usedtosail

Both hatches are now planked and have a first coat of oak stain. Yesterday I made the hardware that locks the hatches closed. This consists of straps that go over the hatch planks with loops at the ends that a bar slides through. The bar has a loop on the end that slips over a loop in the deck and is locked with a padlock. There are also loops in the deck to hold the bars down. The kit supplied copper strip to make the straps, which I started with. I measured the lengths, made the loops by wrapping the copper strip around the bar material, and soldered the loops closed. The copper got very soft, though, so when cleaning up the solder the straps bent all out of shape and two actually broke. So I used some brass strip that I had and remade them, and these came out much better. I also used a drill bit that was larger then the bar material to make the loops which helped with the finished loops. To shape the ends of the bars for the locking loops, I used the mill to cut a flat on one end of each bar, then drilled a hole in the flat again using the mill. I rounded the end with a file and added the locking loops, which I made by wrapping brass wire around two nails. The next step was to bend the bars to fit around the end of the hatch. I had no problem getting the bend at the right place, but there are only two ways the bend could go and the first two I bent 90 degrees off, so the locking loops did not lie flat to the deck. Of course there was no extra material for the bars, so I improvised. I cut off the flat end, used a razor saw to make a slot in the new bar end, and doubled over some thin brass strip, leaving one side longer. I slipped this side into the slot then soldered the strip in place as well as soldering the seams on each side. I then drilled the hole and rounded the end of the strip. Problem solved and the other two bars I made sure to bend the right way so no extra work was needed on them, except to cut all the bars to length. Here are some of the pieces drying after blackening. I already made and blackened the hold down loops and I am starting to work on the padlocks. The two long hold down loops are for the locking loops on the bars. I needed to make these longer than the regular hold down loops so the padlocks will fit.

Those frame ends look so delicate but the overall hull shape is just beautiful.

Thank you Fernando and those that hit the like button. Adding planks over those hatch openings is the next step. I first thought that I could add each plank individually since I had a shelve on each side for them, but I didn't want to glue them down as I went because I knew they would not exactly fill the opening and I would have to make adjustments to their widths. But his proved to be too fiddely as they planks kept falling down into the openings. Since I had already glued the supplied supports into the openings to make shelves for the planks to rest on, I made more supports using the openings in the laser cut sheet as a template so that I could glue the planks to these supports before adding the whole assembly to the opening. This worked very well and looking back on the plans is how I should have used the supplied supports in the first place. I used a gluing jig I made years ago to keep the planks aligned along one edge as I glued them to the supports. I cut the planks on the Byrnes saw using the cross cut sled which gave me very precise planks. I started planking from the middle of the supports but left off the two end planks. I glued this assembly into the opening, then adjusted the width of the two end planks to fill the remaining space and notched them with a round file. I glued these in to finish each opening. I am now using the same procedure for the three openings on the large hatch. I plan to stain these hatch planks to match the decking.

To make the frames for the hatch coamings, I needed to bend the wood to the curve of the coaming pieces. Luckily I found that the curve of the brush cleaner I have is about the same curve as I needed, so I soaked a piece of wood for the trim and clamped it to the outside of the cleaner. I then used a heat gun to gently heat the wood to dry it. When it was dry I took off the clamps and this is what I had. I cut section from the curved wood and they were an exact fit to the coamings. I cut the individual pieces, painted them green, then glued them to the top of the hatch coamings after doing some final trimming. I still need to touch up the green paint on the ends that I trimmed. The next step is to cut and attach the planks that go inside the frames. There is also some brass parts that need to be made that lock the planks down, which I have started to make.

Thank you K. Your Connie is looking great too.

