CharlieZardoz

I've been working on some smaller, fiddly things.  I glued the cap rails to the bulwarks, staining only the edges.  I need to attach the various parts to it before staining the rails black.  I completed the timberheads and the upright timbers that sit on the rail and frame the gun ports.  I also tried to blacken the brass mast hoops that came with the kit.  For some reason, I couldn't get them to come out right and they looked terrible on the masts!  What to do?
 
I came up with a solution courtesy of Gene Bodnar ( here's a link to the webpage that explains his technique:  http://www.modelshipbuilder.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?4024 )
 
Basically find a dowel of the proper size and wrap a few turns of waxed paper around it and secure the wax paper with tape/  Cut out a piece of brown grocery bag paper as wide as the space between the tape and coat it with white glue using your fingers.  Carefully roll the paper around the waxed paper-coated dowel, making sure to smooth the wrinkles as well as possible.  5 or 6 turns around the dowel should work.  When dried 24 hours a I put a coat of water based poly on the surface to harden it.  I removed the roll from the dowel (the waxed paper keeps it from sticking) and cut thin hoops from the role.  I carefully removed the inner waxed paper from inside each hoop and gently sanded the outside surfaces.  I coated heach hoop with Dull Kote lacquer to darken and harden each hoop.  The photo shows the hoops on the mast.  I think they look pretty good, resembling wooden mast hoops!  Better than the corroded appearing brass rings from the kit.

I would also recommend if possible selling the mamoli fittings alacarte as some of those parts would be of great use to scratch builders

Rain, rain, and then more rain. That was the weather in sunny Florida for a week. Bad for golf, but good for modeling.
 
With all that indoor time, I was able to get by a couple of tedious tasks. First, was cutting the hull loose from the framing jig. This proved more time consuming and difficult than I had imagined it would be. I first tried to do it with keyhole saw blades in an X-acto handle, but this seemed like it would be an endless job, and I have no patience for those. I rummaged through my tool box and found a Stanley handle with a hacksaw like blade and this ended up doing the trick, although still slowly and carefully. It is pictured below.
 
After freeing the hull, I then turned to the task of fairing the interior. This turned out to be quite a chore, because the frames needed to be thinned considerably to reach their proper final proportions. Beginning with a Dremel with a sanding drum, and then using various grades of sandpaper with different sticks and blocks, and some freehand sanding as well, I worked my way through it. This took me days of tedious work. It's likely that I may still need some more work at the bow and stern as I proceed with interior work.
 
My next job was to add the keelson. Although this is a laser cut part , it still required considerable fiddling and adjustment to get it to fit tightly and properly. Lastly, I added the first strakes of interior planking along the keelson in the hold area, just to get a feel for that process. I'm now deciding just what interior work to do and how to go about it. I would like to show as much of it as I can, but we'll have to see how that works out.
 
Bob
 
 

Attached are photos of recent activity covering the planning for items to be located on the Hurricane deck for our model of the City-Class Ironclad, "USS St. Louis"..
The first photo depicts a mock-up of the port side "Hog Chain" (Cable) which runs from the forward hull floor frame at station #73, over the two support posts (which extend down to the outboard keels) and then aft down to the hull floor frame at station #21. The mock-up rods will eventually be replaced by continuous cables for the port and starboard "Hog Chains". The "Hog Chains" were obviously required to help support the aft twin hull booms which straddle the paddlewheel and tended to "hog" due to insufficient buoyancy. The path of these "chains" through the lower hull framing is amazingly tight but tends to verify the accuracy of the hull framing drawings.
The second photo represents the first step in a layout of the aft Hurricane deck-house which is incorrectly depicted in most of the existing "USS Cairo" drawings and models because they lack the deck-house roof camber and the Hurricane deck camber. The Hurricane deck camber is already included and when the roof camber is added to this layout, it will clearly intersect the straight ridged wheelhouse roof in an arc (in its plan view) instead of a straight line. In addition, the twin stern facing doors will be replaced by two smaller sliding windows which are all clearly visible in contemporary photos of the "USS St. Louis" (Baron DeKalb).
 
