WackoWolf

Standards
 
The Standards are small upside-down knees which support the Channels. They are 2" thick in real life, 1.06mm at 1:48 scale. There are three on each foremast channel, four on the main mast and two on each mizzen. These had to go on before the Drift Rails, which are intersected by the standards. I simulated the small bolts that hold them by using an awl :
 

 

 
  Danny

sorry i have just found your log, i have been slightly distracted for the last couple of months, and missed lots of things and logs, I have put mine to one side for a while - whilst i get back on with the Victory, which in reality is my favourite, you have really done a lot of work on her, did you quess where the waterline goes,as it is not quite as easy to work out as i thought it would be, any way i will continue to follow

Back to the futtock shrouds for a minute.
As long as this was clear in my mind, I decided to draw the arrangement to scale. Later I will use this to pre-assemble the whole thing you see below on the bench. You can see the brazed 'extensions' lying on top of the drawing. The fore mast is to the left.

After I hook up the main shrouds on the starboard side, I should be able to install this arrangement including the bolts that go into the waterways. In order to make final adjustments in the tension, I will leave the tackle at the bottom loose.
 
Any way that is my plan for now.
BTW the drawing is for the port side. So I will have to use an mirror image for the starboard side.

Indeed Henry and again many thanks. Your pictures are perfect and they give me a lot more confidence in rigging the futtock and bentnick shrouds. See other post. 
The plans (the sketch above is part of those) show the bottom tackle to be a '5/32 inch heart' instead of the bullseye you show. This part of the rigging looks almost the same as the main and preventer stays near the bow. So I will take some 5/32 bullseyes, drill the holes a bit bigger and try to use those for the tackle.
I notice that the location on the waterways is a bit to the right of center. I can understand the engineering for this, because to have them in the center would mean that both the shroud and cannon tackles would apply a lot of stress on the same location.
 
For the starboard side I am also thinking of preassembling the futtock shrouds (with the staves I made and show above) and attach them to the bentnick shroud before rigging all of that to the main shrouds. I will show my attempt to do this later.
But right now it is back to the ratlines.
BTW the hole you see near the tip of the needle is for the chimney; again something I held off until later.

The port main futtock lines are in place along with a larger ring that connects them to the 'Bentnick' shroud.
This is the first time I found a mistake in the plans. The sketch above calls for a 1/8 inch thimble. I tried that on the fore mast and found it to be way too small. In fact, the 1/8 inch for the thimble is the outside diameter. So I made some copper rings instead.

I still like to see more details about how the Bentnick shroud is attached to the waterway. I don't have any 5/32" hearts and may end up using some deadeye hearts that look about the right size.

Hello everyone...
 
It's been well over a week since I posted anything new on this site.  It isn't because I haven't been working in the shipyard but mainly because the construction has slowed down.  We also had some health problems in the family and presently are keeping our fingers crossed that the Admiral's mother, now in the hospital, will make it through her ordeal. 
 
I'm very happy to say that i have reached the point where all the masts and mian parts of the Bowsprit are finished, painted and ready to be attached to the hull.  I have made the decision, however, to finish the lower mast's shrouds before permanently attaching the masts.  This will allow me put the loops in the shrouds and then slip them over the masts and not worry about threading them through the masts before constructing the loops.  I would like to serve the lines so I'll have to wait for a serving machine to arrive before I can do much of anything.  I think I'll probably build some of the accessories  (lamps, anchors, etc.)  while waiting for the machine to arrive.  I have posted some pictures of my latest progress.
 
In the meantime I have been very happy for some of the other builders who have made great progress and have been so nice to share their work with us with great pictures.  I am very appreciative to these people.
 
Jerry

Looking good Michael  ,it is a shame about the holes,if you do decide to plug any and redrill then some small walnut pins made in the dremel 'lathe'should do the trick
Kind Regards Nigel

Hi everyone,
 
Here is the second part of the chainplates/deadeyes installation. Continuing from the first part, with the deadeye chainplates matter resolved, now it was time to shape, drill new holes (for the nails), then cut their lengths, thin their bulk where the nails would be added, and touch up with flat black paint. I decided to have that flatter look at their ends in order to make them appear more as flat plates, so Dremel-ed the front and back faces.
 
I then realized that the nails, though they had flat heads, were actually too wide. A bit of Dremel trimming and black paint resolved the issue. I added a comparison photo.
 
