Jack12477

Now that all the pieces are ready I started to install them.  Started with the swivel brackets for the carronades which I lined up by eye and the installation was pretty straight forward.   Then the pin rails were installed followed by the cleats. After all these pieces were installed I gave the entire inward bulwarks another coat of paint.
 
 
 
To help position the eye bolts around the gun ports I cut out the portion of the drawing showing their location to make a little template.  The template was placed at each port and a tick mark was made for drilling the holes.  The split rings were made from 28 gage wire wrapped around a T-pin with a diameter of about 1.3 mm. After putting the rings on the eye bolts I soldered the gap using silver solder.  Used a piece of drywall for the soldering board.
 

 
Eye bolts and belaying pins in place.  I used the brass belaying pins that came with the kit and blackened them prior to installing them.
 

I Put together the cockpit.The hinges where a bit challenging I used 28 gauge wire and a material I bought at a hobby store called Bare-metal. It's an adhesive metal foil that comes on a sheet in various colors. I got the one called black chrome and with a little patience it seems to have worked out pretty good. I'm going to paint the cockpit seats and locker in red. I also need to do some paint touch up on some areas where the paint has chipped off.

Thanks you Greg, David and John .
 
 
Yes John, it'll stay right where it is now. There will also be some pics of the Finished model in the Gallery.
 
 Danny

thank you druxey
I thought I was smart enough to avoid this type of incident
smart has nothing to do with it
RESPECT for your tools means more then taking care of them

I hope you heal well and without complication, Alan. Please play safely!

How to Make a Honey Stick... or...  My New Found Respect for Table Saws
Every morning at work I enjoy a good hot cup of tea with honey.
I had been thinking about it for weeks and one week ago on Sunday,  August 2nd, I decided to make myself a honey stick.

 
I decided to use oak as I have some old oak skid pallet parts in my stock pile  and I just love oak.
I took a board (about 1-1/2" thick) and cut a short length (8-1/2") off of her.
I set the fence on my table saw to the thickness of the board so I'd end up with a square piece to put on the lathe to turn it down and shape it.
The cut went smooth without incident.... I should have stopped there.
In my experience the first piece never looks quite good enough and I knew I could get another cut out of the drop so I decided to prepare a backup piece.
Well the board had a bolt hole in it so I'd have to cut that out, and the outside edge had what I call a worm hole (more likely a wood wasp burrow) and that would not be good.  On close inspection I calculated I could cut it down without resetting the fence.
The second cut went without a hitch, bolt hole gone.

The final cut was going wonderfully until the very last inch and "what the [bleep] just happened!"    
I grabbed some paper towel, clamped it to my index finger with a death grip and was rushed to the hospital.
At the hospital the nurse told me I could let go now... well I couldn't.  My hand was cramped in place.  I could not remove my left hand from my right.  It took all my concentration and then it opened just enough to slide my finger out.  I had to press it against my thigh to get it to open the rest of the way.
WHAT A MESS.
I couldn't bring myself to turn and look at it.  I was sure it was cut straight up and I now had a forked finger tip.
The nurse wrapped it back up and told us it was going to be at least a five hour wait.  As we are blessed with an Emergency Unit in our home town I'd have been better off if I was having a heart attack  (heaven forbid) as I would then had been getting immediate care.  We left and drove the 15 minutes to the next town that is designated Urgent Care and I was tended to completely within two hours, including  x-rays.
I had removed 3/4's of my finger nail and the meat just below it and, thanks to guardian angels, just missed the bone.  I am healing quickly.  I can lower my hand without my finger tip throbbing, and every other day the nurse changes the bandage and that process hurts less than the last time.
So what happened?
The wood does not show the classic signs of kick back in that the part between the blade and the fence did not climb up and over.  The small piece with the worm hole is twisted and cracked.  It was outside of the blade, I was using a push stick inside of the blade.  I always used my hand outside and removed it as it approached the blade.  I was just about to pull my hand away as the piece twisted and my hand was drawn underneath and inwards just in front of the blade and ... bad luck would have it was swiped.
I will never, ever, ever put my hands anywhere near a power blade, ever again.   EVER. (I make tonnes of scrap wood and will use it)
I'd post photos but if I don't want to look at it why would I let you.
I learned to type using all my fingers way back in high school but have since resorted to two fingers.  Strangely I use the index finger of my left hand and the third finger (next to the index finger) of my right. So my typing ability has not been affected.
How strange is that.
Also, in 1990 I had the nerves along one side of  my neck cut during surgery while they removed a tumour that had wrapped around them and from that I'd lost the feeling in finger tips of my right hand.  I was just mentioning to my wife the day before the accident that  I'd noticed the feeling had come back. Oh Joy, just in time! 
 
As for the honey stick, it will get done but not for awhile. I've got more healing to do first.  

I'm tellin' ya, I get no respect!

Redo of Stern Lights
 
Following the comments about the way I'd swung the Stern Lights it didn't take me long to decide to redo them.
 
