Mike Dowling

Hello folks',
No I have not been idle all summer but very slowly progressing with the OcCre version of the Santisima Trinidad cross section. I didn't start a build log so none of you will have been able to follow my progress. Part of my reason for this is that there is already a wonderful build log on this kit on msw already and it seemed silly just to duplicate everything.
 
It will not be a surprise to you that I am an OcCre kit fan and the quality of this kit was up to their usual standards. I can't complain about them, only my own mistakes and 'shortcuts'!!! although I have to say their instructions were not as good as other kits they make.
 
The reason I wanted to build this one was to practice and try to improve my rigging skills which I feel I have. My shrouds and deadeyes especially were much better than I had done before and most of the rigging I am pleased with. I know for the keen eyed that I did make one bilateral mistake and belayed a couple of ropes to the wrong places. By the time I noticed it was already too late to undo so I will live with it.
 
I think it is a strange thing to do in some ways - a cross section - and I wouldn't do another one because for all the effort involved it never was going to look complete in a way. I wouldn't even dream of doing the whole ship which OcCre also do as not only is it huge but I think I would lose patience with it quite fast.
 
Anyway, I will post some pictures of my efforts for you all to see and love or hate as you wish.
 
My next project is going to be my second stage coach which I know is not of interest on this site but, fear not, I shall be watching you !!!
 
I am thinking of doing the RMS Titanic afterwards !!!!!!!! Watch this space !
 

I am sorry if some of these are on their sides, you will just have to lie down to enjoy them !!

Captain Al,
 
Thank you for posting this thread. The process is much clearer to me now, thanks to the many fine responses.

Nice surprise to see you've completed another build and done a smashing good job of it.  Yes, your rigging looks superb.  I particularly checked out the deadeyes and chain plates as those are the parts I've been working on lately.  Very nice.  Looks like you've learned your lessons well.  Lots of good interior detail in there which I know you love.  So its back to stage coaches now?  I think you're quite smart to mix up the builds when you get the urge.

If it is any help at all I found that waxing the lanyard thread helps and then just run the shrouds between finger and thumb before you start 'lacing' the ratlines and then keep the deadeye facing whichever way it choses. It worked for me.

If it is any help at all I found that waxing the lanyard thread helps and then just run the shrouds between finger and thumb before you start 'lacing' the ratlines and then keep the deadeye facing whichever way it choses. It worked for me.

I am sorry if some of these are on their sides, you will just have to lie down to enjoy them !!

I am sorry if some of these are on their sides, you will just have to lie down to enjoy them !!

I see so many complicated, messy, and/or time consuming methods for caulking on this and other ship-building forums, yet the method suggested by Chuck and others that I used worked extremely well and doesn't require leaving gaps or mixing stuff etc.
 
#3b pencil blacken one edge, and one end of each plank before placing it.  Use wood glue to affix as normal, lightly sand when complete and then seal with your finish of choice (I used min-wax poly).
 

Looks much better.  Final suggestion, if you lock the lower deadeyes in place, you can tighten up the lanyards (remember, on the real ship they are quite tight to hold the mast steady from side to side) which should pull the upper deadeye in line fairly well now that the lanyards are run correctly so that they won't be trying to force a twist.

Hello folks',
No I have not been idle all summer but very slowly progressing with the OcCre version of the Santisima Trinidad cross section. I didn't start a build log so none of you will have been able to follow my progress. Part of my reason for this is that there is already a wonderful build log on this kit on msw already and it seemed silly just to duplicate everything.
 
It will not be a surprise to you that I am an OcCre kit fan and the quality of this kit was up to their usual standards. I can't complain about them, only my own mistakes and 'shortcuts'!!! although I have to say their instructions were not as good as other kits they make.
 
The reason I wanted to build this one was to practice and try to improve my rigging skills which I feel I have. My shrouds and deadeyes especially were much better than I had done before and most of the rigging I am pleased with. I know for the keen eyed that I did make one bilateral mistake and belayed a couple of ropes to the wrong places. By the time I noticed it was already too late to undo so I will live with it.
 
