newbuilder101

Maybe this makes sense to others out there, but I find it a little unusual. The plans show the first planking being started (first photo) and then the tops of the bulkheads being 'snapped' off (second photo). It leaves me wondering what the planking is attached to, other than the edges of the planks themselves? The planks are attached at the first and then the 8th -12 bulkheads. Hopefully this will add enough structural stability.
 

 

 
After all this, then the deck planking will begin. It seems like that would be easier now, but I can't do the deck until the bulkheads are 'snapped' off.
 
Here I'm scoring the bulkhead tops for easier breaking later.
 

I managed a little more progress...the main deck is in place.
 

 

 

Another small update.
This is just a dry fit again...don't want to fix anything permanently until all the bulkheads have been faired (at least partially) and the decks are cut and test-fitted.
 

 

Well finally the cutter is back in the foreground of my mind, I have moved the boat into the house and have set up to work on her over the winter.
 
The first task was to deal with the cabin which was bothering me.
 

 

 
so now I can think about finishing the side walls.
 
Michael

So, I read and read and re read and re read the booklet - then stared, and stared some more and stared more at the plans - then decided what the heck, HOW bad can I possibly make it...
 
Started laying rope!
 
So far only have done the 3 collars (Fore, Mizzen and Main), 2 Mizzen shrouds and the Mizzen stay.   MUCH different than the rigging on the phantom - am trying to master tweezers, forceps, clamps, pokers, pryers, picks and needle threaders all without htting the deck like Godzilla through downtown.  NOT easy.   Have had to reattach two channels and the upper bell railing so far - ugh.
 
Anywho,  the one common thing with the phantom is as the rope starts to go on it starts to look more and more ship like and kind of rekindles a bit of excitement in nearing the finish line.
 
I still have MUCH to practice and learn with regards to knots and servings and getting things lined up - but I keep trying to remind myself this is only my second model! Sometimes it helps - other times,  these strings can be frustrating!!!      But, it is on it's way.  This one will be better than my first one - not as good as the next one and a step on the way to the best one!!
 

 

 
 
As always, thanks for taking the time to stop by - more on the way !!!
 
Enjoy and happy modeling!!
 
 

Here I thought I would be done with these small pieces of railing but I have to remake them.  When I dry-fitted them to the deck I could already see that it would not work.
So, back to cutting more food and doing it a little different as far as mounting the center four stanchions.  I have to match the rest of the railings, i. e. making them flat instead of round, otherwise it would not look good.
 
What I did, thinking saving some time, is to assemble the railings in the workbench and that to the deck.  Good thought but it didn't pan out that way.
What I'll do is to cement the reworked railings to the deck with only the two outer stanchions.  Then fit each new stanchion to the space between the deck and railing cap and use only three of them.
 
Oh well, just a few days of a set back.  
 

I cemented the pins into the railing cap first with CA and after they are secure enough I was going to cement the plank-like stanchions to the cap.  Even after I painstakingly filed all of the stanchions to the same height - - - oh well, you'll see that things didn't pan out that way.
 

This shows the assembled railings.  The inner four can still be manipulated for the final cementing to the deck.  All of them were close enough to the same height but - - - NOT 
 

Here I have dry-pinned the railings to the deck and you can see it is one big fiasco.  The inner stanchions are a mess and to close together at the bend.  I may wind up with only three inner stanchions.
 
Cheers,

% of composition is probably the answer. If I would have to give it a name, I think this is probably free machining brass!
 
The longest part to turn guns is done.
4 knives  are use  for the top and bottom turning.
Lenght references are done by  a reference  wood plate, it is mucg faster this way.
The head is done first and then the inside is drilled. This operation is done as late as possible so that the opening dos not enlarge because of the live center.
The bottom part is kept  for the last part.

Just a small update - we have deadeyes and chains all ready and waiting for their shrouds at which point I will anchor the chains into position, right now they are just kind of dangling a bit - however a bit of other rigging work before we get to the actual shrouds, but the eyes and chains came out pretty well.  Let me tell ya though, them channels were ooooooh so fragile - snapped 2 off while reforming the grooves to take the chains.
 
All ended well though!!
 

 
 
Thanks as always for stopping in,  more to come shortly!
 
