CDR_Ret

Hi folks, sorry I have gone a little quiet again in this log but I have been doing a little further research to allow me to complete the booms.  I had to determine what the odd conformal shapes were on the booms near the outer end.  This also led me to determining I had positioned the spiderbands at the wrong point.  I had believed they were positioned at the GD (given diameter) when in fact they were further out in Victoria - this has led to me having to remake the spiderbands     I have still to do the new ones, but practice makes perfect they say. 
 
I am also trying to determine how to make the reefing combs (those conformal fittings I referred to earlier) - see the attached.  At 1:72 these are only 1.5mm deep so a little fiddly to make - still thinking on the 'how' for now.  These were used to rig the reefing pendants.  One end was led through the hole opposite it associated sheave and stoppered with a knot, the pendant was then rove through it associated reefing cringle and down through the sheave.  The tail was then worked with a reefing tackle as required when reefing the fore-and-aft sail.
 
The attached is my CAD drawing of the outer end of the main boom.  It shows the combs and the spiderband, and the outer sheave.  There is also an iron band on the very end/tip of the boom.
 
cheers
 
Pat
 

Under the hood shot of the deck beam and framing. As it seems to be working well for this project, I once again modelled general shapes first, then gradually upped the detail and sophistication in subsequent passes and/or working sessions. About 50% done with the deck framing, at which point I'll move on to partitions, hanging knees (knee braces), and then the 'fixed' fittings.
 

Here is a fairly complete discussion about depth of field for photographing scale models and there is a step by step instruction for using HelioFocus for focus stacking ...
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXOsZVbclPI
 
 

This is the first of about a dozen relief sculptures that outline Confederacy's stern. I will use two organic characters I modelled from scratch for a 3D anatomy class I'm taking online - one male, one female - to get all the sculptures added to the stern. I will then use their armatures to not only pose them properly, but to change their facial features and body types subtly, so that hopefully in the final product they will look as if each one was carved individually, and so they don't look like clones of one another (even if in fact they are).
 
Her hair is a different story. This will be the only time in this project that I use 3rd party models. I've decided to spend the $5-$10 bucks and buy a real-time hair pack from an online marketplace. 
 
 
Note: This one was very hastily posed, at this point I'm simply getting a feel for approx size as well as experimenting with how to get the cloth simulation to drape her skirt in a way that it looks like wood. Ironic, isn't it... cloth made to look like would that was sculpted to look like cloth?  
 
Anyway, here she is...
 

 
 

https://www.archaeology.org/news/11609-230725-vasa-shipwreck-passenger

Looking at two photos of actual metal plated hulls (as seen from a few yards away ... which might represent someone taking a relatively 'close' look at a model), the appearance is quite smooth.  Seriously, the outlines of the individual plates are barely perceptible - and the tiny nails are all but invisible.  Sure, if one can get right next to a plated ship in dry dock - close enough to reach out and touch the plates - you can see and feel the overlaps and nail heads ... but for a model, one would have to go through 'Wonka Vision' and be shrunk down to HO scale to get that close.
 
  A miniaturized person examining a model plated with individual copper plates would remark how thick the plates are and how large the divots (representing nails) are.  On actual ships the copper (or Muntz metal) is, what, 0.032" ?  At 1:96 you'd need 0.00033" (that's 1/3 of a thousandth - less than the thickness of a human hair ! ) material to be in scale - and 1/8" nail heads would shrink to only 1.3 thousandth of an inch - about 1.7 times an average hair thickness.  (I'm not going to convert to millimeters.)
 
  Of course, there are many scale compromises that often are made in many scales - meaning that dead eyes, blocks and belaying pins often are are a bit 'out of scale' (sometimes more than a bit), so I suppose that plates and copper tape are no exception.  'Seems that on a solid-hull model (or a completely 'filled' plank-on-frame below the waterline, one could merely use a fine stylus (with a straight edge as a guide to follow very fine layout lines) to scribe rows of plating and then add vertical division.  An X-Acto knife would also work.  Spray painting a brownish base coat followed by green overtones would be perfectly acceptable for the bottom of a hull - which is not where most observers are looking. 

