Roger Pellett

Mike,
 
If you choose to add fire buckets, this rack from Ship Joinery by Duckworth (1924) would be typical and appropriate.
 
Roger
 

Mike,
 
If you choose to add fire buckets, this rack from Ship Joinery by Duckworth (1924) would be typical and appropriate.
 
Roger
 

Mike,
 
If you choose to add fire buckets, this rack from Ship Joinery by Duckworth (1924) would be typical and appropriate.
 
Roger
 

That would be an interesting hobby too. I still have some old toy farm equipment from my childhood, including a 1950 John Deere Combine. Someday I have to find a good home for it.
 
Rogerl

Mike,
 
If you choose to add fire buckets, this rack from Ship Joinery by Duckworth (1924) would be typical and appropriate.
 
Roger
 

Thanks for all the positive comments.
 
Inspired by Gerald's machine tools for working on his Clyde model I did a small upgrade to this little holding fixture, I can see further modifications in the wings.
 

 
I needed some better clamping elements and so made some up along the lines of the tiny toolmakers clamps that Lee Valley sells that Gaetan recommended.
 

 
I needed a good way to hold the aft stairs while soldering them back together.
 

 
after removing them this is what I started with.
 

 
after some careful bending with some fine needle nosed pliers I managed to get them back into a reasonable resemblance of their former shape.
 

 
The new holding clamps will allow me to re-solder the steps tomorrow.
 

 
Michael
 

That would be an interesting hobby too. I still have some old toy farm equipment from my childhood, including a 1950 John Deere Combine. Someday I have to find a good home for it.
 
Rogerl

Mike,
 
If you choose to add fire buckets, this rack from Ship Joinery by Duckworth (1924) would be typical and appropriate.
 
Roger
 

Mike,
 
If you choose to add fire buckets, this rack from Ship Joinery by Duckworth (1924) would be typical and appropriate.
 
Roger
 

In my opinion the best single reference on British ships boats is The Boats of Men of War by W.E. May. This book includes several drawings and several other illustrations of longboats. Of particular interest is the boat illustrated on page 90. Although this probably dates from the first half of the 1700's it is the original drawing that I know of that includes a sail plan and details of rigging which incidentally vary considerably from the rigged longboat model in the NMM. Howard Chapelle chose this boat as an example of a longboat in his American Small Sailing Craft. His drawing of this boat based on the Admiralty drawing reproduced in May would be available from the Smithsonian.
 
Roger Pellett

In my opinion the best single reference on British ships boats is The Boats of Men of War by W.E. May. This book includes several drawings and several other illustrations of longboats. Of particular interest is the boat illustrated on page 90. Although this probably dates from the first half of the 1700's it is the original drawing that I know of that includes a sail plan and details of rigging which incidentally vary considerably from the rigged longboat model in the NMM. Howard Chapelle chose this boat as an example of a longboat in his American Small Sailing Craft. His drawing of this boat based on the Admiralty drawing reproduced in May would be available from the Smithsonian.
 
Roger Pellett

Michael, sorry to hear about your leg injury. I hope that you are back on your feet soon. I tried to email you relaxation,not pages of McCaffery's book on spinning wire rope but I got a non-delivery notice. I'll try again.
 
Long story short he chucks necessary number of strands in his Unimat, loops the free end through a bar that he holds tight, pulls the whole thing tight and turns on the lathe.
 
Roger Pellett

In my opinion the best single reference on British ships boats is The Boats of Men of War by W.E. May. This book includes several drawings and several other illustrations of longboats. Of particular interest is the boat illustrated on page 90. Although this probably dates from the first half of the 1700's it is the original drawing that I know of that includes a sail plan and details of rigging which incidentally vary considerably from the rigged longboat model in the NMM. Howard Chapelle chose this boat as an example of a longboat in his American Small Sailing Craft. His drawing of this boat based on the Admiralty drawing reproduced in May would be available from the Smithsonian.
 
Roger Pellett

A little picture

Bob, if you need a good reference for steam launches with lots of pictures and some hull lines, pick up a copy of "The Steam Launch" by Richard Mitchel. Used copies are available for less than $20. This book also includes pictures of boilers and engines.
 
Roger Pellett

Bob, if you need a good reference for steam launches with lots of pictures and some hull lines, pick up a copy of "The Steam Launch" by Richard Mitchel. Used copies are available for less than $20. This book also includes pictures of boilers and engines.
 
Roger Pellett

Steve,
 
Nice model! Your engine room needs a couple of huge 3 to 4 feet long open end wrenches and perhaps a pry bar 5 ft long. The whaleback steamship SS Meteor with a 2000 ihp triple expansion engine has some as long as 6 ft. These engines had a tendency to lock up with a piston on "dead center.and these tools were needed to roll the engine past this position. Some engines had a flywheel with a number of holes around its periphery. A pry bar could be stuck in these holes. Meteor has a heavy disc pierced with holes on its Stephenson reversing gear. Hanging nearby is a huge spanner wrench that fits the holes in this disc. This allows the slide valves to be manipulated to accomplish the same purpose.
 
