_SalD_

Patrick, hope you're feeling better. You need to stay calm, it's only work. I can say that now but thirty years ago I was the same way. You need to take care of yourself, who else is going to help me with my build . Your's by the way is looking terrific.

Patrick and Wayne, thank you for the comments on the copper work and to everyone for the 'likes' comments. I’m still working on how best to do the deck planking. I've been experimenting with a few different methods before attempting the real thing. One thing I am learning is patience. I need to keep reminding myself that I am not in a rush and this ship isn't leaving port anytime soon. In conjunction with working on the deck I made the rudder hardware and installed the rudder. Using strips of brass I cut from a larger sheet, I first soldered hinge pins (using actual pins) onto the pintles. I kept the brass strips flat while soldering the pins on and then bent them around an 1/8” square piece of wood. This gave me the square shape needed to fit the rudder and stern post. I did the gudgeons the same way except for the pins. I also wanted to try blackening the brass because sometimes me and a paint brush just don’t get along. I followed directions I found on ‘The Model Boatyard’ website. For my first attempt I was satisfied with the results. I think I need to do a little better job of cleaning the parts before placing them in the blackening agent because there were some areas that did not blacken. After blackening and prior to installing the hardware I trimmed the pieces to their correct length. Pintles installed Rudder installed

gulfmedic1, I just used the self-adhesive backing that came on the tape. I did not use any other glue.

Coppering is complete, hull and rudder. It was a long night but it’s done. I’m satisfied with the plate size I used, 1/8” x 3/8” (6”x 3’ @ 1/8” scale) instead of the 1/8”x 1/4” as mentioned in the practicum. It looks good (if I do say so myself ) and it also saved me from cutting 50% more plates and there were enough to cut as it was. I don't know if I should I seal the copper with something or just leave it ‘au naturel’. I've read pros and cons about coating the copper so I’m not sure. Well, on to the decking. One more thing I wanted to mention, for anyone else building this ship, is that the roll of copper tape that comes with the kit is more than enough to do the hull with quite a bit left over. In the beginning I wasn't sure how much there was so I was reusing bits that I had trimmed from other pieces. You don't need to worry about running out.

Pete, very nice work. I am currently in the process of coppering the hull of my first ship so I can better appreciate the amount of work and planning that goes into it. great job.

Coppering the hull is continuing. Had a busy weekend, went to pick up my daughter from college so not too much progress. One side is complete except for the waterline belt and the other side is partially done. Sorry for the poor picture quality. The one thing I do recommend for this active is the use of an adjustable keel clamp. The one shown in the picture is homemade but I’m sure you can purchase them. It comes in very handy for positioning the hull in various positions to make placing the plates easier. I do have another question on the plank layout for the deck. I was doing some research into waterways, covering boards and nib strakes and found in the book, “The Elements of Wood Ship Construction”, by W. H. Curtis, published 1919, page 148, that the author recommends; “nibs should be cut when the length of the cut across the end of the deck plank exceeds one and one half times the width of the plank”. If this is the case and assuming that the deck has 6” wide plank, it would appear that all of the planks on the fore deck would be cut into the nib strake, and not just the interior ones as depicted on the ship plans (see previous post for deck plan). Is there a preferred method for deciding when to use the nib strake or is it at the discretion of the shipwright?

Patrick, just read about your injury, sorry to hear. You sending pictures of the keel or your finger? So far, knock on wood, I haven't had to deal with any shipyard injuries.

Wayne, Patrick, thanks again for looking and the compliments. And yes Patrick, this is my first wooden ship but I have shingled a roof or two in the past. I'm just looking for a miniature nail gun so I can put the plates on quicker. Since I have both your attention (and for anyone else who would like to offer an opinion) I had some questions. Although I won’t be planking the deck for some time, I was contemplating whether or not to use the pre-scribed sheet of deck planking that comes with the kit or to cut and install individual planks per the plans. At this scale will it make that much of a difference in the models overall appearance installing individual planks? Is it worth the effort to cut all these planks? I realize the final decision is mine but I just wanted to get some opinions from people who have more experience in these matters than I do. If I do decide to install my own planking the fore deck planking seems straight forward enough being made of straight planks parallel to the centerline. The aft deck, however, has curved planking that parallels the bulwarks. These planks, do you cut them to that curve or do you cut the planks straight and then bend them to shape? Can you bend a plank laterally? Thanks