johnhoward

Thanks Antony & Gerhard,
Every comment and opinion on this project helps us plan our next step forward. It is indeed a daunting task and we have accumulated so much information over the past 3 years that we are having trouble finding the time for organizing it in a logical sequence for posting. As I mentioned before we currently have a team of 9 Shipcrafters involved in various aspects of the planning, research, material procurement and actual construction of this model. One member is making TurboCad drawings of any details which require machining or casting whenever existing data is incomplete or incorrect and we are continually updating our "Research Outline" which I posted earlier and which describes any problems we have uncovered with existing data. We willingly share all this information with individual modelers but are not at present planning any total drawing package. Unfortunately, our focus has to be on completion of the model. The attached photos show 8 of 9 participants and the model as of mid-April which we hope to complete next year..
 
johnhoward

Civil War Ironclad, USS St. Louis -  !:24
Sequence of Assembly for USS St. Louis Model Rev C
 
Notes:
Rev A: This revision modifies Steps 5 thru 13 to permit direct use of the NPS plans to locate the structural elements yet allows installation of tempered hardboard sheets to add longitudinal stiffness to the lower hull structure.
Rev B: This revision adds Steps 14 thru 18 with details for constructing and installing the hurricane deck as a removable sub-assembly.
Rev 😄 This revision adds refinements to the sequence of assembly which were developed during model construction thus far.
1. Make a copy of sheets 3 & 4 of the "USS Cairo" National Park's Service plans at 1:24 scale and secure them to a sheet of 1/8 inch thick tempered hardboard.
 
2. Fabricate the three keels with scarf joints necessary to achieve about 4" longer than plan apparent length. Secure them directly on sheets 3 & 4 of the NPS hull floor plans with several 1/8" wood screws. (The keels will be trimmed to their final lengths in Steps 6 thru 9.
 
3. Fabricate all full and half frames up to the gun deck level chines using the three assembly jigs, locate them to the plans using small try-squares, and secure them to the keels with "Titebond III" wood glue and .052" diameter treenails in .055" holes. Place temporary wood support strips, which are the same thickness as the keels, under the lower frame floors at their outboard edges. (Do not glue or treenail the frames to these strips) Make a dozen or more wooden combs about 9" long by 1" wide by .25" thick which are dadoed to the "room and space" dimensions of the lower hull framing. Use these combs to temporarily locate and support the outboard ends of the frames as they are being secured to the keels. This is especially important for the aft half frames at the paddle wheel opening since they are only attached to one keel at this juncture. (By overlapping these 9" combs most of the hull structure can be made very rigid in preparation for installing the keelsons, deck clamps and other longitudinal structural members.)
 
4. Make the five keelsons & port and starboard gun deck clamps and secure them to all frames.
 
5. Attach about 6 temporary spreader beams, especially at the stern where the hull is split into two booms between the port & starboard gun deck clamps to maintain the lower hull shape.
 
6. Invert the partially completed hull structure and support it on jig locators to the inside of the hull floor timbers.
 
7. Make two longitudinal strips of 1/8-inch tempered hardboard approximately 4.5 inches wide which will fit snugly between the 3 keels and secure them to the lower surface of the frames with glue and treenails.
 
8. Add the cant frames, bevel the frames of the bow and stern to achieve a faired surface on the lower chine and install one or two rows of planking along the lower edge of the chine.
 
9. Make two additional strips of 1/8-inch tempered hardboard which abut the outer edges of the port and starboard keels and trim them to the outer surface of the lower chine planking. Secure them to the frames with glue and treenails.
 
10. Return the model to its upright position and install portions of ceiling, floor planking and longitudinal stanchions.
 
11. Frame and plank the waterway leading to the paddlewheel.
 
12. Add hull mounting provisions for the engines, paddlewheel and other machinery.
 
13. Add selected portions of the gun deck beams and planking which provide support for the armament while maintaining desired visibility to lower portions of the hull.
 
