GLakie

All those "fiddly bits" are turning out nice Piet.  Well worth the extra effort! 

Hi Michael! Happy New Year!
Nice to hear from you.
So I have a couple more months to go on the Vasa and then I have to finish the case I started building for it.
After that, and sitting under my table, is a Concord Stagecoach kit by Model Expo. (kit no. MS6001)!!
I figure this will be a nice 6 month diversion for me while I take my time and investigate my next ship model options. So many nice ship models out there that interest me. It will be tough trying to figure out what I want to do next!
 
Thanks,
Frank

Hello all and thanks for visiting the Surabaya shipyard.  Thanks for all the likes and your comments.
 
Thank you Jan. Yeah, I guess that makes sense, that they would come in different sizes for different applications.  I should have made them a hair thicker and perhaps a little closer together at the top but it's mostly the idea that counts in how they look like. 
 
Yeah Ian, I forgot already that Jan mentioned it in a previous post that the kruishouten were called kervels, old age disease    It also makes sense that these hoornklampen are called pin racks.  
All I did with the making the pin racks was to draw them out on a piece of flat boxwood sheet of about 1.5 or 2 mm thickness.  Then drilled the appropriate size holes for the pins and proceeded to cut them out.  I made the pins from bamboo skewers.  First splitting them into thinner pieces and then pulling them through a drill size plate.
I drilled a 1/2 mm hole in the foot of them and cemented a small piece of 1/2 mm brass rod in.  Drilled a 1/2 mm hole in the mast and cemented them in using 2 part epoxy glue.
In my case I could not drill the holes in the main mast because it was already installed and not accessible. Oh, I could have bend a steel needle to 90 degrees and carefully pushed that in making a hole but was concerned about collateral damage in other places.   I just cemented them on with CA.
It's obviously better to do this kind of work when you have the masts on the bench.  
 
I'm coming close to having to make a few carvings and the lower mast tops to start with the standing rigging.
I may have to investigate this casting business like Sawdust Dave is doing, it'll speed up that chore
 
I think I have pretty much put all the fixed rigging parts on the ship except for a few lead-through holes in the bulwarks and eye bolts.  I'm hoping that I can do that when it's needed using the appropriate drawings Jan and Hans have send me.
 
By the way Jan, I have ordered Rob Napier's book "Valkenisse."     Hip, hip, hurrah !!!  That'll help with the rigging together with the Heemskerk and Batavia.  Besides, I just love these Dutch ships, there is something about them - - -
 
I'm currently working on the stern knees and flagpole.  That'll kinda complete the hull work besides mounting a few cannons and then cleaning all the dust out of her.
 
Here are a few pics of the last two day's work.
 

This shows version 2.0 of the kruishouten aka kervels, the three remaing hoornklampen aka pin racks, four boordknights and two three pulley deck nights.
 

Here we see the version 2.0 kruishout, aka kevel, bolted to the frames, a longer pin rack and one boordkecht that you can see just left of the mast bolted to one of the frames.  Now a not so funny thing is that I forgot to drill the holes for the simulated pulley inside of it    I'll either have to worry the holes in using a pin vice or ripping them of and doing it the easy way. 
 

This shows two of the version 2.0 kruishouten, kaka kevels, bolted to the bulwark in the wast.
 

This shows a longer pin rack and a boordknecht on the quarter deck.  Same sad story about the boordeknecht.
 
Cheers,

Thank you Dave...appreciate the insights.
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.

Thanks Nigel....
I find hard rock maple a little harder, tighter grain than boxwood. 
It does not like spinning tools because it tends to surface burn quite easily.
Excellent for fine detail, but I must confess, I have not worked with many of the exotic pear woods, tupalo, teak, etc recommended by many if the more professional wood carvers.
 
I happened to have a few scraps of hard maple left over from my former business.
BTW....Don't even think about driving a nail through it mate.
 
Cheers
Dave

You've got your workshop fixed up real nice Dave. Complete with the all-important fridge for your favorite beverage. Very cool!  Nice work with the carvings! 

You're welcome.  It wasn't an obvious place to put it but I remembered since I bought my copy last summer.

Thank you Bill! I didn't think to look under books.

Greg, The CD can be found in their store under the book section.  I just checked and it is still available.
 
Bill

I looked on the USS Constitution Museum website and couldn't find any reference to a cd.

Lovely work Dave and thank you for sharing the reinforcement tip.
 
Does hard maple hold the details as well as boxwood?
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.
 
PS...Sorry to hear about Smokey.....

Wow. Beautiful work so far!

You've got your workshop fixed up real nice Dave. Complete with the all-important fridge for your favorite beverage. Very cool!  Nice work with the carvings! 

You've got your workshop fixed up real nice Dave. Complete with the all-important fridge for your favorite beverage. Very cool!  Nice work with the carvings! 

And here's the roughly completed head and crown carving....used a piece of hard rock maple.
Left pic is ready for removal and clean up....
Right pic - Note, I have glued in a piece of black card stock to reinforce the very thin points while I cleaned them up.

 
Then with the head attached to the body....

 
Still see a few touching up places. Also need to build up the nose slightly....then ready to create a couple of molds.....
 
Note, I'll glue another piece card stock to the back side of the whole carving before pouring the mold to help with removal without breaking off any of the delicate parts.

You've got your workshop fixed up real nice Dave. Complete with the all-important fridge for your favorite beverage. Very cool!  Nice work with the carvings! 

Frank,
 
Nice couple of updates. Flag and upper railings look excellent. Nice work.
 
So what's up next under your table at position No.1?
 
Michael

Very nice Frank!  Finishing touch?   

You've got your workshop fixed up real nice Dave. Complete with the all-important fridge for your favorite beverage. Very cool!  Nice work with the carvings! 

You've got your workshop fixed up real nice Dave. Complete with the all-important fridge for your favorite beverage. Very cool!  Nice work with the carvings! 

You must have a good memory, It's been a looooooong time since I started the Rattlesnake. Your Conny is looking real good. I hope to started mine before the millennium is up. 8-)
 
Jonathan

Back to work....
This is an experiment in getting a closer shot of a couple of carvings before painting them with the metallic gold....
Top photo is the clip art I used for these two pieces.....

 
Note, I decided the head of the carving on the left will need to be done with a much harder median (plastic or hard wood) because the vinyl will not allow for the fine detail of the facial features.

 
As usual, I'll be making silicone rubber molds of both carvings in order to cast duplicate pieces to go on the port side.

Began the new year with major cleaning of the shipyard (after seven years of sawdust accumulation on shelves and in corners etc.)
This turned into a yard sale this past Saturday.... getting rid of boxes and boxes of heavy commercial grade woodworking tools packed away in cargo boxes since I sold my custom furniture business several years ago.  Then re-arranged the shop, installed some additional lighting, and painted the floor.... still must caulk the expansion joint and paint over it sometime today.
 

 
The difference is astounding, to the point that my poker crew walked into the shop last night and thought they had come to the wrong place.
 

Thanks Ken, I will give that a try.

For the open lower gun port lids, I decided to make some 90 degree brackets that look like the photoetched hinges. I used some 1/64" by 1/16" brass strip and filed the hinge shape in by hand, then thinned the width down to about 3/64"
 

 
I have only made 8 of the 32 I will need, but it was a good start.
 
I also experimented with some sail cloth I had left over from another build to try to simulate the canvas gun port covers at the stern ports. I used a hole punch to make the hole for the cannon barrel. I think with some fray check on the edges and maybe some paint they will do. What do you think?