Roger Pellett

Resin dropped into resin 

Let it snow, let it snow (you’re singing it aren’t you) 

It seems a long time since my last post. Life beyond the model work bench has kept me otherwise occupied. Some good and some not so wonderful
\Work out at the test stand got rather frenetic with some high risk testing which ended as these things do - somewhat prematurely. That finishes my contract to support so my time is back to being largely under my control again.
My cousin from North Wales visited for two weeks after Memorial Day. She chose her dates well. It sounded like she missed two weeks of rain in Wales and we had two weeks of sunshine. Admittedly a bit hot but the sea was clear enough for snorkelling and she went home with the requisite tan. I felt rather unwell driving home after dropping her off at the airport and found I had Covid again. The symptoms cleared up quite quickly this time but its taken ages to get over the tiredness and the lack of interest in doing anything remotely constructive.
Today I finally found some momentum and made a start on the flesh tones on Nabopolassar. I put the basic shades down and managed to work around the eyes. I need a few lighter shades to highlight and some darker parts. The lips need to be darkened and then hair and beard etc.
The nail art brushes are a great help for the small details and seem to hold their shape well

Thanks for looking in and likes and comments. Its good to finally be back
Alan
 
 
 
 

The hull is almost completed ......

Thanks everyone....it was fun trying to get as close as the original image....but lenses...camera angle...location...depth of field...etc..etc......
 
Here is one last one.
 
Rob

One last one for now.

A few more.

Dropping off some comparative images of Glory and my model.  

Just a *what about that* moment.
 
I had never seen the famous Carl G. Evers painting of Glory of the Seas in a dramatic ocean painting, prior to completing my Glory build.  But shortly after, I discovered this amazing painting.
 
It almost mimics by build completely....along with the red painted iron banding(which was a specific identified of her during her heyday).
 
This painting was done in the thirties(I understand).   Notice how accurate his painting and my model compare.
 
I just was stunned.....anyway.  Enjoy!
 
Rob

I built the shelf brackets to be exactly like the main beam brackets in the living room.  
I wanted the case to look original to the space, but still purposeful for the model.
I think it looks good and the model is now protected from dust and Cobb webs…..and prying hands. 
I wanted the model to be easily viewable, so I intentionally kept the case as low as possible.  LED track lights from both rooms amply illuminate the model. 
 
Rob

Finished the case and filled it with the model and some historical images.  Here’s some images. 
 

Not too sure. Definitely looks racy in those anodised colours!
 
Ok, on with the build. 
 
As I mentioned in the first post, I needed to use some oil as the kit didn't supply any. This is what I bought for all of these engine kits, and I apply it with a cotton bud.
 

 
The first thing to build are the eight pistons. This is simply a case of inserting a pin through the piston head, trapping the piston rod. The pin is held in place with a circlip on either side. All of these are of course lubricated.


 
 
We are already onto heavy metal with the use of this crankcase and crankshaft. With some lube, this sits into place within the crankcase and is held in place by a series of saddles that are bolted in situ.



 
 
The piston chambers are now wiped with a little oil and the cylinders installed. These bolt to the crankshaft in pairs, with the kink in each of them offset so they don't foul each other when in operation.

 
 
The crankshaft is now rotated to make sure everything is absolutely free. 

 
 
More gold anodised parts are now used, with the cylinder heads and the spark plugs. Two of these units are to be built.

 
 
Next up are the valves. These consist of the valves which are lubes and inserted into the block from below. On the top, a sleeve is dropped into position, followed by a spring and lastly the valve head. All of these are checked that they are free to move.


 
The cam seat is now bolted to the top of each of these units. 

 
And then the camshafts are seated in their correct orientation and then fitted with saddles and some lube.

 
 
Timing gears are now fitted to these units. One of the units has extenders added to the camshafts so the chains can run at different levels so they won't foul each other. 

 
 
Exhaust pipes and manifolds are now added. In retrospect, I'd have added these later as they got in the way a little when I was moving the engine around. They frequently had to be realigned. 

 
 
 
The sump is bolted to the lower crankcase, and onto that are fitted the engine feet.

 
 
Now, the cylinder heads can finally be mated to the crankcase. A real sense of the size and weight of this thing becomes clear.

 
 
Lastly, for this update, the rear and front end covers. 


 
...to be continued

Planking the Hull…
 
I used CA glue to attach to the bulk heads, with PVA in the seams. 

Bow plank bends…

Stern plank bends…

Pretty happy with my first scratch built Hull. 
 
Cheers 🍻 
 
 

Keith. It is tough for you both and there are bound to be times when spirits flag. I know what you mean about the thought of a retirement home being daunting. I am approaching old age when mentally I have only just reached adolescence and (probably like yourself) anything that challenges my status quo is particularly unwelcome. I hope your search goes well, but even more I hope something clicks for Maggie and her recovery gets back on track. Best wishes to you both and keep your chin up.
P.S - I understand that retirement home "Grab a Grannie Dance Nights" can be quite exhilarating.

A Maggie update.....she's reached a comfort level (for her) and seems unwilling to push herself to try and reach her pre stroke self.
 
 At this point I]if something were to happen to me, there's no way she could care of herself and me. We're financially exposed so we've started looking at senior retirement facilities. Maggie is receptive to the idea but I'm pretty resentful as I'm not ready for retirement facility living but it is what it is.
 
