Cathead

I tried the pva glue technique that Danny had mentioned and it worked like a dream, Thanks Danny!
 Today I continue to construction of the main mast.  The first thing to do is make sure the two pieces to be joined are plumB.  It took 30 minutes of fiddling but finally, its plumB. 

looks plumB enough for me!  Now to touch a tiny drop of glue without moving it out of plumB  and letting the  capillary action do it's thing. 

next come these two pieces. I do not know what they are called.  Joices? braces? Rafters?  Whatever they are they are now glued in place. 
Hmmmm. Not called into work yet?? Thats odd.   So I am going to cautiously continue. 

today is riverboat Friday    I thought I do a little on the T.D.    just to crack my knuckles,  I started the session by assembling the ends for the second level structure.   some of the joints fit tight,  but they went together without much of a fight.

I had assembled most of the vents,  for the aft structure.  all that was left, was to glue the top pieces on.

as I was fishing out the parts for the second level structure,  I noticed that the third level structure,  assembled the same way.   so,  I put the ends together next.

but......hey!   why stop there?  ....assemble the sides,  and all that will be left to do,  will be the front and rear fascias!   rubber bands will keep everything in check. 

I cut a piece of planking to act as a spreader for the center....I may glue it in permanently later on.   the second level didn't need one...it has one built in.

the brackets for the paddle wheel were assembled next.   I made up the jig to get them squared away.

while they were drying,  the vents were trimmed and sanded.   by the time that was done,  I could do the same thing to the brackets.

the troughs were trimmed and sanded at this time,  and later cemented onto the first level structures.   I set 'em up at 10 mm off the floor...doesn't say anything in the instructions.

when dry,  I gave them a coat of poly urethane....I forgot it was a flat.   I did the same thing for the wheel brackets......yep,  no shine at all.   I'll decant some of the semi gloss lacquer later and give them another coat.

the wheel brackets are still wet.......dried flat like bone white..... Kinda like'm with a shine to them    ran into that problem with the beads again.......they want you to use them for door knobs.  I think they are kinda big....too big,  in fact.   I pulled out my bottle of beads that I use to make parrel straps and did a side by side comparison....the one on the right is the supplied bead.

I'll just pick out the smaller ones and go with that.   that done,  came the windows.  they show you a thatched window,  but all they supply is clear cello.  nawww, I'm good with that......I have that tinted window film for cars.  I'll just use that   

no need to be too fussy.......as long as they cover the opening.   later,  I'll dab the knobs with flat black,  to get rid of the brass color.   the doors were cemented in place.   these need to be in place,  so the structure can be cemented to the deck.


the gaps were still present here......the structure did not want to sit flat on the deck.   I sanded the center of the mating surface some,  and made sure the doors were flush......but there is just too much of a gap.  it will take a lot of pressure to get it to conform.  the first attempt was futile.......I even tried to weigh it down with one of the admiral's plants.  looked strange with a huge pot on top.....but even that wasn't enough.  I aborted the mission before the darn thing fell over!
   the next attempt worked.......I changed up on the glue.   instead of using white glue,  I used CA.   I took a warm damp cloth and wiped most of the white glue off the deck and the structure.   taking a rectangular piece of 1/4 plywood, which I'll square up later to make the stand...and some 1/2 triangular balsa,  I'll make the stand and get it off it's keel.   the balsa was cut to a pair of 12 inch strips,  and cemented to the plywood around 3 inches apart.   with the bottom / deck sitting on the new slip / stand,  the structure was cemented in place with the CA..........held in place by hand for what seemed like forever.  I gotta get some of those clamps........those would have been my salvation      releasing the pressure....the structure stayed fast.....looks a lot better than it did the first time   

the other structure was next........first off,  the doors needed to be given another coat of white.   too much ghosting.   while they were drying,  I had a look at what they suggest I make the door knob from.....an eye bolt and a ring.   don't like that.......I have just the thing coming     when I order the planking for the Nordkap,  I added a package of those stubby eye bolt thingies {I use them for hand railings}   those will be perfect.   I also have some antiqued brass rings,,,I think they might look better {note to self....look into that}.   another odd thing I see,  is what they show for hinges in the instructions,  are not what they supply in the kit.  I'll look into that too.....    another good thing.......the figures I ordered for her have been shipped.....and I got everything!  nothing was out of stock   

these are some of my eye bolts......even they look too big.  I could just say the heck with it and do up some knobs for them.   it's a thought process right now..... ...planning and scheming     icky mae!  

