UpstateNY

This wooden boat hobby has changed my definitions of what is a 'productive day', as the time frame for finishing a project is so long.  I consider today to be a productive day, and I may actually go back and do more before it's over.
 
First I finished up the rest of the guns, and did some touch up painting on all of them.

 
Next I tackled the rudder.  I completely forgot to take any pictures of this in progress, but it starts out as a laser cut walnut piece with no taper.  To make it into a proper rudder, first it has to be tapered front to rear (it's about 1/2 the thickness along the back edge as it is at the front), and rounded at the front.  Then the lines have to be measured out and etched.  This is to simulate the fact that a real rudder wasn't a single piece of wood, it's built up out of multiple timbers.  In this case 4 pieces.   Next I have to cut recesses for the pintles.  This was accomplished with a very sharp, small chisel.

 
Next up, I got to learn something new!  Soldering.  I've soldered a lot of electronics before, but by before I mean 30+ years ago.  Soldering brass using flux, silver solder, and a torch is all new, but for my first effort I think it came out ok. 
 
I made the pintle - brass pin soldered to the strap that will go into that recess I cut into the rudder.

 
The plans make the gudgeon (the strap that the pintles drop into on the ship side) by simply using the brass strap, and letting the pintle drop into it.  I decided to solder a tiny brass tube onto the gudgeon to make them work like a real one would. 

 
Tthe pintle is too long currently, it will be trimmed later.

 
Now i just need to make two more sets of pintles and gudgeons, but my eyes are bugging me so not sure I'll get back to it today or not.

Thanks for the access Chuck!
 
I have many happy hours of plan reading in front of me!  
 
Thanks for the welcome Pete!
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.

Hi All,
  I’ve decided to try and build the Triton cross section after seeing all your great builds. I love seeing all the exposed framing details and so just have to try this build myself. I am also hoping making this cross section will help me do a better job on the Confederacy which will be my next full build.   I am using boxwood for the main structural components and my thanks to Jason at Crown Timberyard for the gorgeous boxwood he just milled for me. I plan to use swiss pear for all the planking, holly for the decking and perhaps walnut for all the deck furniture. I hope these choices will make for a nice paint with wood look once finished.    My keel, false keel and keelson images are below. I’ve made them much longer than the plans call for as I want to follow Raymond’s lead (see link below to his beautiful build) and add the main mast and yards with their standing rigging. This will allow me to gain some much needed rigging skills as I also plan to fully rig my Confederacy. You can also see the small copper tool I made to shape the notch in the keel after I started the slot using a small wood saw.   Hope some of you can follow along and help keep me out of too much trouble! Just don’t expect a fast build please!    Moderators, may I have access to the rest of the plans please?    Cheers,   Nigel.   Link to Raymond's rigged cross section: http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/5545-hms-triton-148-scale-cross-section-complete)       

Hi All,
  I’ve decided to try and build the Triton cross section after seeing all your great builds. I love seeing all the exposed framing details and so just have to try this build myself. I am also hoping making this cross section will help me do a better job on the Confederacy which will be my next full build.   I am using boxwood for the main structural components and my thanks to Jason at Crown Timberyard for the gorgeous boxwood he just milled for me. I plan to use swiss pear for all the planking, holly for the decking and perhaps walnut for all the deck furniture. I hope these choices will make for a nice paint with wood look once finished.    My keel, false keel and keelson images are below. I’ve made them much longer than the plans call for as I want to follow Raymond’s lead (see link below to his beautiful build) and add the main mast and yards with their standing rigging. This will allow me to gain some much needed rigging skills as I also plan to fully rig my Confederacy. You can also see the small copper tool I made to shape the notch in the keel after I started the slot using a small wood saw.   Hope some of you can follow along and help keep me out of too much trouble! Just don’t expect a fast build please!    Moderators, may I have access to the rest of the plans please?    Cheers,   Nigel.   Link to Raymond's rigged cross section: http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/5545-hms-triton-148-scale-cross-section-complete)       

So first question of the day: Is it a gunwale or a rail cap? Thanks to everyone for the likes.
 
So the crew took a bite at the clamp (Q2: Is this also the correct term?) and decided to make it one big piece. So Woodie and Red made a template of the bulwark and used that to make the clamp(5 pieces laminated).

 
Once they were dry, the crew trimmed most of the bulk off before glueing to the top of the frames. Now don't be haters, Harry decided to return to the CA for this part. The reason for this was because he needed the clamp to give strength to the entire bulwark.

