usedtosail

The display base is assembled and is now ready for some wipe on poly.

Beautiful work Gary.

Absolutely stunning Toni.

I finished adding the quarter gallery photo etch pieces, as well as the PE gun port frames. Having the holes and pins to align everything worked really well. Later I added the scupper covers to the hull too. So far I have only lost one PE piece, the cat head end, but @chris watton was kind enough to include two extras with the kit. I thought I had lost one of the scupper covers, and there are no extras included, but I found it on the bench while installing the others. I was greatly relieved. I also touched up all the nail heads with gold paint, even though the brass color blended in pretty well. Next up is assembling and installing the rudder.

Mark, your stove looks great, as does the rest of your model. Your picture got me thinking though (not always a good thing). The references I have been using have the stove installed with the spit at the aft end. This would make it even tighter with the doors, which I think go between the bitt pin and the stove on this model, so the way you have it would make more sense. Lavery shows a stove in the orientation you show, although it is not labeled fore and aft. Is the stove orientation something that could go either way do you think?

Over the last few days I have been getting everything ready to assemble. I rounded the edges of the bitt pins and standards and blackened some nails for the bolts that hold the standards to the beams. I also rounded the edges on the cross piece and filed in the round indents using a half round file. I also made the hooks and eyebolts that hold the cross piece to the bitt pins. I used 28 gauge wire for these and a larger piece of brass rod for the bolts. I also made square nuts from some brass strip. To hold the hooks to the bolts, I soldered a piece of brass to one end of the brass bolts, then rough cut it to a circular shape, chucked the rod in the lathe, and rounded the brass with a file. I placed the hook on the rod, pushed it through holes I drilled in the bitt pins, and glued the square nut to the other end to hold it all together. I then glued the eyebolts into the cross piece, lining them upon with the hooks. Today I have finally started to assemble the display for the stove. I started by gluing the bitt pins to the cross piece, clamping them together while the glue dries and clamping the bitt pins to the beam they will sit on to make sure they will sit flat to the beam. And here is a closeup of one of the hooks and eyebolts. Once this dries, I can start gluing up the beams and carlings, as I now have the spacing of the bitt pins which everything else will be based on.

Thank you Bob and the likes too. Much appreciated. I spent today adding the phot etch decorations down the sides of the hull. It was a tight fit for a few of them but mostly they went in without any problems. I did have to touch up the gold paint on a few of them for spots that I had missed when I first painted them. It is very hard for me to see gold on brass when I was painting them but the light I had over the model when adding them made it easier to see the spots. I again used thin CA to hold these down and the longer pieces I did in stages, which helped a lot. I still have to do the trim around the quarter galleries and the gun ports, so that will be next.

I finished up the bow section today. This entailed the catheads and their brackets, the head rails and their brackets, the hawse bolsters, and all the photo etch decorations that adorn them. I started using floor finish to glue the flat PE parts but switched back to CA as those that I glued with the floor finish had a tendency to fall off. I am not sure if I was not using enough or not holding them long enough so they set right. In any case the CA works great and holds the pieces nicely so I'll stick with it for the rest. The next step is to add the rest of the PE decorations down the sides of the hull.

Alan, most of the reference drawings and images I am using are from The Fully Framed Model (TFFM) series of books by David Antscherl. I also have a sheer plan of a similar ship that shows the shape and location of the bitt pins and standards.

I made the carlings the same way I did on the capstan project. I first milled the notches in the beams and cleaned them up with a small chisel. I cut the tenons in the ends of the carlings with a razor saw to fit into the notches. The plans show these angling toward the center which I was able to do with the carlings between the aft and middle beams. The notices were milled at the 87 degree angle of the carlings so the ends fit correctly in them. The plans show the carlings between the middle and fore beam are also angled and go under the standards, but the standards are notched to fit down over the beams. I could either have removed some of the bottom of the standards to fit over the top of the carlings but I decided to just fit them so they didn't go under the standards. I also added two boards along the insides of the standards on the three beams that the stove base plate sits on, since it does extend all the way to the aft beam. The legs on each end of the stove line up nicely with the middle and fore beams. Here is everything so far dry fit. Next I will clean up all these pieces, round the appropriate edges, and add the details to the cross piece. Then I can start putting them all together.

