Marcus.K.

A much quicker than usual update!  Mostly because I was off work yesterday and now I have a question-
 
Progress so far- I want to make my decking and waterway out of Holly, so first step was cutting my Holly billet into strips.  Woodworking is my other hobby so I already have a bandsaw.
 

 
I set the fence so it was a little wider than than laser cut walnut that came with the kit.  Except after cutting 3 strips of Holly I realized I had the wrong strip of walnut; I picked out the piece with the cap rails which is thinner (1/16")  than the waterways strip (1/8").  In my defense they looked very similar.  Also its freezing in the garage (16 degree F) and I was hurrying.  Below is the billet, then the correctly cut 1/8" (+ a little more) holly strips next to the correct walnut strip, and on the right the 4 strips of holly cut too thin.  They will find use I'm sure somewhere else.
 

 
You can see there's a knot in the middle of the holly billet but I think dividing up the waterway into 2 pieces each I can cut out what I need.  To final surface the holly strips and bring them to 1/8" thickness I reused my blockplane jig.  It was made to surface the stem and keel which were 3/16" thick, but luckily the kit comes with lots of strips of basswood of all different sizes.  So i used some to shim the holly strips up, blockplaned 1 side a few passes, then turned the strip over and did the other side.  Then just keep flipping and taking a shaving until final thickness reached.  It went a lot easier than I had planned.
 


 
  So finally I reach my question.  The practicum illustration of the gunport planking, pictured in my last post, clearly shows the bulkhead extensions to be 3/64" thick.  The practicum also says to sand down the knighthead and timberhead extensions to 3/64".   He makes no (written) mention that I could find of the other bulkhead extensions, and his picture in the practicum shows them clearly unthinned and much thicker than 3/64" after his waterway is installed.  I reviewed some of the MSW AVS logs and it seemed like no one had thinned any other bulkhead extensions except the bow ones. 
 
And I think I remember Chuck saying somewhere that having fat gunports was a common mistake.
 
So I took the front 3 bulkhead extensions to 3/64", that seemed uncontroversial at least.
 

 
The grain dives outwards on the kit bulkhead extensions so I promptly split the 3rd one starboard side and had to reglue it.  So now I am deciding on thin all the bulkhead extensions to 3/64", which is pretty skinny, or thin them to a regular but "thicker" thickness which is what the practicum photo, but not the practicum illustration, shows. 
 
Any advice would be appreciated.
 

 
Thanks for reading, and all you in the Mideastern USA hope you had a great snowstorm.  Yesterday off from work was great but my kids were off school as well (less great) and they're off today as well and they really need to go back.
 
Cisco

Good evening ModelShipworlders.  Thank you to all who have read and liked my posts, I appreciate it.  My last 2 weeks have been spent trying to up my planking game, and if mistakes are a sign of progress the I've had some success.  Following Bob Hunt's practicum (I thought) I attached the first line of planking just at the deckline to stabilize the bulkhead extensions from breaking.  This involves attaching an 1/4" wide by 3/64" deep plank overlapping each side of the subdeck, and a single 1/8" x 3/64" plank above it on each side.  I attached the 1/4" wide plank in my last post, go me, and then found some issues.
 
First off the whole "bend downwards to make the plank fit on the curve of the prow" makes a lot more sense to me.  Now.  You can see in my fist pic that there is a gap that I filled with some scrap basswood between the plank and the first bulkheads which I originally thought was because I hadn't faired the bulkheads enough.  But in hindsight I realize I probably didn't bend the plank upwards enough as well.
 

 
And then I found my second mistake.  Reading other logs I have scoffed at people who have used the wrong sized wood strips, how hard can it be to mess that up?  Well when I was adding my second strip it seemed a bit thinner than my first strip, so I measured it and somehow I managed to pick out strips 4/64" (1/16") thick instead of 3/64".  So maybe that was part of why they were so challenging to bend.
 

