MEDDO

Post 51: Stepping the mast
 
The mast was a fairly tight fit and so after leveling the ship with a digital inclinometer, a digital level in the cross- hair mode was to check the vertical alignment:
 

 

 
Other distractions such as the Australian Open Tennis Championship and the Americas Cup have kept me out of the workshop lately and now it is the start of the rugby union season.  I am also waiting for the delivery of some rope from Chuck so there might not be much progress for a while.
 
This will give me time reflect on my rigging strategy.  Chuck suggests rigging from the inside to the outside and I can see the logic in this.  However does prevent preparing the shroud gangs off the ship slipping and other standing rigging off the ship and slipping the over the mast.  They would need to be seized on the ship and, although my Quad Hands would help, I am not convinced I can do it uniformly and without damage to other fittings.  I can always slip the shrouds over but not rig them until later.  Its kind of messy so I need to think a bit more about it,
 
John
 

Thank you so much......I just wanted to reach out and let all of you know how grateful we are for every donation you folks have sent during the pandemic.   
 
Many of you have sent us donations large and small through the Donation box on the top right side of the forum.   I dont know the screen names of those who sent us a donation or I would thank all of you individually......but we appreciate the support.
 
It means a lot to us!!!  Thank You from all of us!!!
 
😍
 
 

One more thing for the newer members I have said before.  This is a world wide forum with people of all skill levels.  We literally have some of the best modelers in the world post regularly here.  People who literally wrote the books on our subjects.  Sort of a basketball forum with Lebron posting daily or a swimming forum where Phelps is all over the place.  Sometimes this is pretty intimidating.  Us mere mortals must always remember everyone starts somewhere and we all want to improve.  Some of those "pros" are the nicest and most helpful people here.  The tone and encouragement from everyone here on the forum makes this the best place to be

There is no real official protocol and we just put it where we think it will fit nicely.  Most of the time if the question is very specific to a problem you are having in your build then the build log would be a good place (my gunport template won't line up with my frames any ideas?).  If it is a more general topic then the specific sub forum would be nice as an independent topic (want to start using an airbrush to paint where to start?).  
 
Sometimes question in a build log become so interesting and consuming with so many posts the mods will split it off into its own sub forum as a new independent topic.

Outstanding description. It looks really good. I’m very glad that you went ahead and made these pieces yourself. Gives me some inspiration so when I get to that step I’ll try that as well

Outstanding description. It looks really good. I’m very glad that you went ahead and made these pieces yourself. Gives me some inspiration so when I get to that step I’ll try that as well

Channels, Chainplates, Dead Eyes, and Strops
 
This is that moment when you know you’re not in kit world anymore. No PE to cut out and assemble and or laser ready wood to shape and paint, for this segment of the build everything is made from scratch. By now I sound like a broken record, but here again was something I’d never done. While Chuck’s monograph was as clear and helpful as always, I still had to figure out a way make each of these components. I had never worked anything from metal, I know - what limited skills I have.
 

 
First up is the channels, take a stick of wood, make it pretty and capable of holding deadeyes and chainplates, then make four of them. The best purchase I’ve made for my modeling is my Byrnes saw, nothing beats it. Quickly moving into second place is my Proxxon MF 70 Micro Mill. I’m learning more and more how to use it, still basic stuff, but things I’m not really sure how I would have made without it.
 

 

 
I chose to make these from my stash of boxwood. I like the yellow cedar but boxwood works better for more intricate pieces, it is a harder wood and holds shape nicely. The boxwood and yellow cedar are complimentary on the model, adding just a little tone difference. Chuck’s mini-kits come in both woods, I chose the boxwood for all of mine, even the ones I painted.
 
-
 
Next up is making the 6mm deadeyes. I made a simple jig to line up the three pieces, a small center and two outer pieces, basically a vanilla Oreo cookie, glued together after removing the char.
 

 
I wanted to give the deadeyes a little character, a bit too neat right off the sheet, so I tumbled them in this MicroMart block tumbler. It has a 220 grit sandpaper bottom, sides, and a 4 part spindle also covered with 220 grit. I connected the spindle to my drill, tossed the blocks inside and spun it until I liked what came out. Two things if you haven’t used one of these; I was more successful with it sideways as shown and I needed to reverse the drill (as in screw out not in) to match the the sandpaper. I’m left-handed so maybe I assembled it backwards, I do that on occasion, it’s a right-hander’s world. I finished them up with wipe-on poly. 
 

 
Then is was time for me to become a blacksmith and work in metal, I'd put it off as long as I could. I approached this step with a bit of trepidation. The monograph was clear enough on what to do, I just wasn’t sure how I was going to make 6 (near) identical backstays and 8 (near) identical chainplates from a strip of brass. For starters, it hadn’t been easy to find the right thickness and width of brass, but fortunately I’d completed this hunt a few months ago. Now I have enough to make 176 chainplates, just in case. My first step, seemingly as always, was to find out how many different tools I could use - this is just a sample. I always hand drill everything made of wood with pin vises. However, this cheap battery powered drill was essential to drill the holes in the brass, I’d have been twisting forever otherwise. The vise from the Proxxon mill proved equally handy off the mill to firmly hold the pieces.
 