I added notches to the front of the bitt pins for the cross piece and to the back for the beam they are attached to. I also cut down the width of the cross piece to the correct size. I then cut notches into the standards for the three beams they sit on. I will be making the carlings next.

I glued the figurehead in place and cleaned up the slight gaps with the stem. I added the cheek rails and the photo etch trim that goes between them. More rails to add but first they are being painted black.

Thank you Albert, Gary, and bdgiantman2, and for those who hit the like button. A chicken might be too big but a small squab might fit. 😀 I have been working on the riding bitt pieces for the display. I glued a piece of pear to the boxwood cross piece and ran them through the thickness sander to even up the tops and bottoms. I then used the disk sander to shape the tops of the bitt pins and the mill to shape the curved section. I used the largest end mill bit I had and made two cuts of equal depth on each side then a third cut in the middle a little deeper. I used a large round file to remove the ridges and some sand paper to even out the curve. Here is the set up I used in the mill. And the result with the other riding bitt pieces. Then this afternoon the post woman showed up with three nice pieces of Swiss pear that I had ordered from the Lumberyard for Model Shipwrights. I had to cut the three beams for the display from one of the pieces. I used the bandsaw with much better success this time by not using the fence but following a straight line by hand. I then ran them through the thickness sander to get them to the right thickness and even up the tops and bottoms. I was then able to run them through the table saw to even up the sides and get them to the right width and length. So here you can get an idea of how the display is going to look. The base and stove will sit on the forward two beams between the standards. Next up is notching everything to fit together and making the carlings to go between the beams.

After trimming the gold wood trim pieces, one more photo etch piece, a couple of tiny wood filler pieces and some touch up painting, the transom is complete. The focus now shifts to the bow. The figurehead is painted and ready to install and I very carefully removed the char from the cheek rails and brackets. I have also started painted the blue and black areas of the stem.

Spiny Norman indeed! Great work there Michael.

The riding bitt standards have been smoothed out with a sanding drum so they are ready for the edges to be beveled and other details. I finished the stove base and used some black and rust weathering powder to make it look more like metal. I am not sure I achieved that but at least it is more interesting to look at now. The color in the images is too brown for what it looks like in real life, which is more grey.

I painted the transom decoration piece, first the background blue, then the raised components and the edges gold. I used a small pointed brush and took my time. I did have to go back and touch up a couple of spots with blue. I was very happy with the result. Before I glued it to the transom I painted the top of the back of the transom with black paint to provide a better background for the decoration piece. When that dried I glued the decoration piece to the transom, then the other two gold trim pieces. I have one more photo etch piece to add to the transom and I need to trim the gold trim pieces and the transom will be done for now. I then added the horseshoe and fish plates using the small pins in the kit. I used a small drill bit in a pin vise to open the holes for the pins through the keel. After I glued the plates to the keel, I clipped off and filed the ends of the pins and touched them with copper paint to match the plates. The next step in the instructions calls for gluing the cheek rails to the stem. But as other build logs have noted there are different and better instructions in Plan Sheet 5 for the bow area. The figurehead slides into a slot on the stem and if you glue the cheek rails first it won't fit into the slot. I trimmed the excess plastic on the base of the figurehead until it fit into the slot. You can also see the horseshoe plate in this picture. I glued the head to the figurehead and painted the background blue. I paint the raised portions gold when that dries.

I have started working on the riding bitts, which I am making out of a big chunk of boxwood I had. I first sliced off a piece big enough for both standards using the band saw. The cut was very uneven as the blade was wandering a lot. I managed to get it sliced off but it was too thick over most of it. In fact, it was too thick to fit into the Byrnes thickness sander so I used the mill with a big end mill bit to reduce it so it would bit in the thickness sander and sanded it to the correct thickness. I then used the Byrnes Saw and band saw to rough out the standards. I also used the Byrnes Saw to cut out the bitt pins and cross piece. I was able to square up the aft edge, bottom, and the straight part of the top of the standards on the Byrnes Saw, then removed more material in the curved part on the band saw. I will finish up the curves using a sanding drum in the drill press. I am also working on the base for the stove. I have the base plate painted and the beams that go underneath it are glued to it. I just need to touch up the paint and it will be ready to go. I am waiting for some pear billets I ordered to arrive to start on the beams.

