newbuilder101

Haven't gotten much done of late.  But I did manage to line out the deck where the bulkheads are.  The decking planks will end on these lines.
 

 
 
In addition, I prepared some sample decks as I'm not familiar with Swiss Pear.  Here is what I've settled on:
 

 
These are 1/8 x 1/16" planks supplied by Jeff @ Hobbymill.  Beautiful stuff.  The planks were lined on one edge with #2 pencil (ends also).  The simulated treenails were drilled with a #75 bit and filled with dyed filler to almost match the plank color.  The finish sequence was Minwax Pre-stain, one coat of Minwax Natural stain and a coat of Testor's Clear Acrylic Dull lacquer.  I'll be using a 3 butt shift on the deck.
 
Work will commence next week and may take a little time    .
 
You all stay the course !!
 
 

I'm now working on the channels and dead eyes for the mainmast. Here's a compilation of Vasa deadeyes. Their shape are very individual from piece to piece, some are almost circular other very irregular.
 

 
I like this and want to try and imitate that on my model. I use the round deadeyes that comes with the kit and sand everýone.
 

 
After the shape is ok it's time for some finegrit sanding to remove any edges and giving the surfase a handmade look:
 

 
I do this óne mast at the time to avoid getting to much repetative work. After this stage its time for making the metalparts that sits around the lower deadeyes.
 
 
/Matti

Thanks for looking in and commenting Danny, Sam, Cabrapente, David, and Sjors.
 
Murphy apparently took a few days off (thank heavens) as things went well. 
 
Sam, if I remember, I'll do a quick photo essay when I cut the next gunport which will be later in the week.
 
I got the hull (what there is of it so far) faired out close.  It will still need work but that will come after the cant frames which is the next project.   There's still some low spots and high spots but overall, pretty close.
 
I also reshaped/reworked the rabbet so the planking will set right.   It was tedious and had me sweating blood but worth every second of it.
 
The keel has glued on and sits square and level with everything. 
 

Hey all! I got some work done. I wanted to have one of the gratings covered as a nod to the real one at the museum. I also made the mainsail sheet blocks and after that I could start with the mizzen lanyards. It was very different from what I've done previous in modelbuilding, and I needed to start all over once to get them sitting ok at the top. I know it's far from what you guys manage, but I will knowledge my limits and settle with it. Hopefully I can pick up speed later on cause now it's snail speed.
 
Some pictures:
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
/Matti

After our vacation I have done something....
It's totally different as planking     
No sawdust but rope dust.......
 
I have ( try ) to make the,
 
Main royal stay
Main topgallant stay
Main topmast stay
Main topmast preventer stay
 
Then I have try to make a connexion between the eyebolt and the stay ....but again, the rope going on his own way....turning around again !
It takes some time before all the stay's are on the eyebolts.
But it keep you from the street.
 

Sorry to say that summer activities have taken a toll on shop time.  I did manage to complete one small piece of deck furniture -- the rudder trunk in the Great Cabin.
 
The kit supplies laser cut parts, some in duplicate:
 

 
Assembly of the basswood parts is fairly straightforward and the usual pre-stain, diluted Golden Oak stain, WOP and dullcoat was used .  The brass hinges were blackened with Blacken-it.
 

 
The trunk sits in the rear of the cabin tight against the stern lights:
 

 
Will be carrying out some deck finishing tests prior to laying the deck itself. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

John, Druxey, Lextin, Grant, Omega, Mark, Sherry. Thank you all for your encouragement with all you positive comments. thanks to all those who added likes.
 
Well I needed to get this next part out of my system, so Jude and I went down to the lake with a bucket of used wheel balance weights and the cutter. to get an idea of what I am dealing with, so this was a test not an official launch.
 

 
it took a while to add them all 60lbs a few at a time, the folk on the beach must have thought we were nuts.
 

 
We ran out of weights so I will need to get another bucket or two.
 
Took a few pics of it floating.
 

