Jack12477

Most verily, CaptainSteve doest not get to spend-eth much time a-modellin’ throughout the week …
 
“At best, I be casting a most critical eye o’er work done thus far,” he didst begineth. “And, on occasion, I has been known to take-eth up me knife and remove-eth that which doth displease-eth me.”
However, with this build (finally) reaching its’ end-game, over these last few days Our Hero didst findeth a few minutes to work on a-fashioning his boat’s rigging lines.
 
"I didst use-eth the kit supplied belaying pins," he were to offer. "Here they be a-soakin' in vinegar to weather 'em a little." 

 
Now, many o’ ye may-est be aware that CaptainSteve be not in truth the Old Salt what ‘is name doth suggest.
“As such,” he didst plead-eth, “I wouldst be most grateful for any comments and suggestions regarding the following series o’ pictures.”
 
“Well, here they be …”

"I do-est wish to give-eth a sense o' the working rigging," Our Hero were to drone on. "Further, adding bunt-lines didst help-eth to gi' me sails a billowed look."
 

Note: Despite the way they look 'ere, there be no lines attached to the tholes.
 

By way of explanation, Our Hero forgot to mention that these lines (wi’ the exception o’ the back-stays) can be untied and moved, if the Horde doest think it necessary.

I am sure by now everyone is sitting on edge of chair for first start up, perhaps make it a live event with the "Live stream" app, beer and crisps ready, see if it runs?

I started building two jolly boats for the port and starboard davits. Even though I started with two aluminum cast shells from BlueJacket, There's a lot more work than meets the eye. The shells were a perfect size and shape with nice detail, but they required some "Dremel sculpting" to get them just right. I just finished the floor decking and will start on the seating, oars, block and tackle etc.

Michael,
 
100% agree with Patrick & Carl. I, as I'm sure many others are, am continually awestruck by your machining and manufacturing talents - not wishing to repeat myself, but if I could acquire just 10%, actually scratch that, just 1% of your skills my abilities would improve no end!!
 
This incredible creation is getting dangerously close to completion and I'm finding it increasingly difficult to contain thoughts of 'when's it going to run?'. Conversely, there'll be a part of me that'll be sad to see it finished; reading of your thoughts & processes has been hugely rewarding and educational and I'll definitely miss the ongoing instructive prose.
 
Anyway, keep up the phenomenal work!
 
Regards,
 
Row

Thanks to all for the likes and comments
 
Today I mounted the waterpump with 4 00x90 hex bolts
 

 
The other milestone was to finally get the head mounted.
 

 
and made a spark plug wrench.
 

 

 

 
Michael

You are referring to the rudder port?.......No special technique really.  I will just drill a pilot hole as large as my preferred needle file.  Then I will slowly enlarge it to shape.   Its interseting to note that the stern post should have extended through the counter as well.  I designed it so another small piece will be glued inboard to fake it.   No one will ever know.  In fact it will look like you have the tightest planking joints around the stern post to allow it to pass through so nicely.
 
Chuck
 

The planking is done.  When I made the keel I made it from two pieces of wood so they would join at the rabbet line.  The portion that was attached to the bulkheads was 1/16’ thick so that with a  1/32” plank on each side it would be the same as the 1/8” outer portion of the keel. 
 
After the planking was finished the rough edges at the keel were sanded down to the keel.

 
The keel was then fitted over the planked hull.

 
With the bulkheads removed you can see the lower portions that were left to be the floors.

 
Since I plan on painting the hull I covered it with filler and sanded it smooth.

 
Now it's ready for the deck framing.

 
Bob

The port side is done and treenailed. I also made the horse shoe plates for the stem and keel plate at the stern.  These were laser cut from laserboard.  I painted and glued them on.  They have little holes cut through them as you can see.  The beauty of that is after gluing them with yellow glue and placing them on the model....a little bit of glue seeps through the holes and forms a nail head.  But if you dont want to do that,  you can drill through the holes with a #78 bit and insert some 28 gauge wire as bolt heads.  ....Or   just leave it as is.  I will be drilling and inserting the wire as bolt heads later on.  Also all of the fancy molding is in position that I want to add at this point.   Now its time to thin down the bulwarks inboard.  FUN ....FUN!!! 
 
Chuck
 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for all the many likes and fine comments .
 
