MEDDO

Shingles, Friezes, and Moldings
 
This title sounds like a 80’s rock band or a law firm specializing in medical malpractice. It isn’t, it is about my hull becoming all fancy.
 
It’s been a minute since my last post. My wife and I took an Alaskan cruise, it was a great adventure filled with good weather, good food and drink, and fun adventures - time well spent with my best friend of 46 years. Finally back to Winchelsea I turned my attention to the hull sides and its combination of quarter gallery, friezes, and multiple moulding strips.

One little shingle, two little shingles, three little shingles… The quarter gallery roof is a fun little mini-project. I had earlier shaped and sanded down the roof block to match my galleries. It takes a little work to mirror the two as close as possible with two angles and the curve at play, the etched line on the top helps. Then the shingles; first I sanded them down to near 1/64th while still in the sheet, from there installed the first row using PVA (see I don’t always use CA). There are options in deciding the spacing, I preferred them in tight minimizing the gap. My roofer friends would approve I think.
 
Once dried I sanded them (as Chuck suggests) even more thin with 320 and 400 soft sanding sticks, particularly on the top, before laying the next row. They actually look pretty nice left bright.

I elected to paint them with Admiralty Paints Ironwood Black, as I noted earlier though meant for iron works it’s a nice matte black, and the same paint used on the wales. Though it may be a bit hard to tell in the photograph, the right one is weathered, the left still in the matte black base. I weathered them using Doc O-Brien’s Grungy Gray weathering powder. I really like the 4 brush set (from Micromark) for application, I use them all, the smallest to apply, the round to remove excess, the (actually in back in the photo) the third to feather it and finally the larger brush to buff. I think it makes for a nice look, the shingles now appear to be gray slate (in my humble opinion). I’m going to experiment with some form of fixative, but multiple tests before I try it on the roof. Any suggestions that doesn't make them shiny appreciated.

With that the gallery is complete, except the very detailed railing on top which I’ll save until later when I’m less likely to break it off. Neither the roof or the nice lady on the side are glued in place as yet.

A pause for a maintenance break, replacing the 320 grit sandpaper and cleaning my ever faithful Byrnes Sander. I use Denatured Alcohol to clean the aluminum tables and mitre gauge, also to remove any residual adhesive from the front of the wheel.  I was surprised how well GlideCote (which I learned from Jim Byrnes) works. Making the table more like a sheet of smooth ice, the wood glides easily and consequently is easier to manage. This plays a bigger role on the saw and thickness sander, it’s still handy here as well.

After installing the first more narrow middle moulding I decided I didn’t like the look. So, like I do, I removed it and made a new moulding.
 
The top moulding is laser etched. All the moulding is attached with CA except the volutes.  They are also laser etched, I needed time to get them positioned so used PVA. I also broke two sanding them, @Chuck was kind enough to provide replacements, I then decided they looked really great not sanded…..
 
Then it was on to more life lessons of paper glued on wood. I mentioned in the last post my initial reservations on using printed paper and how wrong I was. It is easy to apply and looks great. I print them with highest quality on my Epson ink jet printer then spray them with Winsor & Newton Fixative. Once dry I outsource them to my much more talented wife to cut out. With the need to always align at least one edge directly up against (and not under) wood moulding, having a clean cut line is imperative, she’s far better at that than me.
 
The frieze was relatively easy to cut out  from the ports with my Swann-Morton #11 scalpel - though I started with a fresh blade. The key is to first let the glue stick adhesive thoroughly dry so its rock hard.

Having intentionally covered the fixed blocks I located them by drilling from inside, slowly, through the holes made back when they were installed. I threaded some nice Syren Rope through both holes from the outside and pulled it back and forth from the inside to restore the grove making it a block once again. A sharpened #2 pencil completes the look.
 

A dilemma. The upper stern hull frieze did not fully cover the area above the roof for my model.


The solution was easy, once I thought of it, print out that same frieze at 150%, cut between the solid blue and the frieze, match the seams when glued on the model. It worked out great.

For me the proper line from the forecastle volute to the stem did not follow the planking as it does from the volute to the stern. I spent time with the plans and came up with a couple of jigs to get the correct spacing for the run of the moulding. (it is not coverging at the stem, just the aspect angle of the photography).


I’ve been clear in my posts that all of my work is perfect, I never do anything wrong, nor ever need to fix anything…NOT! Lesson learned in my new paper world. As shown in the previous moulding its been my practice to have a continuous run of moulding over ports. I’m confident of my skills to then free the ports with my Excel #11 blades. Paper, unlike wood, is very unforgiving, a small mistake results in the paper tearing. It initially was a tiny tear but I couldn’t just leave it. Once the moulding was removed, it didn’t matter, I was removing and replacing the frieze. As Rusty noted in a recent post I could have just showed the finished work and pretend it never happened, I prefer to share what went wrong as well as what goes right.
 
