Roger Pellett

The Admiral is back and I am back to a slow move in the build. I have been working on the stack figuring out to provide  a conical champher on the stack top. Right now I am trying Wefalks use of lacquered  card. In the meantime I started the water tanks.  Following in the results for the fresh water tank.

Thanks a lot for the likes. You are my support and inspiration.
 
 
 
 

@tom q vaxy  Do you have a power saw?  If so, why not use Pine?
2x4's are less expensive.  Home improvement and builder's supplies outlets have 1.5x3.5 studs (2x4)  and 0.75x3.5 (1x4) furring strips.
 
At Home Depot it could be Pine or Spruce or Fir  - go for Pine, no sap,  minimum knots
 
Pine does not roll, crush, or tear like Balsa

My daughter has gone off on what she calls a sabbatical. So far as I can tell this involves an extended holiday from work drifting around Europe chasing the snow. She parked her car here before she went which is how I discovered that it was more of a garbage truck than a family vehicle. Anyway, today I spent 6 hours getting it back to being tolerably habitable. The good news is that I found enough half eaten snacks to replenish our pantry for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately I didn't find any money.  Today wasn't very productive in the shed but fortunately I did get some time yesterday.
 
I started by machining the wedge angles on the edges of the rudder frame outer thickening pieces. I used a block of wood to hold the pieces on the mill at the correct angle, the angle being set using a bit of trigonometry. I don't have one of those clever little digital angle gauges but sometimes the old methods work perfectly well. You can see in the picture that the thickening pieces are screwed to the wood,  but what is less apparent is that they are set in a cut out which supports them on 3 sides. I decided that relying on the screws alone probably wouldn't have worked. 

I machined both thickening pieces without removing the wooden block from the vice - thus ensuring that the wedge angles on the 2 thickening pieces were identical.

Using a similar technique I machined the other two wedge angles with a different block set at a different angle. You can also see that I used the central piece as a template for scribing on the final internal shape of the thickening pieces.

Then it was back to the jewellers saw to cut out the internal shape. I still hadn't ordered the coarse saw blades so inevitably it took longer than it should have with more breakages. Old fools never learn!

I then machined on the final chamfers on the little nib on the left hand side in the above shot. The three pieces were then assembled together using the small brass locating pins.


The assembly was held together with stainless steel clothes pegs and flux, solder and heat were applied to turn the three pieces into one. Apologies for the messy soldering, I was rushing a bit.

The good news is that it cleaned up quite well.

Now I have to cut the bottom profile which of course is now 0.3" thick and well beyond the wildest aspirations of my little jewellers saw. I need a different plan.
 
 

Well, at 1/96 scale most woods would have really a too coarse grain, particularly those commercial decks made from veneer.
Unlike wooden shipmodels, where the builder may want to show his woodworking etc. skills, plastic models usually are finished to show how the ship (may have) appeared in real life.  Mixing visible wood with plastic may look incongruent in style.
 
My personal choice would be to replace the injection moulded deck with some styrene, lightly engrave the plank seams, lightly scrape down any raised burrs, and build up the coamings etc. from styrene strips.
Then paint the deck in wood colour (I use these days mainly Vallejo acrylics), seal this paint with gloss varnish, take a black 0.1 mm felt-tip pen and draw out the seams, wiping off any excess immediately, so that the black only stays in the engraved lines. Seal again with satin varnish and then slightly tint each individual plank with veery light washes of burnt umber. Afterwards apply a very light white wash all over. The result should look like this:

Actually, in the 1960’s there was quite a bit of, for its time, high level Naval Architecture performed to optimize these towboats.  Propeller/Kort nozzle combinations, flanking rudders, and even tow sizes were all studied.
 
The University of Michigan operates the second largest experimental Naval Architecture Towing tank in the USA.  At 450+- feet long it is about half as long as the US Navy’s 1000’+ long tank.  As a student in the early 1960’s I remember a model towboat with various numbers and arrangements of barges being towed.  This would have been an expensive project and I don’t remember who the client was.  It could have been US Govt Maritime Commission.  Someone, however, spent a lot of money determining the optimal way to make up a tow.
 
Roger.

Actual step of built :
 
 

LOCKHEED F-104 S STARFIGHTER
Kit Hasegawa 1:48 scale
 
These are some of the final pictures of my finished model which depicts a Starfighter in Italian service.
My F-104 carries the insignias of one of the interceptors of the 51st Stormo, based at Istrana, North of Italy as it appeared in 1981. This version started to be built by Aeritalia in Turin (former FIAT) in the late '60. It was powered by a more powerful J79-GE-19 and was armed with the version B or L of the Sidewinder missiles and with Sparrow missiles (from which the letter 'S' in the designation).

