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Cathead

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  1. Cathead
    I'm not an expert, but here's a perspective in lieu of any more informed responses that might arise. Sailing ship crews could rig block&tackle in a variety of places in order to lift and move items like boats, upper masts, replacement yards, cargo, etc. The very nature of a masted ship with yards and stays gives you all sorts of options to work with and seamen were geniuses with the geometry required. Many repairs could be carried out this way without the need for dockyard cranes. Here's a thread on MSW about how boats were moved around. And here's an image shared there that shows one possible method: So you don't need to show any special details for lowering and recovering boats. I'm not sure when davits came into common use but as far as I know it was normal in the Age of Sail for boats to be stored amidships and deployed without them.
  2. Cathead
    One way to start is to buy a kit from a reputable manufacturer who bases their models on actual research, like BlueJacket, Vanguard, Syren, Model Shipways, etc. Although not perfect, their standards are high enough to instantly set you on a higher path. And you can always make additional changes/upgrades to the kit (like better rope and fittings).
  3. Cathead
    To follow up on what Brian said, here are a few photos showing how the deck extensions (called "guards" on riverboats) were structured. Beams ran outboard from the hull at close intervals, forming a solid structure supporting the decking above. Here's guard planking partly completed on my scratchbuilt Arabia: And here's the completed underside: And if you want a real-world photo, here's the Arabia wreck; look just aft (left) of the paddlewheel and you'll see the beams supporting the guard beyond the hull: This is a sidewheeler but the concept was the same. I don't know exactly how it was on Chaperon, but you wouldn't go wrong adding a series of these beams if you're worried about strength and/or want to add some reasonably authentic detail.
  4. Cathead
    I think this ties back into a discussion ongoing elsewhere on MSW about what models are for. If the intention is a high-end museum-quality professional presentation, then I agree with you. But there are other goals and perspectives. For example, on my fictional revenue cutter that is the foundation of this thread, I'm quite aware that the sail-sewing is out of scale. But to non-specialists it's also visually engaging and representative of the real thing. A viewer here in land-locked Missouri isn't likely to know (or care) about the proper scale of bolt ropes, they're far more likely to think "Oh, so that's how sails were made" or ask "what's that stitching for?". Leaving that detail out may be more accurate, but it also eliminates the chance to learn because it'll never occur to the viewer to ask the question about a detail they "shouldn't" see. For most of my models, my goal isn't to be 100% accurate, but rather to be representative and engaging. This comes from my perspective as an educator, where sometimes the perfect is the enemy of the good. Models are both engineering AND art, and some artistic license should be allowed for most of us without being disparaged by the idea that the only good model is a perfect replica. There's a balance to be found between reasonable accuracy and bean-counting, and it'll be different for different modelers and models depending on context.
  5. Cathead
    Cool, it's been a while since someone tackled Chaperon, the best riverboat kit out there. Looking forward to your progress.
  6. Cathead
    Interesting question. I also suspect there are differing views in membership on whether they'd prefer to watch a video or view still photos. If nothing else, video results in further demands on members, whether on their internet quality (my rural American internet sometimes struggles to load large photos on MSW, much less play video, and I'd bet that's true for some international members as well) or their personal space (does having a video play out loud or having to find earbuds cause problems?). I think my instinct would be to avoid using video alone unless it's a really relevant way to show something; text and photos are a much more accessible default.
  7. Cathead
    I can't quite tell from that photo but you almost certainly need to shape the planks for them to fit the required geometry. If you're just trying to bend consistent-width planks into place it'll be especially hard. Right at the stern, where they start to splay out again, you may want to consider a couple "stealers", which are shorter planks that take up that extra space. Review some planking tutorials to see what I mean. But I can't be sure from the single photo. Also, and again I may be being misled by the perspective of the photo, but I wonder if that last bulkhead needs to be faired down more? It kind of looks like your planks, when they sit flat against your faired surface, are being directed away from the counter at an angle, producing an extra-hard last-minute bend that would give anyone trouble. That bulkhead should gently guide the planks into place, rather than being a barrier over which they need to be forced.
  8. Cathead
    That's where I put mine, too. There are several logs, you can find them by searching that forum for appropriate key words.
  9. Cathead
    There’s almost always more than one way to do things. Glad you found a solution you’re happy with!
  10. Cathead
    That's a pretty strong kink. If it were me I'd redo it (you asked!), but it's your model and many issues like that end up being far less noticeable on the finished model than during construction. As for soaking, I've rarely needed to soak a whole ship-length plank. It really only needs to curve significantly at bow and stern, so you can soak one end and then the other; it doesn't matter if the middle gets wet. I use an old rain-gauge tube.
