Mumin

Well let's try to be concise:
 
Arsenal modeling is a discipline of naval modeling, the oldest and most demanding.   This activity consists of replicating to scale down the design and construction of old ships. This reproduction must be as faithful as possible in the making of the parts which constitute the framework, the arrangements of the decks, the equipment and the decoration of the original ship. The construction of the masts, the rigging and the sails are not imperative, it is a question of personal preferences.   In France this activity was practiced in the arsenals of the king since the XVIIth century, Jean Boudriot "awakened" this practice in the Seventies and the name has remained and is still used today.   The different parts must be perfectly conform to the original parts, their assembly also. Bolts, nails and treenails should be reproduced as far as possible. If a keel has four parts, these four parts must be represented and assembled as true with scarph, bold et nails.   No facility, modern materials or artifacts of manufacture are allowed in the traditional arsenal modeling unlike some models makers who make superb models but out of established conventions (absence of framework, sculpture in series (even metal), artillery in resin , etc.). For the enthusiasts who are often very cultured on the subject, these models are not part of the true model of arsenal.   The arsenal models are based on monographs or personal studies which are the representation of the real ships, they are not plans of model. These books are the result of advanced knowledge of the naval architecture in general and the ship concerned in particular (era, builder, place of construction, peculiarities, etc.). It is often a long-term process that requires a great deal of research.   Many regard it as a noble activity, close to art by the skill he asks.   GD   I do not know if the automatic translation will reflect the meaning of my talking...

Interesting. However, gun ports were never placed one above the other on different decks.

The pieces of this kit fit as tightly as a box of Legos.  The ribs can only fit in the appropriate slot, facing the correct direction.  As of this attached photo, I had not needed to use any glue.  The fit is that tight.
 
  
 
 
 
 

I started working on the Jolle this morning and discovered some startling features of the kit.
 
First is that the laser cutting of the pieces is exceptionally precise.  I could not get a sharpe blade into the burn line to help loosen the pieces.  I needed to get a small piece of tubing and model hammer and tap them loose enough to break away from the main board.
 

 
Another discovery is that the printed page identifying various parts does not match the actual wood containing the pieces.  To add to this list of horrors is the fact that printed material is not to scale with the actual parts.  I had to have the instructions showing the next needed part, next to the paper showing the part number, next to the board that contains the laser cut pieces.  Not an easy way to participate in a 'relaxing hobby'.
 
There is a plus side, the fit of the laser cut pieces is the best I have ever had the pleasure of working with.  I soon learned that if something does not fit or looks funny, it is either the wrong piece or the wrong location for the piece.  The pieces fit as tightly as do the pieces in a jigsaw puzzle.
 

Greetings and Salutations,
I have wanted to start a build log and successfully complete a build log for a long time.  I have a true mental block when it comes to building a hull that is not solid out of the box.  Master Korabel has all the parts and pieces precut so I figured ‘how hard can this be?’.
The Cannon Jolle 1801, was up for auction and I won the bid for about 1/3 the original price.  This supports my opinion that this will not be a hard build.  Expensive kits are hard, inexpensive kits should therefore be easy.

 
The box is about 14"x8" inches and it is full of empty space because inside the parts and pieces are very small.
 

 
Please notice the size of the kit when compared to a U.S. dime.  Well this means that I need a smaller work space for this particular kit.
 

 
Even though the written instructions are in Russian, the photos of the actual build are clear and concise.
 
I will finish this log.  It good then great, if bad, then everyone can learn what not to do.
 
What can possibly go wrong?
 
Chuck A

Hello friends,
 
Thank you all for the compliments and the likes and welcome to my build log.
 
@ Django - Santisima Trinidad is a fantastic looking ship when finished. Good choice.
@ Marcus - I think my Halve Mean is sitting on other people's mantelpiece (or maybe even in the mantelpiece  )
@ Wayne - With popcorn you are allowed to make a little mess, as long as you clean up afterwards. 
@ Hennie - Don't worry about Sjors' netting, it is still a work in progress. Three more to go.  Oh, before I forget, I need netting to. Isn't that convenient.
@ Ulises - Yes, she is indeed a beauty.  And to keep her beautiful, I decided not to use the bright colors OcCre used.  I will use the Admiralty paints yellow ochre, red ochre, dull black and French blue.
 
