Remcohe

It has been a long time between posts but I hope to make up for that over the next month.  There is always so much to do in the summer that there is not much time for sitting inside and breathing in sawdust.
 
For months now I keep "hearing" robin's not-too-complementary comment about my lazy sailor.  Of course he was right and so he has been evicted from his bunk and set off to work somewhere where he cannot be seen.    Since his bunk is no longer occupied, I have rolled and tied it to match the other two bunks.  
 
I went back to the plans and David's drawing and reworked the cistern cover.  It looks much better now.
 
The pump axletree is supported at the ends by support brackets.  Most of the Swan class ships used wood standards but Atalanta's plan show a metal bracket instead.  These are bolted to the hatch coamings.  These were made with 1.5" brass wire and tubing.  The parts were then silver soldered.  I have left one end long; this will be inserted into the coaming.  I assume there is a bolt on the underside of the coaming.  They will be blackened.
 

Thanks Patrick and jesseLee for your kind words and to all who clicked the like button also a heartfelt thanks.
 
Patrick, you'd agree with me that it's a piece of crap when you hold it in your hand.  I fiddled a little more with it this morning but it's a waste of time.  I started on a few more as a trial and they are looking a little better so I'm on the right track.  I think that with the boxwood and the experience gained with these few I should be able to produce some passable blocks.
 
JesseLee - I didn't come with this method so can't take credit for it.  I found this particular method about 3 years ago.  It would be a lot easier if you just make the squarish looking blocks like those sold on Model Expo or elsewhere on the net.  Obviously we could buy some real nice looking blocks from our own Webmaster Chuck or the European supplier Nenad got his deadeyes from but I am looking at the cost.  
Nevertheless, it would be a real challenge to make these blocks yourself, it's just time.  After you get the hang of it it should go rather fast. 
 
I couldn't spend much time in the shipyard today. I had to get some "stuff" for my lawn to fight a fungus in the grass and apply it.  I am getting a few brown spots and they are most likely a fungus due to an unusual wet summer here.  
 
I started with another few pulley blocs to see if I could improve on them and come close enough to scale.  I think I'm on the right track now and with a few more under my belt I'll try one or two with boxwood.  As I mentioned to Patrick the one I already made is a reject.  I worked some more on it and could even glue a dowel in the large hole and re-drill it but it'll still look crappy - to me.  
I'll wind up with the single blocks a smidgin over scale by a few hundred's of a mm.  So they'll be 4 mm long, 3 mm wide and 2 mm thick for the single pulley blocks.
 
The double sheaf blocks will be same measurements except for thickness to account for the extra pulley sheaf.  
The rope holes will be a tad over 0.2 mm, which should make them look more to scale.  
 
My aim with all this is to make them look like real pulley blocks instead of just a chunk of wood with a hole in it.  Perhaps crazy to do so when there are hundreds of them to make in different sizes.  So, who knows - - I may just wind up buying the real small ones - - - piecemeal   - - - one mast worth at a time???
 
So, for now I'll rip a few strips of boxwood on my bandsaw and make a few trial blocks.   
 

The single on to the right is my first effort laying on it's side (to hide the ugly holes) .  Below that one are three i am currently working on.  They are a slight improvement and could wind up being useable.  I'll make a sanding stick for the final sanding and finishing.  I might even try a small power tool with a diamond bur, who knows - it may make it go faster then doing everything with a #11 blade and a few small files.
The two sheaf strip will be in the scrap heap.  There is no way I can make a decent looking block from them.  You have to see it to believe it.  I have already prepped a new strip of wood to try making a few.  
 
Cheers,

Thanks everyone for your like votes.
 
For a little variety I started with a few trial pulleys instead of the brass hardware.  Yeah, i still need to make about 32 or more eye-hooks from 0.3 mm brass wire but just needed a change.
 
I used a few strips of leftover deck planking to fashion a pulley or two.  The scale measurements for the single sheaf pulleys are 2.8 mm long, 1.8 mm wide or thick, the rope holes 0.23 mm.  This'll be a real test in miniature carving   
 
After about 5 hours of work in the garage I managed to get one single pulley done and few others started. The finished pulley is still too large for my scale but after I cut it off the strip it was difficult handling it.  No, I'm not happy at all with the result but hey - it's the first one.  The rope hole is too large so I'll try the 0.2 mm drill bit and see if the scale rope will go through it.  The next one will be better and the third one should be a winner - - keeping fingers crossed 
When I get the hang of it I'll make the 32 single and 32 double sheaf pulleys from boxwood.
 
Here is a picture of my trial work.
 