 
So not a lot of harm done and maybe practicing on a harder strip of wood will make the others easier.  I added the next strip of planking, 1/8" x 3/64", this time the correct size, but I somehow thought the directions said to add a strip both above and below the original plank,  instead of just a single strip above the original plank.  So I added a strip below the original plank, and this one I bent with a better curve downwards at the bow and upwards at the stern so it followed both the original plank and the downward curve of the bow bulkheads pretty well.
 

 
I did both lower planks, then started attaching the 1/8" x 3/64" strip above the original plank.  I was getting more confident at this point and glued most of the strip on in one go.  There is a slight gap which you can't see in the pictures between planks at the upwards bend at the level of the quarterdeck.  I think my bending jig compressed the wood here a little making a divot that only showed up now.  But this is why a first planking is helpful - I am learning a lot about what to look out for on the show second planking.
 

 
It was at this point that I re-read this section in Bob Hunt's practicum and figured out I had mistakenly added the 1/8" lower plank.  I think the practicum really proves it worth in the following picture which illustrates all the planking and thicknesses at the deckline.  Even if it kept leading to "aw man..." moments.  Admins if I can't post this please remove it-
 

 
And here finally I am gluing the other side.  I also learned its time to buy some bigger clamps as clothes pins won't open any wider.
 
 
 
And thats it for tonight.  Next up is thinning the bulkhead extensions and adding the waterway.  I'm doing mine in Holly and I'm planning on having one or two scarfed joints instead of single big curved pieces that run from the quarterdeck to the bow.   Loosely based on Cheerful's waterways.  This time I will try and read the directions, too.  Thanks for reading, Cisco.
 
 

So on to attaching the first plank.  Like basically everyone I found out my fairing of the bulkheads wasn't as great as I thought.  Not shown in these pics but I had to slip a tiny piece of wood into a gap between the first bulkhead and the plank.  You can see my clamping method which worked pretty well, especially as I had spent so much time trying to bend the strip to be very close to my penciled lines on the bulkheads.  Due to Timidity I attached 5 bulkheads at a time, allowed them to dry, and then evaluated my technique.  I also found out that if you are using heat to make the plank bendy you can dry it out so much that even a little bend can break it (See below pic on about 6th bulkead).  But the break glued back fine.
 
I used a piece of my second planking (Holly) as a wedge in rabbit joint at the top of the stem to make sure there will be enough space down the road.  
 

 

 

 
The aft end of the plank is very exciting- it curves upwards and inwards, and the final 1 cm also twists to follow the transom edges.  Before gluing the last few inches I wetted the strip and twisted the end while using the travel iron. Couldn't take a picture I don't have enough hands but it worked really well.
 
I also wetted the outside of the plank as I attached it in the hopes it would swell a little and curve inwards, and not break like it did amidships.
 
And thats the state of the union.  Have a great night, thanks for reading, Cisco
 

I am way overdue an update, although it doesn't look like I did much.  First off I had to fair the bulkheads and it seemed like every other one needed shimming.  I kept laying a batten longwise and comparing, trying for a smooth rounded "bulge" as opposed to the accordian-like ripple I started with.
 

 
I had to finally stop fairing before I sanded away the entire model.  Next up was the framing for the stern transom.  Oddly enough in the practicum Mr Hunt did taper the 2 innermost stern frames; luckily this was noticed and addressed  by enough MSW buildlogs that I remembered.
 

 
I made a spacer the size of the window frames and used it to keep the stern frames the same distance apart.
 

 
After adding the stern frames I the upper wing transoms and the lower filler blocks, along with whatever the blocks of wood on the sides of the transom are called. 
 

 
Then I carved and sanded the transom/counter area so it was round from the side view, and flushed the side transom blocks trying to keep a nice sweep by laying my batten along the sides.
 