And now it is time for an update. Enjoy.
 
 The deck came in four parts.  Glued two of the parts together and planked the starboard and port side separately.
 
 The lined sections of the deck were glued onto the structure of the ship.
 
 Reinforcing parts glued in place on each side of the false keel and on the bow frame.
 
 Glued eleven gun ports to each side of the deck and started the lining onto the interior of the frames.
 
 
Thank you for watching.
Anja
 
 

Chrome sees them as spaces. Just click inside the url (address) bar and press ENTER.

Chrome sees them as spaces. Just click inside the url (address) bar and press ENTER.

Chrome sees them as spaces. Just click inside the url (address) bar and press ENTER.

Laying planks came to an end; never again  . I used about 1350 planks of different lengths.  
 

 

 

 

 

 
To be continued...

Am sick as the proverbial dog, although I managed to get the keel all made and fit before sick as dogness set in yesterday morning. Have slept most of the last 36.
 
And thanks again Pat, I think this is the first time the images are going to be doing what I want them to do.
 
As mentioned, keel and stem and rudder post, need to do the stem now before I can cut the scarf joint between it and the keel. I decided to make it out of four pieces, with the kit's original top piece being the fourth to save a bunch of machining time. I wasn't worried about the color differential in the woods, as you'll see below.
 
Funny thing is all of this and the keel and rudder post are not going to be seen, as of now the only paint I intend to use is the white bottom. But long way until there, we'll see. But I've never made a stem and keel from scratch so wanted to do it anyway for practice and challenge.
 

 

 
Which piece isn't cocobolo again?
 

 
That's some red-brown alcohol-based aniline dye I keep mixed, along with a green-brown, between the two you can solve lots of color issues. It will come off in the subsequent machining but is easily added back at the end, we know the color will be good.
 
Carbon fiber pins between all joints, note they are always orthogonal to the glue surface; drilling wood like cocobolo at an angle is a problem you don't want.
 

 
All glued up with all joints pinned.
 

 
Rough sanding outside.
 

 
Now rough sanded inside and out and top and bottom, all looks good.
 

 
Kit confirms we're still a bit big which is good.
 

 
First test fit of stem to hull. Cue Bob Uecker with "JUUUUST a BIT outside..."
 

 
In here is lots of slow careful work, mostly with good riffler files. The problem you always run into here is a surface getting rounded from sanding shaping so it's touching in center and neither edge is touching. So I use round riffler riffler files down the length of the joint so the joint is actually a slight concavity. This guarantees that if you're square, both gluelines will be good.
 
This is the riffler file set I have, in cut 2. It seems really expensive until you use them, they can easily make very difficult materials like exotic hardwoods do what you want them to do.
 
Looking a bit better now. Couple small gaps but the rabbet will be over this area, so it's a better joint than was really needed.
 

 
That allowed me to mark out the joint between the keel and the stem, here we are test fitting, this looks good. They were done with very fine-toothed saws and knives and files and sandpaper on flat brass. Don't bring just your knife to an exotic wood joint fight.
 

 
The keel had been rough ripped down, but now I tapered it in situ while dry fitted with its carbon fiber pins holding it in place, it reduces from about 2.75" at the stem joint to .212" at the rudder post. I used my long straight brass piece with PSA 120 sandpaper. Cocobolo mostly points and laughs at 220.
 

 
And now stem and keel together, after another 15 min of fiddling the fit. The joint is good but not well-centered, the scarf is badly out of balance, something I will have to do better next time.
 

 
And finally the rudder post that was ever so slightly easier to make being just some straight lines. Here it is dry fitted with pins holding it in place and this looks good too.
 

 
So whenever I can stand up again I'll be gluing all that on, and should be able to CA all of it with no clamps. Right now back to sleep I think.

Thanks Tony. I've never bought ship fittings but it seems a real crapshoot considering the fairly random number of sizes offered by any manufacturer vs what size they should be considering the plethora of ship scales from manufacturers. I did find these guys making bronze thimbles that look pretty realistic but I haven't figured out what size mine should be yet. 
 
