dcicero

Last weekend, I attended the annual Tri-Club meeting, a gathering of the three Chicago-area ship modeling clubs.  I had a great time, saw some terrific models, heard some great presentations and talked with some really knowledgeable model builders.  I also scored a parts organizer which someone threw on the table for free.  It has found a good home!  I wish I'd taken a picture of my workbench prior to spending some time organizing it.  Here's what it looks like now.  The improvement is dramatic.
 

 
Now, with a nice clean workbench, I started on the bowsprit.
 
I have one little quibble with the materials in the kit. Get a load of the 1/8" dowels from which the bowsprit, gaff and boom must be made.
 

 
Looks like I'm going to need to replace that because there aren't enough straight sections to make the parts from.
 
I did manage to find enough straight stuff to make a bowsprit.
 

 
I made a little jig to make drilling the holes for the sheave easier.  On the mast, I just eye-balled it.  That worked, but I wanted to use my new carbide drill bits and, because those things don't flex at all, I thought it would be better to put them on the drill press.
 
The jig is just a couple of pieces of scrap wood to hold the stock in place.
 

 

 
I taped it down to keep it from moving around and then put it in a drill press vice.  That thing is going nowhere!
 

 

 
So off I went, drilling happily along.
 
I knew something had gone horribly wrong when I pulled the stock out of the jig.  Notice how off-center those holes look?  I really did try to line that up properly and I had the drill press vice clamped to the table, so it didn't move.  Must have just been the angle I was looking at it that made it look centered on the top of the stock.
 

 
It didn't get any better when I looked at the bowsprit.  (This was tough to photograph, so I ran a little piece of black wire through one of the holes to show how off-center they were.)
 

 
I figured that, if I left it that way, anyone sighting down the centerline of the model would notice the asymmetry.  This needed to be done again.  
 
Second time was the charm.  See those holes down the center of the jig?
 

 
And here's the final product, a much better result.
 

 
I had tried, with the first attempt, to turn the bowsprit on my lathe, but the truth of it is that's just overkill.  The taper on the bowsprit is not very severe and using the lathe is time consuming.  I tried a technique Doc Williams has suggested.  I chucked the stock in the drill press and just used sandpaper to sand it down to the final dimensions.  That worked really well.
 
I painted the aft end of the bowsprit and left it to dry last night.  The forward end will get done tonight, along with, probably, the aft iron band.  More pictures to come.
 
 
 
 
 
Dan
 
 
 
 

Last weekend, I attended the annual Tri-Club meeting, a gathering of the three Chicago-area ship modeling clubs.  I had a great time, saw some terrific models, heard some great presentations and talked with some really knowledgeable model builders.  I also scored a parts organizer which someone threw on the table for free.  It has found a good home!  I wish I'd taken a picture of my workbench prior to spending some time organizing it.  Here's what it looks like now.  The improvement is dramatic.
 

 
Now, with a nice clean workbench, I started on the bowsprit.
 
I have one little quibble with the materials in the kit. Get a load of the 1/8" dowels from which the bowsprit, gaff and boom must be made.
 

 
Looks like I'm going to need to replace that because there aren't enough straight sections to make the parts from.
 
I did manage to find enough straight stuff to make a bowsprit.
 

 
I made a little jig to make drilling the holes for the sheave easier.  On the mast, I just eye-balled it.  That worked, but I wanted to use my new carbide drill bits and, because those things don't flex at all, I thought it would be better to put them on the drill press.
 
The jig is just a couple of pieces of scrap wood to hold the stock in place.
 

 

 
I taped it down to keep it from moving around and then put it in a drill press vice.  That thing is going nowhere!
 

 

 
So off I went, drilling happily along.
 
I knew something had gone horribly wrong when I pulled the stock out of the jig.  Notice how off-center those holes look?  I really did try to line that up properly and I had the drill press vice clamped to the table, so it didn't move.  Must have just been the angle I was looking at it that made it look centered on the top of the stock.
 

 
It didn't get any better when I looked at the bowsprit.  (This was tough to photograph, so I ran a little piece of black wire through one of the holes to show how off-center they were.)
 

 
I figured that, if I left it that way, anyone sighting down the centerline of the model would notice the asymmetry.  This needed to be done again.  
 
Second time was the charm.  See those holes down the center of the jig?
 

 
And here's the final product, a much better result.
 

 
I had tried, with the first attempt, to turn the bowsprit on my lathe, but the truth of it is that's just overkill.  The taper on the bowsprit is not very severe and using the lathe is time consuming.  I tried a technique Doc Williams has suggested.  I chucked the stock in the drill press and just used sandpaper to sand it down to the final dimensions.  That worked really well.
 
I painted the aft end of the bowsprit and left it to dry last night.  The forward end will get done tonight, along with, probably, the aft iron band.  More pictures to come.
 
 
 
 
 
Dan
 
 
 
 

Last weekend, I attended the annual Tri-Club meeting, a gathering of the three Chicago-area ship modeling clubs.  I had a great time, saw some terrific models, heard some great presentations and talked with some really knowledgeable model builders.  I also scored a parts organizer which someone threw on the table for free.  It has found a good home!  I wish I'd taken a picture of my workbench prior to spending some time organizing it.  Here's what it looks like now.  The improvement is dramatic.
 