 
Finally I added the window header and sills.  Something about the parallelogram windows placed on an upward curve has always looked off to me.  The windows supplied by the kit are slightly different; the inside ones seem to have more of a tilt than the outside ones.  I am going to try and scratch my windows as the kit ones look chunky to me, and I'm sure there will be some adjustment in placement, but that is Future Cisco's problem.
 

 
And thats it for tonight! 
 
May your holidays be full of comforting family drama and no real drama.  Cisco
 
 

One thing I didn't anticipate is how long, or more importantly how much energy, it takes to type and upload pics.  Competes for my "reading of other people's updates" time.  Here's this week's slow progress; first off I shamelessly copied someone else's great idea, and I'm sorry I can't remember who it was, of making curved sanding sticks for leveling the dorsal bulkheads.  I glued some thin strips of walnut i had laying about not being productive, then attached 150 grit sandpaper with double sided tape.
 

 
I found out that you tend to use just the last 2 inches of sandpaper so it has to be changed pretty often, but worked well.  I made another thinner and more curved sanding stick to get closer to the bulkhead extensions.
 


 
I then was faced with a quandary- how do you make sure the tops of the bulkheads are level?  I don't have an exterior frame built yet to hold the ship at 90 degrees to a base so what to use as a reference surface?  So I tried drawing lines 90 degrees to the keel with my square; it was awkward but worked.  Kinda.
 


 
Then I glued in the beam supports for the tiny quarterdeck referencing it level from lines I'd drawn above it.
 

 
Then i added the quarterdeck, which seems big enough for maybe 1 person at a time.  Once that was dry I leveled the main deck with aforementioned curved sanding sticks.  I quickly gave up trying to make sure everything was 90 degrees to the keel; it was just too hard to compare both sides of each bulkhead.  So instead I used the short end of my LeeValley square, measuring across 4 bulwarks at time to level them, adding strips of wood where things were low and sanding high spots.  You don't initially appreciate how much more challenging having the deck shaped like a banana with each end up, in addition to the bulwark's downward camber towards the rails, makes this whole process.  Well now I sure appreciate it.
 

 
But finally I got it as level as it was easly gonna get and glued on the maindeck.  Which is presently drying.  Next up is sanding the bulkhead edges for planking.    Per the practicum this should take 15 minutes a side.  I am skeptical its gonna be that easy.  Thanks for reading, off to enjoy a deserved adult beverage.  Cisco
 
 
 
 

3rd update!  I managed to add my SuperCool avatar picture and downloaded Adobe Photo Express (its free and so far intuitive) to edit my photos.  Searching MSW the sideways pictures problem shows up a lot and is possibly due to large file sizes so I decreased the bytes or pixels or whatever and heres hoping they stay upright.   If you didn't guess I don't like computers and they don't like me.  But a necessary evil.
 
I finished gluing in the bulkheads with yellow glue which seems to get everywhere but is very solid.  Per the Hunt Practicum next step is to add the very thin aft/poop subdeck.  First I leveled the top of the bulkheads by filing them flat; one I had to glue a strip from the subdeck "sprue" as it was too low.

 
Next I had to attach the subdeck to the curved surface of the bulkheads.  The practicum has you push tiny pins through the top of the subdeck into the bulkheads, then pull them out once the glue dries.  I tried a different approach- overbend the subdeck and hold it in place with rubber bands.  So first step is bending the subdeck.  When I built the Model Shipways LongBoat I spent so much time bending the planks by soaking them in warm water for a while, then rubber banding them to cans or glasses to impart a curve, and leaving them overnight to dry.  They would usually end up curved like I wanted but took forever to dry, and whenever I clamped them no matter how dry they seemed they were always still a bit wet and would dent.  Then they eventually dried out and shrank and left a gap. 
So I decided to try the Chuck technique of minimal water used mainly as a heat transfer device and let heat melt the lignins.  The thin subdeck is very flexible so bending it is easy.  After spritzing both sides with a small amount of water spread evenly with my finger I used some string to tie the subdeck bent around a coffee cup.