I did figure out a way to make them, though, but the basic requirement is telescoping tube. If you can get tubes small enough you cut the thimble-sized one in half lengthwise, giving you a nice long c shape. Make a thimble-opening shape to wrap it around, and wrap it on that form with open side out, using the telescope-fitting rod to make the bend and prevent the c shape from collapsing. 
 
Thanks for the compliments Pat, I try
 
Only a couple photos, as noted not feeling well and all I managed was gluing on the keel and sanding it down. And I only remembered to take a couple pics.
 
As I mentioned, I already broke off the kit top piece, not good kit engineering; no matter which way you point the grain that piece is going to be very weak made out of one piece like they do. So I will make a replacement in three pieces and I have to take a look at the upper bulkhead planking strip fit before I decide what order I'm going to put them on.
 
Here it has its pins added. Normally for something like this they'd be twice this long, but being at a 90 degree angle to each other meant they had to be very short to get them in the holes on the ship without snapping the stem.
 

 
Because of my pins and the fitting work, as I hoped I could just CA on the pieces with no clamps, starting with the sternpost and then the keel itself. Only mild complication was the stem where I needed a little help to ensure straightness so I clamped a piece of brass on the keel that was nice and straight to give me a reference line when hand-clamping the stem.
 

 
And there they are all glued on and ready for level sanding.
 

 
And we could do the final profile also, here it's being checked against the little piece of balsa I was using as a template. For those less experienced making stuff, it generally makes more sense to make your template out of something harder than your work as you can clamp it in place then sand your work quickly down to that. But I knew I was very close already in this case so I made my template out of something quick, if I'd had card stock within reach I'd have used that.
 

 
And now all level-sanded on both sides and profile done, time to attach deck.
 

 
As for the little carbon fiber rod sticking out of the keel, the sun was in my eyes, the check is in the mail, the guy was already dead when I got there, I DIDN'T DO IT

Mike, that's immeasurably better than "every single part fits too loose"
 
Great job on the build!

Mike, that's immeasurably better than "every single part fits too loose"
 
Great job on the build!

Mike, that's immeasurably better than "every single part fits too loose"
 
Great job on the build!

Mike, that's immeasurably better than "every single part fits too loose"
 
Great job on the build!

From both: thank you for the comments, it is really nice!
 
This weekend Daria asked me to find a time to build together, I was really happy she asked for it. Also, this time I tried to maintain a slower pace - the build sessions are supposed to be a moments of calm enjoyment, no rush. But it is harder with kid, since her attention span is quite short and she is typically rushing things. So trying to slow down
 
Fiddly bits in the transom. It is funny that this kit build reached the same milestone (hull is ready, building transom) after 4-5 hours, while it took 2 years to get there with my main fully framed build
Daria loves to think these are a pieces of the puzzle that can fit together. She might enjoy the Things Perfectly Fitting Into Other Things tumblr eventually

 
Gluing the side timbers with some sort of filling blocks. Everything is carefully notched and well thought trough, this kit is great! Daria got the concept of "parallel alignment" and played a lot with parallel machinist clamp.

 
Installation is tricky, but was fairly successful in the end:

 
Transom is ready. There are some gaps, but I in this build it is better to make mistake instead of chasing perfect quality:

(nevermind the glue, will clean it up when dry)
Clamping was very tricky because transom is not square and not parallel, so I did it myself. 
 
So far, that kit is quite kid-friendly. Except the fact that every single part fits too tight and notches should be extended with a file. Bleh!
I take all the nasty parts (filing, filing, filing, filing), and she gets all the fun parts (assembly, measurements, clamping). Not fair!

COAMINGS AND GRATING
 
The joints were made as usual with the Proxxon saw. To cut the angles (63 degrees) I first inscribed the top edges by 1.73mm using dividers with the measurement derived from the TurboCAD programme.
 

 

 
This then allowed me to use the saw at an angle which has a nicely accurate indicator in degrees. I edged the coaming towards the saw until it cut right at the line.
 

 
By the way: if you do this, WATCH OUT FOR YOUR FINGERS AS YOU MAY FORGET THE EDGE OF THE SAW COULD BE CLOSER TO THEM THAN YOU THINK! I was wary of this, but thought I’d better mention it in case others might not have thought about it.
 
