newbuilder101

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Hi everyone
 
Many thanks for all of your comments and Likes.
 
Well, after much deliberation, I've decided to go ahead with the canopy, using the cardboard mockup as a template.  I've also seen numerous photos of the real ship underway with full sails, with the canopy up; so that was part of my decision to continue with it.  Thanks for all of your input.  I hope I've made the right decision to go ahead with it!
 
Anyhow, here's the latest photos.
 
Thanks and all the best!
 
Cheers
 
Patrick
 
 
 

Hi everyone
 
Thanks for all of your comments and Likes - greatly appreciated!
 
Symphony has a large white collapsible canopy over the main cockpit area to give protection from the weather.  As I was curious to see what it'd look like, I did a very rough cardboard mockup of it.  To my mind, it looks a bit funny, but oh well, if the real boat has it, I might as well try to replicate it on my model.  
 
Also, if you look carefully, you may be able to see that I've planked the bow and stern areas of the deck, thereby leaving the remaining areas of the deck exposed for viewing purposes.
 
Anyhow, here're the latest photos.
 
Cheers and all the best!
 
 
Patrick
 
 

Back again..... with an UPDATE....... Finished  attaching the blocks to the mast tops and yards, I've started to attach the sails...the main top and main yard are finished........ the others will be attempted little by little ....... the following pictures will show you what I've been up too. Thanks for look'n in!!
 
frank
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
 
This brings us up to date.... thanks again!!
 
Frank
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

you'll never guess what build ended back on the table.........     it was about time that the Titanic was moved to the other table, the parts have dwindled down enough.   now I can have the best of both worlds 
 

 

 
looking at the rigging diagrams.......the old familiar headaches surfaced again.   though I need to look at the  'real'  ship pictures again,   I recalled the Corel kit that was done by Jerry and JCT,  and I still want incorporate some of the detail from that kit,  to this one.   I already have the decorations for the tack line sheave holes...thanks to JCT and the kind folks from Corel for sending them to me.  the other hurdle will be the cannon port lid spacing.   Billing's only show two lids at the fore section {half} of the ship.........the Corel kit show four,  which looks much more logical and appealing.   the main mast shroud has an even spaced arrangement.......while I am writing this........I took a quick glance at JCT's build,  and saw that Corel made allowance for it.   so,  I will do the same for this build     as soon as I can get back the jist in direction of which I was going........I'll be OK 
 
the first thing was to assemble all the lids I cut prior,  and arrange them on a piece of sticky tape.   I was not happy with a couple of them,  so I cut a couple new ones.
 

 
on the transom face of the ship,  I had included the four lids there........for the seal along the tops,  I trimmed the anchor rope I had made up for the Gothenborg.  there was quite a bit extra and that build would not need it {another poor soul that I need to get back to}.......I used it for this purpose.   seeing that there was no more.......and no more extra,  I had to make more.......just some medium thickness Billing's thread,  stained,  and then coated with diluted white glue.
 

 
now for the hinges......the transom's were done with simple mahogany strip painted flat black.   more was made to continue the process.   it would not do to replace them with brass.
 

 
when we were out looking for the doll house lighting for the Titanic.......we checked out the local Michael's craft store.   they had moved to a new location.......wanted to see if they had expanded any of their product lines.   bit bust on that front......I guess the only place I can get them will be from Hobby Lobby.   I did come away with something though.......they do stock Balsa and Basswood.......nice to know........but I also found this package of thin dowels......they'd be like 2 mm.......can't give you the diameter value.
 

 
these will come in handy for railings,  cannon wheel axles, flag poles,  among some of the uses for them.   they couldn't have been spotted any sooner........railings will be what I'll used them for     the hinge hardware was then cemented to the lids........the extra part on the end will be for the life boat........the very step I was working on before I fell victim to the tangent that took me away from this build.
 

 
one aspect I was going to delete.........{perish the though.....it ain't so........}  was the whip staff.    located behind the mizzen mast root,  as it passes through the decks,  I thought that it might not be very visible.   seeing it added to the otyher builds made me think differently.  it was quickly assembled and added to the build.
 

 
the light was directly over it........now THAT'S mahogany!  {that's the stain color}.   the build is being enhanced with dark walnut with a mahogany tone added.  it's kinda neat........makes some of the aspects stand out     the flag pole bracket was also added to the build......located on the poop deck.
 

 
so.......at this point,  I'll be working on the railings and ladders........* ohhhh! not ladders again!  I just went through all kinds of grief with the last build..*       I should be glad about this........they are in the Billing's diagrams.   I began by assembling the bow railing,  using the round stock.   next will be the ladders......so to gauge the rest of the railings.
 

