michael mott

Thanks Pat, and to everyone for registering a nod with the like button.
 
I keep thinking I should have made a lot more hinges when I was making them earlier. Also one of the troubles with Cad is that it took me ages to discover what the problem was with getting an accurate drawing of the doors to the companionway. Cad is much too accurate! I was taking measurements and putting them into the drawing, and then the next measurements were conflicting, and things seemed to be mismatching. I even set up a sting datum line from stem to stern to double check the details of the cockpit and companionway, Printed out the doors cut them out and they did not fit cleanly. 
Went back did more and different measurements, printed it out again, another different slight mismatch.
 
Then I discovered that the deck is 3/64ths lower on the port side than the starboard and that there is a 1/32nd parallelogram to the companionway relative to the deck.
 
A final adjustment to the drawing "as built" Ah then it fit.

 
Then I was able to prepare the wood for the doors.
 

 
The rough elements still a lot to do shaping the panels, but at least some progress after a frustrating morning drawing.
 
Michael
 

The rebuild of the companionway is starting to come together.
The walls are a sandwich of Maple and Mahogany with an Apple cap rail.

 

 
The companionway will go back to having doors like these ones.
 
Michael

Now I know why Kitchen reno's and rebuilds are so expensive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Time for a coffee break, My arms ache from all that handsawing.
 
Michael
 

I started my new vocation today after visiting this build log
 

 
 
Seriously the log of the Young America by bitao7697 is stunning.
 
I worked on the handle design for the port side cupboard had a few trials to come close to what I was after.
 

 

 
I will start the kitchen area tomorrow once I put the needles down.
 
Michael
 

I had a long chat with the owner and he reminded me that we were on a budget with this refit so I mentioned that I would try to find a used copper sink, I found one on MYBAY it was the right price.
 

 
Checked the fit
 

 

 
Ok so here's how I did it
 

 
Cut out a bit of copper sheet

made up a former from some scrap maple 2x1.5x 3/4 then sanded it smooth.  Annealed the copper and started bashing
 

 
Many annealings and bashings later with a leather mallet
 

and more bashings couple of different hammers but mostly with a too big ball pein.
 

 
A couple of clean up hammerings and then cleaned up the top and dropped it into the pickle .

 
I picked up the gauntlet Druxey you have a habit of dropping it.😉
 
I'm not going down that other rabbit hole
 
Greg I think I read an article about that Model in a Scale ships or similar magazine I seem to recall it had gold and silver fittings.
 
Eberhard, I have not figured it out yet I will be doing a bit of searching to see if I can find some better pictures of the type that is in Integrity.
 
Michael
 
 
 

A little more fiddling with the design of the kitchen/chart area with some card mock ups.

 

 

 

 

 
Not much to say about these pics other than it is fiddly work putting these card bits in and out, but they will help me build the wooden equivalents. I think that I will drape mold the sink out of styrene then spray it silver. My silver smith friend would cringe if she hear me say that.
 
Michael
 

Thanks for the kind words.
working on the access to the interior, the companionway steps are going to be set up differently that I had originally planned.

 
I am now using a few scraps of some different figured maple, instead of the mahogany ones. The treads are from an off-cut of fiddle-back figured maple and the sidewalls from the old maple log. I rather like the soft curve on the steps into integrity and so have used the same motif.

 
The rear wall of the cabin will be fixed and will act as an anchor for the components of the kitchen area and the new steps, Only the bottom 3 panels and the long cross beam are glued in at the moment, because I am still making design decisions at the moment for the upper section of the steps.    The floor hooks under the wall at the stern end.

 
This is fiddly work! I don't know how you folks who build the large 3 mast ships with all the cannon stuff and hardware do it. If I drop something it is pretty easy to fish it out. So kudos to you all who build all the deck beams and hanging knees etc, I think they would be carrying me out in a straight jacket.
 

 
Michael
 

Thanks everyone for the wonderfully encouraging comments and likes.
In order to capture the rods I decided that a handle could act as both the means to rotate from the inside and also act as the capture. First a disk of 1/2 inch brass was turned down to 3/16 for about 1/8 (1") and two holes .031" x .030" deep to match the pins were drilled and a clearance hole through the centre for a countersunk 00x 90 machine screw. then it was parted off the bar.
 

 
This was positioned onto the rear side of the spindle and the position marked for the full extension of the rods with a sharpie.