Sure. I added the condenser too. You can see the drain cocks underneath. And here is a shot from above, for completeness.

Thanks very much Alan. I could build you one, but I wouldn't want to deprive you of all the fun building your own. What scale do you need? Today I glued the drain cocks into place. I also made the two rails, drilled the holes in the stove for them, blackened them, and glued them in place. I then glued the pulleys to their shafts and glued the small pulley shaft into the chimney. There is a bracket that holds up the shaft behind the pulley which I glued to the side of the stove. The spit is not glued to anything so I was able to adjust the size of the chain until I had a good fit then add it to the pulleys. I held the ends of the chain together with a loop of wire, which is hidden under the small pulley. That completes the construction of the stove itself. I will do some weathering on it at some point. I am now painting and constructing the base for the stove. Once that is finished I'll start on the riding bitts, then the beams and carlings for the display.

I have started the final assembly for the stove itself. I glued the stack to the top and the brackets for the spit arms to the sides. I also glued the brackets for the pot arms inside the stove and added the pot arms. The two grates are also now glued in place. I have the pulleys ready to install with the chain, but first I need to add the drain cocks. I first made simple handles for these by soldering two pieces of brass rod together but then I tried making them a little fancier by hammering both ends of a small brass rod flat and rounding off the edges with a file. I then soldered these to another small piece of brass rod and painted them black. You can see them here in the drain cocks with the rest of the parts to be installed. I have also been designing how I want to display the stove. I am making an iron base from a piece of basswood sheet which will sit on three beams, between the riding bitt standards. I will also have the riding bitt pins and cross piece on the aft side of the aft beam. I don't have enough pear wood left to make all three beams so I just ordered some 1x3 inch blocks for them. I am also thinking about the next component model so I bought enough for it too, if I decide to go ahead with it.

I have finally finished painting all the photo etch parts I am going to need for a while. I will give them a coat of matte finish tomorrow. I glued the wing transom pieces to the transom and also added the piece with the window openings. There is a plastic trim piece that fits over the top of that piece which I bent to follow the curve of the transom. I now have to paint it before it gets installed.

Thank you potash and the likes too. I finished the spit support arms and made the pot arms that go inside the stove opening. I again used boxwood for the arms themselves and brass rod for the bottom vertical piece and the brackets that these fit into that will be glued to the inside walls of the stove. I painted these pieces black but have not assembled them yet. I also gave the condenser a couple of coats of copper enamel. I then made the pulleys for the chain drive for the spit. I again used boxwood that I turned in the lathe and used the cut off tool to make the slot for the chain. I used a half round file to open up the slot at the edges then parted off the disks. I put the large (driven) pulley into the mill. where I cut the four curved slots. I cut these on both sides but not all the way through so the disk has more strength. I drilled holes for the axles and will now make the bracket that holds the drive pulley up.

I am mostly getting parts ready for the next steps. I painted the primed photo etch parts with gold paint mostly, but a few parts have white, red or copper paint too. I also painted the wooden transom trim pieces with gold paint. The upper transom piece that you can see in the photo below needs a slight curve to fit properly so I gave it a quick water bath then bent it to the hull to dry. After it dried it had a nice curve so I primed the area that will be painted red. The other parts being painted are for the stove project. On the hull, I cleaned up a few CA spots from gluing the wales on, touched up a few spots of black paint on the wales, and gave it another coat of wipe on poly, so it is ready for the next steps.

The lower wales went on today. The spacing is a bit off but once I had the first one started I didn't want to try to release it for fear of really messing up the planking. I started getting the photo etch trim pieces ready by cleaning them with acetone then brushing on a coat of Bin primer. I wasn't sure how the primer would affect the small details but it was thin enough so they still look good.