 
I should get the chain boards set up and ready to install..........this will help to position the cannon port lids    wwe'll see what happens?!?!
 
 

Hi all,
 
I undertook a project three (  was it really?) years ago to finish off a model of Norske Lowe for the same guy who I finished off the Mississippi Riverboat a while ago. His father died before completing both models, so he asked if I could do it for his family as a keepsake.
 
The old guy was a fair to middling modeller, so I don't have a real lot of "Re-do's" on it, but there are some areas I'll tidy up a bit. There are several broken pieces, mostly masts, which I'll re-make.
 
Unfortunately, he had little idea of the sequence of rigging a model - the sharp (or even not-so sharp) eyed among you will relaize that there is virtually NO Standing Rigging, but most of the sails have already been fitted. This will be a bit of a nuisance.
 
Here are the BEFORE pics :
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 Danny
 

Absolutely beautiful model! Your attention to detail has been a pleasure to watch. Not only is your ship lovely, but the build log is a wonderful educational tool for many of us here on MSW! Congratulations and Thank-you!!!

Absolutely beautiful model! Your attention to detail has been a pleasure to watch. Not only is your ship lovely, but the build log is a wonderful educational tool for many of us here on MSW! Congratulations and Thank-you!!!

Absolutely beautiful model! Your attention to detail has been a pleasure to watch. Not only is your ship lovely, but the build log is a wonderful educational tool for many of us here on MSW! Congratulations and Thank-you!!!

Absolutely beautiful model! Your attention to detail has been a pleasure to watch. Not only is your ship lovely, but the build log is a wonderful educational tool for many of us here on MSW! Congratulations and Thank-you!!!

Hello everyone, Piet's back in the Surabaya shipyard!  I have accumulated a few more tools and 0.5 mm brass tubes for the canon lid hinges.  I have to redo all the lids already done because the 1 mm tubes are just too much out of scale.  There are no 0.5 mm brass tubes available here in the US but Remco offered to get them for me from Holland.  Thanks again, much appreciated.
 
In the meantime though I started on converting 8 of the 18 pounder canons to 12 pounders.  I cheated and bought a bunch of precast cannons that would fit my scale of 1:80 for 18 pound canons but on the upper deck they must be 12 pound.  The are too large to make them look good.
 
I also had to modify the gun carriages for the modded canons.  
 
I cut the barrel from the gun in front of the pivot pins and shortened that piece a 1/4 inch and did the same at the breach end where I cut about 1/8 of an inch off.  Drilled holes in the three pieces and cemented the gun back together using steel finishing nails as reinforcement.  A little filing and presto, I have a 12 pounder.
 
Actually it wasn't all that simple because the castings were not round but oval.  Fortunately this was mostly at the barrel end.  I had to first file the barrel round before cutting the canon pieces.  Not doing this first would give me all kinds of grief when cementing them back together again.
 
Drilling the holes for the pins was also a tedious job because I had to go slow other wise the metal would melt and jam the drill bit.  I think I lucked out in that all the holes were very close to center and wound up with straight looking guns.
I used 5 minute epoxy to cement the three pieces together.  A little fine tuning and cleaning and then a coat of flat black paint.
 
The gun carriages are still not finished yet.  I only made one for now and will use that as a pattern for the other nine 
 
I also started to make the wheel / axle securing pins.  Micro work, to say the least.
 
Well here are a few pics of the progress so far.  This'll be slower going then with the work I did on the O19 but it has to remain fun.
 

This shows the difference after I converted the first gun.
 

This shows the barrel end removed from the gun and in proces of shortening.
 

This shows the same treatment with the breach end.  I used a grinding wheel in my electric hand tool to shorten it that 1/8 inch.  I had to go slow to prevent the metal from melting and clogging the stone.  The final treatment was with a file to make the cuts square to centerline.
 

Here I have laid-out all the parts to be cemented back together again.
 

This shows the result of all my work for just one gun.  All together i estimate about 4 hours or so per gun.  I didn't check time so it could very well be longer when counting all the time i spend in dressing the gun.
 

This shows the completed gun on its carriage with the next one in line to be done.  All that's left is painting. and attaching the hardware for the ropes.
 