I think it is a strange thing to do in some ways - a cross section - and I wouldn't do another one because for all the effort involved it never was going to look complete in a way. I wouldn't even dream of doing the whole ship which OcCre also do as not only is it huge but I think I would lose patience with it quite fast.
 
Anyway, I will post some pictures of my efforts for you all to see and love or hate as you wish.
 
My next project is going to be my second stage coach which I know is not of interest on this site but, fear not, I shall be watching you !!!
 
I am thinking of doing the RMS Titanic afterwards !!!!!!!! Watch this space !
 

I too built a couple of models with printed lines rather then laser cut. The kits were from the 50's and 60's. I used a coping saw and though a bit time consuming, once I got pretty good with it, the result was quite good.
 
mike

What kind of rope do you have. Twisting is often a result of rope that has some stretch in it.
The less 'elasticity' there is inthe rope, the less twisti g there is.
 
Jan

The second deck with wall and without the greenhouse.

Well, my beloved Royals have won the baseball World Series, and I'm back to work on the Bertrand. 
 

 
The main deck structures are complete, and I've mostly finished framing up the boiler deck. This was surprisingly difficult, as there's no flat frame of reference (the main deck curves in every direction). Getting the support posts vertical in both directions was quite interesting. I've been very bad about taking "process" photos during this stage, so you'll just have to imagine things. The only consistently flat frame of reference is, oddly enough, the bottom of the hull. So I made a complicated jig of solid wood strips clamped to the hull, from which I could extend vertical squares, onto which I clamped cross-ways strips, to which I could clamp the vertical posts. Fiddly, but effective. I also made strong use of the eyeball; I'd rather a line of posts LOOK straight relative to each other, even if they're slightly out of line relative to true vertical.
 
Once the posts were in place, I began adding cross-pieces. Technically the boiler deck should have a slight bit of camber to it, but I decided that would be too difficult and would be barely visible at this scale, as most of the deck will be covered by the cabins. The more significant camber of the main deck shows up nicely, and is sufficient for my taste. Thus the deck is flat athwartships, but curves gently fore and aft to follow the rise of the main deck in both directions. 
 

 
I finished planking the main deck as far I as intend to; this extent will allow the model to look complete from a port 45-degree angle fore or aft, but still leaves plenty of internal view from the starboard side. It's a little rough in places, but will have to do. I'll put a crate or something over a few plank ends that stick up more than I'd like.
 

 
View from the open starboard side. I've also finished installing the hog chain braces; these angled posts support metal rods running fore-and-aft, with turnbuckles on them, which keep the long, narrow hull from sagging/hogging. I won't install the actual rods until near the end of the project, as they'll be in the way, but needed to do the braces now as they extend through multiple decks. They're intentionally a bit longer than necessary, so I can cut them off just as I like them once I finish the superstructure. 
 
Currently I'm building the boiler assembly, which sits just forward of the cargo shed on the main deck. I intentionally haven't installed the vertical support posts at the front of the boiler deck, to allow me to slide the boiler in there. Once it's in place, I'll finish that area and install the staircases (already built) just in front of the boilers.
 
I think things will go rapidly for a little while, now. Install the boilers, connect them to the engines with steam lines, plank in the entire boiler deck, and then move on to building the cabin area. I still have to decide whether to order a bunch of styrene windows and doors, or try to make my own out of strip wood. The former would be far faster and more consistently detailed, but more expensive and hard to make look just like the surrounding wood. The latter would take a long time, but be a lot cheaper and fit in better if I can make them realistically enough. I'll decide once the next deck is done.
 
I'm holding out hope of reaching my goal to complete this model by the end of the year. Luckily the approach of winter means nice long evenings for quiet model work. She's certainly starting to look something like a steamboat. In the meantime, here's a fine Ozark fiddler playing "Jefferson City", one of Bertrand's ports of call on her way upriver.
 

 
 

The Captain will play piano:-)

Thanks to all that have been looking in on the build.
I was on the replica on the 6th Oct, took plenty of pictures to assist in details.
 
