aviaamator

We continue to learn... Two different ways.

Post 49
Margin for error?
In accordance with the plan the Margin plank is fitted in three sections joined by scarph joints.
The short sections between the stern frames were fitted first using 3/64" x 1/4" strip.
There seems to be a little variation for the positioning of the scarphs between the supplied plan and the build instructions.
The plan shows quite a short Bow section whereas Chuck has it extending aft past the second port in his build, which seems to me a more manageable arrangement.
I am using 3/64" x 1/4" strip  for the aft section of the margin, heat bent and with the scarph then cut with a No 11 scalpel. I have terminated this section just past the third port from aft.
 The more tricky bow section was cut from 3/64" sheet using a card template.

4133
With the Bow and stern sections temporarily in place a card template can be marked with the scarphs for the centre section which is then cut out from the 3/64" sheet.

4134
Took quite a bit of time faffing around with these sections.

4156

4159
On reflection I suppose I could have used a simpler form of scarph
 
The final piece is the Waterway for which 1/32" (0.8mm) square stock is called for, rounded on the top edge. This seems incredibly small, at full scale a mere  1 1/2"

4534
Try as I might I couldn't get consistent widths cut from a 1/32" sheet, at the required lengths, so I  took the easy way out and ordered some 1/32" square stock from Chuck.

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My main concern with fitting the Waterway was not to get glue over the painted Spirketing, so I used a fine smear of glue and had water available to immediately clean any excess.

4532
A growing collection of mini delights.
 
This is a convenient point to drill the holes to take the bulwark eye and ring bolts, before the deck gets cluttered.

4508
Taking the positions from the plan a simple hole guide jig is used to mark the bulwark.
In practice the upper gun tackle eye bolts are 7mm above the spirketing and 2mm in from the port edge.
The Breeching rope ring bolts are 2mm above the spirketing and 2.5mm in from the port edge.

4528
Time now to think about the decking.
 
B.E.
11/11/2018
 
 

Impressive work and very inspiring.  Eventually will be building this and will be referencing your build for sure.

@aviaamator
Thank you for encouraging me. I will try it soon.
Today I made a very short video of rope making.
LINK
 

Yes you are technically correct, Alan. What I have used are simulated bungs.  I'm not sure I've seen a model deck correctly spiked, countersunk then bored to receive a bung. That level of detail would be quite remarkable. The point is that the trunnels I use are @ 1.75" in diameter, roughly the same diameter as a bung. So the end result looks the same except the bungs are end grain. To quote David Antscherl in The Fireship Comet "I did not treenail the deck, as in the original ships the plugs that covered nails and other fasteners were virtually invisible, as they were side-grained rather than end-grained." Bottom line is that they should be barely visible at 1:48 scale.

Then I started working on the sliding information tray.  I made a support bridge piece between the frames, marked the depth, wood rasped and then sanded to the marks. Drilled and inserted the stopper dowel.  I didn't get any photos of it until the final assembly.
 
Marked the location, depth and width on the front frame piece then I cut it down. 
 
The sliding "tray" is a piece of MDF (medium density fiberboard) wide enough for the nameplate and deep enough to have a slotted hole to encapsulate the locking pin in a slotted hole.  The pull out handle is made of three strands of 0.031" copper wire twisted together to look like rope.  One end of the group of wires was clamped in the vise and the other end in the chuck of my variable speed drill.  I ran the drill to twist the wires until I had the look I wanted.  The wire was bent and the fiberboard was grooved for the wire to sit into, below the surface so the nameplate would sit flat (no bump).  As an added precaution the ends of the wire were bent 90° downwards to fit into holes drilled at the end of each groove so when pulling on the wire it has additional holding power to the MDF.  This was assembled and glued together.  Then the tray was assembled to the sub-base and tested.

Had to go get my mitre saw from my son (he used it to build his garage) and cut the 45° mitres.  Dry fitted them under the mounting board and case and made adjustments to get the "shelf" closer to the outer edge of the case.  Then I sanded it down to the mark.  Double checked and finally glued and clamped the pieces together.