(The masts are in place and drying overnight, then MORE RIGGING! )

Hello all,
 
Been busy with extra curricular activities, i.e. yard work and other chores.  However, I have also found a few extra minutes to devote on the Surabaya.  I spend a lot of time making the hinges and wanted to have a record for my own files so I made a few pics, thinking to share them with you.  I meant to post this a few days ago but something else came in the way.
 
The actual cutting of the 0.5 mm brass tubes for the hinges and the soldering was not much of a problem, except that I had to keep cutting new pieces of the tubes because when picking them up with the tweezers to solder they"twanged" away to who knows where    But finally I managed to solder all of them to their respected parts, the "gudgeons" and "pintles."  
 
Instead of dabbing a drop of solder to the ends of the hinge pins to prevent them from walking out I decided to just flatten the ends and then bend that up 90 degrees.  This proved to be extremely time consuming because i needed to file the upturned ends a little. All in all it worked out okay but in retrospect I should have just left the ends with the small flats.  No way they can come out of the hinge tubes.  Oh well, an exercise in patience.
 
Here are the pics of my efforts.
 

This shows the gun port lid hinge assembled.  Everything is still in the crude stage, hinge pin still needs to be cut to size and ends flattened and bend.  I used a pair of small duckbill pliers to squeeze the ends and then a pair of tweezers to bent the flattened part up.  As you can see it needs some trimming.  I used a nail clipper which did a splendid job.
 

This is a close-up with annotation.  Yup, they are small and a challenge.
 

This is the completed hinge assembly still in the rough state.  Still needs to be cleaned and dressed.
 
Cheers,

Thank you all for your comments and likes and for your support for the now-published book.  I feel I have been neglecting the fully-framed version of Young America - and posting to this blog - for way to long.  
 
There has been little work on the model since April - a long hiatus.  May and June were taken up with getting the book ready for press.  Since then I have been consumed with the drafting and research for the next phases of construction - fitting out the weather decks and rigging.  I also decided to carry the POB version of the model to a more advanced state and post that work on MSW to supplement to POB Chapters in the book for those who might want to build that model these posts will provide more information than could be included in Volume I.  Volume II will apply to both versions equally - but it is some time off.
 
The picture below shows the current state of both models - mounted on temporary bases and ready for transport to the NRG Conference in Mystic next week.  Hope to see many of you there.
 
Ed
 

 
 

Guys
 
All I can say is that I am careful and slow to a fault.  Its tough to get stuff done this way.   But I do agree everyone should just slow down.  Its what I recommend  a lot of folks to do...
 
Anyway...back to Cheerful.
 
I was able after two attempts to shape the boom crutch and create a procedure for doing so.  The key was starting with a much thicker piece and making the boom crutch a bit over-sized to start.  I cut out the boom crutch on a piece of 1/4" thick boxwood and carefully adjusted for three angles.   When completed it will be just 1/8" wide to match the width of the fashion piece.  Now that the starboard side is complete I can do the other and take pictures at every step.  This is certainly one piece that needs slow and attentive care to the angles involved.  The boon crutch must be turned inboard slightly so the boom can actually sit in it.  This is tough because the fashion piece and the side of the hull goes in the opposite direction!!!   This one piece took me over four hours to produce, shape and paint to a finish I found acceptable.
 
A few careful reference marks and filing...then turn the piece inward and you are good to go!!!   I will have a step by step soon.  You can see the second boom crutch over-sized and ready to shape in one of the photos.  Note the tail is left long so the proper angles can be created while sanding it shorter.
 
Because the boom crutch was painted black it might be hard to see in these photos but essentially the boom crutch must match the angle of the fashion piece when viewed from the side and from astern in two planes while being turned to line up with the path of the boom (or the main mast).  All while hiding the seam between the two pieces...thank God it is supposed to be painted black.  
 

 

 

 

 

Timberheads are completed....now on to the boom crutches.  Just a word about those boom crutches.  These are probably some of the trickiest parts of the model to make.  There are going to be some crazy angles to create and much trial and error.  I expect to make quite a large pile of bad boom crutches.  This is for the benefit of all those building the model as well.  You will no doubt have a large pile of discarded crutches also.  I will do my best to explain how I make them step by step.  
 

