jwvolz

As I get close to retirement I am shifting my business plan a bit.   I am not retiring yet,  but I am starting to create the end game plan.     My business is currently really two sep. divisions or production flows.      Production of kits and then Production of after market parts, blocks and rope and fittings etc.   Both take a huge amount of time and effort.  I have mentioned before that I am currently working 7 days a week and 12 hours a day easily.  Now that I have moved and enjoy the leisure living in the back country of NJ, my wife has started to use the word "leisure" as a verb.   Chuck we need to "leisure" more.  You work to much.  I want to travel more.  You are going to have a heart attack...yada yada yada.    Sooo,  the Speedwell will be my last physically produced kit.  In addition,  I have stopped production of all of my kits...Kind-of.   I AM NOT GOING OUT OF BUSINESS.  Let me make that perfectly clear.  In fact my business and sales is now greater than at the height of the pandemic.  Lots of rope and blocks being sold.  LOL  I have many many years left in me.    BUT moving forward, I will now be focusing on just fittings and related ship model items...No kit model production.      I am retiring all of my kits.  This includes Speedwell.   I sold the last of 50 Speedwell chapter 1 and 2 sets recently.   I will only be selling the remaining chapters to those who bought those 50 chapter one and two sets.   So that will be easy enough for me to handle and administer.     Its just getting tougher and tougher to source enough wood to make this stuff in the USA and remain profitable.   I also dont want keep buying and storing a mountain of wood in my garage.  Literally a mountain of it as you can imagine.  In addition I just dont have the time or desire to do this in 60's.   The good news is that I will be introducing a ton of new fittings.  Stuff for French ships too!!  I am slowly revamping my website...and you might experience disruptions as I make it easier to find all of the fittings I offer.  I have hundreds and hundres already  and many more on the drawing board.    This is mindless repetitive work and will help pay the bills into retirement and beyond.  So no plans to stop making that stuff anytime soon.   In fact my wife wont let me fully retire until Im 67 so there is that.  God bless her.   Now the fun part...just because I am not producing these current kits any longer doesnt mean that someone else wont be MFGing them.   All of my kits already available will not just go away...you do know him and love him.   I have reached an agreement with Chris at Vanguard who will be taking over the reigns and manufacturing my kits.   This will take some time as Chris is finishing up his Surprise model kit.      The Winnie group is fine...just not selling any more starter bulkhead sets or chapter one sets.   I will continue making later chapter sets available for the group in perpetuity.  Its not a big deal until Chris can take over.      The longboat group build will also remain because that will probably be the first kit being produced by Chris followed by the barge.   So stay tuned and please dont bother Chris about getting any of this stuff.  It will be made available as soon as he can get to it.  He is busy like me...so keep that in mind.   All Winnie parts, and Speedwell Chapter sets and Cheerful parts will continue being sold on MY site for folks currently building them until the hand-off is eventually made.   So fear not!!!   NOW...this frees me up to build and design Newer projects.  These however will be made with the idea that the models will be built using plansets and thus not dependent on kit production.  Those will be released here as open source plans or at Seawatch as a new book.  Or if Chris wants,  he can take them and run with them too.  That is my retirement plan.   Keep making parts for sale for all of your projects while still building models that interest me and passing those designs on.   Now back to making rope!!!  Blocks!!! and other stuff....   Lantern mini kits both English and French are next on deck.  Then ship's wheels and a whole host of other good stuff for you folks!!!       Chuck

I had my new laser machine delivered and set up yesterday, a few teething problems, but to be sorted. I now have 2 large machines, with the new one picked specifically for the larger kits I have in mind in the future. This is by far the largest investment yet.
 
Damn, I need more space....
 
Pics are a little too bright, shutter doors were open and sun was shining in!

Great thread and excellent research and work Jerry!
 
I sent you a message about the Harriet Lane guns.

Great thread and excellent research and work Jerry!
 
I sent you a message about the Harriet Lane guns.