 

 
Next the surplus was removed with the jewelers saw.
 

 
and was then filed and polished to the final shape.
 

 
the door plate was pinned into position prior to placing the door knob.
 

 
then placed into the opening to check size.
The rods are cut to their final length.
 

 

 
and the outside
 

 
Now for some supper.
 
Michael
 
 
 
 

Hello everyone I’m just getting my mojo back in the ship modeling world. I had a heart attack in November 2022 and am now recovered from that. I had a wonderful conversation with David Anscherl earlier this week and he challenged me to do something on the cutter within the next 2 weeks. Yesterday I dug in and am happy to say that I am enjoying the work I am going to continue with the galley area which also includes the chart table on the starboard side 
 

 

 
The first task was trying to remember just what I was doing, then deciding what was the next step. The galley counter needed to be drilled for the tap and then the sink needed some serious work to clean up the sloppy silver soldering. So a few custom sanding sticks are being used to tidy up the sink. 
Time for some lunch 
Michael

Starting the back of the galley now.
 

 

It is easier to work on it outside of the hull, l am amazed at how nice the maple that I cut from the big log 50 years ago still works and planes up with such a lovely lustre. I’m guessing it is because it has been air dried.
Michael 

Fiddling with the galley cabinets today.


 

 
michael

Just need to solder the top lip on and drill the hole for the drain the the sink should be ready, presently the countertop is at 28  1/2 inches I am wondering if it is a bit too low.
 

 

 
Michael

Andy, thanks for the compliment, I was tired by the time I got to the photographs, I left the holes for today.
 
John, yes, the interesting thing is that there are all sorts of shackles, I have some that are made from sheet stainless that are used in small boats., looking at the photographs of the full size smacks and Cutters it seems that many of them are either galvanized or bronze.
 
Alex today I used the metric side of the scale so that you don't have to do the calculation, I also made some smaller shackles.
 
Druxey I suppose that swageing the ends is akin to forging in a way, thanks for stopping by.
 
Tom, The first one is still OK it is going to stay in the lower bob stay fitting, I must say though that I prefer the aesthetics of the turned and swaged shackles.
 
Mark thanks, for that comment.
 
Daniel, I am happy that you think it looks easy, As I was working on them I was thinking about some of the metal work done by the folk here like Remco and Recon and Gaetan turning up all those cannons and all the little bits that go with them , makes my humble little shackles seem rather clunky.
 
Regarding the little cutter I am giving my eyes a rest, I will get a little more done soon.
 
Sometimes I wonder why I go to all this effort but I am having a lot of fun.
 
Today I started to manufacture a few more shackles some were turned from some 1/8th inch rod and some from some 5/32 inch rod, a couple were from 3/32 Inch rod. I used the same process as before, I did these while waiting for the segments to glue for the winch barrels.
 

 
Flattening the ends of the turned parts
 

 
This pic shows the smaller shackles
 

 
Evening up the ends prior to drilling
 

 
Gluing up the barrel staves I am gluing them in pairs which I find much easier that trying to glue them all at once. this way they do not need clamping.
 

 
family shot of the different sizes of shackles. The new smaller one has a 1x72 threaded pin which was made from 1/16th rod
 
I have a busy day tomorrow in town and into the evening so that's it for a little while I will be happy when this snow is finally gone and I can get the door open and get the hull painted with some top coats.
 
Michael
 
 
 

John Thanks for pointing me to the site.
 
Today I did a little more metalwork, made the bob stay fitting and then mucked about sorting out a shackle. The fitting on the stem was fretted out folded and then the holes drilled and tapped then the tab was silver soldered on.
 

 
The shackle was a lot more work than I thought it would be. At first I bent up some different diameters of brass rod, but was not really happy with any of it.
 
So opted to make one out of some 5/16 x 1/16 brass strip.
 

 

 
Bending it to shape was a bit harder because I did not want to anneal the brass I wanted to keep it hard.
 

 
After the main body was bent to shape I tapped the locking side and then turned up a pin and flattened the end to facilitate winding it in, I still need to drill a small hole in the flattened end to add a safety wire.
 

 
I had a little chain not quite the right stuff but good enough to get a good Idea of how the final will look.
 

 

 
Michael

The Gammon Iron was mounted today and a saddle carved for the bowsprit along with finishing cleaning up the bowsprit end cap. I will need to make a protective metal saddle for the anchor on the opposite side of the Gammon Iron and also the winch for the anchor chain.
 