The next piece to glue is a difficult piece to position. 

 So I thought for a while and came up with something that should help. 
 I took a piece of a clothes pin and cut a slit in it with a razor saw. 

problem solved

Scharnhorst issue 34
 

 
More planking on the middle hull section. This issue teaches us about the difference behaviour of wood strips on a flat surface versus a curved one.

I could have sworn I took more pictures of the progress I've made these last couple of days.   I guess not     just as well since it's been a lot of cutting and sanding.   since the doors are too small...except for the forward structure,  I won't be doing the movable aspect.   the first thing done was to line the doors with walnut,  to create the door jams.

once they were lined,  they were trimmed and fitted into the door openings.

since I'm changing it up a notch,  it will continue with the doors,  which will be painted flat white.

the two feed troughs were assembled.   they need to be sanded now.

next were the vents that go to the aft structure.  the frames were cut,  and are beginning to be assembled.

I know I sound rushed........the admiral just called the supper is ready.   I'll be back if more progress is made      

So today oI stained the deckhouse with Tung oil. Here's a few picks of the deck with everything on it. With the UV glowlights above looks like a party boat

Thank you Patrick. I'm hoping the model is reasonably accurate but also from an artist's perspective I followed the techniques which got me to where it looks good. So here we are today I constructed more of the hatch and added the margin planks. Now have to do the other side.

I decided on gold thread to match the rest of the 'bling' !
 
One side done. I had forgotten just how tedious rat lines are. Also I have had to them very loose as the shrouds are not nearly as tight as I would have liked. Probably my fault for undoing the deadeyes so many times.
 
 

OK I lied !! Colour changed so please can I tie them off now ? 
 
What colour should I do the lovely ratlines that I am so looking forward to doing ?

(propeller: I know the parts are laying on my bench ... waiting, like you. to busy with intruding life and work)
 
Looks  good Mark MIKE. Usually they use a light colour on the lanyards, maybe not on this type of vessel. You start at the top deadeye, and end at the top as well, so you can fasten it to the riging above the deadeye

you nailed it!   they look great    some of the dead eyes aren't turned the right way......but if your happy with it,  that's fine.   if not....like Brian demonstrated,  the channel dead eye center hole should be pointed down and the shroud dead eye center hole should be pointed up.  the center lanyard rope is the longest.  just browse any number of sailing ship logs and you'll see what we mean.   I was going to tell you about the term 'leeboard',  but I figured some one would.  there are a couple of other names for them,  but that is the most common.  it also depends how they are installed. 

That looks really good!

CDW  I Asked myself the same question so I checked. Rigging line and a flag attaches to it. Here is a picture. 

I continue with the mast. First I finish up the piece I've been working on. 

now I lay out the 2 pieces together and adjust them till it's perfect. Then without dislodging it I just touch a drop of thin glue to the joints.  
 
 

Hi everyone. Thank you again for the great feedback. Update as of March its been too cold to head to the laser cutter and finish the last bits of the carronade so in the meantime been working on the Stackhouse. Here you see I've finished the sides started planking the top so this will be my first time planking w decking material. The little plugs are done using toothpicks dipped in a mix of oak stain and natural. They are a tad dark in the pics bit initially I made them much darker so still managing to get the mix right. I like having them somewhat pronounced but then I plan on applying some weathering to the deck in time. Also note the edge plank has a margin.
 
Im considering making thr skylight open from the sides not sure if this was historical or if I am embellishing but so far it looks neat.
 
Next is the rear hatch which I am in the process of constructing. Stay tuned and let me know what you all think

Been a busy week in the shipyard.   Figuring out how the heck I'm going to do the cannons and I think I'm on target.   I've looked over the details from Boudriot's The Seventy-fFur Gun Ship  (see picture) and after going "Holy cow!!! How in the h*** am I going to do that?" I took a deep breath and began analyzing things.  I think I can pull this off but there's a few bits I'm going to cheat on... like the hooks on the single block at the rear of the gun.  I'll use Dafi's etched brass hooks for those.. the 2.2mm size.  The singles I have are tiny and in scale to my eye as are the doubles on the front (they're actually maybe a tinge to large.  I've dug out the eyebolts and rings and found I can make the forward hook that's in the bulkhead from an eyebolt.  I went through assorted stock and found some of Chuck's line that will work perfectly.  My apologies, I didn't toss a dime into the parts for size but if you go back up a few posts, you can see the carriages with a dime for size.   Oh... I do have more parts than what's shown in the box as those will get me started.
 