Roger Pellett

Steve,
 
Nice model! Your engine room needs a couple of huge 3 to 4 feet long open end wrenches and perhaps a pry bar 5 ft long. The whaleback steamship SS Meteor with a 2000 ihp triple expansion engine has some as long as 6 ft. These engines had a tendency to lock up with a piston on "dead center.and these tools were needed to roll the engine past this position. Some engines had a flywheel with a number of holes around its periphery. A pry bar could be stuck in these holes. Meteor has a heavy disc pierced with holes on its Stephenson reversing gear. Hanging nearby is a huge spanner wrench that fits the holes in this disc. This allows the slide valves to be manipulated to accomplish the same purpose.
 
Roger Pellett

Bob, if you need a good reference for steam launches with lots of pictures and some hull lines, pick up a copy of "The Steam Launch" by Richard Mitchel. Used copies are available for less than $20. This book also includes pictures of boilers and engines.
 
Roger Pellett

Bob, if you need a good reference for steam launches with lots of pictures and some hull lines, pick up a copy of "The Steam Launch" by Richard Mitchel. Used copies are available for less than $20. This book also includes pictures of boilers and engines.
 
Roger Pellett

Part 52 – Pin Rails, Spider Band, and Fife Rails
 
In the last post I questioned whether I should fully populate the pin rails or leave some positions open.  I received several different comments and opinions, which I greatly appreciate.  I decided to populate most of the pin positions, leaving several open.  The following photos show the results:
 
                       
 
                       
 
Dunbrody has Spider Bands on each of her masts - these are iron bands with sockets for some belaying pins, as shown in the following photo of the replica ship.
 
                       
 
Also note the simple fife rail configuration.
 
I found the following drawing of a spider band in Harold Underhill’s book ‘Masting and Rigging’, and used it as the basis for making the spider band.
 
                       
 
The bands would be made by annealing a brass strip and bending it to form the band.  The jig shown in the following photo was used to make the band.
 
                       
 
The jig was turned to the same size as the mast, and the protrusion is used to bend the projecting pieces of the band at the proper locations.  A CAD drawing was made to identify the locations of the holes for the pin sockets and was pasted to the top of the jig.
 
                       
 
A strip of medium card stock was formed around the jig, and the hole locations were marked on the card stock.
 
                       
 
                       
 
This strip was then glued to a brass strip and the holes were drilled.  A centering drill was used to make the initial hole, and the final drilling to the correct size was done with a rotary tool.
 
                       
 
After several trial and error attempts
 
                       
 
An acceptable band was produced.
 
                       
 
There were several attempts to make pin sockets.  I made some small rings from copper wire, but these didn’t hold the pins in a vertical position.  I tried bending 1/64 x 1/32 strip around a drill of the appropriate size, but the socket holes were elliptical rather than round.  I finally decided to form the pin sockets by shaping them with a rotary tool and diamond bits. 1/8 x .025 strip provided the correct depth. The strip was first drilled for the correct socket size, and the socket was then formed as shown in the following photo sequence:
 
                       
 
          
 
                       
 
          
 
          
 
The outside diameter of the socket is .055, and the hole for the pin is .025 – the thickness of the pin socket is then .015, or slightly smaller than 3/4" in actual terms.  The pegs for the sockets were shaped to .025.
 
The sockets were then individually soldered onto the band using the following setup.  The vertical piano wire was used to ensure that the sockets stayed horizontal during the soldering.
 
                       
 
The following photo shows the completed Spider Band before blackening.
 
                       
 
After blackening the Spider Band was installed on the mast and pins were added to the band.
 
                       
 
The final work involving the belaying pins was the manufacture and installation of the Fife Rails.  As shown in the earlier photo, these are fairly simple affairs.  The legs are not turned as spindles but are simply shaped.  This was performed on the lathe with an appropriate sized file.
 
                       
 
A jig was used to ensure that the fife rails were square and that the legs were centered on the rails.
 
                       
 
Black monofilament was used to simulate the bolts that hold the rails and legs together, and belaying pins were added to the rails.
 
                       
 
This completes the work related to the belaying pins. 
 
So Dunbrody is now on the final stretch - the remaining work consists of creating the companionways, making and installing a bollard on the port side, and making and installing a capstan. 
 
Thanks everyone.

Nice model!,
 
Roger

Nice model!,
 
Roger

Nice model!,
 
Roger

Michael, sorry to hear about your leg injury. I hope that you are back on your feet soon. I tried to email you relaxation,not pages of McCaffery's book on spinning wire rope but I got a non-delivery notice. I'll try again.
 
Long story short he chucks necessary number of strands in his Unimat, loops the free end through a bar that he holds tight, pulls the whole thing tight and turns on the lathe.
 
Roger Pellett