Landrotten Highlander

Hello,
and many thanks for your comments and likes.
Today was a great day, because we laid all beams of the upper gun deck. The shipwright was very pleased, and spend a brandy! 😊
 

 

 
From the ropewalk came the anchor cable. For this I used dark brown yarn, but made also an experiment and tarring a cable. That looks very interesting. That tar diluted with benzine is now dry, that one diluted with turpentine is still sticky. But they are both black now, as at the contemporary models.
 

 

 
 

the bridge between the front and aft of the deck

Good morning and thank you all, 
Schrader, you have to try, you don't have to be afraid.
More photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 
Un Saluto.

And now, after 5 years and seven months to the day since I first began planning the model . . . the final steps.
 
I've assembled the case with a background of the Harbour of Theodosios in Constantinople, where the Byzantine galleys were found from which I got so much information in building the model. The buildings in the background are part of the Boukoleon Palace complex, the Emperor's main residence.
 

 

 
 
 

 
And here are the remains of the very same buildings, in today's Istanbul.
 

 
I had a bit of trouble getting the frame to fit tightly and square - one of the screw-holes had to be re-drilled. And while I had the ship on the stand and inside the case, and everything glued in place, just about to screw everything together, a fly got inside! Had to pull the perspex off and get rid of the fly. Grrr! All ready to go, just getting things adjusted so I could start screwing together, and the fly got back inside!
 
Fortunately sanity prevailed, in the form of my lovely wife who said "You hold the case, I'll get rid of the fly." Just as well - I had visions of disaster at the last moment with me throwing the whole kit and kaboodle across the room.
 
But now, here it is in all its glory.
 

You can make your green lighter by painting over it with a very thin wash of white with a dab of yellow.  A wash is basically a very diluted pint (i.e. 20 parts white spirit with 1 part paint).

Thanks to everyone for the kind comments
 
Small update
2nd gun deck completed
Upper deck, beams and knees fitted.
 
Karl
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

You can make your green lighter by painting over it with a very thin wash of white with a dab of yellow.  A wash is basically a very diluted pint (i.e. 20 parts white spirit with 1 part paint).

Finishing # 11:
The milling (remove 1mm from each side) and transition (about 10mm) by hand -seems to work OK.
Final port cant #12, 2deg bevel
The jig is not rigid, therefore can be turned over and used on starboard side(with support at 90deg. and a weighted base.The “tooth”between #7and #8 needs removing and the gap for#11 needs widening (for shift).
? Did I mention that I made the cants as pairs, port and starboard, together .
Also reminder to trunnel the “feet” of the cants. One into keel and other into neighbour.
You’ll note that the final effort looks rough, with plenty of work for “fairing”.But this cherry is soft and I hope that the final effect will be acceptable.
.The last picture is my new digital angle measure. Accurate angles are essential and my old plastic protractor has its problems.

HMS EAGLE on a hot windless day in the Tropics.Buccaneers parked in Fly 1&4, Sea Vixen about to touch down , with another on Finals and the good old Gannet plodding 'Down Wind', no doubt looking forward to something long and cool in the Wardroom
w/c 16.5”X10.75

Here we are again.....progress in the base.....
 
First I made a stone simulation/distribution in the MDF
 

Second I applied the stone-cast on top of it, making sure that the stones joints needed to be marked 
 



I installed the wood beams....
 

 
Third.... I brought the stone wall and the ship to see how the set is looking..... in the showcase
 


Then.  We need to age the stones and start installing the sand.....
 

WE ARE REALLY CLOSE !!!!!!
 
 
 
 
 

Good morning and thanks to everyone, more photos....
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Un Saluto.