I'm beginning to see why these models take a while.
 

 

 
I put 4 screws to hold the cap to the bowsprit.
 

 

 
The next items are the jib traveler for the bowsprit and the bob stay fitting on the stem.
 
Michael

John , Johann, thanks for your kind words.
 
Bob here is a couple of pictures that will hopefully show the way that the blade is clamped.
 
The screws are 4x40 the top one is a regular cap screw the bottom one is a round head cap screw
 
for the top one I drilled a #43 hole and slotted the end with a .010 slotting saw and the bottom one is by having a clearance hole #33 through the brass arm and a piece of 1/4x 1/4 brass threaded with the 4x40 to clamp to the main bar.
 


 

 
Michael

Matt it is a Myford ML7
 
Sarah, thanks
 
Thanks John, I'm not sure about the lesson though.
 
Before moving on to finish the rest of the tabs I was tired of hitting my index finger with the locking screw of the jewelers saw.
So I made a new one this morning with a smaller head end
 

 

 
The handle is rosewood the locking bar is ebony the rest is brass and steel.
 
after fretting out the rest of the tabs it took about 1/2 hour to set it up to solder with some soft iron wire to hold it all together, the silver solder was slug over the tabs like saddles
 

 
The wire did get attached in a few places but will clean up easily enough.
 

 
The rest will wait till tomorrow.
 
Michael

Sherry, I cut another today but it is not going to work for me this time, I made a couple of errors doing the rest of the work.
 
Bob,thanks.
 
Russ, thanks for the comment regarding the shape of the bowsprit, Quite a few of the cutters and smacks that I have seen on the web seem to follow this basic design.
 
John thanks for looking in.
 
As I mentioned above I did some more cutting today, but before I get to it I worked on the Gammon Iron I fabricated it from a couple of pieces the ring came from an old bronze plumbing fitting,
 

 
I cut off the end with a hacksaw then turned and parted off the ring.
 
Next I pulled a strip out of the strip tray and laid out the hole positions with a felt pen.
 

 
Soldering was a bit cranky I had to pickle it and rework the solder.
 

 
Then the time consuming clean up with the usual assortment of files, wet and dry paper, steel wool.
 

 
Then it was a fairly straightforward wrap of some soft rope made from embroidery floss which makes a nice soft rope.
 

 

 
After the gammon iron I began working on the cap for the end of the bowsprit, another 20 minutes of cutting with the jewelers saw (same blade)from the previous cutting, I am always amazed at how well these blades stand up to use.
 

 
I was pleased with the cutting but then had to chuck it up in the lathe to open the hole up to 11/16 because I did not have an end mill that size. this allowed me to put in the taper as well.
 

 
Then I cleaned it up with files getting the ring even and drilling the holes, then it came to filing the tabs and the first pair I filed the angle backwards to the taper. I was a bit peeved, but though I could still save the day by rounding them and was going to rotate the ring so that they could act as the bowsprit shrouds lugs.
 
Started to file the bob say and jib tabs and well you guessed it I went and filed them backwards as well. This was the straw that .....
 
Went back to the brass bins and found a section of 3/4 inch brass pipe which was thick enough to accept the taper both inside and out. So forward to the next bowsprit end cap, this also gave me the opportunity to increase the size because apart from the fabrication shortcomings the first attempt was a little small overall.
 

 
a piece of 1/16 by 3/8 strip was drilled for the tabs this where it is at so far. I will finish cutting them out tomorrow, Ive had enough fretting today already.
 
Michael

Daniel, Daniel, John, Alfons, Druxey, Ron, Matt and Mark. Thank you all for you congratulations and kind thoughts and comments.
 
Later on Tuesday I was able to change pace and finish shaping the tops of the bowsprit bits.
 

 
 
The bits are rock maple 1/2 inch square and the knees have been glued now to the bits I will add some through bolts and the other fittings before the final gluing to the deck. The brass pin is just a place holder for a larger top retainer. I am looking next to working on the boom fittings including the the fitting that will attach to the stem ( cannot think of the name of it right at the moment)
 
I will set up the fore stay similar to this one on Betty.
 
Michael

Russ, Carl, Matt, Mark, Mark, John, Yambo, Popeye, Bob, and Druxey.
Thank you all for your kind thoughts.
 
