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usedtosail

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Everything posted by usedtosail

  1. usedtosail
    I just found this log Doc and this is another beautiful model of yours taking shape. It has also gotten me thinking of doing a scratch cross section. I am about to fully retire so I will have the time. I don't have the skills yet, so I don't want to tackle a full hull yet. This looks like a good way to start, though. Thanks for the inspiration.
  2. usedtosail
    Thanks Popeye. I tried using the same template for the other side but it was off enough that it was worth while to make a new one for that side. It turned out useful for another reason too. Here are the four outer plank pieces after some oak stain, gluing them in place. I used a dab of wood glue on each frame to hold these in, which I was not sure would be secure enough. But pre-bending the planks to the frames meant that there was very little pressure needed to hold these in place so the seem pretty solid. I also painted the inside bulwarks white before gluing these in place. I taped both templates together to make an accurate plan for the deck openings. In this picture the top drawing was copied from the plans, which I blew up to the scale size of the model, which is the middle drawing. The deck shape was way off and the drawn openings were too and not by a consistent amount. So I used the bottom drawing to lay out the openings, which I will use when I cut them out after planking. There is no deck platform for this model, so I will be putting the deck planking directly on the frames. I will need to add some supports along the outer planks to hold the ends of the deck planks that don't end on a frame, which is probably almost all of them. I did the same thing on the Constitution build and it worked really well. I do need to add a couple of small filler pieces between the outer planks at the stem and stern post. I should have cut them out with these areas in place but I didn't and I didn't want to remake these pieces just for that. For all you in the states, have a great Memorial Day weekend and remember the fallen.
  3. usedtosail
    After more sanding of the outer planks I felt I had a good fit, so I heated them wrapped in wet paper towels in the microwave, then clamped them to the frames. After they dried I marked the locations of the ends of the scarf joints on each one, then trimmed them to length. I cut a scarf joint on one of them then used it to transfer the outline to the other and cut it. After some sanding thee joint fit pretty well. Here are the planks laid in place with the scarf joint. I set those two planks aside for staining, then made the template for the other side and cut out the rough outline on the scroll saw. I will be repeating the process I used for the first two for these.
  4. usedtosail
    Like the others have said, Ed, congratulations on a fantastic model. It has been a great pleasure following all your builds. Now I have to buy the books, even if I never try building it.
  5. usedtosail
    Here is the hull after another round of wood filler and another light coat of gesso. I think this is good for now. Before painting the inside planks white, I thought I should work on the outer deck planks since these will take some fitting to get right. I first made a pattern of the port side edge on a large piece of paper. I used the template to trace the edge profile to a sheet of basswood as two pieces that overlap at the frame with the mast cutout. I then cut the outer edge line on the scroll saw, leaving a 1/16" or so so I had wood to sand down. The other edge I just cut roughly so that I had more than 6mm width. The pieces were then fit into place by sanding down to the line. Once the pieces fit well, I used a compass to trace the outer edge to make a line 6mm from it. I then cut close to this line and sanded the inside edge to shape. The next step will be to add more bevel to the outside edge and then cut a scarf joint where the two pieces meet in the middle. To me that will be the hardest part of this process. However it turns out, I'll post it here.
  6. usedtosail
    Getting further along on the hull. I took advantage of some nice warm days and sanded down the planks and wood filler outside (Back to winter temps since then, Arg!). I started with rough sandpaper to mostly get the planks to be level with each other. I then added more diluted wood filler then sanded the planks and filler with medium and fine sandpaper, until I was pleased with the smoothness of the hull. I cleaned the dust off the hull and out of the workshop as best I could, then added a coat of diluted gesso to the inside and outside planks as a primer. I was thinking of using my airbrush for this but it is just not suitable for painting large areas. I then thought about buying a can of spray primer but I eventually went with a large soft brush to apply it. I will sand it down after it dries and then do one more round of diluted wood filler, sanding and primer. I am doing this now before I plank the deck because I want to stain the deck planks and this way I can paint the inside planks at the deck before I add the deck planks, so I can get a good paint line there. If I was going to paint the deck planks I would have put them in then primed everything.
  7. usedtosail
    Thanks Fernando. It looks like locating the openings in the deck is going to be interesting. It's funny how they give you the dimensions of the openings but not where they are located. I think I will try copying that part of the plans and blow it up to real size. I diluted some wood filler and spread it on the gaps both inside and outside the hull. While it was drying I used my small plane to plane down the tops of the bulwarks to take out and bumps and so the cap rail can sit flat. The pieces to make the stand for the model are plywood and I didn't like seeing the layers in the edges. I used them as templates to make new stand pieces from 1/4" cherry. After test fitting them to the hull I glued the pieces together. I will add some Wipe-On-Poly later. Happy Friday everyone.
  8. usedtosail
    Thanks Popeye. I don't know if it is too much of a short cut but I am happy with the results. I finished planking the insides of the bulwarks and gave the planks an initial sanding. There are more planks near the stem and stern as the deck slopes down pretty severely there. I filled the inside of the stem and stern planks with a small bit of wood filler and used a riffler file to file it down. They still need a bit of finishing but I think it came out OK. For the outside planks I needed to add quite a bit of wood filler and shape it to follow the lines of the planks. It still needs more layers to blend it in, but I think it will eventually look OK once painted. I still have a lot of work to do on the outside planks to get them to look good, but it is coming along. I sanded down the tops of the bulwarks but that still needs more work so that the cap rails don't slope down one side or the other. In between sanding I have starting making cardboard (folder material) templates of the outer deck planks that fit along the inside bulwark planks. I am going to cut these out of sheet basswood, a little thicker than the deck planks. One of the plans shows this plank higher than the rest, and I think it will look good that way. One thing about this kit is that they don't really supply plans, just plan sheets with lots of drawings of the construction steps from different angles. There is a top down view of the deck to show where the openings are but no other details, for instance.