Then I attached my blowdrier to the workbench (actually my woodworking sharpening station) with spring clamps, turned it on Low Heat and dried the water off.  After the top part was dry I took off the strings and the back was still wet so I dried it by just holding in bent in my hand.  As long as the heat isn't directly hitting your fingers its not bad and took about 10-20 seconds each side.  And presto, dried with a nice curve.  And I didn't have to leave it overnight.  While this was a very thin piece of wood compared to some of the planking strips I hope this is a prelude on how much easier this method is.

Now that the subdeck was bent (overbent on purpose) I did a test run with rubber bands and that seemed to hold it in place pretty well so I forgoed using the tiny nails.  Once fitted in place there were some tiny lift-ups that I added pencils to direct downward force and it all seemed to work pretty well.



And finally here are 3 pics of my finished MS LongBoat.  Lighting in the basement is from the ceiling so it shadows the lower parts of the hull, another thing to work on.  I felt that many model ship bases were too short, running from the stern to the prow, with the bowsprit sticking out waiting to be caught on something, so I made my base extra big.  Maybe too big in hindsight it may overwhelm the model some. 
 


 

 
Thanks for reading.  Have a great night, Cisco

After completing my Washington Galley, I am ready to start a new project.  I will start on the HMS Crocodile of 1781.  The Crocodile was a 24 gun Porcupine class post ship.  It is a sister ship of the famous HMS Pandora of 1779.  It was a ship of no particular significance and was wrecked off Prawle Point, England in 1784.  I chose the Crocodile for several reasons.  Firstly, I was looking to do a small frigate that would be a "reasonable size" at 1:48 scale.  Secondly, I wanted to do a ship that I have never seen anyone build before.  Thirdly, I really like the look of the ship in the drawings that are available from the NMM.  
 
I purchased the plans of the ship from the National Maritime Museum.  The plans include the figurehead and stern carvings.  I am blown away by the beauty of the original drafting and that the plans are still in good shape after over 240 years.  I have been working for several months drafting working drawings in TurboCad.  I am hoping to finish the model over the next 8+ years.
 
I would like to thank a number of people before I even get started.  I followed Wayne Kempson's article Drafting Ship Plans in CAD from the NRG homepage almost from start to finish to draft the lines plans for Crocodile.  I also have worn out the drafting section of Ed Tosti's Naiad book and David Antscherl's Fully Framed Model series.  I do not think it would have been possible for me to draft a set of plans for a fully framed model without all of their work.   Allan Yedlinsky's book Scantlings of Royal Navy Ships 1719-1805 has also been immensely helpful.  Finally thank you to all the members of MSW going back to the original MSW for all the inspiration and for answering questions over the years.  I don't think I would ever have even dreamed of starting a model of this complexity without seeing all the great work done by so many amazing modelers over the years.
 
Adam

Cockpit complete, with control lines fitted. Have also repainted the fuselage, ready for the tensars.

So, at last we moved on to the next stage. I must admit to some difficulties getting here. Firstly, the little 3mm brackets that go in the corners. What a nightmare.
 
There are 28 of them, and talk about fiddly. It took me a few days to work out a method. Problem is they are so small, have to be glued into a restricted area, and held whilst the glue dries. Even the best CA takes a while. Eventually I came up with using a tiny dot of Blue tack on the frame, sticking one end of the bracket in, then leaning the other end to touch the frame. Glue that on, leave 24 hours, then remove Blue tack and glue the 2nd end.
 
Once that was done, a few more spars to add, but again, I managed to break a couple in fitting. I must learn that cast pieces have absolutely no play in them whatever.
 
Never mind, all now fixed, and next job will be the seat bulkhead.
 
 

The fuselage is now largely together. It has, I must admit been taxing. Having spent several hours filing the moulding lines off, I then find that the lugs to which one affixes the brass joiners are mostly too large, and again need further, quite difficult shaping. 
 
