Cathead

I declare the capstan completed! I didn't take photos of the final details and assembly, partly because I was excited to push through, partly because they were all pretty straightforward. A few notes on these: The capstan bars are just a basic shaping of square stock, easily followed from the plans. Because the slots in my drumhead were a little wonky, I custom-fit the insert end of each capstan bar to each hole, but this isn't noticeable in the final display. I used black walnut for the color contrast. I didn't try to add the nailing pattern in the grating, as I didn't think I could do this well at 1:24 and preferred to leave it out than do a bad job. I added the bolts to the drumhead and base by drilling holes, inserting black wire, and nipping it off just above the surface. The instructions call for making sure the bolt heads are flattened/widened, but at 1:24 I decided this wouldn't be worth the work, so just left the cut ends in place with a bit of filing. I made the iron ring atop the drumhead using fine black sandpaper rather than the regular paper (colored with ink) called for in the instructions. This was sturdier to cut out, had no danger of ink running, and had a nice rough texture that looked more iron-like to my eyes. I made the pawls out of walnut and just oiled them rather than painting them black to represent metal. This is less realistic but more aesthetically pleasing to me, matching the capstan bars and emphasizing the natural wood. I left off the pins & chains that hold the capstan bars in place (photo below from @tlevine's log). I didn't have anything on hand to make these and wasn't sure I could do it right by hand at 1:24. The instructions say these are optional anyway. Maybe if I end up with some spare chain and tiny eyebolts from a future kit, I'll go back and add them, but didn't feel like ordering a tiny pack of chain and other material: My model is essentially an artistic interpretation anyway, more than a perfectly accurate scale representation, so I decided I was pleased with it as it was. Here are a few more photos: Below is the worst drumhead hole; it's still barely noticeable except in closeup photos, so I'm ok with it. Closeup of the walnut pawls and black wire bolts: So that's that. This project certainly achieved its goals of pushing me to try something new that I probably wouldn't have thought of otherwise, and exposing me to new skills that I will be able to put to good use in future. It was a challenge at times, and I strongly encourage other builders to think ahead to be sure you aren't led astray by confusion or inattention (a good practice in any build). I'd also say it's fine to make your own course; I deviated from the instructions quite often where I thought necessary, and in truth that's also part of the scratch-building skill set this is meant to teach (confidence to think for yourself and work out the best approach to a problem rather than blindly following instructions). Although I've been critical at times, I want to be absolutely clear how grateful I am to @tlevine and the NRG for developing this project. I wasn't at all sure I could produce something this nice, even if it isn't quite at the level of truly skilled builders, and I couldn't have done it without their development work. It's especially cool to display knowing that all the wood (except a few hidden dowels) was harvested, milled, and finished right here on-farm, making this particularly special to me. Here's the capstan in its final location within a bigger display case, staged with its companion 1:24 naval gun dioramas and various marine life collected primarily from my favorite coastline in the world, the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Thanks to all the readers who gave encouraging likes and helpful comments. Hopefully this log is of use to others.

Seeing those beautiful paddles and engine room come together make me want to tackle another one!