 

 
and this is my favorite shot of the day.
 

 
A number of lessons learned
 
1. It will be very heavy because I need a lot more weight to get it another 2 1/2 inches lower in the water
2. the weights will need to be set up so that they can be easily added and removed.
3. I will need a launching vehicle with small bicycle wheels to launch after the weights are added.
4 it was not pleasant lifting the boat out of the water with all the weight in it.
5. the weight was more forward than I expected it to be.
6. total weight was 66lbs with the stand
Tomorrow I will empty the weights out of the hold.
 
Michael

stbd side gunports
 
All lids removed apart from two - they dont want to play my game, some de bonder needed, or bigger gun-port removal tool
old lanyard pins removed, by drilling out
About 1/3 of new lanyards made, 
1.5mm holes drilled into hull to take the uplift tubes
will touch up paintwork before i start to put it all back
 
good to be back
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 74 – Middle Deck Parts
 
Posts to the log have not been as frequent because much of the work has been repetitive.  In the next phase – the middle deck – the work will be a virtual carbon copy of the lower deck.
 
Very little work remains to finish the lower deck – mainly treenailing and some deck planking.  While that is being completed, parts for the middle deck are being made.  In the first picture some sample turned pillars have been made to help me decide on the choice of woods for these.  Six dozen are required for the next two decks.
 

 
Turned pillars above the lower and middle decks were probably black locust – a favorite wood for that application – and for treenails.  The four options pictured are, left to right, Castelo, Cherry, Mahogany and Black Walnut.  I loved the color of the Honduras Mahogany but the pores are a bit distracting –same with the Walnut.  They could be filled but not on these small pieces – maybe for the upper deck rails.  So I decided on the cherry.  It is slightly darker than the pear I am using for oak members.
 
For the final versions of these a new lathe bit for the beads was required.  After quite a lot of fiddling with the shape and the depth of the cut the tool in the following picture was used.
 

 
The next picture shows the beads on a pillar being turned.
 

 
The piece is held in a self-centering four jaw Sherline chuck, running on my ancient Unimat SL.  The homemade brass adapter for the chuck can be seen in the lower left corner.  The cherry square is kept on center inside a close fitting brass sleeve in the tailstock chuck.  Cutting depth is set by the brass half sleeve stop slipped over the cross-feed rods – visible just below the cutting tool.   The beads are cut first and the piece removed so others can use the same setup.  That set up is then changed and the area between the beads turned in about the same way.
 
The next picture shows the first two dozen pillars in progress.
 

 
Deck beams were also made.  The picture below shows the middle deck set before cutting to length.
 

 
 The clamp template in the picture is used on a router table to impart the top of the beam curve – a recycled tool from Naiad – but with a different round up.  Once the curve is put on the top of a blank, the beam is parted off and run upside down through the thickness sander.  I have described this process on a few earlier posts and it is described in detail in Naiad Vol II.
 
Knees, knees, knees – about ten dozen are needed for the middle deck.  Below the pattern sheet for the starter set of hanging knees has been pasted to a pear blank about an inch thick.
 

 
After cutting out on the scroll saw the 12” thick knees will be sliced off.  The next picture shows the pieces after cutting to shape with some ripped to size.
 

 
 
The shape of these knees will need to be refined to fit each location – from about eight basic shapes. 
 
Finally, the out-of-date drawing on the shipway board was replaced with a new one with latest revisions - and is it clean!.  The picture below was taken before setting up the end supports – to give a good view of the stern hull lines.
 

 
 Ed

Thank you one and all for your thoughts and input regarding the colour.
 
I will add the white waterline when the red and Black are hard.
 

 

 
Michael
 
 

well the Victory is back on the work bench, the available work space is going to be adequate for hull work - not so sure about height wise- i will worry about that another day
 
i am starting to catch up on some of the logs i used to follow, but have a nice long weekend ahead, Thursday night to tuesday

Afraid you will have to wait just a little longer John, and Pete too.
 
