6ohiocav

Mike,
 
My kit did not supply enough anyway. Using the mini bead pliers quickened the process significantly. You also don't have to paint/blacken them.  I am using these throughout the project.  I used all of the kit supplied small eyebolts on the yards.

About the same size as the large ones.  I used the same homemades for the bulwarks. Did about 160 of them. Here are some photos that I posted earlier on my log

Mike,
 
Home made twist ups using 26 gauge black wire.

Mike,
 
That's easy.  If it is based on time, Gun rigging takes the cake. Deck was one day, hull planking was three days. gun Rigging was a month.

​Rope Coils
 
​I decided to clean up the deck of all of the loose tackle ropes and create rope coils.  I perused this forum for techniques and found a bunch of different approaches.  I pretty easily discarded the notion of rolling the existing lines on the deck. They will not stay rolled without a solution of water and glue, and the deck is not the place for that mess.  Besides, the intricate locations for the lines made it nearly impossible anyway.
 
I therefore decided to roll them off the ship.  I used a 50/50 solution of white glue and water.  I thoroughly submerged a 3 inch piece of rope, using inverted sharp point tweezers to grip the very end.  I rolled the rope on a glass plate.  I found that as long as the rope stayed in the small puddle of glue solution, it would stay down on the glass, and it would allow me to roll the rope and stay flat.
 
Extracting the tweezers without pulling the inside rope end out of the coil was a challenge. I accomplished it by using the back end of an x-acto knife and slipping it gently between the two ends of the tweezers and holding the coil down as I pulled the tweezers away.
 
I also learned that you CANNOT touch the coil until it is completely dry - and I mean 5 hours dry. The watered down solution takes forever to dry, and it is so sticky, any attempt to touch it before so simply ruins it. Patience, patience, patience.
 
By the way, I will say again that the Syren rope is an outstanding product. It rolled very well.  The kit supplied rope was too stiff and would not stay rolled, even when soaked with the glue/water. Of course, I ran out of rope again, and will be placing another order to replenish my shipyard stores.
 
Laying them on the deck wasn't easy either. I placed a medium drop of medium CA on the deck, and carefully positioned the end rope of the tackle in such a place that made it look like it merged into the coil.  I then dropped the coil down on the end of the rope. Not always an easy task with all of the enclosed places.
 
What I reasonable thought would take an afternoon took most of three days. Here are some photos of the finished product.

Mike,
 
This looks great.... Really. I would not change a thing.
 
I like the styrene collars. That was a great idea.
 
I would have never thought of frapping the tackles, but I will definitely give this a try the next time around.
 
I spent the whole weekend cleaning up my stern - gun port framing, and rudder. My journyman metal/soldering skills needed for the gudgeons were seriously taxed.

Mike,
 
I would go with the smaller - .012. The difference between the two will be difficult, if not impossible, to discern on the model, and the smaller will be easier to pass through the blocks. I have found that if you have to bore too large of a hole on those small blocks, they can split. As I have discussed my tackle lines are even smaller in diameter and I think they look to scale to me.

Mike,
 
I forgot about the rings.  Thanks for the heads up.
 
... all of this begs another question I have been pondering.  Since I am rigging my ship without sails, do the spanker mast rings simply sit around the spanker mast on top of one another?
 
By the way, my kit supplied spanker mast is shaped like a banana.  It is such a small diameter dowel, I have yet to find a replacement. I am going to soak it and try and straighten is some. I then planned on staining it with a cherry finish, which of course if I ever do get it to straighten out, will probably cause the dowel to warp again.  Always something. 

Mike
 
Roger that on the masts. I know that only small portions of the masts around the tops are painted black. I started masking them off last night. The bottom of both masts are made out of holly, and the rest is in cherry. I will be applying an oil finish to the wood for the natural look. I don't have the plans in front of me, but I believe all of the yards and booms are black.
 
I used the 2mm brass straps from the kit. It is the widest brass strips provided. It is the same brass strips I used on the carronades for eyebolts.
 
