mrshanks

Thanks for all the comments and "likes" guys!
 
I'm working on the chainplates right now, making them out of 20 gauge copper wire.  The blackening with Pewter Black is slower with the copper than it is with brass.  I'm having to go back 2 or three times to get the effect I want.  The Jax product is pretty cheap ($22 for 16 ounces, as opposed to about $7 for 3 ounces of Birchwood-Casey) so I'm not worried about going broke!  I haven't purchased the cleaning solution, but I'll order some today and see how it affects the blackening of the copper.
 
John:  I just drilled a hole through the front axle and used one of the famous "yellow nails" as the pin.  Use the pin to pierce the deck and drill another hole in the deck ( #71 drill).  Epoxy the pin in place before mounting the cannon.  Put a little epoxy on the tip of the pin and slide it into the hole you drilled on the deck.  It will hold the carriage in place and be invisible

Mr. DocBlake,
I just have to say ... this is an excellent work ...
 
Zoran

Doc or Brian,
 
Do you use the metal cleaner first? I have used JAX with mixed results and crusting. Is that because I did not use the chemical cleaner you mention first? Once clean, what are the ranges of time that you use for JAX application?
 
Doc, your work continues to be stunning. I wish I had a sense of wood colors similar to yours. Are you able to produce a picture of your cannon axle pins to the deck? The axles and wheels are soooooo small .  .  .  .
 
Respectfully,
John

Hi Dave,
That is one gorgeous model. Bob's design is first rate and your building is exemplary.
 
I'm anxious to try this Jax Pewter Black, and I discovered I can buy it in Toronto! I had been using gun bluing but it isn't very satisfactory - it tends to rub off and just makes a mess of everything, (well actually, mostly my fingers, which in turn make a mess of everything) so I've been painting things black instead. I'll get some ordered today.
David

work and life have kept me from working on the swift for some time.  I finally spared  a couple of hours to do some work.  I finished off my timberheads, and cut out new gunnels from the big piece of sapele plywood I made before.  Now that they are glued, i'll need to do some more sanding/trimming, etc. of course.  Hopefully that won't be very long.

Looking real good, amazing what a coat of poly will do for a ship

The poly really makes the wood come alive. Nice job.   Although I switched out a lot of the wood for my Swift build, I used the stock hull planking.  It really is quite nice after a couple of coats of poly!

Aye probably why these ships had 100% desertion rate (thats what the books say at least). Essentially they were seen as horrible cramped death traps only one had a long standing captain.

Wild guess, but I would be surprised if they didn't rig ropes when rough weather was expected.

Yeah, that makes sense, Charlie.  Yet you'd think they'd rig up some removable guard rail where the cargo holds were so that the crew didn't end up in the drink in rough seas.  Can you imagine trying to make your way across the wet deck of Hallifax (or worse yet, Sultana) in a rolling sea without getting swept overboard?

Well id say its something to do with the fact that these weren't really warships but cargo ships that probably spent alot of time by the ports loading and removing cargo. While some of them were built for the king to be warships many like Halifax and Sultana were converted from their original purpose and ultimately had whatever armament they could carry grafted onto them.

With the stem, Keel and stern post installed I'm ready to start planking.  I thought a little about the deck.  Why were the bulwarks so low on these colonial schooners?  The quarter deck and the poop deck had railings to prevent men from falling overboard.  the bulwarks on the main deck and fo'c'sle were only about 2 feet high!  Here's a picture of "Hallifax" from Chapelle's book with a man drawn on deck.  Not too safe!

Excellent job on the planking, Elijah!  Sanding and a couple of coats of poly will really bring that wood to life.  Good work!

Fantastic job!
 
If you do fill, you have 2 choices. Some will cover the entire hull and smooth it down. Others, just fill gaps as required. Your work looks good enough as is, so I would recommend the 2nd option. Leave that raw wood as much as possible.
 
Big sigh of relief and accomplishment!!!

Did you forget to show the boxes of psychiatric medications needed to keep you sane when bending small PE parts?
 
Thank you for removing some of the mystery. I have always wondered how it is possible to work with such small parts. Let alone glue them precisely on your model, and avoid knocking them off.
 
How is it possible to prime and paint them without obscuring detail?

Keith, an airbrush lays down the thinnest coat of paint. The brass, or sometimes stainless steel, needs to be as clean as possible. A white or light gray primer helps, too. Especially for translucent colors like yellows and reds.

Thank you for the many LIKES, dear friends .  .  .
 
Joe, I appreciate you taking the time to comment. At this point in time I have only edge bent two planks with Chuck's method. I bent to the point where I felt safe, then clamped and applied heat. There was very little spring back when I released the clamps after cooling. I found that I could further bend at that point and repeat the process. 
 
I just spent part of the last two days hand sanding the planks previously glued to the stbd side of the ship. Boring. The port side had been stripped earlier. 
 

 
The builders manual instructs the constructor to attach the wale plank as described a couple of days ago and then continue planking as seen in the photo below.
 

 
Instead, I am going to line off the hull in standard fashion and use Chuck Passaro's edge bending technique to plank parallel to the lower run of the gun ports. That should produce an appearance similar to his ship CHEERFUL. I prefer that appearance.
 
Edge bent planks similar to this, which he advocates in lieu of stealers and drop planks, seem to make that possible.
 

 
Amati provides 4mm finish planking while specifying 5mm. That of course makes no difference, but I plan to mill 5mm wood and paint it black for the wales. The wales will to some degree not be parallel to the hull planking at the bow and stern, only midship. I believe I have seen that on other ship builds. The 5mm width ought to work well in contrast to the 4mm planking that it overlays.
 
Now to study lining off .  .  .
 
