qwerty2008

Thank you for the likes.
 
Earlier today I worked on preparing some of the materials for the building. first I made the decision to use Cedar for the planking, because I don't have any Yellow Cyprus, the piece of Western Red had some very tight grain and the board was big enough to give me 38 boards 32 inches long by 3/4 x 3/64 inches.
 

 

 
I also cut some of the Castello Boxwood 28 inches long and then cut some 3/4 x 1/4 and some 3/4 x 3/32 inches this will be used for the keel and keel plate, I will use the bandsaw to cut the shorter taller pieces for the stem and stern. I really liked the way the Castello cut on both the bandsaw and the tablesaw. I ended up changing the tablesaw blade from a carbide tipped one to the hollow ground steel finishing blade
 

 
The Castello is straight off the tablesaw, the Cedar has been sanded because I used the thin carbide ripping blade.
 

 
Now I need to cut some ribbands, I am leaning towards some tight grained Fir 5/32 x 3/32 32 inches long, I will need to check my stock.
 
Michael

Good evening Mark, my thoughts are to add at least 8 or 10 ribands to each side evenly spaced. My understanding is that the ribs on the full size are 3/4 by 1/2 inch. In rereading Roger's notes there is a plate on top of the keel that is 4 inches by 3/4 inches and tapers toward the bow and stern. this plate forms the upper side of the bearding line for the planking and gives a greater area to attach the garboard strake.
 
I am going to make the keel, keel plate, stem and sternpost out of the Castello Boxwood. I need to make the ribands strong enough to not deform when I set in the frames. something that has crossed my mind is to use some thread to hold the frames (ribs) to the ribbands while they set. The fir test frames were pretty flexible, however I am also going to test the Castello for the frames as well, they will be 3/32 x 1/16th full size on the model.
 
I am planning on following the curve at the extreme ends of the bow and stern this will prevent twisting them too much it is hard to tell a great deal from this picture
 

 
Evidently the ceiling boards which significantly strengthened the hull, they are 1 1/2 by 3/4 bead and cove.
 
have to go guests just arrived
 
Michael

We've all heard of sail training ships, well here's mine.
It's a bit back the front in so much as it isn't a tall ship but it was cheap, didn't require much setting up and I would imagine it will be a lot easier to learn to sail on than the schooner.
 
Oh, and if it gets lost at sea, not so distressing !
 

 

 
It will also teach me about ballast and keel depth etc.

The lasr part as far the ship goes is the sails.  I just trace them the best I can and compare them to the ship and trim them.  Once thier ready I glue them in place.  The main sail I just glue to the gaff so I can wrap it around the ship when going in/  I make sure to keep the wind direction in mind so all the sail look uniform.  Doesn't make sense to have the sails leaning i multiple directions.
 

 

 
I actually had to finish this ship fast to include it in a show for the Rocky Mountain Shipwrights.  I didn't include all the running rigging this time.  
 
For the sea I put just a little bit of clay in the bottle and flatten it out.  I held it over a hot burner for a few seconds to make melt the bottom.  This just makes sure the clay sticks to the bottle.  I give it a few minutes to dry and then it's ready to go.
 
I cut the ship off with a dremel and carefully fold the mast back being sure the main sail curls around the ship and doesn't crinkle.  Once in the bristles pop the mast back up.  I put a little white glue on a tooth pick and get it between the ship and the sea to glue it down.  I then use a small piece of wire to glue the forward stays down.    
 

 

Thanks Mark a Michael.  
 
Parbick I use a cutting wheel on a dremel at a low setting to cut the ship off.  It's fast even on low setting and it's nice and precise.  
 
Once the standing rigging is in place I work on the running rigging.  I don't go crazy on this but I like to add the rigging on the boom and gaff.  For the boom I tie an over hand knot around the boom and glue it on either side of the ship like I did with the back stays.  I'm not sure you can see it in this photo but here is is.  
 

 
Here's a better picture of another one I did.  You can see all of the running rigging I include.  
 

I resolved my issue with the driver sheet and the main brace being too close under the deck by routing the driver sheet along the edge of the inside of the hull.  I set the tubes for the mains'l sheets.  I think all that's left are the fore yard and fore tops'l yard brace fairleads.

Before the sub-deck goes down, I need to put in the permanent guides for the rudder cable, which starts with pulling out the temps.  I also mounted 3 cleats on the servo arm; 2 for the rudder cable that will allow easy adjustment, and the third for the line that will move the wheel when the arm moves.  The three cleats are glued and cinch-nailed to the aircraft-ply arm.
 


This was painted a nice red and remounted to the disk that attaches to the rudder servo.  
 


Moving forward, I installed the eyes in the boomkins.  I wrapped the place where the iron band goes with some copper tape and drilled two holes at 90° to each other.  I made an eye in two brass rods with my round-nose pliers, inserted these into the holes and made an eye in the other end on the boomkin.  A bit of CA helps keep it from turning, though it was a very snug fit.  This was repeated for the other side, and the boomkins then got a coat of paint.
 