I then borrowed from Ferit's spectacular Berlin build and used his rubber band concept to align the chains correctly for nailing. This technique allowed me to drill holes into the wales at properly angled locations. Great idea Ferit a big thanks, again!
 
There are some errors, of course. The deadeye rings are not correct. They should be actual rings with longer lower lips that clamp to actual plates. Mark's Vasa (marktiedens) really captured that correctly! His looks perfect.
 
Also the deadeyes should be triangular as well. So it goes. Lastly, I was so concerned about sourcing deadeyes that had similar staining that I totally overlooked, what I now see glaring at me- in some of them the three holes are not properly spaced. These were all machined parts so I assumed (there's that word again) I will fill-in some of the worse offending holes and re-drill them. OK now onto the main mast, then the port side. Again, as always thanks for dropping by, its always so appreciated.
 
Regards,
 
Michael
 
 

More progress this weekend - lots of snow here, so not any distractions.
 
I made the ladder on both sides of the hull - the kit provides 3x3mm right angle wood, which I cut into 10mm lengths, sanded off the square corners and glued into place with 1mm spacing in between.
 

 

 
Next, I blackened the braces for the hammock netting and the end-pieces.  Those, I also painted a bit of the highlight.  I used black tulle for the hammock netting, like on my last Connie, and I still think it looks pretty good.
 

 

 

 

 
Andy.

I did the pin rails, both the one surrounding the mast and some side cleats.  Overall, I found this to be easy (must be learning something), if I go slow and careful.
 
The more difficult part was drilling the larger holes in the pin rail supports - the wood wanted to splinter.  I ended up sanding down the 2mm dowel so it would fit in the 1.5 mm hole I prepared.  I also found the need to file down every one of the pins so I didn't force them into the 1mm holes I drilled.  If forced, the would crack the wood in two.
 
I used a bit of diluted white glue to "secure" the pins - just enough so they don't fall out - the lines should hold them in just fine.
 
And, finally, I realize the white metal of the pins probably isn't the right color.  I could, I suppose, paint them a wood color, but perhaps the lines, once belayed, will cover them up pretty well.
 

 

 

 
Thanks to everyone who's looked and commented - I really do appreciate it, even if I don't have time to respond individually.
 
Andy.

I have not tried with white metal,but annealing works with brass castings.If it is a big bend then I anneal and bend so far and then anneal again.This overcomes the work hardening caused by bending.
Kind Regards Nigel

Hi Antony
 
The top timbers are cut into the tulip bulkheads and glued, and yes, still in the conservatory.
I`ve been a good boy and not made any dust, Yet.
 
mij

Hi Gary,
 
Looks great. It does make you think about how a relatively few cooks with only a relatively few cooking surfaces and pots could cook for 650 men even if it was in shifts. Think about a kitchen today for a typical banquet hall, in comparison.
 
Best wishes,
 
Mark

You can manage soup, Gary? That's good enough to be a ship's cook. You're pressed!

Hi druxey. Sorry sir I don't cook, accept maybe a can of soup
 
Hello Marsares. Don't believe I will sir. That may just be a little to small for me but it's a ideal I just may have to look in to.
 
Hi Sailor 1234567890, and thank you. As far as I can tell from looking of this photo, at the equipment around the Victory stove I would say yes they did. It seems they even had frying pans which I just may have to make a couple. As far as the giant stock pot there was two big boiler's on the other side from the grill section plus a stove for cooking bread. 
 
Gary

Steve,
 
The batten to check the fairing should be flexible to hug the curve of the hull. For sanding.. a little rubber cement will hold the sandpaper to the sanding stick.

Steve,
 
The best way to fair the frames is to run a batten (a strip of wood) over the frames and see if the frame beveling matches the batten.  Many of us use a flexible strip of wood with sandpaper attached to it to fair things. 

Thank you Mark.
The red planking is actualy red wood called bloodwood. I didn't have to paint it at all. In fact nothing is painted on my model, just different colors of wood.
 
Alexandru

Hello all
 
I've done some progress on the middle deck beams - 20 out of 29. But I have enough to get the height of the deck so I could continue working on the main capstan. Here are some progress pictures:

Dear Robert,

Your work is absolutely amazing and unique. Something like this is very rare. Thank you very much for sharing, and accept my deepest admiration to your masterpiece.