Having made the coamings, I could now install the grating I made earlier. I now realised that the long edges could not be the same width as the grating battens if they were to fit into the coaming I had made. I reckon I must have made a very slight error in cutting the strips, but thought that I might well make the same kind of error again so I went with the grating as made.
 

 
You might well note that I've not curved the top of the grating to match the deck camber. My decision was the lazy one -- I followed the plans! As for the base of the coamings, where curvature would come into play, again I was lazy -- the tiny cracks at their base sides will be covered by the planking.
 
One small point to watch out for is that if you stick too closely to the plan measurements it is vital to check these against the actual measurements you achieve on the model. In my case the forward hatch I made came out 0.5mm less wide than on the plans, but as this was not going to affect anything except the width of the ladder, I kept the hatch I made.
 
LADDER
 
I debated a while as to how to make the ladder. Essentially the choice was between table saw, hand saw and mill. I decided the easiest would be to use the modified Proxxon drill stand that I made for the Sherbourne. You can see the design at http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/4539-how-to-modify-proxxon-mb-140-drill-stand-to-act-as-mill/?p=130660.
 
I made a very slight modification to that modification by adding a locking nut below the screw adjuster. This was because I found that vibration during milling made the screw gradually move upwards. You can see this further modification in the following pictures:
 

 

 
The next question was how best to hold the ladder rails in place while milling. I made a paper template and glued that to a rectangle of fibreboard using water-based glue (Pritt stick).
 
After fiddling around clamping the rails to the template I decided to experiment and see if gluing the rail to the template would allow a sufficiently strong bond for milling. I used PVA to do this and it worked very well indeed – allowing me to remove the rail easily after milling with full-strength isopropanol, and allowing me to remove the paper templates from the fibreboard and the rails with a damp sponge.
 
An additional benefit of this way of clamping is that it allows an uncluttered view of the rails whilst milling.
 

 
I could then proceed by clamping the board to the micro compound table.
 

 
To make the rails equal in height and at the correct angles, I bound them together with a couple of spots of PVA, then used the disc sander for the angles. I was really thankful that the Proxxon sander’s degree marker was accurate!
 

 
I then made a simple jig for placing the steps. I again used the idea of gluing a template to the fibreboard base, then gluing battens to the template. To keep the rails apart while fitting the steps I made two temporary and removable battens from old plywood.
 

 

 
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
 
This allowed me to assemble the coamings, grating and ladder.
 

 

 
I can see from the results that I should really spend time sanding to achieve the glassy kind of finish that others have done, but for the moment I’m just pleased that I can make and put together all these pieces!
 
Next I’ll do some planking.
 
Tony

A NOTE ON MEASUREMENTS
 
I thought I ought to mention a couple of possible difficulties for the unwary (i.e. myself!).
 
The first was that I cut sections out of the lower deck for the bitt pins using the plans for the lower deck layout pattern. This shows the bitt pin area at that level as being square, whereas of course by then the pins are not square, but have been shaped into a rectangle. I decided to keep the square holes and keep the bitt pins square, but that is not how they should be!
 

 
The next thing to point out is that the shape of the hanging knees for the gun deck shown in the ‘midship cross section’ drawing that you can find with the full plans are different from the drawing of two hanging knees for the gun deck you find in the cross-section plans. I started by using the ones from the midship cross section, but found that the more accurate ones were those shown in the cross-section drawings.
 

 
PUTTING UP THE BEAMS
 
Because I had chosen to bend the beams with heat rather than cut the beams to the correct curvature it became necessary to keep the beam at the correct height with the chock I had used earlier. This allowed me to ensure the beams were cut to the correct length before placing the pillar for each beam.
 

 
As I like to be reminded of the scale of the model, I took a contemporary drawing of a sailor and sized him to be 5’4” or 1.62 metres high and placed him on the gun deck.
 
The following shows the current state of the model with the waterways in place and the bitt pins placed but not yet glued as I’m still deliberating as to whether or not to paint them.
 
You'll notice that I changed my mind about not adding pillars on either side of the stairs for the forward beam. I had to put them in for the simple reason that the beam did not retain its full curvature after heat bending. Next time I'll follow David Antscherl's advice and cut the beams to the correct curvature!
 

 
Next up will be the coamings for the forward hatch and perhaps the ladder and the grating coamings for the after hatch.
 