 
Finally, Woodie and Red directed the sanding: flush to the planking on one side, and flush to the framing on the inside. Now that everything is boxed in, it is really sturdy.

 
The work continues today with the crafting of the clamp on the raised stern deck.
 
This is the image that raises my questions.

Thanks CaptainSteve, Crackers, Ken and Boyd for your words of favor.
 
As for the finishes Boyd, I'm a big fan of Minwax and Murray's pure Australian beeswax. There are, in my belief, pros and cons for any finishes. What I like best with Minwax is you can use multiple colors of stain to gives nice depth to the wood. It ends up with a matte finish but you can put the beeswax on at the end and buff it to a desired shine.
 
On this build, up til now, I've been using a natural stain. This coat I used Early American which is not too dark. Because of the previous natural staining, colors don't soak in as much, this I like. It's easier to darken wood than to lighten it. I will most likely scrape off a good amount, leaving the cracks and crevices alone. This give it an aged look, which again, is personal preference.
 
I've used the straight beeswax on a lot of previous projects that weren't as delicate as these ships. It takes a bit of rubbing to get it deeper into the wood, so I only use it in places that are strong enough to work like the decking and planking.
 
I would suggest getting several pieces of scrap wood and experiment away. Varying the amount of sanding and length of time when applying can give you a nice variety with the same color. Check out how Buck finished his whaleboat for a different approach. Also a hard finish is easily dusted off, where a soft wax finish seems to attract dust.
 
With experimenting you'll be able to find a process that works for you. As many people are in this forum, there are as many ways to finish. Happy experimenting! Hope this is of any help and feel free to ask for any refinements that I may have skipped over.

Thanks for the comments and likes!  SalD - I will be taking most of my vacation this year by going to the conference at Mystic.  Really looking forward to that.  In the mean time, I'll take a few days off here and there.
 
The learning trials of ship-building continue.  Each little gun carriage gets 5 eye-bolts, which means I have to drill 5 little tiny holes (#78 drill).  I started with a pin-vise and I discovered rapidly that the boxwood which these carriages are made out of is a LOT harder than the basswood I've been drilling before, and it took 10 minutes to drill one hole through the side of a carriage, and I had 29 more holes to drill.  Ugh.  Then a lightbulb went off and I remembered that Mahuna had gotten me this really awesome collection of little drill-bits that were very sharp but needed to be used in a press, since they are very hard/brittle.  Well, I don't have a drill press yet, but I did just recently get a little Proxxon mill, so I chucked up the #78 bit, and then clamped the first carriage in the tool-bed vise.   So awesome, got the 29 holes done in less time than the first one, and they are much more precisely located than they would have been.

 
Next up, I cut down the eye-bolts and glued 3 of them into each carriage.  The other two for each carriage get a ring that the breech line will go through later on when they are rigged to the deck.  These eye-bolts and rings are tiny and I ended up doing all this work wearing an optivisor magnifier thing.

 
I assembled all of the rings to their eye-bolts and used a tiny drop of CA glue to join the ends of the ring.  Probably didn't need to do that.  Then I decided to just finish one gun assembly because I wanted to see it done.  I used very small strips of manila folder to form the trunion caps.  These were supposed to be made out of brass, but I made both brass and the paper ones, and the paper look better as I can't seem to get a nice smooth curve out of brass at this small scale.  I put in the eye-bolt / rings on each side, added a handle to the quoin, and painted the rims of the wheels black to simulate iron bands.  I was planning to add some more bolts and other details, like the retaining pins on each axle, but these things are so small that I decided I wasn't up to the task, so I think this is how the guns will all be completed, other than some clean up and touch up painting later on.  

 
The paint looks really rough zoomed in this close, but even 6" away with my naked eye it looks smooth.  Macro photography is both a blessing and a curse.

Welcome to the build, I will be following along, sounds like it will be an interesting build

The anchors have been made and mounted. That leaves only the lantern  ( I've pretty much decided not to do another boat).
 
The anchors and their stocks were all made from boxwood strip, with the anchors painted black and the stocks finished with Wipe-on Poly. The bands on the stocks are black painted paper. The bouys were shaped  from walnut dowel. 
 
I found a Caldercraft lantern that hopefully will be suitable, and I am awaiting it's arrival from Cornwall Model Boats. 
 
