Jack12477

Marc, as you carefull look at the photo with Queen, and englare space over Her head, you can notice shadow of round rail which lead to conclusion that entrance is promoted just to the rail.
 
q
 
And now,look at the next picture, particulary position of rail toward buckets
 

 
I am not shure that unbroken line of buckets shown on C-plans is not separatwd by entrance
 
Also you can notice intersection shape change of that rail ????
 
Hmm ... something to think/rethink about during my one week vacation next week ... with one more "hmm" question how to reproduce same color on deckhouse's roof planking as I made mixing colors for decks ... what I was thinking - again
 
My plane is to make short Shumadia Tour and to visit three mountines in Serbia and my three friends who have three cabins deep in the woods of Rajac, Zlatibor and Rudnik mountine, in 200km circle from Belgrade. Kids don't want to go with me (booring thei said), so I will let them enjoy in 39℃ in shade, and I will enjoy in traveling, wood walking and chating with friends with/without beer/bear or wine
 
I hope to find my tools well when I come back
 
So, today is last day in office, and,I hope during weekend to make some progress on fore deck

I'm glad you got some shipyard time, Popeye.   I was beginning to worry.   By the way, you forgot the "goesunda" pieces.

there is a beautiful collection of these bone ships at the US Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis. I've personally seen them (along with the Roger's collection) and they are amazing models. Well worth the visit

Ken, when I did my Model RR ballast I used a 4 parts water to 1 part glue plus 2 drops of detergent. Not sure if that would work for the rope versus your 50-50 mixture. It left the Model RR ballast firm but slightly elastic. Also not sure if 4-1 ratio will allow the rope to stick to the deck; it should hold the rope coils together without overly stiffening them, but not sure about the deck holding ability.

Ken, if you add a drop or two of liquid dish detergent (e.g. Dawn) to the diluted white glue - it acts as a "wetting agent", i.e. breaks down the surface tension of the water and makes it soak in better. I used to use it for laying down ballast on my model RR.

I've managed to put something together......wonders never cease!    I actually had the day for myself today......the only thing I needed to do,  was repair a Christmas ornament that had broken over the holidays....and of course,  I offered to fix it  {I found it stuffed in a drawer......I had no more room under the carpet  }
 
there were a couple of pictures from a week ago.......like this one,  where I had glued on the two little wall pieces and the forward roof......after adding the back stay for the fore mast.
 

 
during another opportunity to play at the table,  I painted one of the funnels.  this is the British Gulf LT Stone......I think it was more the color of the parts than anything else......the paint didn't cover very well.
 

 
I also managed to paint the railing sprues,  and the vent parts with flat white.  there are a lot of parts here.
 

 

 
still a bit befuddled concerning the funnel order,  I set'em up again.........now the one I thought was first,  is last
 

 
I had painted that one,  because the ladder was cemented in place.  there are other parts that need to go onto them,  but there are no locator tabs,  and a couple of the parts are associated with other parts,  that are cemented to the structures.
    three words best describe this hobby......goesinta,   goesonta,  and goesova..........just thought I'd share that with you,  just in case I ever use these words.  don't wantcha ta think I went hip-hop or something 
 
today.......I got to think'in........those funnels are such a small job.  it t'would be a chore to crank the Craftsman compressor up.........what can I do..Hmmmmmmmm.   I remembered that I had the Spray craft outfit......this is comprised of the airbrush,  which is a gravity feed,  a holder,  hose,  and a three speed compressor.   I didn't want to change over the Testors airbrush I had set up for the Craftsman,  so I got the old one that I had set aside a while ago.
 

 
to hook up the hose,  I cut a small piece of the hose from the gravity feed,  and used it as a connector,  seeing that the Testors hose is smaller in size.
 

 
after checking the airbrush out,  I found that it wasn't the airbrush itself that was bad.....it was the cap.  the cap and siphon tube screws onto the testors 1/4 oz bottles.......naturally,  these caps are prone to wearing out.   I used another cap.....and it worked just fine.   I sent testors an e-mail today,  asking where I can get new caps and siphon tubes.  I hope to get an answer soon........I have two caps left.   so far I've bought two of these kits   TES4030 & TES4034....here are the numbers in case you want to do a search on the testors website.
 
Testors » Airbrushes » Airbrushes
 
I have been spraying out on the porch.........here is my spray booth
 

 
here are the funnels with a coat of paint on them
 

 

 
some ghosting did occur,  but I think it has a little to do with the color of the plastic........orange is such a transparent color to work with....it's as bad as white.   I gave the first pair the second coat.......they look much better
 

 
I also have an Aztek A320 spray outfit too........that is a siphon feed.   I have never used it.......these testors airbrushes have worked so well,  I haven't had to resort to it
 
 

That second coat made the difference Dennis. They look fine now. A nice bit of diagnostic work in getting the air-brush working again.   

Ken, when I did my Model RR ballast I used a 4 parts water to 1 part glue plus 2 drops of detergent. Not sure if that would work for the rope versus your 50-50 mixture. It left the Model RR ballast firm but slightly elastic. Also not sure if 4-1 ratio will allow the rope to stick to the deck; it should hold the rope coils together without overly stiffening them, but not sure about the deck holding ability.