  9. usedtosail
    Very nice job Frank. She looks amazing.
  10. usedtosail
    I finished cutting out and cleaning up the bulwark supports and sanded the inside planks above the frames. To remove the excess wood along the stem and stern posts, I first used a pointed grinding bit in the Dremel tool to hollow out the pieces, then a chisel and knife to clean out the rest of the wood. Of course once the support was gone the plank ends were unsupported, so I cleaned up the ends with an X-Acto saw blade then inserted small strips of wood to close the gaps. I used thin CA glue to hold them all together, then a riffler file to file the wood strips down. The inside planks will hide these wood strips, but I will have to use wood filler on the outside to cover them up. I could now start the interior planking. After some planning on how to attack this, I started by gluing plank strips along the top of the bulwarks in the middle of each side. I then temporarily clamped the plank below so it extended out past each end, which gave me the angle of the top bow and stern planks. I cut planks to fit and glued them in place. As you can see these planks do not go all the way to the stem or stern post, as that would need a very severe edge bend. Instead I am cutting them off where they intersect the top of the bulwarks with a more gentle bend. This will allow the second row of planks to fit flush to this top row. For all of you who celebrate, have a happy Easter.
  11. usedtosail
    Nice save on the punch. Those bulwarks look great and very authentic.
  12. usedtosail
    Well done, Captain Steve.
  13. usedtosail
    Nice job on the quarter gallery bases and the stern windows. Those are two very tricky areas to deal with.
  14. usedtosail
    I gave the outside hull a course sanding for now. I give it a final sanding later when I am ready to apply the paint. There are still some areas that need some filling but not much. I then started removing the bulwark supports on the inside of the hull, which needs to be down before the second layer of planking can be applied there. I am using a thin X-Acto saw to cut them. I had tacked the first layer of planking to these so they break off fairly easily after they are cut. Once they are all removed, I need to file the cut areas down to make a continuous curve from the central areas of the frames. I also have to remove some wood along the stem and stern posts. Then I can add the second layer from the sheer down to these frames.
  15. usedtosail
    Thanks guys. I just spent about a half hour filling some of the larger cracks with wood glue, then sanding over them to fill them with saw dust. It really worked great, as they virtually disappeared. I know I have tried this in the past with poorer results so I don't know what i am doing different now, but what a difference. More pics after I get the whole outer hull sanded and looking pretty.
  16. usedtosail
    A small milestone - second planking is on. I will give it a good scraping/sanding before planking the inside bulwarks.
  17. usedtosail
    Thanks Popeye. Almost done with the port side planking now. Two rows left to put on, then a bunch of sanding.
  18. usedtosail
    Yes, good to see you back Jeff.
  19. usedtosail
    I love the Coke delivery truck Popeye. Looks so cool.
  20. usedtosail
    Thanks Stevinne, Rich, Popeye, Jonathan, Todd, Capt Steve, K, Dan and the likes. As for heirloom, I hope one of my kids wants this once I am dead and gone. I wouldn't blame them if they didn't, but hopefully they will find a good home for it. Let's hope that won't be a problem for many, many years. K - keep up the great work on your Connie. You are doing a great job on it and your build log is excellent too. Dan - I really enjoyed your articles in the NRG Journal on building QA's Revenge. Your are as talented a writer as you are a modeler. A couple of last pictures that I took last night after dark. I was really curious how the LEDs would look and I was very happy with the result. We started calling this the Museum Room last night.
  21. usedtosail
    Thanks Fernando and EJ. Almost done with the starboard side and about half way on the port side. I will be happy to move on to the next phase.
  22. usedtosail
    Thanks everyone. Well, now I can say this project is really finished. Here she is in her new home. I am really happy the way the case turned out. My full size woodworking skills leave a lot to be desired, but this project I tried to be a lot more precise. One thing I did over the last few days was to remake the cradle. I had originally made it a few years ago using 3/16" walnut for the supports. In all the moving they suffered a few dings and breaks that looked terrible, so I took them off the base board and remade them in 1/4" walnut. I am much happier with the result. That's it for this project. Thank you all who have followed along through the journey. I have certainly learned a lot and I much appreciate those of you who built this model before me so I could learn from your experiences. I also hope this build log will prove useful for those who build this model in the future. I would highly recommend the experience. Just make sure you have a big enough place to put it when finished.
  23. usedtosail
    When I got close to the keel on the starboard side, I started planking down from the keel, so that I could use a shutter plank underneath the hull. This will be whatever width I need to fill the last gap, so I want it to be less noticeable. I am also planking both sides now. The port side is about half way there. On the starboard side I have now got to the point where I need to add two planks to finish the planking. I decided to use two planks that are slightly wider than the 6mm planks I have been using, as tis way there won't be one plank that is a lot bigger than the others. I cut a long strip 8mm wide from the 1mm sheet you see in the photos, and used it to create the last two planks in the middle of the hull. Here is the first one being glued in place. This morning I added the other one, so now I need to add the bow and stern planks in the gap, then tackle the planks at the sheer.
  24. usedtosail
    Here is the top almost completed. I made the back frame a little wider than the other frames so I had room to add the LED strip. It has an adhesive backing that stuck to the top very well. I created a groove in the back of the case for the wire to fit into, so when I add the top it will go over the wire. There is a control box that dims the lights and turns them on and off, which will hang down in the back of the case along one side. Adding the top to the sides is the next step.
  25. usedtosail
    Very nice start there Captain.

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