Bob

I'll reserve that scene to something along the lines of Idle daydream,  Nenad 
 
I couldn't have guessed any better Nigel.....I measured those two pieces,  and they are exactly 1 inch!   the railings are going to be a task.......they are in tiny sections!   I guess I can feel lucky that they molded quite a bit of detail into the deck parts.........I'd need more that my optivisor to cement them in place!  I'm glad you like the deck color......very glad I did the 'about face' and changed it 
 
well Ben......I thank you anyway    I've seen so many pictures already.  I'm not a big Titanic junkie,  but I find the history and the story about her very interesting.  should I ever get the chance to build a larger scale model of her......I'll be sure to look that book up!  if you find any other points  that might be doable,  give me a holler     I'll see if I can comply 

Hi Popeye,
 
If those chains are only an inch long, then goodness knows how small some of the other parts are! Hope you have your microscope at the ready!
 
She is looking good and I really like how the deck color came out.
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.

Hi Popeye,
 
If those chains are only an inch long, then goodness knows how small some of the other parts are! Hope you have your microscope at the ready!
 
She is looking good and I really like how the deck color came out.
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.

Hi Popeye,
 
If those chains are only an inch long, then goodness knows how small some of the other parts are! Hope you have your microscope at the ready!
 
She is looking good and I really like how the deck color came out.
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.

Hi Popeye,
 
If those chains are only an inch long, then goodness knows how small some of the other parts are! Hope you have your microscope at the ready!
 
She is looking good and I really like how the deck color came out.
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.

Thank you George, Boyd, CaptainSteve, Buck, Ken and to everyone for the KOs on the like button. (Ken, I have a feeling that these squirrels may have captured a parrot and only taught it, "Aawk, splice the mainbrace, Aawk!")
 
After checking in on Harry, I headed over to see how Woodie and Red were working out. At first, they thought there may be trouble, but to their shagreen, the men were getting along famously. Turns out, the Bawlz Clan were excellent singers of the Blues. This helped raise the morale since the Nutz Clan had been sanding and waxing wood for weeks.
 
Harry drew up more plans of raised stern deck, and working together, the clans joined forces to finish the work...
 

...and to all follow up with waxing of all the wood on the deck level.

As promised, pulled out a couple books that I thought would have the info, and snapped some pictures.
 
The chains come up through the hawse pipes, aft along the races, around the capstans, and then make an immediate 90 degree turn down into the chain locker. See the attached pictures; they are taken from "Titanic: A Model Maker's Manual" by Peter Davies-Garner, and "Titanic: The Ship Magnificent Volume 1: Design and Construction" by Bruce Beveridge et. al.
 
Hopefully these pictures get you what you are looking for.
 

thanks Augie,  Mark, and George.  I'm finding it quite a challenge to enhance this kit.  with all challenges,  there is a solution.   I will try    thank you!
 
thanks Sam......Have you ever had a kit where the plastic seemed soft.....or peel off in layers when you tried to shape the parts?  raw styrene is actually tough to bend......breaks before you can get any kind of bend in it.  any addition to the mix will cause it to lose it's brittleness and become more flexible.  for this kit,  there are probably 6 to 8 molds to make all the sprue panels.  I'm sure that the planning for the sprues is done by computer.....logic has nothing to do with it.
    in the instance of wood kits,  looking at the arrangement of the parts panels in the instructions........but the actual parts panels have a different arrangement.  I have seen this with Billing's kits.  all I can say is........at least I have the parts
 
thank you Ben.......I have not seen that picture.   before I even got this kit,  I watched just about every you tube vid on the Titanic and her sinking.  that is my question.....comes through the hawse holes.....runs back along the guides,  to the capstans.......but where does it go from there?  I'll show you what I have to work with.....very sad.
     the chain supplied in the kit is two plastic parts,  about an inch or so long....
 

 
I have the two outer capstans in place at the moment.....there are two smaller ones that will sit on those square platforms that the guides lead up to.
 

 
if those capstans were in place,  the chain would wrap around it from the inside,  and out towards the bow again.  I
wonder if there was a sort of chain gate that they  went into,  leading below the foredeck
 

 
we happen to have the movie.......I can't believe you said that Nenad.........ignore all that gooey,  kissy face stuff!  why...... it's the spice!          there has been some debate though about how the ship was 'on set'.....mostly concerning color, believe it or not!   even historians and experts have been baffled as to what the correct colors were...."White Star Buff"  is the most controversial color.  I appreciate the help Ben....if you do come across some pictures,  I'd love to see them.
 
as for you Nenad........I have Monday and the rest of the week off,  this coming week.  we'll set our watches,  make some popcorn.......and watch the movie together.  first one that cries........buys lunch!    is that a deal?   
 