Respectfully submitted,
John
 
 
 
 

I finished planking yesterday! I'm sure I must have taken 2 months! I'm not able to do anything else at the moment, but I can give you pictures. It's not perfect, but I'll play the newbie card this time !




That's it for now! Until next time!

Thank you for taking the time to show this.

Those of you who do the PE thing on ships have my undying admiration.  I get a headache and eyestrain just looking at the pictures.   

Mark,
 
Those two videos have the information I have been looking for all week. I was out of ideas on where else to look. I have begun both his and your builds but hadn't reached anything other than his mention of using a hair dryer. Without the video the information doesn't help someone as inexperienced as me. Your "tear aparts" motivated me to do my  own. Thank you .  .  .
 
My home made jig gave me two planks with difficulty but Chuck's method for edge bending was as simple and easy as one could ever hope to find. After putting the wale plank and the one above it with two planks made from my jig I used Chuck's method and more easily made two more as seen below. I even went so far as to order some clamps identical to what he used.
 

 
The second and equally important thing was watching him illustrate implementation of his lining off. I did not do that the first time, even though I recognized its importance, I will definitely do it this time.
 
Respectfully and thankfully,
John Maguire
Seattle

Hi John
My first planking on the type of bow you have, came out just like what you did. I didn't have any wide planking to spile, and didn't know about edge bending. I didn't bother lining off the haul or do any tapering for the reason I just said, so mine came out like yours.
When I have done other types of hauls I have lined them off and taper the planks, so I did know the process, just didn't know about edge bending.
I have done your jig method, which I find helps keep the wood from splitting.
I am trying Chuck's method, I have had some wood that bends fine, and other that just splits.
Not sure if it's me, the wood, or what.
Looks like you are doing well at this stage. If you have any other info about planking please post.
Info about planking is like money, you can never have too much.
Joe

For those who might be following or just reading through this thread, I thought maybe some of you might be unfamiliar with photo etch (PE) and particularly the micro small stuff. Lots of times, PE must be folded to represent a 3D object. When folding is required on micro small PE, some special tools come in very handy, maybe absolutely necessary to get an accurate fold. I wanted to show you a couple of the tools I use and how I use them.
 
1st is a magnifying light combination. I am sure most of you have something like this but if not, you will need to acquire one if you are going to work with small PE parts. My daughter bought me this one quite a few years ago for my birthday (what a sweetheart).
 

 
The next essential tool is a photo etch bending device. It measures about 6" x 4", is made of a machined aluminum plate with a spring loaded steel machined plate that slides up and down by turning a set screw (the large black knob). This tool I acquired about 15, maybe 20 years ago. I am not certain it is production anymore as it was a cottage industry product when I bought it. In any event, this or a similar tool is a must.
 

 
Next I am going to show you how to use the tool. The PE is slid under the steel plate precisely where it is to be bent. It is then clamped down and using a single edge razor blade to slide under the part, then bent up to a 90 degree angle (or whatever angle is required). If a second bend is required as in the case of my example, it is unclamped then repositioned where the second bend is required and the folding process repeated.
 

 
 

 

 
The finished product looks like this. These are ammo box racks that are glued to the AA guns. A little plastic ammo box fits inside the ammo rack.
 

 
At the present time, I am still laboring to finish building the AA and secondary guns. Next post, I will take some photos of the built, unpainted guns. Man, these things are so small! It's very tedious work to say the least, but quite fun in a certain masochistic sort of way. 

Big day - finished the standing rigging on the Morgan.
Not perfect, learned as I went along.
Put the furled jibs (decided to skip the fore staysails) on as they fasten by rings to the foremast stays.
 
Three tools illustrated.
The scissors is expensive but great: cuts any line no matter how fine, and so close to the knot as your trembling hands can manage. I like the reach it gives too. I've tried a number of scissors including the supposed operative spring scissors - all of them frequently push the line at an angle between the blades, especially with a fine line. I tried a very good nail clipper but it was too hard for me to work in close quarters.
The illustrated tweezer is my "go to" - perfect tips allow picking up tiny thread, and the curve is great for tying knots or positioning.
The wooden handled spring clamp (meant for resistance soldering - holding work) is great for holding line around a deadeye or bullseye to allow it to be tied off. Once tied I stiffen the doubled line near the deadeye with a bit of CA and seize by hand - quick and easy.
 
Next on to the whaleboat stations, but I think a few days working on other projects I've been ignoring to reach this Morgan threshold the last few weeks.

First of all, thank you for the many LIKES, dear friends .  .  .  .
 
Having said that, here I am back again - twice in the same day. Reason: problem solved!
 
I see all of you with your clever home made tools and jigs so I decided to begin by following your lead and try one myself. The advantage I found with this jig was that after clamping the concave side to the tile I could lay the movable piece on top of my plank during the bending push and by so doing it kept the plank from wrinkling as it was forced into its unnatural edge direction.
 
All the techniques with which I was unsuccessful seemed in my opinion to be tailored to normal bending and gave me no discernible relief when I used them for edge bending.
 

 

 
I opted to follow the lead of Mark and Chuck with plank lengths that in my case are only somewhat scale. Importantly, by having shorter lengths to attach I'll have more control in glue amount, taper, bevel and plank to plank tightness. I did the first attempt, which was removed, with full hull length planks and always felt that I didn't have the control that I wished for.
 

 
Below is the wale plank and the first plank above it. Those are the two most difficult. On my hull, they can only lay flat and fair if they are edge bent.
 

 
Continuing to plank upward will only require slight edge bending.
 
Planking downward will only require tapering.
 
Again, thank you for your many advices. Also, I am going to look closely at Chuck's videos. 
 
Now back for an edit after getting into just the first few minutes of Chuck's video and I see the easy way to do it .  .  .  . Wow!
 
Respectfully,
John