Gerhardvienna

thank you very much Gerhard and Carl,
 
a little bit of experience could be gained with the use of silicon and resin for the fist time, so if boats should be required again, there could be some optimizing of the process.
There are still tripple stacked foldable boats (last in the row on both ship sides), but I have to do a master boat set first....
 
Nils

Hi Nils
 
Well done! With a little amount of paint they will be perfect! I like the boats.
 
Regards
Gerhard

Continuation.
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
The beginning of the relation is available at this address:
 
 
http://5500.forumact...ndre-1-24#66516
 
 
 
Regards, Pawel

Last days were busy for family things, but a bit has gone on too. First I had to play the @dafi and break out the former glued in floor in the engine room, and replace it with the curved part to the paddlewheel.
 
The former version with the floor

The new curved parts, all unnecessary beams will be cut away after planking the hull!

 
Next was the larger carriages I made "far ago". They were painted flat black. I have read the johnhoward file, but decided to let it with only two different carriages for the great guns.

 
And then there was the core for the cutters. This is hard work, grinding it by hand, but the shape comes out slowly !


Best regards, thank you all for watching!
Gerhard
 
 
 
 

Worked a bit on the core for the cutters, and painted the skylights with flat black. Looks a bit better than the brown colour, thanks for giving some advise go to @johnhoward

Regards, Thank you all for watching!
Gerhard

Hi Nils
 
Well done! With a little amount of paint they will be perfect! I like the boats.
 
Regards
Gerhard

Update :
 
here, the first one of the raw open boats. I think I`ll place one or two open boats later on each side of the ship...., most of the others will be closed and canvas covered boats
 
Nils
 

This is the same silicon mold as for the closed boats, but here additionaly a plug is inserted and fixed in position, before the resin is carefully poured in....
 

 
The result out of the silicone mold...

 
and after pulling the plug out
 
 

 
the two halves are glued together and the decking cover is milled out with a Dremel
 
 

 
 

seatings a bit broader and thicker, capacity, when full occupied 26 persons
 
 

That's why I turned my own, one of the biggest nightmares in modeling is trying to make a rotary or radial engine that's cast in two parts presentable. 
 
One option is 3d printing at Shapeways, and here are some models you could use. If you don't know 3D work I would ask someone that you know whether they could help, to get them successfully printed you'd need to scale it to the correct size and also move some parts around for proper printing, and once received you'd assemble it like a small kit.
 

It is done! Basically all the internal bracing is done. There are four more (two on each side) where the cock pit is but those are added in a later step. I have also added the in step for the pilot and two handles towards the tail of the aircraft. That was step no 4 according to the instructions. It was a step in my taste, find three parts, polish them a bit, glue them in place and done! The will get a coat of steel paint to match the rest of the airframe.
 
I´ve started on the landing gear, which is the next step.
 
 

 

 

 
And now for something completely different...
 
At a yard sale I found a RC aircraft, I could not resist buying it. It was supposedly easy to fly. I have never flown a RC aircraft in my entire life but figured "how hard can it be?". Well after the first flight which lasted all of approx 4 seconds I crashed and the tail broke off. Well it will be easy to fix with some tape basically. It proves that I might be able to build a fighter but cannot fly it
 

 
 

My thanks go to Rob and Bill,
and all fellow members who gave their kind input, suggestions and comments for boats making... recently
Also thanks to all the "likes"...
 
Rob,
good idea with the vibrating palm sander, I must try that, and save in mind..., I was already thinking of what I possibly could use exactly for that purpose...
 
Bill,
the additional plug still requires some corrections, but I think in general it should work as intended. After glueing the halves together I will remove the center area of the halfmoon like top cover until only the rail on the sheer remains standing. Here in the white sample there is no inner bulwark support, whilst the translucent sample was made from the modified plug with 8 slots to resemble the ribs...
 
Nils
 

 
halves ready for fairing sanding the to be matching glue surfaces

 
here 5 completed boats

 
 
The upper sample with reinforcement ribs

 
the additional plug for hanging / fixing into the silicon mold

 
now that it works, the other side of the plug will also get outcuts

Last days were busy for family things, but a bit has gone on too. First I had to play the @dafi and break out the former glued in floor in the engine room, and replace it with the curved part to the paddlewheel.
 
