NMBROOK

Hi All,
  Firstly thanks to John and Carmelo for the kind words and to all for the likes…much appreciated.    Carmelo, there was no worry on my part about your picture…I am looking forward to seeing your progress on your Dragon!   As for my build, I’ve managed to finish the hull tree nailing. I used a dark walnut filler to try to get the treenails to stand out against the sapelli planking.  They don't show up strongly, but in the right light they are visible.   I also finished planking the underside of the deck and added some walnut strips to look like support beams, lining them up with the planking joints. The plans don’t call for this and almost none of this work will be visible after the bulwarks go on.  For reason I feel better knowing the underside of the deck is finished to match the top!    Anyway thumbnails below and next up is attaching the cabin and the upper bulwarks.   Cheers,   Nigel.

Hi All,
  Well, been busy learning how to treenail on the deck! I used my Dremel with a #74 bit in the small Dremel drill press. I had a lot of problems with consistency as I found it hard to see the tiny bit as it approached the deck. I then found I could hit the pencil marks more consistently if I also watched the shadow of the drill bit approach the mark using a light shining at an angle from side.    The holes were then filled with a light colored filler, sanded smooth and then several coats of WOP were applied with steel wool being used to lightly smooth the finish between each coat.  The final treenail effect is quite subtle at normal viewing distances. Hopefully most of my errors will be hidden under the different deck fittings. I’ll just have to make a few buckets, barrels and boxes to cover anything that is still visible!    One fun item is I’ve started on replacing some of the rough laser cut wood plywood pieces that will be very visible. Below is my current effort to build the forward brace in walnut. I still have to completely match the depths of the small cutouts on the top surface, but getting close.   Pictures and below and as usual thanks for reading. Next up..hull treenailing!   Cheers,   Nigel.  

I was able to spend a bit more time than usual in the shipyard over the past week or so and so made a bit of progress. 
  The walnut keel, bow and stern pieces have been attached. Plans and photos in the kit didn't seem show a stern piece, but the model looked a bit odd to me without it.   The deck was then attached and I drilled some holes into the plywood keel through the mast holes and made some mast support rods from some small nails. I thought this would be easier now before the decking was done. I am hoping these rods make attaching the masts at the correct angles easier down the road.   Finally, the deck planking was completed. This went faster than I expected. I used an HB pencil to line one side of each plank to simulate the caulking. After the first light sanding, the planking pattern seems to be standing out fairly well.    Thumbnails below.  May be time to dig out the SLR rather than just use my phone camera so the details are clearer.   Cheers,   Nigel.

Another small milestone as the second planking is now done. Hull was sanded down with 320 sandpaper and then finished with some wire wool before cleaning things up with a soft cloth which also put a bit of shine onto the hull. Planking pattern is now a bit more visible.
 
Next time I’ll use 400 sandpaper to do the finish sanding as I found the thin walnut veneer was very prone to light splintering at the edges. Not sure if this is a normal or just because the wood had been in the kit drying out for years. Anyway time for a small celebration with a large single malt as I am rather happy to have completed the planking!
  Next steps are to attach the keel pieces and then treenail once my small drill bits arrive as my smallest 1/32in bit looks too big. Will then put a few light coats of wipe on poly on the hull to protect it during the decking work to come.   Anyway, so far so good and thumbnails are below. As always, thanks for reading.
  Thanks,   Nigel.  

A short update as one side of the Dragon now has the second walnut planking layer completed and lightly sanded down. Taking my time as the walnut strips in the kit are so thin, I am worried I could sand through them if I leave any rough spots during the second planking.
  Overall pretty happy with the results other than the planking shift pattern isn’t very visible in spite of cutting each plank from a different strip to avoid matching the grain patterns. I  am hoping a few thin coats of matt polyurethane with more sanding will give me a nice finish and hopefully show the planking pattern more clearly.    Cheers,   Nigel.  

I spent some time planning the decking and 2nd hull planking layout. General theme in many logs is that looking ahead a few steps can help avoid problems down the road so taking that on board.
  I like the idea of using a 4 shift pattern on the deck and hull using 4in planks. I realized the Dragon doesn’t come with frames that extend above the deck to help me set the decking pattern. I will need to add these false frames and measuring things off it seems spacing them at 1in intervals should work, while still avoiding the cutouts for the cannon’s and so on.    The next question was how to transfer this frame spacing down onto the hull.  Took some trial and error, but best method I found was to transfer each frame position using the deck marks onto the top plank and the keel. I then traced the frame line along some string stretched tightly between the marks on the top plank and keel to follow the curve of the hull.     I expect there is an easier way to do this (please let me know!), but the resulting lines don’t look too bad to me. They will at least let me cut each plank to the correct length. These planks will often be longer than 4in due to the hull curvature.
Thumbnails below and thanks for reading.   Cheers,   Nigel.  