Time to make the drumhead. As you would expect by now, I deviated into my own way of doing things at various points. This is made from two circles of wood, which are themselves made by gluing together two halves. Here's what we're going for (photo from @tlevine's log): The bottom half has a square cutout that's meant to sit on a matching block atop the capstan body. The upper half is solid. The instructions call for gluing the two halves of the bottom half together, then cutting out the square hole from within, but that seemed unnecessarily complicated to me. Instead, I used double-sided tape to stick the two halves together face-face, then used the Byrnes saw to cut out a half-square notch: I then glued up both halves of the drumhead, resulting in a nice square hole that didn't need to be cut out later. I also felt this let me be more accurate than trying to cut this out with a hand saw within a solid block. I'm honestly not sure why this square hole and its matching block mount are necessary. My guess is this is how the real thing was built, allowing the drumhead to be removable but locked to the capstan, but none of this is ever visible on the final model, and it would be a lot easier to just glue the drumhead directly to the capstan or at least just mount it directly to a smaller dowel if you want to ensure it's centered. The block just seems like extra work and an extra chance for something to go wrong. Next, the instructions have you cut these halves out into circles before cutting the internal slots (which end up holding the capstan bars) using a razor saw. Again, I thought this was more complicated and difficult than necessary, as I don't trust myself to hand-cut perfect slots to a consistent depth using a razor saw on a round workpiece, or to cut two matching circles from two separate workpieces. So instead, I left the halves square and marked the slots at the proper 60º, then cut them out using the Byrnes saw (for reliable depth control) and its miter gage (for reliable angle control), just like other joinery in this project: I then glued these squares together, and only then cut the single resulting piece into a circle, using a piece of PVC pipe close to the right diameter to draw a guide line: The resulting cutout was rough and I intentionally made it too big: To clean this up, I placed a square block (into which a dowel had been glued) into the square hole on the bottom of the drumhead, then chucked the dowel into a hand drill and used this setup to sand the drumhead down to a nice smooth circle. It would have been much harder to do this evenly by hand. This was also the step that made me question why the block was even necessary; gluing the dowel directly into the capstan would have been easier: In summary: Instruction order of operations: Glue two sets of pieces together into two square halves Cut two halves separately into circles Cut slots across both circles Cut out internal square in lower half Join two circular halves into complete drumhead My order of operations: Cut internal square before gluing up lower half (easier to do accurately on Byrnes saw) Cut slots while halves are still square (for easier use of miter gage) Glue square halves together Cut out into single circle (easier than cutting two equal circles, then gluing) Despite all that, I still managed to make a few mistakes and not get my slots cut just right, so a few of the capstan bar holes didn't line up quite right. This is the worst one, I just didn't get the piece lined up properly on the miter gage, and cut the upper half too wide: This one's more like it: This is an indictment of my skill, not of any methodology. I just wasn't careful enough, and also should have cut the slots a bit narrower to better allow for final widening. Honestly, though, as you'll see in a future post, it's barely noticeable in the final product. I cleaned up the mismatched slot halves using a sharp nice and small files. So that gave me a nice solid drumhead. Next, I proceeded to make the capstan bars and start adding final details, which I'll write up tomorrow. It's not done, but it's very close. Thanks for following along!

Have fun! Sail looks great.

So I'm sad to say that I was underwhelmed by the recent talk. It was probably fine for an audience that was new to steamboats, but the presenter's knowledge base was pretty shallow and he made a number of mistakes during the presentation. The following Q&A made it even clearer that he didn't really understand the topic. I've read his book, and found it disappointing as well. I was hoping the talk would at least share some new information, insights, or imagery, but it was pretty bland and rambling. If others felt the same, I'm sorry for wasting your time by bringing it up.

Thanks for the kind comments! I just revised my earlier post for clarity, since I kept using "wedge" to mean "chock", which could be confusing as "wedge" means the pieces the initial capstan barrel was supposed to be made of. Also, @Siggi52 has been finishing up the double capstans for his unbelievably beautiful HMS Tiger (seriously, I'm not being hyperbolic here), and I thought it was interesting that he, too, seems to have built his capstans by filing down a round dowel where necessary. Just thought I'd share these photo for anyone considering doing it this way. Otherwise it's neat how similar his capstans are to this project's (though not surprising given the research that's gone into both): I hope he's ok with me sharing these, I think they're a great reference and if you're not already reading his log, you should be! Coming soon, an update on building the capstan head.

Lynn, this may be too picky (and too late), but it looks to me like the drawing shows that the hull-length coppering is meant to make a sweeping curve that follows the natural curve of the hull and blends gradually into being parallel with the keel, not a straight line that ends in a specific angle with the run of the keel, as marked up in blue below: It's not a big deal now, but as you keep going up I'm concerned you'll have more trouble with that angle and it'll become ever-more awkward and noticeable. I assume the next lines of coppering follow that initial curve, so without having to redo anything, I think you could fix it by making sure to lay the next one in a curve and just insert a small filler plate where there's a gap between the curve and the angle (yellow below): Forgive the rough mark-up but hopefully it illustrates the point? Full disclosure, I've never coppered a hull, I'm just going on what the plan you displayed seems to show and my intuition as to how any linear feature (whether planking or coppering) will run naturally over a curved hull. Feel free to disregard, just wanted to make the suggestion. Happy to hear that I'm wrong from someone with more experience laying out coppering belts.

