amateur

Thanks for the likes and compliments.
 
Maury, Michael, the brass was hard bent off the model. Although 0.2 mm bends quite easily, making 90 degree bends was done on my hold and fold. the other shaping was done with round nosed pliers. Final adjustments were done on the model.
 
Meanwhile the lower counter is planked but not yet faired.
 

 
Remco

Hello everyone, the Piet is back 
Yeah, I took a few days away from the dockyard for other pressing things and besides that I made a few working sketches for the torpedo loading gantries.  It seems that I need some additional material.  I thought I had everything but it turns out that I need one piece of 5/32`` ID brass tubing and of course the 8 mm brass rod for the pulleys.  
That large size tubing is for the lower part of the boom pole to be in scale for that part but it seems to make that upright too bulky.  I need to think about it some before I commit myself.
 
As yuns can see on the below pics there are quite a few parts to it and I have to make two of these suckers, one for the forward end and one for the aft end.  Then there is still the dingy loading boom to do.
 
After I made this sketch I already started to change a few things which I have annotated on the drawing.  It always seems to go this way, after looking at it you begin to see certain details that can be done simpler.
 
The detail sketches surrounding the center assembly sketch are not to scale.  The center assembly sketch is to scale.
 

I have not given every part a name or their measurements yet on this sketch.  As noted above, the sketches are not to scale so I plan to do that as I go along.  Here you can also see why I'm still a little apprehensive to make the upright post of the port assembly that heavy.  It seems a little too bulky, what are your thoughts?
 

This shows the detail of the boom attachment and pulley assembly.  All this must be able to rotate and the boom must be able to be lowered or raised.  It'll be a tricky thing to do.
 

This shows the detail on the top of the boom.  The top triangular part of the plate is to secure the boom to the deck fixture when not in use.  The other two are to attach the pulley brackets to.  The two pulley brackets are identical.
 

This is another intricate detail that'll give some work.  The part where the "come-along" and the stationary cable are attached to must also rotate with the swing of the boom.  The one change I'm making is the top cable attachment.  Instead of a clevis I'll be using a thimble like the center cable attachment.  And no, I'll not be making a miniature "come-along" to lower and raise the boom - - - what d'you think - I'm a magician?? 
 
Cheers, 

Thanks all.
 
Yes Mark the rabbet was cut using chisels, as it curves in two directions no way I could do it on a mill.
 
The parts that make up the helmport are an interesting exercise in testfitting to get them right
 

 

 

 

 

 
The straps to the counter timbers were cut from 0.2 mm brass sheet and bend to shape, 0.4 mm brass bolts (actually a bit oversized) were used to glue the strips down
 

 

 
Remco

That's much better!
 
Jan

and the full hull (sorry, don't have other pics of the model, as it was behind glass using flash  and taking close ups was out of the question...)
 

This is the artitec model in Lelystad. The green is almost grey, and only slightly darker than the bronze guns.
On the left of the puic you can (bit hazy) see the difference in the water-sprouts on the lower deck (round, sticking out of the hull) and the upper deck (just a hole (just below the guns)
 

You mean the colour that Jack used on his model of the Zweidecker?
 

Beautifull as ever!
 
Jan

This morning I managed to finish the deck gun before Gwen and I went to my birthday party thrown by our financial advisory company.   
 
I made the simulated elevation adjusting rack and cement that in place.  I'm happy with the way de gun came out and it looks quite menacing when viewed head on.
 
Below are the pics.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Cheers,
 
 

A gunner on the seat.
Would be nice, only to see how that fits: the wheel is between teh seat and the footrest, and it seems to me that these gunners should have awfully long legs.
 
(picture of a gunner on the seat would do as well, I guess )
 
Jan
 
btw: how on earth (sea?) did they remove the shells and seaweed from within the mechanism?

As always, stay safe.  Looking forward to your tales ----  they make me feel the wind where my hair used to be!

The finished stern for now - I'll fit the three remaining Lights much later in the build, as they will be in the open position and may get damaged during further construction :
 

 

 

 
The Pilasters are of similar design to the Quarter Badge ones :
 

 
  Danny

Thanks all.
 