The center strip is boxwood and have roughly penciled in the shape of the pulley.  For the double sheaf pulley I'll try one at the other end of the top strip and use a 0.2 mm drill bit.
 
Cheers,
 
 

This is so great to watch, beautifully executed. You could have fooled me if you said its was made out of one piece.
 
Remco

Thanks all for your kind comments. Greg the pillars were cut freehand and with the help of a piece of paper with the cross slide settings written down.
 
More beams, knees and now its also time to add the hammock battens. They are fragile once glued in place and easily knocked off (yes I tried it...)
 

 

 

 
Remco

Hello everyone and thank yo all for hitten the like button.  Lawrence and Carl thank you for your kind comments.  
 
Talking about the guns and the tedious rigging, I have made all the necessary eye bolts and hooks for the tackle.  Next will be the pulleys, both single and double sheaved with their associated hardware.  
 
I also finalized the gunport lid hinge gudgeons, sans the hinge pin tubes, that's be my next project.  I'm thinking about an assembly line method so I can solder all of them at once.
 
It's slow going, it all takes a lot of time to make 24 eye bolts and 16 hook bolts from 0.5 mm brass rod.  Then I started with making 32 small eye bolts for the gun carriages from 0.3 mm brass rod.  Granted they are not all perfect but will do for me - - - they'll look great from 10,000 feet   Actually, I plan to dress them down a little with a file to improve the shape a little.
 

This shows the eye bolts, hooks and lighter eye bolts.  The larger eye bolts will go into the deck to haul the guns back for cleaning and reloading.  Two will go into the bulwarks for each gun hauling the guns into firing position and the hooks will also go into the bulwarks to hook the thick retainer rope.  The small eyebolts will go into the gun carriages, two on the rear end and two on the sides.  The restrainer rope will go through the sides of the carriages.
 

These are the semi completed lid "gudgeons."  There is still some finishing to do and cutting them to size.  Then the job of soldering the 0.5 mm brass tubes to the ends.
 
Cheers,

Thanks everyone for your comments and all the likes, it's much appreciated!
 
I probably could have gotten away with leaving the guns as is but it would have been rather obvious that there wouldn't be enough room for cleaning and loading them.  The recoil would also cause them to run into the grating structure when fired.  Redoing some of the previous work is not a big deal right now because of my rather long absence to the ship.  It's kinda like a new project and am loving it.
 
Okay, I have a very minor update.  I made 3 new gunport lids so that I have a total of 10.  8 for the starboard gun deck and two for the stern chasers.  This ship is equipped with 18 pounders on the gun deck and 12 pounders on the orlop.  That's why I bought so many of the larger size guns.
 
I also started with recycling the lid hardware.  I pre-made enough in a rough state and are fortunately long and wide enough to do so without running into a soldering problem with silver solder.  I'll be using the opposite end for the silver.  Yeah, I soft soldered the first batch but it'll work out just fine this way.
 
Well, that's about it for today.  Tomorrow I'll continue with the gunport lids and the hinge hardware.   I think that I'll be switching back and forth between the gun hardware and gun ports.
 

This shows two of the three lids being glued up.  I was fortunate in that I still had two of the hul planks left over and gut three pieces to the same width as the port opening.  The light colored piece is for the inside of the lid.  
 

This shows the raw hinge hardware with the original 1 mm tubes removed.  The one lonely pice on top right is the first hinge bracket cut to size.  I used a standard pair of shears to cut the thin brass sheet.  The wide end is 1.7 mm and still long enough to be trimmed to the correct length.   This also means that I now have to make hinge tube also 1.7 mm or to fit the width.  I'll be using 0.5 mm brass tubing for the hinges and 0.3 mm brass rod for the pins.  
 
Cheers, 

Thanks for the kind words.
 
Maury, I had to make the door a bit longer, but now you're mentioning it, I probably better put the extension above the door. It does look a bit strange now. I fear taking the door out will damage the pantry, let me think about that.
 
Fleas Druxey? I thought I was a step ahead of you by adding the palliasses and now your starting about fleas. Boy where does this end.....
 
Work moved to the outside of the hull. The knee of the head (made 1,5 years back) is now permanently fitted as I had to add the iron plates to the bottom of the hull.
 

 
I glued them temporarily in place to draw the outlines and then used a chisel to remove the wood so it fits flush to the hull. I'll remove them to prevent any damage to the plates.
 

 

 

 
This concludes TFFM Vol 1, a bit of a milestone, this took me 4,5 years to complete and still two volumes to go......... I hope everybody is patient enough to bear with me till the end (and throwing challenges at me will make the journey longer..)
 
