zoly99sask

Small update and question.
 
I finished placing these steps. Here you see them without and with a coat of boiled linseed oil as finish.
My question is: I would like the guys climbing these steps to have something to hold onto while climbing.
Any suggestions or ideas? I tried to place a wire handrail at the sides, but it was very flimsy and vulnerable. I think I've seen drawings showing a knotted rope just hanging there. Instructions say nothing on the matter. Thanks for any advise.
 
Here they are being placed. You can see where I "shaved" the paint to get better adhesion. 



 
2 of these little pieces go at the sides of the anchor davits. They will be stained before placement.
 
 
Since this is a very small update, I will fill with photos of the general look of the 4 decks as they are at this moment.
(Hey Arthur... look at the pin racks )
 




 
 
 
Thanks for visiting

Hello mates. Happy New Year to all my friends here.
 
A small update:
 
Started work on the belaying pin racks. (Those holes are more straight on the upper side )
I placed two small dowels to serve as anchors, using toothpicks and carving them to the desired diameter.


 
For the belaying pin racks that go on the bulwarks, I placed two small brass wires on them.

 
...and stained them with walnut stain...

 
Here is a little trick. I put a small drop of glue on the brass and touch the bulwark with it...

 
The glue spot tells me exactly where to drill...


 
These racks will never come off...


 
I placed also the rings that go on theck to support the masts.


 
Thats all for today. More work on the decks still to do, and oh yes... the cannons... gunport lids, open deck cannons rigging... still a long way to masting and rigging!
 
Thanks for visiting!!!
 
Best regards.

Christmas update!
Hi all and welcome.
 
I finished building and placing the several stairs that go from deck to deck. In those in the central deck, I (fortunately) realized that once placed, there was no chance to place and rig the cannons that go underneath, as you will see. So I had to build, place and rig four cannons  that go under 4 stairs.
 




 
Front handrail

 
Above mentioned four stairs with cannons underneath.

 






 
 I wish a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2017 to all of you, friends!
 

Hallo   
 
The shipyard is restarted.  
 
I have started to fill up the space between the frames.  
When one side is finished there will be A more detailed update.
  Index see post 1   Groetjes Greetings    

Welcome to MSW Keith! Good to have you with us. I know you are looking at keeping both sand dust and costs down so you can always hand sand things. Working with wood will mean that you will have sanding and sawdust unfortunately. I would recommend getting a small vacuum to help keep the dust under control. If you get one with a long enough hose you can always rig it, (use tape to hold it to the table) so that it acts as a dust collector when sanding.
 
If you think this may be something you really want to get into, I would recommend spending the money on a Dremmel. No need to buy the expensive sets with hundreds of bits, just get the basic drill with a couple of sanding drums to start off.
 
If money is tight even for that, there is nothing wrong with hand sanding. The paper is cheap and you can easily make sanding blocks out of scrap wood or buy cheap ones if you prefer that. Honestly, even with al the power tools I have, the majority of my sanding on a model ship is still done by hand either with a block or free form.
 
Both of the models you are looking at are great starters. There are many logs for both and they will give you a good fundamental of the basics.
 
Good luck to you on your maiden voyage into this great hobby! I look forward to seeing what you decide to start with and sharing this adventure with you!

Officially finished my first build.
Finished her with a Minwax wipe on poly, gave it a nice finish I was looking for.
 
She is now proudly displayed on the mantel.
Time to clean up the bench and get ready for my next build....
 

Here I'am again with an update.
All the yards are in place.
Also the sprit sail yard.
Now I have to pay attention when I turn the ship.
I can now go on with the standing rigging.
Anja is still trying to make the hammock netting for me.
But she has also her own build so it can take a while.
No problem at all because when the nettings are finished, it is easy to place them ( I hope ).
 
Sjors
 

 

 

 
 
 

Fixed  
 

 
 
And now we move on to lining those remaining gunports  
 

Well this turned out to be an absolute mess, they just don't fit, even when filing down the windows they seem to protrude and they should have depth.
 
I'll have to start this all over again with a different approach, looks like the only way i'm going to get some sort of depth is cutting out the window openings carefully just so they fit with some depth, risky I know
 

THE KEY TO USE CHERRY WOOD
 
‘’My mystery partner’’ will be starting  a model of a 74 guns as soon he finishes his actual model.  He wants to know if  cherry wood could be a good wood choice for his next build? He asked to see a picture of the darkest wood avaialable. Why not show everybody the answer and  at the same time, try to demistify if this wood could  be use in a model ship construction perspective.
For  3 different batches of cherry wood that I saw, the wood grain pattern was different each time. I have been working few years up to now and if I take time to regroup the observations I made during this period, I can observe  4 main wood grain pattern for this specific wood:
 
1- Sap wood is white and heartwood is somekind of  different brown.  Time  darkens and embellish condiderably the color.
 
