Erik W

Jonny,
 
We're all looking forward to seeing photos of your build.  In the meantime, MSW is awarding you the prestigious Made-it-to-the-Second-Page-of-His-Build-Log-Without-Posting-Any-Photos award!  Haha!  Kidding, of course. :P
 
Erik

Chaps,
 
Sorry I've not been able to post any photo's as of yet. With work and home life being very busy recently, I've not managed a decent stretch of time in the Shipyard. I have rehearsals with my band tonight (I play bass guitar), so won't get much time between work and hitting the road for rehearsals.
 
I'll be popping home around midday today for the pooch, so I'll snap a few photo's when she's face down in a bowl of chow!
 
Cheers for now,
Jonny

First I would like to thank everyone for all the 'likes' and for the kind words of encouragement, they're much appreciated.
 
Continuing with the aft deck fixtures I made the water pumps from some brass and copper tubing I had.  The pieces were soldered together and given a coat of paint.  It’s amazing what a couple of coats of black paint will cover up.  The parts were then assembled as described in the instructions.
 


 
The aft cannons were set in place and rigged pretty much the same as the carronades, just not as many.
 

 
The tiller was made as shown in the instructions and as I was thinking about how to attach the split rings to it I remembered that I had won a serving tool in a raffle at the Northeast Ship Model Conference last April.  So I tried my hand at serving some rope to lash the rings to the end of the tiller.  It took a few attempts but I finally got the hang of it.
 
 

 
Finally I rigged the ships steering mechanism.  My final configuration is a conglomeration (say that five times fast) of a number of layouts I studied on this forum.  I thought that the position (angle) of the line from the tiller to the bulwark would work more efficiently if it was more in line with the arc the tiller would travel in instead of being perpendicular to it.  To accomplish this instead of moving the eye bolts on the bulwarks farther aft which would have crowded the aft cannons, I made the tiller a little longer.  I also added two blocks at the base of the ship’s wheel to keep the line lower to the deck.  To give myself a little more room to install these blocks I decided to reposition the wheel to the outside of the support legs.  I’m not sure if this is historically correct but it made rigging the line easier and I thought it would give my helmsmen a little more room to steer.  I also had to remove the binnacle that was already installed because the spacing between the wheel, binnacle and companionway didn’t look right.  Before reinstalling the binnacle I decided to add a compass in it.
 
 

Assembling the 12 pounders.  This task was straight forward using all the parts provided in the kit.  The laser cut gun carriages were assembled and painted as were the cannons.  The handle for the quoin is a small belaying pin I had left over from my Phantom and used some of the leftover copper tape for the iron brackets, cut to shape and blackened, to secure the cannon to the carriage.  A few rivets were added for effect.
 

 
 
The ship’s wheel that came with the kit (top wheel in the first photo) was in very bad shape so I got in touch with Model Expo and they sent me a replacement.  I also order, from ME, a wooden wheel with the intention of using it instead of the metal one but it turn out to be much too thick to use.  The replacement metal wheel casing that ME sent was in better shape than the original but had a lot of flash to remove. The wheel was filed and all the wooden pieces cleaned of the char and stained.
 

 
I haven't permanently attached the cannons or ship’s wheel to the deck yet because I want to wait until I make the tiller and work out how I want to show the rigging for the steering.
 

Mike, thanks for the compliment!  I'm going to stick with the "soft and fluffy" basswood.  Since this is my first wooden boat build, I wanted to stick with the parts that came in the box.  The basswood planks work fine after about 15 minutes of cleanup each with some fine sandpaper.    
 
Erik

Got the rudder done.  It's sitting a little weird in the photos.  Once the masting and rigging are finished and I permanently attach it, it'll snug up to the hull better at the top.
 

 

 

 
Erik

This is pretty funny.  As they say . . . necessity is the mother of invention.  Because I don't have any power tools, other than the basic tools most home owners have, I am forced to improvise.  I'm tapering the dowel used for the mast.  Pictured here you see my hand-me-down 30 year old drill holding one end of the dowel, while the other end is held by a hole drilled into my build-board.  I left extra dowel length on both sides of the mast.  I used my digital calipers to measure, and then mark, the diameter of the mast every few inches on the plans.  I measure regularly as I removing material from the dowel at the places on the mast that correspond with the plans.  I'm feeling kind of proud of my jury rig.  It's sort of a poor man's lathe. 
 

 
Erik

Mike,
 
I figured the 2 upper sheaves in the thinnest part of the mast would be the weak spot.  Since the line running through them will be .012", I figure I'll drill the holes at around .015" in diameter.  Trying to minimize compromising the strength of that part of the mast.
 
