ccoyle

Another small update.
 
The first image is an overhead view of the very long poop deck - now cleaned of dust, dirt and general grunge. 
 
The second image is of the forecastle, showing the first tentative steps towards correction of some errors on the model. Part of the railing has been removed on each side of the deck, as these sections were removable and had chain, rather than steel bar railings.
 
More thinking and study of photos has brought to light another major problem. The original ship had a beautiful teak capping rails all around the poop rather that the pipe rail shown on the model. The Senior Curator would like to have this changed to conform to the original, so - yet another major alteration. My current thinking is that the simplest way around this will be to file down the tops of the stanchions a little to bring them to the height of the bulwarks forward, and then to run the wooden capping around on top of the current steel piping. A lot of work, but I think easier than ripping out all of the railing and starting again. If anyone has any better ideas, I'd love to hear about them as I'm not looking forward to all that additional work.
 
Another problem is the number holes and gaps in the deck caused by the removal or alteration of items that were no longer on the ship at the time of her last voyage. I need to find some kind of filler to close up all those holes and make them a little less obvious.
 
This model is turning into a real lesson for anyone thinking of taking on a restoration; the number of problems on deck on this model that have come to light since I started serious cleaning operations is amazing!!
 
John
 

How can those of us who aren't piping engineers know for certain that all that piping wasn't just added to the ship in random patterns? 🤔😉

I had some issues with attempting the Sphinx and the CAF Granado. I made some mistakes on the Sphinx, and I think mostly to do with the size of the parts I was working with. The Granado was another story and certainly for the very experienced scratch builder. After agonizing over some of the larger scale kits including Surprise, Bonhomme Richard and Royal Caroline I chose the Indy. Kudos to Chris for this model. With very careful thought to assembling the kit, even a mere mortal like me finds it extremely easy to build up to now. What other kit would allow you to get to where I am in less than 8 hours of time. I am enjoying every moment. A pleasure to work on.
 
I am not going to do a complete build thread but only post when I run across problems that I need some help with. There are very able modelers that are building this model, and their threads are tutorials for me. I'm up to step 83 and happy that the main hull structure is finished.
 
Till next time.
 
Some pictures:
 

How can those of us who aren't piping engineers know for certain that all that piping wasn't just added to the ship in random patterns? 🤔😉

John, Roger, Ian, Veszett and Druxey thank you for commenting.
 
Just a brief update:- 
 
I got to the 3rd row of planks before the planks began to run out at the stern. This necessitated a wedge being inserted. Just visible between the second and third planks in the next photo.

I did however continue with parallel planks.
 
In the boiler room area I needed to start aligning the plank edges using stainless steel clothes pegs where alignment proved to be unsatisfactory.

Having included the wedge between the 2nd and 3rd planks the 4th plank went on as a parallel plank without a further wedge.


I am now on layer 7 and probably near the end of parallel planking. At maximum beam I am going to have to start adding more width (which in practice means narrowing the planks at stem and stern).

I am checking the symmetry of the planks (with callipers) on an ongoing basis. The green lines also help me judge the symmetry. As yet everything is looking good. 
 
 

You're assuming they looked for such information.

Good evening mates, time for a life raft update. I have the starboard side completed with only one left to manufacture for the port side.
 

Wonderfully done! Congratulations!

Anchors done (only 2) and all the rigging done too!
That concludes this adventure 🙂
It was a great kit to make, very diverse, high quality, I enjoyed every minute of it. I am also quite pleased with the result, it's not perfect I know and I have some points to improve for the next ship. 
What I really need to tell myself more often is not to hurry and go slowly. It doesn't matter if the build takes 2 weeks more, but taking your time greatly improves quality and reduces frustration imo.
 
Some pictures then...
 
 

Having just finished HMS Flirt, I saw that Chris had 2 new models, HM cutter Cherbourne and gun brig Adder. I bought both and flipped a coin to see which to build first. Cherbourne won. So here is the unwrapping
 

 

 
 
Constructing the frame
 

 
 
Feathering the edges. Convenient lines to help beginners know how far to go
 

 
 
Placing the bulkheads
 

 
 
Attaching stern
 

 
Bulwarks soaked then clamped overnight

 
Glued in place, can never have enough clamps.
 

Gradually the fuselage lengthens.
 

I call this next one the "last time you'll ever have a clear view of this cockpit" shot.
 

 
And here's the cockpit section all closed up and mated to the forward fuselage. The butt joint did not turn out as nicely this time.
 

 
A simple fuselage slice is next, followed by construction of the observer's position.
 
Cheers!

First Cuts
 
Construction begins with the forward fuselage. One unusual feature of the Salmson was its powerplant -- a liquid-cooled, 9-cylinder Salmson 9Z radial producing 231 hp. The radiator layout featured shutters that looked rather like fan blades. You can easily see them in this photo:

from Wikimedia Commons
 
And here are the shutters as seen in the construction diagram:

 
The shutters are provided as a flat, printed part depicting the shutters closed, but the instructions say that experienced models may attempt to display them in the open position.
 
Challenge accepted:

 
That job took awhile, so that's all I got done this evening.
 

I've since learned that Capt. Coyle was born in Vermont, making him one of the 'Northern Coyles', who were mostly Catholic. His forebears arrived in Quebec in the early 19th Century before eventually making their way south into Vermont. Our family were Ulster Scots who arrived in the Carolinas sometime in the 18th Century.

Greetings!
 