Good ideas, thanks Eberhard and John - that idea had not even ventured into my fading brain cells.  I'll give that a shot and hopefully find a way to 'mimic' the wood with paint.
 
cheers
 
Pat

Pat...I continually think of you and your progress on Victoria.....and to mimic others, it seams like a life time since you shared an update.  No matter though, it is a marathon not a sprint....and we have no real time frames to follow do we.....?
 
Summer activates have nearly closed my shipyard down for 2 weeks thus far.....for myself.
 
But it is always a joy to see you post on Victoria.
 
Rob

Thanks Rob, I hope to post a small update early next week; I have been busy redoing the booms.  The though of the gaffs scares me a little as, at this scale, they will be less than two millimetres diameter at the most. 
 
cheers
 
Pat

View from the top ......

Most browsers have a feature to translate text to the user's default language. Looks pretty clear to me. Nice job on Bismark!
 
Terry

Hi Eberhard; many thanks for the consideration.  I am slowly getting back into it.  I still have issues with my hands shaking (not Parkinsons) which slows me on many days, but my GP is trying some new meds which may help further.  Due to me laying off for that and a few other factors I sort of lost the 'mojo' (desire) to work on the model and became easily distracted in doing other things in the workshop    I must say that your, and a couple of other modellers, recent updates helped motivate me.  
 
In the past week or two I have restarted work on the spars with the three booms almost complete.  Then I'll start on the gaffs and the upper masts (all upper masts are 'in one' with a combined top, top-gallant and royal mast).  In the meantime I had to continue my research on them, the rigging and the sails which has been progressing steadily.  I needed that sorted to finish the drawings to allow me to make up the spars.  I am still trying to work out ways to make the upper mast as the royal sections in particular are very slender at scale (under 2mm) and I need to insert/show an embedded lightening protection 'copper path' in all spars.  This will be pretty delicate and I am still not sure if I can pull that off.  Anyway, long story short - slowing increasing my time in the workshop doing model related work, but as the parts are repetitive at this point there is not much that is new to put online - but I will put-up some updates sooner rather than later (I know I have said that before  .
 
Again, many thanks for thinking of me; much appreciated.
 
cheers
 
Pat

Hello all, I am new to this forum, but not to model building. Building aircraft card models for many years, started also scratch building of aircraft and missile boats at a scale of 1-100, and planning to advance to bigger and mor challenging warships.

I can't tell you how happy I am, to have reached this point. The Nachtigall is not done, there is a lot do do until she is finished, but adding the subassemblies to the underside and remove the masks from the canopy was a major step.

The canopy had some staining on the glass, where I'm not sure, where they came from. Luckily,  could rub them carefully away with a cut toothpick. The framing needs to be decaled with rivets, the black color is only the base level.

I hope the landing gear holds up, as the Arado is a really heavy bird with all the heavy resin bits inside and the heavy nose weight as well.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Cheers Rob

And we have a winner! Bear in mind this is a preview of the color theme only... The actual texturing will take months and will look much, much better  
To give you all an idea - I haven't even UV unwrapped everything yet. I just wanted a break from modelling. Still, not in bad shape for the 3 month mark.
 

 

While researching flags for the Cerberus, I came across this article which outlines two flags used for Victoria's navy prior to 1870, and probably flown on the HMCSS Victoria. Thought you might be interested.
 
https://prov.vic.gov.au/explore-collection/provenance-journal/provenance-2012/crown-and-kangaroo-victorian-flags
 
Steven

Thank you for the warm welcome.
I will probably disappoint many people, but I can't share photos of my ship modeling work yet, but technologies that might be useful for building a ship can be seen on the channel.  I think that after a while, I will take up building, very much want to collect a battleship "Tsesarevich" in scale 1/350.

Option B: A slightly more muted color scheme, visually similar to to that of the Continental Army's officer's uniform.
 

A preliminary color concept for confederacy.... A bit 'out there' but it conforms to all historical correspondence as to her appearance.
 

Thanks! I think that Latin American maritime history (maybe outside of Chile and to some extent Argentina and Brazil) has been really underexplored. Eventually I'd like to learn more about the coastal fishing industry's history, but for now that will have to wait.