Helping out another modeler with 3D printed guns for his 1:96 scale model of the Harriett Lane I started researching and 3D modeling the guns he would need.  In the mean time, I got the idea to make a sampler of one of every gun Constellation ever carried from 1855 to 2024.  Those I would print in the model's 1:36 scale and mount on a plank or something to put on display with the ship when I took her to events.
Chuck's wanted his model of the Lane to carry the armament she was captured with at Galveston in 1864; which according to Phillip Tucker who was on the ship, and who was published in the Southwestern Historical Quarterly in 1918. as saying:

A four-inch rifled Parrot is a 30# Parrott on a pivot carriage; two eight-inch Dahlgren Columbiads folks interpret as being 9 inch Dahlgrens on Marsilly carriages, though there was such a thing as an 8 inch Columbiad, even 8 inch shell-guns.
The 24# howitzers seemed pretty straight forward, though I interpret "ship carriages" to mean boat-sleds in their case.
Someone made a nice graphic of how they thought this armament may have been organized on on the Lane.  My question though, was why they show a 10 inch Dahlgren pivot, when Tucker said it was a 9 inch gun.
I found a photo of a 9 inch Dahlgren on a pivot mount on board the Miami (often IDed as the Mendota) that showed it existed and that the 9 inch had it's own carriage, and not just a scaled down XI inch carriage.
The Lane's armament was thrown over-board when the ship went aground at Pamlico Sound in August of '61 and she was repaired and rearmed back at Hampton Roads.
The 10 inch Dahlgren wasn't as common a gun as the IX's or XI's and those in existence were already on the frigates and razeed sloops, except for one taken off Cumberland at Boston and replaced with a 60# Parrott.  Leaning toward Tucker's statement, I started the 3D model of the IX gun tube, and while trying to discern the pivot carriage from the Miami photo, went ahead making the tube and the Marsilly carriage.  Of all the Naval guns of the American Civil War, the IX Dahlgren on a Marsilly carriage, and the XI Dahlgren on it's designed for it pivot carriage, are the easiest to find data and images for.

The IX was modeled in just a couple of hours.  I'm doing these as static models, so I'm not concerned with wheels turning, or guns elevating.  I printed 4 of the guns, 2 for the Lane with 2 spares, in 1:96.  In the 1870's, Constellation was a training ship and armed with 8 of these guns, so I printed one at 1:36 for my intended display.

In my drawing software, using the photo as a reference; I scaled the tube in the photo to the length of the actual IX tube and traced the carriage to get the right proportions, since I didn't have a measured drawing like I did the for Constellation's 10 inch shell-gun pivot.  The slide is that from the XI Dahlgren carriage.
Once modeled, I printed one off for the Lane.  This one wasn't on my list of Constellation guns, so I didn't need to print one in 1:36.

The Lane, still needed the 24# howitzer, which I had usable data for; and a 30# Parrott pivot.  Constellation, during the Civil War got a 30# Parrott forward, and a 20# Parrott aft, to replace the 10 inch pivots that were removed in 1859.  I managed to find drawings online for the 20 and 30 from the Navy's Bureau of Ordnance that made sure I had the tubes accurate.

Years ago I visited the Constellation and met with the folks running the "restoration."  One of the things they showed me was a drawing of a 30# Parrott on a pivot carriage.  I was modeling Constellation as she was in 1856, so didn't figure I needed plans for a gun she got in 1862; but I took some photos of the drawing anyway.  Now it turns out I did need them, and just had to find those photos.  Once found, it turns out I had good data for the carriage itself, but not much for the slide.

In the mean time, I got started on the 24 pounders.  Using the gun tube from the boat-howitzer, I scaled it to the size of the 24# version, and scaled my reference image to that to get the proportions right.

Then I printed 4 of them in 1:96 for the Lane.

When the 3D model of the 30# Parrott was done, I printed it in 1:96; and since Constellation had one, in 1:36.

One the guns for the Lane were all printed, I boxed them up and mailed them off.  I cranked out two guns that made up Constellation's original broadside; the 8 inch shell gun, and the 32# gun and printed them in 1:36 scale.  I now had 4 of 11 types of gun Constellation had, printed.

While posting the STL for all these guns on Thingiverse, I got a request for something a bit off the track.