 

 

 

No not yet.  That is months away I am afraid.   I am using MinWax Wipe-On-Poly for the finish.  Nothing else.
 
Started on the timber heads today.  There are only six.  No shortcuts here.  Just grab a sharp blade and start shaping.   I know some folks use power tools for this but I prefer to go old-school.  I just go very very slow.  They are 3/32" thick.
 

 
Chuck

Surely you are not going to put the model in the garbage, Gaetan! If so, let me know which night it will be put out....

Hi Redshirt,
 
1/48 is the largest scale than you can easily handle for a 4 feet model. Why someone would like to go larger then? I like to try new challenges and I like to explore scales. For this I did a project of building a french 74 guns at 3 different scale. The first one  was at 1/192. To like this scale you must be a good jeweler and almost always wear strong glasses. Then I did it at 1/48. After this experience, having tried 1 very small scale, 1 medium, only 1 was missing; a large scale. New challenges, new tools : for the big parts the small bandsaw is inadequate.  The hardest tool to find for this project was the working table; I tried 3 different ones before to get 1 which adapts to height easily workable without getting titred because of bad positions.  Wood is also a major aspect. This week end, a guy told me very seriously that this model surely worths $1000. I answered him : I bought 2 batchs of cherry wood for this project $700 and $1000. He did not ask other questions! I might look large quantities but I estimate that starting with a 2 by 12 inches over 65% is lost is shaving, saw dust and scrap wood especially when cutting the frames.
 
The biggest problem building at 1/24 is to know where to put it when completed because it does not really belong in a house. In a way when the model is finish I could put it in the garbage and build another one. The pleasure is not to own it, but to build it. There are advantages to build a bigger scale. First it is easier; the easiet it is to hold a plank, the better the results will be. Larger scale allows to install more details and more importantly, it helps you very much to understand the way these superstructures were built and just for that last reason, it is worth it!

And finally....the deck is planked.  This is a big milestone for me because it is the last really big  messy job to be done.  The remainder of the project will be small fittings and less sanding.  There will be less dust and less paint touch up.
 
The planking was pretty straight forward after having lined off the deck.  I just following the plan I drew on the false deck.  Each plank was tapered to match.  The scarphed planks were handles much the same way the drop plank was on the outside of the hull.  If I thought it was needed, I made a card stock template.  The scarphed planks were cut from wider stock (7/32" or even 1/4" wide planks). 
 
Next I will create the rudder port because it will be the last time I can turn the hull upside down without too much trouble.  Once that is done I will return outboard and finish off all of the details.  The boom crutches, boarding ladders, scuppers and channels etc.
 

 

 

Hello and thanks for warm words!
 
it's done now. I have fastened the stove on the deck. The cement is a bit darker now and looks better for me. The work on beams and knees go on further.
 

 

 
Alex

Thanks for the likes and comments.   Short update time.
 
I've laid 12 stakes of the 8" wide planks...  15 to go.   Looks rough but I'm seeing light so what appears to be gaps is just mismatch in thickness and shadows... I hope.
 
From the re-lining off I just finished a strake ago, I won't need a stealer at the stern.  Looking at the French ship monographs I have, a short, wide plank can be added such that the strake is continuous.  I've added one and probably won't need any more. From the dead flat, the strakes run from 8" to almost 4" and then back to 8" at the sternpost. 
 
On the bow side, the planks run from 8" at the dead flat and then eventually taper to 4".  However, at least one drop plank is needed which will be put in in my next two strakes.  I'm trying hard to keep scale on this even though it looks strange due to the scale (to my eye at least). 
 
First two pics show her in all her unsanded, rough looking planking.
 
The third pic is my side project, the longboat.  I needed a way to do this so thought, fiddled, thought, and then came up with a plan I think will work.  I'm using a variation of Chuck's method.  I did have to re-do this once already as for scale, the frames should be 2" (1/32") wide, but I kept breaking them and then realized there wasn't enough meat to hold the planks securely. So, I doubled the width of the frame.  We'll see where this leads.... hopefully not the scrap bin.
 
All in all, I'm pretty pleased.  There's some things I need to think about for the next ship, like is scale planking better or worse than eye-appeal cause these planks are relatively tiny compared to the planks I've used in the past.
 
Enough over-thinking for now... pressing on.
 