The FORE AXLETREE STAY was made of copper plate.  The actual plate measures about 3/8" (9.5mm) thick or 0.04" (1mm) to scale.  After hunting around my workshop I found some copper water tube that had a wall thickness of 0.032"... close enough!  I needed to slice it open with a hacksaw, and flatten it out with a hammer on the anvil to make the plate.  I started by making a paper template to fit on the model to determine the lengths required.  Then cut it to size with a cut off disc on my Dremel tool, filed off the burrs, bent and drilled holes in the Stays.

To get a better idea of the size and be able to better determine the display case dimensions I made a mock up of the cannon, mounted it to the carriage and placed everything on the base.
 
I originally thought the case would be 5-1/2" tall (measured from the open bottom lip to the inside top of the case) but this mock up had me drop the 1/2". 
 
I did some pricing.  To purchase an adequate supply of 3mm (1/8") thick clear acrylic sheet (Plexiglas), some Plastic solvent glue (Weld-on #4SC), an applicator (20cc syringe with 16 gauge blunt needle), and acrylic cutting tool would cost upwards of $251 CDN plus taxes and shipping.  I asked for a quote from people who do this for a living and all said and done it was $200.56 CDN including taxes and my picking it up.  This is the first cover I will have ever had and I fear it will be prettier than my model.
 
I ordered my Plexiglas from a local company named Plastruct Polyzone in Vineland, Ontario.  They have my base to fit the case to and called to let me know my case was a total of 1/32" out of square from short end to short end (at 1/64" skew per end).   The long sides were parallel.  This company did work for the firm I was last employed with, and those items were to four and five decimal place tolerances, so I know they are that good... but my table saw is not.  They notified me the case would be ready for pickup on the 14th of November (shy one day of two weeks away as today is 1 Nov).
Just received another e-mail the following day (Friday the 2nd of Nov) that the case is ready for pickup.  I cannot get there until Monday.

I drilled out the holes and cut my treenails from 1/8" diameter dowelling at 1/2" long.  I pushed them into the holes with a dab of yellow wood glue with a small amount projecting above the board.  I cut them flush with my Veritus Flush Cut Saw, wiped the board with a damp cloth and later sanded it all and wiped it once again.  After all of this I needed to run my V chisel through the notch and re-darken the caulk lines with the my pencil.

I practised with a scrap piece of plywood to assure I had the treenail dowel drilled hole size and the scribed caulking line cut technique correct.  I scribed the line with my Veritus Scriber drawn against a cork backed straight edge held down firmly with one hand.  I then went over the lines with a mini Vee notch chisel to widen the line.   The line was darkened with a sharp HB pencil. The pencil required continuous sharpening to assure it reached the bottom of the notch.

The QUOIN HANDLE was made of maple dowelling, filed and sanded to shape while mounted in the drill press chuck.  A pocket was drilled in the Quoin with the nearest sized number drill I had and the Handle was filed once again to fit quite snuggly in the hole and so is one of the few pieces not glued.

The QUOIN was made similarly with the key fitted to slide in the keyseat.

I then created a 2D drawing of the carriage assembly and details using the free downloadable software version of DraftSight. I inserted images and scaled them to full size so I could refer directly to these to create the drawing. This was drawn full size, fitted on 8.5 foot x 11 foot rectangular borders scaled up from the dimensions of a standard A size sheet of paper (8.5" x 11").  I added a cannon ball rack as an afterthought.  Below is a screen shot and a downloadable PDF of the 2 sheet templates on the left.

 
9 Pdr Naval Carriage Dwg (1 of 2) - AON - 25OCT2018.pdf
9 Pdr Naval Carriage Dwg (2 of 2) - AON - 25OCT2018.pdf

One had brought in a naval gun assembled from a kit and the other had 3D printed various size naval cannon barrels at his local library.  I found this fascinating and now had an itch to build my own naval gun.  Our local library posted a notice of a 90 minute compulsory course (on the evening of 20 November) to allow library card holders to use their 3D printer, so I signed up.  A search on their website revealed they allow a 8Mb maximum size STL file of any non-copyrighted 3D image.  The build area size is 230 mm long (9") x 150mm wide (5.9") x 130mm high (5.1").  They have a variety of colours and black is an option.
 
