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mikiek

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Everything posted by mikiek

  1. mikiek
    From THE source - English Sea Ordinaces - the larger a wheel (truck) is the easier its load will roll. Guns had to be able to roll forward to fire and roll backwards for recoil. Rolling forward required men hauling tackles so a larger wheel helped with that effort. On the other hand, recoil needed to be slowed down quickly and a smaller wheel helped with that. I was right about the sloping deck. The varying wheel sizes kept the carriage horizontal.
  2. mikiek
    Tom there is also a part called the quion - a wedge that fits under the rear of the guns. Helped to give them elevation if needed. Depending on exact placement, that will tip your barrel down a little bit. It could help.
  3. mikiek
    I can dig a little but a couple of quick thoughts 1. To keep the barrel pointed upwards? 2. To deal with the slope of the deck - highest at the centerline and sloped down as it moves outwards? 3. Sometimes you don't shoot straight out - a little bit of an angle. The guns were incredibly heavy so moving them was accomplished with the tackles. Haul in a tackle one one side or the other to turn the gun. A bigger wheel would be a better pivot. All just guesses. There's probably some better scientific answer.
  4. mikiek
    I'd go for bringing the axle(s) up with your groove in the carriage. Possibly combine that with a little reduction of wheel size. Don't take this the wrong way Doug but sometimes the wheels on cannons are different sizes for front & back. Any chance this is the case with your kit? Maybe you grabbed all large wheels? Gotta ask.
  5. mikiek
    For scheduling reasons we are having Thanksgiving tomorrow so I got to work on the stand for the case today. Pretty much finished except for putting on a few coats of varnish. Didn't have time for it to dry and since the display will be parked in the dining room I didn't want it smelling like like varnish during the meal tomorrow. Maybe later. Here's what I ended up with. Had to fit some shims in there - probably should have stained it so it's not so obvious. However the stand surface is smaller than the footprint of the case so it'll all be covered up. One good thing about the pedestal with the case. I had ordered some metal legs from Amazon and since I have Prime I had expected them to arrive yesterday. Instead I got an email saying delivery would be postponed - no date specified. So I cancelled that and in a panic took off to Home Depot. I must say what I ended up with is much more elegant than the metal hairpin legs. Pricier too. But Dang It, this is my first major build, it took over 2 years - SO THERE! Well here she is folks, parked in her new home. I'm liking it so far.
  6. mikiek
    Tom - did you ever verify that an assembled gun had enough clearance under the rail?
  7. mikiek
    Nice color on the decks.
  8. mikiek
    Hey Bob - thanks for looking in. That turned out to be my #1 goal. What I call a restoration rather than a refit. I will admit it was real tempting to tear down to the deck and build her again. New ropes, better hardware, you know the drill. But this is a kit that was probably purchased in the 30's. Adding all the contemporary parts wouldn't do it justice.
  9. mikiek
    Thank you Lee - for now I'm going with some of those metal harpin legs. Not as nice as your suggestions but I needed something fast.
  10. mikiek
    Sails are taking longer than I thought. I don't have many flat surfaced items or small weights to hold the hem down while the glue dries. So it's load the hem up with wire and/or rope. Fold the hem over (twice). Squirt some glue into the hem. Weight it down with something flat and wait for the glue to set - about 30 minutes. As I mentioned earlier I was able to pull the little fittings out of the hull and will be able to re-use them. I thought this was going to be a difficult step but it turned out quite easy. The fitting. Tie Tie a granny knot at the end of a rope Thread the rope thru the fitting. Glue the fitting to the hull. I'll take the ropes and feed them thru the faux deadeyes and tie them off. Also darkened the sail up some. They look even darker in real life.
  11. mikiek
    Lee - believe it or not have found a relativley safe way to transport the boat. I use one of those foam holders, I think MicroMark sells them. Cradles the hull firmly then I pile towels or blankets all the way around that. Of course you do need a SUV. The boat didn't roll or even tilt and was in perfect condition at my destination. And I used to hear horror stories of major destruction during transport. Jim - that's the plan. Build a frame of 2x4s and fix the legs to that. Then set the case on top.
  12. mikiek
    Mickgee - Thank you. I've always felt like the cases add a little something to the final look. Don - I guess we both have a decision coming up. What's next? I've got several smoldering on the bench but nothing I would call my main build.
  13. mikiek