Kind regards

Doris

An aesthetic issue
 
In different times of regular maintenance of CS, main, poop and aft deck change colour, depending of colour of paint is used, so red/brown and gray are bot correct colours for deck and waterway on model
 
On younger images colour is gray, and white bulwarks are not so exposed in contrast ro deck. But, gray colour do not fit quite well to the colour of deck cabins
 
On the other side, it seems to me that, if I I use red/brown colour for deck/waterway, white bulwarks will be much more exposed to eye (and all mistakes), but in that case, colours of deck cabin and deck fit more
 
Also, lower parts of the masts are white, and boats are white too, and if I use gray, it fit well 
 
And, considering in mind that time for making waterway is closer and closer, question arises. Decks can be painted later, but, if I decide for some colour of water way ( it must be done before mounting stanchions, very hard to do it after), this reflects to later colour of deck. So, it is time for decision.
What do you think ?
 
Pure aesthetic ... 
 

 

 
 
 

I have read the comments with interest. So much depends on the style of the builder, kit or scratch, etc.
I like tools, I admit it, I proclaim it, I shout it from the roof tops. Ok, maybe I don't shout it from the roof tops but as my build progresses I have bought both powered and manual tools to add to those I use in wood sculpting. Heck, learning how to use them is half the fun and each is beginning to contribute to my build. I even used the mini mill which pretty much was an impulse buy. (I am so glad I set aside a hobby fund before I retired.)
 
But, I wonder at the stories of builders who did not have access to much at all in the way of tools and built their models with only a knife, or stories of prisoners forming found objects as tools and using bone for stock. Much of their work is really good. So, I sometimes wonder, what could I accomplish with a folding knife and perhaps one file.
 
Probably not going to happen, but still, I wonder what if...
 
Richard

In the last post, I was not satisfied with the rope coils which appeared harsh white and became the center of attention.  The line supplied by JoTika is actually a light tan, but on the model appears white, particularly in photographs.  I tried different stains but the areas treated with C/A appeared very different from the untreated lines.  Further, the staining was uneven.  The following photo was an early attempt.  Better but more work needed.
 

 
Mark was kind enough to suggest equal parts white glue and water with stain and a couple drops of detergent.  I also tried washes (very dilute paint) having used a light gray wash to tone down the rat lines at an earlier stage.  The following is the  result of testing different methods.  The real message of course is treat your lines BEFORE rigging, and the observation that none of these match Chuck's  beautiful lines.  However, this is an attempt to correct a problem.
 
Lines were wrapped around a white dowel and numbered.  On the photo, the second and third wrap from the left are controls (no staining).
 

 
Control wraps.  On the left, lines were touched with C/A (as in splices, wraps on the yards, etc.), while on the right, the line was untreated.  It's hard to understand why the line appears so white on the model.
 

 
On number 1, a mixture of equal parts white glue, water and stain (water based English Oak / Minwax) plus a couple drops of detergent.  There was a slight difference between C/A treated and non-treated threads and slightly irregular uptake of the stain, although I doubt most observers would notice.  The color has a reddish tint, but of course that's the stain.  Fruitwood would be a better option.
 

 
Number 4, though slighty blurred, was a wash (Basswood Acrylic Wash) which gave poor coverage with a major difference between C/A treated and non-treated areas. In addition there was a pinkish tint.
 

 
Number 5 used Brown Oak Detail Wash (Model Master Acrylic / Testors).  This gave a more even coverage of treated and untreated areas.  The camera gave it a brighter yellowish tint that is not present on the test stick. A second photo by a different camera gave a closer match but still missed the warmer brown. The color on the test stick, to my eye, is closest to relatively new Manila hemp.  In my years of sailing (over 70), it seems even old and worn Manila hemp retained something of a brownish gray  tint. 
 

 
Number 8 was English Oak Water based srain with a notable difference on the C/A treated area and rather uneven uptake of the stain.
 

 
My conclusions were that the Brown Oak Detail Wash gave the most realistic result followed closely with the white glue/water/stain technique (but substitute a Fruitwood stain).  However, I'll probably spend a good deal of time fussing and masking and may not post for a while.  Are we having fun yet?
Cheers, Gil
 
 
 
 
 
 

Thanks for the comments and concern.
 
As it is back down around the -20 mark, the water is solid again and I will only be able to fully solve this when it is spring (late April to May)
I will remove the outside sheathing to let the wet that is inside dry off and deal with the roof.
 
Michael

covered with oil:


 
after drying oil tinting:




 
Everything. And so it did:


 
Sincerely, Alexander