I had to totally remake two of them, as you can see by the pic below they didn't fit correctly into the frames. As I'd decided in the first place to show them in the open position I didn't take a lot of care to get the angles exactly right :
 

 

 
I added a top and bottom sill, and made new munions :
 

 

 

 
I'm much happier with the final result - not perfect, but a lot better .
 
 Danny

Ken, just pulled up a chair to watch ! Sounds like fun kit.

Ken, just pulled up a chair to watch ! Sounds like fun kit.

Without question your model is quite impressive, and the accompanying build log is a tour de force on scratch building a plank-on-frame model.  They are an awesome achievment!  Thanks a ton for the many hours of instruction you provided.  Any model that I build will be better for what I learned on your build log.  Yes, I too am wondering what your next project will be.  Whatever it is it will no doubt be great.  Once again, THANKS!

I'd have to agree with Peter Nenad. Maybe taking the plunge and buying those tiny blocks and deadeyes will save you a lot of time and frustration in the end. 
 
Cheers

Gentlemen, please do follow along. And thanks for all the "likes". The more the merrier.
 
I took some photos to give you an idea of what's happening, so here goes:

These are some of the thick parts I've been cutting out. They represent the under pinning of the superstructure and paddle wheel housings. The elongated pieces on the right middle have slots cut into them. The brown and white part in the lower righthand corner fits into the slots, for what believe is called the texas deck. This will sit between the paddle wheel housings.
The stern sections
The bow sections and hull bulkheads.
This is a full hull build. Remember, this boat had a draft of about 8 feet.

A selection of the parts not needing to be glued to thicker backing card. The overall color is a dark blue gray. Looks like some of the WW II colors used by the USN and RN.
I have to sand down the bows and sterns to "sweeten" up the curves, The front "turret" will also be fun to cut as something approaching a circle. Time to go off to my volunteer job, with the County Sheriff.

I have a long time interest in the American Civil War. One particular subject is the Brown Water ships used by both sides on the Mississippi and its feeder rivers. I've spotted a few kits I like and they lured me off the Bounty launch for a while.
 
Some of the Union ships were initially started by the US Army, but eventually ended up under USN control. The Choctaw was originally a commercial ship launched in 1856, purchased by the US Army in September 1862, converted into an ironclad ram and finally commissioned in the USN in March 1863. Choctaw was a 260' (79m) long side paddle wheel steamer, with a beam of 45' (14m). She carried 1 x 100 lb rifle, 3 x 9" Dahlgren smoothbores and 2 x 30 lb Parrott rifles. Choctaw took part in operations along the lower Mississippi around Haynes Bluff, MS, up the Yazoo River and participated in the Red River expedition, up to Alexandria in Louisiana in 1864. She was decommissioned in New Orleans in July 1865.
 
This model is a card kit I purchased from ECardmodels.com. There are 8 pages of parts and 4 of instructions. It's a download only, so the purchaser has to print out the pages. Since Heinkel Models is located in Spain, his designs are done on A4 paper (8.3" by 11.3" or so). I got some 110 lb paper in that size, along with a small pack of heavier card. You'll end up laminating a number of parts to about a 1 mm thick card backing for this model. Here's the cover sheet. The model is almost 18" (40cm) long. The instructions say there are over 350 parts in this beast.

 
I reread Chris Coyle's card tutorials a time or three, then made sure I has appropriate card stock and glue. I glued up enough heavy card stock for 3 letter size pages of 1 mm backing. Instead of using3M spray-on cement for laminations, I used some 3M Positionable Mounting Adhesive. No warping of the card stock. I let it sit overnight and laid out the appropriate parts, as marked in the kit, that should be mounted on the 1 mm backing. And there are a few more parts going on another sheet of .5 mm backing.
 
Then the fun began. Make sure you have a good supply of sharp cutting tools. The 110 lb card on top of 1mm backing was murder on blades. Not too bad cutting the straight edges, but the curved parts (bow and stern, paddle wheel covers) were challenging. I felt like I had regressed to the '70s or early '80s in model railroad structures. Multiple slices and retouching any interior corners with a file/sanding device. Many of the parts need to have cutouts so that the superstructure parts interlock. And the hull has a keel and bulkheads. I'll get some pictures of the parts I've got cut out so far next time.
Thanks for reading this.

Dan - an incredible result that I followed in stealth mode (along with many others I'm sure).
 
Just to be overly crisp... The painting you cited was a knockoff... Here is the actual Thomas Birch painting of the Constitution/Guerriere battle:
 

 
Quite a difference!
 
Evan

thanks for the kind words and the likes everyone.........it's been a few years now since I've touched a plastic kit.   glad to see that at least some of my techniques are coming back. 
 
jee Gray........does this mean I still can't be envious of you?   I'll go out on a limb here  ......can you send me a copy of the parts diagrams......the ones that are in the back pages of the instructions.  I am sooooo curious.   love to see the instructions for the warrior as well......but time will tell 
 
you know Patrick.........I used to think that building wood kits would be harder that plastic.   I was soooo wrong!   there is a bit of finesse that is required for the plastic medium,  that can be relaxed a bit with the wood medium.   these are both great mediums in their-selves.......to master them both can really round out a well seasoned modeler.    you folks flatter me.........I have my flaws.   I enjoy myself too much to worry about the small stuff........I'll figure it out as I go along 
 
thank you all........got a birthday party to go to that I forgot about........I'd better get working on the next update! 