Thank-you Popeye and ScottRC! Hope to have another update before too long, but those plans don't always go as intended! 

Binnacle
 
When I said I was finished, not quite. The Binnacle isn't a part of the main section of TFFM, it's hidden away in the Appendix. Easy to miss .
 
I knocked it up in a couple of hours. No finish has been applied yet :
 

 

 

 

 
  Danny

Hi everyone, especially those who commented and hit the Like button.  Greatly appreciated!
 
Sorry Carl - you're right.  My problem is that I can't think fast enough and my honesty often gets the best of me!!!!  Oh well...
 
Anyway, tonight I painted the tender and added a bit more detail.  But alas, no propeller yet! Just saying....
 
I hope you enjoy these photos.
 
Cheers
 
Patrick
 
 
 
 
 

thanks all for the kind words......yea,  we could all do without these little problems.......but,  if there weren't any,  it would be a boring hobby     {and I hear you on that Mark!} 
 
now that the smoke cleared....I finally cemented all of the other pre made parts in place.  placement of the ship's boat is next,  along with the chain boards and dead eyes.
 

 

 

 
the mizzen is dry fitted at the moment.
 

 
thanks for the like and for looking in.  I really got to get back on the Titanic.......would be nice to clear that table    it will make fore a great diversion,  while I work on the chain boards.

Thanks to all who clicked the like button, it's much appreciated and motivates me. 
 
Thank you George, Carl, Ian, Sherry and Patrick.
 
Yeah George, this stuff is getting way too small for my hands to handle but so far I only got one minor cut in my finger.
 
Hey Carl, I am using a cheapy "optivosor" and had to flip the second magnifier glass thingy up.  With my 3X reading glasses I had to squint too much and eyes started to tear-up.  Having had both cataracts replaced helped a lot but its still been a real strain for my 81 year old eyes.  The heat from my little torch disintegrated the heatproof "stone" and kinda crumpled over the pintle.  It's there though.  You are right in that I could only silver solder one pintle because of that bleeping "stone."  I tried a stone from the garden but that didn't work either.  So, I reverted to soft-soldering.
 
Good seeing you back in my shipyard Ian, thanks.
 
Hi Sherry and cross-eyed ladies don't look so pretty - - - watch for the clock not to strike midnight  
 
Thanks Patrick for the compliment.  You think I'm ready to build a miniature ship now?    It's on my bucket list you know   
 
Cheers to all, 

last week wasn't a very productive week for me......I started it off with one simple step,  and it turned into a bout of reconstructive surgery.  this week isn't shaping up to be any better........fixing an electrical problem with my car windows on Tuesday,  and acquiring a part time job yesterday {interview}......I'm hoping the rest of this week is a bit less eventful.
 
now that the ship doesn't have to be turned over anymore {I hope}....I figured that I would put in all the belaying pins in the rails.   they were installed on the mizzen pin rails.
 

 
they were installed in the fore deck pin rails
 

 
they were installed in the bow stem pin rail.  I had also fashioned and installed a horse shoe shaped collar for the bow spirit boom
 

 
but,  when I got to the main mast pin rails,  here's where the project began
 

 
apparently,  they were not as sturdy as I thought they were.   refitting them,  I could see where I had left a gap along the rail and the bulwark.   rather than open or deepen the slots in the rails themselves,  it was decided that evening off all the posts,  would be the better remedy.   to adjust the slots would bring the pins closer to the bulwarks and could make it  harder at rigging time.
 

 
it was a long process......but I did get to the point where it could be cemented back into place.
 

 
the port side wasn't as bad........but I did do a little adjusting to the slots in the rail.  everything is back to normal now.  I can move forward again 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Thank-you Frank! 
 
Well, I have another update. I've been working on the rudder with its pintles and gudgeons. 
I used copper plate and cut it into strips which I formed on a 'dummy' rudder. Soldering was tricky for me at this scale, but I managed. I still have to fine tune and add faux bolts.
 

 

 
I've also made and added the midship set of spiral stairs with railings, and belaying pins are in place here as well. There is one more set of spiral stairs fore, yet to be made.
 

 

 
Last, but not least, I made the beakhead rails and supports. I'm not totally happy with them and some adjustments may follow.....or a total redo, I just haven't decided yet.