Well, the road to hell is paved with good intentions and I've got a few good intentions.   Hopefully my sanity will stay where it is.   I'll update when I get a few guns done and installed providing my eyes aren't crossed by then.  Time to gather the yard dogs up and set up a production line.
 



 
 

The rudder is on and painted, the strange 'drift' things are done and on, the anchors are on, steps, cleats and cannon are on. The next stage - not my favourite - is to make all the yards, masts, spars etc.
 
 

good morning gents......on a chilly,  wet,  and potentially snow/slushy day {no snow yet......could very well come later}.   fairly big storm coming our way......so far just the rain and wind has moved in.   as mentioned,  I took a look at some images of river boats.   I found more modern vessels though,  and not older ones.  I must be real fussy.....I've found very few figures that reflect the period that I'm going for.  I may have to 'modern up' a bit,  so I can decide on what to get.  ...and yes,  white is the dominant color.
     
I even saw the American Queen,  which has four levels.......five counting the helm room.   these vessels very well could have been the early concept for the cruise ships we know of today.   bringing up a map of the Mississippi river and Louisiana,  I just scrolled around and picked a place at random........Little Woods seemed like a good place.  adjacent to the Bayou Sauvage,  and the New Orleans French quarters.   the name Eleanor 'Tipsy' La rue sticks in my mind,  an ex-New Orleans madam, tired of the Madi Gras scene,  gathered up a few friends and backers,  and bought an old boat........fixed it up and struck out on her own.
 
     I played around with the decals a bit more,  and with the aide of the admiral,  we decided on what will go to print.   once printed,  I though I'd line the edges with tape to keep the bonder from seeping into the paper.   some past decals were useless due to this,  but I think it might have been that the bonder caused the paper to curl.  it kept the paper flat,  lessening the chance of color runs {this can happen too}.

it was a good thing I printed two copies of the decals.........while removing the tape,  it latched onto the decal surface and tore the film,  ruining the third and fourth set of decals.  the bonder is shiny as well........to obtain a flat finish,  I'm trying a flat lacquer......I do have my doubts with it's survival rate using it.   
    we'll see what happens when I go to use them.   the deck and structures are dry now....each have gotten two coats......the deck with a semi gloss,  and the structures with a gloss.  I'm sure that when fully cured,  the sheen will die down to some degree.

the strip around the deck,  turned pretty much the same hue as the bottom.......glad about that     the deck sheen isn't too evident......a lot of it sucks into the deck.


in talking to Hugh about his kit,  his kit is older than mine......mine has a date on the box,  in the lower right hand corner....2015.   I'm not sure if others have experienced these problems with the ill fitting decks......mine seems to include the second level deck as well.  dry fitting the deck over the structures,  I'm beginning to wonder if I went the right direction with the adjustments on the main deck.

the front slot is on the tab of the forward structure......the slot at the rear is 1/16 aft of the slot.   if I were to have moved the front structure forward,  then the rear corners of the aft structure,  would have protruded past the rear second deck edge....not good.  using the front tab as the guide,  the deck sits over the rear structure correctly,  but leaves the slot and tab off.   I will need to trim the rear slot to fit.   I also wondered if this accounted for the alignment issues with the support poles,  when it comes time for the third deck level.  strange.........you bet it is   

there are some steps that need to be done before the deck can be installed.  I'll have time to ponder this new issue.

I wasnt going to post these 2 photos yet because its such little progress but I glued the 3 tiny pieces to one of the mast parts to prepare for tomorrow when I expect a good amount of progress. 
 

One Corel kit was enough. Terrible instructions, shoddy materials, inaccurate design.

since my last update I have not made as much progress as I would have liked; lack of time. As can be seen in the following picture I have started rigging the foresail and the topmast staysail. Note the black crocodile clip hanging forward of the foremast, I will come back to that later.

I assembled the foresail, the foresail boom and jib before adding them to the model. It was very easy to add this to the model. I just had to slot the pin on the boom into a couple of eye rings on the mast to make a swan neck and rig the jib throat and peak halyards. The pendant for the topping lift is rigged by a tackle to the main top the free end of which goes to a cleat on the mainmast.

