Cathead

Hi Bruce.   MAGNIFICENT.  I've not forgotten about you, Diane has had a number of strokes over the last few months and I've been dealing with that, she is currently in the hospital.  It is such a rewarding experience finishing this model.  Congratulations on one of the few Morgan's ever finished.  Bask in the glory my friend, it is well deserved.  I still marvel over mine in the fact that I actually built it and was able to bring the whole thing to fruition.  The boats actually turned out to be one of most fun parts of the build for me and as with you it started after the initial hulls were made.  I couldn't hardly stop myself with the details.  Well done and keep in touch.  MAGNIFICENT is my best way to describe her.  I'm currently building the Niagara as it is another ship that I have been aboard a few times.  Enjoy your next build and let us know what it will be.
Take care my friend, and may your next one be as great as this one.
John

I finished the Morgan today!
Put up the last two whaleboats, added some rope coils to the cleated lift lines, and did a small bit of touch up painting. It really is a very busy model, and especially so with any added detailing.
I'll take comprehensive pictures once I set up some good lighting and a backdrop and post them in the gallery.
 
Now I need to decide on the next project, with the following on my shelf: Confederacy, Gunboat Philadelphia, Mortar Vessel Granado, Echo X-section, and English Pinnace (oof - how did I collect this much stuff while building the Morgan?)
I have an empty full size case since I gave away a Victory model I bought but did not build into which the Morgan will go so the case I got for the Morgan is empty. Which argues for the Granado or Philadelphia, but the x-section is muttering to me from its shelf.
 
I'll just bask in finishedness for a bit and decide later.
 

I have one of these to do in 1:36 scale yet, for Constellation's launch.  I was thinking of doing it in styrene, I tend to not burn my fingers so much working in plastic.
 

Hi Carl
 
YES, was a bit easier than I thought.
Now the endcaps for the axels are soldered, and the whole thing is painted flat black. The blackening fluid did not work on the soldered spots, so I had to use paint instead.
 
I wanted to have the wheels moving, so I had to use baking paper between the endcaps and the wheel, and the same behind the wheels to the carriage.

 
The finished carriage, beneath that lies the boat carriage

 
Just the elevator screw missing, this little part will be set to the carriage with 5-min. epoxi. Soldering would not be good at that place, I`m in fear that the whole carriage would break into parts from the heat!
 
Regards, and thank you all for watching!
Gerhard

I'm just catching up with you here, and those are some great photos you've shared in the past few posts. I really liked the one laying out all the different blocks: daunting but fascinating. And your explanation of the topmast's shape and fitting was really interesting and educational. Thanks.

I use either a piece of plywood or foam core board. Both are easy to move around and plans can be taped or clipped to them. I lean the plans against the wall behind my desk or place them on the floor, depending on how I'm using them. I'm very cramped for space and this works fine. If I had more space, I like Kurt's approach.

I use either a piece of plywood or foam core board. Both are easy to move around and plans can be taped or clipped to them. I lean the plans against the wall behind my desk or place them on the floor, depending on how I'm using them. I'm very cramped for space and this works fine. If I had more space, I like Kurt's approach.

I use either a piece of plywood or foam core board. Both are easy to move around and plans can be taped or clipped to them. I lean the plans against the wall behind my desk or place them on the floor, depending on how I'm using them. I'm very cramped for space and this works fine. If I had more space, I like Kurt's approach.

I picked up a cheap and not at all sturdy drafting board with an adjustable top (for the angle-no height adjustment) at a garage sale - but these things are available at any office supply store.  I put it in the upright position and depending on the plan size I either attach the plans directly to the top or to a larger piece of foam core.  I can keep it right near the workbench and move it as needed.
Kurt

I realized ive been a bit of slacker updating the log and have to take some more pics of its current state.  Here are some pics from a couple weeks ago when just the foremast was complete.  I have since completed the main mast and most od mizzen mast and will add thise pics tonight.  The display case is mostly done also, including the LED lighting.  Some lessons learned there regarding adhesive.
 
 

I received the needed strip wood from Model Expo.  They are really great at supplying missing or broken parts.  Now waiting for the red paint to dry so that I can finish the paddle wheel. In the meantime I've started rigging the front boom.  The lines are very fine and don't show up well in the photo.