I’m trying to button up details on my Vasa weather deck.
 
I need to coil the carriage ropes. I have seen some beautiful work here in that regard, but I don’t remember reading about any good technique(s).
 
How should I coil the ropes, and keep them in place before re-positioning them next to the carriages? I’m also concerned about scaring the deck with glue marks.
 
I do know that many cut the ropes just under the pulleys and then “attach” the coiled bits on each side.
 
I include a photo of my messy deck so that you may have a better take on my dilemma. Thanks for any advice. I have learned so much here at MSW in these last two years!
 
Regards,
 
Michael

there is a beautiful collection of these bone ships at the US Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis. I've personally seen them (along with the Roger's collection) and they are amazing models. Well worth the visit

Ken, if you add a drop or two of liquid dish detergent (e.g. Dawn) to the diluted white glue - it acts as a "wetting agent", i.e. breaks down the surface tension of the water and makes it soak in better. I used to use it for laying down ballast on my model RR.

Brian, thanks for the tip; I have used that water/white glue mix with some planes I have built and will give it a try. Back in the day when I was in the Marine Corps Drill Team we used starch on our utility covers (hats) to form cover with crisp lines and maintain shape. Here is a picture from back in the day.

I finally finished all the tackle lines and then moved on to the coiling of the ropes. Each tackle line was seized at the eyebolts very carefully adding just a touch of CA to hold the rigging tight. Then each line was aligned below the eyebolts. Originally the plan was to then cut the rope excess off at this point and then add a separate coil. On pondering the situation with a bit of libation I figured what the heck give it a test try coiling them in place. 
 
First I soaked the rope with water using a Q-tip to add the water. While waiting for the rope to thoroughly soak I cut a piece of wood strip with an angle on the end that was also soaked in water. I also filed the end of spring loaded tweezers to a sharper point  to reduce the size of the center hole of the coil. 
Here is the soaked rope.

 
I then griped the rope end with the tweezers and slowly turned the tweezers while using the wood follower to keep the coil flat towards the seized eyebolt sliding across the wet deck. The follower was then positioned to very carefully release the tweezers without pulling the center out.

 
Here are the wet rope coils in place being allowed to dry. 

 
Here they are completely dried overnight and the test looks successful. I now for the rest I will add starch to the water to work as a binder to hopefully hold the coils together and maintain the natural color of the rope. CA will darken the rope considerably. If someone else has a suggestion for a binder please share with me.

 
Now to move onto a deck load of carronades. A lesson learned is that the next time I do this I will make sure I have ample excess tackle line. I may have some too short and will add a separate coil as needed. Coiling them in place maintains a consistent natural look.
Looking forward to any advice other may have since this is my first attempt at doing this.

 
 
 
 
 

I also coiled mine in place on the deck, but instead of using water, I used a 50/50 water/white glue (Elmers school glue!) mix.  Once it dried, it's also glued and stiffened.  It does slightly darken the rope, but it's very minimal, and I used a paint brush to 'paint' the same mixture on the rest of the tackle to keep it from loosening over time, so there is no variation in the line color visible.
 
After completing the coils, I just dabbed the extra glue/water mix with a soft cloth and tweezers, and you can't see any sign of the mixture on the deck, it doesn't discolor it at all, or show any sort of 'lines' like CA would (the deck was coated with Minwax Wipe on Poly first).

Jack, have a look at http://www.pow-boneships.de/html/USNA_Museum%20Boneships.htm

there is a beautiful collection of these bone ships at the US Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis. I've personally seen them (along with the Roger's collection) and they are amazing models. Well worth the visit

With those last two planks installed, I could see where I over sanded a few of the bulkheads in the fairing process. I found five areas that needed a 1/64± shim. I ripped them from some laser cut soft ply I had lying around. Once glued, I sanded them to the proper curve.
 

I've completed the starboard side topside planking. Same as the port side, but it went a little faster (the old learning curve  ). Now it's on to the stern planking.
 
Bob
 
 

So I'm learning that I really dislike working with the metal bits.  I'm not really equipped yet to do soldering on very fine parts yet (need one of those pinnable soldering mats of some kind), so I went with black coated copper wire to make the chain plates.
 
I made a simple jig after getting the length figured out on a very rough not-pretty hand made piece.

 
I test fit the first one and it was fairly decent, so I made all 4 for one side.

 
Then I bent them to fit the ship and.. I managed to flip the dead-eye in the jig on all but the first one, making them too long.  I'll remake all 4 after adjusting the jig slightly and adding side pieces so that it's not possible to flip the dead-eye the wrong way.

 
My system for these is quite simple, I'm making the joint where the cap of the channel will cover it, so the fact that it's not perfectly mated and soldered doesn't matter, and just joining the thing together with CA glue.  This seems like it is going to work just fine, but I'll end up having to re-glue them all to keep them aligned after bending them to fit, as the brittle glue joint between the two sides tends to fail when I'm bending them into the channels.  
 