 
Now, with a nice clean workbench, I started on the bowsprit.
 
I have one little quibble with the materials in the kit. Get a load of the 1/8" dowels from which the bowsprit, gaff and boom must be made.
 

 
Looks like I'm going to need to replace that because there aren't enough straight sections to make the parts from.
 
I did manage to find enough straight stuff to make a bowsprit.
 

 
I made a little jig to make drilling the holes for the sheave easier.  On the mast, I just eye-balled it.  That worked, but I wanted to use my new carbide drill bits and, because those things don't flex at all, I thought it would be better to put them on the drill press.
 
The jig is just a couple of pieces of scrap wood to hold the stock in place.
 

 

 
I taped it down to keep it from moving around and then put it in a drill press vice.  That thing is going nowhere!
 

 

 
So off I went, drilling happily along.
 
I knew something had gone horribly wrong when I pulled the stock out of the jig.  Notice how off-center those holes look?  I really did try to line that up properly and I had the drill press vice clamped to the table, so it didn't move.  Must have just been the angle I was looking at it that made it look centered on the top of the stock.
 

 
It didn't get any better when I looked at the bowsprit.  (This was tough to photograph, so I ran a little piece of black wire through one of the holes to show how off-center they were.)
 

 
I figured that, if I left it that way, anyone sighting down the centerline of the model would notice the asymmetry.  This needed to be done again.  
 
Second time was the charm.  See those holes down the center of the jig?
 

 
And here's the final product, a much better result.
 

 
I had tried, with the first attempt, to turn the bowsprit on my lathe, but the truth of it is that's just overkill.  The taper on the bowsprit is not very severe and using the lathe is time consuming.  I tried a technique Doc Williams has suggested.  I chucked the stock in the drill press and just used sandpaper to sand it down to the final dimensions.  That worked really well.
 
I painted the aft end of the bowsprit and left it to dry last night.  The forward end will get done tonight, along with, probably, the aft iron band.  More pictures to come.
 
 
 
 
 
Dan
 
 
 
 

It's time I got around to working on my 18th Century Longboat.  I'm about six months behind my fellow Tri-Club Members.  (I'm a member of the Nautical Research & Model Ship Society of Chicago.)  My excuse? I was finishing up Scottish Maid.  This was my first model -- since I was a teenager, anyway -- and it took me eight years to finish.
 
Granted, my wife and I had two kids during that eight years and there were several years when nothing got done, but still -- start to finish -- eight years.
 
I think it turned out really well, though.  I entered it in the 37th Annual Model Ships and Boats Contest and Display.  On May 18th, it was awarded a Gold Award and I got received the Best Novice Builder Award.  I'm still walking on air.  It was the culmination of a lot of work.  The ship was judged by people who really know what they're looking at and the contest was held in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.  I grew up near there, in Green Bay.  It was like being recognized by the people of my native land.  (For those who don't know, life in Wisconsin, is very different from life in Illinois, where I live now.  I live near Chicago, a city of 2.6 million, about 8 million in the metro area.  Green Bay, when I was growing up, had a population of 47,000.  There is no metro area ... unless cow pastures count.)
 
Anyway, while others in the Tri-Club were making progress on their longboats, I was toiling away on Scottish Maid.
 
 

Made a little progress over the past week or so.  I made the ball truck.  There's not too much to that, just a lot of sanding to get the proper shape and thickness.  I had a take a couple of runs at getting the holes drilled in a proper square.  As you can see, there was some wood filler involved.
 

 
And then I assembled the whole thing and completed painting it.
 
The mast is finished!
 

 
 
 
Dan

Thanks, Toni and David.  I found the website to buy replacement bits in packs of 5:  http://drillcity.stores.yahoo.net/5pacresdrilb.html  I'm guessing I'm going to have those early next week.
 
I made the second (smaller) band without any trouble at all.  "This is easy!" I thought, and went merrily along into the third one ... and this happened.  The first hole I drilled with just the bits, turning them like a pin vice.  For this one, I used the Dremel, but was unable to hold it straight and steady enough to drill precisely.  (I have an old Dremel from the 1980's.  The newer ones are much less bulky.)
 

 
The brass strip is only 1/16" wide, so any error is going to make drilling the hole difficult.
 
Taking Toni's advice, I got out my drill press.  It's not a hobby drill press, so it's big for the job, but it is very stable and I have a nice drill press vice for it, so I can hold a workpiece steady.  As with most things drill press, setting the machine up takes more time than the actual work.  Here's the set-up:
 

 
And here's the final product:
 

 
A little trimming and dressing and I had this:
 

 
Just to check fit, I put them on the mast.
 

 
Looking good so far.  Now I need to make the ball truck install everything and paint the mast.
 
 
 
Dan
 
 

Made a little progress over the past week or so.  I made the ball truck.  There's not too much to that, just a lot of sanding to get the proper shape and thickness.  I had a take a couple of runs at getting the holes drilled in a proper square.  As you can see, there was some wood filler involved.
 

 
And then I assembled the whole thing and completed painting it.
 
The mast is finished!
 