Hi Pat
Thank you again
And many thanks too for all watching, hit the button, or just enjoying it!
 
The next step I made were the front wheels, just to make some progress. 
I printed 2 sheets of the scaled carriage for each wheel, glued them to 2 mm balsa wood, and cut the spoked part out from one of them. The inner and outer radius was then sanded to correct size.

 
Then I drilled 3mm holes to the centers of both parts, and glued them together to create the form

 
Then I cut grooves for the spokes

 
As next I made a ring from 1mm brass sheet, 2mm high, and layed it into the form. The 1mm was a bit too thick, so I used 0,5mm sheet later!

 
Some spokes are set to the ring, and a piece of 3mm and 2mm brass tube into the center, the inner 2mm tube is around 1mm longer.

 
First test wheel, a bit too thick I think!

The carriage with new wheels from 0,5mm sheet, barrel still not mounted

There are still 2 parts missing, the endcaps for the axels. I will make them from 2mm brass tube, 1mm logn, and solder them to the axels.
 
Regards, and thank you for you interest!
 
Gerhard
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Bruce,
 
I don't think that any members have mentioned how amazing those whaleboats are (:-) (;-)
Awesome indeed - rare to see such detailed work in such a small scale. 
 
Cheers,

I think it's hard to do unto others as we'd have them do unto us. It's hard for me not to see Likes as somehow lesser than a written comment, yet my personality really struggles with writing lots of generic "Looks nice" posts if I don't have something specific to say, and so I work hard to remind myself that a Like is a completely legitimate response. Also, sometimes nobody knows the answer to your question. I know I've felt bad about not responding to a question in a build log before, but if I don't feel I can add anything helpful, it doesn't feel right to take up space saying "Beats me".
 
Finally, I struggle to decide where the line between constructive criticism and nitpicking is. We all have different standards for "good enough" and photos can often be very unforgiving, so I don't know how or when to point something that looks wrong to me but the builder might be fine with. I'm also not such a good builder that I'm always comfortable attempting to critique others' work, and I'm sure I'm not alone in that regard. It's a difficult situation to parse.
 
This also goes back to the tension between the two roles of build logs: as a live community experience of a model's progress, and as an archive of the work that was done. In the former role, lots of comments are welcome and even psychologically beneficial. In the latter, lots of comments are a PITA, as anyone reading through a past log has to wade through lots of irrelevant content. The only other online forum I frequent (a baseball site) has the opposite problem: all comments are essentially live-streamed (they aren't numbered and tagged as at MSW), making it really easy and fun to interact with people but nearly impossible to find past content again. Neither approach is perfect.

One thing Ive seen over and over, within this forum and in others, is that many common questions arise that typically already answered at length in other places.  Any trip to another forum and you will see that asking a question like this normally is immediately followed by some snark comment about you not doing any due dilligence or research.   One thing Ive always appreciated about this forum is that despite some builders clearly not bothering to read other logs, they STILL get lenthy anwers and help from some of the same people whom I know have answered that same question a half-dozen times or more...  so really, I see nothing wrong with how anybody does anything around here.   This forum is already far better than many others...   no complaints at all. 
 
For me, I often totally forget the like button, and actually regret not utilizing it more just to let others know that the work they put into their logs is appreciated, is being read and is still worth doing.   As a relative newb, I rarely have anything useful to add, so try to remember that many of the likes your getting might be from folks not nessesarily ingoring your question, but maybe just are not able to answer it (or if like me, like your question because they themselves have the same one...).  
 
Plus, who am I to critisize your work?  An interesting phenomenom I noticed having read (I think) almost every Longboat build log is that the same people will comment "beautiful job" and "clean work" even though clearly one builder is light years better or cleaner.   To me this is not a dishonestly but rather quite helpful, not only to the builder but also to the continued interest and growth of the hobby.   Truly good criticism comes across in a way that is hard to distinguish, and I personally appreciate the subtlety and the respect people of all skill levels within this particular community show to each other.  
 
Honestly...  this is without a doubt one of the best forums I have ever been lucky enough to discover.   No ego's, clean language, genuine interest in the work and best of all: lots of help....