The kit is the old 1:48 Hasegawa of the F-104 S which is by now outdated by the newer 'state-of-the-art' Kinetic one. Nevertheless, I found that the plastic is still very nice with crisp and finely engraved surface details, thin and clear transparent parts and it well reproduces the distinctive forms of this aircraft. The build log can be found in the previous pages.


To improve the model, I sourced the following after market items:
-    Aires resin jet exhaust;
-    Master brass pitot probe;
-    Eduard resin ejection seat MB Mk7 and harness;
-    Eduard resin Sidewinder;
-    Aires resin Sparrow;
-    Skymodels decals.




The colors that I used for the Italian NATO camouflage were Gunze H-69 (dark sea grey), Gunze H-309 (dark green) and Vallejo Metallic 'white aluminum' for the underside.





Beside the positive points, I am also listing what are, in my view, its few negative points:
-    Overstated rivets on the wings which shouldn't be there;
-    Incomplete range of details for the 'S' version;
-    Absence of external loads and pylons;
-    Decals with yellow/cream color in place of white for codes. I replaced them with after market decals.


The grey paint of the camouflage was slightly post-shaded to reproduce the typical discoloration of this paint. The final finish was obtained by a coat of Tamiya flat clear XF-86 with some clear added to obtain a satin finish.
 

Little rivet trails and discolorations on the undersurface were obtained by oil colors.

I hope you like my model, thanks for the provided feedback and comments and suggestions are as always welcome.
Best regards,
Dan

Those small details are lots of fun to add but you'll never see them on the final model, especially when encased. But some future observer will be delighted when they use their home Target brand home endoscope.

Old computer woes have made an appearance here on MSW.  While I can read content on each of our two IPADS, I cannot post.  I can only respond with the "like button;" no WOW.  I also cannot sign either IPAD out.
 
Roger

Thank you, Eberhard! I'm fine. Work on the model continues.  

Old computer woes have made an appearance here on MSW.  While I can read content on each of our two IPADS, I cannot post.  I can only respond with the "like button;" no WOW.  I also cannot sign either IPAD out.
 
Roger

Valeriy,  great work as usual.
 
I’m sure that you noticed the split accommodations for the crew; one before the stack and one behind it.  This was typical of steamships built in British shipyards for the British Merchant Marine.  The reason?  The Deck Crew insisted on separate accommodations from the Engineers!
 
At the Beginning of World War II, the famous American Naval Architecture firm of Gibbs and Hill was contracted to modify the design of the the British Ocean class cargo ship design for American mass production, the result being the famous Liberty Ship.  The Oceans featured deck crew quarters separate from the engineers.  Gibbs and Hill eliminated this silly feature, combining everything into one deck structure.
 
Roger

Unless you live on the East Coast or highly populated areas of the West Coast everything that Ian posted about totally Electric vehicles also applies to the USA.  I don’t foresee that these cars will ever be practical for the long distance driving and weather that we encounter in the Northern Midwest.
 
Roger
 
 

Actually, in the 1960’s there was quite a bit of, for its time, high level Naval Architecture performed to optimize these towboats.  Propeller/Kort nozzle combinations, flanking rudders, and even tow sizes were all studied.
 
The University of Michigan operates the second largest experimental Naval Architecture Towing tank in the USA.  At 450+- feet long it is about half as long as the US Navy’s 1000’+ long tank.  As a student in the early 1960’s I remember a model towboat with various numbers and arrangements of barges being towed.  This would have been an expensive project and I don’t remember who the client was.  It could have been US Govt Maritime Commission.  Someone, however, spent a lot of money determining the optimal way to make up a tow.
 
Roger.

Well, I said I'd work on either the hog chains or the main cabin, and for once I stuck to the plan.
 
Building the rest of the cabin was mercifully straightforward, to the point that I didn't take many in-progress shots. I used some sheets of board-and-batten wood left over from past model railroad projects to lay out the walls, and scavenged close-enough windows from my scrap box. Here are the walls well underway, showing the bracing in the back and the carefully cut-and-fit holes for inserting the windows:

I painted everything white, then glassed in the windows the same way as the pilot house (CA plus scrap clear packaging), then added shades using some old sailcloth material from a past ship kit. When that was done, I assembled the structure using my magnetic squaring jig:
 

And here's the result:
 

Here's the cabin test-fit on the rest of the model, with relevant photos in the background:
 


It's been stressful around here lately and I needed a simple project that didn't require too much thought. This fit the bill perfectly. Doing the roof should be easy, too. Then I'll mark its location carefully and start laying out the hog chain braces.
 
Thanks as always for following along and giving feedback, whether through likes or comments. You all keep me going!