    Thanks to you all for the kind words and for your support during this endeavor. Things are definitely winding down. I have the leg platform to build (when it gets here) so I can place the case against the wall. I have one other task to finish and then will call this project done. GrantGoodale - I did not build the case. There is a plastics shop near work that makes custom cases. They did the job. Third time I have had them build a case and all have been top notch. This was the largest case by far.
  14. mikiek
    If possible sand or lightly file the pieces before gluing.
  15. mikiek
    Even better!!
  16. mikiek
    Niagara in her new room. I have some legs on order and will put them on a platform that the case can sit on. Hope it all gets here before Thanksgiving. The Admiral won't be happy if we have to share the dining room table with a boat. Had to take pix from the side as from straight on the flash gave too much reflection. The protective paper is still on the back. If it was another color I might consider leaving it on. About time to change this title to FINISHED!!!
  17. mikiek
    Elijah - one suggestion for your hawse pipe. A lot of times the outer opening is flared a little so the anchor chain/rope rubs on the pipe and not so much the boat. Depending on the softness of the metal used for the pipe, sometimes you can do that with a rat tail file. Run it into the pipe until it gets fatter than the pipe opening then work it around a little. Almost anything cone shaped can be used to do this. Sometimes a punch will work. The flared opening will also cover any nastiness in the hole itself. I'm still impressed with how much your skills are improving!
  18. mikiek
    Thank you for your honest opinion Per. And I agree, the sails need some roughing up. However as I look at the next set I will be working on, I don't see any other option but replacement. The wire has torn thru the hem in many places, it corroded and that got into the material and there are holes. Actually they are not as light as the picture makes out. And I believe I can still darken them some more. I've been considering that. With you in agreement I will move forward with that. Darker and maybe some even darker splatters.
  19. mikiek
    Well maybe not as difficult as I thought. I was able to pull the metal fittings out of the holes - 70 year old glue. So I should be able to figure something out now.
  20. mikiek
    Nice fix.
  21. mikiek
    Visible progress! Almost have the rear mast back in place - with sails and a clean deck underneath. A big improvement however a little sterile for my taste. Got one problem and I knew this was coming when I snipped the shrouds. This pic pretty much shows it all. There used to be a line from the lower 'deadeye' that went over the channel and into the small holes below. I assume they were fastened with a big granny knot on the backside, while there was still access to the inside of the hull. Now there is no access, but I need to do something similar. Tie a rope to the bottom of the 2 deadeyes. Run the rope into the hole. Tie the rope off somehow and keep good tension the whole time. Ideas?
  22. mikiek
    I think I am going to try out this method for sails. I'm trying to not strip down the entire mast in one shot. Even with pix, I'll never get it put back together the same way. So I have this upper sail - sorry, I don't know the names of the fore/aft sails - ready to put back on. But it will require an attachment to the end of the gaff on the lower sail (spanker?), so I really need to remove the lower sail. This one is laced on to the gaff and mast so the replacement will need holes in the hem in addition to wire & rope. Speaking of wire, having that in the hem is a very cool idea. It can be bent around to really give the sail some shape. No droopy sails. The boom and gaff were fastened to the mast by something that almost looks like tape. Maybe a touchup later in life. Don't know if they even had tape 70 years ago and if they did would it still be holding today? At any rate I'm going to have to do something different to hold the boom & gaff to the mast. I think the scale is too small to try a parral so I guess it'll just be a loop of rope around the mast. Tape? So the spanker is off and I've made a pattern so I can cut a new one. Compare old sails vs replacement. I feel like I need to take the new one and rub it around in the dirt.
  23. mikiek
    Forgot Don is in CA. Probably a marketing difference between there and the US. Go to a store here and you're likely to find 5-6 Pledge products on the shelf and it's possible none of them are Future. Read the labels & fine print. Good link Ken.
  24. mikiek
    Gotta jump in here. Be careful with dusting sprays. Many have wax and other ingredients in them which you may or may not want on your model. Wax is actually slightly sticky and will collect dust over time. The Future product Don refers to is a good one and has been used to finish models for years. That was the intent of the product. But Pledge has a whole line of products, so be careful what you get.
  25. mikiek
    I think keeping the symmetry is the hardest part of this build. So many 90 degree angles that even a 89 degree mishap stands out. You've done well on that aspect Steve.

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