 
 
 
Dan

Made a little progress over the past week or so.  I made the ball truck.  There's not too much to that, just a lot of sanding to get the proper shape and thickness.  I had a take a couple of runs at getting the holes drilled in a proper square.  As you can see, there was some wood filler involved.
 

 
And then I assembled the whole thing and completed painting it.
 
The mast is finished!
 

 
 
 
Dan

I did a presentation on masts and spars for the club I belong to.  (Shameless plug for the The Nautical Research and Model Ship Society of Chicago.)  I've attached the presentation.  I use a small lathe made by Harbor Freight Tools, a digital caliper and a file.
 
Hope this helps!
 
 
 
Dan
Masts and Spars.pdf

With the platforms completed, the risers were next.  I used two spacers to make sure the distance between the cap rail and risers was correct.  The miniature clamps were a big help, although they did have a nasty habit of popping off, if I bumped them!

Not having the frieze strips glued in place also paid off here, since there was a good chance that they would have gotten damaged.  Never the less, I still managed to nick the red paint job on the cap rail in a few places.


After scribing and pre-bending the strips, I decided to put the simulated nail heads in before the risers were mounted.  The last photo shows the port riser and the front face of the storage locker in place.
 
BobF

Progress!
 
First, I want to put in a plug for Drill Bit City.  I ordered a set of carbide drill bits (shown below).  I swear, I hadn't even hit "Send" before they showed up on my doorstep.  I ordered them on Monday night and had them on Wednesday when I got home from work.
 

 
I was figuring I'd have to wait a week to get them, so I was thinking about what I could do in the meantime to make the bottom mast band.  I thought, what if I soldered some little pices of brass on the strip and made a hole instead of drilling one?
 
Like this:
 
Step 1:  Bend the brass strip around the mast.
 

 
Step 2:  Solder small pieces of brass on the strip with a gap between them.
 

 
The crimp the strip around the mast and solder everything together, leaving a hole.  (I figured I'd have to drill down through the soft solder, but that wouldn't be a problem and I wouldn't have to twist the brass strip to make a flat surface to drill down through.
 

 
So that's what I did.  And here's the result, after trimming the ends off and dressing everything with a file.
 

 
As usual, no operation goes flawlessly the first time.  I did damage one of my brand new drill bits.  (Note:  carbide does not flex!)  Once I learned my lesson, the rest of the drilling operation went perfectly.  I love those drill bits.  They made quick, accurate work of this job.
 
I probably over-thought this -- nothing new for me there! -- but it was an interesting problem to solve.  The other two bands are simpler because you just have to bend the strip around the mast, solder and drill, so a lot less thinking involved in those!
 
With all this practice, I'm getting a lot faster and more accurate with soldering, too.
 
 
 
 
Dan

Progress!
 
First, I want to put in a plug for Drill Bit City.  I ordered a set of carbide drill bits (shown below).  I swear, I hadn't even hit "Send" before they showed up on my doorstep.  I ordered them on Monday night and had them on Wednesday when I got home from work.
 

 
I was figuring I'd have to wait a week to get them, so I was thinking about what I could do in the meantime to make the bottom mast band.  I thought, what if I soldered some little pices of brass on the strip and made a hole instead of drilling one?
 
Like this:
 
Step 1:  Bend the brass strip around the mast.
 

 
Step 2:  Solder small pieces of brass on the strip with a gap between them.
 

 
The crimp the strip around the mast and solder everything together, leaving a hole.  (I figured I'd have to drill down through the soft solder, but that wouldn't be a problem and I wouldn't have to twist the brass strip to make a flat surface to drill down through.
 

 
So that's what I did.  And here's the result, after trimming the ends off and dressing everything with a file.
 

 
As usual, no operation goes flawlessly the first time.  I did damage one of my brand new drill bits.  (Note:  carbide does not flex!)  Once I learned my lesson, the rest of the drilling operation went perfectly.  I love those drill bits.  They made quick, accurate work of this job.
 
I probably over-thought this -- nothing new for me there! -- but it was an interesting problem to solve.  The other two bands are simpler because you just have to bend the strip around the mast, solder and drill, so a lot less thinking involved in those!
 
With all this practice, I'm getting a lot faster and more accurate with soldering, too.
 
 
 
 
Dan

It's been a month since I posted anything, but it's been an eventful month.  The rudder has been giving me fits, but I finally finished it off.
 
Sanding the rudder to its final shape is straightforward.  Nothing much to that.  Once that was done, I decided to paint it.  Had a little trouble with that because the paint bled under the tape.  Tried to fix that.  The fix didn't work very well.  Continued anyway...
 
I needed to make the pintels and gudgeons.  I started by bending the brass strip over a piece of scrap wood the same thickness as the rudder.  Better to mess this up, I thought, than the actual rudder.
 

 
Then I tried to glue the 28 gauge wire into the bent piece of brass to finish the pintel.  I tried CA glue.  No go. The thing just fell right out.  No problem, I thought.  I'll solder it in.
 