"How do you hold on to tiny round metal pieces when you are assembling? I've had a problem lately with the tips of tweezers pinching round or small metal pieces and launching them to some parallel dimension."
 
I use a variety of fine tipped tweezers like these
 

 
I started working on the pump body and decided a a different approach than the first one.
First I parted off a disc of brass from some 3/8 bar stock to make the base sheetthis was drilled for a clearance for a 2x56 allen head cap screw, this was then bolted to a piece of maple and set up in the mill to drill and tap 1x72 which is .073" in diameter. My reason for parting off some rod is that the machining qualities of the bar stock are much better that the .025" sheet, the bar stock being free machining and the sheet rather gummy.
 

 

 
The plate was then fitted with some .073" rod that had been threaded and drilled out to .047" which will let me use some 00x90 bolts to fix it to the crank case
 

 
The next picture shows the body temporarily positioned, because the tubes are threaded into the back plate and I want the whole assembly to look like a casting I will solder the lot together.
 

 
The back plate still need some final shaping, I will do that after it is one piece.
 
That's about it for today.
 
Michael

Here are a couple pictures of work in progress. The display case will have a door (with more glass) to the left and the top will also have a pane of glass. The grey background is a piece of fabric glued to a 1/4 inch piece of plywood. 
 
I still need to mount the boats, rig the braces, make a new base and generally clean things up before I can call it done.
  

Chapter 8 – coppering the hull
 
Prior to coppering the hull I need to make the stamps for the simulated nail heads in the copper plates.  I will be using the nail pattern that Chuck shows in the instructions for the port and starboard plates and after studying Dirk’s (Dubz) build I will be making two additional stamps for the port and starboard dressing belts.  The patterns were drawn to 3/16” scale using AutoCAD.
 

 
For the pins I used 26 gauge Lancets, bought at Wal-Mart, as mentioned in Richard’s (rtropp) and Thomas’s (Gahm) builds.  I went with the thicker 26 gauge lancets and not the 30 gauge as Thomas used because I wasn’t showing as many nails he did.  Extracting the needle from the plastic holder proved to be a challenge and what I finally did was; using my propane torch I heated the metal tip thus softening the plastic around the needle so it could be pulled out easier.  Disclaimer:  If you use this technique please be aware that the plastic does burn so use caution and have a cup of water on hand to place the plastic holder in.
 
 

 
I used some scrap poplar to make the stamp and cut it to the dimensions shown in the instructions.  I glued the nail pattern on it as a guide and then I got to use the Christmas present from the Admiral (Proxxon drill press with compound table).
 
 

 
 
After drilling all the holes I inserted the pins and glued them in.  Prior to inserting them I did cut about a ¼” off the needles (sharp end) so they wouldn’t stick out so much.  One modification I made to the stamp was to attach an X-Acto chisel blade to one end of the stamp at the same height as the pins.  I believe it’s a #17 blade and it fit the ¼” wide stamp perfectly.  I attached the blade to mark the copper where I would need to make the cut for the individual plates, I found however that by applying just the right amount of force the blade will cut the copper but not the paper backing.  I also made the opening in the jig a 1/16” larger to account for the blade thickness.
 
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 115 – Rudder, Miscellaneous
 
The first picture shows the last bit of work on the interior cabin deck detailing.
 

 
The curved seat/partition separates the cabin from the stern framing and leaves room for the rudder shaft.  All of this structural work aft of the partition will be hidden under poop decking.  As can be seen in a later picture, I decided to cover this rather austere seat with some upholstery.
 
With this in place the framing of the poop deck could be completed, including the fitting of the aft mooring bits and the boomkins shown in the next picture.
 

 
These are 12" x 12" timbers, tied together and into stout carlings that I reinforced with knees as shown.
 
The helm port was previously drilled through the framing but now had to be drilled through the bottom planking and sized for the 16" diameter rudder shaft.  After drilling a pilot hole, the center of the full hole could be set with a still wire through the gudgeons as shown below.
 

 
The hole was carefully enlarged with round files to fit the rudder.  The next picture shows the rudder hinges being fitted.
 

 
The gunstock shaped rudder rotates on the axis of the wire in the previous photo.  The top gudgeon has been added over the paint.  The hinges were fit one-at-a-time.  The masking tape is to keep the woodwork clean of metal dust.
 