Bottom coat done
 

 

 
One thing I learned as a professional model-builder making architectural models is that it is best to remove all masking as soon as is possible while the paint is still soft but flashed off.
 

 
Tonight I will mask the bottom and work on the areas above the waterline. Also this evening I will visit the paint store one last time for the top paint, because I am still not fully convinced that I have the right colour.
 
Michael
 
 
 
 

VERY nice! Congratulations on this milepost! Belated happy birthday as well!

Minor milepost... all the full frames have been cut, installed and spacers added.  The five broken ones have been replaced along with slapping myself upside the head when I realized two of them could have been repaired.   
 
I've started "pre-fairing" in that I'll sand it pretty close to fair except for the frames at the end, get the keel and keelson notches flat and fair, and then tweek the keel's rabbet to account for the changes the garboard strake will have to follow.  I'm also sorting out the inboard side as far as fairing.  The end frames will be faired in once the keel and keelson are installed and the cant frames are done. 
 
And yes, it continues to be a fun ride.
 

Hey everyone!
 
I have done some work on the cleats and rigging details to start the actual rigging. It was harder than expected to get them thinned down, and not breaking them. Having this done means I can now start with the rigging. 
 

 

 

 

 
 
/Matti

Thanks very much for the kind comments Sherry, JesseLee, Ben, Bindy, Mark, John, Keith and Mike.  And thanks again to all of the "likes".
 
Ship's Boats continued....
 
This weekend I tackled the task of making Oarlocks and Splashboards for the Pinnace.  The oarlocks were quite tricky.  I started with a strip of 3/64" sq Boxwood stock, into which I cut a 1/64" rebate, about 1/64" deep using the Brynes saw  :
 

 
Then I made up a simple jig to use on the Byrnes saw that would enable me to cut a tenon-like leg for each of the oarlocks before separating it by hand from the main stock.  Here's what they look like before cleaning up:
 

 
These were then installed into the Caprail and 1/64" x 1/16" Boxwood strips added for the washboards.  I decided to make the bow washboards one continuous strip that was bent around the bow after soaking, and once dry the underside was sanded and shaped to fit the shape of the sheer line.  On the real thing, all of the washboards apart from the bow and aft-most ones were removable.  I decided to glue mine all in so that they didn't accidentally remove themselves later on.    Here they are in place:
 

 
I should perhaps have painted all of these parts before installing them, but I was worried that the paint would clog up the channels in the oarlocks and make the washboards too hard to fit.  So, I had to paint them in situ.  I also decided that I wasn't completely happy with the seat back I had made for the Sternsheets (the proportions looked wrong to me), so I decided to make another one.
 
Here are a few pictures of the completed Pinnace (I don't intend to make oars or rudder).  To continue my experimentation with photography, this time I've use a mid-blue background so that the black-painted parts don't get lost.
 

 

 

 
Next up, back to the Cutters........

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 73 – Lower Deck continued
 
Work continues on the lower deck.  In the first picture a forward section of binding strake is being glued in place held by pins. 
 

 
These structural strakes were often let down on the beam by an inch or so, but because this depth is so small at this scale I did not score the beams and merely reduced the depth of the strake by an inch.  As with many details, Young America’s exact configuration is unknown.  The binding strakes are bolted into each beam and horizontally into the waterways. Inside these strakes were margin planking – wider planks that allow the ends of forward planking to be cut into them.  I will not be installing these on the deck – to leave the ends of the lodging knees visible from above.
 
In the next picture the next section of binfding strake is being installed.  Planking on the centerline is in progress.
 
 

 
This planking is 3 ½” thick.  I made these 7” wide.  These are required as bases for the middle deck pillars.  I have not yet decided if any planking beyond the two central strakes will be installed on this deck.  The next picture shows further work near the bow.
 

 
The fore hatchway is complete including its bolts.  Although not very visible due to sanding dust, the treenails and bolts for all this work have been installed.  Next is a picture of the port side forward.  There will be no ladder ways into the hold.  These would probably have been movable and taken up after the cargo was loaded – and before the hatches were sealed for the voyage.
 