 
To make both the backstays and chainplates requires a bit of shaping and filing. I kept the shape simple so I could repeat it multiple times, jewelry making is not in my future. I of course could have filed these by hand, but hey, there is a mill sitting right there. It was slow going, for me, to set zeros on two of three axis for each side, 22 times (I did the backstays working from the center as shown in the previous photograph). 
 

 
Having finally completed the chainplates it was time to determine the proper angles using a temporary mask and string, a process most of us know and applies to any model (well not modern war ships I suppose).
 

 
With the holes marked and drilled then it’s a dry fit to confirm everything is lined up. I only needed about a third of the length to attach the strops, but I didn’t know that when I was making them.
 

 
And then off to the blackening station. I chose to blacken rather than paint these. The result is a more worn, gun metal look.  I was originally going to paint them Iron Work Black like other parts of the model but then decided I liked these. I think it provides a little character, more of a ‘I didn’t buy these from the store’ look.
 

 
I normally like to explain how I did something in the hopes it will help others in some way, or at least provide a way they don’t want to do it. I had someone ask me recently in a PM to explain how I did seizings, so I went into great detail and even linked a YouTube video. The person replied, oh I don’t want to do it like that. Sigh...
 
Anyway, my advice for making deadeye strops is go find another build log. I had to learn every step of the way here. I’ve never soldered anything for a model, never used solder paste (though its kinda cool, you apply it, hit with a torch and it flashes into a finished connection). Now I’m going to use it for some ring bolts just for fun. I had many fails. First make a circle and solder the opening (ok, got it, at least after I learned how to use the solder) then shape that around the deadeye in the traditional shape, Pop, there went the solder joint, start over. I settled on a length of wire 22mm long. I couldn't get 21mm to work without the joint popping while bending it around the deadeye, I started with 24mm, tried 23mm - really these small differences mattered - they were too big, so 22mm it was. After many attempts I got 8 to shaped around the deadeyes and mounted on the chainplates. So yes, I made it all myself from brass strip and black wire. But I’m not the one to ask on best practices even though it turned out ok and I held to my standard of doing it over until I got it right.
 

 
This stage took me a full month. Of course it was partially due to Snowageddon here in Texas, rolling power outages, the lowest temperatures since 1949, real snow to play in with the grandkids. I was playing outside with them on a Friday after it finally warmed up to 24 (F) degrees (from below zero earlier in the week). On Monday, three days later, it reached 76 (F) degrees…Texas…
 
I admit was frustrated a bit during this phase, so many fails. I thought more than once to use some retail ready fittings in lieu of my own but none would really work without cheapening the model, and I would have regretted it later. I am glad I did it all myself, I would encourage anyone who gets this point to do the same, if I can anyone can. The next time a model calls for metal work I now have some experience, I bet I could do it in half the number of fails.
 
On to fun stuff, I'm not far from finishing the hull. I'm going to finish making everything including the bowsprit before gluing anything on.
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you were mildly entertained.
 

Thank you very much for your greetings. I'm sorry I didn't answer them all to save space. My mother left, but I was taught from an early age that "to do everything in my power" was the greatest treasure of my life.  
Thank you again for your concern！

I think you’ll love working on this wonderful kit

I'm sure the tribute to your skills and to your husband on Czech TV must have been bitter-sweet. That is a magnificent model and we appreciate you sharing it with us. I know it is not the same, but you have a band of supporters here on MSW for your future models.

These are magnificent examples of mixed media use in ship model building, Doris. Do they not have dust in your country? I wonder how you keep these masterpieces in pristine condition without being encased.
 
Whatever will you do next? I hope you will share it here. We talked once of your publishing a book based on your techniques. Did that ever come to fruition?

Hello everyone, 
 
I decided to start another kit, this time it will be the Queen Anne Style Royal Barge by Syren Ship Model Company. This was the first time I had ordered anything from Chuck, and have never seen customer service or products like his, I ordered this kit and some deadeyes for my Flying Fish build on Monday and got them early Wednesday. The kit itself is very nice, the laser cut cherry wood is very precise and probably the best I have ever seen.
 
I chose this kit because I really want to build POF models, but don’t really have time to do all the research and prep work that goes into a proper scratch build. I am also working on another model as I mentioned before, but sometimes I get a little burnt out if I only have one thing to work on, and this picture specifically sold me on this kit:
 
 
 
I had to wait until this morning to really look at the kit. While I rummaged through every thing I took some of the more delicate laser cut sheets and put them in a plastic container, I then took that container and put it on a separate shelf in my garage, that way my clumsy hands wont destroy them by accident! 
 