No longer a daily blog.
Of course only having one and a half functioning hands doesn’t improve efficiency. My wife says this isn’t a race-and she is,of course correct,but I like to get things done.
There is an English expression “all fingers and thumbs” meaning clumsiness, but a non-participating thumb is worse!
Can’t help reflecting and comparing the time it takes building a scratch, framed model (and the tools and wood required) against a bulkhead kit. After 20+ models, I thought I could estimate build times. I planned the swan at 12 or 18 months (with or without masting and rigging). I must now double this , and certainly not contemplate a parallel build.
I think I mentioned that I will leave the lower (foot) bevels to later fairing. The first few I did seem to remove too much.
The jig seems to work well.Even though TFFM says the cants 8 to 12 are aligned to the half breadth line,they will also (it seems to me)follow the top timberline -but note this is “inside” the “ends”of the cants as shown on the plans.
Cant #8 has bevel 12deg.
There is a long wedge type piece between #7and #8, extending about 22mm from the top and a max. width of 4.24mm.This is made when #8 is spot glued in place, and when suitably sized, glued to #8 “off-model.
As will be seen from picture, only after this was done, did I notice that it should have extended above the upper timberline as does cants #2,#4,#6.
Another piece to remake.
This “top” is thinner-don’t know as yet how this will be resolved.
Cants #9 (10deg) and #10 (7deg) as before.
Cant #11- TFFM suggests that it is possible to make mortises now rather than later, but accuracy is critical. Given my efforts so far, I don’t think I’m up to it.
This #11 cant is made from 3 timbers, the upper one contains a “shift” or dogleg. TFFM gives alternative ways of doing this- I opted to what seems the easier “cast” method.
The lower two pieces are 4.77mm wide as before, but the upper widens to 5.83mm. The “extra” is aftwards of the cant.The deviation or transition seems to occur over a 10mm section, finishing BELOW the port. I therefore determined the bend will finish 40mm below top of piece.
To make life easier, I also used a scarf joint.
I marked out the areas to be removed roughly, as my attempt to trace a template from the shear plan was unsuccessful as mine is pretty indistinct.
I intend to mill the straight lengths and finish the bends by hand-tomorrow we will see.

Hello,
 
now the Rudder is ready. Because there was no protest or other solutions, I build it the way I think it is right. At least it's not an unknown praxis.
 

 
 
 

Ruder2.mov  

Thank you Michael
 
 
 
But my photos are real stairs... In fact, one of the  the predefined goals for this build, is to be able to see inside the model ship. The first thing to get there; no deck planking; that is the easy part. trying to capture some photographs showing this, is a different approach. I am exploring 3 ways to look inside: from the top  at an angle between 30 and 45 degrees to try to see  multi level decks. Finding the perfect angle is not easy. Lastly photos inside the model with a small camera.
 
In fact, the inspiration probably came a long time ago, when I saw the 3D drawings of Boudriot in the 74 guns books which have many of these kinds of drawings which are "spectacular " to see.

Thanks Everyone,
 
Work on the upper deck aft framing is almost complete and I just have to tie it in with the Wing Transom now.
Then there are the five trickier mid sections to complete the upper deck.

@Jorge Dias O
Fhank you very much for your positive remark.
The opening for the rope ladder is already visible.

Time for a ramble and then an update..Years ago Henry Ford commented on failure
 
 
which is a wonderful way to approach things I think and is certainly something I use a lot in modelling. The relevance here is that I started on my keel pieces and used the approach I detailed (in considerable detail) around page 5 of this log ( urk 5 years ago).
 
Anyway I cut some joints and wasn't happy with them. Two things in particular irked me and these are admittedly both correctable. Firstly using the scroll saw to cut the shoulder tended to produce a slightly angled cut that became more obvious once the joint was made (this can be expected as the Scroll saw will cut faster as it initially contacts but the later cuts meet more resistance and the blades are thin enough that they can bend). The solution here is either a thicker blade or a slower cut with a faster saw speed. The other was that post table saw cut (close.) to the diagonal line the joint still needed lots of hand work and it proved surprisingly easy to over work it and go to deep etc. Either way I was not pleased.
 