Richard,
 
Thanks.
The rope is Syren. For the baggywrinkle I simply placed the appropriate length of rope in my serving machine, and then attached the piece of the peacock hearl with fine thread. I then wrapped it around the rope for the distance necessary and seized it off on that end again with fine thread. Final step was to paint with diluted tan acrylic paint. It's actually incredibly simple. 

My Charles is supposed to be an aged model, linden wood is perfect for this project, it adds a natural age to the model and the atmosphere of those times. The lower part of the ship is made of copper, which makes it easier to make the planking, which does not require so much focus. The modeler should focus his energy and precision on watching the hull axis and symmetry, controlling rotation and uncontrolled deformation while the glue is drying. At this stage, there is still a lot that can be fixed.

Greg,
 
Your model is looking very niceI I nibbed my decking just as you are doing, making the end of the plank half the plank width and tapering back to where the outer edge of the plank intersects the nibbing plank/margin board.
 
I have noticed some variations on nibbing methods. It looks like you are cutting the end of the plank perpendicular to the sides of the planks. Some books show the plank end cut perpendicular to the side/axis of the nibbing strake/margin board. * There really isn't much difference, and you have to look hard to tell how it was actually done.
 
Another variation is the width of the end of the plank. Some models seem to have the end cut only 1/3 the plank width.
 
I suppose somewhere there are "standards" for various navies and countries, but I don't have them. I really didn't know if there was a "right" way for nibbing decks in the 1800s. But on the three modern (mid-1900s) US Navy ships I served on the deck plank ends were cut perpendicular to the plank edges and half the plank width. So that's the way I planked my schooner model, and how I will plank the minesweeper.
 
* Edit. Actually it looks like the front end of the plank is perpendicular to the angled edge of the plank where it is cut into the nibbing strake/margin board.

Finished planking the foredeck today:

Here's the completely planked decks:

Some finish sanding / smoothing still is needed; however, I do like the look of the holly planks against the pear.
 
I think the next big task will be the hull exterior. Final finishing / smoothing of the planking; some painting; a good deal of copper plating! After that it can get mounted and then the deck work can be done followed by masting / rigging.

I've finished most of the main work on the dory. Bottom is installed, sheer rail,intermediate frames,  interior details etc... Everything will eventually be painted and final details added such as thwarts, rope coils, oars and such. 

I've finished cleaning up and repainting the chainplates. . I also painted the decorative element around the hawse hole. A nice 20/0 brush and a careful hand got it looking good. This wasn't the first attempt, but re-doing acrylics is easy. The really hard part was getting both sides to look the same doing this free hand. 
 
 

Chainplates are installed on the hull.
 
Rather than try to carve slits through the two rails, I decided to cut appropriate full-depth gaps. Not a big deal since it all gets painted anyway. After the chainplates were glued and pinned in place a small piece of wood the width of the rail was glued over the top. I then puttied with Tamiya putty. Once all this is dry I'll sand it smooth and touch up the paint. Since there will be a final overall flat coat it should blend in just fine. 
 
This all had to be done after overall painting, as there was no good way to mask and paint the cove stripe with it being under the chainplates. 

Deck has been planked (including windlass pads and thick pads at the masts) and painted. I masked from templates I made copying the plans and airbrushed the white. The areas that I stained should be gray, based on the instructions, but I didn't like how much of the plank detail disappeared under the white paint, so I elected to just stain it a weathered color. 

Not a big update, but bulwarks planked to the main rail. Now working on the deck. 

The false stanchions are complete. They're a bit time consuming, as each has a different inboard and outboard shape to follow the curve of the hull. Next to plank up the remaining area of the hull tot the top of the extensions. 

Hull planking is complete to the level of the main deck. I did edge bend where necessary, and the basswood is quite compliant in that regard. 
 
 

Planking has begun. Nothing too exciting really. The schooner hull makes things easier here at the bow for sure,, and there are a good number of bulkheads. 
 
I'm not planning to be super anal about the planking, since the hull will be fully painted. 