Whenever I order stuff from Poland, I like to max out the order that can be sent at a certain shipping price point. That means that for my last order from WAK, received just this week, I was able to slip WAK's latest release into my cart. It's a Salmson 2 A.2, a French two-seat observation plane used in the last year of the Great War. First Squadron of the US Air Service also operated the type.
 

 
The kit is designed by Maciej Lewan and features very nice artwork done by Marcin Dworzecki.
 

 

 
A little skimpy on the diagrams, but hopefully enough to get the job done.
 

 

 
Of course I also ordered the requisite laser-cut frames . . .
 

 
. . . as well as a pair of resin Lewis guns for the observer's twin mounting.
 

 
Okay, so you might be wondering why I decided to start this build when I just finished the Hurricane and had started back on Phoenix. Well, I'll tell you why. I blame this wholly on WAK. I checked the inside front cover to see if there was any information about the aircraft depicted in the kit, and there I saw the following (in English, no less):
 

 
Yup, the plane was "piloted by A.J. Coyle."
 
That did it. Hot new release . . . chance to be one of the first to build it . . . pilot with the same surname as myself (and it's not a common one) . . . the kit fairly screamed "build me NOW!"
 
So I caved. BTW, I have not yet been able to determine if Capt. Coyle and I are distant relatives, but I have an extensive family tree, and he's not in it, so I suspect we are not. Oh, well.
 

Capt. Arthur J. Coyle (standing), with Lt. A.E. Easterbrook. Anonymous unknown author, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
 
I may try to build this concurrently with Phoenix, or I might not. I'll just have to see how it plays out. Plus, I have another project on my radar. 😬  So many projects, so little time!!
 
Cheers!

You're assuming they looked for such information.

Gradually the fuselage lengthens.
 

Welcome aboard, Max!

Got the two long pieces of veneer on the upper hull attached.
 

 

 
Because these pieces are so wide, they are terribly unforgiving of any error in hull fairing, and that point is made apparent toward the bow. Here you can see that the natural curve of the veneer creates some small pockets where too much material was removed during the hull fairing process.
 

 
You can't simply smash these down, because that will cause the veneers to buckle. Nor can you simply ignore them, because doing so will cause the wales (the next belt of planking) to sit too low relative to the upper veneers. Nope, I'm gonna have to add some material in those areas to raise the surface slightly and allow the wales to sit level with the upper hull veneers. An unwelcome task, but necessary.
 
In the meantime, I may be hitting the pause button yet again on this build, for reasons I'll discuss in a separate topic. 😮 Don't worry -- nothing bad!

How can those of us who aren't piping engineers know for certain that all that piping wasn't just added to the ship in random patterns? 🤔😉

How can those of us who aren't piping engineers know for certain that all that piping wasn't just added to the ship in random patterns? 🤔😉

How can those of us who aren't piping engineers know for certain that all that piping wasn't just added to the ship in random patterns? 🤔😉

How can those of us who aren't piping engineers know for certain that all that piping wasn't just added to the ship in random patterns? 🤔😉

So now both bunker manifolds are in place. Not on Portside, because on that side the bunkerline is actually crossing over the cargo piping (due to the longitudinal piping rack). So first up is the transverse cargo piping and then PS HFO bunker pipe (DO pipe does run underneath the pipe rack, logics 🤪...)
 
First was lining out the support bars for the piping. I wanted to start aft and connect to the cargo heater system, but decided against it and started on the forward piping. Aft part will be more difficult as it's the part going over the edge of the hatch. It would also have restricted my access for the forward piping probably causing damage to the aft piping, so, first forward. 
 
Since I had the two supports of the manifold piping in place, I could now put a transverse pipe in place to line out the supports. I used normal straight pipes. I'm also building the bent cargo piping on a flat surface to have the bends in a single plane. 
As you can see I held the supports up with some copper wire attached to the beams. I used CA on 1 or 2 vertical supports and normal plastic glue (= slower curing, but stronger bond) on the rest of the supports. 

 
One of the supports near the center was a bit angled in, not leaving enough space for the aft (Inert Gas manifold) pipe to pass. I used a spreader on top of the pipe to keep them at a correct distance while using the support to keep at the proper distance. 

 
Seems to have worked. The 3 forward pipes in place. Most forward is Liquid System 2, followed by Vapour System 2 and Inert Gas line. 
For normal cargo operations the Vapour Return is not used on LPG tankers. Normally the reliquefaction plant will liquefy the vapour coming from the tanks and send the liquid/condensate back to those tanks during the loading operation. 
If for some reason the reliquefaction plants can not handle the vapour and pressure rises too much in the tanks, the vapour return connection can be opened towards the terminal, but in that case the vessel will have to pay a fine (normally vapour return is sent to a flare and is therefore considered a loss). So it's almost always connected to the shore terminal, but rarely used. 

 
This may look like major progress, but it's not. As you can see I need to make a lot of flanges for valve connections on those pipes. Lining the pipes up transversally and longitudinally is a challenge as you need to keep the longitudinal distance on the manifold equal, while you also need to keep the bends in the correct places. Again a lot of fitting, adjusting, fitting again etc. 
The forward liquid system also has a big cargo strainer connected. During loading, you normally load through the strainer (you don't want dirt in your tanks), while during discharging, this strainer is generally bypassed (but often stainers are using inside the manifold connections). Of course this means you need valves to by-pass this strainer, so again more valves to add on the system. The stainer you can see already on the starboard side, unpainted. 
 
It will take a while before I finish these lines, but once they are done, it will be quite a step forward to completion of the vessel. 

Gradually the fuselage lengthens.