_SalD_

The NRG is an educational organization, dedicated to providing our members with the knowledge to improve the quality of their model ship building.  One of the most common problems model builders have is rigging their model.  Kit instructions are poor.  Often, the materials provided in the kit are improperly sized or the cheapest that the manufacturer could obtain.  We all know that blocks are not square!  I wanted to develop a project whose purpose would be to teach ship modelers how to mast and rig a ship without having to build a complete hull.  This model is a 1:48 scale cross-section at the level of the main mast of a late 18th century British sloop of war, Swallow 1779.  To keep the size of the model manageable and eliminate the need for a building board, the hull is cut off just above the waterline.  For the same reason, only the center portion of the lower yard and the lower part of the topmast are constructed.  Also, because this is a cross-section, certain lines, such as the stays and backstays, are not included.  My emphasis will be on demonstrating techniques to improve your rigging skills.  Skills that can be used on your next project.
 
As this was developed as a teaching aid, certain shortcuts and compromises to historical accuracy were taken.  Wherever possible, I have used measurements provided by the plans and such authorities as Steel and Lees.  I apologize in advance to the master modelers who might criticize my shortcuts.  I have kept the use of power tools to a minimum.  The only thing that is outside the normal collection of hand tools is a serving machine.  The Guild hopes to begin selling this kit in the next few months.
 
The kit contains all the materials required to complete the model.  But I always keep my scrap box nearby for those times when a piece of a contrasting color wood is desirable.  I will mention those times as the build log progresses.  Also, the build log is made up from the best photographs taken from three builds of this model.  A sharp eye will notice some differences in the wood color because of that.
 
The hull is constructed in typical plank on bulkhead style.  There is a notched spine and notched bulkheads.  The laser cut sheet of one-eighth inch basswood ply also contains a template for the top and four types of spacers, A through D. 

The spine and the frames are assembled as seen below.  Frame 1 is installed with the printing facing aft.  This gave me the option of painting the exposed bulkhead after construction was completed.


 
The mast fits in the slanted slot between Frames 3 and 4.  To keep the mast vertical, support spacers are glued on both sides of the spine.  They will be sanded flush to the spine when the hull is faired. 


To prevent the hull from twisting and to strengthen it, spacers are placed between each frame.  The three aft spacers are “B”, the next one is “C” and the two foremost ones are “D”.  They are placed close to the edge of the frame for maximum stability.  The laser char only needs to be removed from the fore and aft sides so that their surfaces are flat.  If too much wood is sanded off, I glue strips of paper onto the edge as a filler to prevent distorting the hull.
 
The hull and deck were faired so there are smooth curves fore to aft.  I used a sanding block for this.  I did not fair the bulwark extensions (the thin strips of wood above the deck) to prevent them from breaking off.  This model has a significant camber to the deck.  Sanding sticks help getting into the corners.  You can see that the mast supports have been sanded down to match the height of the deck.

Next up is planking the hull.
 
 

Sarasota, Florida to Searsport, Maine .... according to Google ... a 1,604 mile commute, taking 24 hours. Do you reimburse for gasoline? I ask because I have a V8 Mustang.

I wish

But imagine summering on the coast of Maine...☺️
 

I would love to, but that would be one hell of a commute!

Greetings!

Work continues on the main building. The attached warehouse is complete. Not much extra to add from the instructions though I did add some beams behind the metal doors for some support. See photo below, upper right.  I had to salvage some scraps from the wood pile to complete the walls.


Here is the competed wall and doors.


The roof goes on much like the awnings on the main building. Here are some photos of the warehouse attached to the main structure. One LED was added to the interior of this section.







Excuse the simulated bird poop on the warehouse roof!

The Yardmaster office is next. The clapboard siding was fun to build and if you look closely, there are boards that are split, chipped and a few that have part of the board missing.


Roof is almost complete in these photos.




The office will have one gooseneck light on the gabled side and one LED inside. Once glued to the main structure, it's onto the items located on the roof.

Jeff

Next, of course, was the combination of blocks with a shoulder block for the top sail sheet and a normal block for the lift on the yardarm.

First the two blocks stropped together ...



... then still smuggled in with bright rope the loop for the horses onto the cleat and finally tied in the eye for the double block at the outside.

First one side ...



... and then the second ...



... and everything for the lifts is on the yardarm 🙂

XXXDAn

I've been busy lately and haven't had much time to tinker. But the list of blocks to be used on the Vic and the corresponding rope thicknesses has finally been finalized. Time to check some of them out. As the blocks are sorted by yards and other locations, here is the block set for the main yard.



Since the main yard has already been started, I've taken on its lifts. First the hangers. As usually served with white glue and black paint.



The loop underneath the cap that holds the hanger together.



And here the assembly on a spare mast cap.



More hopefully soon.