14. Based on further research of contemporary Civil War photographs we are convinced that unlike the flat decks shown on the NPS "USS Cairo" plans, the hurricane deck actually has a significant round-up (camber) of about 6.5-inches or .27-inches & a 15-foot arc at the 1:24 scale of our model. For accuracy this deck will be fabricated as a sub-assembly directly upon sheets 7 & 8 of the NPS plans and subsequently located over the lower hull structure and attached via the upper casement frames with removable pins thereby providing good internal hull access throughout the remaining model construction. The lower surfaces of the deck beams will remain flat since the distance between the gun deck planking and hurricane deck beams is over 7-feet and therefore an additional 6.5-inches on centerline would have been an unnecessary expense.
 
15. Make the 43 hurricane deck beams (carlines) from hard maple stock with identical the round-up (camber) formed into their upper surfaces using a special sanding fixture for the 15-foot radius mounted on a 4-inch table equipped vertical belt sander.
 
16. Construct the hurricane deck consisting of the port and starboard carline clamps (deck clamps), deck beams, and additional longitudinal framing members for the stacks, skylight, and wheelhouse. The present plan is to apply deck planking to at least one side (port or starboard) and additional selected planking to be determined later.
 
17. Locate the hurricane deck sub-assembly above the lower hull assembly on temporary supports or internal hull bulkheads while installing upper casement frames which are permanently fixed to the chine knuckles and pinned to the hurricane deck beams.
 
18. Frame in the gun ports and apply selected exterior planking to the upper casements. Temporarily un-pin and remove the hurricane deck to provide access for installing selected upper casement ceiling.
 
19. With the hurricane deck removed, continue with installation of the bulkheads and partitions around the wheelhouse, cabins and boilers and any other features on the gun deck.











Method used to Construct the Lower Hull Frames (Rev A).doc
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Jig #3 Set-Up and Procedure for Use 26 Mar 2015.doc
Method used to Construct the Lower Hull Frames (Rev A).doc
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I have now completed the upper hull planking. Before beginning, I had to cut away three of the frames to allow for the small gunport openings. As with the previous belt, this was done with boxwood strips without taper, first edge bent and then bent again horizontally to fit the severe bow curve. This planking was done with a combination of 1/16" x5/32 ", 1/16" x 3/16" and 1/16" x 1/8" strips to fit the dimensions shown on the drawings. BTW, the Lumberyard provided pear strips to do this planking, but I didn't like the material supplied and chose to use boxwood that I had on hand. The treenailing was done as before. After treenailing, the area was final sanded and finished with a coat of Wipe-on Poly. No further work will be done on the outer hull at this point
 
The next task is to cut the hull away from the jig.
 
Bob

Your Boston looks amazing!!  I was going to ask for larger photos, but I see above that you're dealing with an older computer.  Any chance when you break the camera out next time, we can get some closer close-ups? 
 
Thanks!
Erik

I have now completed framing of the hull with the stern framing and fairing. First, the stern frames were glued into place between the slots cut into the wing transom and the template cut from the plans and glued to the framing jig. Then, I cut pieces of boxwood strip to fit between the stern frames in curves set out in the plans. Next, I added the framing pieces between last hull frame and the outer stern frames. Lastly, I faired the entire stern assembly.
 
I am now moving on to start the wales and then the planking.
 
Bob

I spent the first part of my time since my last update completing the fairing of the hull. This involved first adding boxwood strip shim pieces to the frames that were low as a result of the the jig slot misalignments. This was tedious work, but straightforward and uneventful. I've attached photos of the faired hull which don't look all that different from the prior photos, but there really is a big improvement.
 