 
 

 
I was going to install the eyes in the hull for the boomkin guys, but after looking at every image and plan I have, I don't see any.  Well, in one photo I think a see a wisp of what might be a boomkin guy,  In all my images up to the 40's I can't see them.  In pics from the 40's on - there aren't any guys at all!
 
The model of her in the ship's visitor center doesn't have any guys, nor does the actual ship. 
 
Potter's 1:96 scale drawings and a copy of a magazine article on building a model based on Potter's plans - don't even have boomkins forward!
 
McArdle's book on building her as the frigate, shows the aft boomkins 5 or 6 times, but has no forward boomkins at all - while the real ship he based his model on did have them (with no guys).
 
I can deduce the best positions for the three guys, but it would be nice to know where the really were.
 
You kit guys never have to worry about such things do you 

I was in the mood to do some planing over the weekend, and made the gaff and boom for the driver/spanker.
  These were made from some nice clear pine left over from a sea chest I made for someone.
 
The hardware and other details were based on the usual examination of every image I can find, and the Text-Book of Seamanship by Luce.
   
 
The blocks and guides for the steering cable were permanently epoxied in place, as were some oak blocks forward to give the chain-plate fasteners something to grip down-the-road.

 
All this wood will get a coat of epoxy when I start laying the sub-deck, which, if the weather holds, should start this week, provided I don't wind up doing something for some one else.

I did find some more fish davit references, not that it matters anymore 
 
They are from Nares Seamanship 1868

 

 
It would make for an interesting vignette

For the mast and spars I used paint brush bristles.  To make the mast slightly thicker then the spars I glued four or five together.  
 

 
One of my rules in building small ships is make it big and cut it small.  
 

 
This is where I started comparing it to the bottle to make sure the mast would not be to tall.  I plan on having to sections to the mast but continually checking it always helps.  There's nothing worse then getting a ship in a bottle and having the mast be to tall to fit.  
 

Thanks Omega.  It did turn out better and easier with punching the holes after the fact.  
 
Thanks Mario.  
 
A lot of progress made.  I coated the bulwarks with nail polish and drilled the holes out.  They did bend a little I think a couple more coats would have been better.  They weren't hard to bend back with some tweezers though.  The cannons are 30 gauge wire I got from a hobby store.  It was already painted black.        
 

 
I did the mast next but I actually suggest doing the bow first.  I used bamboo for this.  In the past I've used a needle painted black.  I pulled a bambooskewer through a draw plate until I got it to a very small size.  In this case I sanded it even smaller to get to the size I needed.  I glued on a long piece and cut it smaller after it dried.  
 

Six feet seems awfully big for a buoy
I have attached a picture showing the HMS Victory's anchor buoy which appears to be around 2 to 3 feet tall.

More experimental photography trying to get all of my little piece of prairie in focus. Can you find the Oglala scout?
 

 
 

 
Dave

"Can you find the Oglala scout?"  Beautifully done but with that tall grass will your scout be able to see the Oglala?
 
Bob

I nearly forgot the reality-check!!!
 
Does it realy fits
 
in the place
 
where I want
 
to put it laterly???
 

 
 

Hello again, 
 
I.
As the sideview only gives us the position of the deck's superstructure, an auxilliary source may give us the rigt deepon deck... the 14 years older 31 3/95 cutter may be a good reference to look at. Also a sceptic view to the bigger sisters of this class type's trio may be usefull. So I added them, too.
 
What do you think about this?
 
 
II.
I wasn't in the workshop this night - I still was thinking, drinking and constructing my RC's backbone. So I got some solutions and some more problems figured out: So I highlighted these areas with yellow circles for you.
 
The mast's area will be easily supportet against cracking by adding softwood and drill the mast's hole inside. But the staircases area is still a problem and the reduced bulkhead destabilised this part of the construction additivly. 
 
Have you any solutions for this, too?
 
Thanks a lot,
Chris

A substantial update:
I completed the decorations of the right side of the stern.
I am not completely satisfied, since I needed to combine the decorations of the original drawings with the "leafs type" decorations of the transom.
But I am rather sure that the original drawing contain only a draft representation of the decorations, since the main purpose was to draw the ship hull and not its less important components.
Now the task will be to make the left side hydentical to the right side...
And this will be made when I will be...ready, since it is a rather boring duty.
I have completed the stern deck, too.
Now all the wounds of the decks have been cured!!
The planking division of the stern deck has not yet be made.
Oh, I added the staffs on the dead-eyes channels, too.
In the meanwhile I am studying how to proceed for the running and standing rigging, since I have still some obscure point to be clarified.
Nothing has yet still completely fixed on this project, since always new informations and evaluations contribute to change something.
 

Ok boys and girls, tech talk time !
 