 
This gives a pretty good idea of the forward view port.  The unplanked frames will be removed below the middle deck clamp down to the lower futtock heads – when I summon the courage to cut them out.
 
The next picture shows the port side aft.
 

 
The aft view port will only extend from the top of the lower deck clamp to the underside of the middle deck clamp.  Next are two pictures showing most of the hull at its current state – i.e. today.
 

 
 
 
Once the remaining bolts and treenails and the few remaining bits of binding strake and central planking are installed, I can move on the middle deck.
 
 
 Ed

Thank you Greg, Jay, Mark, Bedford, Nils, Grant, John E, Bob, Druxey, Remco, and Mark Taylor for all your positive remarks.
 
"Two things I take from that are that you have a MUCH easier rig to unship than I do"
 
Bedford 5 minutes to de-rig, and 20 to re-rig I found out today at the pavillion.
 
"I asume rigged mast and topsail shall nearly be scratching the room cealing."
 
Nils the ceiling in the living room is 10 foot 3 inches so it will be about 3 feet shy
 
All in all the event was very successful, I had a table set up for children to make paper dorys, most of the visitors were young girls and they built 13 dorys during the afternoon, at the end of the day there was a young boy who came, The photographer came around late in the day, so missed the girls in action building their boats.
 

 
There was a lot of positive feedback regarding the pilot cutter.
 
After the event I went outside because there was a bit of commotion on the beach, seems that a boat had been stranded.
 

 
 
 
 
Close but still dry.
 
 
Now to remove the deck hardware and rigging completely so that I can finish painting the hull. and the rest of the seizings and other rigging details.
 
 
 
 
Michael

Right then, enough of this talk Kevin! 
Your ship is beautiful, yes you read it correctly, beautiful! Just remember when you get back to it, approach it with confidence and you will achieve a wonderful Victory! And yes, the pun was intended!   
Consider this your "pep talk" for the day. 

Right then, enough of this talk Kevin! 
Your ship is beautiful, yes you read it correctly, beautiful! Just remember when you get back to it, approach it with confidence and you will achieve a wonderful Victory! And yes, the pun was intended!   
Consider this your "pep talk" for the day. 

So it's been a long time since I've posted any kind of an update over here....
 
The weather is nice today, low humidity and a light breeze, so first thing this morning (ok.... not exactly first thing, but close to it), it was out to the picnic table with some newspaper, a couple of rattle cans of primer, and the big white beastie.
 
(I love the smell of primer in the morning.... well... maybe not)
 
I've pushed this step a little, there are still some details to add to the hull, but I can now see any flaws, nicks, scratches, gaps etc. that I missed when whe was glaringly white. Turns out... there are a few gaps... and scratches... and other areas that need a nice combination of sanding and filling. Not a big deal, I expected that.
 
Incidentally, it's Tamiya grey primer that I used. OK for the hull, but when I do the unloading gear, I'm going to have to find something in a red primer... grey topcoat over grey primer is just not going to work....
 
Andy

Right then, enough of this talk Kevin! 
Your ship is beautiful, yes you read it correctly, beautiful! Just remember when you get back to it, approach it with confidence and you will achieve a wonderful Victory! And yes, the pun was intended!   
Consider this your "pep talk" for the day. 

oh no - I have been told off -

Right then, enough of this talk Kevin! 
Your ship is beautiful, yes you read it correctly, beautiful! Just remember when you get back to it, approach it with confidence and you will achieve a wonderful Victory! And yes, the pun was intended!   
Consider this your "pep talk" for the day. 

Right then, enough of this talk Kevin! 
Your ship is beautiful, yes you read it correctly, beautiful! Just remember when you get back to it, approach it with confidence and you will achieve a wonderful Victory! And yes, the pun was intended!   
Consider this your "pep talk" for the day.