The chain for self-reefing mechanism goes via a set of tackle attached to the topmast crosstrees and down to a cleat on the foremast. The triple block for the sheet is matched to a double block on the deck with the two free ends going to two cleats, one on each side.
 
I have rigged the topmast staysail, but only secured the lines that go to the foremast pin racks. The ones that go to the mainmast pin racks are still just hanging. Here I am having problems with the halyard. This passes through a block and down to a cleat near the deck on the mainmast. On the way down it rubs over everything in its path. I would have thought that if this was correct it would wear quickly. Conveniently both sets of plans show it coming through the block and then there is drawn an arrow and a number referencing the cleat.

I have also spent some time putting on coils of rope. I have two methods for this.
If it’s easy/accessible I leave enough line on the belay pin for the coil. Then I leave a short length and coil up the rest. I then use a crochet hook to reach through the coil, hook the short length, pull it through, give it a twist or two and loop it back over the belay pin. Then either a quick drop of CA or brush with dilute PVA, depending on how I feel. The other way is to leave a reasonable length of line and use a separate coil. Again I use the crochet hook and pull the line on the belay pin through the centre of the coil, give it a twist or two and loop it back over the belay pin. All the while holding onto the free end of the line which can be pulled to get the length of the loop correct. A quick drop of CA and snip off the excess line. For example the head sail downhauls. Two of these were done using the easy method, but the 3rd would just not go, so I used a separate coil. Just noticed the flap is up on one of the chain stoppers.

A couple of easy ones, one suspended and one Flemish coil.

Not all lines end in a coil, for example a sheet for the inner jib:

This is a sheet for the outer jib.

This is what I was trying to emulate above. Could not get the line to lie the same way.

Every time I look at this picture I think that is a dolphin poking its nose over the rail.
 
Some rope coils hang like this. This is very common in pictures of the real thing. Looking, I need to have another go at this, some of those coils are a bit wonky.

This shows the tackle for the topsail yard tie, the line of which passes through a block on the deck before being fixed to a pin.

The fully rigged topsail yard: at last. Those little white things were a bit fiddly, they are just little coils of paper. The lines that are not tight are, I think, the lifts. They only come into play when the yard is dropped to its lowest possible position. Other than that they just hang from the chains of the self reefing mechanism. The little paper bits are spaced evenly along the lifts and can move along the chains. A latter picture shows this on the real thing.

This shows the main yard. Remember that crocodile clip. That was clipped to where the blocks of the ‘Fortune’ sail (which I am not putting on the model) halyards are coupled together in the middle. The crocodile clip gave it a bit of weight while some dilute PVA I had brushed onto the lines set. Now I have removed the clip they are holding the shape I wanted.

The foresail jib, showing the rigging of the throat and peak halyards. The red bits are sleeving from electrical cable. It was fairly hard stuff and I could file a groove round the middle for a brass fitting to match the hook on the block. Sorry the blow up is a bit fuzzy. Tied a constrictor knot round the hook, added a frapping turn round the centre, tied it off with an overhand knot and a tiny touch of CA to finish.


One last picture, this time of the real thing. Thought I had better point that out. This picture is my guide for this part of the rigging. note the little white bits (they look a lot darker in this picture).

I think I have just spent more time composing this update than I have spent working on the ship since the last update. Something to think about.
 
Glenn
 
 
 

Today I just laid out the next step on the main mast. 

I lost yet another important piece. Inside The spot I circled where the 3 scribed pieces meet there is a piece that helps all 3 join together. I lost it though  my only chioce now is to just put an big ugly blob of glue there. 

sorry no actual progress was made today. 

Between breaks from CAD drawing I finished up all the chocks for the forecastle and stern mooring deck. I also made a display base for her to sit upon. Next I will work on the small boats, their cranes and davits. Still waiting to get images of the container deck structures and catwalks as well as the new propeller.

 

 

 
I have sent laser cut part files off for two projects so I will be waiting for parts to arrive. Now back to work.
 

I agree, very nice.

I agree, very nice.

Well, it took a lot of filing, some very careful whittling, a few minor modifications to the plans and now I have the front and sides of the rear cabin windows and all. There is still loads more bling to put on yet!! Sorry Gregory, my impatience got the better of me.
 
I don't think it shows on these pictures but I have been very brave and drilled out and decorated the gun ports as well.