Tony

Hi All,
 
It’s been a while since my last post but although still doing FIFO for work my R&Rs are free again so it’s back to working on the 3” casemate guns.  Progress for this swing is working on the sub-assemblies.
 
I think these are recoil shock absorbers/dampeners?  There are 2 per gun for a total of 40.  I first glued the small paper strip the end of the 0.5 brass rod.  Once dry I held the rod in a pin vice and coated the backside of the paper with glue.  Pressing my finger against the paper I rotated the pin vice slowly wrapping the strip on top of its self.  These were pretty simple to do.
 

 
 
The next sub-assembly has a side bracket with what might be sighting rod on it?  I replaced the paper bracket with the photo etch parts.  The photo etch bracket comes in 2 halves which are handed so after shorting into 2 piles I stuck all of the same side on to Tamiya masking tape to hold in position.  The stuck down parts got a dab of CA glue and the other half pressed down to it.
 
The previously formed 0.2mm brass wire was glued on top.  A couple of problems encountered here.  I think the blackening might be interfering with the CA bond as a few of the brackets fell apart easily also a few of the wire parts were difficult to get a good bond.  Also the war of attrition took its toll on the bent wire parts due to pinging off into the ether.  Rather than go to the trouble of making new bent ones I just stuck some spare straight parts I had on instead.  Pretty slack I know but….
 

 
 
Next up is the gun elevation hand wheel.  I think from the plans the 0.2mm spindle is just stuck to the edge of the paper part.  I didn’t think this would be strong enough so actually glued the spindle to the back of the paper part.  The spindle was then gripped with tweezers, dipped in some CA and then pressed to the hand wheel.
 
Again I think the blackening is interfering here as I had a hell of a trouble getting the spindle to stick to the tiny hand wheels.  I have previously make some dual 37mm cannons for my Bismarck build from photo etch and never had problems gluing the tiny bare brass parts together.
 

 
 
Further work done on the pedestals which were detailed in an earlier post.  The small paper strip folds to form the gun mount uprights.  These were easy enough to do; gluing the strip to the end of the swivel and then folding up.  Despite scoring the bend marks some of the bends bunched up in the corners but not a problem as this will be hidden once the barrels and dampeners, from photo 1 above, are in place.
 

 
 
The last sub-assembly are the gun barrels.  I mentioned previously I couldn’t roll the paper barrels satisfactorily so I decided to use the brass barrels bought separately at the same time as the ship.  The barrel and the breech of the brass replacement gun are slightly longer than the paper part.  To get a datum for attaching the paper parts I will align the brass and paper barrels at the change in section diameter for consistently.  The paper part has thin lines printed on them and I will use these as reference for attaching the other parts to the brass barrels.
 

 
 
 
That’s it for this swing.  Next time back will be for 3 weeks Christmas break so hope to get a fair amount done during the holidays.
 
 
Cheers
Slog

Don't soak the stones and clean afterwards. Keep them in water all the time (add a drop or two of vinegar, to eradicate algae/fungus).

Small Update:
 
Having recently acquired a CNC Mill/Router I decided to machine most parts for my Triton build. The CNC software is quite powerful, and has the ability to import toolpaths from images directly; however it does generate a few errors from the images. Maybe I’m just a perfectionist, but I decided not to use the image import function and instead redraw the plans…
 
I sent a PM to Chuck, just to check if redrawing the plans doesn’t violate the copyright terms, and luckily it does not.
 
So it was back to the drawing board (CAD workspace???)…
 
I use AutoCAD2012, and I know just enough to be dangerous. Fortunately I found a feature which is quite useful, more on this in just a moment.
 
I am not going to go into much detail about redrawing/tracing plans; Wayne has written a superb tutorial regarding this. I started using this method, first converting the PDF drawings to Jpeg images, importing into CAD and then tracing the lines, a very tedious and labour intensive process…
 
Now to the new (Better?- I don’t know, but it works quite well for me) method:
 
By chance I stumbled upon a feature in AutoCAD (Not sure if Turbo Cad etc. supports this) called PDF Underlay, which as the name suggests puts a PDF underlay into the workspace. I figured it was a bonus, now I don’t have to convert the drawings to Jpeg files first. Upon further examination however I discovered that the lines in the PDF underlay had object snaps, so now I can start a pollyline or spline at one of these snaps, and simply follow the snaps on the line I wish to trace.
 