When it came to joining it all together, I am afraid I found that some of the shaping was 'off', and the frame needed very slight pressure on the joins. That is when I realised how brittle was the metal, and I am afraid some pieces snapped off. All I can say is thank heavens for CA glue, I really do not know how else it would have worked.
 
The other little tip is that the width of the frame is approximately the same as a wooden toothpick, which proved invaluable to mend a strut on the tail!
 
So, down to page 17 now, wish me luck.

Progress so far. The painting is certainly fine, but very enjoyable. These parts are now set aside, whilst I file, and assemble the fuselage. I have noticed that instead of supplying parts M23  and M24, they have given me 2 x M23. No matter, the cockpit assembly sits on these spars, and instead of pinning the  cockpit in, I will glue it to the spar instead. Hope that makes sense!

Well, that's the first 2 hours or so!
 
I love the comment on the box, easy to build. Hate to get a difficult one. Never mind, we all like a challenge, that's what makes it fun.
 
Very interesting the transition between wooden models, and metal. I am finding each bend a 'heart in the mouth ' moment. At least with wood, you can craft another piece. Let's just hope there aren't too many accidents.

Having completed all projects, I am now to unbox and start on the Fokker. Not done an aeroplane since I was a boy in the ATC, so very different. Also, this is largely a metal kit, so new skills required. I am not generally good at keeping up with blogs, so I promise I will try and keep things up to date. So wish me luck, and speak soon!

Is there a particular pilot you are doing? or just an exemplar of the type?
 
Whichever, I'm down for this...

Log #76: Anchor Cable & Rails
I have a fairly small update for today.
 
I had intended to show pictures of my work on the yards, but after two days of work and 6 failed attempts at rigging blocks to a standard I am willing to accept I decided I would postpone an update on them till the next log post.
 
In the meantime I decided to secure the anchor cable to the windlass before too many ropes start to clutter the deck.

It is delicate work at this point trying to do this sort of thing without catching anything. I have to make sure I am fully in the zone for this and at all times am aware of where my hands are.
 
At this point I also replaced the belaying pins which I had previously broken when trying to get the bowsprit in place.

I also decided to get the rope that runs through the stantions in place and to add some knotted ropes to help with anyone trying to get on the ship.

And here is the current status of her. Thanks for stopping by.

It's hard to believe it's been almost three years since my last post! 
 
Not much but, the stairs just dangle past the gun deck, so I made an orlop deck from scratch.
 

Log #75: Odds and Ends
Thanks to everyone that stopped by and for the suggestions. I still have not decided what to do with the spare spars, but based on @druxey’s advice I am not going to stick them on the deck. Likely some combination of lashed to the shrouds or potentially putting the storm topgallant on the railing sticking out the back.
 
In the meantime I have been finishing up some odds and ends in preparation for work on the upper mainmast moving towards the topgallant. First up, the yards themselves are finished now and ready to start having the rigging attached to them.

I had some issues attaching the cleats? or whatever they are called at the ends of the yards as they are so small. I think in the future despite the fact that it makes painting more difficult I would make sure all the shaping is fully done before I start painting.
 
I also prepared the top of the mainmast to add the pendant for the topsail yard.

As this will be quite visible at the top of the model I gave them a bit more care and decided to add in a simulated bolt. Finally I finished securing and adding rope coils for the remaining lines I had not yet done. The inner tie was secured to the bits and I laid a coil against them. The inspiration for this came from a painting of a cutter that I saw in someone’s build log, but can’t remember which one anymore.

You can see I have put the cable for the anchor in place, but I have not fixed it down as I want to be able to move it if necessary as I do the rigging.
 
The sheet for the mainsail was coiled around the cleat on the boom.

And finally I started experimenting with rope hanks. This is for the outer tie or peak halliard which is secured with two single blocks attached with a hook to an eyebolt on the larboard channels.