Here you can see the axle / wheel pins.  They too still need to be dressed some more - - - carefully, because they are fragile.
 
Cheers,

Cheers Greg . My next Build will be in my Signature.
 
Here's the Celebration Pic :
 

 
 Danny

Rope Coils
 
The last bit of work on the actual model is to place all the "dummy" Rope Coils in their various positions.
 
I made several types, depending on how the line was belayed. I used a simple jig to coil the rope :
 

 
For the coils that go over railings I used this method after first coiling them on the previous jig :
 

 

 
Here's a small selection showing various types and sizes :
 

 

 
And some of the coils fitted :
 

 

 

 

 
 Danny

moving up the shrouds I fitted the futtock shrouds and started the futtock shrouds - sorry for the poor picture - then a couple after I took her into the sunshine
 

Okay...before you-know-who does ask....here's is a modest update.
I cut these parts by hand (tedium ad infinitum) and still have some minor tweaking to do, but this is it so far.
 

 

Not as much achieved as i wanted done over the weekend - gardening and DIY dominated But I did go ahead and decide to put the foremast in as a (not going to take back out again) 
think i have cracked the fuzzines issue by using the pva solution beeswax is still on its way from amazon after a week 
have the day off from work so hope to tie off the lanyards and look at the cathapins
 
a change of thread and pva solution 
 



 

tonight she looks like this 

Hi Mobsie 
 
i can see a slight improvement in my skills for this, but furry is an understatement - more hair than the wabbits ( now laughing at what i just typed) 
 
so i will try beeswax - or try again just for the hell of it 
 
foremast stay preventer (i think) 
 
mouse is the animal of the day 







 

Pedestals
 
Not a lot to say - I turned the Mounting Pedestals on the lathe and cut the slots with the mill. They'll need slight adjustments to the slots to fit the hull. No finish has been applied yet :
 

 

 
 Danny:

Redo of Stern Lights
 
Following the comments about the way I'd swung the Stern Lights it didn't take me long to decide to redo them.
 
I had to totally remake two of them, as you can see by the pic below they didn't fit correctly into the frames. As I'd decided in the first place to show them in the open position I didn't take a lot of care to get the angles exactly right :
 

 

 
I added a top and bottom sill, and made new munions :
 

 

 

 
I'm much happier with the final result - not perfect, but a lot better .
 
 Danny

Thanks all for your kind comments. Greg the pillars were cut freehand and with the help of a piece of paper with the cross slide settings written down.
 
More beams, knees and now its also time to add the hammock battens. They are fragile once glued in place and easily knocked off (yes I tried it...)
 

 

 

 
Remco

Hi Danny,
Two things of note after I tell you what an unbelievable build, in minute detail AND tutorial help for the rest of us. I look forward to your next enterprise. Firstly, I told you some time ago that your skills were second to none... You suggested I look at Rehmco"s and Toni"s builds. I didn't until a week ago, because I didn't believe it possible. Without taking ANYTHING away from yours...Mother of God! They are also exquisite. Secondly, maybe now the rest of us who have been putting it off, can start / resume our builds, using the three (and more) "How to.." manuals you guys have provided. My congratulations to you.
With regards and respect,
Russell

Still hammering away...    Thanks for the likes and comments.
 
Here's the latest pics.  Starboard side wide wale planking is complete.  Needs final sanding and bit more caulking (  ) of some planks that I didn't quite get fitted right.  Relatively minor fix, in my opinion.  the splotchiness is from wiping it down with water to raise the grain for the final sanding.  An interesting effect is that not all Swiss Pear is the same color.. some is darker than the others.   Interesting.
 
Next comes the narrow planks.  per measurements, I need 28 strakes.  Seven strakes at the stern to the deadwood so I need to take those into account as they are 9" planks on the counter to the deadwood. After that, they can be wider as they run to the garboard.  The bow will need serious tapering and I'm starting to mark everything out.
 
Any tips, oops, or advice appreciated.
 




 

Don't cry Greg, there'll be another .
 
Capstan Bars Fitted
 
I made the capstan bars long ago when I made the capstan. I'd actually forgotten that I did, but luckily I found them before I wasted my time building another set .
 
Not much else to say, here are the pics :
 

 

 
 Danny

Stern Lights Fitted
 
Not far from the finish line now . I've fitted the three open Stern Lights that I made a few years ago :
 

 

 

 
The only things left to do now are the Capstan Bars, and all the coils for the belaying.
 
 Danny