The dry transfer stern lettering can be seen in this picture.  It is not yet finished.  The G, C and K need to be replaced and I am awaiting delivery of some more letters.  However, the picture below shows what it will look like.
 

 
I say what it "will" look like.  In the interest of full disclosure, I did a small amount of "photo shopping" on the three broken letters so I could use this picture.  Please excuse this.  The letters are quite small – 3/32" and 1/16".  When I get the replacement letters and successfully (hopefully) place them, the lettering will be sealed – probably with acrylic sanding sealer.  Right now they are easily scraped off.  I did a lot of that.
 
The next picture shows the fabrication of the iron rudder preventer in progress.
 

 
There are four parts – silver soldered.  It has rather long horns.  These have been rough shaped.  The strapping still has to be thinned down and drilled for bolts.
 
The blackened preventer can be seen below on the installed rudder.
 

 
The preventer was blackened with WinOx.  I have now disposed of all my remaining blue stuff in favor of this.
 
The rudder post in the next picture will be cut down later.
 

 
The mooring bits and boomkins are being shaped in this picture.  I found it easier to do this after installation – using rounded files.
 
The last picture shows the present state of the stern.
 

 
The poop deck is now ready for its two skylight coamings and decking.  Note that the portholes have been installed,   All of the work on the lower hull is now complete and it has been finished with wax.
 
Ed

Hi Mark, usually the very tip is set  the drill stated diameter and at the end of the flutes at the top of the shank the diameter is a bit smaller, at least that is what I have found. Had I wanted the hole to be exactly .25 I would have either drilled it 1/64th smaller them reamed it or bored it out and measured it with some telescoping gauges.  Measuring a drill across the tip is a bit tricky a micrometer seems to work best for me.
 
To get a good tight fit with the larger drills I usually drill them out with a smaller drill first say 1/16 or so smaller then drill with the size that I am wanting. with the smaller drills in wood I find that the wood sometimes has a tendency to form a hole that is a smidgen smaller than the drill almost as if the wood is springy and that the fibres are pushed aside a little as well as cut. This is more pronounced when using regular general purpose drill bits. the specially ground Forstner bits cut the fibres about the perimeter first befor the body of the drill removes the bulk of the material.
 
Michael

Thanks for all the fine comments, the smaller these parts get the more complex it seems to be to make them.
I had to come down to the library, because our home internet has crashed due to a problem at the tower that feeds our broardband. It is fun to work on such a fast system.
 
After drilling and tapping the second set of holes I removed the plate to open up the circular one to complete the installation of the new screws the smaller heads do look better even so they are still really a little on the large size scalewise. The top larger set will be replaced.
 

 
the plate was clamped in the vice to cut off the extra length of the screws... more bits to add to the growing scrap box that has been generated by this build.
 

 
Overall shot of the plates and plugs
 

 
If I had some 000x120 screws and the taps and dies then I would be able to make them a little smaller. Oh well.
 
For a change of pace I started to make the water pump cam parts, I machined some 1/2 inch diameter stainless steel into a .100" disc with a drilled 1/4 inch hole, the reason I just drilled it was to see if by drilling it straight with the 1/4 if it would drill just slightly larger by about a thou or two, and it did which caused it to be a nice slide fit over the .25" diameter cam on the gear.
 
I turned up a couple of sleeves from some drill rod and hardened them as filing guides for the excentric.
 

 

 
Step one is complete, next I need to silver solder the arm link to connect to th piston.
 

 

 
Michael
 
 

Looking real nice, Augie !

Looking real nice, Augie !

Have finally made some headway on getting the rails installed.  I'm working from stern to stem so we began with the quarterdeck and stern rails:
 

 
All of the rails are 3/16 x 1/16 boxwood and are faced on the hull side with 1/16 x 1/16 basswood molding which was beaded using a scraper.  The camera is simply not picking this up due to the black color but it's there.  It will be more distinct on the forward railings where the molding will be natural.
 
Then stern rail was a bit of a challenge as it's a compound curve which was made by a combination of lateral and edge bending.  It would definitely be easier to fabricate from wider stock (thereby eliminating the edge bend).  But I love a challenge and needed more wood in my scrap box  .
 
Will be moving forward now as Confed competes with the great outdoors and it's associated activities.
 