Thanks for the comments and likes. 
This one is running to an end. 
Although it started as a bottle build, which, in retrospect would probably have ended in complete failure, it is still a project for my son. I therefore needed to make something solid as a base and protect it, you know what boys rooms can be like... 
I'm not necessarily happy with this base, but I kind of took what I had available, taking into account that it needed to be sturdy and heavy, capable of taking a hit of I-don't-know-what-he-can-throw-around without immediately flying off the shelf. 
It's not the first case I made of the transparent Vivak plate, but it will be the last one... I probably don't have the right tools to handle this, but all in all it's a very tough material to work with. Cutting is extremely hard, scouring it with a blade, pressing it and snapping it over an edge certainly results in cracks and it's difficult to glue (only MEK seems to work). In the end it will serve its purpose of keeping dust away on top of some shelf. It's also not a top model, as I'm still heavily annoyed by the air bubbles. 
I was also thinking of making a small cutterhead model to place in a corner outside the casing, but I'll first see if he would want that or not. 
Additionally you can see the base of the dio was bent. I'm still not sure what caused it, I'm pretty sure it was still straight after the application of the sand-acrylic mixture, but I'm not sure whether it was still flat after application of the pure acrylic gel over the sand. Could also have been caused by the epoxy I guess. 
Another lesson learned, take a sturdier base (for example a glass bottle) if you want to use epoxy. 
That said, I've painted the edges ochre and will put panels outside the casing, following the contour of the diorama inside and then work up to those plates with acrylic-sand mixture to make it look like the bottom continues outside the casing. This will then also hide the bent base plate. While I'm at it, I might also drop some of that sand over the black sides of that base plate, again following a curved pattern, but I don't consider that strictly necessary.  
 
It'll also get a nameplate, still considering making it flat on the base, following the curves, or screw in a flat, sturdier name plate, some distance off, just touching the curved forward side of the dio.

 
Here you have a better view of the neuring buoy of the floating line. Unfortunately one of the air/gas bubbles attached itself to the line, completely screwing up the effect 😭 You also see the bent base plate.

 
 

Hello everyone,
Thanks for the comments Roger, KeithAug and Jim Lad.  Thanks everyone for the likes.
Short update here.
I have the pilot house and winch house doors built; need to do the engine house doors.
Working on the stack, whistle and RV discharge.
I think I may have a large enough batch of parts to paint soon.
Thanks for looking.
mcb
 

Roger - I think it's called technical dementia.
 
Thank you John.

Old computer woes have made an appearance here on MSW.  While I can read content on each of our two IPADS, I cannot post.  I can only respond with the "like button;" no WOW.  I also cannot sign either IPAD out.
 
Roger

Old computer woes have made an appearance here on MSW.  While I can read content on each of our two IPADS, I cannot post.  I can only respond with the "like button;" no WOW.  I also cannot sign either IPAD out.
 
Roger

First. The schrouds problem
Fortunately, cherry wood is very flexible and this can be easily solved. By stretching the frames towards each other.
This is something for later, if I do this now I won't have enough space to work in the rear castle.

 
Continued with determining the position of the decks.
And the "gun wale". On this beam were the swivel guns placed on the first version of the Mary Rose, on the current version only 3 would have remained.

Memory aid. Where is what 


Adjustment of the stern

The position of the 3 swivel guns

further surgery of the stern

Upper deck and castle deck determined. Upper castle still to do

current status

Thaks for following

Stbd side "completed".  Now going to turn the hull around on my workbench and start on Port side.  Some touch up painting needed and going to paint the life rafts.

Steven,
 
I understand that materials readily available in one country may not be in another, BUT!    Here in the USA we have a Company called K&S.  They sell thin walled brass tubing in sized from 1/32” OD to about 9/16”OD.  Each size telescopes into the next size larger.  They also sell similar metric sizes.  This stuff would be ideal for your roof supports.  Using the telescoping of two sizes you could avoid soldering.
 
Roger

The rigging.
 
The rigging is less complicated than the rigging on more masted ships, but is basically the same.
A big difference is the absence of lanyards and deadeyes. During my research I came to the solution that this construction is an invention which dates from the first half of the fifteenth century. Original mediaeval pictures show everywhere an other construction which is surprisingly the same as used on ships with latin sails, which were used until the last part of the nineteenth century. This cog was build in 1320, so long before the invention of lanyards and deadeyes.
 
One of the reconstructed cogs was build in Kiel in Germany. While testing  its sail capabilities it appeared the ship could sail up to 70 degrees by wind abeam. In this position the sail would grate over the shrouds. The shrouds on that ship are equipped with lanyards and deadeyes, which I believe is not correct, so the shrouds could not be removed in case of grating.
Shrouds on ships with latin sails can be removed while sailing. A part of the shrouds on leeward can be removed while the ship is sailing abeam. This is possible with the help of the construction as drawn in the sketch nr 1. A stick (Dutch; knevel) can be pulled out in the connection of two parts of the shroud which both end in a noose. On both sides of the ship are mostly four shrouds as drawn in nr 2. The shrouds windward can of course not be removed, but with some of the shrouds leeward it is possible.
 
