Rudolf

And then with some temporary deck beams in place, it was time to remove it from the building jig! And then just after that is where I got stuck. I didn't know what the best way to go about installing the deck and cockpit framing was, and got so hung up overthinking everything, I just stopped working on it. But fast forward 4 years, with my fresh inspiration and some more research and a little logical thinking, I came up with a plan of action. I decided the best course of action would be to install all of the deck beams at full width to give the form maximum strength and the most uniform shape for fairing. A brilliant design feature of this boat is that the deck is actually a straight line from the bow to the transom at the center line, and the sheer is determined by the intersection of the deck beams and side frames. The deck is a consistent arc, being that of a circle of a 20 foot radius, or in this case 20 inches. So when the time came to fair it, all I had to do was mount a sheet of sand paper to my work surface, flip the boat upside down, and just rock it back and forth across the sandpaper, constantly checking it with my deck arc template until everything was fair. My technique, as shown above with the bottom framing, was to lightly color all the frames with a blue Sharpie, so once all the blue was gone, I knew everything was fair! Then I proceeded to cut out the cockpit and install the stringers. The front stringers were two of the trickiest pieces I've ever made, being angled in both directions, but I got there eventually. I'd say they came out just about perfectly symmetrical. When it comes time to install the splash guard and cockpit coaming, it will be a similar process, but I suppose if I did it once, I can do it again! So that brings us up to now, as I finished the cockpit framing last night. I believe the next step is going to be painting the inside, which of course must be done before installing the deck, floor boards, and seats.

Using the original table of offsets, I scaled all the measurements down and lofted my plans. Then I made a building jig fairly similar to what would be used to build the full size boat.

Hello,
 
it is done, the cheeks are mostly ready. First some pictures before I have painted them.
 

 

 
Here I started painting them. That was from the feeling more work then building them. But this is only the basis paint  The real hard work begins tomorrow,  all these small acanthuses.
 

 

 

 

 
 

Ahoy!
After too long of a break I was finally able to revisit the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem Massachusetts this past month to enjoy the new maritime gallery and refresh my research on the Hull model rigging. The last time I was there (pre-COVID) the Hull model had been put into storage while construction outside the museum was rattling the foundations.  I've been eager to see it back on display. Obviously the fates intervened and knocked down any travel plans for a few years while things settled out a bit.  In the meantime, the PEM curators re-imagined the presentation of their maritime collection into a terrific new gallery.  Now both the Hull model of the Frigate Constitution AND the Michele Felice Cornè painted series of the Guerriere battle are displayed together.  I don't have to hike all across the museum complex to find everything!
 

I have a new tranche of photos to share - I'll try to refresh my existing Hull Model photo gallery and resend a link.
 
In the meantime I will sort out my modeling bench and see if I can get tee'd up for the next phase of my original build.  However - there is a new project I need to prioritize to fulfill a promise to my daughter... I have the Trumpeter 1/200 Titanic in the queue.  More to come.
 
Cheers
Evan
 
2F28E23B-F1D4-4164-BB61-245C35AA8C4B.heic

Yankee Hero is finished.



The dry transfers didn't want to transfer so I replicated them in MS Word and glued them to thin strip wood for placement on the hull.  Not ideal.

I soaked the anchor line in the dregs of my morning coffee to give it some color.



Thanks to all who looked in and left a thumbs-up!

Small update on the Victory build. The scratchbuilt solid timber keel pieces are now complete. Time now to finish milling the original Mantua plywood keel structure, remove the sections being replaced with solid timber pieces, then assemble the new keel structure. You may notice I added additional pieces (stemson and apron) to the bow portion in order to replace the entire plywood bow section, and make a stronger assembly. The original plywood keel is warped in that area and thus unusable.

Minor update on the Victory. I planed a taper on the underside of the Buildboard's keel strip with a Jointer plane, removing .122" (one scale foot) at the aft end of the strip and nothing at the bow end. The Victory was built to draw one foot more aft than forward. By tapering the keel strip it will make it easier to keep waterlines level during construction. Trueness of the taper was checked with a precision straight edge and square.