Hi Grant, please see my PM.  HMCSS Victoria also made extensive use of chain in the rigging but unfortunately, the Rigging Warrant mostly lists the chain as "equivalent to" the listed hemp rope - but no rope size is given; for example for the lower yard slings.   However, there are a few listings: for example, the Tye chain for the fore topgallant yard is listed as 17ft of 5/16 inch , and the topsail sheets and tye chain are listed as 9/16 inch.  However, I can only assume the chain size is the wire size (thickness of the rod used to form the link).  However, please note these sizes are specific for the rigging strength required in this vessel and may have differed to that required in your vessel of interest?  I cannot be more specific about other chain rigging at the moment as I am away on holidays with no access to my reference library, but I do have a copy of the Rigging Warrant on my Laptop.
 
From another document I had access to via a private message I had sent on this forum, I can provide: Middendorf, 'Bemastung und Takelung der Schiffe', 1903, page 401, states that chains running over blocks should be short-link chains.  Brady, ‘The Kedge Anchor’, pages 310/311, confirms this in listing short-link chain for running rigging.  He also informs that ⅛” of iron in diameter is more than equal to an inch of hemp rope in circumference.   According to the Canadian Defence ‘Engineer Field Manual’, Volume 15, Chapter 4, page 62, chain is termed short-link when the length of a link is less than five times the diameter of the wire size and the links are normally oval shaped, giving a good strength to weight factor. 
 
Hope this helps you a little?
 
cheers
 
Pat

Pat, 
Thanks for taking the time to reply.
Your reply adds to and/or confirms what little information I have managed to acquire.
The link Highwayman provided has some useful content, unfortunately the format (manually scanned) makes it difficult for me to work with. Persistence is required.
Thanks for interrupting your holiday to reply.
Regards,
Grant.
 

Unless a I've forgotten my physics (possible) plenty of specific impulse, not enough thrust....

I lived on the top of a hill, and we (the other 14 kids in the neighborhood and I) rolled or slid everything we could come up with down that hill.
 
We made our own "go carts" out of scrap wood and whatever wheels we could find.
 
One just used the wheels and axles from a wagon. The wheel base was very narrow and it had a tenancy to flip and roll, so it had a seat belt, high seat back and crash bar. The front axle was on a board that pivoted on a bolt for steering. We rigged a steering wheel that worked like the steering drum on a ship's wheel. However we initially rigged it backwards so when we turned the wheel to the right the cart turned to the left. Most of us got used to it, but there were a couple of kids that never learned to steer. So I re-rigged it to work right. It had "brake" that was a board that hinged on a large nail. The top end was the handle and the bottom dragged on the pavement. Pull up on the handle to jam the other end into the road surface. It worked to hold the cart in place on the hill, but there was no way it would stop or slow down much if the cart was rolling.
 
A later version used four foot long 2x6s for the axles, with the wheels at the end. The front axle hinged on a bolt for steering, and we just pulled on a rope that connected to the ends of the steering axle. This was much stabler and would not flip or roll, no matter how hard we tried - and we did. However, one time when I tried to do a 180 spin at speed the front axle swung all the way until a wheel jammed into the long 2x8 that was the cart frame. That put the two front wheels more or less in line with the cart body, giving only a triangular footprint on the road, and really putting on the brakes! The cart stopped suddenly and tried to flip, launching me over the front. Fortunately I was wearing a high school football helmet that belonged to one of the kid's older brother. Unfortunately, the helmet broke when I hit the pavement, but I came out of it without a scratch on my head. Then we had to explain how I managed to break the helmet!
 
****
 
When we got a good snow we raced our sleds down the hill in the street. We also sledded down the hill in the lawns, slaloming between tree trunks. The driveways to the houses made natural "ski jumps" and we built up snow ramps to make them even higher. Half the time we parted company with the sleds in the air.

Living in constant fear is corrosive.
 
Since we're all telling dodgy hill stories, here's my variant. I grew up in one of the Great Lakes snow belt zones, where 2-3 feet of snow was a pretty normal ground cover. We lived in a farmhouse atop a large hill, with a steep wooded dropoff behind the house. So one winter some friends and I built an Olympic-inspired luge run down that hill by packing down the snow into a tight, smooth chute that wound its way in sharp curves between the trees all the way to the bottom. Then we hooked up a hose and iced down that sucker. We must have engineered it well because it's a wonder no one flew out of the chute and cracked themselves open on a tree; that thing was fast!