  11. Cathead
    I'm no expert at drilling holes straight. On my NRG capstan I used this drill jig from Lee Valley and still didn't get it right: Here are two thoughts on simple homemade jigs: 1) Set up a slab of wood at the angle you want to drill at, so that the drill body can just slide down it. Make the foot of the jig small enough to fit on the deck. 2) Take a solid block of wood and drill a mast-sized hole through it at the correct angle. Then set the block on the deck and slide the drill bit into it; this will hold the bit at the right angle. If you want to do it without a jig, here's another suggestion. Drill the hole straight down, or at a somewhat shallower angle than you need, but do it with a smaller bit than the final hole. Then use a curved or round file to widen the hole to the right dimension, shaping the sides of the widened hole to represent the correct angle. No matter what, I'd alter Keith's suggestion and advise using a slightly smaller bit rather than a slightly larger bit, because you can always widen and shape the hole just as you look but a too-wide hole will make the mast loose. I realize that writing out physical tasks makes them hard to understand. If you're not sure what I mean, I can try to whip up a drawing.
  12. Cathead
    Congratulations on a worthy choice! I hope it's a success for everyone involved.
  13. Cathead
    Have fun! There's extra incentive now that she's been found.
  14. Cathead
    I agree with Keith, and to go even farther, at times in modeling (as in other art) it can work better to do something that isn't right but that looks right, and sometimes looks more right than the accurate choice. Think of it like a painter giving someone a skin tone that, up close, is inhuman but presents just the right coloration from a normal viewing distance. To put it another way, sometimes it's worth doing something wrong but well (good-looking glued-on paper hinges) rather than right but poorly (sloppy or out of scale metal hinges). To put it yet another way, by the time someone looks close enough to "judge" your paper hinges, they'll also be close enough to see that the copper plating doesn't have rivets, that the wood grain is coarse, etc., none of which matter in the least, any more than that looking too closely at a painting reveals brush strokes rather than the pores of the subject's skin. What matters is that you like the outcome, it looks cool from a normal viewing distance, and you file away some new ideas and skills for the next project.
  15. Cathead
    Here's yet another approach to ash removal. Bertrand (1865) didn't have ash wells within the hull, but rather a brick-lined trough that ran from under the fireboxes out to a hole in one guard. It appears that ashes were simply shoveled into this trough and then swept/shoved overboard, never passing through the hull. This is shown in the archeological drawings and recreated on my model as shown below: Obviously this wouldn't work for the ironclads, since their boiler room is below the waterline. But I thought it would contribute to the broader discussion.
  16. Cathead
    The only way I could see a problem is if the narrow overlap produced a weak glue joint, such that the planks separated later on, either as you're handling the model and flexing the hull, or as the wood naturally shrinks and swells with environmental changes. On my Viking longship, I had some plank joints like this that cracked open later in the build during handling. The gaps were minor and I decided to ignore them (you can only see them looking straight down between the planks) but it is technically a concern. There's such a long run of glue connecting the plank edges that you'll likely be fine if any one place gives out. Model looks great overall!
  17. Cathead
    Fair point, but in practice it depends on just how precise the modeler is trying to be. And for those of us who don't like being around the smell of things like varnish and CA more than we can help it, a threader is a far more benign and time-efficient method. I've also found that carefully placing just the smallest tip of rope into the threader makes it easier to thread holes that are closer in diameter to the rope, rather than trying to pull a full 2x diameter length through.
  18. Cathead
    Thanks for catching that! It does look like ME stopped selling the basic ones, and a lighted one seems rather wasteful. I updated that post to include a link to an equivalent product from Joann Fabrics: I've definitely used these with blocks to great success.
  19. Cathead
    As discussed in that thread, I used bond paper, which is a high-end paper used for printing that needs to last. Specifically, I used supplies left over from my wife's graduate thesis 20 years ago, still in perfect shape. It should last as long as any model that isn't museum-grade does.
  20. Cathead
    Glad to find this log, I think your approach is excellent: recognizing the kit isn't perfect and not presenting it as accurate, but also having fun with a build and learning from it rather than getting bogged down or despairing. My first models are laughable to me now but I enjoyed them and learned so much! As for sails, at risk of self-promotion, here's a method I developed for making paper sails that I find very effective and attractive. There are various other ideas in the sails section of MSW. Following are two examples from my revenue cutter project.
  21. Cathead
    Nice progress, Lynn. I'm a fellow member of the pain club right now, but in my case it's going to prevent any building for the next few months. So I look forward to living vicariously through you and others. Good luck getting through your hurdles efficiently!
  22. Cathead
    Another point here in case it helps clarify your situation: hull planking will almost always require either edge bending or spiling because the planking will curve through three dimensions. Most kits provide only straight stock that isn't wide enough for spiling, meaning that you have to edge-bend to use kit stock, but most such kits never explain this and it can give newer builders fits. Unless you buy a rare kit whose planking is pre-spiled, you either edge-bend the kit stock or buy sheets of wood that you can cut your own spiled planking out of, discarding the kit stock.
  23. Cathead
    Nice start!
  24. Cathead
    Nice start. I find that sharp knives can sometimes be better for carving than chisels, as the different geometry of the handles and hand position just seems to create an easier cutting motion. Rotary tools are great, but it's pretty easy to take off too much!
  25. Cathead
    I haven't built this so can't offer good advice on this question, but am looking forward to seeing how you solve it.

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