Eric has hit the problem on the nail head.  Many of us still have real jobs and we all have real lives.  Sometimes I am unable to do serious  post reading for a week at a time.  By then, there is little incentive to add  to the thread.  Also, with limited time to dedicate to the hobby,  I have select areas that I read w/i MSW.  For example, I rarely look at the kit builds and shore leave.  

Big moment.
The whaleboats are finished with the content they will have when mounted - oars, spars/sail wrap, and paddles.
Next is to retrieve the Morgan from her case in the living room and mount the boats, hopefully without snapping a davit for the umpteenth time.
So close to done now I can taste it, but will have to wait as we have a week in Napa coming up.
Thanks to all for the comments and likes on the boats. The effort to have the details match the work on the mother ship was really worth it, and was quite fun once the hull carving was completed.
My advice to all Morgan builders - use work on the whaleboats as a break from the main construction so that only the fun stuff remains at the end.
 

There is a heck of a lot of scratch work involved in the Morgan build. 
I've learned a lot in the 3+ years I've been working on it. 
The best decision was to fabricate the rendering furnace from individual "bricks". There's a PDF around the site somewhere with useful instructions. 
Took a while but the appearance is really worth it. Working on oars now - drawing 1/32 square boxwood strips through Modelworks drawplate down to scale width. Works a treat. I can even create the handle on these little tiny dowels by carefully working the end for 1/8 inch into 4-5 smaller yet drawplate holes. 

Whaleboats are done. I've had to stop myself from adding a few more details that don't really add anything to the visual impact of these, and I'm declaring victory!
I've put the boats aside to begin working on oars, probably paddle sets, and the spars/sail bundles. I haven't put the eyes for hanging on yet, as I want to make certain the lines hang straight down from the davits, so will customize them for each specific boat's place. It looks like there may be a few mm variability.
Final boat photos below (25 cent piece for scale)
 
 

The whaleboats are now done except for the rudders. Today finished the rigging of the steering oar braces, added the steering oar rests, two cleats inside rail aft, and did some touch-up.
I'm not sure if I'll give the boats a coat of white (below the rubbing strips) since I kind of like the weathered and beaten look of the primer coat.
Tomorrow, detailing the rudders and deciding on the rigging of the 2 lines that suspend them in the stored position.
 

Thanks for the comments and likes.
I'm having a lot of fun now with these whaleboats. Just how much detail can I cram in? Referring frequently to the plans for the MS New Bedford Whaleboat, with occasional simplification in deference to the scale.
Painted the boats. Added (25) oarlock supports, and made 25 oarlocks out of 28 gauge black covered copper wire by twisting it around a small drill, adding a drop of CA to keep it from unraveling, and clipping off the top of the loop, and trimming the stem. Added them to the oarlock supports in pre-drilled holes. They look good and in scale. A touch of black paint to hide the copper where clipped.
Now I'm adding the steering oar support, which is actually a bit complicated as the rope goes thru the stem (which I had to build up to be big enough for a transverse hole) and has a small closed loop at the end. The loop is attached to a lanyard which ties off on a cleat on the lion's tongue aft of the loggerhead to allow the loop around the oar to be tightened. Will post more pictures when that is done.
Next up will be the (suspended in storage position) rudders, which also require either one or two (depending on how compulsive I feel) lines. I have cut and painted the rudders, but not added gudgens and pintels yet.
Approaching the end of the boats themselves - probably another week. Only additional detail will be a steering oar rest on the port rail of each boat.
Then I start making oars and sails wrapped around spars.
After review of the literature, and some opinions from experts here, I will not be adding the stuff that wasn't put in the boats until they were getting ready to launch them, including line tubs, implements, casks, etc.

I'm just catching up with you here, and those are some great photos you've shared in the past few posts. I really liked the one laying out all the different blocks: daunting but fascinating. And your explanation of the topmast's shape and fitting was really interesting and educational. Thanks.

I think the unfortunate reality is that this forum has far more questions and topics than everyone can keep up with, especially those with the knowledge to answer every question. Sometimes the person you need is busy; not everyone checks the forum every day or even every week, and it's easy to miss a given question or topic for a little while. There's a real tension between the immediate need of the modeller for an answer, and the delayed response time of other forum members who aren't necessarily on the same schedule. I certainly can't keep up with everything that's happening on here.
 