Thanks Popeye and the likes too. That is the same green I used on the Constitution bulwarks. I had mixed up a bunch and had a lot left over. I made the ties that go between the bulwark supports and glued them to the supports, then drilled holes through them into the supports and pushed in cut off brass nails. I then painted the nail heads the same green as the supports. Here is the latest wheelhouse version. This is the second one I have made. The sides of the first one were a little too short to fit the opening. This one is a bit longer so it fits nicely. You can see the supports I sanded to fit in the corners which make it quite strong now. You can also see the frames in the windows. I will be placing some thin acetate in the windows from inside so they won't be open holes. I will do that with the round windows on the sides too. There are a lot of deck fittings to be made which is going to be fun and keep me busy for a while.

Just a quick update to show the starboard bulwark supports and mooring bollards glued into the hull. I just finished painting the port bulwark supports so they will be glued in tonight. I also started remaking the wheelhouse frame pieces using sheet mahogany instead of the plywood pieces supplied. I milled the square windows into the end piece and cleaned them up with a flat file. I'll have pictures when I have them completed.

Thanks Popeye. I didn't think of that. Luckily most of the bulwark is not curved. I did soak the couple near the end and clamped them to get them to bend slightly. I gave the deck planks a coat of wipe on poly too. After I cut a few of them, I sanded them and stuck them to some folder material with double sided tape, then gave them a coat of diluted gesso as a primer. The tape keeps them in the right order as I paint them.

I added the deck planks between the hatch coamings and sanded them for staining. I also started fitting the bulwark supports, but I will paint these white before installing them. I may also soak them and clamp them to the sides before painting them as there is a slight curve on the insides of the bulwarks. I stained the new deck planks and the coamings, then gave all the deck planks another coat of stain. While that was drying I made the four mooring bollards. The instructions said to make them from 5mm plywood but I knew they wouldn't look good, so I thinned down a 1/4" square piece of basswood down to 5mm. I first filed a V groove into the wood using a square file on a 45 degree angle. I then used the disk sander to sand in the 45 degree angles to the groove, then sanded the top to height. I finally cut them off the strip with the table saw. I haven't cleaned these up yet but I was happy how they came out.

While painting the rudder I started making what the instructions call bulwark supports, which are the strips along the insides of the bulwarks. These have a taper at the top so instead of using strip wood and cutting the taper into each one, I planed down some sheet wood to the angle and cut them out on the table saw. Here is the set up I used to slice them off. The plexiglas guide came from the NRG Journal a few issues back. It worked great cutting 3mm strips from the 2mm sheet. I need over 40 of these so cut about 60. This turned out to be a practice exercise because I didn't pay attention to how the grain ran on the sheet and all the strips have the grain running across them, but worse is the sides are all end grain. I have another sheet sanded down with the taper across the end grain so that when I cut them out again the grain will run the same as if I cut them from strip wood. Another learning experience! I have also started making the hatch coamings for the two storage hatches. I started using the supplied laser cut parts, but I really did not like the end grain of the end pieces showing along the sides, as the side piece were too small to fit all the way along the hatch. So I cut new longer side pieces from some mahogany sheet I had, then cut the end pieces to fit between them, as shown on the right hatch. You can see the ugly end grain in the hatch on the left. I am going to stain not paint these coamings so this will make them look much better. Once these hatch coamings are done I have to add more deck planks between them. At that point I will probably give the deck and hatch coamings a coat of Wipe On Poly.

Just beautiful Phil. Nice job.

Working on mounting the rudder today. I nailed the gudgeons to the hull using the blackened nails. I first drilled a hole then pushed and glued the nails into the holes. Next I marked the locations of the gudgeons on the rudder then nailed the pintles to the rudder. The top pintles needed to be trimmed to length so I still need to drill another hole in them and add another nail. The instructions said to use a small nail as a pin but they were way too small, so I cut two lengths of brass rod and glued them inside the pintles. I need to do some clean up of the paint and mask the rudder to paint the bottom black to match the black on the hull.