I found my 1983 vintage 20W soldering iron -- the one with the completely corroded tip -- my old Radio Shack resin-core solder and went at it.  The result:  disaster.  Big glob of solder and a cold solder joint.  Kurt Van Dahm set me straight.  I needed to upgrade my soldering rig.  I bought a new soldering iron from Radio Shack.  (Probably should have ordered a Weller from Amazon, but I didn't want to wait for it.)  I got some acid flux and 50/50 Lead/Tin solder from Ace Hardware.  That's what's needed for soldering brass.
 
I used my Helping Hands as a jig to hold the wire and the piece of brass strip.
 

 
The results were great.
 

 
I blackened the pintels using Birchwood Casey Brass Black.  I really like the finish you get with the Birchwood Casey, but I've found getting a really tenacious finish takes a lot of iterations.  And even when I go through that effort, if I have to work with the piece much, it does seem to rub off.  That's what happened with the pintels.  I didn't get them exactly in the right place the first time, so some of the finish rubbed off on the rudder itself.
 
By now, the rudder was starting to look really rough:  bad paint, stains from the pintels.  It was junk.  I made another one, figuring I could learn from my mistakes.
 

 
The second time around, I was much more careful about masking the paint job.  And I made sure not to leave behind any residue from the Birchwood Casey.  I also touched the brass up with paint, which won't rub off.  The results, I thought, were really good.
 
I applied the first coat of Watco's Danish Wood Oil.  No problems.  I applied the friezes using white glue.  Simple enough.  I carved the tiller from a piece of 1/16" x 1/16" stock.  That took a while, but turned out pretty well.  To attach the tiller to the rudder, I drilled a small hole in the end of the tiller and, using CA glue, stuck a piece of wire in the end.  Then I drilled a small hole in the tiller head and, again with the CA glue, tacked the tiller into place.
 
Installing the eyebolt in the transom was, again, simple enough.  The lower gudgeon was a little trickier because 1) it has a compound curve that you need to bend into place and 2) it has to line up with the pintel on the rudder in a straight line.  I actually thought that alignment was going to be harder than it was, but it went into place the first time.
 
This is a small piece, but there's a lot involved in it:  ten pieces and ten different materials (basswood, brass strip, brass wire, paper, white glue, CA glue, solder, paint, Birchwood Casey, Watco's) ... oh, and a month's work.
 
 
 
 
Dan
 
 

 

 

 

 
 

I've been pretty busy lately, so not a lot of progress has been made on my longboat.  Got some stuff done over the weekend, though, so I figured it was time for an update.
 
A couple of weeks ago, I brought the model up to Manitowoc, WI for the 38th Annual Model Ships and Boats Show and Contest at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum.  What a great event in a great location!  Obviously, the longboat was there just for display this year.  Next year, it'll be in the contest.
 

 
Back in the workshop and motivated by all the great models I saw in Manitowoc, I started installing the knees around the boat.  There really isn't much to this.  They go in pretty easily for the most part.
 
 
 

 
The two knees in the bow and the part that fits around the bow itself were a little trickier.  I got the knees in last night (and didn't take a picture) and the bow piece is going to take a little surgery.  The part in the kit needed to be sanded down quite a lot to fit the bow, to the point where it really didn't look correct.  I'll take a swing at making a new part and fitting it in.
 
Next came the windlass.  I was a little apprehensive about this part.  Bob Filipowski made a presentation at our last NRMSS meeting about how he made his windlass.  Looked like a tricky operation.  Here's how I did it.
 
The first thing I needed to figure out was how to make those eight sides all parallel to the centerline of the windlass.  I cut the square stock and marked the locations of the various sections of the windlass.  I plunked the square stock on my building board.  That held it securely in place and gave me a reference to the centerline of the windlass. 
 

 
Then I carefully sanded, using a sanding stick, parallel to the building board.  It only took, maybe, four passes with the sanding stick to finish off one of the sides.
 

 
As the instructions say, I scored the lines between the sections to make them stand out more.  And I made the square holes almost the same way Chuck did.  The difference? The business end of my square file is square, but the other end is round.  I had to use the business end, which worked out fine.  (Getting the sawdust out of those little holes was a little tricky!)
 
Then I drilled holes in the end of the windlass and put short pieces of wire in them.  Here they are, prior to trimming.
 

 
I wish I'd taken a picture of the end of the windlass.  You can clearly see eight sides, all nice and symmetrical.
 
And so here it is, installed.
 

 

 
Chuck mentions that the wire axles on the end of the windlass need to be short.  He's right about that.  I ended up trimming them down to almost nothing to get them to fit into the small holes in the risers.  Once installed, though, the thing rotates just as it should!
 
I didn't take pictures of them yesterday, but I also installed the two lifting rings in the bottom of the boat.  They look good and add a nice level of detail to this model.  More pictures of that stuff to follow.
 
 
 
 
Dan
 
 

I've made some progress on the thwarts.  I just realized I neglected to take a picture of the boat with them narrow thwarts installed, but here's what I did manage to document.
 
My first attempt at getting the thwarts in didn't turn out all that well.  I scribed the grooves in the stock and cut it to the lengths needed, leaving plenty of extra for trimming.  I marked the locations on the risers based on their locations on the plans.  Then I looked at the pictures in the instruction book ... and they didn't match.  I started putting the thwarts in based on the pictures.  That was a mistake.  The distances between them were off.
 