Though it took time there is no harm no foul. As Chuck points out on his model, it is difficult to find any seams once the pattern is matched and new frieze section glued in.

Having tossed my continuous run approach I switched to cutting the lower moulding section by section, matched up the width with the gentle use of my freshly maintained Byrnes Sander, then glued it in place. I cut a spacer clamped up tight to the upper moulding to keep an even line though all the sections.
 
With that a few photos of the finished side. Though a semi-professional photographer I just use my iPhone for all my build photos. An as all seasoned photographers know a badly wrinkled piece of material is a proper backdrop. Not true, I just didn’t feel like ironing it. While the iPhone does nice work, it does tend to squeeze curves and warp aspect a bit. So things are actually straighter, or curvier, than they seem. Also I removed the tape, but not the residue, from the stem.





Now all I have to do is turn the ship around and do it all again on the port side. As always, thank you for your likes and especially your comments. I hope I’ve provided a bit of entertainment for your day.

Thanks again, everyone.
 
The floor will be reinforced concrete continuous with the floor of the garage. Who knows, someone may want to work on something heavy in there some day.
 
I will need mats on the floor, at least in front of machines (mill, lathe) that I will be standing in front of for long periods. I'll use adjustable height stools or chairs that I can move in front of other work areas.
 
I like the way the bench was constructed in the video vaddoc linked to. There will be a "L" shaped bench across the end of the room and along the short side where the outside tool locker will be. I think 30" (76 cm) deep will be about right. This bench will be about 12 feet (3.66 meters) on the long side and ?? feet (?? meters) on the short leg.
 
Here is an overhead view of what I have in mind:
 

 
It is a small "retirement" house, with a single car garage. The workshop is an extension of the garage. The wall with the door is 13.75 feet (4.2 meters) long and the wall along the long side of the fixed bench is 11.65 feet (3.55 meters) long, inside dimensions. You can see the 6.5 foot long (2 meter) CLG hull on the moveable bench. The benches are 30 inches (76 cm) deep.
 
The "tool locker" is an outside accessible store room for a lawn mower and gardening tools. They currently occupy the space in the garage between the end of the cabinets and the upper wall in the picture. When I put in the doorway I will need somewhere to put all those things. I will put the vacuum and air compressor in the cabinets in the garage and plumb them into the work room. That way the noise will not be in the work room.
 
The shop isn't very large but it is a major improvement. Right now I do most of my work on the kitchen table with hand tools.
 
Now I just need to draw up 2D plans and get some bids from contractors. I'm sure there will be changes. I will need at least one window. I have been building and remodeling houses since I was a kid, and I suppose I could do most of this except the concrete work. But I'll have a contractor build the foundation, framing, exterior walls and roof. That's a caveat to my age (and my significant other). I can finish the interior myself.

Hi Kevin. I've been going through your videos starting at the beginning of your build. I just finished up #14. In that video you mentioned and asked why you were doing all the work of posting these videos and hoping they would be useful to future builders. I can attest that they are and will be helpful to me. I've ordered the four books on this project and like you plan to take it on once my skills have further evolved and improved. I'm finishing up an 18th century longboat now and will then move to the group project of the Winchelsea that Chuck Passaro is overseeing. After this, if I'm confident in my skills, I will begin this build. So please know these videos are of tremendous value to this craft and I really appreciate this roadmap you have and are providing for all of us.
 
Finally, I am in awe of all your wonderful tools! An amazing workshop that all of us "tool nuts" aspire to! Happy building.
 
Best,
Jim

Hi All -
 
I'm delighted to announce that we are now accepting pre-orders for Rob Napier's new book Caring for Ship Models: A Narrative on Thought and Application. 
 
This excellent book on his life's work is both a revealing look into his professional career and also a treatise on how to care for your models to last for generations. Caring for Ship Models is delivered in four parts: Part One, a prologue, introduces Rob and his involvement with ship modeling. Part Two offers perspectives on various aspects and philosophies of the ship modeling experience. Part Three focuses on physical processes Rob has used during his career. Part Four reviews what might be called case studies that examine influential and interesting projects.
 
This book is one you will absolutely want in your collection and will be a valuable reference for years to come.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER ON SEWATCHBOOKS.COM

Just thought I'd post to say that Ranger kits are now complete and in stock, so all orders will be sent next week.
 
Also, I have a quite a few emails recommending books. I think over the years, I have bought any book I feel relevant to hobby, and later job. The first books on this subject I bought were in the late '80's, early '90's, Frank Fox's The Battlefleet of King Charles II and Lavery's Ship of the Line. (And the Sailing Navy List being the most perused by far..)  The older books have been moved around 8 times over the years, so some look a little worse for wear, both from travel and me reading them. The latest are from Ancre and Seawatch. Only one book doesn't fit, and that the mammoth Commerce De Marseille monograph! James Lees Masting and Rigging is missing from the pics, as I am using it right now.