Thank you Augie and Theo for the kind comments. We actually dodged most of the storm up here, only got about 6 inches. Hope everyone further east in New England is doing OK.   So, a small milestone as the first planking is now complete and the hull sanded. Elbow grease was applied per Augie’s recommendation so things are a bit dusty in the basement right now!  There is still some work to even up the bow and stern so the second planking will flow cleanly into the walnut false keel.
  Next step is to decide the hull and deck planking pattern. I will be using 4in long planks so perhaps a 3 or 4 shift pattern? Model is pretty small so a 5 shift pattern may not show enough repeats to make sense. I am also thinking about getting a draw plate as some treenails would be fun to do.  As usual, thanks for reading.    Nigel.  

So planking continues on the Dragon.  It took me ages to work out how the planks needed to run and then work in the drop planks, but I finally managed to get the port side closed up. I broke a couple of planks along the way as I had to notch one plank from both above and below. As Brian suggested, I start to thin down the final planks to avoid a very thin final plank to close the hull. The final few shots show the hull after sanding. You can see a few places, especially on the bow, where some gaps opened up as I sanded so seems I need to chamfer the planks more carefully next time. Overall I am pretty happy with how the port side turned out as the hull lines seem to run smoothly from bow to stern so I am hoping I am in decent shape for the final planking. Thumbnails below.

Now, it’s back to the basement to close up the starboard side! Just hope I have enough wood left to complete the job after my breakages. Will be close!   Thanks for reading and of course for the replies and likes which are much appreciated.    Cheers,   Nigel.

So, I started the first planking this week. Garboards are on as well as the first 5 rows starting from the deck level on each side. Progress is a bit slow as each plank has to be sanded and chamfered individually as the planking how-to's warned! It is taking me about an hour to fit each plank right now so it's a good thing I am not in a hurry! I did need a drop strake on the bow to move from five to four rows and I expect I will need at least one more drop strake before the bow is done.
  To get the drop strake to fit smoothly, I had to put in a joint between 3rd and 4th frames on both sides as otherwise the planks tended to split. The hull shape seems to be running smoothly, but I am wondering if I made a fairing error or possibly should have put the drop strake on row 3 rather than 4. Inputs would be welcome so I understand this properly. Fortunately, by shaping the planks, I’ve been able to avoid using any steelers at the stern so far.    Hull will need a fair amount of sanding to fully smooth things out, but I'm pretty happy with the results so far.   Thumbnails below.   Thanks for reading.   Nigel.

No worries Simon..stop by any time!   
  There has been a little progress on the build. Keel and frames are now sanded down and test planks seem to follow the hull smoothly. I’ve dry fitted the deck to check the fit to the top of the frames and took the chance to also dry fit the masts. I wanted to make sure I can hit the mask angles required from the plans, the foremast is angled forward quite noticeably on this model. Dowels are a bit warped and will need straightening.   I am now starting to work on the planking and did some tests to try and make the garboard plank by soaking a plank and then clamping it past the needed angle.  When the pressure was released after a few hours, the plank relaxed back to give a decent 90 degree bend that actually followed the hull line reasonably well. There seems to be very little room to rabbet this plank into the false keel as some articles recommend, so I will probably just gently sand this plank to chamfer it so it butts up tightly against the keel.    Thumbnails below.    Thanks for reading.   Nigel.

Hi All,
  Quick update.  Keel, frames  and deck supports are now glued and things seem pretty straight. Photos below.   Now reading up on hull and deck planking  from the articles posted in the Ship Model Framing and Planking section. Great list of articles...just wish I’d seen these 20 years ago!     So after some reading, next step will be to gently sand the frames to shape before starting the planking fun.   Thanks,   Nigel.    

Hello All,
  This is my first build log as I am returning to this hobby after many years as I was lucky enough to be given the Red Dragon as a Christmas gift. I am looking forward to building this model and will certainly appreciate any and all comments along the way!  Thanks again for all the kind welcome notes after my first post last week.    Opening the box was actually a pleasant surprise as I found a neat, shrink wrapped package containing all the items, including a plastic box with all the fittings. Very different to the box mayhem that I remember from over 20 years ago when all the components were mostly left to freely roam around the box.   The instructions were disappointing, being nothing more than a basic listing of the build order complementing a nicely printed, but detail-limited plan sheet. On the plus side, there was a nice set of photos of the model at different build stages. Even though the box was unopened, I still did the inventory that many of you mention doing in your logs and happily I found nothing missing.  The laser cut parts seemed accurately done when I checked what I could against the plans, but keel and frames seemed rather thin. Fitting quality overall was OK. On to the build!   After making a build stand, the first step was to check the false keel against a straight edge and surprise (!) there was some warping. Fortunately, soaking the keel and gently clamping it for a couple of days seemed to correct the problem. The frames were pretty straight and quite symmetrical, perhaps a nice benefit of the laser cutting. As the keel was so thin, I glued bracing strips along each side to reinforce it and also increase the frame gluing areas. After cutting the frame slots in these strips, I spent a few hours sanding out the slots until the frames fit snugly. A dry fit showed things to be lining up well as far as I could see in both vertical and horizontal directions, so the next step is to glue them together.   Attached a few photos. Thanks for reading.   Nigel.