 

And so it continues.  I was working from home today, as work is sort of a mess right now, but the nice thing about working from home is that I can pretty much keep my own schedule, and I can go do a bit on the boat, and then go work while I'm waiting for something to dry for the next step.  Working like that is sort of a pain, but it does allow me to make slow progress even when I don't have time to sit down and plank the poop-deck of the AVS.
 
After cleaning up the ribs a bit, the next items on the agenda are the in-wale and gun-wale.  These are made with cherry strips in the kit.  The in-wale is pretty straight forward, trim the strip to length and glue it along the top of the ribs between the two end decks.  No particular issues other than accidentally cutting one a bit too short and having to insert a shim.  Oops.  Only 1 spare strip of cherry, so I didn't use it since the gun-wales would be the real challenge (this turned out to be the right decision).
 
Here the in-wales are both placed and glued up.  I went back to the white PVA glue for this.

 
The next step was the gun-wales, which turned out to be what is likely the most challenging part of this kit for a new modeler, as it certainly was for me.  The cherry strips are 1/8" x 1/16", and they need to be tapered for the final 3-1/2" of the ends of the gun-wale to a 1/32" square.  So they need to taper in both dimensions, to an extremely fine point, and then they have to be bent to fit the curve of the deck!  Cherry isn't nearly as flexible as basswood.
 
The instructions say to soak the planks in a 50/50 ammonia/water mix and then super glue one end, follow the curve of the hull, and then at some nebulous point, trim the other end to length and taper it.  Umm.. yea, sure, that will work great!  Or maybe not.
 
I chose to taper one end of the plank, then use the "Chuck" bending system to get it shaped to follow one end of the hull.  Chuck's system is pretty simple, using 3 clamps and a board, you apply heat to the bent plank (I use a heat gun, Chuck demonstrated with a hair dryer), and then let it cool.  When you un-clamp it, there is very little spring-back.

 
After getting one end shaped, I clamped it in place, all the way along the edge of the hull, and then marked where to cut the other end off, tapered the other end, and then bent it to shape.  After I was happy with the curve at both ends, I glued the plank in place and clamped it.

 
While sanding the taper on one end, I managed to snap one of the planks in two about 1/3 of the way down.  So much for a spare plank!
 
Luckily I managed to get two of them done without breaking another one, and got them in place.  Once they are glued in place, I sanded down the top of the wales to be even with the hull from end to end.  And that's where it is now.

 
The next items in the kit are the thwarts, and the seats.  After that comes the paddles and it's finished.  I'm going to play some finishing games though, and I think I'll do that prior to placing anything else into the canoe, so it will probably be a bit before there is another update, as the finish will take a week or more to complete due to drying between layers.
 
Hopefully I'll have the 'finish reveal' by next weekend.
 
In the meantime, I'll get to planking the poop-deck of the AVS tomorrow I think.  Just need to figure out a good way to make a jig to cut 26 identical tapered planks for that.
 
Cheers!

Nice job.  Really nice looking canoe.

Just finished planking the port side.  I added the stern post.   Now to treenail the port side and add the molding...   It feels good to have it all planked.  It will feel even better when the treenailing is done.   I was getting tired of seeing the hull without its stern post.  I think it really makes a difference at this point.   At least from the starboard side.
 

 

 

 

 

Soaking didn't seem to do much to the stain, possibly lightened it a bit, but no splotching or bleeding.  Even after soaking for the entire work-day, the ribs were quite difficult to get bent into place without breaking, and I really couldn't figure out a good way to clamp them.  Given that they were being placed 'wet', I gave up on using my white PVA, as it would have required I hold each rib in place for a good 30 minutes or more, and this is supposed to be a quick 'side project', so I gave in and used CA to place the ribs.  I'll have a good bit of inside cleanup to do in order to get rid of the CA shine and fogging, but should still be much less time than individually clamping the ribs long enough to set with PVA.
 
It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, as I did all the placement by eye-ball, instead of carefully measuring and marking where each end should be to keep them all perfectly perpendicular and straight.  It came out well enough I think.
 

Rich,
 
You can be proud what you have done so far.
When you go back to the first page and then to the last.....a world of difference !
You enjoy it but so are we !
 
The whole trip !!!!!!!!
 
Sjors

Magnificent work as always, Michael. 

I'm nearing the end of the road in building my Connie, so my Admiral keeps asking m, "is it done yet...is it done yet?" Well, it isn't even though it looks like it's finished. So, I put the ship in the living room when not working on it. What can I say?

Nice shot !