GuntherMT

Working exterior hull outfit.  Progress put on temporary hold due to CA heat wave and resulting high temperatures/humidity in my garage work shop.
 
Regards from the shipyard,
Pete

I made two test-joints with scrap. The one in the back is made with black paper (80 gsm), the one in the front is made with black single-sheet cellulose (maybe 30 gsm) I „borrought“ from my daughters desk. Both look very similar but the one in the front looks more discrete. Nitrocellulose-lacquer was used as varnish.
 

Thank you barkeater, I agree to that. I have finished all eight keel pieces and dry-fitted them. Got some 80 gsm and 120 gsm black acid free paper and I will try the simulated tarred joints on some scrap parts first.
 
Anyone has a suggestion how to taper the „knee of the head“? I have only seen that on some bigger ships before but these ships’s had a different shape. The Speedwell and the Fair American seem to have a similar KOTH, maybe I should use them for reference.



 

Thank you for the nice comments and the likes. The original kit supplied a simple 2-part keel for the Badger as it is supposed to be painted later. The NMM-plan shows a more complex multi-piece keel and I’m going to prepare both options to choose the final one later and gain more experience for future builds. For the multi-piece solution I first printed all parts on adhesive paper and glued them on 7/32“ boxwood sheets. Then roughly cut the parts with a scroll-saw and sanded them to shape with a Proxxon disc sander.
 


The final sanding to snug fit was done with sanding blocks I made of different wooden blocks. The sanding paper is attached to the blocks with double-adhesive tape and the bottom of the blocks is sanded with the disc-sander so the attached sanding paper is orthogonal to the bottom of the blocks to secure no sloping will occur during sanding the keel parts.
 



 
As the paper templates are still on I have to use some needles for a test fit. 
 

 
For the tarred joints I might try the paper method dvm27 explained pretty well in his Speedwell log. But before gluing all parts together I still have to find out how to taper the keel correctly. As this is my last day at home working in my workshop might slow down a bit during the next weeks.

The rigging work continues.
Nothing is finished because I was expecting an order for some ropes from Syren.
The boom topping lift, the gaff throat halliard and the gaff peak halliards  are being installed.




Luckily, in one week my order arrived and I will be able to finalize these different lines.

With the Brig Fair American hull painting complete, construction continued with installation of the head rails and bow fittings:
Head rails were previously fabricated/dry fitted from 3/32” laminated stock (3 layers of 1/32” sheet stock with opposing grain) Middle rails were previously fabricated/dry fitted from 1/16” sheet stock Cheek knees were previously fabricated/installed from 1/16” sheet stock Boomkins were previously fabricated/dry fitted from 1/8” sheet stock Catheads were previously fabricated/dry fitted from 3/16” sheet stock Head and middle rails were pre-painted and installed After checking the head rails from all angles; they were primed and finished painted.  Gold trim was applied with Deco Color Prime-Premio gold metallic paint pens After completion of the head rails, catheads were painted/installed Figurehead was painted/installed Boomkins were painted/dry fitted  To avoid potential damage, the boomkins will be left loose for later installation during the rigging phase.  To allow construction access, the bowsprit, bowsprit bitts, and fore bitts will be left loose until completion of bulwark interior fittings and cannon installation.
 
With completion of the head structure and gold trim she is starting to look like a fine little armed brig from the 1780’s.  Next steps will continue with installation of exterior hull outfit.
 
Regards from the shipyard,
Pete Jaquith

Thank you to all the 'Likes' and thank you Captain_hook for your advice. I would pay attention to the tension of the stays.
So far I have set up the footropes and the bowsprit shrouds.



The footropes still need to be coated with a mixture of white glue and water to make them look more real.
The shrouds must be still tight and definitively secured. On the sheet 5 of the plan they indicate that the belay line must be secured around the block.
Not very convinced and I wonder if I will not attach it to a timberhead on the main rail...

Thank you barkeater. I have sanded the bulkwards to shape at the bow. This project will be a challenge. The gunports are way off compared to the NMM plans so I will ignore the cutouts and cut new ones by hand. Have added the rabbit and drawn the keel parts with Corel Draw. Printed them on adhesive paper to cut them out of boxwood sheet later.

The plywood false deck has been dry-fitted. As it is not glued yet I have to fix it in position with some clamps.

The use of gunport pattern might not have been the best idea. Should have planked that area with basswood stripes instead. As the plywood gunport pattern is more than 2 cm wide and 1,2mm thick it is not very flexible and the upper edge has the tendency to warp towards the outside at the bow when bend around the first two bulkheads. So I had to fill that area with small basswood stripes to compensate. These fillers are beveled so they are 1,5 mm at the top and almost as thin as a hair at the bottom. They are glued inside the plywood to strengthen the plywood and to form a new first planking so I can sand down the plywood without the risk of weakening the structure too much. So the bulkwards at the bow are now almost orthogonal to the deck. The bulkhead extensions have been removed and I reinforced the plywood with 1,2mm basswood stripes so it will hold its shape and to make the bulkwards a little stronger. Sanded them down to 0,8mm. Still have to sand down the outside bow areas.

Thank you mugje. After some final sanding the first planking is now complete. I glued some pre-bend basswood stripes inside the hull to strengthen the planking (although the basswood stripes are still solid) and to fix the gunport pattern in place as I’m going to remove the bulkhead extensions next to test fit the false deck. I will plank the inside before the outside to secure both bulkwards are of equal height and the guns will later center the gunports. But first I have to build all keel parts next. As the weather gets better every day - some outside shots this time.

The Badger and the AVS - both 1:48 scale.