I did not anneal the brass per se.  It is pretty flexible and I bent it cold with my mini pliers. I heated it up to solder the tubing and pins of course.
 
Thanks for all the heads up. You have already saved me many times over.

​
Rudder Assembly
 
 I worked on the rudder assembly.  To do that, I had to create the gudgeons and pins.  I used the brass straps from the kit.  I also bought some brass tubing and some brass pins that fit snuggly in the tubing.
 
For the female rudder brackets, I molded the strap metal with my pliers.  I then attached the finished U shaped strap to a strip wood clamp, and soldered the end of my tubing flush with one end of the strap.  I then cut off the other end and filed the excess.
 
For the male keel brackets, I did the same thing, then soldered a length of brass pin inside the tube and cut to size.
 
I used yellow glue drops to simulate bolt heads, and glued the straps to the rudder. The entire assembly was set aside for black paint, and once painted, I will attach it to the ship.  Here are some photos.
 
I also found time to work on the stern.  I finally lined the stern gun ports with red painted strip wood.  That was a tedious project, seeing that I could not sand the edges after installing without completely ruining the finish on the bulwark. I therefore had to make sure they fit perfectly before installing.  I do like the look however. 
 
Since I had to get out the red and green paint for the stern, I used it as an opportunity to do some much needed touch up work around the ship.
 
I also drilled the hole to accept the top of the rudder.  I located the hole where I thought it needed to be, only to get it wrong.  It needed to be as far back against the bulwark as I could place it.  I now have a larger hole than I would like, but feel that I can create a frame piece to cover it up that should look ok. I will add some photos later tonight for those of you that plan on cutting this hole in the future.
 
I am just about ready to open up the paint booth.  I have worked on all of the parts that need to be painted black, and since I believe I now have them done (including rough channels), I should be ready to break out the air brush.  On the list for black paint – Masts, trees, yards, gaffs, bowsprit, rudder and hinges, channels and some trim pieces.  All of that hard work now threatened to be tarnished by a mediocre paint job. Wish me luck.

Great looking work Ken.
 
It would be easy for me to confirm that rope coils are called for, since I did the same on the Niagara, but I only did that because I followed the suggestions of others on this site, and since I saw a photo somewhere, sometime (and I can't remember either) of a rope coil on the Niagara.  The tail has to go somewhere, but I am far from being an authority on this.  I will be curious to see what comes up.

Mike,
 
I forgot about the rings.  Thanks for the heads up.
 
... all of this begs another question I have been pondering.  Since I am rigging my ship without sails, do the spanker mast rings simply sit around the spanker mast on top of one another?
 
By the way, my kit supplied spanker mast is shaped like a banana.  It is such a small diameter dowel, I have yet to find a replacement. I am going to soak it and try and straighten is some. I then planned on staining it with a cherry finish, which of course if I ever do get it to straighten out, will probably cause the dowel to warp again.  Always something. 

Mike
 
Roger that on the masts. I know that only small portions of the masts around the tops are painted black. I started masking them off last night. The bottom of both masts are made out of holly, and the rest is in cherry. I will be applying an oil finish to the wood for the natural look. I don't have the plans in front of me, but I believe all of the yards and booms are black.
 
I used the 2mm brass straps from the kit. It is the widest brass strips provided. It is the same brass strips I used on the carronades for eyebolts.
 
I did not anneal the brass per se.  It is pretty flexible and I bent it cold with my mini pliers. I heated it up to solder the tubing and pins of course.
 
Thanks for all the heads up. You have already saved me many times over.

​
Rudder Assembly
 
 I worked on the rudder assembly.  To do that, I had to create the gudgeons and pins.  I used the brass straps from the kit.  I also bought some brass tubing and some brass pins that fit snuggly in the tubing.
 
For the female rudder brackets, I molded the strap metal with my pliers.  I then attached the finished U shaped strap to a strip wood clamp, and soldered the end of my tubing flush with one end of the strap.  I then cut off the other end and filed the excess.
 
For the male keel brackets, I did the same thing, then soldered a length of brass pin inside the tube and cut to size.
 