Coppering the hull is proceeding. I decided to follow the kit directions for cutting the copper foil by splitting the 1/4" wide strip in half making two 1/16" wide strips. I did this because I wanted to use plates longer than 2'-0" (1/4") as in the practicum. I measured the length of the plates from the ship plans and scaled them to be approximately 3'-0" to 3'-6" long. I decided to make my plates 3'-2" long, leaving 2" for the overlap. The plate lengths were measured out using dividers and cut using an x-acto knife and straight edge. Applying the plates started out slow at first but once I got more comfortable with the procedure my pace picked up some. I used my wallpaper seam rolled to set the plates in place once they were positioned correctly.

'A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.' The journey begins.... ...and Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there.

Thanks Patrick, I really appreciate the support from everyone. When it stops being fun it turns into work and I don't need anymore of that.

Finished the Launching Ways. Took a few liberties with the ground way support stacks. I extended the bottom timbers and added an additional timber at the top. As a structural engineer it appeared that they needed to distribute the load more and to keep the ground way rails from moving laterally. Hope that's not against the rules. I guess I have no more excuses now, I'll have to start coppering the hull.

Nils, thank you. I'm really enjoying this and I need to thank my wife in part for finally starting. We have recently become empty nesters as my youngest daughter is now a freshmen in college. My wife told me to stop bothering her and get a hobby, so here I am.

Thanks Patrick. Just promise me you won't look too close.

Patrick, one thing for sure. If I stay with this hobby I definitely need to buy more clamps. Great job.

Started working on the launching ways. Cut all the pieces and stained them. Made up a little jig to set the cross timbers. Also painted the hull and marked the waterline. Almost ready to copper the hull. I wanted to finish the launching ways first so I could locate and drill the holes in the keel for the mounting pins.

Wayne, Thanks for the answers and as I mentioned on my build log I will mark the waterline on the hull using the cradle I made that keeps the keel at roughly the slope shown on the plans (4.5 d.) and use the kit plans to build the launch ways (3 d.) and in this case when the ship is displayed on the launch ways the waterline will not be horizontal. Hope I'm not over thinking this.

Wayne, Patrick Thanks for the answers. So I will mark the waterline on the hull using the cradle I made that keeps the keel at roughly the slope shown on the plans (4.5 d.) and use the kit plans to build the launch ways (3 d.) and in this case when the ship is displayed on the launch ways the waterline will not be horizontal. I can live with that. Thanks again.

Hello all, I am fairly new to this website and I am currently in the process of building my first ship. I am working on the New York pilot boat, ‘Phantom’ by Model Shipways. I have carved the hull attached the keel and was getting ready to copper the bottom of the hull. Before starting the copper I need to scribe the waterline along the hull. To do this I wanted to build the Launching Ways that the model is displayed on to get its correct position. Now, if I build the Launching Ways per the directions included in the kit the angle of the Launching Ways will be approximately 3 degrees, which will be the angle that the keel will sit at. However, if I measure the angle of the keel from the plans that also came with the kit, that angle measures 4.5 degrees. Please bear with me a question is coming. My cad drawing of the Launching Ways Profile of ship from kit plans Now I assume that the waterline on the ship should be horizontal when you have the ship on the display. Yes? No? Doesn’t matter? If so, do I build the Launching Ways per the kit’s directions and use that angle (3 degrees) to scribe my waterline or do I use the angle from the plans (4.5 degrees) and build the Launching Ways to that angle? I’m leaning towards using the angle from the plans (4.5 degrees) and reworking the Launching Ways, unless that’s totally wrong. I have one more question if you will allow me. I was planning ahead and I've noticed that the angles of the two masts are not quite the same. I don’t know if I’m being too precise here or are the two masts just parallel to each other? Thanks for any help you can offer.