Planksheer and transom installed. I think my decision to remove the bulkhead extensions was a good one as it made getting the planksheer installed much easier. From the look of things a few of the extensions would have had to have been removed anyway to get it to fit. The transom is a tricky piece to get shaped correctly and installed at the proper angle. The plans are good though and it matches up well in that regard. 

With the deck planking being 1/16 x 1/16" strips there is a definite need for a sub-deck to avoid sagging between bulkheads. Balsa pieces were cut to fit between the bulkheads and this should give a much better base for the narrow strips. I have also decided to trim off the bulkhead extensions from the plywood bulkheads. They are very hard, yet crumble easily. I figured with them having to be shaped and beveled on both sides it will be easier to replace them after the planksheer is installed. This will also give me some wiggle room in placement of the planksheer. 
 
 
 
 

With summer at an end work has begun on the Benjamin W. Latham kit. 
 
 
With the large 1:48 scale I hope to add a nice bit of super-detailing, and I'm especially intrigued by the seine boat, a whole separate model unto self. Fittings are decent, though I may end up replacing some with scratch-built items. Plans are very nicely done other than the rigging sheet. 
 
I haven't done a ton of soldering on past kits, but that will certainly change on this build with all of the ironwork. 
 
The keel is a sandwich of two thicknesses of laser cut parts, and mine was just slightly warped. You can see below the eclectic collections of weights that happened to be nearby in my laundry room to help hold it down after wetting and clamping... It came out nice and straight. 
 

 
Rabbet was cut and reference lines were drawn on keel former and bulkhead as per the plans. First dry fitted and then subsequently glued in place. The bevels are on the plans and I did a large amount of pre-beveling with the Dremel and a sanding drum attachment before installation as the plywood bulkhead are very hard. Less prone to damage this way. 
 

 



 
 
 
 

I'm currently working on some plastic models as well as the Latham, so things aren't proceeding as rapidly at the moment. I did get the cap rails installed and the hull painted. Hull was painted with the airbrush. I was going to scribe the cove as per prototype, but tests showed that was not going to work very well in the basswood so I decided to just paint it on, which turned out much better. 
 
I used water slide decals from Microscale for the name. I couldn't find gold in the font/scale I wanted so had to use white. 
 
 

Post 16
Sanding the hull
For this I am using flexible sanding blocks and papers. I start with 120 grade papers.

0105
I decided not to use the B&D Mouse sander, seemed overkill on a small hull like this and Limewood is fairly soft to sand.
Indefatigable it ain’t.
Where there were hair gaps between the strakes pva was run in, sand dust sprinkled on, and then sanded in.

0121
I finished off with 180 paper.

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0123

0119

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0107
The hull seems to have scrubbed up nicely, I’m still amazed when I reach this point that it looks as good as it does given the state before sanding, but the display planking will be a job of a different calibre.
 
The next stage involves fitting the lower stern boards.

0115
These are pre-printed 0.8mm patterns that should just sit above the first planking layer, presumably to meet the second Pear layer.

0116
Worth checking before the hull sanding stuff is put away.

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The sanding job has taken around 3 hours, but I will review my efforts tomorrow as a final check.
I will apply sanding sealer to the hull but it’s far too cold in these ‘ere parts for outdoor work, so that will have to wait.
 
B.E.
09/01/2025
 
 

The Revell USS Olympia has been rated as the finest plastic model of this famous ship. I improved the model with laser cut wood decks and many photo etched parts.
The model was airbrushed using Trucolor paints.

More update photos as promised. These show the gaff rigging and some of the topmast rigging. As mentioned earlier, these are Bluejacket blocks and Syren line. 
 

Well, bit of a long overdue update.
 
I've been super busy at work, spending time outside over the summer, then I had Covid. So even though I've worked on the model a fair amount I haven't posted anything in quite awhile. Here we go.
 
I've completed nearly all of the rigging on the Latham. One thing I wanted to touch on first was the baggywrinkle. I puzzled long and hard over how to make this neatly and in scale. I am a fly fisherman/fly tier and it eventually hit me to use peacock herl, which is used for certain fly bodies. I used my serving machine to wrap it around the rigging line, and then subsequently painted with tan paint. Really happy with the way it came out. I'll have more updates over the coming days.