While not a construction post for the Victory, this post is relevant to continuing work on the model. Spent the past couple of weeks rearranging the workshop to accommodate my cabinet-makers bench. The bench has lived in the garage for the past seven years which has limited its usability to six months of the year due to the garage not being climate controlled. Now that it's in the modelshop in the house, it's in a stable environment and is available for year-round use, primarily to function as the dedicated "shipyard" for the construction of the Victory, though it will be pressed into service for some other woodworking projects on my to-do list. In the photo the Victory buildboard is in place with the keel set into the keel support.
 
I built the bench in 1989 from Maple and Cherry with Record vise hardware. It's been well-travelled over the past thirty-some years and has held up well considering the variety of environments it's lived in and the variety of work that's been done on it. At one point it was in our motorcycle shop and served as a bench for rebuilding engines and motorcycle frames! That was the darkest point in its history as it was stolen, fortunately recovered two years later. Before this current move, I scraped, sanded, steel-wooled, and hard-waxed the top, and replaced the leather on the clamping surfaces of the tail vise, so it should be good for at least another thirty years. It's an absolute beast to move (the top does separate from the support frame) and I owe a massive thank-you to my friend Jeff who helped with schlepping this back-breaker from the garage to the shop.
 

The plank-end rabbets are now cut on both the Port and Starboard sides of the bow timbers. The brass pattern and setup in above post worked well. I trued up the rabbet using an angled dental burr in the flex-shaft tool. This completes the initial work on the bow timbers. Be a bit of a lull now in the construction of the Victory. There is a huge amount of chainsaw milling to be done on the property (see: https://modelshipworld.com/topic/31549-tree-felling-season-has-begun/#comment-894435). Plus I'm expanding the workshop, bringing in my cabinet makers bench to make room for assembly of the Victory.
 

 
 

The remaining five bow timbers have now been cut and glued up to the assembly and I'm preparing to cut the rabbets by hand with chisels to accommodate the forward plank ends. The photo below shows the assembled bow section (note vellum pattern still in place with rabbet lines) and two fixtures I prepared for the task. In front is a bass pattern formed to match the curve of the outer rabbet line. It's a piece of brass channel, formed in a small rolling bender. Three clamping feet were then machined and soldered into place on the backside. In the background is a piece of 3/4" T. MDF with channels cut to accommodate the clamps. This serves as a baseboard to keep the bow section stable and flat during cutting.

 
The next photo shows everything set up and clamped in place ready for cutting the rabbet on the starboard side. Everything can be flipped over to cut a matching rabbet on the port side. First step is to scribe a line along the pattern with the marking knife which will help to accurately position the chisels.

The various pieces that form the exterior of the bow section of the keel were then cut using the scroll saw for all the curved edges and razor saw for the straight edges.

The aluminum sanding block was very useful for truing up the straight joint edges while the curved edges were faired using various sanding drums in the mill. All pieces were glued up on the surface plate ensuring that the lower surface was flat and true.

Once the glue was cured, the edges were faired using the drum sander again, and the port and starboard surfaces were cleaned up with a thickness sander. Like the keel itself, this section is slightly thicker than needed, leaving extra material for final fairing.
 
Being something of a traditionalist, I use Hide Glue throughout. It has a longer setup time, produces a very strong bond, and cleans up readily with water.

Next step was to cut the multiple pieces that make up the bow section of the keel. Before starting that process, I made a new throat plate for my scrollsaw to increase accuracy and safety. In the photo below the original throat plate is on the left. It has a rather large hole for the blade plus two open channels which make it almost impossible to cut smaller pieces as there is no support for the piece close to the cutting edge of the blade. It works fine though for cutting plywood or larger pieces of stock. To remedy the problem I turned a new throat plate from aluminum with two brass inserts. The one in place is for pinned blades, the second (with the smaller blade hole) is for pinless blades. Now, stock is fully supported up to the cutting edge of the blade making for greater accuracy and safety while using the saw.

 

The next pieces I cut were the sternpost and inner post. Rabbets were cut in the sternpost on the Preac to match those on the keel. Photo below shows the glue-up assembly joining the sternpost, inner post, and keel. I used setup blocks on a surface plate to ensure proper alignment in all planes. These joints will be reinforced with treenails as end grain (sternpost and inner post) has no glue strength.