2- By comparison, which is often the best way to learn a subject, pear wood has no grain pattern. This gives the wood an adavantage for the model maker enthousiast.  All the planks are identical for the wood grain. He does not need to select any plank,  all the planks have the same  identical  grain pattern. From the point of view, workability pear wood and cherry wood  are similar even if pear wood  has a slightly higher density. Finally, for the sandability, both are identical.
 
Cherry wood has  a grain pattern. This pattern is different on the top and on the side of the plank. The pattern is partially governed by the annual year growth . Ideally if the rings were smaller, cherry wood could be the ideal wood to use for us, modeler.
 
When you look at a plank from side or top the pattern can be completely different, This pattern  comes back often and it is pretty nice to see but on 1 side only.
 
3- The worst grain pattern we can find is when when the growth lines come perpendiculary to the lenght of the plank. This kind is the less desirable to use. The worst  mistake I could do is to use this pattern for the planking.
 
Ideally by decreasing   the scale of a model, we should also decrease the wood pattern of the grain. For the best results, we should find a wood grain which looks exactly like oak but at a much smaller scale. Does this perfect wood exist? I do not know.  One of the nicest wood I have seen for the planking is apple wood, yet another fruit wood, our best friend.
 
4- Each wood as his own advantages. Oak has a grain pattern which goes in the same way as the plank goes. Occasionally, a cherry wood plank will have the grain perpendicular to the lenght of the plank. This is exactly this kind of situation which must be avoid. If someone succeeds to avoid this trap, it should be possible to get a good result  simply by categorising the wood, not as a selling perspective classification as on the market, but as a perspective of use in model ship realisation.
 
For the frame,  the less attractive wood grain of the batch can be use and the best looking grain is kept for the planking. 

Hello,
 
Since about several years I built three ships on the scale 1 : 87. I had more time because I had my pension. I built maquettes of historical buildings (castles, old cities) as well. Much of that can be seen on my website;  www.constantwillems.nl 
I follow the forum a few weeks and I realise that I built those ships in a way I do not find on the forum. So I want to explain it. I hope some of you may be interested.
 
The ships I built were a Chebeque, a Tartane and a Galleotta. Before those I built also a Venetian Pinque. All on the same scale. The Pinque has a somewhat different building technic, so I want to keep her out of this topic.
 
All the ships have sailed on the Mediterranean during the 16th, 17th and beginning 19th century. The have my warm interest because of their beauty. I personally consider the chebeque as the most elegant ship ever sailed.
 
It was difficult to find plans and details of these ships. All four ships demanded a considerable time of study before I could begin with the construction.
 
I chose the scale 1 : 87 because I like to built on a very small scale (see also the maquettes) and I have no room at home to place very large models.
 
I use for all models pear wood. I do not paint them, exept the sails.
 
So this is not a regular topic to show the building process from the beginning of a single model. The models are finished, but I like to show you how I worked on the models.
 
So consider the following postings as a building process of a new ship.
 
Constant

Here starts my journey.
A build board 24" in length and 12"  wide.
 

Strong, firmly, straight , precise ... these are the words to describe this construction in this stage ... Was it fragile in the beginning ? ... The first phase of the pleasent job has just been done .... The second phase is the hull planking... All planking of this hull begins with two 4mm wide strips. The first planking strip is glued so that its upper edge follows the upper edge of the main deck rail that will be attached to the deck later. Below this one follows the same one. This is the base for the top of the wale that will be attached later... instead of this combination the 3mm and 5mm wide strips could be used. The point is that this part of the wale should be 8mm wide all along its lenght ...

   Here is the first strip :

I had pictures in the camera for this build as well.  I did get to dry fit the winch assembly.......and then it was assembled.  I put 'er up next to a penny to show just how big it is.
 

 
the idea I had carried over to the skylight roof parts.   I have one of 'em done here.
 

 
they are both done now.  as I figured would happen,  there is some minor scratches.   I think a coat of lacquer will hide them though.  we'll see what happens....the boxes are next,  right along with the three holds.  I know........I wasn't very kind in my description of the bilge pump.   I'll let the diagram speak for itself.....
 

 
these are the parts that will make up the pump.   the first thing will be to drill out the cylinders.....they need a bit more depth and for the mouth to be a bit larger.  then,  I'll see what I can do about that straight line they call a shaft.   ......and they rolled the brass up.......hate it when they do that.
 

 
I assembled it while I was visiting here today.......fair bit of multi-tasking.  I'll show you what I came up with when I get back..........now that I'm back on my feet,  I'm not immune to errands anymore. 
 