I removed the ones that were clearly not in the right place.  (They were the ones not lined up with the marks on the risers.)  Then I made a simple template to help me get them installed and lined up properly.
 

 
Everything went fine after that and they look really good, if I do say so myself.  (Photo to follow.)
 
That was it for the narrow thwarts.  The wider one -- the one that accepts the mast -- is a little more complex.  The instructions say this thwart should be "made using a 3/16" wide strip."  Here's what a 3/16" wide strip looks like when placed on the plans.
 

 
See?  Too narrow.  I happened to have a piece of 1/4" stock laying around.  that dimension lines up with the plans better.
 

 
Using a ruler, I drew the correct width on the stock and then free-handed the aft profile.  I used the mast dowel to make sure I had a 5/32" semicircle for the cutout.
 

 
Then I just cut it all out.  My freehand drawing on the blank needed a little modification to get symetrical, but it worked out alright.
 

 

 

 
Here's another thing.  The dowel in the kit is warped.  You can see it in this photo.
 

 
I considered replacing it with a 5/32" walnut dowel I had, but then I thought I could make this one work.  The warp only affects the end of the dowel, so I can cut that part out and have a straight dowel of the proper length.  That's what's going to happen.
 
I've been told my mast-making technique is a extreme.  What's what I'm into:  extreme model building.  Grabbing a giant Mountain Dew, I donned my crash helmet, knee and shoulder pads and bungee jumped into it.
 
On a copy of the plans, I recorded the width of the mast at 1/2" intervals, using a digital caliper to make the measurements.
 

 
Next, I'll chuck the stock into my lathe and turn it down to the final dimensions.  This isn't a big mast and that taper isn't that severe, so this should be fairly straightforward.
 
More to follow.
 
 
 
Dan

The aft platform is in ... and the forward one has been made and is ready for installation.
 
I saw The Lego Movie this weekend with the kids.  (Don't laugh.  It's really very good.)  There's a lesson in the movie about following the instructions and how that's not always the best plan.  Ignore that.  Follow the instructions.  Here's why.
 
Instead of following the instructions, which say to make the template then make up the blank for the platforms, I did the opposite.  I looked at the photos, counted the number of planks I needed and made up the blank.  Then, while the glue was drying, I made up a template to allow me to cut the blank to shape.
 
Bad plan because, in truing up the edges of the planks, I needed more planks to make a proper aft platform.
 

 
See?  Not wide enough.  I made another blank, wider this time, and everything worked out fine.  I did make one, small alteration.  When I glued the planks together, even though I let them set up under a weight, there was some bowing of the platform.
 

 
I put a small piece of planking material on the bottom of the platform, between the frames.  That flattened it right out.
 
 
 
Here's the final result.
 

 

 
 
 
 
Dan
 
 

Here's the platform cut to the required shape.  The port and starboard sides were beveled to a sharp edge on the underside.  I wanted to get as clean a fit as possible.  If you look closely, you can see a rectangular box marked on the middle plank.  This area will be removed, which is the reason that strip of wood on the underside of the platform did not go completely across.

It was quite common for these boats to be used to assist the parent ship in retrieving it's anchor.  This was done using a windlass like the one featured in the kit, and a davit that hung over the stern.  The next illustration was taken from The Arming and Fitting of English Ships of War 1600 - 1815 by Brian Lavery, and illustrates how this davit was positioned.  Note the notch in the bottom of the davit that fits over a pin located below the platform.

I made a mock-up of the davit, and placed it in position to see if the location was feasible.

It appeared to be reasonable, so the area was cut out, and a blackened brass pin, set in two blocks, was glued in the proper location.

At this point, I cut back the forward end of the platform, and installed a thin strip of wood, which I feel gives the assembly a more finished look.


Like the forward platform and floor boards, I used black paint brush bristles to simulate the nail heads.
 
BobF

Like the forward platform, I wanted to use a spacer of some sort to support the template at the correct height inside the hull.  This one turned out to be a little more involved, but it wasn't difficult to make.

A rough form of the template was laid on top of the spacer, and small pieces of card stock were glued in place to get the final shape.


The planks for the platform were joined together by cutting shallow grooves in the bottom of each plank, and gluing thin strips in the grooves.  Even though still quite thin, the assembly was fairly rigid.

I'll explain in my next post why I didn't run that middle strip all the way across.

The last photo shows the shape of the template transfered to the platform, which is ready for shaping.
 
BobF
 

It's been a month since I posted anything, but it's been an eventful month.  The rudder has been giving me fits, but I finally finished it off.
 
Sanding the rudder to its final shape is straightforward.  Nothing much to that.  Once that was done, I decided to paint it.  Had a little trouble with that because the paint bled under the tape.  Tried to fix that.  The fix didn't work very well.  Continued anyway...
 
I needed to make the pintels and gudgeons.  I started by bending the brass strip over a piece of scrap wood the same thickness as the rudder.  Better to mess this up, I thought, than the actual rudder.
 

 
Then I tried to glue the 28 gauge wire into the bent piece of brass to finish the pintel.  I tried CA glue.  No go. The thing just fell right out.  No problem, I thought.  I'll solder it in.
 