Your build is coming on well Michael Sorry to hear of your sheave woes.When I cut them on the miller.I do not drill holes first.If you cut slots in depth stages of 0.5 to 1mm,working backwards and forwards increasing the depth of cut each time,it should work without problems.Another tip if you have three slots equal about centre,is to cut the central one first,then use the table dials to measure the offset of the other two.I invariably mill halfway from each side,otherwise the shank of the bit may burn the wood.It helps to have a datum,e.g. the top of the workpiece is flush with the side of the miller vice.
Hope this may help in some way.
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Thanks for sharing Keith,... I think.... lol...
 
The stern post is pretty much done  (see images) and the keel will follow.  I came across another "anomaly" on the plans so my advice with this kit ( all kits?) is to triple check everything before something is considered done.  I was happy with the stern post until I found a discrepancy between the actual scale of the plan and the noted vertical dimension shown --- 87mm --- the actual measurement on the plan is just over 83mm. I thought the scaling snafu may have come form the photocopy but it accurately  copied the supplied plans...... I haven't cut the post from the blank just yet so it is salvageable......builders beware............ and thanks for looking in.
 
JP

A quick update to my slow progress. I'm concentrating on the stern  these days and trying to plan for the eventual placement of the various castings. I think you can back yourself into a corner very easily without some forethought. A note should also be added with regard to the rudder. It needs to be tapered from top to bottom and front to back at the same time.... quite tricky I found, but necessary since the shape of the rudder and stern post will dictate the shape of the hull toward the stern. Related to the rudder is the questionable casting supplied the kit.... you can tell from the image that  they are grossly over scale and I wonder why they would be supplied in the kit to begin with. Also, the plans call for the upper portion of the rudder to be 7mm but the supplied piece was only 5mm.  It needs to be modified.........this is  a kit that simply  can't be built straight out of the box.
 
JP

Thanks for all the likes and comments everyone,...work continues (weekends mainly) and the skeleton is taking shape. The bow filler is complete and I'm preparing the stern now for fillers. The uppermost deck is pinned in place over the frames after substantial shaping... it is seated securely now but you'll note that the deck extends a fair ways over the edges of the rear frames. The plans are somewhat confusing when used as a reference but I'll push forward and trim back the uppermost stern deck to match the frames in place.  I'd also suggest using the placement of part 17 (temporarily held in place) to guide the eventual shaping of the stern block fillers.
  ***I'm trying to figure out whether it would be more advantageous  to scratch build new gun carriages or revise the supplied ...see the photos for explanation......this quandary is mentioned in both the Period Ship Handbook and the reference notes found on the Euromodel website. I suppose these are eventual skills acquired  and needed when the dark side comes a calling.............
 
 
JP

Introduction
 
 
"SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse"  (120 year old passenger expressliner)
  Fascinated by this beautiful  22,5 knots, 197,7 m long Atlantic runner, built by Vulcan shipyard Stettin, and launched in year 1897, 120 years ago, I started exploring if there would be any build plans available for building a model of this super liner. The “Kaiser Wilhem der Grosse”, short KWdG was the first luxurious German twin screw fourstacker of the North German Lloyd for the Bremerhaven-New York route and became awarded with the blue ribband for fastest Atlantic crossings at turn of the century.   The ship was initialy equipped with two 3-blade counter rotating screws and later on with two 4-blade screws with blades seperately bolted to the hubs. The ship has a streamlined hull (stern underwater shape) with underwater rudder system, as we also  know from Cunard`s “greyhounds” twins (Mauretania and Lusitania) later on, built in 1906.   Due to the size, the models length should not exceed 1500 mm and so I chose the scale 1:144, resulting in 1380 mm overall length. Knowing that it’s a tough and ambitious scale to tackle, at least there may be some few photo-etched general parts available in 1:144, for use, if my house made build capability can not deal with.   Unfortunately I could not find any plan, but found some for modelists valuable historic detail information on the web. With a portion of luck I also found and bought an odd set of the card build KWdG, which is out of production at the moment, totally sold out, and perhaps may find a revival by end of this year, acc. to the editoring and Publishing company. The card version may give important (when enlarged) rating for my model and it`s fitting out at a very much later time.   To get along now, I am designing my own frame-plan after the gathered information, for keellaying  and kicking off the build this summer, as my “HMS Pegasus”, Swan Class is in the completion phase at the moment. This project shall probably be my greatest challenge since I started building model ships, and I estimate that it may take between 2,5-3 years to complete as a static POF /POB scratch built model   Nils     Preparation phase.......     Build log part 1       The four funnels are situated in two groups       here still the originaly equipped 3-blade screws with bolted on blades. The center window outcut is not for a third propellor (like Titanic), but for preventation of fouling  the slightly overlapping prop-circles, stagered in propshaft lengths       this dry dock pic shows the four-blade screws (note the seperate bolted prop-blades to the hubs)       The card model in scale 1:250       This is a mini cast-model in scale 1:1250       starting with the frames design       note the different propshaft lengths, the prop circles are a bit overlapping within the centre window outcut area at the stern heel     further with frames / bulkheads plan.....       here a little mock up for the width of deck planking (2mm) versa figurines of only 12 mm hight in scale 1:144       this plastic box already contains the raw ply-wooden frame outlines (26 frames), ready for cutting out the contours. For the frames / bulkheads I am using up all my "left over" plywood      Nils