 
While the glue was going off I made a small drawplate to make the Boxwood Treenails. I used a small piece of Titanium, salvaged from an old, dead MAC Titanium Powerbook that I scrapped. Titanium was drilled with a series of diminishing dia. holes from .050" to .024", then laminated between to pieces of thin plywood to add rigidity. I cut small Boxwood square strips on the Preac from leftover Boxwood scraps and offcuts to make the treenails.

With the keel, sternpost, and inner post cured, I set the assembly up in the mill to drill holes for the treenails. It was setup at the angle so that the holes would be vertically aligned with the sternpost.

Once drilled, the treenails were glued and tapped into place. Using a hypodermic needle I injected a small amount of glue into the bottom of each hole, then tapped in the treenail. In this manner, tapping the treenail in forced the glue up around the treenail ensuring a solid bond.

Once glue had gone off, I cleaned up the assembly.

The small aluminum block in the background is a sanding block which I used to cleanup the rabbets. I lapped one surface flat, then glued on a piece of sandpaper. It's excellent for getting into small areas and angles, and being absolutely flat, it functions much like a jointer plane in truing surfaces.

I’ve completed and am in the process of painting the stern archway brackets.  The channel standards are coming along, slowly, after a little excise and replacement.
 
I have continued to tweak and play around with my new headrail design.  The bottom rail width still requires a little tweaking, but the symmetry and taper are already an improvement over the stock rails.  Here  are the carved elements that I can definitely recycle:

When I re-incorporate stock carvings, I like to undercut the carvings with the tip of a #11 blade, in order to give a better sense of relief; the idea is similar to the process of metal chasing brass castings, for example.  The carvings end up looking crisper, overall, and it is an easy thing to achieve with backward scrapes of the blade point, heal first.
 
The pilasters have been re-spaced.  I wanted them to neatly correspond with either the fleurs of the Xs of the trailboard, but the abbreviated design of the trailboard made that an impossibility.
 


It just occurred to me, as a matter of fact, that I will have to re-check my tentative pilaster layout to ensure that it does not intersect with the run of the gammoning.  On the stock kit, this consideration is moot because there are no ‘thwartship supporting timbers that the gammoning must pass between.  Here, though, those supports will align with the pilasters.
 
I have decided that I will design the aft medallion to closely follow the Berain drawing.  The stock medallion is nice, but it interferes with the horse and pixie sculptures in ways that are un-tennable.
 
As always, thank you for your interest and for looking in.

This process has seemed to take forever because of the holidays, gathering new tools, much trial and error and some pure laziness. But it’s finally done. I found working with metal vs wood is a whole different world. I did acquire a Dremel 4300, a Dremel workstation which forms a decent drill press and an inexpensive X Y table which fits the bolt hole pattern on the workstation. Also needed a soldering iron and extra drill bits. All a bit expensive, but needed.
 
I have been following Bob Hunt’s practicum, somewhat loosely, but didn’t care for his idea to use black automotive pinstriping to simulate the pintles and gudgeons. I also looked at Dave’s (suburban shipbuilder) blog but didn’t feel I wanted to go as far as building a working hinge.
 
I started by attaching the rudder to the ship with tape and marking the angle and length of the pintails and gudgeons. I decide to use 1/64 by 3/16 brass strips for the pintles / gudgeons, 1/16 round brass rod for the hinge and insert small nails to represent bolt heads.
 

 

 
I then cut and shaped the brass pieces that would form the gudgeons
 

 
And attached them to the rudder (I would later regret doing this)
 

 
Placing the rudder in a vice and placing it on my Dremel workstation, I drilled 1/64  holes in the gudgeons.
 

 
Using small nails with 1/32 heads, I placed one in each of the drilled holes. The shaft of these nails was a perfect fit into the drilled holes and, since I drilled just deep enough to get through the brass, sank nicely into the wood. The white stuff on the rudder is wood fill, fixing one of my many mistakes.
 

 
I then painted the rudder and set it aside.
 

 
I  measured and cut 3 pieces of brass for the pintles. Being too small to hold by hand and drill, I took a block of basswood, applied sanding sealer and sanded it smooth. Then used rubber cement to hold the pintles to the block. This went under the drill and worked nicely to get the holes drilled without moving. The rubber cement came off easily.
 