Couple questions Before starting the copper I need to scribe the waterline along the hull. To do this I wanted to build the Launching Ways that the model is displayed on to get its correct position. Now, if I build the Launching Ways per the directions included in the kit the angle of the Launching Ways will be approximately 3 degrees, which will be the angle that the keel will sit at. However, if I measure the angle of the keel from the plans that also came with the kit, that angle measures 4.5 degrees. My cad drawing of Launching Ways Ship profile from plans Now I assume that the waterline on the ship should be horizontal when you have the ship on the display. Yes? No? Doesn’t matter? If so, do I build the Launching Ways per the kit’s directions and use that angle (3 degrees) to scribe my waterline or do I use the angle from the plans (4.5 degrees) and build the Launching Ways to that angle? I’m leaning towards using the angle from the plans (4.5 degrees) and reworking the Launching Ways, unless that’s totally wrong. Second question. I was planning ahead and I've noticed that the angles of the two masts are not quite the same. I don’t know if I’m being too precise here or are the two masts just parallel to each other? Thanks

Jeff, I have a flex shaft extension on my dremel. It gives you a lot more control. The picture below is my setup. I made a stand for the dremel from an old closet rod from one of those portable wardrobes that self destructed. I clamped the rod to the drafting table and used j-hooks held on with hose clamps to hold the dremel up. It works well but you need to be careful. I use it at very low speed (5 or 6) and don’t use a lot of pressure. The wood is very soft and comes off easy. And make sure you use something to protect the areas you don’t want to remove. I usually practice on a scrap piece of wood first. Patrick, Cad has certainly made drafting more efficient but the drawings have lost all their character. We used to have some real artists that could produce gorgeous drawings that had feeling. Now everything is so antiseptic, too sterile.

Thinning the bulwarks. I decided to deviate from Chuck’s practicum on coppering the hull prior to thinning the bulwarks for a couple of reasons. One, I thought I might damage the copper while handling the boat as I worked on the bulwarks and two, I figured that if I screwed up the bulwarks really bad I wouldn't need to spend all that time coppering the bottom of the hull. I used the drum sander on my dremel to remove the majority of the extra material. I laid the erasure shield on the deck so I wouldn't cut into it. I then used an emery board and sandpaper to thin them down to about 3/64”. I also squared up the corners at mid ship and carved out the stern and bow areas. I also sanded the deck to its correct profile. For all the youngsters out there, an erasure shield (see photo) was used on engineering drawings done by hand, in pencil, when you wanted to erase only a small portion of a line. You would place one of the slots over the line you wanted gone and the shield would keep the adjacent lines from being erased.

Welcome aboard Jeff. Like yourself I am new to this forum and it's my first try at model ship building. For my first attempt I also chose the 'Phantom' kit. Hope you enjoy it as I do. Good luck Sal

Had a productive weekend. I cut the 'step' in at the top of the hull, laid out and installed the stem, stern post and keel and craved the rudder. To layout out the location of the 'step' I used my drafting compass. I set the distance between the pivot point of the compass and the lead to 1/8". Then by resting the compass's point on top of the bulwarks and using the bulwarks as a guide I was able to scribe a line completely around the ship's hull 1/8" down. I tried craving the 'step' as described in Chuck's practicum but found it to be too labor intensive. So I gave up the knife and tried my dremel. (have the toys, might as well use them) I used a sanding drum and my old drafting metal erasure shield as a guide so I wouldn't remove any material below the line. As I went I kept checking the width of the 'step' with my dividers. Used an emery board to get the 'step' to its correct width and depth. Next I laid out the stem as described in the practicum on paper to get the proper angle to glue the 1/8" wood strips to and to form a template I could later use to trace on the wood strips. Once the strips were glued and dried I traced the stem on the strips and cut it out. The keel I cut the little lip at the end and scarfed a joint between the stem and keel. The stern post was fairly easy. After gluing everything in place and letting it dry I used some filler to fill in the gaps. For the rudder, instead of gluing three pieces of the 1/8" wood strips together as in the practicum, I used the 1/16" x 1/2" stock. I cut two pieces approximately 2" long and glued them together to make one piece 1/8" thick x 1/2" wide. I then printed out a copy of the rudder from the plans to use as a template. Used the dremel to get a rough shape and then used files an the x-acto knife to get the finished shape. Used sandpaper to round the front edge and taper the sides. Finally I drilled the hole in the hull and did a test fit. Also spend a little time making my own waterline marking jig.

Wayne, Thanks for following my build and for the comments. I actually made a second copy of the ships profile template so I had one that was in two pieces and one that was whole. I used the two pieces like you said to get the rough shape of the hull and then used the one piece profile to make sure the bottom of the hull was level with the correct profile. And don't give up on the boys, it only took me 63 years to start my first wooden ship. Patrick, Thanks for the encouragement. As far as the dent goes maybe I should just stop looking at the ship through my visor magnifier. It looks perfect without them. Sal