I've now done the main lower and topsail yards and their rigging. The making of the yards was identical to that shown for the comparable fore yards. The rigging was also very similar, although the increasingly tight spaces in which to work have made the process slower and more difficult.
 
With this work, the main mast is now complete, except for a few lines that seem better left until the mizzen is done ( topsail and lower braces, lower sheets). I'm now making the mizzen topsail and lower yards and the boom and gaff. The end is in sight.
 
Bob

Another little update - all the guns & lids mounted. After re-sizing the upper gun ports the lion heads on the lids were a bit too large,but they will have to do.
 

 

 
/Mark

Hi everyone,a little update. I thought I would tackle the mast tops next.First I built some new platforms out of some 2 by 6mm strips. Then I cot out the lowest wide rail out of a sheet of basswood. Then the hard part - I made the brackets using an x-acto knife & some files,80 of them to be exact  . The upper rails were then made from the same brass bar that I used for the hand rail. After some fine tuning I got one assembled. The top on the left side of the second picture is the kit version. I`m pretty happy how mine turned out. Now I just need to make five more for the other masts.
 

 

 

 
/Mark

Alittle progress - made the odd looking pulleys that mount to the front of the mizzen chain whale.
 

 
Also installed the catheads - I`m not going to try and make the little guy in the cage that sits under the catheads. Also made & installed the upper hand rail - I made them from some .8 by 1.5mm brass bar bought from my local hobby shop. Now I will have to be careful not to break them off . Also got the rest of the figures installed.
 

 

 

 
/Mark

Nigel,
 
Thanks for also dropping by. Your comments are also much appreciated. So, you are very busy, well being economically productive has its "upside". I sort of remember those days-I think (;-)
 
Cheers,
 
Michael

Excellent work Michael I am glad you are enjoying using the MF70,very handy tool.Trying my best to catch up with everyones logs,but work has been extremely busy the last week or so and I seem to have been there more than I have been at home
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Hi Mates,
 
Started, again, working on the mizzen chainplate pulley sheaves. These pulleys were apparently used for the lower foremast sail. Here are some preliminary pics.
 
The photos are self-explanatory. This is the first time (novice) that I “really” use the Proxxon MX70 (including X & Y attachment) for a task for which it was better intended. Nice tool-super accurate, great addition to my shipyard. Using the routing drill bits for the first time as well.
 
PS:  Nigel - thanks for you previous advice on how to correctly use these bits, I know that you have been very busy of late..good luck
 
===============
 
Oops, just noticed, after again looking at the 1/1 photo that the housings have an outward overhang from the chainplates by a fair amount. (I used the 1:10th as a guide, hmmm wrong, no overhang on that model) So the two that I made would attach to the without any overhang.
 
Fix: added a strip of wood to the rear of each one and re-shaped the back edge so as to gain that overhang. Bit of a diff. wood, but that will visually disappear once installed. The overhang is not as pronounced as in the 1/1, but I’m satisfied.
 
At least this time I caught the error before installing. Hmmm is that a good sign?? Ha ah…
 
Then made pulleys, as some of you know this is where I cheat. I’ve tried making real pulleys with my Proxxon Lathe, but just can’t seem to get that task right. So deadeyes to the rescue, a bit of sanding using a rotary tool, results in a “pulley”. Then a bit of sanding on the resulting sharp edges and Voila a pulley.
 
I now need to add proper looking mounting nails, as well as the pulley shaft, then glue both into place. I’ll post a couple of pics when it’s all done.
 
Again, thanks for looking in, and thank you so much to the kind mates that follow along, give advice, click like, and post way too nice of messages J
 
Cheers
 
Michael

Hi Mates,
 
Minor update. Install pics of those sheaves. Thanks for looking in.
 
Regards,
 
Michael