kurtvd19

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Kurt

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Kurt

Gary:
Great work.  A tip for the tires.  There are usually some holes drilled in the bottom of the tire to let water drain out.  About 1-inch diameter.
Kurt

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Kurt

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Kurt

Model Expo's been sending daily emails about their sales.  Sign up for their news - they are sponsors here.
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Kurt

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Kurt

The work on the hull progressed by sanding down all the planking, to get as smooth and fair a surface as I could. I sanded, then applied poly varnish thinned 50/50 with paint thinner until it no longer soaked in. Waited for the varnish to dry, then sanded again. I repeated this process many times. While sanding I could see areas where the planks pushed inwards slightly, and small gaps in the finish. I used Bondo glazing and spot putty, applied with a stiff piece of styrene plastic, to cover the gaps and low spots. Again, after Bondo dried the hull was sealed and sanded. I did this perhaps 3 or 4 times before I had a smooth surface over the entire outer hull shape.
 
Once I had a decent hull shape I used a razor saw to cut through the bulkhead extensions that held the hull to the cardboard mounted on the maple board. The following photos show the hull to this point.
 

 

 
Work on this first hull progressed with carving the insides of the bulkheads down to the deck levels. I used a chisel type blade in my knife to do this work. The raised forecastle and quarter decks were reasonably easy to work, while the lower mid deck was difficult. I did add some extra pieces of cardboard to the center keel piece in the locations that would later have holes drilled to accept the mast extensions. All the deck areas were then sanded down to the deck lines on the bulkheads, a small amount of Bondo was added as the extra pieces did not quite come flush with the deck level. The following photos show the work thus far.
 


 
I next worked on making templates of all the deck areas. I used thin paper cut to approximately the right size and shape at first, then pressed them into locations and creased it sharply at each of the bulkhead extension inside the bulwarks. The paper was removed and cut to follow the crease curves. I traced these templates onto thinner card stock and tested the fit on each deck location to finalize the exact shape for each deck area.
 
A piece of thinner cardboard was then soaked in a bath of maple stain, to saturate it completely and evenly with color. I had tried just brushing stain on the board first, but the colorization was too uneven. Lines were then drawn on the board, spaced 1/32" apart, and the thin board templates used to trace the shape of the decks onto the stained board. These were cut out and tested to fit in their places, but not glued down yet. I also traced the outside edges of the main, lower, deck onto a non-lined area of the stained board and cut waterways for the hull. Following photos show some of this work.
 




 
More to follow as I work along.
 
Anchors A Weigh!
John Fox III

Toni:
Contact Cole Seskind as he purchased Roger Cole's Alert model.  If they show on the outside I would follow Roger's work - if they are not on the outside I would put my money on Roger having the right answer.  He didn't do things halfway.  Roger gave me one of the 6 copies he did up documenting his work on that model - unfortunately it grew legs some time ago...
Kurt

Post scan and reprint of plan page above, at 102%.  Note the gaff is on the plans for calibration.  The gaff is exactly registered to the plans, the camera has distorted the photo slightly.  🙄
 
It would seem prudent to print scales on such instruction pages to allow verification/calibration. This in light of @kurtvd19's comment below.  For a relative novice,  these sorts of errors are a potential minefield.
 

Still working on installing frames. Frame O just set tomorrow I'll set frame P leaving frames Q and R to go. This is my first scratch build and truly a learning experience so I'm following the book from NRG. The order of frames is the forward full frames and then the rear frames followed by the rear half frames and the transom and stern. Next is setting the forward half frames and cant frames.
I'm making the drawings for the aft frames having completed 1 through 4 and I've built 1 & 2 where I start setting aft frames as I go along.
 
That's a quick update more to come soon
 
Frame "O" being set

 
Stay well and Stay safe
Will  

The hull is finished, except for the stern transom notch, and paint prep.  
 
I installed the rub rails before the rowlock pads, rather than after as in the instructions.  I wanted to sand the rub rail, sheer, inwale tops prior to cutting the chain plate slots and gluing the rowlock pads.  I am not precise enough to have perfectly aligned tops otherwise.
 
The seat and thwart frame installation was confusing, in that the instruction photos do not show detailed top height for most.  They are about right, it seems, but a bit more installation detail would have been helpful.
 
The mast step is not as described in the instructions, both parts in the kit have holes, so I added a solid piece as a third layer just under the mast hole.
 
The thwarts are test fitted, and will be removed prior to priming.
 
I like to use light grey spray primer prior to color coats, and will do this to the entire hull one I have cleaned up a few dents/gaps.  I did not have the colors I wanted for the hull, so must wait for their arrival.
 
 

OK, so here's a post-election/pre-Turkey Day Update:
Needing additional work space (I mean we all realize that 2 sides of the shop utilizing a work bench isn't REALLY enough, is it???) I've added a slide in/out work tray under the back work surface under the window. I used left-overs and a piece of glued-up pine board (24"Wx15"D) that was a remainder, so have no extra cost involved. Well, since I don't pay myself.....yeah, that's right!!!
So, here is the open/shut case photos on this little project:

And finally, here is the board in use - I'm making small part assemblies for the 3"/50 Dual R.F. gun mounts on my 1/144 scale USS STODDARD project:

Oh, did I mention (no, I didn't ) that I'm now in the long learning curve of a 3D mechanical modeling program (Design Spark - Mechanical) - free version, of course!! Hope to sometime in the near future begin printing my own parts!!
 