All the parts are glued in place and the stern is faired.
 

 
 
Remco

Thank you all again.
 
Here is another small update as I continue with the middle deck framing.
 
Regards,
Alexandru

WOW, I'm overwhelmed with all the responses, about 23 or so, thank you all for visiting !
 
@ Remco: Thanks !!!  Well, before I installed them I thought that the tiny bronze nails were too thick and I hand filed them down to a much smaller diameter.  I'm happy with the way they came out but don't ask how my poor fingers are  
 
@ Daniel: Yes, the deck gun will also be painted in the same grey as the rest of the upper works of the boat.  I'm going to attempt to still make the rack and other parts below the barrel and the exposed parts of the gear of the rack will probably be black.  The two AA guns are 40 mm Vickers and the deck gun is 88 mm.  It did do a great job in actually sinking a few Jap freighters, denying them to resupply their troops.
 
@ Jan (Amateur): Thank you so very much for your compliment, I love the challenge in trying to make things as small as possible and Remco is an inspiration.
Yes indeed, the larger parts begin to look LARGE in comparison and yes, I'll be remaking the eye bolt up front, it's too large.  Thanks for bringing that my attention.  No problem, just a few minutes. 
 
@ Freek: thanks !!  No, I don't think I'll make the seat, I pretend that it's stowed away in the forward part of the conning tower, under the forward AA gun.  Hmmmm, he says with a straight face   I figure it's in the way, especially when submerged it's more of a drag.  The crew can retrieve it when they must use the gun.
 
@ John (Lad):  Thank you John.
 
Remember that a few posts ago I mentioned that one of the gun pivot pin bearing caps just "twanged' away and I had to make a new one?  Well, yesterday, when working at my computer during my lunch break, I just happen to look down on the floor and guess what???  There was the missing part!  My guess is that it must have dropped on my moccasin that I normally wear.  Well, okay - - - now I have a spare.
 
Okay, enough of the small talk and thanking everyone for your comments, it's now my bed time for my beauty sleep      Hope to do some more work on the gun, I like to see it finished and go on to the torpedo loading gantries.
 
I with all y'all happy modeling and,
 
Cheers,

Although a sailor could also consider this one:
 

 
 
But, whatever you drink: she has become a beauty.
 
Jan

Although a sailor could also consider this one:
 

 
 
But, whatever you drink: she has become a beauty.
 
Jan

Thanks all for your kind words.
 
Sometimes you run into a part and had no clue that it would be that hard to make. The quarterdeck transom is such a part, looking rather unexciting. One redo and the better part of a couple of days work went into it. I had expected the counter timbers to be trickier but after watching Mark doing his Belona's counter with the help of a jig, I constructed a small jig that saved a lot of head aches. The mortises on the wing transom I had made light-years ago had to come off as the spacing was all wrong. Where would a shipwright be without his bottle of isopropyl
 

 

 

 

 
Remco

Although a sailor could also consider this one:
 

 
 
But, whatever you drink: she has become a beauty.
 
Jan

Thanks David - the wood for the taffarel is Castello Boxwood. I'm using dark Swiss Pear for the Capping Rail.
 
Thank you Greg - I imagine it would have taken quite a while to hollow out all the Coving from one piece   . I notice you didn't fit the Capping Rail or Quarter Pieces to your Pegasus - any reason for that? It would have been nice to see it all fitted to your ship - it was a little difficult trying to imagine the whole assembly from the plans.
 
Thank you too Al.
 
Capping Rail
 
The Capping Rail is very tricky to make. I traced around the taffarel to get the inner shape for the five pieces which I cut on the scroll saw from dark Swiss Pear to match the rest of the railings. Much finessing was need to get a good fit   . I found it best to work from the centre toward the ends :
 

 

 
  Danny

Well. the saga of the deck gun continues but first my thanks to all who visited and clicked on "like."
 