I used yellow glue drops to simulate bolt heads, and glued the straps to the rudder. The entire assembly was set aside for black paint, and once painted, I will attach it to the ship.  Here are some photos.
 
I also found time to work on the stern.  I finally lined the stern gun ports with red painted strip wood.  That was a tedious project, seeing that I could not sand the edges after installing without completely ruining the finish on the bulwark. I therefore had to make sure they fit perfectly before installing.  I do like the look however. 
 
Since I had to get out the red and green paint for the stern, I used it as an opportunity to do some much needed touch up work around the ship.
 
I also drilled the hole to accept the top of the rudder.  I located the hole where I thought it needed to be, only to get it wrong.  It needed to be as far back against the bulwark as I could place it.  I now have a larger hole than I would like, but feel that I can create a frame piece to cover it up that should look ok. I will add some photos later tonight for those of you that plan on cutting this hole in the future.
 
I am just about ready to open up the paint booth.  I have worked on all of the parts that need to be painted black, and since I believe I now have them done (including rough channels), I should be ready to break out the air brush.  On the list for black paint – Masts, trees, yards, gaffs, bowsprit, rudder and hinges, channels and some trim pieces.  All of that hard work now threatened to be tarnished by a mediocre paint job. Wish me luck.

​
Rudder Assembly
 
 I worked on the rudder assembly.  To do that, I had to create the gudgeons and pins.  I used the brass straps from the kit.  I also bought some brass tubing and some brass pins that fit snuggly in the tubing.
 
For the female rudder brackets, I molded the strap metal with my pliers.  I then attached the finished U shaped strap to a strip wood clamp, and soldered the end of my tubing flush with one end of the strap.  I then cut off the other end and filed the excess.
 
For the male keel brackets, I did the same thing, then soldered a length of brass pin inside the tube and cut to size.
 
I used yellow glue drops to simulate bolt heads, and glued the straps to the rudder. The entire assembly was set aside for black paint, and once painted, I will attach it to the ship.  Here are some photos.
 
I also found time to work on the stern.  I finally lined the stern gun ports with red painted strip wood.  That was a tedious project, seeing that I could not sand the edges after installing without completely ruining the finish on the bulwark. I therefore had to make sure they fit perfectly before installing.  I do like the look however. 
 
Since I had to get out the red and green paint for the stern, I used it as an opportunity to do some much needed touch up work around the ship.
 
I also drilled the hole to accept the top of the rudder.  I located the hole where I thought it needed to be, only to get it wrong.  It needed to be as far back against the bulwark as I could place it.  I now have a larger hole than I would like, but feel that I can create a frame piece to cover it up that should look ok. I will add some photos later tonight for those of you that plan on cutting this hole in the future.
 
I am just about ready to open up the paint booth.  I have worked on all of the parts that need to be painted black, and since I believe I now have them done (including rough channels), I should be ready to break out the air brush.  On the list for black paint – Masts, trees, yards, gaffs, bowsprit, rudder and hinges, channels and some trim pieces.  All of that hard work now threatened to be tarnished by a mediocre paint job. Wish me luck.

Great looking work Ken.
 
It would be easy for me to confirm that rope coils are called for, since I did the same on the Niagara, but I only did that because I followed the suggestions of others on this site, and since I saw a photo somewhere, sometime (and I can't remember either) of a rope coil on the Niagara.  The tail has to go somewhere, but I am far from being an authority on this.  I will be curious to see what comes up.

Roger that Joel,
 
Good idea.

Thanks Mike for the note on the rope coils. just another technique that I picked up on this forum.

​Installation of Fife Rails, Pin Rails, Catheads, Boat Davits and Forward Bits
 
​​I finally got around to installing some of the deck furniture that I created over the months and have been storing at the shipyard.
 
I built the Fife Rails out of cherry months ago, and somehow during storage, I lost one of the cross sections for the foremast fife rail. I will have to rebuild it. I pinned and glued the posts with medium CA. It was quite a chore to position them to keep them plumb and square. All by line of sight. 
 