I didn't get anything done today.....got tied up with 'home work'.   I'm going to go review some you tube vids.   I'll have an update soon.  thanks for the kind words and to those who  looked in 
 
 
 

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words...
 

 
Finished the 'stuff next to the thickstuff' and added the proposed filler pieces on one half of the ship (between the limber strake and keelson).  These pieces are not glued.  The one piece missing is where the pump is located.
 
Next up is the regular planks in the tween spaces and ponder the filling pieces in the meanwhile.
 
Mark
 

Thanks for all the likes and words of confidence.  This is just something I have to learn to live with, probably won't be my last!
 
Focused on getting the thickstuff in the hold.  With all the work to define where the futtock joins are (and thus the thickstuff placement) I am a lot happier with the result than the first go round.
 


 
Next up is to use add the adjoining layer (3/32" basswood) next to the thick stuff (1/8" basswood).  Regular planks will be with 1/16" basswood.  I should have the lower hold buttoned up within two weeks.  The exterior hull will also be totally planked.
 
Sure feels good when you cut something for one side of the build and it also fits perfectly on the opposite side.
 
Stay Building my Friends,
Mark

Just a quick update on the top mast crosstrees on how I made and detailed the carriage bolt heads using yellow glue. I add just a drop of glue using the tip of a T-pin. The metal strips are drilled to form a cavity for the glue to set into. Glue drops shrink as they dry some more glue can be added to form the desired head shape. Once satisfied with all, they are primed with light coats.
Also holes are drilled in the ends before being primed and are hardened by adding CA to the holes, once dried the holes are then re-drilled to assure they are opened. This will minimize tear out when being rigged later.
 
This shows the process before being primed. Some are well formed and a couple will be touched up.
 

 
Ken

ohhhhh wait.....what about those chrome parts I've been soaking?  well.....I checked them,  and they look ready.   so, I brought them all to the kitchen counter and set up the plastic bags again.   pulling them out one by one and scrubbing them with the stiff brush,  they cleaned off well enough to be thrown in the tub of soapy water.  when I was done,  everything was triple bagged and thrown in the trash.   the parts are tiny......I used a strainer to rinse them off after washing.
 

 
when they were dried off.....this is what they look like now.   I used a dime for reference.
 

 
the A deck when I turned it over.........
 

 
some assembly was done to the fore deck......four of the capstans and two of the hold covers.   I'm kinda miffed about the hold covers.   clear parts are nothing but pure styrene......the hardness hasn't been compromised by the addition of color pigment or additives.  even though I took care to get them off the sprue,  marks can still be seen.
 

 
...and of course,  the A deck with all the clamps off of it
 

 
there are some small part to go on there yet........then I can get going on the boat deck.   I will continue with the fore deck, and begin work on the stern.   the fore deck has two lengths of chain {plastic} that needs to go on there........I want to sub in a couple pieces of actual chain.   I have been looking for a good picture of the chain routing.........if anyone has one,  I'd be pleased to see it.......can't find one out there,  anywhere!   {so far....anyway} 

I may be able to help you with the routing of the chain on the foredeck; I have several books that I can look at that should have that information.
 
You might also consider not looking for plans, but looking at photos of the wreck. The bow is one of the most photographed parts of the wreck, and the anchors and chains are still in place (or at least they were when most of the pictures were taken). There is an amazing overhead mosaic of the bow section taken by the towed camera sled ARGO from when Ballard discovered it in 1985 - when it was still in pristine condition, unseen or untouched for over 70 years.
 
I did a little digging for images, and this one is (1) a neat picture, and (2) shows roughly the routing of the chains.
 

 
But I will try to find something more 'official' when I get back to my bookshelf later today.
 

HI Brian,
 
Cannons look great and seem to fit really well.
 
Hope things are calming down for you at work now. 
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.

Really enjoying your build Popeye. Great stuff and amazing attention to detail with all your care in matching the paint colors.
 
This level of kit is certainly in a completely different league than the old Airifx kits I remember. Detail level is really impressive.
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.

awe.......housework has taken priority now that the warm weather has arrived up north here.....have to hold off a bit.....the lady of the house has a lot of to do's to do ................hope things will slow down soon, so i can get back to gun rigging........