 
 

 
In order to get as close to a perfect 90 degree angle of the pintles to the 1/16 round brass rod, I built a gig to hold them in place while soldering. The white substance on the brass strip is water based white-out which acts like an anti-flux. Got that idea from a jewelers forum and it worked great. 
 

 

 
Now is where I ran into the problem mentioned earlier. Having already installed the gudgeons on the rudder, I couldn’t solder the pintles & rod to them without having the solder job I previously did come apart. So out came the CA gel glue. What I should have done was solder the pintles and gudgeons to the rod before installing. But what the hey, live and learn.
 

 
I let this dry overnight, touched up the paint and then did the final install.
 

 
I know the pintles and gudgeons are supposed to be black, but I really like the brass detail. And since this is my model they will stay that way. 

Spent this week painting the hull. Masked off the deck and sprayed the cap rail, frames, waterways and inside of the bulwarks with acrylic sealer.
 

 
Then masked all painted areas topsides

 
Applied 3-4 coats of primer

Painted a wide white stripe in the area were the waterline would eventually be.
 

After marking the waterline, ran a 1/4 inch strip of poly tape along the mark.  Also taped over the scuppers and painted the outer bulwarks yellow (photo show tape removed after yellow pain was applied).
 

 
Extended the masking from the center of the 1/4 inch poly to the top rail.

Painted the low part of the hull
 

Then reversed the masking, extending from the center of the 1/4 inch poly to fully cover the painted part of the hull
 

Before painting the top part of the hull black, I ran a 1/16th inch piece of poly tape just above the scuppers. Then painted the top portion black
 

 
After removing the masking, 1/4 inch poly and 1/16 poly, I gave the entire hull 4 coats of matt finish acrylic sealer

 
 

 
 

 
Still have a few small touch ups to do on the outboard edge of the top rail and some very minor oversprays

Double post! The caprails widen in places around the chain plates. This was added later on after the cap rails were installed. 
 
So an edit, with some content:
 

Finished planking the quarterdeck. Gave both decks a light sanding and a single coat of wipe on poly.
 

 
I noticed that when I installed the deck end planks I made them a bit too wide, covering the top hull plank. I see that the bulwark needs to rest on the top hull plank so I needed to trim back the deck end planks.

 
I drew a guide line on both sides and used a razor blade saw to trim them. May still need some sanding to make enough room for the bulwarks.
 


 

 
Now my chickens have come home to roost.
 
I have to pay for my error of trimming off all the bulkhead extensions before installing the bulwarks. Since I will have to glue all the false frame timbers I decided to run a small test on adhesives. I took a scrap piece of waterway board and glued 3 false frame timbers to it. I used CA on one, Gorilla glue on another and Original Titebond on the 3rd. Because it will be impossible to clamp the false frame timbers, I’ll leave that dry overnight and see if one glue is better than the others.
 

Any advice on the upcoming process would be greatly appreciated. It's tough being a newbie on their first build, LOL.
 

Foredeck is finished...
 

I love and hate maintaining build logs...
 
It's great to be able to share, but I work on projects off and on, and I often disappear from the build log for YEARS. Like this V108 Torpedo Boat, I started this build nearly 5 years ago. People follow along, and then I have other things to deal with and end up setting the project aside. I kind of lost interest for a while, as I'm still primarily a wooden-ship modeler, and also not much into steel-hulled ships.
 
But, recently, a couple fellow ship modelers have been working on steel-hulled ship projects, and I've been discussing issues with them. So, it got me back to thinking about things like the V108 project and even seeing what kind of a job I could do with a detailed plastic kit with lots of PE and possibly resin after-market items.
 
 Yesterday, I pulled out my V108 model from storage(!), and decided I needed to do a little paper modeling in between other projects. Part of the reason for this, is that the other work I'm doing right now, requires me to be out in the garage workshop, and it was just too hot in there this week. A paper model, I can just work on in the living room.
 
First, here are some photos that I took after my last post, which was...uh... close to 5 years ago...
 

