shows long rows of the slanted knees but he fails to include the vertical (or hanging) knees. A picture of the gun deck is a bit clearer. Another picture of the berth deck shows very heavy curved knees to support the big guns on the deck above.
 

I made drawings for each of those pieces, so I can cut them out when the time comes. Now it is time to put a list of materials together and order some wood.

Meanwhile I appreciate comments and suggestions about my plans thus far. I could really use pictures of the orlop deck and some of the details there.

My full model is just about finished and I am looking into an additional compliment:
a cross section of the USS Constitution.
 
I want to build this from scratch and use as much of my abilities and tools as I can muster and try to do a decent job. However, to do research into details are usually not in my bag. But it turns out that I have to . . .

The midsection has been covered by others (likewise with the aft section by one adventurer (help who?)), but I would like to show how the crew lived, slept, ate and filled gun powder bags. So, I decided on the area around the ‘stove’.
As it turned out this area also shows some guns on the spar deck, part of fore-mast rigging, then more guns on the gun deck, hammocks on the deck below, the ‘sail room’ and ‘gun powder room’ on the orlop deck. But the main feature I like to stress is the hull construction in the forward parts. Hence, the frames, beams, knees and other timbers become part of the story.
 
I am using the book by Marquadt  ‘Anatomy of the Ship’ (AOTS) for the main reference. He shows a lot of great pictures of all phases and equipment used on the USS Constitution and I have learned a lot from his information.
In particular, I chose the section between the stairs going down from the deck and forward to just ahead of the fore-mast. Using the same scale as my full model (1:76), that is about six inches, or 38 feet real. Page 51 shows a nice top-view of this.

 
In addition, I am still using the drawings that came with my earlier kit of the full model; and here is where I ran into some problems (let’s just call them discrepancies)::::::
 
1.      I mentioned earlier on a different post that the deck beams seemed a bit out of line. In fact the book shows supports at different decks that are not at all above beams below. They simply sit on top of deck planking. I ‘corrected’ that with my interpretation.
 
2.      The frames making up the ship’s hull do not align with the gun-port holes like they should be. Yes, page 61 of the book has clear pictures of the frames, but those are incorrect (in my opinion). The locations of the gun-port holes do not correspond to the full model drawings I have been using. What is worse is that they do not correspond to the locations shown on other pages in the same book.
 
Starting with these two dilemmas, I decided to take some liberties with the design and align the deck beams in a vertical plane and make the body frames along the lines of what Harold Hahn (bless his sole) did with his models. He took two ‘frame’ parts and laminated them to give a more rigid part to work with. Then he decided to eliminate every other one to make the interior more visible. I had to make some assumptions about the frame thicknesses and settled on what I show on the drawings below. This is still not ‘correct’ because the gun port openings should be between frames. But no matter how I juggle the frame thicknesses, I cannot come up with a way to do this unless I use frames of different thicknesses. So, here is where I am now.


Mind you, I have not cut any material yet at this stage. I am just learning what to do.

For all of you guys that have any or all of the Jim Tools, I found the perfect adapter for the vac hook-up for connecting directly to a 2-1/2" hose. It's made by Ridged Tools and costs about $10. You'll find it in the Ridged Vac Accessories section in about any "big-box" store, in my case Home Depot. Its called the Universal Power Tool Adapter. It's made of rubber and easy to cut. I cut the 2 smaller sections off it and the one that's left fits right inside the adapter on any of Jim's machines. I imagine the next biggest size would fit right over the adapter as well, but the one I picked fits like a glove. The part # for it is VT1407.

I have made some progress on my flattie. The next step was to attach the chine. I made a jig using some nails in a board to follow the needed curve. I soaked the strip and put it in the jig with heat from a mini heat gun. The chine is first attached to the transom. The clamping was kind of involved, but here it is:
 

 
After the glue had cured. I attached the chine to the remaining bulkheads. In the photo below one can also see the second chine strip which was bent on the jig.
 

 
After both chines were attached, This is how it looked:
 

 
In a previous post I incorrectly referred to the braces at the mast step as “bow stiffeners.” On the above photo one can see the actual bow stiffeners attached to the foreward edge of the keel.
 

 
The final thing I have done is to attach the cabin sides to the deck and bulkheads.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

I attached the deck in two phases since it has a curve. First I glued it to the transom and rear bulkhead. then I glued the deck to the forward bulkheads and keel.
 

 
Next, bow stiffeners were added around the mast step.
 

 
A keel strip was glued along the keel and in notches in the bulkheads. Again I did this in two phases.
 

 

Thanks for the vistits. Comments and suggestions are welcomed.
 
Attaching the transom to the keel in correct alignment was a little tricky. Here’s the setup I used:
 

 
The complete keel/bulkhead assembly
 

 

 
Test fitting the deck