Trussben

Transoms being faired in.
 

 

Transoms being faired in.
 

 

Transoms being faired in.
 

 

To complete the rudder, we have to add the hinges (pintels and gudgeons).  As is usually the case with me on such iron work, I wont be doing any soldering.   You have heard me say often on this project and others..."Fake it till you make it"...this will be the case for these rudder hinges as well.  To start, paint both sides of the laser cut pieces for the hinges black.  You will be thankful you did later on.

Then glue them onto position on the rudder.  Glue them against the top edge of the slots for them in the rudder.  Note...I wont be creating a working rudder with hinge pins.  For the life of me I dont understand why folks do that at all.  Its not like anyone will be playing with the rudder later.  It will be displayed under glass forever so it doesnt make sense to me.  But if you want to show this you can do so by inserting some 22 gauge black wire into the holes laser cut in these pieces.   My rudder will be stationary but you wont be able to tell any difference once its all done.  Hopefully.  Both sides of these pieces should be flush with the sides of the rudder at this point so sand them flush if you need to.  I have also prepared the hinge strips in advance.  They are 1/16" x 1/64" boxwood strips.  They edges were painted black in advance.  Again you will be doing yourself a huge favor if you do that.
 

These strips were added to the rudder using the laser etched lines as a guide so the correct angles are easily found.   Just let them run off the forward side for now.  Once they are all in position, you can sand the hinges to shape as shown below.  You can also see the top hinge has not yet been trimmed or shaped.   Once completed on both sides, sand the faces of the strips a little, especially if you prefer a thinner hinge strap.  You dont want to make them too heavy.  You can even taper the thickness thinner as they work their way towards the aft edge.
 

Now its optional but this is the time where you can drill along those straps and insert some bolts.  I used 20lb black fishing line.  Then paint the straps black.  You can even apply some weathering powder to these hinges if you want them to look more like metal.  I brushed on a little brown powder although its hard to see that in the photos.
 

 
Here is how the rudder looks all finished up and with black rudder hinges.  Its a pretty effective way to make these and can be done on any model...and you dont even need a laser cutter to do it.
 

With the rudder completed I will start making the married partners for these hinges in much the same way so I can attach it to the model.  But at least you can get an idea of how it will ultimately look.
 

 
 
 
 

Milestone reached as this completes chapter 9.  All of the deck fittings except for the binnacle have been completed.   The last fitting was the rudder cover.   Again very straight forward.  All parts are laser cut.
 
To begin you must build the jig.  Just glue the part labeled "jig" on top of the square with the etched outline.
 

Then start adding the sides of the rudder cover.  Start with the back panel.  All corners will be mitered or beveled.  I just eye-balled it with a sanding stick.
 

Work your way forward and then finish up with the front panel.  Remember not to glue the rudder cover to the jig!!!
 
In addition, you can build the lid or top of the rudder cover.  It is in two layers as shown.  But dont glue it on yet.  This wont be done until after the rudder is installed and the tiller is added.  I did go ahead and paint them red however.
 


You can test fit this on deck...but notice the small step behind the rudder cover.   This is the step for the ensign staff.   This must be added first.  I have laser cut a bunch for you as they are small.  You must bevel the back side to fit snug against the transom.   The front side should be beveled as well to sit flush against the rudder cover.  You can glue them in position, but remember not to glue the top on for the rudder cover yet.  If you do ... you will never get that till inserted into the rudder head.
 

But you can sit the top in position and nobody will know it isnt glued on yet!!
 

Thats it...all fittings completed.   To begin chapter 10 I will be making the rudder and tiller.  Fun times.
 

I continue with the blocks:
 








 
 

Transoms being faired in.
 

 

Hey JJ
 
Im actually thinking of going for a more toned down look and the red ochre would match better with the pear framing instead of competing against it.
Also toying in my mind about black channel wales and gunport lids to do maybe a bit of a Nelson chequer type of look, decisions decisions!
 

While the sanding goes on, and on and on, I decided to take a look at which shade of red that I will use on this model, I used ME Bulwarks red on my Winnie but may change to something different.
 

 

Nice to see her progress!

While the sanding goes on, and on and on, I decided to take a look at which shade of red that I will use on this model, I used ME Bulwarks red on my Winnie but may change to something different.
 

 

Transoms being faired in.
 

 

Transoms being faired in.
 

 

Headrails on and they look pretty darn good! Onward!
 

I couldn’t bring myself to glue another plank to anything today. So I decided to work on something fun. I think I have these headrails in a good spot so im
going to coat them in WOP and then paint them black on the insides and tops. The head Timbers are in place and I’ll paint those too. A smidge of fine tuning on the headrails when I glue them down should do the trick. 

Transoms being faired in.
 

 

Transoms being faired in.
 

 

Transoms being faired in.
 

 

All framing has now been completed and the sanding and fairing of the hull has begun, this is going to take time and make a lot of mess.
 



 

Hi All,
 
About to start a new build of the beautiful 50gun 4th rate HMS Portland of 1770, This kit has been developed by the Portland Scale Ship company based in Oregon USA.
 

Transoms sat in place but no glue yet.

All framing has now been completed and the sanding and fairing of the hull has begun, this is going to take time and make a lot of mess.
 



 

While the sanding goes on, and on and on, I decided to take a look at which shade of red that I will use on this model, I used ME Bulwarks red on my Winnie but may change to something different.
 

 

Transoms being faired in.
 

 

Transoms being faired in.