Hank
 
 
 

I had a conversation with N. Roger some years ago around the time he was rigging Alert. He pointed out to me the inaccuracies and inconsistencies in Goodwin's book. Part of the issue, in his opinion, was that several artists had been involved in the illustration work. As an example, he said that the angle of the stern post is different in different drawings! I checked and, sure enough, this is so. The angle on pages 52, 58 and 84 is demonstrably greater than on pages 46, 56, 66 and 78.
 
I rest my case, m'lud.

Thanks for the article, Greg.  He obviously did not follow Goodwin's drawing.  
 
Happily, I only had four rows completed.  They are gone now.  I used so little CA to apply them that with some sanding, no glue marks have been left behind.  

Toni:
Contact Cole Seskind as he purchased Roger Cole's Alert model.  If they show on the outside I would follow Roger's work - if they are not on the outside I would put my money on Roger having the right answer.  He didn't do things halfway.  Roger gave me one of the 6 copies he did up documenting his work on that model - unfortunately it grew legs some time ago...
Kurt

Prop shaft tubes and motors in place. While it's a cheat on my part to run the tubes out to the struts/nozzles, instead of the headache of aligning an exposed shaft, I do have a couple photos of real boats that had enclosed tubes like this. 
Motors are MFA-Como from the UK, with 6:1 gear heads mounted conveniently on 500-sized brushed motors. They'll spin the 2" props at the correct model speed.
Couplings connecting the 6mm motor shaft to the 5mm prop shaft, and the modified prop tube parts, are from Raboesch.
 

 

 

Main cabin is built up from frames and stringers, and sheeted in 1/16" basswood. The tricky corners are "planked" or covered with steam-bent sheet, depending on the radius.
 
Traditional ship models are built from wood, often in a fashion that follows the prototype build method. If I wanted to keep that link to the prototype, I'd be rolling sheet metal skins here. It is possible- many modelers have built ships from soldered tinplate in the past. Today, modern ship modelers in Europe make use of thin phosphor bronze sheet. It's stronger than regular brass, allowing very thin gauges to be used... it works nicely enough and solders like a dream. But that's a bridge too far for me! I'll stick with simple wood. 
 
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The cabin walls, be sheeted in basswood, are subject to splitting over time due to humidity changes. So they receive the same fiberglass treatment as the hull. It's easy to deal with here, as the large surfaces are flat or simple convex.
Windows are cut after walls are installed to ensure correct location. A simple template aids in marking out, and holes are opened and finished by Dremel, files, and sanding sticks. The aluminum sliding window frames will be installed later, likely made by printing.
A sheet of 1/16" plywood covers the lower house... it seems big enough to double as a boogie board.
The bulwark around the pilot house is basswood sheet again, this time being sheathed in 0.010" styrene.
 
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At the moment, I'm developing three new kits for BlueJacket:  USS OREGON (BB3), NS SAVANNAH, and the schooner WYOMING.  Each has its own Facebook Group:  OREGON  https://www.facebook.com/groups/2345449125727256 ; SAVANNAH https://www.facebook.com/groups/415003942865004 ; WYOMING  WYOMING 6-MASTED SCHOONER | Facebook  .  Please visit and see how our kits are created from beginning to end.  For those not on Facebook, I will be doing a development and build log here.

I have started rigging my Medway Longboat and it has definitely changed the appearance of the model.  Most lines are temporarily installed and will be permanently glued when all lines have been installed and re-tensioned.  I also made up the pedestals from the display base kit and fitted them to the hull prior to the mast being installed.  I would recommend this being done earlier in the build, possibly after the planking is completed. I was afraid I would break the thole pins on the cap rail as I had the hull upside down while fitting the pedestals.  Here is the progress to date:
 

 

 

 

 

 
Making the thimbles was a lot of fun.  I had many failures before I finally got the hang of it. Here are a couple of blocks with the thimbles made and blackened and some extras for later use.

 
The mast bands were made using matte black chart tape.

 
Next up is to work on the shrouds.  I plan to serve these using my Syren Serv-o-Matic ship model rope serving machine. 
 
Thanks for checking out my build log.

Check out the great weathering on the model by FriedClams - should help you
 

I found that the wire tools similar to what is shown here are finer but also a bit deeper/longer even this type makes a pretty smooth copy of the contour.  A simple "fairing" of the points marked onto the piecec being made to fit will make a very close fit.  The one drawback to this type of tool is the limited depth.  They can also be laid into the hull at an angle making the relative depth workable.  I have used these mostly to check symmetry.
Have also used Klean Klay modeling clay to precisely match the contour but have found that some sort of support for the clay is needed - an undersized bulkhead like piece of heavy card or polystyrene with the clay on the outer edge so that it's not distorted when removing it to transfer the contour.  Klean Klay is a non-drying clay that doesn't leave oil behind when removed and is often used to dam up areas when filling with expoxy or resin for reinforcements or making molds.

I found that the wire tools similar to what is shown here are finer but also a bit deeper/longer even this type makes a pretty smooth copy of the contour.  A simple "fairing" of the points marked onto the piecec being made to fit will make a very close fit.  The one drawback to this type of tool is the limited depth.  They can also be laid into the hull at an angle making the relative depth workable.  I have used these mostly to check symmetry.
Have also used Klean Klay modeling clay to precisely match the contour but have found that some sort of support for the clay is needed - an undersized bulkhead like piece of heavy card or polystyrene with the clay on the outer edge so that it's not distorted when removing it to transfer the contour.  Klean Klay is a non-drying clay that doesn't leave oil behind when removed and is often used to dam up areas when filling with expoxy or resin for reinforcements or making molds.