I found my 1983 vintage 20W soldering iron -- the one with the completely corroded tip -- my old Radio Shack resin-core solder and went at it.  The result:  disaster.  Big glob of solder and a cold solder joint.  Kurt Van Dahm set me straight.  I needed to upgrade my soldering rig.  I bought a new soldering iron from Radio Shack.  (Probably should have ordered a Weller from Amazon, but I didn't want to wait for it.)  I got some acid flux and 50/50 Lead/Tin solder from Ace Hardware.  That's what's needed for soldering brass.
 
I used my Helping Hands as a jig to hold the wire and the piece of brass strip.
 

 
The results were great.
 

 
I blackened the pintels using Birchwood Casey Brass Black.  I really like the finish you get with the Birchwood Casey, but I've found getting a really tenacious finish takes a lot of iterations.  And even when I go through that effort, if I have to work with the piece much, it does seem to rub off.  That's what happened with the pintels.  I didn't get them exactly in the right place the first time, so some of the finish rubbed off on the rudder itself.
 
By now, the rudder was starting to look really rough:  bad paint, stains from the pintels.  It was junk.  I made another one, figuring I could learn from my mistakes.
 

 
The second time around, I was much more careful about masking the paint job.  And I made sure not to leave behind any residue from the Birchwood Casey.  I also touched the brass up with paint, which won't rub off.  The results, I thought, were really good.
 
I applied the first coat of Watco's Danish Wood Oil.  No problems.  I applied the friezes using white glue.  Simple enough.  I carved the tiller from a piece of 1/16" x 1/16" stock.  That took a while, but turned out pretty well.  To attach the tiller to the rudder, I drilled a small hole in the end of the tiller and, using CA glue, stuck a piece of wire in the end.  Then I drilled a small hole in the tiller head and, again with the CA glue, tacked the tiller into place.
 
Installing the eyebolt in the transom was, again, simple enough.  The lower gudgeon was a little trickier because 1) it has a compound curve that you need to bend into place and 2) it has to line up with the pintel on the rudder in a straight line.  I actually thought that alignment was going to be harder than it was, but it went into place the first time.
 
This is a small piece, but there's a lot involved in it:  ten pieces and ten different materials (basswood, brass strip, brass wire, paper, white glue, CA glue, solder, paint, Birchwood Casey, Watco's) ... oh, and a month's work.
 
 
 
 
Dan
 
 

 

 

 

 
 

It's been a month since I posted anything, but it's been an eventful month.  The rudder has been giving me fits, but I finally finished it off.
 
Sanding the rudder to its final shape is straightforward.  Nothing much to that.  Once that was done, I decided to paint it.  Had a little trouble with that because the paint bled under the tape.  Tried to fix that.  The fix didn't work very well.  Continued anyway...
 
I needed to make the pintels and gudgeons.  I started by bending the brass strip over a piece of scrap wood the same thickness as the rudder.  Better to mess this up, I thought, than the actual rudder.
 

 
Then I tried to glue the 28 gauge wire into the bent piece of brass to finish the pintel.  I tried CA glue.  No go. The thing just fell right out.  No problem, I thought.  I'll solder it in.
 
I found my 1983 vintage 20W soldering iron -- the one with the completely corroded tip -- my old Radio Shack resin-core solder and went at it.  The result:  disaster.  Big glob of solder and a cold solder joint.  Kurt Van Dahm set me straight.  I needed to upgrade my soldering rig.  I bought a new soldering iron from Radio Shack.  (Probably should have ordered a Weller from Amazon, but I didn't want to wait for it.)  I got some acid flux and 50/50 Lead/Tin solder from Ace Hardware.  That's what's needed for soldering brass.
 
I used my Helping Hands as a jig to hold the wire and the piece of brass strip.
 

 
The results were great.
 

 
I blackened the pintels using Birchwood Casey Brass Black.  I really like the finish you get with the Birchwood Casey, but I've found getting a really tenacious finish takes a lot of iterations.  And even when I go through that effort, if I have to work with the piece much, it does seem to rub off.  That's what happened with the pintels.  I didn't get them exactly in the right place the first time, so some of the finish rubbed off on the rudder itself.
 
By now, the rudder was starting to look really rough:  bad paint, stains from the pintels.  It was junk.  I made another one, figuring I could learn from my mistakes.
 

 
The second time around, I was much more careful about masking the paint job.  And I made sure not to leave behind any residue from the Birchwood Casey.  I also touched the brass up with paint, which won't rub off.  The results, I thought, were really good.
 
I applied the first coat of Watco's Danish Wood Oil.  No problems.  I applied the friezes using white glue.  Simple enough.  I carved the tiller from a piece of 1/16" x 1/16" stock.  That took a while, but turned out pretty well.  To attach the tiller to the rudder, I drilled a small hole in the end of the tiller and, using CA glue, stuck a piece of wire in the end.  Then I drilled a small hole in the tiller head and, again with the CA glue, tacked the tiller into place.
 
Installing the eyebolt in the transom was, again, simple enough.  The lower gudgeon was a little trickier because 1) it has a compound curve that you need to bend into place and 2) it has to line up with the pintel on the rudder in a straight line.  I actually thought that alignment was going to be harder than it was, but it went into place the first time.
 