XXXDAn

Thank you, Keith!  I've got my SIBs on some pipe shelving in the corner of my office (see pic below).  Three of my SIBs are missing from the shelves as they on on display right now at the USS Constitution museum in Boston as part of their annual ship model show.  When I get them back I'll have to add to the shelving since it was full before I completed the Wa'a Kualua.   
 

My next task was to install the eyebolts for the gun tackle into the bulwarks.  I wanted to make sure that I positioned them correctly so I decided to assemble the gun carriages first.  After assembling the carriages I decided that I might as well complete the assembly by adding the cannons.  I was a little dishearten by the size of the cannons, as I think most of the people working on this kit are, because they just look to big for the ship.  I did a little research, and I do mean little, and I found that the overall length of the 9" Dahlgren gun is 131" (10'-11") and the 4" Naval Parrott rifle is 102" (8'-6").  Tables below.


Using my trusty engineer's scale (please excuse it's rough shape) I scaled the cannons and found that at 1/8" to the foot, they are in fact very close to the actual dimensions.  This made me feel better using these cannons and not having to purchase new ones.
 
Dahlgren gun

Parrott rifle

Cannons cleaned up, and the cannons I received the barrels were not bored out so I drilled the ends of each one.

Completed gun carriages.  It's hard to see but I did add the elevating screw at the rear of each Dahlgren gun.

I also found a nice picture of the Marsilly carriage that I used for reference.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

As this Hawaiian project comes to a close, I want to extend a huge MAHALO to everyone that stopped by for a quick look, suffered through the whole dang process, or anything in between. 
 
@Keith Black, @BANYAN, @Ian_Grant, @Knocklouder, @gjdale, @GrandpaPhil, @Canute, @mtaylor, @Javelin, @Louie da fly, @Landlubber Mike, @gsdpic, @Bryan Woods, @ccoyle, @John Fox III, @JacquesCousteau, @Thukydides, @Harvey Golden, @kgstakes, @woodrat, @hollowneck, @wefalck, @Boccherini, @modeller_masa, @Ryland Craze, @_SalD_, @BrochBoating, @BLACK VIKING, @Rik Thistle, @Tomculb, @Elijah, @Archi, @ERS Rich, @DanB, @AJohnson, @Brinkman, @Jim Lad
 
As always, I greatly appreciate your comments that are laden with wit, humor, insight, encouragement, suggestions, and criticisms.  I’ll say it again because it’s true once again – doing these build logs on MSW makes the project feel like a team effort.  Y’all make everything I try to do a whole lot better.  A sincere thanks to each of you.
 
Here's the final pictures.  

 

At last the weather has changed and the forcast is for a several consecutive dry days. I can finally remove the tarpaulin and polythene sheets, which have often appeared more like sagging water balloons recently, and work on making the roof waterproof.
I reversed my original plan and worked on the more straightforward sections first before attempting the more challenging one adjacent to the garage wall.
A bit of advanced planning to find the optimum way to cut the six 8' x 4' 18mm to minimize waste resulted in less than half a square metre of ofcuts.

Not pretty but it does the job. Now for the fun part....

Relying heavily on the three 'Ls', leverage, lateral thinking and luck, the the final panel was constructed on the roof and dropped into place. I took steps to ensure the whole assembly couldn't fall down the narrow gap between garage and workshop wall. At about 16' long and a couple of feet wide it was quite weighty! After marking the end profiles it was pulled back out and trimmed ready for covering.

First a layer of breathable membrane, then one of bitumen felt underlay. Next the detail trim was tacked into place followed by one course of bitumen shingles. I could have added a second but found that they would be accessible for nailing when the section was in place so dropped the idea as the already weighty panel was even heavier now.

With much care and trepidation the section was eased across to its balance point and then nudged over while being supported by a loop of rope. The plan worked! Next I had the Admiral maning a 4' length of 2" x 4" on the inside to lever the panel up to fine tune the fit while I screwed it to the top of the roof frames. Membrane and underlay sheets that had been left unattached were now fixed down. 
Job done. The plan for tomorrow is to complete these two layers across the whole roof making it watertight. The shingles won't be added until the six roof lights are in place. These will be the next challenge 😉
Cheers,
Graham.

Better??? 😅
 

i am missing the antenna

Ahoy dear model building community.
 
I feel very honored by this comment.
 
The dress rehearsal took place today.  
The falcon was screwed onto its threaded rod one last time for testing.
I did some light chipping and fading on the base plate and am now checking to see if anything is missing anywhere.
Take a look at the bird.
 

 
The front laser looks in exactly the right direction for me.
 

 
The height and angle of the falcon looks good.
 

 
Of course, it is unnecessary to paint any further details in the middle.
 

 
There is still a little aging missing on the lower plate, front edge.
 

 
Sides look good too.
 

 
And the upper laser also shoots in the general direction of the falcon.
 

 
Also a few little things that I will improve. I expect my model to be completed next weekend. 