I'm in central Missouri, a bit north of the river.

First I would like to thank everyone who has liked any of my postings and thanks also to Popeye for the comment, I have been keeping an eye on your Jolly Roger.
 
The part I have been waiting for, for my ropewalk, finally arrived, so I have completed making that.
 
I started by remaking the spinning end. This was because in my first version I used a chain to drive everything, which would have enabled me to incorporate as many whorls as required. Metal ropes have 6 or more strands, as well as usually having a central core. At present the new version has 3 whorls but I may incorporate more later. The principal reason for this change is that the chain drive was very noisy.
 
This is a side view. Some people may recognise that it is made of Meccano. The motor has a six speed gearbox. It is also possible to adjust the speed by varying the voltage applied to the motor. Not shown in the picture is my 0-30V 2.5A adjustable DC power supply. Sorry this is a bit out of focus.

Here is another view, more from the front. As can be seen the strands are just held by clips. I need to screw this whole thing onto a baseboard to give it a bit more mass.

This view shows the looper and the top or topper.

The looper is free to move backwards and forwards. Required as the distance between this and the whorls will change as the rope is made. The twisted rope will be about 2/3 the length of the individual strands. This is restrained by a rope at the back with a weight attached to the end which hangs over the end of the bench. Through experiment I have found that when making rope from 3 strands of cotton about 1oz/30g is required.
 
The top is a simple design made out of cardboard. This design requires me to walk it down the rope as the rope is made. The advantage of this is that the whorls and the looper can be as far apart as convenient and there in no requirement for a table or anything in-between. The disadvantage is that the formation of the rope does not automatically push the topper towards the whorls as the rope is formed. With this setup the length of rope that can be made is limited by how far the looper can move, which is the same as how far the weight can move before it reaches the top of the bench. This distance can be increased by suspending the weight with tackle.
 
The ball bearing fishing swivel that I was waiting for is the little bit connecting the strands to the looper.
 
The next two pictures show some rope being made. I set it up to make about 2 feet of rope from some white cotton, with 1 yarn in each strand; so I could take some pictures. As the original yarn was Z-laid, the rope made is S-laid.

While I was writing this I stumbled upon an interesting fact. The weight of the rigging on a 1st rate ship was about 78.5 tons or 71,000kg.
 
As I had the Meccano out, I also made a serving machine. This is my first version. I took some rope made from grey cotton, to represent rope made from wire, that I had made previously using the ropewalk. I first used this machine to do a seizing to fit an eye pin to the end of the rope. I then did a small length of serving, to see how well I could do that using the machine. There was no problem performing either of these operations using the machine.


Though some improvements I make will be:
To add another rod for the bobbin holding the serving cotton, in front of and below the rope to be served. This will be held so it can rotate easily but not totally freely as it can at present. To add another bobbin to hold the rest of the rope being worked on. This will go on one of the short axels that hold the working rope. It might require one on each side. Retain the working rope with something better than the currently used clips. I will have to see what I can find/make. Unfortunately I do not possess photography equipment that will take better close ups than those shown so cannot properly show the rope I have made.
 
During this period I have had little time for modelling. However as I have been playing around with rigging cord after I finished the above I decided to add the wooden battens that are attached to the futtock shrouds on the fore mast. There are 2 on each side. I did the upper one first using a square lashing. I did 2 lashing turns followed by 1 frapping turn. Looking at these I thought the knots looked too large, so on the second lower 1 I only used 1 lashing turn. The knots look a lot better. I do not think the difference shows up as well in the picture. The frapping turn was essential to get a tight knot. I applied a small drop of CA before cutting off the hanging threads.

I will cut the upper one off and redo it, then do the other side. There are no ratlines on this ship only wooden battens. Hopefully I will find more time now. I want to get to the position where I am confident that I can fit the foremast without having anything left to do which requires turning the model upside down. I think it will be easier fitting the foremast before fitting the cabin that goes directly aft of it. That also means doing everything I can to the foremast before I fit it.
 
Glenn