I painted the tops and sides of the rails the same green as the trim pieces and touched up the white paint on the inside and outside of the hull. I have painted the rudder white and will add the black when I know where it will be mounted, so it will match the black on the hull. I made the tiller from a 1/4" square piece of basswood. The plans included a top and side views of the tiller so I copied them to the right scale then glued the side view to the wood. I cut the shape roughly on the scroll saw, then glued the top view on and cut it out. This was very roughly shaped and I used files and sand paper to get the final shape. I then used the mill to cut the slot in the top which I squared up with a square file. I filed the top of the rudder to fit the hole, then gave the tiller two coats of primer. I will finish it with white paint. I will be mounting the rudder next.

No, it was on Long Island in NY. They built gyros for all kinds of ships and aircraft.

My dad helped build those Sperry gyroscopes.

After a week of relatives visiting, I finally got some time in the shop the last couple of days. I finished thinning down the rails and primed them with diluted gesso. I am going to paint the top and sides of the rails green but I will leave the bottoms white. I fit the gudgeons to the stern post and the pintles to the rudder, then blackened them along with some nails. The upper gudgeons and pintles will be painted white, but I blackened them because I find the paint sticks better and they have the same texture and the lower ones. I also started priming the rudder.

Congrats to your daughter. I am glad you liked our part of the world. Lake Winnepasauki is nice but Newfound Lake is our piece of heaven.

Beautiful job, Frank.

I have cut out and attached the two rails from basswood sheet. I was able to make these in one piece and managed not to break them as I shaped them. I started by cutting out the pieces oversize then sanded the inside curve to fit. I used a compass to mark the outside curve using the inside edge as a guide. I then cut this out a little oversize and sanded the outside edge to the line. I then glued them onto the hull using medium CA, and will do a final sanding once they are dried. The port side especially needs to be thinned a little more. I will then prime and paint them the same green as the trim pieces.

So here is how the trim pieces came out. I touched up the green paint on the ends and I still have a little touch up of the white paint near them at the ends. I have the templates made for the rails so now I need to cut them out of 1/16" basswood sheet.

Thanks Fernando and Popeye. After gluing the other side lower trim piece on, I added the two upper trims pieces. These I was able to clamp as I glued them so they were a bit easier to add. I sanded the ends of the trim pieces to be flush with the stem and stern post, so I have a little touch up to do on the green paint. Then I will make and add the rails along the tops of the bulwarks.

I gave the hull bottom another coat of black paint, then removed the masking tape. I had just one spot at the stem that I had to touch up with white paint. I gave the trim pieces three coats of green paint so now I was ready to start adding them. I started on the port side because I plan to display this model from the starboard side, so this was a good side to practice on. I glued the first trim piece under the port scuppers using medium CA. I started at the forward scuppers and worked my way back to the last scupper, trying to keep the trim piece in a fair line and right under the scuppers. I then glued the forward part of the trim to the stem, using a clamp at the end to get it tight at the stem. I trimmed the aft portion to fit into the stern post, then glued and clamped the aft section. I was really concerned how this was going to come out but I am pretty happy so far. We will see how it looks after I take the clamps off later.

Nice save Jay.

I have applied three coats of diluted black paint on the hull bottom and I will probably add one or two more. I also primed the four trim strips, which will be painted green before gluing to the hull. I stuck them in a chunk of balsa wood to hold them while they dried.

Weather has gotten much nicer but I have found time in the shop anyway. I stained the deck planks with some Oak stain and I really like the look. The plans say to paint the deck red/brown but that is too much paint on the model for me. With the interior set for now I painted the top of the outside hull with 4 coats of diluted white paint. After that dried I masked off the waterline and painted the edge white to seal it, so I am ready to paint the bottom of the hull black. I also bent the four trim pieces that will go on the outside of the hull with a plank bender after soaking them in water. They will be primed and painted green. I through out the 2mm square wood that came with the kit for these as it was very splintered when bent. I am substituting some 3/32" basswood for them which is slightly bigger than the supplied strips but much better quality. The sheet wood I ordered for the top rail arrived today so I will be working on that soon too.