I started my research on this forum, and concluded with a wider search on the internet and books in my personal library.  I decided on a 9 Pound Naval Cannon that would be found on the quarterdeck or forecastle of HMS Bellerophon (1768), a 74 gun Man of War.  Having gathered all the data I could, I made a full size model using Autodesk Inventor.  I would rescale it to 1 inch = 12 inches (1:12) later.  I settled on this scale because the dimensions of the 9 Pdr fits the 3D printer build area size at 1:12.
 
I brought my info to the October meeting of the Model Shipwrights of Niagara and was told by the single member with experience that the 3D printer needs to start the build on a flat surface (so the object doesn't roll away).  This gentleman had made several very small prints in one file (all at once) and oriented his cannons to stand on their flat muzzle.  It was suggested by a well weathered modelling member I might split the cannon in half to create a flat surface to build up from and then glue them together afterwards.  My model was altered and I added six cannon balls (with a flat underside) to add to my display.  The STL file for these items is 7.68Mb in size.  I may need to make changes after I attend the  compulsory 3D printing course.

I will be getting back to my slow progressing scratch build of HMS Bellerophon with a goal to complete all the frames before next summer... but after a summer of home renovations, grass cutting, fishing, and a little carving, I found myself being drawn to something a couple members of our local club (Model Shipwrights of Niagara) brought to one of our monthly meetings earlier in the year (before the summer).
This project was started on 24 October 2018.

Fantastic job 😊

Thank you for your welcome comments, photos of assembly of the square frames, a greeting.

Hi, I finished cutting all the square frames pieces.

Johann! Secure the three strands with the right twist, reverse the polarity of the motor connection, and make a rope with the left twist! Don't forget to add great weight! It'll work! The eyes are afraid, and hands do!

Gorgeous ropes, all of them!
I wonder, did you try to twist any left handed ones as well from your threads?
Fantastic looking ropewalk!

Hello,
in the meantime, I have tested other yarns in different strengths.
Meanwhile, the Irish linen yarn has arrived; one roll NeL 100/2 and two rolls NeL 90/2.

The difference to the Swedish linen yarn can be seen on the next picture. Unfortunately, I can not compare the same strengths. However, there is some difference between the two yarns.
I still have to find out how these differences will affect the finished rope.
 

In the meantime I have equipped the "looper" with an engine.

As you can see on the next picture, I practiced a lot.


 

Hello Johann,
a nice example picture of
Alain Wernimont.
Karl

Hello Pete,
thank you for your appreciation of my work.
 
A few days ago I received the linen yarn from Bockens NeL 120/2 and Goldschild NeL 100/3 and immediately struck a rope with 2 threads per hook. For the linen yarn of Goldschild NeL 100/3, this resulted in a rope with ø 0.75 mm (on the right in the picture) and for the linen yarn of Bockens NeL 120/2 a rope with ø 0.55 mm (left in the picture).
These yarns are a lot thinner, like those already presented. This makes it possible to make even the thinnest ropes I need in the upper rigging for the La Crèole.
Of course, practice is still required. It gets better from rope  to rope; the experience is steadily increasing and it's even fun.

Surely it will be even better, but for now from my point of view as good.

Here are some more Experiments (left to right):
DMC Ecru No. 100  6 x 3 rope diameter 1.40 mm; cotton
DMC Ecru No. 80  6 x 3 rope diameter 1.50 mm; cotton
DMC Ecru No. 80  8 x 3 rope diameter 1.65 mm; cotton
DMC Ecru No. 100  1 x 2 rope diameter 0.45 mm; cotton
Alterfil No. 120  2 x 3 rope diameter 0.58 mm; polyester
Bock's No. 470 NeL 120/2  8 x 3 rope diameter 1.25 mm; linen


 

Just for fun, I looked again at the photos I took of the 1st Bellona model. It shows the lowest, aftmost plank of the wales curving around under the stern, like the planking presumably would do below it. This is not consistent with the original Admiralty sheer plan, nor with the 2nd Bellona model with the copper sheathing. I will have to assume that this was a modeler's convenience, dealing with the reality of skeletal planking in this portrayal of the ship. Unless anyone has seen a wale curve under the counter like this.
 
Mark