This is a small piece, but there's a lot involved in it:  ten pieces and ten different materials (basswood, brass strip, brass wire, paper, white glue, CA glue, solder, paint, Birchwood Casey, Watco's) ... oh, and a month's work.
 
 
 
 
Dan
 
 

 

 

 

 
 

It's been a month since I posted anything, but it's been an eventful month.  The rudder has been giving me fits, but I finally finished it off.
 
Sanding the rudder to its final shape is straightforward.  Nothing much to that.  Once that was done, I decided to paint it.  Had a little trouble with that because the paint bled under the tape.  Tried to fix that.  The fix didn't work very well.  Continued anyway...
 
I needed to make the pintels and gudgeons.  I started by bending the brass strip over a piece of scrap wood the same thickness as the rudder.  Better to mess this up, I thought, than the actual rudder.
 

 
Then I tried to glue the 28 gauge wire into the bent piece of brass to finish the pintel.  I tried CA glue.  No go. The thing just fell right out.  No problem, I thought.  I'll solder it in.
 
I found my 1983 vintage 20W soldering iron -- the one with the completely corroded tip -- my old Radio Shack resin-core solder and went at it.  The result:  disaster.  Big glob of solder and a cold solder joint.  Kurt Van Dahm set me straight.  I needed to upgrade my soldering rig.  I bought a new soldering iron from Radio Shack.  (Probably should have ordered a Weller from Amazon, but I didn't want to wait for it.)  I got some acid flux and 50/50 Lead/Tin solder from Ace Hardware.  That's what's needed for soldering brass.
 
I used my Helping Hands as a jig to hold the wire and the piece of brass strip.
 

 
The results were great.
 

 
I blackened the pintels using Birchwood Casey Brass Black.  I really like the finish you get with the Birchwood Casey, but I've found getting a really tenacious finish takes a lot of iterations.  And even when I go through that effort, if I have to work with the piece much, it does seem to rub off.  That's what happened with the pintels.  I didn't get them exactly in the right place the first time, so some of the finish rubbed off on the rudder itself.
 
By now, the rudder was starting to look really rough:  bad paint, stains from the pintels.  It was junk.  I made another one, figuring I could learn from my mistakes.
 

 
The second time around, I was much more careful about masking the paint job.  And I made sure not to leave behind any residue from the Birchwood Casey.  I also touched the brass up with paint, which won't rub off.  The results, I thought, were really good.
 
I applied the first coat of Watco's Danish Wood Oil.  No problems.  I applied the friezes using white glue.  Simple enough.  I carved the tiller from a piece of 1/16" x 1/16" stock.  That took a while, but turned out pretty well.  To attach the tiller to the rudder, I drilled a small hole in the end of the tiller and, using CA glue, stuck a piece of wire in the end.  Then I drilled a small hole in the tiller head and, again with the CA glue, tacked the tiller into place.
 
Installing the eyebolt in the transom was, again, simple enough.  The lower gudgeon was a little trickier because 1) it has a compound curve that you need to bend into place and 2) it has to line up with the pintel on the rudder in a straight line.  I actually thought that alignment was going to be harder than it was, but it went into place the first time.
 
This is a small piece, but there's a lot involved in it:  ten pieces and ten different materials (basswood, brass strip, brass wire, paper, white glue, CA glue, solder, paint, Birchwood Casey, Watco's) ... oh, and a month's work.
 
 
 
 
Dan
 
 

 

 

 

 
 

Thank you, my friends, for your replies.
 
dgbot: I´m using just cardstock, for surface finishing ( decks, planking imitation etc. ) I´m using strips of foils - just like Doris is doing ( I learned this method from her ) I´m using wood just for masts and yards.
 
Karleop, Omega 1234: The scale 1:96 is normal for me, I´ve build all of my ships in this scale and I don´t want to change it. It´s just fact that these two are quite small  Most of my ships is quite big ( La Couronne is about 80 cm long )
 
Here are two photos for comparison: Pinta and Revenge, both hulls and La Couronne.
 
Jan

It's been a month since I posted anything, but it's been an eventful month.  The rudder has been giving me fits, but I finally finished it off.
 
Sanding the rudder to its final shape is straightforward.  Nothing much to that.  Once that was done, I decided to paint it.  Had a little trouble with that because the paint bled under the tape.  Tried to fix that.  The fix didn't work very well.  Continued anyway...
 
I needed to make the pintels and gudgeons.  I started by bending the brass strip over a piece of scrap wood the same thickness as the rudder.  Better to mess this up, I thought, than the actual rudder.
 

 
Then I tried to glue the 28 gauge wire into the bent piece of brass to finish the pintel.  I tried CA glue.  No go. The thing just fell right out.  No problem, I thought.  I'll solder it in.
 
I found my 1983 vintage 20W soldering iron -- the one with the completely corroded tip -- my old Radio Shack resin-core solder and went at it.  The result:  disaster.  Big glob of solder and a cold solder joint.  Kurt Van Dahm set me straight.  I needed to upgrade my soldering rig.  I bought a new soldering iron from Radio Shack.  (Probably should have ordered a Weller from Amazon, but I didn't want to wait for it.)  I got some acid flux and 50/50 Lead/Tin solder from Ace Hardware.  That's what's needed for soldering brass.
 