They'll also be painted matte black so they aren't shiny.  If it doesn't work out, then I'll revert to doing something in brass, but I'm hoping this will work, as they seem to look just fine and once they are fixed in place with the nail/glue at the bottom and the channel cap at the top, they shouldn't be moving enough to be a problem.

Young America 1853 – POB 1:96
Part 9 – Support for the inverted hull  
 
The hull of the model is very strong and solid – except for the fragile plywood toptimbers.  Since there is a lot of work to do with the hull inverted, some form of robust support was needed - to support the hull for heavy work like fairing, but at the same time to keep the toptimbers protected. A heavy wooden block that could be securely fastened in a vice was made and attached to the hull for this purpose.  It is shown screwed down to the “deck beams” in the first picture.
 

 
To secure the block to the hull a pair supporting spacers were fitted and glued between bulkheads – away from later facilities.  These are shown glued and clamped in the next picture.  Four long wood screws were used to fasten the block to these supports.
 

 
The wood block was rabbeted along the sides as shown below to keep the toptimbers clear of the vise jaws.
 

 
Two strips of wood were used to keep the block from rocking on the round up of the deck.  The next picture shows the hull securely clamped in a bench level woodworking vise ready for the next steps.
 

 
Removal of the excess spine was the first of these steps.  In the next picture a coping saw is being used to cut just outside of the bearding line previously marked on the forward part of the hull.
 

 
The spine aft of the post was also removed by cutting on a line marked from a stern template.  Both these cuts are rough at this stage.
 
After this work the hull was ready for fairing – to be covered in the next parts.
 
 
Ed
 

Nice work on the planking Mark!  Pretty interesting. Didn't know about the French foot being larger, so after looking it up, I found that they used what they were calling the "King's foot" type of measurement system for over a thousand years, even though it did vary back and forth somewhat over the years. For a long time, including the 18th century, 1 foot was about 12.86 inches.  Learn something every day.     Now I need to ask if there's a charge for all this knowledge I'm picking up here! All I have right now is just a few Peso's. 
 
Cheers 

Hmm.  She's staring to actually look like a boat!  I added  more planks.  Seems like I've been planking forever.  I've got my system down though as far as bending, shaping, and gluing on the planks.  Once I think I have the bending figured out, I move further up/down the boat and then need to figure out the shape of the new bends I'll be working with!  Son-of-a . . .    I'm at the point on the hull I'll need to use the Magic Tape method, that I saw in another build log, as a way of figuring out my plank bends.  It's getting hard to wing it!
 

 

 

 

 

 
I'm already thinking ahead to hull sanding.  Hoping it all turns out OK!
 
Erik

Not hard to find these terms on the internet and once a bit of time is spent, easier to remember :>), BUT ---------------
Let in means the beams are cut down 1/32" where the thicker planks are to be laid so the tops of the planks are flush.  Save yourself some trouble, IF YOU WANT TO, and use the same thickness planks , 1/16".  Only you will know they are not let down into the beams. Standing proud means the thicker planks will be seen as higher than the thinner ones, and yes, would be a tripping hazard.
 
Allan

Hi all,
 
Here's a small "tutorial" on how I make the rather tricky Clue (aka Clew) Blocks. The ones here are scale 9" blocks and are just 4.5mm long in 1:48 scale. I'm also making 8" and 6" blocks using the same techniques.
 
I start by cutting the stock for as many as I need from English Box. I find this the best wood to use for these as it has no grain and is very dense, important features on something this small that requires a number of holes.
 
Next I set the 0.020" kerf blade on the table saw to cut a shallow groove for the sheaves.
 
Then I drill the sheave holes using my mill - saves a lot of time and ensures accuracy, but it can be done using a Dremel or Pin Vise. Here's a pic up to this stage :
 

 
Back to the table saw again, and I cut the various steps required :
 

 

 
Using a very narrow chisel made from an Xacto blade I clean up the holes and round off the shoulders of the "sheaves". This not only improves the look of them but makes the line pass through them more realistically. The two blocks on the right in this pic have been shaped :
 

 
Next I drill the two holes for the strop through the head of the block using a Pin Vise :
 

 
A sanding stick fitted with 240 grit paper is used to shape the head of the block in both planes, and I cut the **** of the block with a sharp Xacto. The sides of the block are rounded with a small flat needle file :
 

 

 
Once detached from the stock I tidy the rest of the block up with the sanding stick, and also cut a notch for the strop (that stops it from slipping off the block later on). Here's the finished article, the coin measures about 19mm in diameter :
 

 

 
I use most of the above techniques for making all my blocks, the only real variation to these is the shaping of the head of the block and the drilling of the two strop holes. On normal blocks I use the table saw to cut a 2nd shallow groove in the stock for the strop.
 
 Danny

Here's the close up pic I promised....  I'm not done sanding or "caulking"/crack filling yet and there's sawdust all over...   but you should be able to see how the ebony flows and fills the area between fore end of the channel (the open spot) and the main wale and how the main wale planking is all blended together. The wide planks (wale planks) are all about 1 foot wide, actually a bit more since the French foot was bigger than the English foot.  The rest of the planking is approximately 9 inches wide, and again, it's slightly larger than the comparible English planking.