Today I finished the glass case, and my wife was so kind to clean the glass in- and outside, as well as to help  carry and  swap some of the other cases to a new display place in my hobby office.
This closes the project
 
Here some final pics of the casing and its build..... This was my 11th  case I built this way and I`m pleased that to date there was no broken glass. I`m not so happy of the steadily increasing prices for glass, so I`m surprised of the glasser`s offers every time.
I would like to thank all that were interested in the build log, with many likes, wows, appreciations, comments and suggestions allong the ride.
 
 
Nils

the glass-panes are held with helping aids, such as the "third hand" clamped to the cupboard above, short fixing- and distance pieces, and preliminary self adhesive tape

the angles are well keep the panes in place
 

after the top panel is complete stained and framed, the 4 vertical profiles are stained an cut to length
 
 

now comes the final assembly.....

here again the clamped on "third hand"

the right angle corner

mounting the top panel ( lid) to the rest

metal corners fixed with stainless steel blackend philips flat cross-head screws (M1,7 x 6mm )

the glass bonnet set down on the base with the 6 interacting positioning pins, also the are 6 self adhesive felt patches  under the baseplate to enable a smooth contact.
 

Time to dive into the water effects, which will probably make or break the project.  After going thru a bunch of youtube videos on how to make waterfall dioramas, I finally settled on a hybrid technique that I think will work - caulk and cotton.  I took some caulk that comes out white but dries clear and laid down a number of beads on wax paper and a glass plate (I could not get it off the wax paper later, so glass is the way to go).  

 
 
Next, I unfurled some cotton from the ends of q-tips.  I like q-tips because the cotton is wound around the ends and you can get nice strings which work well for a stream of water like a waterfall.  While the caulk was still tacky, I gently pressed the stringy cotton onto the caulk strips.

 
Next, I took some diluted white glue and dabbed drops of it onto the cotton with a paint brush.  It was a bit tricky to do this without pulling the cotton strings off the caulk.
 
 
 
While the waterfall strips were drying, I worked on the base layer of colors for the waterfall pool.  The waterfall pool in the first pic below has the color shades I was trying to mirror.  The 2nd pic is what I was able to do after several days of trying, failing, and trying again.  The final result is varying mixes of green, yellow, and 3 different shades of blue. 
 
I will add a layer of clear epoxy resin  (maybe a slight tint) for 3D depth and then some mild ripple effects on top.


 
 
Finally, I had to take a preliminary look to see if I was heading in the right direction or way off track.  So I placed a few of the waterfall strips on the rock and got a rough sneak preview.

 
I'm not sure how happy I am with the opaqueness of the caulk.  I think it would look better if it was clearer and you could see thru it to the rock in the gaps between cotton strands.  However, to the naked eye, it looks a lot better than this up close picture.   So I may play around with that some more.  Regardless, it'll have to wait as I'm fixing to head out of town for a couple of weeks.  
 
 

This is how I got into woodworking. 
Had the wish from a young age already to make violins, and one day I just gave it a go.
This pic is the 4th violin I made, from scratch, just some drawings and some wood.
 

Very impressive Nils, great work as usual.  I love the figures.

This was a very nice build, but a bit expensive
 

Bob,
I`m very pleased that you like the model and thanks for your kind comments. You`re right, I tried to put a bit of that 1918 oldie Laker-steamship "charme" into the build. It was not easy to start with, because I had no build plans, except a frameplan of an appr. equal tonnage and length Ferris type freighter. I was facinated of the feeling transmitted through the manyfold careful watch of the "Sea Chase" movie, german  movie name "Der Seefuchs". All details were adopted from stand-pics I made from the movie video (Free available on the web). For the figures, 1:87 (H0 scale) I preferably use chosen out Preiser figures, in this case also from Artitec
 
Nils

Great job! An interesting vessel and a model that is truly a work of art. By that I mean that it's details, particularly the figures, convey a sense of warmth and charm, a sense of "life," if you will, that doesn't seem possible to achieve with our highly accurate, but, frankly, "lifeless and antiseptic," "as built" technical modeling masterpieces. This model demonstrates how a viewer can indeed be "drawn into the reality" of a ship; by viewing a model of it. This isn't a criticism of technical "as built" models at all. They are a different thing entirely and magnificent in their own right. This model, though, really exemplifies that quality that distinguishes art from craftsmanship in ship modeling, two equally respectable qualities, which I've tried with only limited success to explain to others from time to time. 
 
What I'm talking about here is exemplified by the photo below. Nobody who's ever been to sea can fail to recall the feeling of facing into the wind that this tableau conveys:
 

FINISHED
 
The Laker-steamer Ergenstrasse of birthyear 1918 is now finished.
Will still have to build the glass case for it
Enjoy the pics. I shall choose out some of them and 
create a new album for these.....
 
Nils
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Nils - excellent work - I like the way the crew and passengers bring your models to life. I worry about the blond lady, she looks like her reserve of stability is somewhat suspect. She would be advised to take a step back from the rail.

Very impressive Nils, great work as usual.  I love the figures.