Wow, that’s a significant improvement! I agree that I can see a slight extra gap after the A but the rest is awesome. And since A in that font is broader than average and creates more space around itself anyway, I don’t think it matters. One (of many) things I’ve learned in modeling is that individual “wrong” details can bug you during construction but completely vanish in the overall model’s effect.

I've never built this kit so any advice I can offer is more general. Actual builders like Bob will certainly be more directly helpful.

I suggest reading this link, posted at the top of this section:

Looks lovely so far! This is a challenging but rewarding project (at least that's been my experience so far).

You choose the neatest prototypes! That's a really attractive vessel.

Nice start, and I think we've all been there at some point with frustration over a missing/lost part. As for adhesives, basic wood glue works quite well for most wood-on-wood contact and will give you a longer work time.

Welcome! Looks like you're grasping the basic skills just fine so far.

Assembly continues. With the whelps shaped, I glued them onto the barrel, using a square to get them as straight as I could: Then it was time to make the chocks, which form the two rings that fit between the whelps (what the side notches were cut to hold). Since my assembly wasn't perfectly symmetrical, I made each of these by hand to fit its specific slot. For each chock, I traced the outline of the angle between the two whelps, then cut a wider version to allow for the angled edges that fit into the notches: I then used a combination of knife and sandpaper to get the angled edges right, and test-fit the chocks. I made sure to label each chock and its corresponding location on the barrel: By now, readers who have been following this very closely are jumping up and pounding on their desks, screaming "Wait, Cathead, you've forgotten something!" Indeed, as I realized just as I was applying glue to the first chock. As you may recall, the plans show a barrel made out of wedges, creating alternating raised and lowered surfaces; the whelps fit into the recesses so there is a raised surface between them. Since I made my barrel by shaping a dowel instead, my plan was to simulate those raised surfaces with a thin veneer, which would also keep all the outer surface looking like maple. I came very, very close to forgetting this step because, of course, it wasn't in the instructions (being my own invention). So I set my chocks aside and did the veneer by cutting five thin sheets of maple and custom-fitting them between the whelps: With that done, I reshaped the chocks I'd already made (since they now needed to be smaller) and made the second ring. Once these were all glued in, I sanded them to shape, following the instructions in making the upper ring a bit convex and the lower ring a bit concave. Top view: Bottom view: You can see how the veneer simulates the raised wedges. I'm pretty pleased with this approach, it was much easier than making wedges (at least for me). The next step was to get the barrel mounted properly on the platform. Here I discovered that the 3/8" hole I'd initially drilled wasn't perfectly straight, making the capstan sit at an angle. Sigh. So I fixed this by using a 3/8" plug to fill the hole and instead drilling a new, smaller hole within that and fitting a smaller dowel as the actual axle, which was also easy to drill into the capstan base: So here's the raw capstan set on the base: And here it is with a coat of wood oil, and with the bolt holes drilled and filled with small bits of wire: You can see why I did the veneer; the dowel comes out a completely different color than the maple and I didn't want that showing through between the whelps, even if I didn't care about the raised surface (which I did): And a final photo as a reminder of 1:24 scale: On to making the drumhead...

I've built the Model Shipways version of this craft, so don't have direct experience with the OcCre version. I don't understand the pore-filling lacquer either. While I don't claim to be an expert, I've built a variety of wooden kits and scratchbuilds and never used anything more than basic wood oil or stain as a finish. Personally I don't like the shiny look of lacquer/varnish on a model but that's builder's choice. One thing I will say is that it's often easier/better to stain pieces before using any glue on them, as glue doesn't take up stain the same as raw wood, so any seeps or spills will show up if you stain something after assembly. On the other hand, prestaining means that if you need to sand or alter something later, you can get an uneven finish. I was surprised they have you glue the decking straight to those frames, since the frames are clearly plywood and wildly out of scale, but I guess that's their shortcut to make the model easier to build. Not having built this kit makes it hard to be more helpful, but I'll try if you have further questions!

Cool! If you're using a 1:48 kit, how are you adapting that to 1:16? Or is this a scratchbuild and you're just consulting the design of that kit?

