Landrotten Highlander

I too have purchased the series with a view to (one day) build the Fleuron (amongst others).  Having only had a quick look, I believe that it has been worth spending the money on these books.  The combined knowledge will definitely aid me to build an accurate version of the ship(s).
 
Good luck, and Slainte
Peter

I too have purchased the series with a view to (one day) build the Fleuron (amongst others).  Having only had a quick look, I believe that it has been worth spending the money on these books.  The combined knowledge will definitely aid me to build an accurate version of the ship(s).
 
Good luck, and Slainte
Peter

Thanks for all the comments and likes, Gerhard medium rare would be much better-got to have a little blood!!
 
The scale bricks arrived today so i laid a few out to see what they would look like, I really like colours but still have no idea how to make the lime mortar/grouting
 
any suggestions??
 

Thanks for participating in the straw poll! I'm still dithering, but tending toward vertical orientation.
 
Meanwhile, work on the ensigns continues. The first sides are painted. As these will be hanging naturally in folds, the coat of arms is more impressionistic than realistic. The 'white' is actually more a cream color.

Hello Ed,
thanks!
 
And here is a small update.
The planking for the gig is completed.

 

 

Well, a dozen dolphins done! I've secured the model permanently on the base and pedestals and set up a trial placement for the sweeps on one side. Comments, anyone?

The first of twelve dolphins has been painted. It is based on an actual example in the RMG collection. By the way, the oar blade is ⅛" wide. Eleven more to go! (Click on the image to see the complete sweep)

Completed the rudder today.   As you see,  I created an alternative for fabricating metal gudgeons and pintels.  I dont have the tools to solder brass versions and I hate working in metal.   So I made mine from wood.  I also made a version using laserboard for the straps.  It worked just as well.  These are very sturdy rudder hinges. 
 

 

 
They are three pieces.  All laser cut.  The center is sanded to the width of the stern post and rudder.  Then the straps are added after being cut to length.  They are pre-cut with holes.  24 gauge wire was inserted into those holes after drilling them a bit deeper into the rudder.  Then the wire was pushed into the holes and snipped off.  It was snipped off so the end would stand proud of the straps by just a hair simulating the bolts.   These laser cut "cheat hinges" did a great job in my opinion and they are so easy to work with.  The straps are a bit thick originally but after gluing them on the rudder and hull they are sanded down to a really thin profile.  Then they are painted black after the wire is inserted into all of the holes.
 
For the "hinge pin"  a small length of 22 gauge wire was used.  It was glued into the hole in the center section of this mini-kit.  As a tip for those who will start fabricating theirs out of wood....paint the edges of the straps black ahead of time and you will have a nice neat edge.  You can see the ones on my hull which havent been completed yet.  I still have to add the simulated bolts with wire.   They are unpainted.   Once this is done I will create the tiller.
 

 
AND YES...before anyone asks these are now available as a stock item .   Not just for cheerful as they worked out so well I am sure others will want them.  The straps and center are 1/16" wide which is a typical size and could be used for many other models.  Both laserboard and boxwood straps will be included in each package.  Choose whatever you prefer.  Why havent these ever been made before???   They are wonderful if I dont mind saying myself.  And they are so simple.  Click Here to see them.
 

Sunday 01 May 2016
 
Made the Main Stern Post and Inner Stern Post today.
Cut out the two patterns.
Cut a strip of Castello Boxwood to 1/2" thick, Milled to 0.365" (23.36" at 1:64)
 
Per the build contract the stem post is 23" square at the head and begins to taper from the underside of the deck transom to be 12-1/2" at the main keel.
 
You can see I incorrectly identified the deck transom, highlighted them all in yellow and re-identified them correctly.
 

 
Applied rubber cement to the wood and then to the back side of the templates.  Let it dry to "tacky" and then applied the template to the wood.  pressed them down and let them dry.
 
Cut out the two pieces on the scroll saw about 1/16" outside of the line then sand down flush to the line on the table top disc sander portion of my combination belt/disc sander.  I double checked the table was square to the disc first!
 
Glued the two pieces together with yellow wood glue, pressed together and let it dry.
 
Marked off the transom positions from the templates to the end faces.
Marked of the centre lines on the end faces
Marked off the taper on the end faces
Marked off the rabbet line at the head and foot
Marked off the tenon, cut and filed down to a snug dry fit into the main keel mortise.
​There should be multiple tenons but I simplified it to be a single tenon into the single mortise made earlier in the keel.
 

 
Peeled off the templates
Checked it to the plan.... perfect angle.
 

 

 
Still needs to be tapered and recessed steps cut for the Transoms, but I think I will do the Deadwood first as it tapers with the stern post assembly plus it needs to be cut for the rabbet.
 
The contract also calls for a "a square plate of iron of the knee kind" meaning a L shape, 5/8" thick x 4-3/4" wide with the vertical leg 3'-6" (and 3 x 7/8 bolts) and the horizontal  5'-6" long (with 4 x 7/8" bolts).
 