 
Really the only thing I got done today on this build is some sanding, I started with the laser cut sheet with the 4 pieces that make up the keel, I used 220 grit sand paper and lightly sanded both sides of the entire sheet to remove all the laser cut char. I then used a #11 blade and cut each of the 4 pieces out, followed by another sanding along the edges to remove any more char. I made sure not to touch the scarf joints, these are laser cut to exact dimensions so I will leave them alone for now. 
 

 
The next step was to taper the keel from 5/32” to 3/32”, I used my calipers to mark a line along the bottom of the keel 1/32” from the edge on both sides, which acts as a nice guide when tapering. 
 

 
Well thats all I got done today, the Admiral and I decided to paint the interior of our house, so I will probably have to wait a few more days before real progress can begin! Thanks for reading. 
 
Bradley 

Thank you to all the 'Likes'.
 
With the installation of the square tuck and the two filer pieces, I finish the construction phase on the skeleton of the model. A few more sanding touches and I will be able to start planking the hull.
 

 
A copy of the square tuck template is glued on a piece of cardboard that will allow the piece to be cut from a 1/32" thick sheet of Yellow Alaskan Cedar.
 

 
Once the piece is glued, the space at the back is filled with different pieces of Alaskan Cedar and then sanded.
Time to start planking the hull.
 

Cheers Guys,
 
@ Michael -  you're so right, open the box and everything exudes quality, as did Cheerful.
 
@ Chuck -  this is such an  impressive looking subject, thank you for making it possible. if my Cheerful experience is anything to go by my cup will runneth over. 🙂
 
@ Glenn - as I will following on from those who have gone before, I've already picked up some useful pointers. This log will probably turn into a 'like he did'  build. 😄
 
B.E.
 

General view and details of decoration on the stern section... 
 
 
 
 
Have a great time and enjoy the pics.
 
Best regards,
Doris
 
 

Night shots and interior of the great cabin:
 

Dear friends,
I am very grateful and honored reading your kind words and feel your support. Thank you all very much, I do appreciate your feedback a lot.
Th Royal Katherine has been finished a few days ago, this build took me almost four years and approximate 7000hours of work and studying. 
 
I am sorry that my husband could not see the completion of the model, but he supported me a lot in my hobby and shared the successes and joy of building models with me.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have helped me and followed my work through this forum.
A few days ago there was a nice report about my work on card models on Czech television. It was also dedicated to my husband, with whom I wanted to say goodbye for the last time. You can watch the report here, but it is in Czech languauge:
 
https://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/10805121298-gejzir/221562235000005/video/819958?fbclid=IwAR1I97p0dLk-BvV_dO7SQtBYOl3AFps7K9qI9gWhKSZ4TEeRVBBPsp-3zy0
 
And here you can see plenty of pics of my largest finished model - the Royal Katherine - I consider her the best ship of all I have ever created:
 

 

I haven’t built very many kits however this is by far a superior kit to any that I have seen. Looking forward to your progress

That didnt take long......Its all gone.   The last Syren Rope package has left the building.   Time for a pint!!  

A few more
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

I just thought I would put up a few pictures.  Just a bit of paint touch up and dusting left
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Queen Anne Royal Barge circa 1700 –1:24 scale.
 
 
This build has been waiting in the wings for three years, long overdue to get stuck into Chuck’s wonderful creation of this early18thc Royal Barge.
 

 
I can only hope that I do justice to this high-end kit as indicated above.
 
I am fortunate that there are around a dozen recorded builds on MSW at various stages. Half of them are completed, so I will have the benefit of a wealth of experience from those who have gone before.
 
My first step will be to read through Chuck’s comprehensive build manual and the logs of my fellow members to get a feel for the build.
 
 
B.E.
24/02/2021

I like the look of the repair.  Wood is so forgiving it is nice to be able to quickly repair/fix errors
 

after I attach the picture in the log the courser will be at the right side edge of the picture but will not be blinking like it does as you type.   I always just hit the return button a time or two and it shows up under the picture again and can then type as normal

Hi, Michael. I think I should start by thanking  EDT for the near-perfect design drawings and process. When I first saw it, I couldn't resist the urge to make it! For this reason I gave up my previous plan and went all out to build it. This ship has given me the opportunity to show off, and also let me know more friendly friends from all over the world. I hope to be able to finish it in high quality within the year. Thank you for your encouragement and attention!

When I was building my kayak I thought that doing the epoxy was the easiest part. I was using 1/8 inch lint free rollers which I bought and cut in half and used a small rolling frame for. This was very easy to apply went on very quickly and I would do approximately 1/4 of the hull at a time. I then used a wide foam brush very very lightly dragged across the surface to break up any small bubbles which showed up. This was very easy to do. I did not sand in between coats. I let it dry for approximately one day and then apply the second coat directly on top of it. Overall I believe the bottom of the boat has seven layers and the top only has five layers of epoxy. In the end I didn’t have any retained bubbles in the finish. And then use the random orbital sander and spent quite some time I’ll bring it all down to a very nice smooth finish. After that I use the water reducible linear polyethylene for UV protection which was very easy to roll on as well. I do have pictures of this process in my build log of the Murrelet.