Windlass Update,
I have spent hours on this baby so far.
The side Standards & Bit Pins are glued in place now. This allowed me to fit the pin rails to the Pawl Bits(the bell tower !)
The barrel is 95% complete, fitted and turns in place between the Bits(pin & cheek) complete with brass bolt and nut to lock in place - for final lockup. Neat eh!
Made up some pawls - bit rough but at this scale lucky to get them. Need to trim them back a bit.
 
Still more to go - the belfry cap to finish off.
 
Then onto more bibs and bobs.
 
 
Dave R

Thinking forward a bit I realize I probably need to change course and work on getting my channels in order and make up some deadeye chain arrangement.  There isn't much more to put on this mizzen lower mast before I fit it to the boat, and I'll need to do that so I can loop the shrouds over them and put the chains in the proper angle.  So I'll set aside the mast until I have the chains made up and the channel fixed.
 
Recall that I already drilled holes in the channels for the deadeye chain plates.  But having drilled them too far inboard, I'm faced with either filling and redrilling holes, or filling the holes and cutting slots in the channel edges to slip the chain into.  I've decided to do the slots as I don't like the size of the holes that would be needed to insert the chains that I want to make.  Besides, slots are more authentic.  They'll be covered with a closure strip of 1.5mm x 5.  The process of cutting these slots is pretty straightforward other than lining them up with the angle the shrouds will take up to the mast head.  I'll get that angle and then use a razor saw to cut the opening (maybe have to sand or file them a bit wider than the saw blade kerf, but I don't know that yet).
 
I've been worried about knocking the channels off as I sawed the slots, so I've rigged up a bit of a bracing system to hold the channels rigid while I make the cuts.  Much better I think than my fingers.  See pix below.

Some progress on the Windlass.
I turned up the barrel on my home made lathe.
The Bit pins & cheeks(ends) come apart to house the barrel, the cheek bottom held in with a brass bracket, the top with a brass bolt. Took a while to finely tuned the fitting to get the barrel to turn.
I was surprised the figure heads came up fairly well I reckon.
Only 2 days work. !
Next to add the pin rail, whelps, brackets etc. make the bell tower thingy. Mine will be something based on the replica, 2 posts.
 
PS. I have yet to trim the ends of the barrel off, left them on for now.
 
Dave R

I have been doing ratlines today as well - it is just such a joy don't you find !!!!

I have decided to go with the Occre kits and they should be here in a few days. Thanks everyone for the suggestions

Tks George , i,m hoping they will get better with practice .
 
Mike ,It is hard to keep the motivation going at times and i have fought the urge a few times to start another project but am afraid i won,t finish the Vic if i do , I,m beginning to understand why some people keep 2 or 3 builds going at once . As for the tools , they are not really necessary and in fact the mill and table saw have hardly been used although i,m hoping they will be usefull in the future , at least thats what i keep telling myself .There is no tool for tying ratlines ????   Deciding the next build is a common problem . some days i,m convinced i,ll start a scratch build and then i think a small straight from the box build would be a lot less hassel ,The only thing i,m faily sure is my next build will be smaller in size and bigger in scale ,1:60   or maybe even 1:40  so at least i have narrowed it down a bit !!!  It,s a  case of an easy build and getting bored or a challange and getting frustrated ,which is the most enjoyable ????

Rat-lines look great Boyd! 

I have been doing ratlines today as well - it is just such a joy don't you find !!!!

Yes, easy stages and you get there in the end !! I am still working on my Santisima Trinidad cross section. Not the most rewarding model I have done but it is helping me practice my rigging skills - or lack thereof !! Still haven't decided on my next creation but I am beginning to think the Victory is a bit too clever for me. I don't have all the wonderful tools you have collected to bail me out of problems. I don't know about you but if I get too many problems I stop enjoying it all and after all that is not the idea. I will never be a master scratchbuilder like Danny but enjoyment is the most important thing. I can still enjoy other peoples wonderful models as long as I enjoy what I am doing.
 
Your ratlines by the way look terrific.