Young America 1853 – POB 1:96
Part 12 – Stem/Keel/Sternpost 1
 
The stem assembly, keel and sternpost on the POB model are virtually identical to their counterparts on the framed model except for scale and the deletion of a few unnecessary internal structural parts.  Unlike the framed version that started construction with this work, on the POB model they were made and installed after the hull was shaped.
 
In keeping with the concept of simpler tools and readily available materials for this version, scale members were all cut from ¾” (4/4) material.  For the stem/keel/sternpost, hard maple was used – with pieces selected for straight grain.  Becaused of its visible grain pattern I would only use maple where work will be painted or metal sheathed.
 
The POB model did not require the thickness sander or band saw.  Members were sized using circular saws.  If ¾” hardwood can be ripped on an available 4” model circular saw, ripping stock to required dimensions is just a matter of setting the rip fence and cutting.  On the full-sized  (10”) table saw that I used, a different method was adopted.  The first picture shows stock for the 16” wide keel about to be ripped off of a piece of 3/4” maple.
 

 
Although cutting sized strips away from the rip fence as shown takes a bit more setup time, it is much safer and eliminates damage to small thicknesses left between the fence and the blade.  It also avoids having them come out of the saw at high velocity. The blade in the picture is an ultra-thin kerf (.080"), 40-tooth carbide blade that leaves a very clean surface on the strip.  The Plexiglas® table insert was specially made for close clearance to this blade.  The next picture shows the ripped 16” strip being checked for size.
 

 
I usually start with a very small cut into the plank and measure what will be the resulting strip thickness, then adjust the fence if necessary before cutting off the whole strip.  This was then repeated for each cut.  The ¾” strips were then used to make sections of the keel and the other components.
 
In the next picture the POB stem pieces are shown on a copy of the pattern sheet.
 

 
All were able to be cut from the ¾” inch stock except for the lower stem as shown above.  On the original ship this piece would have been cut from a very large piece of compass timber – probably live oak for strength.  On this model, two pieces of edge-glued ¾” maple were used.  The next picture shows the two pieces used for this being edge glued.
 

 
Undarkened Titebond® was used for this to minimize joint visibility, although on this model all this will be covered by metal sheathing. The long straight piece in the picture is being used to make sure the two glued pieces lie flat.
 
The next picture shows the four stem pieces cut out and ready for fitting. Dashed lines around the patterns show ¾” stock.
 

 
The pieces were cut on the scroll saw very close to the pattern lines, then dressed with a file for final fitting – as shown below.
 

 
The patterns were left pasted on for all of this work.  In the next picture,, the false stem  (the members forward of the stem proper) have been fitted and aligned on the drawing.
 

 
The false stem pieces are being glued in the next picture.
 

 
Alignment is again provided by the drawing.  To be continued…
 
 
Ed

Thwarts are coming into place, none of them are glued.
The thwart at frame A is a tricky one, but I got it in place without breaking the thin side that goes around the frame.

First trial of a twart.
I have more than enough material for thwarts so this will be not an issue.
But comparing to the pictures of Chucks I have so much more fuzziness on the material even with the boxwood.
Something I don't like.

Hi Nigel,
Fully planked both sides.  Admiralty orders.      The battens have been removed and planking is progressing.
 
 
Carl...  oh yeah...he did it.  A lot of fussing and agonizing going on as well as some real-world distractions. 
 
 
Stay tuned.... we'll see where this goes.

now's the time there should be an armed guard against a 'kitty incursion'........if there ever was a time to strike,  this would be it     I've enjoyed watching your build Danny.........top notch wonderful work.....and spoken like a true modeler too.     a very well done model indeed! 

Fantastic model Dan.  I joined your log very late in the game, but I've enjoyed every update and learned a great deal.  Cheers!

Definitely Dave. But she's not as good as my NEXT one .
 
 Danny

Oh bugger     . Here comes another re-do.
 
 Danny

Thanks for looking in again George, Tom, Brian, Robin and Druxey.
 
George - I'm using THIS method. See below.
 
 
I had it in the dim dark recesses of my mind that I'd made them, but they weren't in the tray of "Finished Pieces". For some reason they were in the one alongside it .
 
 
Actual work on the model commenced on Wednesday August 17 2011. It's 4th Anniversary is next week . I spend an average of 6 hours per day on it, and I've had about 3 months in total not working on the ship in that time. That's about 1370 days at 6 hours per day - 8,220 hours    .
 
Let's see - at $25.00 per hour (labourer's rate) that makes it worth $205,500.00 plus parts. Make me an offer .
 
Robin - I thought it a bit strange myself. I followed the directions in TFFM, so I guess they must be right.
 
Druxey - I agree about the centre light. I left it open to show the Rudderhead a bit more clearly .
 
 Danny