After considering the problem I decided to try two different approaches. For the initial shoulder cut the table saw would be an adequate replacement. It can cut to a specific depth, utterly straight thus eliminating any bend. For the diagonal though I had to think of other options and in the end moved to use one of my favourite power tools - my Sherline mill specifically with an end mill. I had used this in the previous build for the complex joint at the end but that was at right angles and this most certainly was not. The main issue was that even if I managed to replicate the exact angle of the cut over every cut even a slight over cut would result in different angles and bad joints.
 
My way of compensating was as follows (and I may still change this as I am (frankly) still tempted to cut all the joints with the same angle).
 
Anyway. I used one of the better previous pieces as a base line and secured that in a vice. I then put the next piece into the joint but the wrong way round. This way the bits to be removed would stick up and I could then mill them out. The advantages here are that as long as each joint matches if I over cut one then the next will automatically be undercut and vice versa and 'should' be a good join. At least to acceptable tolerances.
 
Since this makes little sense lets cut to lots of pictures. Please note that the mill shots are of the initial pieces cut against a set angle, after these are cut following joints are made with the joint it will be used with.
 
Here is the initial method of securing the keep piece and what the mill is cutting against. The key point is not to drop lower than the table saw cut (which can be clearly seen to the left). The mill has several methods of ensuring accuracy across multiple dimensions so its a matter of how its approached as opposed to a specific way of doing so.
 

 
Next up we have shot of the joint once it is complete. 
 

 
since you still have to be careful near the shoulder itself it may still require some very minor manual touching up.
 
Here is a photo of the simple keel pieces 'complete'. You will notice piece 1 is considerably oversized. This is so that once gluing is complete I can cut that to the exact keel length and thus avoid any incremental sizing issues that might have arisen in either direction.
 

 
Another of the pieces on their sides with my simplistic joint numbering system
 

 
As a rough sizing attempt I laid it on the full size plan
 

 
Finally some detail of the joints
 

 

 
Next up I have to work on the complex joint at keel piece 6 but I am expecting to redo this for two reasons. The first is I don't think I cut enough blanks (I have 4 for the box joint and they are oversized so in case of disaster can shorten and restart) but more importantly I think I need more fat on these pieces for thicknessing to the correct size post gluing. This 'may' not be necessary but for the moment I am treating as a blind test run so see what other potential improvements/technique adjustments can be planned. I also want to re-look at that joint in turbocad. I did design it with the main joint at an angle but in the original version I kept it at right angles to simplify it. I'm not currently sure which approach to take.
 
Anyway thanks for reading!
 

Is that a big model, or are you a smallish person?
 
Blooming nice work nonetheless.

At the moment I am dealing with the ratlines of the foremast. The first picture shows a section of the shrouds of the main mast.

 

Hello and many thanks for your comments and likes
 
the last week I was not very busy at the shipyard but I got the tiller and most of it's components finished. The sweep, flush with the beams, as the 1719 establishment asked for.
 

 
And here all parts are together, and it works! 😅 I don't think to build also the ledges here, most of this you would't see when the ship is ready.
 

 

 

 

 
So far, so good but how to get the ropes up? The wheels are behind the mizzen mast, so I should have the sheaves direkt behind the beam. In the middle of the beam is a carling and I could build between this and the next carlings to the outside diagonal carlings with the sheaves in the middle (blue line), or build like the French there a block with the sheaves and support it with the carling. At least is this the same as at the side of the ship. I don't know, but prefer the last method.
 

 

R.Cariline is back to the shipyard. An update, showing deck planking and finishing the the second planking of the hull. I also tryied to open the first gunport...  a rotary tool with a drill bid was essential to start the operation. 

Thank you or your comments but taking photos inside the model is very difficult to get the perfect LIGHTING. This morning, I tried another set of photos, still with different settings and still the results are not there... I am sorry I cannot get the correct lighting. The photos are done with a small camera action, half the cost of the Go pro. Does this camera would be better? I do not know. In this set, I tried to have less "orange color" in the photos and this is the results.