Erik

Sorry for the long wait, 'life' got in the way....
 
Dave, the wood will darken over time, I like the color of free boxwood too.
Greg, the thought crossed my mind :-)
 
The new pumpwell is installed and the next set of beams too. A bit tricky as they are curved in two ways. 
 

 

 

 
Remco

I finished the remaining 11 carronade barrels. I used Cladercraft’s 18 pdr barrels (image 1) which - as already mentioned several times in this forum - fit Chuck’s Syren carronade drawings very nicely. I modified them a little by reducing the elevation screw holder in size (image 2a, lower barrel original size, upper barrel reduced size), milled 2 slots for breech ring and gun sight pieces (images 2b and 2c), milled a flat area over the predrilled hole to mount a little brass cube with a pin as basis for the barrel hinge (image 1 and image 3a), and after silver soldering, drilling the hinge hole, and a “little clean-up” with a rotary tool and diamond burr ended up with the finished barrel (image 3b). Image 4 shows the 11 finished carronade barrels after blackening and coating them with Model Master’s Flat Lacquer overcoat.
 
Thomas
 

Image 1
 

Image 2
 

Image 3
 

Image 4
 
 

Wondering if drilling the holes prior shaping would be better.

I marked, drilled and filled (Minwax Walnut putty) nails for the outer bulwarks.  There are two thru bolts under the gun port that are black mono-filament line used to simulate bolts elsewhere.
 
The gallows cross piece was cut to length (10') and sanded to 7" thick by 12" + high.  I used the Byrnes table saw to rough cut the deco ends and center and the bow in the piece was sanded using the same top and bottom jig I used for the main deck beams.  I finished it off with files and 320 paper. 
The Quarter deck beam now has the lip installed, the molding under (I used a scrap of 1/32 x 1/32 redheart) and has the six holes for the eye bolts.
Maury

Stunningly beautiful Keith.  Congratulations on finishing this model to perfection.

A final few photographs. I think I will also do some refections on the build in a future post plus some thoughts on my next project. I also have to make a display stand and possibly a display cabinet. I will cover these as and when I get round to making them.
 
Keith

A quick shot of the turned mast before I remove the ends. 
 

 
Erik

Mike,
 
I figured the 2 upper sheaves in the thinnest part of the mast would be the weak spot.  Since the line running through them will be .012", I figure I'll drill the holes at around .015" in diameter.  Trying to minimize compromising the strength of that part of the mast.
 
Erik

A quick shot of the turned mast before I remove the ends. 
 

 
Erik

Mike,
 
I figured the 2 upper sheaves in the thinnest part of the mast would be the weak spot.  Since the line running through them will be .012", I figure I'll drill the holes at around .015" in diameter.  Trying to minimize compromising the strength of that part of the mast.
 
Erik

Mike,
 
I figured the 2 upper sheaves in the thinnest part of the mast would be the weak spot.  Since the line running through them will be .012", I figure I'll drill the holes at around .015" in diameter.  Trying to minimize compromising the strength of that part of the mast.
 
Erik

A quick shot of the turned mast before I remove the ends. 
 

 
Erik

Per,
 
Tapering the mast using that method worked well (I'll post a photo tomorrow).  I was concerned I would wind up taking off too much material by accident, but using medium grit sandpaper gave me the control I needed.  I think the total time to get the mast down to the way I wanted it was about 2 hours.  Take your time . . . measure frequently.
 
Erik

Erik,
 
Be careful when you make the sheaves. On mine, also basswood, the area around them was very thin and weakened the mast considerably.
 
Mike

A quick shot of the turned mast before I remove the ends. 
 

 
Erik

Per,
 
Tapering the mast using that method worked well (I'll post a photo tomorrow).  I was concerned I would wind up taking off too much material by accident, but using medium grit sandpaper gave me the control I needed.  I think the total time to get the mast down to the way I wanted it was about 2 hours.  Take your time . . . measure frequently.
 
Erik

This is pretty funny.  As they say . . . necessity is the mother of invention.  Because I don't have any power tools, other than the basic tools most home owners have, I am forced to improvise.  I'm tapering the dowel used for the mast.  Pictured here you see my hand-me-down 30 year old drill holding one end of the dowel, while the other end is held by a hole drilled into my build-board.  I left extra dowel length on both sides of the mast.  I used my digital calipers to measure, and then mark, the diameter of the mast every few inches on the plans.  I measure regularly as I removing material from the dowel at the places on the mast that correspond with the plans.  I'm feeling kind of proud of my jury rig.  It's sort of a poor man's lathe. 
 

 
Erik