Finished the first planking today. As my stock of basswood stripes depleted during the planking process I had to improvise a little, so the planks vary in colour and size. Already sanded the hull with 80 grit sandpaper. The 1,5mm basswood is thick enough to be sanded to shape without the need of using wood filler and I can glue the second planking directly onto the sanded hull with white glue. Will give it another sanding with finer paper and some tuning of the basswood later and add the rabbit.



 

Installed the subdeck, not glued yet. It is planked with 3/16‘‘ boxwood stripes. I think about adding some fake walls to cover the sides of the bulkhead and the filler blocks but they won‘t probably be visible through the hatch. Maybe I will just paint that black before the false deck is attached. I will also skip the treenails on the subdeck because they won‘t be seen there too.

Only small progress. First planking has begun. But I have holiday for the next three weeks so next days I will be busy in my workshop..

This is my first semi-scratch build and it is more like an experiment, which may possibly end in an epic fail. I bought a Caldercraft Badger and Granado kit from eBay (from a guy who probably gave up this hobby) some years ago for a reasonable price and the Badger had been already started but with some mistakes. I kept both kits in storage and did some easier builds instead. A friend of me had recently bought a simple CNC laser engraving machine (to cut ribs for RC-Planes) and I had the idea to build a bigger version of the Badger instead of fixing the already started kit. I also would like to add some extra details and make some changes to the hull and structure according to the NMM plans. There has been a discussion about this before to prepare that build.
 
I decided to enlarge the plans to 1/48 scale, redraw the bulkheads with Corel Draw to add a rabbit, redesigned the center plywood piece as two parts instead of one (because the machine’s working area is restricted to 30cm x 40cm) and create dxf-files to let him cut the parts. After some trial parts he was able to cut all the bulkheads, the false keel, plywood deck and gun pattern for me. Although the engraving machine was not designed to cut 5mm plywood, the parts are usable. So I started to build a 1:48 version of the Badger, which will be approximately 80 cm long and 70 cm high. I will mainly use the supplied Caldercraft plans but enhance the build with the NMM plans that I will also use for reference. 
 
 
The Badger is a small brig (former US merchant vessel Defence) that allows me to do some custom work and will be a nice addition to the AVS as both ships have a lot of similarities and are build in same scale. Also it allows me to stay with 1/48 scale some more time. I made a start already, building a rack to put the model on during construction, gluing all bulkheads together and adding some balsa fillers to give the first planking more gluing surface. Bevelled all bulkheads,  sanded the filler blocks to shape and already prepared the 1,5mm x 5mm basswood strips for the first planking. 
 

 
 




 

Progress continues on the head structure.  More pictures to follow when this work area is completed.
 
Regards from the shipyard,
Pete

As I received my new toy: a table saw from the Byrnes brand, I was finally able to start working on my base.

At first, I wanted to buy a Proxxon table saw for Christmas, but finally I decided to wait a little longer to allow me to buy the reference of the table saws : a Byrnes and I do not regret my purchase. Donna and Jim are really charming and very professional. The order tracking is perfect: in less than a week the saw had arrived in Switzerland. In fact it took longer for delivery in Switzerland (less than 200 km) than for that from Florida to Switzerland !

The pear wood was purchased from Bibigon in Russia. A very good address with quality service.

Then it's just a matter of patience ...


 
 

Thank You Michael, Chuck, Ryland and to all the 'Likes'.
Ryland, it's really nice to be able to find your way to the workshop and especially to be able to reuse your right hand. Shaving with the left hand is not always very safe. 😅
 
I finished all the carvings.

They are now in place and I am not unhappy to have opted to use them.


I steel have to order the wood for the base. And it will be my first completed project 😁
 
 

It's been a while ! Unfortunately, I was away from my workshop for 5 long weeks following a surgical operation on my right hand in February (see the photo taken the day after the surgery).

I can now start doing some small jobs and it is also a good thing to regain the mobility of my hand.

So I take this opportunity to finish the carvings for the Queen Barge.

Work in progress...

Thank you to all the 'Likes'.
The oars are in place.




I still have to order an acrylic display covers and finalize the border of my base.
Glad to finish my first model.
   

A small step forward. I set up the fixed block at the stem.
What I really like about this project is that each step represents a mini-project in itself.

I used a small strip of wood of the right width to be sure to stick the 2 elements at the right distance and well parallel.

The bolts are simulated and the block is put in place.

One last note: with this project, you don't have to worry too much, because Chuck was generous in the elements provided.
Any part which represents a certain difficulty is supplied in several copies. In case.

 

Thank you to all the 'Likes'
I added the moldings.

After temporarily sticking the boxwood strip on a hardwood square using double-sided scotch, I formed the molder by running the scraper many times over the boxwood strip until I was satisfied with the result.


Following precisely the instructions, I then carried out the mast thwart.

Finally all the elements were put in place.



As my base of blue oil paint is now perfectly dry, I will be able to work on the frieze. A lot of free-hand work ...
 
 
 

Thank you Rusty and Captain Hook for your kind comments and thank you to all the 'Likes'.
The coloring work continues slowly.
In parallel, I made progress on the installation of the windlass.
Just follow the steps described in the instruction manual.
The windlass templates are glued on the 4 sides of the cedar stick.

I  took advantage of having a perfectly horizontal seat to drill the 8 holes provided for the windlass bars.

The superfluous wood is removed using a cutter then the whole is refined with sandpaper

The angles of the 8 holes were squared using a mini chisel. The paper is moistened and easily removed.

Finally the ends are gradually shaped and the right length for inserting the windlass in the brackets is reached.

The windlass temporarily positioned.


 
 

The work on the cockpit seats continues.

The center bracket on the transom has been added.  To make it easier to put the knees on each side, I used a small structure created from some scraps.

Wood filler is then used to seal the inevitable small interstices.


It's time to get my brush back...