I used my Helping Hands as a jig to hold the wire and the piece of brass strip.
 

 
The results were great.
 

 
I blackened the pintels using Birchwood Casey Brass Black.  I really like the finish you get with the Birchwood Casey, but I've found getting a really tenacious finish takes a lot of iterations.  And even when I go through that effort, if I have to work with the piece much, it does seem to rub off.  That's what happened with the pintels.  I didn't get them exactly in the right place the first time, so some of the finish rubbed off on the rudder itself.
 
By now, the rudder was starting to look really rough:  bad paint, stains from the pintels.  It was junk.  I made another one, figuring I could learn from my mistakes.
 

 
The second time around, I was much more careful about masking the paint job.  And I made sure not to leave behind any residue from the Birchwood Casey.  I also touched the brass up with paint, which won't rub off.  The results, I thought, were really good.
 
I applied the first coat of Watco's Danish Wood Oil.  No problems.  I applied the friezes using white glue.  Simple enough.  I carved the tiller from a piece of 1/16" x 1/16" stock.  That took a while, but turned out pretty well.  To attach the tiller to the rudder, I drilled a small hole in the end of the tiller and, using CA glue, stuck a piece of wire in the end.  Then I drilled a small hole in the tiller head and, again with the CA glue, tacked the tiller into place.
 
Installing the eyebolt in the transom was, again, simple enough.  The lower gudgeon was a little trickier because 1) it has a compound curve that you need to bend into place and 2) it has to line up with the pintel on the rudder in a straight line.  I actually thought that alignment was going to be harder than it was, but it went into place the first time.
 
This is a small piece, but there's a lot involved in it:  ten pieces and ten different materials (basswood, brass strip, brass wire, paper, white glue, CA glue, solder, paint, Birchwood Casey, Watco's) ... oh, and a month's work.
 
 
 
 
Dan
 
 

 

 

 

 
 

It's been a month since I posted anything, but it's been an eventful month.  The rudder has been giving me fits, but I finally finished it off.
 
Sanding the rudder to its final shape is straightforward.  Nothing much to that.  Once that was done, I decided to paint it.  Had a little trouble with that because the paint bled under the tape.  Tried to fix that.  The fix didn't work very well.  Continued anyway...
 
I needed to make the pintels and gudgeons.  I started by bending the brass strip over a piece of scrap wood the same thickness as the rudder.  Better to mess this up, I thought, than the actual rudder.
 

 
Then I tried to glue the 28 gauge wire into the bent piece of brass to finish the pintel.  I tried CA glue.  No go. The thing just fell right out.  No problem, I thought.  I'll solder it in.
 
I found my 1983 vintage 20W soldering iron -- the one with the completely corroded tip -- my old Radio Shack resin-core solder and went at it.  The result:  disaster.  Big glob of solder and a cold solder joint.  Kurt Van Dahm set me straight.  I needed to upgrade my soldering rig.  I bought a new soldering iron from Radio Shack.  (Probably should have ordered a Weller from Amazon, but I didn't want to wait for it.)  I got some acid flux and 50/50 Lead/Tin solder from Ace Hardware.  That's what's needed for soldering brass.
 
I used my Helping Hands as a jig to hold the wire and the piece of brass strip.
 

 
The results were great.
 

 
I blackened the pintels using Birchwood Casey Brass Black.  I really like the finish you get with the Birchwood Casey, but I've found getting a really tenacious finish takes a lot of iterations.  And even when I go through that effort, if I have to work with the piece much, it does seem to rub off.  That's what happened with the pintels.  I didn't get them exactly in the right place the first time, so some of the finish rubbed off on the rudder itself.
 
By now, the rudder was starting to look really rough:  bad paint, stains from the pintels.  It was junk.  I made another one, figuring I could learn from my mistakes.
 

 
The second time around, I was much more careful about masking the paint job.  And I made sure not to leave behind any residue from the Birchwood Casey.  I also touched the brass up with paint, which won't rub off.  The results, I thought, were really good.
 
I applied the first coat of Watco's Danish Wood Oil.  No problems.  I applied the friezes using white glue.  Simple enough.  I carved the tiller from a piece of 1/16" x 1/16" stock.  That took a while, but turned out pretty well.  To attach the tiller to the rudder, I drilled a small hole in the end of the tiller and, using CA glue, stuck a piece of wire in the end.  Then I drilled a small hole in the tiller head and, again with the CA glue, tacked the tiller into place.
 
Installing the eyebolt in the transom was, again, simple enough.  The lower gudgeon was a little trickier because 1) it has a compound curve that you need to bend into place and 2) it has to line up with the pintel on the rudder in a straight line.  I actually thought that alignment was going to be harder than it was, but it went into place the first time.
 
This is a small piece, but there's a lot involved in it:  ten pieces and ten different materials (basswood, brass strip, brass wire, paper, white glue, CA glue, solder, paint, Birchwood Casey, Watco's) ... oh, and a month's work.
 
 
 
 
Dan
 
 

 

 

 

 
 

Having completed the rigging it's on to the oars, anchor and stand to complete the model.