I’m not going to post the entire procedure for every part being redrawn here, just show the basic steps involved. I am only posting this as I think someone might find it usefull.
 
First up is structuring the drawings (method borrowed from Matrim, Amphion Drafts MK3).
 
Second will be tracing the imported PDF file. Copy will be saved as a *.DWG file extension.
 
Third will be converting the file to a *.DXF for the CNC software. While the software can automatically compensate for cutter radius, it is a potential pitfall. The part to be cut will be treated as follows:
Join all lines/splines/pollylines/arcs to form one continuous pollyline or spline. Offset the continuous pollyline or spline with the cutter radius towards the waste side of the wood to get the new center toolpath line. Checking for any gaps or crossed lines in the line. Scale the parts from 1:1 to 1:24.  
Fourth will be importing the *.DXF into the CNC software to generate the necessary G Code.
This is the process explained with a few pictures:
 
1: Inserting PDF Underlay.

 
2: Scale PDF Underlay (Scale factor 1219.2 was determined by multiplying 25.4 (1 inch in mm) by 48 (Scale of drawing)).

 
3: Start tracing at object snap.

 
4: Continue tracing following object snaps along line.

 
5: Result of tracing.

 
6: Join lines and splines.

 
7: Offset procedure 1:

 
8: Offset procedure 2:

 
9: Offset result:

 
10: Change layer of new line from keelson to toolpath.

 
11: Delete original trace line and save as DXF.

 
12: Import DXF into CNC software and generate G Code, note that the software calculates the length of the cut, which in this case is 563.056mm and also calculates the time for the cut, which will be the length divided by the feedrate  and multiplied by a compensation factor (compensation for acceleration and deceleration which occurs at changes of direction)
 
 

Hi to all,
    This is  a rather brief update of the modification of the frames by incorporating
four extra cardboard 'decks'. This is only a dry assembly in order to work out the
areas where some more attention may be required.
 
I am a little further on from here, but have yet to take any photos, but have remade
3 of the bulkheads that were a bit out. I am also fairing both the new
decks and incorporating balsa filling at the stern and stem prior to final assembly.
 
The photo etch has arrived and initially felt I was cheating, but have changed my
mind considerably as it really will add to the build in areas that would just be impossible.
 
On this post I have left any detail as I think it is obvious what I have done to strengthen
the hull. I plan to use balsa stringers to reinforce the mounts.
 
I'm sorry about the quality of the photos quickly taken and hand held.
 
Regards, Nick

Thanks Karl! Yes, I am also quite surprised with her passion to building stuff, and trying to feed this passion by showing her different techniques, materials, doing it together, encouraging, etc. No matter what career path she will choose, an engineering mindset will never hurt! 
 
This time she also dictated her first post in the build log. I just translated it to english with minimal syntax corrections:
 
I am building this ship with my dad. He helps me, but I build it myself. I am a Daughter Daria.
We are making a ship body (hull). I am gluing the parts:

 
This is the center of the ship, I insert the parts here:

 
And remove an extra glue with a stick:

 
We used clamps to help the glue stick parts together:


 
I also made some wooden things with a file. These things are now inside the ship.

 
Here we glued the deck. It was hard to fit all that parts at the same time!

 
Our ship will be big! With a long masts and big sails. We will ship some things, food, paintings and curtains on it, as well as toys and doll stuff. 

Hi Dave,
 
I'm one of the guys who uses honing guides. I use a Veritas guide (Lee Valley) for larger chisels and plane blades with Japanese water stones. I've recently been using Kell guide, below, for chisels from 1/2 to 1/16 inches (some shop made). It's pricey, but works really well and has the feel of a very finely made tool.
 
I keep my water stones in a Tupperware tub, with a bit of chlorine bleach, on top of a cookie sheet lined with some non-slip cabinet liner I pilfered from my wife. It a pretty compact and storable sharpening station.
 
Best,
John
 
 
Kell Shapening Guide Link: http://www.garrettwade.com/kell-british-made-deluxe-honing-guides-gp.html