I scrapped my initial pin rails that I built out of basswood and painted red.  I did not like the paint finish. So I rebuilt them out of cherry and finished them with poly. It took a while to scrape the paint from the bulwark. I glued them on with medium CA.  I still have to add the wire support brackets.
 
I glued the catheads in place with medium CA.  I have to add the wire support and knees.I also installed the stern Boat Davits.  All were made out of cherry 
 
I temporarily put the bowsprit in place, and glued the forward bits that hold the bowsprit in place.  I pinned and used medium CA. Getting them to line up plumb and to fit the notch at the end of the bowsprit was a challenge.  I realized that I will have to work on that notch some to make it fit right.
 
I finished all of the cherry parts in a flat poly.  I also finally put a coat of finish on the main rail. I cut them out of cherry as well and I am very happy with the look. 
 
Then I ran into a bit of an issue.  I placed the three stern skylights in place and realized just how cramped the rear portion of the deck is. It reminded me of a tip that Josh sent to me a while back about the interference these structures will have with the capstan. Now that I have positioned them in place, I can fully appreciate this point.  How on earth will my 1:64 scale crewmen operate the darn thing with all of the braces in place. There is absolutely no room to turn it.  Also, the rear skylight is only about 1/4 inch from the rear of my stern carronades, which gives me no room at all to install inhaul tackles.
 
I don't know if I am going to simply lay them down as is, or perhaps only use two, and if so, which ones, or eliminate them altogether. I set them on the deck in the following photos.
 
I will say this.  It is starting to look like a real ship, at least without masts and yards.

Mike,
 
My kit did not supply enough anyway. Using the mini bead pliers quickened the process significantly. You also don't have to paint/blacken them.  I am using these throughout the project.  I used all of the kit supplied small eyebolts on the yards.

About the same size as the large ones.  I used the same homemades for the bulwarks. Did about 160 of them. Here are some photos that I posted earlier on my log

Mike,
 
Home made twist ups using 26 gauge black wire.

Mike,
 
That's easy.  If it is based on time, Gun rigging takes the cake. Deck was one day, hull planking was three days. gun Rigging was a month.

​Rope Coils
 
​I decided to clean up the deck of all of the loose tackle ropes and create rope coils.  I perused this forum for techniques and found a bunch of different approaches.  I pretty easily discarded the notion of rolling the existing lines on the deck. They will not stay rolled without a solution of water and glue, and the deck is not the place for that mess.  Besides, the intricate locations for the lines made it nearly impossible anyway.
 
I therefore decided to roll them off the ship.  I used a 50/50 solution of white glue and water.  I thoroughly submerged a 3 inch piece of rope, using inverted sharp point tweezers to grip the very end.  I rolled the rope on a glass plate.  I found that as long as the rope stayed in the small puddle of glue solution, it would stay down on the glass, and it would allow me to roll the rope and stay flat.
 
Extracting the tweezers without pulling the inside rope end out of the coil was a challenge. I accomplished it by using the back end of an x-acto knife and slipping it gently between the two ends of the tweezers and holding the coil down as I pulled the tweezers away.
 
I also learned that you CANNOT touch the coil until it is completely dry - and I mean 5 hours dry. The watered down solution takes forever to dry, and it is so sticky, any attempt to touch it before so simply ruins it. Patience, patience, patience.
 
By the way, I will say again that the Syren rope is an outstanding product. It rolled very well.  The kit supplied rope was too stiff and would not stay rolled, even when soaked with the glue/water. Of course, I ran out of rope again, and will be placing another order to replenish my shipyard stores.
 
Laying them on the deck wasn't easy either. I placed a medium drop of medium CA on the deck, and carefully positioned the end rope of the tackle in such a place that made it look like it merged into the coil.  I then dropped the coil down on the end of the rope. Not always an easy task with all of the enclosed places.
 
What I reasonable thought would take an afternoon took most of three days. Here are some photos of the finished product.

Mark,
 
We did.  We had period civilians in horse-drawn carriages follow the Union Army to watch the battle unfold.  When we routed, we swept them up and we all "headed back to DC."  Very authentic.