I have had more severe radio issues in that when I was setting up the winch servo for raising/lowering the stays'ls and I plugged it in to the receiver the whole on board system went berserk! 
 
The motors were going forward and reverse, the servos were going crazy ( the tops'l lazy jack master line broke again ) and the receiver was beeping and flashing. I asked the guys who have been following this build and know radio control what they thought and thank you all for your replies.
 
Cap n Bob mentioned voltage among other things which got me thinking and from googling speed controllers I started to form a hypothesis.
 
The power for the radio comes from a 7.2volt 2400mah battery pack via the electronic speed controller which controls the voltage to 6V for the radio. The problem is that the speed controller or ESC is designed for cars which may have two servos to run as well as the ESC so the output from the ESC to the radio just isn't putting enough power into the radio especially when I am running high torque digital servos which require constant power. The result is the same as any electrical circuit where you have too much load on the circuit, you end up with excessive voltage drop and nothing working properly.
 
The cure, which I am yet to invest in is to add 6Volt battery packs to the servos, you can get "Y" leads which are normally used to run two servos on one channel but you can run one side to a servo and the other to a 6V battery pack. The power will feed into the receiver as well as the feed from the ESC thus boosting the power available to the servos. You can add a batt pack to one or all of the servo leads but I don't think I will need to add many.
 
Feedback from Cap n Bobs old rc sailing club, although not saying this in so many words because they are not used to powering via an ESC, seems to confirm this hypothesis.
 
For now I will disconnect all servos except the one I am setting up at the time.
 
I realise that most of us who make rc sail boats won't fit auxilliary motors an therefore won't have the issues that arise from powering the system via an ESC but I thought it worth posting for posterity.
 
Bob, you might wish to forward this on to your Indy buddies for their future reference along with my thanks.

Bedford,
 
All help was selfish.  You have a beautiful boat and I want to see it sail.
 
Bob

Small updates ......

All fixed

 
Now, what was I doing before this distracted me?

Made the blocks for the topmast shrouds. And you can see the main stay. Also a view of the progress so far.

Sorry to hear about the break but glad to see you were able to fix it without needing to make new ones.
 
 
 
 
Lextin.

So, Saturday morning I go into the shop/garage to install the last of the fairlead tubes with the idea of starting to put down the sub deck on Sunday, when I notice the top of the mizzen topmast and it's t'gallant are lying on deck, and the main from the top up, is leaning at an odd angle.
 
Turns out the model's on it's bench under the garage door, and she's taller than where the door goes when the rig's up.  Hurricane Denise blew in and opened the garage door to put something in (despite being warned not to do that very thing).  The door struck the mizzen and main before she realized what was happening, and then blew off to the church yard sale before I got up.
 
Yes, I was upset, and the entire vocabulary of my sailing life came to the fore, but then I figured, feces takes place.  So I set to making repairs, or replacements, as the case may be.
 
The decapitated mizzen topmast.
 
The severed head of mizzen topmast.  Broke at the tops'l halliard sheave.
 
  A 2 inch brass rod reenforces the joint.
 
The brass rod was CAed in and the joint got epoxy putty squeezed in.
 
  A little sanding and paint and it's all set.
 
The sheared head of the mainmast.  It got a 4" brass rod and epoxy putty too, but that didn't hold in the flat break across the main's end grain.
 
The next day I put a pine Dutchman in the back side of the mast head.
 
Today that was reenforced with pieces set in on either side with their grain running vertically and straddling the break.
 
  Just before the clamp went on.  We'll see how it turns out tomorrow.  It may get another piece set in on the front face.
 
I had every intention of making a spare set of topmasts and some other spars - I just didn't expect to need them this soon.
 
No, I didn't get upset with Madam Guillotine, I just summoned up my inner Jew and used the power of guilt - my mother would be so proud.
 

Another update:
I have cut the old keel in the bow, since it was wrong either on size, slope, lenght...
The new bow is as it can be seen in the photo.
I added two pieces, the walnut one is the pink one in the drawing.
The other one is the green one in the drawing.
The cyan colored one is the effective bowsprit, which is not yet installed.
Again I want to remark the fact that the external hull and related bow and stern will be completely painted, so nothing of this "HORRIBLE PATCHWORK" will be seen when the model will be finished.
So use your fantasy at the moment to compensate this vision...
I have not yet decided if install the wolf head in the bowsprit.
All these wolf heads appears too much...
With this one the number become seven!
I changed a bit the slope of the bowsprit and its lenght, and now is much more like the ones in the various paintings.
I am still not too convinced by some detail of the original drawing, including the inclination of the bowsprit, which can provide some interferences with the big latin sail of the foremast.

I like the idea of a removable rudder.  I think the ultimate in rc ships is having a model you can both sail and display.  Also having removable rudder and keels will give you the ability to experiment with what works best for your model.  I'm still learning the actual mechanics of how a ships work.  I think RC ships really bring that side of modeling out.