The former version with the floor

The new curved parts, all unnecessary beams will be cut away after planking the hull!

 
Next was the larger carriages I made "far ago". They were painted flat black. I have read the johnhoward file, but decided to let it with only two different carriages for the great guns.

 
And then there was the core for the cutters. This is hard work, grinding it by hand, but the shape comes out slowly !


Best regards, thank you all for watching!
Gerhard
 
 
 
 

Worked a bit on the core for the cutters, and painted the skylights with flat black. Looks a bit better than the brown colour, thanks for giving some advise go to @johnhoward

Regards, Thank you all for watching!
Gerhard

And first of all some good drawings....................
Just working on them!
 
Regards
Gerhard

Hi johnhoward
 
Great find, this shows how large the camber was on the roof. This will be more difficult to build, but possible. As I have no parts from the superstructure premade, I can and will make it that way!
 
Regards
Gerhard

Hi johnhoward
 
Good progress, the deck camber turns things a bit away from all what i have seen of city class models. I`ll keep watching.....
 
Regards
Gerhard

And first of all some good drawings....................
Just working on them!
 
Regards
Gerhard

Hi Carl
This would not be good for a life steam engine. Too much heat, I will have to mek the engine from brass. And, my printer will not be ready for the dummy engine, lots of parts are ordered in China, as I will make the printer from "scratch" too! Maybe I`ll have another building report about that.
 
Regards
Gerhard

That's great Gerhard,
The whole idea of starting to release the results our research for the USS St. Louis as we go along was to identify the errors before modeler's wasted a lot of their time. I totally understand that you can't afford to go back and redo everything. It is a shame that so much USS Cairo misinformation has been repeatedly published by otherwise reputable sources, apparently without much checkout. We have been trying to complete the research for each element before we build it but, we too, have fallen into the same trap.
 
johnhoward

Hi johnhoward
 
Great find, this shows how large the camber was on the roof. This will be more difficult to build, but possible. As I have no parts from the superstructure premade, I can and will make it that way!
 
Regards
Gerhard

Gerhard,
Attached is one of the contemporary photos I was referring to in my previous message. This is identified as  the "USS DeKalb" which was originally the USS St. Louis and clearly shows the deck and roof cambers and window arrangement. The Dekalb was sunk in 1863 so this can't represent some post-Civil War  peacetime modification. All decks  and roofs were similarly cambered to shed rain water and accumulation of snow to the scuppers.
 
johnhoward

Hello Gerhard,
so far so good thanks Gerhard, I`m just trying to cast a open boat, to see if it works...
 
Nils

Hi Nils
 
Great way to make the boats! They look good!
 
Regards
Gerhard

Hi Nils
 
Great way to make the boats! They look good!
 
Regards
Gerhard

Update :
 
further with boats production.......
It is my first attempt to make parts in silicone molds and to cast them out in polyurethan resin.
I`m quite satisfied with the result so far, and pleased that it worked out so easy....
Here a little documentation to share of the procedure (to whom it may concern)
 
Nils
 

making the boxes for the silicon molds, comprising baseplate and side walls
 

 
positioning the master model (halfside by halfside) into the box frame, holding it in place with a simple but adjustable support device
 

checking the horizontal centerline position....
 

two component silicone mixing relation 1:1, for the mold
 

seperating wax for the mold
 
 

 
the first mold half in silicon, the master inserted slightly more (0,5 mm)  than half deep
 
 

removal of the master half..., the lapstrake structure and even the fender-rope mold out well and precise
 
 

 
two components othe polyurethan resin and its catyliser (mix 1:1)
 
 

casting three halves at a time. The activated polyurethan resin has a working time of appr 2-3 minutes after mixing the two components together, before it starts to polmerisate and to turn to white coler as it does so
 
 

the result of the first attemt to cast the boat halves, now ready for fairing, trimming.
The activated resin batches (every batch at a time) is measured for 5-6 boat halves
 
 
 
 

Hi Carl
This would not be good for a life steam engine. Too much heat, I will have to mek the engine from brass. And, my printer will not be ready for the dummy engine, lots of parts are ordered in China, as I will make the printer from "scratch" too! Maybe I`ll have another building report about that.
 
Regards
Gerhard