I find it odd that they call up an iron plate below the waterline... Unless it is the newer mixed alloy... this makes sense.
Then again it is recessed into the wood so it would be coated with tar before the copper sheathing was applied.
Would anyone know for sure?
 
That is enough for today.
Thank you for following.

managed to do some more on the Brodie stove, spit arms, pot hanging racks and the front cowl above the fire grate, all working and moving in and out, some cleaning up to and trim the hinge bolts on the cowl
I have also painted matt black one side panel, looks a bit retro with the black and shiny brass??/
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Thank you all for your comments - discussion is what it is all about, it is only when we can get a perspective from another, that we have an opportunity to see where we may improve ourselves.
-------------
May - 2016
 
Fig-21 - The FMJ set up to solder a complete frame together.  - The brass setting table was used to set all the fingers in their correct place with the aid of the aluminium half pattern.  The fingers were then firmly locked, the brass table was then slid out and the aluminium soldering table slid under the fingers to replace it and locked in place with the two thumb screws at the top.  This is provided with a series of holes to take bent wire arms, called Dogs.  This is from full size practice, the iron frames are heated to red hot, then bent to a set of pins, and held in place with iron Dogs, it is a very simple and convenient way to hold parts together for soldering. The aluminium plate is needed to replace the brass one for the soft soldering, to avoid any chance of the soft solder fixing parts to the jig. For those not familiar with metal work, soft solder will not stick to aluminium, but will to brass.
 
The angle of the bent frame is first clipped into the small groove on each of the finger tips, the floor is placed on this and the reverse frame placed on that. When all is set fare, the parts are removed and the contact surfaces are tinned with soft solder.  As solder will only run on a clean surface, so we make it dirty where we do not want it, (on no account do you want solder on the surface with the rivet heads) and the easiest way of doing that is to run a marker pen along the parts not to be tinned. This with care will prevent the soft solder getting where it is not required.  When all the soldering is completed the marker pen ink can be removed with cellulose thinners or similar.  
 
Fig-22 - The FMG is made as a live unit, being wired into a resistance soldering unit.  When all the contact surfaces of the parts to be assemble have been tinned and fluxed, they are clipped back in place, then it is a simple matter to run around the edge with the carbon tip to heat the solder and complete the joints.  The carbon rod has to be in contact with the parts before switching the unit on, and not removed until it is switched off, or sparking will occur that can damage the parts.
 
Fig-23 - Bulb Iron - This illustration shows the Frame, Reverse Frame and Floor in place and Bulb Iron.  I mentioned at the start that the hull of an iron ship is built from just three elements, Angle Iron, Flat Plate & Bulb Iron.  The first two can be brought off the shelf for a model, as brass angle, and sheet brass, but to reproduce Bulb Iron for a miniature in brass means a little practice in the art of silver soldering.
 
The requirement is a thin strip of brass sheet with a brass wire silver soldered along one edge.  Silver solder because the Bulb Iron will be soft soldered to other parts for the deck beams in the model, so the joint has to be good and permanent.  Along the edge and not on the edge, as in the finished Bulb Iron, the wire - Bulb -  has to be moved from the side to the centre edge of the plate
 
Fig-24 - Silver soldering the wire in place along the edge of the brass plate, Note the use of the wire Dogs to hold the parts in place while being heated with the gas flame and the silver solder run along the joint. The perforated plate is made from ceramic material and is called a 'platinum block' and can be obtained from the jewellery trade suppliers.  As can be seen, when used with the wire Dogs, it can be extremely useful in holding parts together under a flame.

I think, after much thought (read 'dithering'!) I've come to a decision on sweep display. I plan on mounting them in a similar fashion to those shown in post #503. Many thanks to everyone for your opinions and input on the subject. These certainly helped to clarify my thinking. Pictures to follow.

Still not quite decided on presentation, but finally have completed cutting and shaping all 12 sweeps. Whew! Next will be to paint them.

Hi,
 
Next update finally! Next set of gears have been added and therefore I can add the planet Uranus (no jokes please....) to the Orrery. The gearing ratios are really kicking in and the last couple of planets are barely moving. It will be interesting once the motor has been added and I can playing around with the speeds.

Mark,
 
Yes, the shields hang on the sides. If you look on the first page of this thread, there are a couple of diagrams I've drawn which show them. Unfortunately, I've just realised that hanging them by the enarmes the way I've shown is physically impossible - the enarmes should be slung over the upright, not threaded along the horizontal beam of the pavesade. You'd never get the shields on and off. I haven't yet worked out exactly I'll fix them in place, but I'm sure I'll come up with something.
 
I've never tried sculpy, but I believe without having to cram the cardboard into the boss in the middle, it's likely the dog biscuit card will do the job without crumpling. And the detail is surprisingly good. I've just made a flattish conical shield out of modelling clay and cast it in a plaster mould.
 

 
 
Once that's hard, I'll cast a new shield blank made of builder's bog. It's hard and stable enough that I can carve all the detail in it I want - particularly the raised shield rim and perhaps a line to show the (non-raised) boss. And then use it to make a mould out of of builder's bog so I can make all the cardboard shields I want.
 
