Chuck

You can see the one deadeye and chainplates in the photos from my previous post. Yes originally I was using natural or bright deadeyes. But I may switch to dyed brown deadeyes. I havent decided yet. See below. But that isnt why I am posting this new image. The older image shows the chainplates made the old-fashioned way. Same is true with the straps you see. I used 22 gauge black wire and carefully bent them around various jigs to form the chain plates. The deadeye strop was also done that way. It is of course very time consuming and a bit frustration. But it looks great. But it would have taken me weeks to make all of the metal parts by hand like that. Many of you may well dread the thought of it. It is the cheapest option though!!! What I wanted to show you is a new product that I have finally taken the time to try out. Its not photo-etch which you are familiar with. I hate photoetched chainplates. The material is too thin and its not fun to blacken all of those parts. It looks very kit-like to me. Anyway, this is a new acrylic black sheet material. It is just .020 in thickness. It laser cuts beautifully. I was very skeptical and thought it would never work. But I am astounded at just how well it worked. The channel straps below as well as the deadeye strop and chainplates in the photo are laser cut from this acrylic sheet. I think you guys will like this. The downside is that its very expensive. Probably on par with the cost of photoetch...but it looks so much better for this application. Would you believe that the deadeye chainplate below is acrylic? Here is another photo of the straps before adding them to the model. Here is how I worked the material. First I sanded both sides of the sheet with 400 or even 600 grit sandpaper. I recommend you do the same should you opt to buy the chainplate set. Then I applied some brown weathering powder like I did for the metal work. This really did the trick. Normally the acrylic has a satin side and a glossy acrylic side. Sanding both sides makes them even and also helps the powders to work. Also note in the same photo below that the one strap has been bent in a nice curve. This is what you want to do with each strap. But one end has a more severe bend in it. This end sits against the hull and has a small brass nail (you know the nails) to secure it to the hull. This bend was problematic. The acrylic was a bit brittle when bent cold. It had a tendency to snap. So more experimentation led me to discover that if you hold a needle nose pliers over a candle flame first, (Not too hot....but hot enough) then grasp the thin strap and slowly bend it, it will not break. You can bend it pretty good in fact. Just keep a small candle next to you as you bend these. When the pliers get cold just hold the tip over the flame for a few seconds until hot. The chainplates were bent like this as well. More on that later. The deadeye strop is a solid piece by the way. This acrylic product is wonderful in that you can flex it over and into the deadeye strop slot. This makes life easier. The chainplates are then a snap to add after inserting the deadeye along the channel. But I will discuss a few more details on the chainplates as well soon. But for now I wanted to show you this neat and wonderful new product. I will try and find other uses for it as well. I think that one chainplate assemble with brown deadeye looks wonderful. What do you guys think. Like I said this set of chainplate materials will be available separately from chapter 11 because it is very expensive. Many of you may prefer the old fashioned way. You will still be able to make your chainplates from 22 gauge wire if you want to and all of your straps from 1/16" 1/64 brass strips. You will now have a choice. Also a photo showing more straps on the main channel...and three color choices for deadeyes. The darkest brown is two coats of dye from a Windsor and Newton Promarker. The lighter brown is one coat....Burnt Sienna. The natural is next to it for comparison. Any favorites?

Just an FYI, Syren is fully stocked with rope and still sells it. I will be doing so for the long term now that I have found much needed help to keep Syren Ultra Scale Rope stocked regularly. Here is a look at it on a model with the rigging process well underway.

Very nice work....beautiful tight seams

Thanks Ben I am looking forward to seeing some progress on yours too. You are finally getting to the fun parts. Anyway... Just a few quick photos. I finished making and installing all the channels and the stools. I also had time to play around with making the brackets/straps which you can see on the channels. Most kits will just glue some eyebolts into the top of the channel. They are actually brackets. The top protruding through the channel has an eye on the end which the rigging hooks to. But their are some ways to simplify these. I will detail them soon. These straps are just made from 1/16" wide x 1/64" thick brass strips. They are simplified a great deal compared to those used on the actual contemporary model. I have just made two so far and will take many more photos of the step by step. In addition we will be using two sizes of deadeyes. 6mm and 5mm deadeyes. I have made a few of them and tested my process on the mizzen stool. That uses a 5mm deadeye. I made up some chainplates quickly for it just to see how one would look. The chainplate links are made from 22 gauge black wire. These deadeyes are my three layer min-kits. I like them much more than any others I have seen available. But everyone can buy them based on your preferences. I know a lot of you prefer not to assemble the deadeyes in favor of those that are ready made. I am biased however and just like these better.

Lovely progress!!!

Its 24 on the gun deck and 8 on the qdeck......total of 32. But then there are ten swivels yet to come.