After completing the fairing, I turned to the stern framing. This presented some challenges. I quickly realized that the laser cut wing transom and stern frames were simply not right. After wasting some time trying to figure to ways to "improve" them, I decided that the easiest solution was simply to cut entirely new parts from scratch. I started with the wing transom, which required multiple efforts to get any thing that was any good at all. The plans don't really show it in any way, other than it's position, and the book photos are are also somewhat vague. I cut the part from boxwood sheet, rough shaped it to fit and cut notches in the top side with small chisels for the stern frames. I then cut and shaped the other two transoms from boxwood sheet and mounted all three. I did some rough fairing of the lower two transoms, but left the wing transom until the stern frames are in place.
 
The laser cut frames were simply too small and didn't match either the plans or my construction. I cut them from boxwood sheet, but have not mounted them yet. I have attached a photo of the rough wing transom and the stern frames before mounting. The photo also shows a laser cut frame, for comparison. The final photo shows the three transoms mounted. 
 
Next up will be the mounting of the stern frames and the remainder of the stern framing.
 
Bob

So guys how much original wood exists in the current niagara? There even a splinter in there?

The recent post on using a mill inspired me to post this report of my just-finished capstan. I used both the Sherline mill and lathe for the several steps required.
 
The square mortises for the capstan bars were added using a .079" milling bit and the rotary table. The top and bottom sections were milled to 1/2 of their 3 3/4" depth.

 
Following the milling procedure the two halves were glued together.

 
Once dry, the capstan drumhead was turned to it's final diameter on the lathe. The whelps were also milled  in one long strip and sliced off on the table saw. The mortises for the chocks were added on the table saw.

 
The capstan barrel was turned on the lathe and separated just below the taper.  Each end was center drilled then drilled to receive a brass pin.The slots for the whelps were added with a .090" end mill on the rotary table at sixty degree intervals.

 
The 3/4" bolt holes (#80 drill bit) for the capstan retaining bar pins and the cap piece were added with the drumhead again mounted in the rotary table.

 
Further holes were drilled for the whelp bolts in the drumhead and the chocks are being fitted.

 
The finished capstan (sans pawls).


 
The carnage to my workshop bench for which I spent the evening tidying up.

 
Apologize for the length of this post but I wanted to demonstrate how the fabrication of this complex piece could be accomplished by breaking it down to a series of small steps. For those without a mill or a lathe, I believe Chuck could easily make a kit of this by providing the drumhead in three slices. The rest would be straight forward with only shaping of the barrel (similar to Chuck's hexagonal pump) being required.
 

I'll throw my two cents in here since I wondered the same and while both ships were likely identical, there is no reason why one couldn't use a bit of an artistic license to modify color schemes and certain deck fittings to offer a bit of distinction. Here is a model of Lawrence someone did which looks like Niagara and while the white stripe doesn't look accurate to me there are some minor differences here. I think one could approach model ship building as a "theory" project you want to complete sometimes research offers two or more plausible conclusions regarding how a ships detailing could have been laid out and you can build two totally similar yet different ships and call them sister ships. Noone may know how they really looked but both may be working theories of how they "could" have looked and in the process you enhance your own knowledge on how such ships may have functioned  

Relating to the discussion of Philadelphia's taffrail, I came across these pictures of a pair of her salvaged carvings the other day.
 

Also that HMS Warrior kit by Billing Boats like 60" looks pretty epic.

I mean if by epic you mean covered in ornamentation cannons rigging and carvings then the answer is Sovereign of the Seas or Wasa. Both could probably cause a mental breakdown while building but what a way to go!

Exceptional!

Exceptional!

Exceptional!

A set of decor for model HMS Enterprize 1774 ( drawings from SHIPYARD )
Original drawing

Sketch samples
 

 
3D models
 

 

 
Result in wood
 

So guys how much original wood exists in the current niagara? There even a splinter in there?

Hi all –
 
I hope everyone has had a nice Easter, Passover, or other spring holiday of your choosing.  Thanks, as always, for the comments and the likes.  It is so nice to get feedback from our modeling family – both the in-laws and the outlaws.  You can decide which you are.
 
The last segment concluded with me working on the bow to get the shapes right and the surface smooth, as well as cutting and installing the flared bulwark pieces.
 