I've been collecting contemporary pictures of Byzantine shields. At this time they were pretty equally divided between round shields and others which were  tear-drop shaped. I'm going for round shields on the dromon (a tear-drop shield wouldn't work on the side of a ship) and I've so far collected over 50 designs, though several of them seem to duplicate each other. I've probably got enough for all the shields to be different from each other.
 
During my shield research I began to notice other things, particularly about the oars shown in contemporary illustrations. I'd based my oar blades on the ones in Age of the Dromon, but on further investigation I believe they aren't a true reflection of the shape of oar-blades of the time.
 
Contemporary illustrations show oars tapered all the way from the handle to the end of the blade. I don't believe the whole loom took part in the taper, but the blade itself may have. This picture is contemporary with the ship I'm making, and I based the shapes of both the dromon's tail and the steering oars on it. I've just noticed, by the way, that the steering oar of the left hand ship appears to show a tiller (though the steersman's not using it). 
 

 
 Even taking into account the likelihood of error and carelessness on the part of the artists (and the possibility they may never have really looked at a dromon's oar-blade), I still feel it's the best representation we have. Lacking any definite evidence to the contrary I've decided to taper my oar blades. I'm changing the ones I've already made and will make the next ones to the new shape (only 82 to go!). Here's a pic of the old and new shape together.
 

Hello,
thank you very much for your kind posts and LIKES.
Here I show the further construction of the gig.

 

I got a little bit more of the boilers done this week.  We have very little of the actual boilers so they will be a little simplified.  I will be including the mud drums, steam drums and safety valves.  Fortunately, we do have a standpipe and check valve for the feedwater line.  I'll add the check valve next week.
 
All the parts for the standpipes.

 
The standpipes actually stood several inches taller and ended with a flange for the boiler tube.  The sheathing of the flame bed sat on the arched webbing.

 
Completed standpipes minus the checkvalve.  I didn't notice until looking at the photos this morning that the webbing didn't seat properly on the tops of the tubes in a couple of spots.  I'll have to correct that on monday.

 
Making the mud drums and steam drums.

 

 

 

 
Dummy endcaps for the boilers. Everything else will be sheathed in .01 thick brass.

 
Covering the boiler tubes.

 
Port side of boiler sheathed.  I still need to add wide strips on the boiler tubes to represent the overlapping plates.  The holes for the standpipes still haven't been drilled underneath so it doesn't sit flush on deck yet.

Adding some  little details.
Here are some ideas about the 2 doors aft the second deck to go to the bathrooms.
Door knobs are always installed to the right because most of the peoples are right handed.
The port one open from front to aft.
The starboard one opens from aft to front.
 
Knowing that  deck is  higher aft than fore; 
It is easy to open the starboard one and there would be some space under when open.
The port one was a bit more complicated because the door opening from fore to aft would want to enter in the deck which is impossible.
 
The easy way to solve this is to cut the door from the bottom so that the bottom  does not get stopped by the deck.
In addition reinforcement wood angles are installed in each corner.  The height of these pieces  passes just in front of these doors.
 
May be all of this is false. If We compare with a picture already shown in this forum, there are 2 doors.
On one the door knob is to the right and on the other the door knob is to the left.
But at least we agree on 1 thing the bottom of the door had to be lift  so that the door could be opened.

Más

This the pumps with more realistic hand-grips

 

 
note the asymmetry of the forecastle canopy to allow for the foremast and the bowsprit.
 
Now to attack the mainmast.
Dick

Thank You.....I just finished making the winch.  This is a pretty straight forward fitting.  The pieces were cut taking the measurements from the plans.  Nothing was to difficult but care was taken to make the winch handles look more attractive than just using a piece of black wire.  So I cut some micro tube to slip over the end of the handle to give it some dimension.   
 
This is the last deck fitting before the rigging prep starts.  I will finish the rudder and tiller first however.
 
Then there is the bowsprit bitts up front which also contain the pawl for the windlass.   But I would like to have the bowsprit made while making that.   Once thats finished I will add the two long guns at the bow......
 
That is everything that is left before the rigging begins so I feel like I am getting into the home-stretch.
 
Chuck
 

 

 

Thank you, my friends!
 
Another little progress:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello

I'm still alive... and today I have little update.
I'm working now on gunport lids.

18 lids... not a lot but... bit complicated because of hinges... 1 hinge = 8 pieces.
Hinges are moving parts. I don't now why because anyway there gonna be fixed Just some kind of mild modellers perversion

Soldering: copper-phosphoric paste

Hinges are not final finished. I'll do final cleaning and polish when I will make all of them... 36
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Kind regards
Mateusz

A week takes you Modify the workshop
Basically, I've got all boxes to Fight powder ..
Today I put ratchet.

Breaking news!
 
I am pleased to announce that SeaWatchBooks will publish a book on the construction of open boats. The clinker planked example will be the Hospital barge, and the book will also cover construction of a carvel planked open boat. Now all I have to do is write it....