I had to rearrange the shop today again! the boat was blocking the light on the bench. so I also took the opportunity to rebuild the building bench. The model was longer than the bench and I kept almost walking into the bowsprit or the stern, I had an old office desk top that was 90 inches long so I used it to ensure that I cannot walk into the boat. Also lowered it to 30 inches high.
 

 

 
Then I was able to continue with the hounds cheeks and bolster ready for the topmast.
 

 
The fitting at the top of the main mast is a metal component that I wanted to make out of a single piece of metal instead of soldering up a group of parts.  I used a scrap of 1/4 inch thick brass bar and drew the shape with a felt pen and cut it out with the jewelers saw after drilling the two holes.
 

 

 

 
The roughed out shape ready to drill the holes in the tabs.I was pleased that I did not break any blades doing the cutting which took about 20 minutes.
 

 

 
After the holes were drilled I sat in front of the wood stove enjoying the warmth and filed the filling to the final shape.
 
Next it was cleaned up with the wire wheel which gives it a cast appearance.
 

 

 
Now to make the topmast.
 
Michael
 
 

Since it is my 65th birthday tomorrow I felt that the shop should be clean for my new life of retirement ....LOL  I cannot imagine not being busy doing a dozen or more things every day.
 
 
Anyway I moved the boat to a new position and did a major clean up organized all the strip wood I have cut over the past year. And spent the evening working on the port side cap rail. refining the profile and getting it ready to be glued down.
 


 

 

 

 
It was great to get a bit of time this evening to work on the boat again, it is snowing again!
 
Michael

Set the new shroud up in the serving machine and did the serving.
 

 
Next time I will switch the rotators end for end so that the turning is done from the right hand short end of the shroud this will make the long loose end continually in wind up direction instead of an unwind direction. I also noticed that when the bobbin came off the brass sleeve and was loose on the 3/16 shaft the bobbin sat on the base and created just enough friction that it wound up nicely and traveled along by being pulled by the wind.
 
I will see if this will work for the full length on the next one. The other advantage of switching the feed end is that I can feed some of the served end through the right hand rotator to serve a longer length if needed .
 

 
laying the loose end inside the clear plastic tube that some of the metal tube comes packaged in worked a treat.
 

 
The clamping method finally became clear as began working on the setting of the deadeye, simple pegs in the top. I looked at a couple of different weights of seizing thread and also different colours I like the contrast with the lighter colour and I like the heavier Koban  next to the deadeye ,so next trip into town I will pick up some tan coloured Koban
 

 
A quick look at the new shroud in situ, I used some of the first shroud as a lanyard, It is not as flexible as a 3 strand rope so I will make some black rope for the lanyards.
 

 

 
Michael

Russ, Sherry, John, Germanus and Alex. Thank you all for your kind comments.
 
I picked up some Gutterman Black No 50 cotton thread today and followed Longridge's method of using 4 x 3 strand ropes, I only used 3 threads instead of 4 in the three strands of the smaller ropes I should have used 4 threads in each strand. It was a lot of work regardless.
 

 
The four ropes each rope was formed from 9 threads instead of 12, so I ended up making the shrouds a little on the light side.
 

 

 
I did some seizing with the same No 50 threads and test fitted the shroud rope around one of the deadeyes, I was a little disappointed because of the mistake with the numbers of thread in the smaller ropes, because this made the shroud 16 threads thinner than it should have been.

 

 
I need to make a serving jig and a better clamping method than the crocodile clip stand for doing the seizing. I am also thinking that a geared powered ropewalk with be the ticket, So I will have to get cracking on one of those as well. I must admit I got tired of winding by hand.
 
Michael

Russ, Germanus, Carl, John. thanks for your thoughts, and information.
 
Here is a correction, and this is just to get a sense of what I am dealing with.
 

 

 
Michael

Druxey ,Mark, Bob, and Kevin, thank you so muck for those kind words.
 
I used the same slit chuck to drill the holes in the deadeyes.
 

 
by adding the hose clamp it worked to hold the deadeye. and rotated on the 1/4 inch dowel held in the mill vice.
 

 
I like to use a centre drill for the wood sometimes especially since the holes were close to the curved part of the deadeye.
 

 

 
After threading the rope through the deadeyes they look to be OK proportion wise.
 

 

 
Now I just have to finish the rest of them.
 
Michael