 While I continued to refine, smooth, and fair the bow, I turned to the challenges of the stern.  As seen in the photo, it has a smooth, rounded, but flared shape with two decks that are each pierced with large openings for viewing.  The lower ones are not as tall compared with the upper ones, or rather, the bulwarks are higher, as can be seen from the postures of the people looking out.  In the upper openings the bulwarks are lower, but a single open railing is mounted on top for safety.  This same solid bulwark and upper railing system is an almost universal design feature of the ship, and can be seen as well above the topmost bulwark at the stern.  The lower deck also has a number of round and elongated hawse holes for mooring lines, so the bulwarks have to be pierced for them as well.   

All of this meant that the model’s stern would have to be some sort of pierced shell, like a lacework Easter egg.  To get that shell I first tried to drape-mold styrene in one sheet.  I had already built up a solid stern block which I hoped to use as the form.  I screwed it down onto the hull block and made sure all the edges met.
 
I then put a sheet of 0.020” styrene in a bath of simmering water.  While it softened I heated the stern of the hull with a hair dryer.  When I thought everything had reached a workable temperature I pulled the plastic out of its bath and pulled it down on the hull form.  It did not behave.  Pleats and wrinkles formed which could not be flattened.  I tried several more times, making the plastic sheet hotter in an oven, moving around the points where I pulled on the plastic, etc.  Ultimately I only ended up with half a dozen sheets of unusable plastic which had to be discarded.  I will not embarrass myself by posting photos of the trash.
 
I decided that I would have to build up and pierce each deck separately, and then work on the seam between them.  This would be slower, but used techniques that I was already familiar with.  I first had to establish the shape of the stern with just the deckhouses and decks stacked together to get a feel for the internal structures.  They were cut according to the deck plans, but a little oversize, and were temporarily screwed to each other and the hull.
 
These pieces were faired to each other with a sanding block, checking frequently to see that they created the flared shape desired.  When I was satisfied, the upper wooden pieces were taken off, leaving only the lowest deck house and deck.  A piece of cardstock was used to make a pattern for a curved piece of plastic sheet, much like the one that was created for the bow bulwark.   
         
The plastic was cut oversize and then refined by trial and trimming until it fit well.  As at the bow, a rabbet was cut into the solid hull to bed the edge of the plastic into.  The piece was secured with gap filling cyano.  When the glue was solid the gaps at the edges were filled with Squadron white putty in several layers to build up the filler to compensate for shrinkage as it dried.  Then the surface was sanded flush with the hull, with special care being taken at the edges.  You can see where my smoothing process went through the layers of white primer and into the grey primer below.  The color change proved to be a good warning that I should not go deeper in that spot.  Then the locations of the window openings were drawn on the plastic in pencil, and the centers were ground out with a small burr, staying well away from the lines.  A sharp #11 knife was used to carefully whittle away the remaining plastic until the openings were the proper sizes and shapes. The hawse holes were done in a similar fashion.
 
 
 From there I repeated the process for the upper deck.  But first, the lower deckhouse and the underside of the lower deck were painted and permanently installed.  At this point I was committed.  It was no longer easy to remove the stern pieces and redo them.  As before, a cardstock pattern was created, plastic sheet was cut and fit, glued into the rabbet and faired to the hull and the lower deck bulwark.  The viewing openings were drawn on, pierced and whittled away as before. 

In the previous photo you can still see some spots where additional refinement and whittling of the lower openings is needed.  This was a continuing process and done very carefully.  A slip here might mean that the entire piece would have to be stripped out and replaced.  Fortunately, it ultimately came out as I wanted.  After a coat of primer it is, I believe, quite difficult to tell that it was pieced together.
 
 So here is the current state of work, with the rough superstructure laid on.  It sure will be great when I can replace the plumbing pipe funnels for the lacework cages that Bob made up.  Can’t wait.
 