Thank you Chuck, Glenn and JJ and for the likes.
 
Progress here is slow not least because I've had cataract surgery on both eyes. Its a miracle operation: I can see long distances with sparkling clarity and detail and without specs for the first time in 50 plus years. But reading and model work is all to pot. Over the counter reading specs are OK for reading but not adequate for model work. I have to wait a few weeks for everything to settle down before getting some prescription readers - and then with any luck I shall be up and running again.
 
In the meantime I've done those little shaped pieces at  the bow, The margin planks (too wide, I think, but I'm hoping the waterway, cannons and deck clutter will disguise that) with scarf joints ( practice required!), the companionway housing ( a bit dollshouse-ish possibly. I'm still thinking about it) and some preparation for the deck planking. I was very unhappy with my deck planking of the Winnie - all down I can see now to a lack of preparation. There is no substitute in this hobby for experience and I don't have much. But I'm learning!
 





 





There is a gentle bend in the deck planking though it does not really show in the pictures. The planking was cut in Imperial sizes by Hobbymill EU. In metric the planks I will use are a smidge over 5mm and I will sand them down to 3.5mm at bow and stern remaining 5mm at the centre. I wonder about the central planks remining un-sanded -5mm straight through as Chuck shows them and as, no doubt, is authentic. I think I prefer all of them gently curved. 
 
My deck furniture bits and pieces are winging their way across the pond from Syren as I write so I'll put those together and have a play around before deciding.
 
At the moment the only finish on the planking is sanding sealer. At some point I will have a jolly good clean up and apply a permanent finish Matt varnish I guess.
 
All the best everyone
Fred
 
 
 
 
 
 

I have started working on the windlass. Some parts in the photos have not been glued and fixed yet. Just dry fitting.

I am back at my shipyard after a long summer break. I started with the main hatchway to make the deck fittings. As always, I use milling machine when making the grating elements. I used a sandpaper that I attached to a pot to make the camber on the grating. (for those looking for a practical way to create this camber)
 

Swallow is finished, other than a few touch-ups which will be addressed after I mount her.  My plan is to duplicate the base from RMG as much as possible.  It will probably take me a few weeks to source the wood and draw up the plans.




  

Nice work. Have fun at the workshop!
 

Hi all ,
Great to be here , have previously been a miniature modeler / painter and plastic plane / car modeler . 
have been an avid diver for past 6-7 yrs , got into sailing this year and so started looking for sailing vessel models 
being a fan of the Patrick O’Brien Aubrey/maturin series I was looking for period ships and then came across wooden ships and fell In love 
right now I purchased my first kit 
ITs by model shipways , their shipwright series , the first being a Lowell Dory to get a taste for basic wooden ship building 
thanks for allowing me to join , as I progress I will both keep you guys posted and keep pestering you with questions 
 
thanks
Gill 

I was able to mill the wood for the curved carlings and am starting to make the first one - currently I am milling notches where the carling fits over the floor and will finish tomorrow.
 
I have also completed a pattern made from a thinner strip of wood that is being used to map out the actual carling. One of the straight carlings was used to hold the strip in position so that I could mark the shape with a compass. The shape was cut out and also marked for where the notches mentioned above will be located.
 

Works great thanks for the hard work.  Both SSiS and OSiS work now.  (Can't comment on the other 2)

I applied the fix to my files on my computer.  
 
macOS Catalina 10.15.6 
 
The files for disks from 1990-1994 and 1995-1999. Disks are titled "Seaways' Ships in Scale" vol 1 and vol 2.  These work perfectly as you describe.
 
The files for disks from1983-1987 and 1988-1991 are not completely there yet. These are the ones titled "The Original Ships in Scale" vol 1 and vol 2
These ones will now open up and allow searching and the results will show up in the new tab.  The problem is that the hyperlink to open/goto the article will not work.
 
The same procedure was applied to each of the files on my computer.
 
Overall great work on the fix.  I haven't used these too much due to the lack of searching.
 

Three-eye pulleys are made of ebony. The diameter is 6mm, the thickness is 3mm, the aperture is 0.85 mm. This is the maximum diameter of the slip rope pulley specification.
 

 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

This was a nice little kit very well designed and I just finished it myself.  
Haha! Endwalker just dropped and I am pretty sure it's available on a PS.  Enjoy!

Completed chapter #4 with the deck planking done.
I do have to touch up some paintwork that was damaged during the decking.
 
Chapter #5 starts with the rudder and so I have to machine some pear wood and cut those pieces out to match the plans as I will not be using the laser cut parts.
 