I can sympathize, I have yet to build a kit with really good instructions. Hope this one fits your bill!

Looks very nice, I'll be jumping in late. Cross-sections have always fascinated me as someone who likes to know how things work.

That is so cool, thanks for sharing!

Next up, making the whelps, which turned out to be pretty straightforward even though I thought it would be more difficult because they have such a complex shape. The plans and instructions were clear and easy to follow, though I diverged from them in a few places. Here's what they're supposed to look like (from @tlevine's log): There are five of these, but I cut six blanks to account for making a mistake somewhere along the way. This was the correct decision. The instructions suggest making a paper template and cutting each out separately, but I didn't trust myself to do this consistently enough (especially with hard maple at a small scale), so I spot-glued all six together and did the basic cut on a bandsaw. This violates the "only a small table saw" rule of the Intermediate build, but I had the tool on hand so I used it. The instruction's method would work fine. I used sandpaper and files to finish the basic shaping and get the whole block consistent: Each whelp has two sets of angular grooves carved into either side, to accept some braces. I decided to think ahead and mark these across the block before I separated the whelps. So on the back (which won't be seen), I measured the grooves' locations and scribed them with a knife (one stroke went awry but this side is hidden so it doesn't matter): I soaked the block in alcohol to separate the pieces. Apparently I used too much glue in one joint, because one whelp tore away some wood from the side of another. Instead of soaking myself in alcohol, I gave thanks that I'd started with six instead of the required five. I cleaned up each piece using fine sandpaper, and in a fit of stupidity, sanded the back as well, mostly erasing my carefully scribed consistent marks. Once again I resisted soaking myself in alcohol, and clumped all six together on my magnetic board before rescribing the marks: To cut the grooves, I transferred their location to either side using a knife, then made a top cut using a razor saw: I then used a sharp hobby knife to cut the basic angle into the groove, and finished it with a triangular file. Below, the left-hand groove shows the initial saw cut, and the right-hand one has been carved out: I used my damaged sixth piece as a test case before doing the rest. And here they all are together and separate: You can see that the side grooves aren't perfect, which is entirely due to the limits of my skill set and the small scale of these pieces. Given that these are meant to accept side braces, I think it'll be ok as I can adjust both the grooves and braces as I assemble the whole thing. Also, the plans show the top grooves being ever so slightly smaller than the bottom grooves (1.75" x 0.75" vs. 2" x 1"). I'm not sure why this is, I assume something prototypical, but at 1:24 these differences measure in the hundredths of an inch range, and I just didn't think it was worth being that precise (or that I could rely on myself to be that precise consistently). So I made the grooves essentially equal and will adjust the braces to match. I realized in writing this up that I haven't drilled the bolt holes shown in the plans, but that's a minor detail. The project is back on track and I can see it taking shape. Thanks for reading and sticking with me.

I must agree with Michael. While the individual letters are nice, there's a pretty clear unevenness across the word that stands out to the eye, particularly when the rest of the model is so crisp and pristine. Although if his suggestion is to just cut between letters and transfer panels, I wonder if that would produce an uneven surface look that would also stand out? Here's another thought, since we're spitballing. Would it work to print out the actual lettering you want (white on a black background), then cut and transfer the entire piece of paper to the wood using something like diluted wood glue or another fixative? This would eliminate any unevenness from hand-drawing (however careful) but would give a smoother surface and perfect layout. I know you said you didn't want to print because getting the letter sizes right would be difficult, but my suggestion would be to make a number of different sizes laid out on the same page (small adjustments to the font size), print them out as blank ink on white paper to save ink, choose the size that fits best, then redo that one as white lettering on black ink within the overall outline you wanted.

I don't know the presenter, but hope the talk is good!

Here's an outside-the-box suggestion on lettering: have you considered getting a lettering stencil/template 3D-printed? On my steamboat Arabia, I designed the lettering I wanted, then paid a friend's teenager to make it on his home-built 3D printer. If you don't have access to such a teenager, there are numerous websites where you can submit a design and they'll make and ship you the print.

In your last post, did you mean "transom" rather than "transform"? Not intending to be pedantic, it genuinely confused me and if you did mean the latter, can you explain?