"take care of those you call your own,  and keep good company!"       >Queen<

Continuation.
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
The beginning of the relation is available at this address:
 
 
http://5500.forumact...ndre-1-24#66516
 
 
 
Regards, Pawel

Continuation.
 
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 
The beginning of the relation is available at this address:
 
 
http://5500.forumact...ndre-1-24#66516
 
 
 
Regards, Pawel

sorry I haven't been in the last couple of days........I came down with a stomach bug.   ......I guess that was the mysterious illness that's been going around up in this neck of the woods........the doctor mentioned it to me when I was down with my past illness.   of course,  I didn't have any of the symptoms then.
      I did make a little bit of progress....now that I'm back up and running,  I will post it shortly  
 
 
you are correct John,  this one is a three piston pump.   when I post what I've done,  I will show you what the diagram of the pump looks like.   I'm glad you showed me your pictures.......the diagram doesn't show the piston connecting rods for the pump wells.   thank you good sir  
 
thank you for the likes  

Popeye,
 
Just for reference, these are the pumps on my model of the 'Nautilus' for reference.  I would think that your pumps are the same type.
 
John
 


 

thanks for the kind comments and the likes folks.........it does help to decrease the uncertainty as I get further along with the build.   as spyglass mentioned.........for those who aren't sure how large this model is.......the hull from bow stem to stern,  is only 18 1/2 inches long.   the parts are small....I'd even say tiny,  compared to other models I've built.   I'm finding out that some parts are quite delicate.......as shown here.  to pass the time yesterday,  I played around a bit more with some of the deck parts.  the winch looked like a good place to start.   I began this bit of playtime with the wooden parts for the winch.
   trying to assemble it as a dry fit,  I found that some parts didn't fit too good,  or not at all.   holes needed to be drilled out larger,  for the rollers to fit into the end parts........as well as the drums,  not drilled out enough to fit the rollers either.  then the top hole on one side of the winch end caps broke,  causing me to abandon the dry fit.
 

 
these parts are nicely done.......all of the punch outs are clean.   I do have another sheet I can play with later,  in the event that I create another hull frame.   after this happened,  I turned my attention to the metal sheet.  all of the punch outs needed to be cut out.......punching through with a drill,  and then cleaning them out with an x-actor blade.  it did work out well,   as metal carving goes.......having some lilliputian files would have been nice.
 

 

 
little by little.........cut,  scrape,  and eyeball..........repeat,  until they got to where they look halfway decent.
 

 
then,  it was the painstaking task of drilling out all of the drums,  so they would fit on the roller pins.   it was a lost cause to pinch them in my fingers,  to drill them.....the bit would bind in the metal and start them spinning.  I literally had to trap them in a clothes pin,  and clamp them in the vise......and use my battery operated drill to ream out the holes.   the first roller was done......the little guy near the top of the pict.
 

 
the bottom roller had a larger diameter pin on one side,  than the other {unknown reason why},  so the drum and the winch end cap for that side needed to be drill out to fit..  that process is now done........I did get to dry fit,  but the fit is still poor due to the fact that both rollers are not at an equal width {concerning the center area}.  when I finally assemble it,  two short rods need to be added to the base,  and they should square it up.
 
 
 
I'm also looking at what I believe is called the bilge pump......basically,  just a straight rod with three odd looking things in the middle.   there must be some way to dress them up and make the assembly look more functional.  as for the other parts I have for the winch......I don't have any more parts this size to make them,  but I'm sure I can scratch something out.....we'll see     now..........all this looks like more fun than a grown man can handle,  but an idea arose from it.  if I can do this to these parts....scalping out all the punch outs,  what can that mean for the skylight parts for the galley?   does this mean that the skylight plugs I have might not be needed?  would I venture to make the frame for a hollow skylight?
 
oh.........the plot thickens.....

Feels so good to be back at the modeling table.

Even though I don't have much of pictures to present at the moment, I have been working on the longboat.
One thing that happened was the tip of the gaff got broken. It was an easy surgery.


 

Lots of progress today.
Rudder is ready for painting,
It was tricky to get the pintles and gudgeons right, but after some work I got it right.
But getting the eyebolt done was a pain.



 
 

The rudder is now shaped and so is the tiller.
I predrilled the whole for the tiller and then used a flat pointed file to open up for the insert.

 

Thank you Steve for the nice word.
Yes, the oars turned out much better after another sanding and another two layers of white.
The inboard is all freehand painted, I found it trickier to mask than paint directly.
 
I looked at other long boats online of various styles and decided to go with a "three pair setup" six rowers.
Going with eight made it look cramped. I also decided to exclude the windlass and I have a surprise up in my sleeve for the long boat.
So, the oarlocks are in place and painted.


 

As I stayed Sunday with intention of heading home Monday morning, this allowed me and Floyd to work on our longboats. So, yes I made the oars for both of us. A set of for each.