 
Then, yesterday, I pulled the model out of storage, dusted it off, but couldn't find what I did with the part sheets and instructions. Fortunately, this is a downloaded kit, so I found the files on my computer, and just reprinted them all. I was a little concerned about variation in color, after all, I don't even recall if I had the same printer at that time. But, I think I did, as the colors look spot on.
 
So, I spent a little time re-familiarizing myself with the model, and what needs to be done next. The obvious step was to do a little work on the superstructure, so I went ahead, just to make some progress...
 
The basic superstructure was a nice re-intro to this model, as it's a major part, with no fiddly small parts to worry about, though I think I'll go ahead and mount the hatch that's outlined in the forward part of the superstructure below.

Then, I forgot what you call these little connecting tabs that help to hold assemblies together. I glued them down to the deck first, as this should keep the part from causing the superstructure to creep up from paper "bendi-ness". Test fitting showed that some of the white of the deck piece shows a little, so I ended up painting areas where the white seemed to show. Managed to paint part of those tabs as well, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem.
 
 

 
Finally, the superstructure is shown in test-fit. That's why it's not entirely flush with the deck yet. But, it will be, once I glue it into place.

 
On the other side, you can see some of the white still visible. I'll touch this up before the superstructure gets glued into place.

 
Now, I'm probably going to build in a slightly different order than Chris does in his tutorial. I want to get some of the little, flat pieces, like those #58 parts, which I think must be hatches for coal bunkers here(?), done, as I think I'll have more room to get them on properly without other stuff on the model.
 
Also, as this is not a waterline model, I figured I'd better work on the underwater details, as I'll need to hold the model inverted as I do. That won't work too well with lots of stuff on the deck. Since the model is on a stand already, this should keep the screws, and all those related parts, mostly safe from harm.
 

Finishing up some of the countless details on the hull like the various chock holes, cleats, mooring and freeing ports. Still have sea steps and lots of other items that just seem to appear as I think I am getting close. 

Also managed to get the cheek knees and head Timbers mounted. 


Here is what it looks like from a dolphin’s perspective. 😜😁😂

 
Tom

Working on the windlass. Not bad for a first attempt. Can’t say the same for the pump & brake mechanism. The first try came out a bit clumsy looking. Maybe just a bit oversized using .032 diameter brass wire. I have some .022 so I will try it again and see how it fits. If I like it I’ll post it, if not I hear the third time is a charm. 😜😂

 

Tom

Still plugging along on the deck components whenever I get a chance which is not often lately 😕. 
The jumbled pile of stuff in the stern area are all the walls of the hurricane house. The have all been fitted but before I glue the sections together I will do all the painting. I think it might be easier while they are still in a flattened state. 

As seen above the skylight is also finished. I am now going to tackle the windlass and then the tryworks. 
 
I still have all kinds of holes to put in the hull at deck level for various lines. Plan is to paint and copper the hull after the holes. I also still need to make the pedestals to mount the hull to a base which will just be a scrap block of wood for now. 
 
Looking forward to the Northeast Joint Conference this weekend and seeing all my fellow modeling friends. 
 
Tom
 

Haven’t post in a while or been able to put much time towards modeling but I have been picking away at some of the deck items for a change of pace. 

 
Worked on the anchor deck. Still need to clear out some slots for the catheads.  I made some rope for the mainstays that go through the holes. Everything is just dry fit right now. Still need to do a lot here before anything gets glued. 
 

 
Finished the removable bulwark to access the cutting stage. 
 

 
I also made the bow sprit and jib boom so I could properly fit before putting in the anchor deck. 
 

 
here is the steerage companion way. Still need to add some urethane finish to the walnut pieces. I used walnut to add some contrast in hopes of getting the detail work to stand out a bit instead of painting everything a light yellow ochre.  
 

 
And finally the crew’s head. 
 
I need to figure out how I want to mount the hull to the base then I will get back to the hull and paint and copper. 
 
Tom
 
 

Got the main deck planked. Now I just have to find  someone to swab it. 😜. I think the ceiling planks on the bow are next. 


I think I decided to have the cutting stage in a raised position. This will allow me the option of a billows sail or two as if she is scouting the seas. If I was going to make a diorama of a successful whale hunt then definitely it would need to be down. 
 
Tom