Almost a week without a blog but very eventful.(as you can see by end of saga)
Reread opening chapters of B.Frohlich’s “Art of ship modelling” with a bit more understanding.
He mentions the change of weather opening gap of 5mm over 100cm model because of change in weather.
Well, we had the first rain after 6 months.Its a humid area anyway (coastal) but this cannot explain the accumulated error after fitting the first 6 cants. I hadn’t forgotten the foot bevel. I think the main culprit was an overly tight hawse filling piece.I also think I should have made a couple of the cants better.
Unstuck cant and filler pieces ans while waiting to dry,gave thought to alternative ways of aligning and holding the cant pieces while glue dries.
 I’ve used building jigs but here, the alignment is by the timberline which is sloping.So I took heights from plans for the sides, cut both floor and “roof” together so as to set on board plans, and will be able to turn over and use for other side. Held in place by weight,removable for visualization and access.
Shaved down filler piece, remade some cants and cleaned up others and started to place them. Seems better and jig works
A friend sourced a supply of PEAR trees that a fruit farmer was selling as kindling!!
So with a patient and long-suffering wife for company, drove to the north of the country -couple of hours each way.
The trees had been cut to logs and branches last year, to lengths suitable for wood stoves i.e. about 40cms. The thicker logs were mainly split from drying out.
Selected half a boot load (it was free) and drove home.(Had said to wife maybe see some local sites or have a meal out, but still semi lockdown precluded this).
Drove home and while my wife was making supper, thought I’d see if and how much of the wood was usable.
Prepared a couple of pieces with my 10in table saw and with last pass, lost concentration for a second and felt a bag to my thumb. HIT by the saw teeth. A bloody mess, that I couldn’t treat by myself with superglue. Off to local casualty(emergency room) some stitches where possible and bandaging.Declined overnight stay.
Will be ok but feeling terribly stupid. Every instruction, Utube etc emphasises safety. I did for most part use sticks, But familiarity and tiredness caused that stupid lapse.
I said, in my first blog, that you could learn from my mistakes- this accident is the most important of lessons.
PLEASE BE SAFE

# 3 fore cant
Relatively simple with 30drg. Bevel, shade area to be removed-phone call- come back and remove the wrong bit!@#$%^
Relatively simple chock (joke)
While busy fitting the fore cant (various squares-made both a shorter and taller ones-the latter weighted with a epoxyed battery), the aft cant snagged my elbow (damn attention seeker)
Glued it back and because not first time, protected it with the building slip vertical board.
#4 fore cant- again change of bevel angle. (27)
As previously noted, some beveling of the foot, so it can fit on step.
#5 ditto except angle now 22.5deg
#6 ditto, angle now 19 deg
Suggested by TFFM to make temporary wedges, but want something even more temporary, while check, recheck and recheck all alignments and relation. So after horizontal bracing (glued) used folded card to separate at timberline level and NOTtight rubber band.

The filling pieces. 
Some specific measurements are given to make an oversize plug to fill the gap between the #4 hawse piece and the 1st  cant. It should be dagger shaped with a cross section triangular shape.  Couldn’t really see from the diagram how to do this, so took a spoiled hawse piece and shaped one side (length) to the 34.5 bevel so as to match the cant. The importance is to match the “back”. Then trial and error with the hand-held band sander, shaped until fit. The much larger than necessary piece of wood allowed for lots of trial and error. Anyway, it seems to work for me. When fitted and dried, the fore shaping can be fought out. The whole structure isn’t particularly rigid, so have left finishing inside and out until later in the build. The 1st cant remains in its appropriate position.
Note small ties-bought packet for $1.50-they are very useful.
Trying out puting model on moveable table for easier access/rotation, and leaving my work space as free as possible.
Repurpose stationery holder to help tools stay upright (euphemism)