I just returned from Manitowoc WI where I attended the The 45th annual Model Ships and Boats Contest. I entered two models: The British Capstan circa 1777 and the HMS Blandford cross section.  I'm pleased to report that each model won a Gold Award! Thanks to Mike Rohrer (Mike41) for his excellent plans for Blandford and to Toni Levine et.al. and the NRG for the Capstan project.  
 
 
 
 

With much tweaking I finally got the back bench installed. I'm pleased that the angle of the bench matches the Drawing. All that's left for this section is to fill in the gaps and paint.

I am working on a side project for the Mary Day, dedicated to carving her nameplate in miniature. At 3/16" scale, this nameboard comes out to just under 1 inch in length. So this is going to call for the microscope, as well as some specialized carving tools.
 
 

My starting tool is the #11 scalpel blade, and from there, I made very fine tools using the smallest Japanese sewing needles I could find. These were ground down using a diamond stone. From left to right, there is a "blunt tip" tool, then a "coarse" (ha ha) chisel, then a fine chisel, then a sharp point tool.

These images were taken under the microscope, focusing on the fancy detail at the edge of the nameboard.

It's simply not possible to capture an image of me actually working on the piece, as one of the eyepieces has to be replaced by the camera insert.

In general, I make tiny stop cuts in the wood using the chisel, then I force the cut open with one of the needle tip tools. Probing around with the tips of those tools frees up tiny bits of wood that are then cleared from the cuts. The cuts gradually become deep enough and wide enough that their detail becomes more visible. 

End result.

A dime for scale purposes.

As I said, the overall piece is less than 1 inch long, and perhaps 3/32" in height.
 
Next is to figure out what paint will work well to fill the letters. So far I have tried a popular water-based acrylic, but it seems too "goopy" so far. I have another brand of acrylic I can try. I do also have my ageing stash of Floquil oil based paints, but I don't know if any still remain in liquid form. I am open to suggestions on the choice of paint.
 
 
 

I finished the hull planking on May 3, about 2 months later than I had wanted to finish it. Life just gets in the way sometimes.

As of the last post, I estimated I was halfway through the planking. It was time to rip more lumber for the build. I try to take a photo when I rip more planking, so that hopefully I can go back afterward and estimate how much I really ended up needing. The planking stock is Castello boxwood. It has been a pleasure to work with.
 
This will mostly be a pictorial essay, but I will add some commentary at certain points.

The junction of the sternpost and the transom was tricky. I had to do a lot of fine carving to remove enough underlying wood to get the planks to lie down right.

I used some basswood to create a feeler plank that guided how much wood needed to be removed.

At this point I created a short strip that could be temporarily fixed adjacent to the sternpost, so that I could work on the next plank up, which ends adjacent to the lowest portion of the transom.

There is a planking seam very close to the sternpost, which was nice. I was able to create this very short planking segment, which was easily tunable to make sure things were right.

The next portion of this plank is temporarily fastened in so that the next plank can be worked on before gluing in this one.

 

I haven’t been able to examine the real transom on the real ship to see how this planking looks. This first plank that ends against the transom gets pretty wide at its end, and that may not be the way it looks in reality. But it’s time to move on to the bow.

This band of planking consists of four planks, but it was necessary to drop one plank toward the bow. So the space at the stem was divided among three planks.

 

Sizing up the three planks, gradually reducing the size of each so as to end up with three of similar width.


Turned out pretty well.

Time for more lumber.

This bump is a short segment of wood to fill in a dip that occurred when I applied a plank butt to a frame that was a little small. It was sanded down flush.

The bow portion of the port side is finished; just a few more stern planks to go.

All done on the port side. Next is a series of photos showing the closing up of the starboard side.

Down to the whiskey plank. I had a plank ready to go, but it was just a little off. So I made a new one.

Whiskey all around for the building crew!

No time to rest on laurels, though. There is plenty of cleanup to be done before I can move on, so I will probably do another post showing the things that need to be straightened up with the planking before working out the interior structure.

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

One thing is for certain, I need to work on the small tight curves.  Once again the camera takes what appears nice with the naked eye and exposes all the flaws.
 

Finished the 427 Cobra S/C so here are some final views.
An enjoyable well-engineered model. Quite a different experience from wooden ship models for sure. More of a sometimes fiddly assembly of a large number of components that always fit just right if you can maneuver them into position and where required get the screws in while keeping the parts in position. Frequently wished for a third hand!
The hardest thing in the whole build  was fastening the windshield wipers from below with a tiny screw thrust deep into the dark while holding the wipers in place from above. Took me an hour to figure out a way to make that happen!
Thankfully all the electrical connections worked - headlights, brake lights, horn, and engine noise (although the last is a bit pathetic). 

After seeing how well the Rattlesnake came out I am looking forward to this one.  My Constitution is on semi-permanent hold as I get back into modeling and finish up the Halifax.  Interested in seeing your progress with the Hunt practicum as well.