The excess rope was coiled in a hank on the nearest shroud cleat. Still not entirely pleased with it, but I learned a lot. Once I get my method figured out I will probably post about it in more detail.

Thanks all for the kudos!🤗
 
Greg, I got that clamp from Micro Mark. I've had for a number of years, but rarely had a chance to use it. I'll probably use it again once I get to fabricating the various ship's hold framings on the spar deck.

Great work, Jon, as usual!  I am always looking for new and interesting hobby tools.  Where did you find the four-corner brace/brackets in the 1st photo of this post?
 
And... for what it's worth, I have admiration for what both you and Mustafa (and Peter aka Der Alte Rentner, as well) are doing with your Constitutions!  I took advantage of Model Shipways recent sale and have added the Constitution to my shipyard.  Couldn't pass up a great deal on an iconic ship.  Besides the fact that I have some great modelers who have paved the way in front of me!  Carry on, sir! 

While all of this was going on, I was also busy rigging four more sets of guns to match pace with the gun deck construction. These had to be in position before I could glue into place the dining partition, the Commodore’s pantry, and the spar deck floor beams. The partition doors were then installed in an open configuration leading into the dining area. The last item was installing the mizzen mast supports giving the future mast a 5° rake.

When I dry fitted the spar deck floor beam to the partition. I neglected to account for the effect it would have on the partition doors. I had drawn them too tall. Also, I noticed that the printed panels and doors were not to my liking, and the pasting work on the pantry front was not centered properly. So, all the printing and pasting had to be done over, as well as making new shorter doors.

Half Column on Commodore’s Pantry
The next component was the half column at the center of the forward end of the pantry. This was fabricated just like the column aft of the stove, however one side was flattened using a block sander until only a half column remained. The half column was then glued to the front of the pantry.

Construction of the Commodore’s pantry was made from three identical pieces of 1/32” plywood based on the US Navy plans and four vertical glueing surfaces. Using a four-way clamp, the three pantry walls were glued together. Next the two corners were filed to rounded them off. The partition was then dry fitted on the gun deck again for the image below.

I cut the doors out of the plywood using an X-acto knife to add some depth in this space. Door handles were made from some bent wire to add some three dimensional detail. Should one be curious enough to look closely with a flashlight, the open doors will give a glimpse to the dining area. The open doors themselves will be added once the pantry is installed.

I'll also add this wonderful and kind of funny email from Larry Ward of USSCMSG who confirms that I am the captain and may do as I see fit 😂👍🏽:
Hi Adrienne,
  You have delved into a fascinating and confusing subject about which scant information is available, i.e. what did early frigates look like?  And since all serious model builders are hyper about details, you have plenty of company.    As to the colors used on USN sailing ships, in the first place the color scheme was determined by the Captain. And each Captain had his own preference, And each ship had several different Captains. And there were hundreds of ships, large and small. So, there are a thousand different possibilities. Which infers no matter what you decide, your chances of being correct are very positive in as much as there must have been at least one Captain who agreed with you. So, you as the builder are right, and no one can say you are wrong. Black hull, White gun stripe, Brown hull, Ochre gun stripe, whatever you like, you are the Captain.   Prehistoric Ochre was a favorite color of the early cave men who used it to decorate their caves. Lord Nelson wasn't that old, but Ochre was also his favorite color, for his ship, the HMS Victory, which was painted Black hull and Ochre gun stripes. Soon all the British ships were painted the same as Nelson's ship because the Captains wanted to emulate their boss. (Good career move kind of thing).   In the beginning the Constitution sometimes used the same scheme, depending on the Captain's preferences. But so as not to be confused with a British ship, the White gun strip became the most popular color for the gun stripe.    It used to drive the constructors nuts, but the Captains preference also ruled the number and size of the guns aboard the Constitution. And the design features were also subject to what the Captain wanted, For instance sometimes the waist was open and with another Captain it was closed.