Oh - I guess I could have finished the deck gun today but I wanted to read some more from the book I bought about the "Battle of the Java Sea" by Jeffrey R Cox.  I learned quite a lot on the details that lead up to this battle and the actual action.  It took Mr. Cox several years of research that took him to Japan, Australia and Indonesia as well as here in the Naval Archives to put the puzzle pieces together.  It's a shame that he left out statements from the surviving crew of Hr. Ms. Java, the cruiser my father lost his life on.  My father was mentioned where they were looking for him.  However, I do have a draft copy of that chapter where he is mentioned and will put a copy of it in the book.
It's a very good read and am glad I have the book.
 
So then, after lunch I again ventured into the garage to continue work on the deck gun.  I installed the hand holds but they are not cemented in yet.  I also need to make and install the foot pedals and the simulated elevation mechanism under the barrel assembly.  After that's done then I think the gun is pretty well complete and can be placed on it's mounting plate on deck.
 
Over all I'm quite happy with it and am confidant that all the file scratches will be hidden with a coat of paint 
 
Here are a few pics I'm putting into my personal archive.
 

 

 

 

 
Cheers,

Good evening or morning to all.  After a simple dinner with my dear wife and watching a nature show on TV I'm back to report what we accomplished today.
 
I could only do some work in the PM because this morning I had my fifth cancer treatment and the aftermath was a little uncomfortable and needed to stay close to the crapper 
 
After lunch things kinda felt better and I was able to do some assembling of the deck gun.  And - - - wouldn't you know it, I lost one of the gun pivot bearing caps, it went flying to somewhere and I had to make a new one 
This time I decided to forego the epoxy cement and just nail the suckers to the mount body.  This worked quite well and then I cemented the two hand wheels also to the gun mount body and the central pivot pin with the turn plate.
 
Of course I forgot to paint the inside but that's not a real problem, I still have enough access to it.  
 
Next I started to make the 4 hand holds and the pedal rod at the lower front of the gun mount.  I used the tiny bronze nails for the posts and 1.5 mm brass tube s to shove a 1 mm rod through as the hand hold.  The pic below shows it better then i can describe it.
 
Well, that's it for today and I hope to get a good night sleep
 

Deck gun in profile, ⅔ finished - is lacking the hand-holds and a few other details and paint.
 

This shows a close-up and yes, it may look a little rough but the pic is taken on a macro setting.  You can see how I installed the two pivot pin bearing caps with the tiny bronze nails and the heads acting as bolts.  Yeah, I could have filed hexagonal heads on them but, but, but - - - hmmm, maybe later???  
At least I inserted pieces of wooden dowels in the pivot pins to act as the locking nuts and yes, they have the spanner groves in them  .
 

This shows the aft end of the gun, we can see the breech and some more details
 

The shows the front view of the gun assembly as it is as of this evening.  I hope to complete the deck gun tomorrow, if not then there is always another day.
 

This shows one set hand-holds.  It worked easier then I thought.  I first filed the bronze nail heads flat on top and "tinned" it.  Then I cut 2 mm pieces off of the 1.5 mm brass tube.  I inserted the nail into a block of wood so the head was kinda flush with the wood surface.  Then I picked each piece of tubing up with a pointed toothpick and placed that on the tinned nail head and soldered the two together.  Worked like a charm.
 
Cheers,

Another quick update.
 
I have belayed the halyards and headsail sheets which competes the rigging. All is coiled down with a coat of lacquer and the paint brush handles are holding everything in place. Come morning these will be removed and I will cut of any little tails that need trimming.
 

 
I think just the anchor needs to be fitted and "Irene" will be complete!
 
Peter

No I used to work in Utrecht, and from work to home I just passed this ship every day (at least, in the winter months).
ANd last year a member on MSW was working on a paper version of the ship, and asked for a couple of pics, mainly of the details of the ship (especially because the scrollwork as build differs from the scrollwork as drawn in the plans)
So I took my canmera to my work, and made a couple pf shots. And as there was someone on deck, I asked for a small tour around the ship.
Jan

uhhhhmmmmm....
You're not applying your own standards to the rest of the world, aren't you?
 
But, Piet should be able to live up against these standards.
Real life ammunition would be even better. (btw what kind of ammo was used in these guns?)
 
Jan