 Thank you to everyone for following along,
 
   Keith

Thank you for the nice comments.
In the meantime, I've had a moment where you say to yourself "kieke" Flemish for "chicken".
A fun way to say stupid 🤣
The plank is clamped and the clamp is now blocked

 
And the iron wire, which kept the sides of the rear castle at the right width, and on which I have already cut my fingers a few times. has been replaced by a pair of threaded rods.
Safety first at the shipyard 👍

Thank you, Nils!  
 This is a hawser reel.

Some more details have been added.

Hello Joachim!
 Regarding nickel plating, I wrote everything I could in the topic on Varyag. Look there carefully.
 I can say briefly about this process that I learned it from videos from the Internet in Russian. I think that the same videos are available in English and German.
 In a search engine, write for example: “nickel plating or copper plating at home.”  
 This is all quite easy to study and understand on your own. Unfortunately, my weak English will not allow me to tell you the same way as in these videos.

More plankers progress. I have to admit I wasn't really on it this week. The workshop proved to be unusually frustrating. It felt like every time I put something down on the workbench I had to search for half an hour to find it again. It wasn't as if the bench was particularly untidy, I just seemed to be in the habit of hiding what I wanted under the thing I had just put down. Anyway for what it is worth here is the progress.

About half the hull is done but that means I have had to sort out the skeg slot in the area of the prop shaft. Because of the fineness of the lines in this area the edge of the slot is very thin and quite ragged as a result.

I decided that planking over this area might prove to be problematic, particularly as the plan is to varnish the lower hull thus precluding the use of filler to mask errors.
 
Rather than planking I thought it would be better to replace this section of the hull with a solid piece of mahogany shaped as per the pink section of the following plan.

I cut out the template and pasted it to a 3/4" thick piece of mahogany. I then cut the straight edges and drilled a hole to form the small diameter curve adjacent to the prop shaft.

I then rough cut the rest of the curve on the scroll saw, before sanding it to finished size.

I then milled the end to fit around the prop shaft. 


The next step was to gradually hack away the hull while checking the block for fit.


Once the fit looked OK I cut the slot to take the brass skeg.


The insert was then glued in place.
 

An interesting project, well done!
 
Since this will be on public display just hope that kids don’t sneak in and try to shoot this thing!😀😀  But then Dutch kids are probably better behaved then American ones.
 
Roger

The cannonballs are ready. I made them out of aerated concrete. The photo shows how the process went. A block was sawn out and touched up with a box cutter. The bullet had to fit exactly in a mold that has the diameter of the barrel. Then I filled the holes in the concrete with a filler and they were painted in the right color.




Next to the cannon there will be a wooden tray with six cannonballs in it. To prevent anyone from taking them, they are screwed into the bottom of the box from the bottom. Attached to the barge is a chain that will soon be attached to the cannon so that no one can take the barge in its entirety.
In reality, such a granite bullet would weigh about 500 grams.
The carpenter is still working on the wooden carriage. We are waiting for a few parts that a local blacksmith is making.

 
 
 

Hi MSW,
I was going to take the summer off from building anything but alas, I have the sickness.  Being inspired by watching all the Viking series movies on Netflix,  I started building my own Viking longboat. I am using a paper done by Dr. Biscoff on the Oseberg as a guide. It is quite detailed so there should be more than enough information to scratch build something similar. I will make up my own carvings for the bow and stern to personalize it. 
 
here are some pics from the beginning of my journey. The keel is made from .080” thick plywood I made from some basswood I had lying around. The frames and planking are made from my neighbors’s pear tree we cut down last summer. I guess I went overboard with the scratch idea by cutting down and drying my own wood   😜






 
Tom
 

Hi Everyone, thank you very much for dropping by and Liking. Quite a while ago I cut and shaped the part of the false wale that wraps around the stern. I posted this picture previously but figured I’d post it again as a reminder. Attached it about an inch at a time using pins, PVA and CA. It Is made out of 1/16” basswood sheet but will be sanded down to 1/32” to match the false wales that continue up the hull to the stem. 
 

 

 
A template for the sub deck was made using a file folder and used to mark a sheet of 1/32” basswood sheet. Once the sub deck was attached the sheer was sanded down to it.
 

 

 
A 7/32 x 1/32” strip of AYC was used for the rest of the false wale and sanded back down to the sub deck leaving it about 3/16” wide.
 

 
During the times the glue was drying I made a mould to shape the curved cockpit walls. Shaped one piece of 1/32” basswood sheet that was soaked in water for a few minutes. The grain is running vertically so it wasn’t difficult to shape. Let that dry for a couple of days and then glued another piece on top of the first piece.
 

 

 

 
Gave it a test fit to see how high it needed to be. Made some more parts for the main hatch. The center board crane was built up out of 5/16” x 1/16” AYC. Then more test fitting.
 

 

 
 
That’s about it for now. Hope to see you soon.
 

Thank you for allowing me to join! I come from a family of fishermen and tugboat captains in eastern NC. I grew up on boats in coastal NC, but have lived in NYC for most of my life, I miss the water and look forward to trying my hand at modeling, especially boats built by my grandfather. I'm starting off with the Model Shipways Dory/Pram/Smack and hope to eventually be able  to scratch build models of boats my grandfather built as well as the tugboat Patriot (now Java Sea) that my dad was captain of.