Remco
 
 
 
 

Back from another summer trip and eager to to get back to Cheerful.
 
I chose to deviate from the sequence that Chuck and the other Cheerful builders have followed at this point. Rather than doing the wales and the lower planking, I decided to treenail the upper planking. My reasoning was simple -- I hate to do all of the treenailing at once, and this allowed me to break it up. The treenailing was done by the drill and fill method, but I chose to use a more visible filler, rather than the subtle ( and likely more accurate) route taken by Chuck. I must admit that I simply like the look of the more visible treenails better. After completing the treenails, I applied a coat of Wipe-on Poly as a sealer.
 
Now I will move on to the wales and lower planking.
 
Bob 
 

Finally an update from the Flying Dutchman.  I have been busy with domestic chores, some cooking for my wife and other sundry items.  However, I have been able to spend a few hours on and off at the workbench in between.   Some of the work was the same as previously posted thus it made so sense to clutter up the log with same stuff.  
 
I have now completed the conversion of all the canons on the main deck waste area.  I still need to make the tackle hardware for them as well as the tackle.  Plenty of single and double pulleys, hooks and eye bolts.
 
To have a change of pace i started with the starboard side gun deck gun ports.  I made a bunch a few years ago but several are too small for the gun ports so I have to make about 6 new ons and that includes the two at the stern.
I also have to remake the associated hardware - - - hinges!  The previously made hinges are too large in scale - - -  I used 1 mm brass tube for the hinges.  I obtained 1/2 mm brass tubes from Holland via Remco, that'll be mucho better.  That means that I also have to redo all the gunport hinges on the port side   Hey, what's another redo among friends 
 
Okay, here are a few pics.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Cheers,

The upper well

The cisterns

Thank you Alex. It is the way you knotted the thread I was looking for and the picture shows it perfectly. Thank you again.
 
Remco

The chain looks great, can you show in a bit more detail how you made the knots?
 
Remco

Thanks all for your kind comments. Greg the pillars were cut freehand and with the help of a piece of paper with the cross slide settings written down.
 
More beams, knees and now its also time to add the hammock battens. They are fragile once glued in place and easily knocked off (yes I tried it...)
 

 

 

 
Remco

Thank you all for your kind words and likes.
 
Work is progressing and more knees, hanging knees, carlings and ledges are added. 
 
I also forgot to install a pillar in front of the fore mast , but that was taken care of.
 

 

 
The last opportunity to take a look at the sail room before its permanently installed in the hull
 

 
Some of the knees with mortices cut
 

 
The state of the upper deck to date
 

 

 

 
 
The next weeks will be more of the same... with the addition of installing hammock battens as I work my way across the deck
 
Remco
 
 
 

Respect......

Hello,
here I show more details for the construction of chaloupe.
The last three images reveal the current build status.
 
I hope you like it.  

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 
 
 
 

A minor milepost in the overall build but a major one for me...
 
Six strakes have been added and to check how the tuck planking went, I taped the sternpost into position and took a few extra shots.   Roughly sanded (sorry about the sawdust) and there's some gaps need filling.  Overall, I'm feeling pretty good at this point.  At the stern area, I'm off by about 3" (scale) which could be tolerance buildup or one side was of the transoms was off by that much.  I'm thinking it has more to do with some tolerance buildup and the angle the planks came into tuck.  The bow is about 2" (scale) off.   
 
I do like the way the lines are shaping up with planking.
 
I need to re-mark off the hull and re-check the measurements and then do a few more strakes before putting the garboard back on.  And sand, sand, sand.... <cough><cough>:  Luckily the air filter system I've added to the workshop is doing it's job.
 



 
Comments, questions, abuse is always allowed.  Ok.. maybe not the abuse part... 

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Great accomplishment Danny. It has been fun and educational. I will most certainly look back now and then to check how you managed to do all the tricky stuff I have yet to do.
 
Remco

Great accomplishment Danny. It has been fun and educational. I will most certainly look back now and then to check how you managed to do all the tricky stuff I have yet to do.
 
Remco

Great accomplishment Danny. It has been fun and educational. I will most certainly look back now and then to check how you managed to do all the tricky stuff I have yet to do.
 
Remco

Great accomplishment Danny. It has been fun and educational. I will most certainly look back now and then to check how you managed to do all the tricky stuff I have yet to do.
 
Remco

Great accomplishment Danny. It has been fun and educational. I will most certainly look back now and then to check how you managed to do all the tricky stuff I have yet to do.
 
Remco