 
 
1                                                                                                                                                  
 
2
 

The model without the yard, but with the shrouds.
 
On port-side the four shrouds are all fastened, on starboard only two. The other two are hanging alongside the mast. In this case the wind will come abeam the portside.
This construction is on ships with latin sails always usual, but it is also possible on cogs. Old mediaval illustrations of ships show this solution.
Ships with latin sails have a different rigging because of the possibility of setting the sails and yards in other positions which move around the foreside the masts. But the shroud construction is the same as on cogs.
It is obvious that ratlines are impossible with this type of rigging. Ratlines in shrouds can not be found on ships before the first part of the fifteenth century.
 
The rest
 
On the model I made two anchors. Made of brass. I sawed them from brass plate, thick 2,5 mm. After filing and sanding in the correct proportions,  blades of thin brass,  were soldered on it. After that I painted them in colour Matt  46, from Revell. All iron pieces on the models I make are painted in this color. Never black.
 
The sailors on the model are from “Lehman HO pirates 90-2025”. Usually I do not place figures, but this model goes to a museum here in town. For visitors it is in this way easier to compare the human proportions.
 
I never paint my models, only the sails.
 
The finished model gives an impression of how those ships looked like. It is a reconstruction, so there always will be the possibility of other opinions.
 
The following pictures give an impression of teh finished model.
Cogs had an unsusual construction of the hull. The ends of the  beams inside the ship came out the side of the ships hull. This can be seen on the next illustrations.
 

 u

The deck
 
On two places I made openings in the deck. The deck itself consisted of a frame of beams with were formed in a rectangular pattern. Most rectangulars were planked, but a number were hatches used for loading  the vessel. Probably these hatches were caulked during the voyage, to prevent overcoming water in the ship.
 
The walnut shape of the deck which is characteristic for all cogs in that period.
 
In the bow a part of the railing was missing. Probably to guide the anchor cable in a low position. This prevented damage on the upper part of the railing. A cleat on the foreside prevented damage of the anchor-cable.
 

 
 
Th castles.
 
In the wreck were remnants of the vertical beams which once supported a castle in the stern.These wooden castles were common on these ships. The ships company could defend themselves against attacs during the voyage. In none of te wrecks of cogs were sufficient remnants found of such castles.
So we have to look at old illustrations on coins and document-seals of the cities which committed trade with these ships.
Fortunately there is a large number of these old seals, on which  castles can be seen.  Sometimes there was only one castle but other seals show two of these structures.
I chose for two castles, according to the seals of the city of Damme 1300 and the seal of Rye 1400.
On the reconstruction on paper in the archeological publication are drawn two castles. The castle on the stem and a very large castle on the bow. The last one could impossible have stand on this place. It stands in the way  of the sail when the wind blows  in it. On all  seals on which two castles are depicted it is obvious that the castle stand as far as possible near the bow, sometimes even on the bow.
 
 
 
     
Two document-seals with cogs. Above the seal of Rye (1400) and under the seal of Damme (1300).
I chose for these constructions.
The back of the tower on the bow must stand at least on the half length of the yard before the mast, otherwise the sail could not be braced in the proper position during sailing.
 

 
 
 
The mast and the yard.
 
The mast and the yard were not found on the wreck. There are two reconstructed cogs on full scale on which the lenght of the mast had to be calculated. Both cogs are fully documented. So I took  the three lenghts of the ships and the two lenghts of the masts of the reconstructed ships. After some calculations I found a hight of 17,3 m. above the deck.
The construction of the mast is exactly as made on the two reconstructed ships.
 
The sail.
 
Cogs had only one sail. How this was made is not exactly known.  Different solutions can be seen on the document-seals, but the details are very small and hardly recognisable. I did some research on larger illustrations, mainly before the year 1400. Even pictures dating from the Roman times. There I found ships with only one mast with a very detailed rigging. I decided to use these details on my model. Surprisingly some deatils are the same as depicted on several seals from about 800 years later.
 

The sail I made consists of twelve horizontal strips and six vertical ropes. Each rope is led throug rings on every second horizontal seam and finally attached on the lowest seal. When you pull the ropes the sail will fold up until the entire sail ends under the yard.
This  construction can be seen on a reconstructed  pre-Roman vessel which sails in the  Mediterranean the ”Kyrenia Liberty”. The sail is horizontal longer en verical shorter than the sails which are used on the two reconstruced cogs.  On both ships the sails are the results of exeperiments. On my model I used the proportions of the sail which can be seen on old original mediaeval pictures and according to the measurements of the Kyrenia Liberty.
For this reason the yard is also very long. 
 
 
Every rope leads through a bloc in the top of the mast and ends on a jeer bitt on deck.