Thank you guys. One other note worth mentioning... Someone had asked if I was going to add the channel knees. There would have been five along the top of the main channel and four along the fore channel etc. The contemporary model doesnt show these but I was originally going to add them. I have changed my mind however. There is a very legit reason for this. The beautiful painted friezes. The figures and friezes were taken directly from the contemporary model. Since there werent any knees, no space was allocated for them. If we were to add them, the knees would fall exactly where some of the best and most detailed parts of the frieze are located. For example, some on the main channel would completely cover the figures and their faces, or the tails etc. Now you could paint them on top of the knees but even if done perfectly it would look very odd. Therefore the knees will be omitted and follow the same look as the contemporary model. At least on my model but if you choose to add them that would be your choice. Also note how the top of the channels are painted black with only the profile edges left bright. I have decided to leave the channels entirely natural which I prefer after looking at so many other contemporary models. Dealers choice with that.

Thanks Rusty. The secret is the spray mount. I tried with titebond and it was a dismal failure. I know it sucks to have to buy yet another product for just a few parts, but seriously in this case I am urging you guys to do so at this step. it makes a huge difference.

For placement of the channels It depends….check the plans. The stools are under the molding but the others have the molding chiseled away first. Just to let you know I am also redoing the stools. Before anyone catches that. The ones shown are too deep and should be narrower than the longer channels. That will be done today.

Just a quick update...Chapter 11 has finally begun. It will detail the outboard stuff. The channels, fenders and entry steps, deadeyes and chainplates etc. First up are the channels. Most kits dont detail these very well in my opinion. Plain edges etc. I wanted to try and emulate the profile seen on most contemporary models. I decided on the multiple layers approach. But this meant using an incredibly thin top and bottom layer to pull off the look I wanted. Luckily Joe at Modeler's Sawmill was able to mill paper thin wood sheets for me. The top and bottom layers are so thin that they will curl and possibly lift up if you use traditional yellow glue. It is just too wet. So a really good solution which worked excellent was to use spray mount. I sprayed only one side of the thin layers with glue and it didnt curl at all. No need to spray the thicker center layer. I absolutely think that you should do it this way as well. Trust me when I tell you that if you dont, you will be emailing me for replacement parts. There was no curling or lifting of the edges at all. Just align the holes in the layers after sanding the laser char first. Also soften the hard edges of the center layer before gluing up the sandwich. Not a drastic rounding but knock-off the hard edges and soften them. It does a nice job giving the edge profile I was looking for. Now you can absolutely paint these but contemporary examples are all over the map. The Winnie cont model has them painted black except for the outside edge profile. Others leave them natural. I decided to follow the look of the Amazon model. They will be left natural. Next up will be the knees or standards along the top of the channels once I finish up the other channels first. These again may or may not be painted. I recommend that you examine many contemporary models and select a look that you prefer.

Those rails are tough...so you should be very happy with how it came out. Well done. I havent even started chapter 11 yet sadly. I hope to next week. Dont forget the ladder in that companionway. Chuck

Chapter ten... Chapterten.pdf binnacle.pdf

Looking sweet!!!! Now its time for the long slog through the bottom planking. Take you time.

Looking great....love the wood choices.

Check out the instructions for The Confederacy kit. I do step by step tutorial on one method.

That looks wonderful. The rigging looks very natural. Well done.

You plank the first layer all the way to the sheer. Then add the second layer of the wales 3/64" thick. Then when that is done you add the second layer of the black strake. Which is 1/32" thick or even slightly thinner like .025" thick.

Thank You very much

Thats great news....Congrats and well deserved.

That rope looks pretty excellent to my eye. I am so happy that so many folks are starting to make their own rope. You will never buy a package of rope again. the lay is nice and tight on your rope. Looks like any rope that I would have made. It will look great on a model.

Next up will be the channels and fenders and deadeyes etc. We are back to the outboard details.

Managed to complete four of the qdeck six pounders. Four more to go. I will probably get that done this coming week so I can get started on chapter 11. These guns and their carriages are built just like the ones for the gun deck. The split rings were made using a 45 drill bit this time. You can also see the eyebolts and such on the inboard side of the qdeck rail. All made with 24 gauge black wire once again. If you are going to rig these I would use .045 tan for the breech line and .018 for the tackles. I would also use 1/8" single blocks for the tackles. I managed to knock loose one of the mizzen bitts while drilling the holes for the eyebolts on the rail. I keep forgetting to fix that. You can see that it is slightly askew in the photos. Its tricky getting in there to drill the holes...so be careful of your sleeves!! Try also not to drill all the way through the rail. Only go enough to insert the short ends of the eye bolts. The 1 9/16" resin cannon and carriages are also now available. You will need two packages of each.

The ones on the Winnie for example are just slightly narrowed above the bottom end.

They look pretty good. If you are worrying about the neatness of the round circular end, then dont add that detail. Just round off the bottom corners. That is perfectly acceptable and a common way they were done. There are plenty of contemporary model examples of this.

Here is a good image of how the kevel will look but this is the Amazon...