But there are many more miles to go before I can reach that point, and many more postings.  Until the next one –
 
Be well
 
Dan
 

Hi all –
 
Thanks for the conversations and the likes, as always.   And thanks for looking in on my little diversion.  It was an exercise in water sculpture, and reasonably successful, although I have a ways to go to make it that spray truly realistic.  
 
When the last installment ended, the hull had been glued up and shaped.  The wood had been hardened, ready for final finishing.
 
The next step was to bring the hull to a smooth surface, ready for the color coats.  I first filled the pores of the wood with a slurry of plaster of paris.  Here it is shortly after being painted on
.
 
Before it dried and became opaque I laid in a 1/16” wide strip of tape along the waterline as I did here on the Doria model.
 
With the plaster dry it was gently sanded with a medium grit sanding sponge to smooth and fair the planes and surfaces.  Here is how it looked at the bow.  The waterline tape was removed at this point, but it left a very shallow but indelible depression along the length of the hull that will guide my painting later on.
 
What followed were many refinements to those hull planes and surfaces, done with multiple layers of spray primer.  The first several were of grey, sandable primer which filled in the deepest of the sanding scratches.  For preference I use Krylon in the rattle can.  It is fast-drying and builds up a sufficiently thick layer with only a few coats.  But it is getting harder to find.  Even Amazon runs out from time to time.  I have found that the comparable product from Ace Hardware is almost identical.
 
Medium and fine grit sanding sponges smoothed out the grey primer, then coats of white primer were sprayed on.  This is a much different formulation, not just the color.  It goes on thinner and dries to a much harder surface.  Finer and finer grits of sandpaper were used, ending with a rubdown with a plastic scouring pad to burnish the surface.  Much will be done to the hull, and it will get carved, drilled and sections ground out, but it was nice to have a smooth canvas to work on.
 
The first addition to the hull was the bulwark at the bow.  This has to be flared considerably to match the steep angle of the hull at the nose.  To get this shape, I wrapped a wide strip of card stock around the bow and taped it in place, making sure that it lay tight and flat all around the bow.  Where it rose above the deck, I penciled in a line.  Using a flat piece of scrap as a spacer, a second line was drawn at the height of the finished bulwark.  The card was removed and a third line was drawn, freehand, about ¼” below the deck line to account for where it will be attached to the hull.  Several were made and discarded before one was acceptable.  The finished template shape looked like this.
 
This shape was cut out of a piece of 0.020” styrene sheet.  I made sure to make the first cuts overlarge, then it was slowly refined by repeatedly offering it up to the desired location and trimming as needed.  A shallow step was cut, carved, and ground into the hull and the piece laid in and secured with gel superglue.  The edges were filled and faired with Squadron white putty.   Here is the bow bulwark piece before final fairing into the hull.   The difference in sheen tells me where the putty still needs more refining.   The bulwark is still a bit oversize at the top edge, which will not be refined until the detailing process begins.
 
This was my first time using Squadron putty.  It is a solvent based gel which comes in a tube like toothpaste and is squeezed out in much the same way.  Because it is solvent based it dries quickly, but the fumes are a bit harsh, so have some good ventilation where you work with it.  The other problem is that it shrinks substantially as it dries.  Some deep depressions had to have several layers applied before it built up enough to sand back to a smooth surface.
 
Next, I work on the stern.
 
Be well
 
Dan

Nice camels!
Queen Charlotte was built at Amherstburg specifically as a warship, for the Provincial Marine.  She was launched in 1810, a 'Corvette Brig to carry sixteen guns'.  She was built to a draught of William Bell for a ship rather than as a brig.  Robert Malcomson, Warships of the Great Lakes, quoting original documents.
She was somewhat smaller than Detroit and the US Brigs, and on the day carried 16 guns on the broadside plus one on a pivot.

Well, Charlie, actually, since I believe that the Niagara was raised in 1876 and sent to Philadelphia where her exhibition building burned around her, all the original wood went up in flames.  There may be a few token pieces of the hull that was raised in 1913 on board (I heard as part of a door in the Capt's cabin) but nothing of any significance, and in any case that hull I believe to have been Queen Charlotte.