gjdale

Well done Elijah - almost there!

Just stunning Nils! What a lovely model you are producing here. Every update shows your care and attention to detail.

Just stunning Nils! What a lovely model you are producing here. Every update shows your care and attention to detail.

A little update...
 
the aft vents are tuned to the right lengths and painted. The aft mast is is rigged, the stays and backstays set and the ratlines are mounted to the shrouds.
Some additional lifesaver rings are assembled
 
Hope you are all had a nice Christmas time and Santa has delivered the one or other little surprize.....
 
Nils
 

 
about 2/3 of the boatsdeck are on (without boats)
 
 

 
Aft mast rigging....
 
 

 
the vents are shortened and painted
 
 

 
 

 
have to continue with the forward boatsdeck, right up top the command bridge area

Finally finished the transom.
Last set of notches (aka "macro is brutal")

 
Horizontal piece also got some of them, on a weird angles:

 
Glued in, treenailed and masked for fairing:

 
Fairing was easy, because the smooth curve of the transom allowed to use the plane:

 
Faired. I made one mistake, one joint is too shallow, so can't fair this junction properly - the wood is too thin and will fall off
Too late and painful to fix, decided to leave it as is. Eventually this will become a part of the quarter gallery, so it will be less visible:

 
Put the oil on it (that was fun, so many surfaces to carefully oil and so many are crossing each other). Can't wait for it to dry, sorry for reflexes due to wet oil!
Note that due to a different grain orientation, oil resulted in different colours for different groups of timbers. Light "along the grain", medium dark "diagonal grain" and very dark "cross grain". It is all made literally made of the same piece of wood, I promise! Wood is magic
Not everything aligned as it should, but I started with a not very symmetrical transom, at least haven't made it worse. Will pay much more attention to the proper alignment in the next build!

 

 

 
Now I am taking a short break - will shift attention to the jewellery box I promised to admiral, and then will come back to this log with a display case for the model. The model is far from being complete, but it does not stop from displaying it properly, and will definitely help to keep the dust off.

So before attaching the original stern section onto the new keel I made and installed the filler pieces under the transoms, three on each side had to be made.
This was completed and checked for symmetry on both sides, tricky little pieces.
 
Ben

Thanks Mark,
 
The reason for no sawdust in view is that I now have proper dust collection systems, a dust devil and big shop vac to connect to the tools and a big Jet ceiling mounted air filter for the fine stuff, there has been some dust produced - trust me!
 
Ben

Thanks David.
 
So the new framing squares and overhead gantry are completed.
Next job will be to do some work on the old stern section before mounting it to the new keel.
 
Ben

So some new frame squares are in the process of being made so as to be able to utilize the t-tracks for securing them in position, Also new fore/aft holders were constructed out of Poplar just like the squares.
 
While doing these small jobs the build board layout drawings were split into 3 using autocad so as be able to be printed on regular printer paper, great pains were made for accuracy and alignment of these.
 
Now I'm making the overhead gantry which I hope to have done in the next few days.
 
Happy Holidays to all on MSW.
 
Ben

Hi All,
 
After giving it a bit of thought I decided to do a top side structure for a break from the hull skins and associated works, which go up to parts 14.  The next assembly 15 is a cabin type structure located on the centre line and sits partially under the bridge.
 
 
Here are all the parts laid out ready for trimming and assembly.  A few points to raise straight off the bat, particularly with the laser cut forms.  The 2 largest forms are Part 15 and are the top and base of the structure and as can be seen they are of a different size and shape.
 
Based on the shape of the side and top skins and the assembly diagram this doesn’t make sense.  I double checked the kit template sheet to see if it is just a laser cut form issue but these show the parts being different also.
 
Holding the 2 different forms against the structures final location on deck confirms that the top form in the photo is the correct size and shape and is confirmed by the top skin Part 15c.  Thankfully the wrong sized form is large enough to be cut down to match the correct part.
 
Secondly, not an issue but a reiteration of checking before gluing; parts 15a and 15b are the internal structures and although not evident on first glance the slots on each end are in a different positon.  I only noticed this when the dry run had it all askew.  If I had jumped in and applied glue I could have messed them up.
 

 
 
The wrong size bottom form was cut to match the correct top by holding them together and marking the cuts.  As can be seen on the bottom form the areas with no laser char were what was trimmed off.  After a trial fit again to make sure everything was aligned it was glued together with no issues.  I used the Roket glue here but no discernible difference then my usual PVA.
 

 
 
Something I have touched on previously but not explained is the relationship and butting against of adjacent skins.  Prior to cutting of the skins I wanted to check the relationship of the top and side skins in case I need to take into account any differences when cutting and gluing up.
 
By placing the structure on the top skin, although it doesn’t look it, it is flush with the edge of the form.  This means (and I hope!) that the sides are slightly taller than the form to cover the edge of the top skin.
 

 
 
Doing the same with the side skin it is, thankfully, taller than the form so should cover the top skin edges.
 

 
 
What does this mean and why bother? Well it shows that I can safely cut the parts out to the print lines without concern and also shows that for ease of construction I should place the top skin first (based on the numbering I would have done that first anyway but always best to check).
 
Also I only noticed when the photo was taken that the printed corner and a look at the form confirm that the corners are slightly rounded.  (I had to gently sand these on to the form I had to trim down). Incidentally the front of the structure has sharp square corners.
 
This explains why the side skin didn’t have any bending marks for the corners but does have a little white dash to match the one on the photo above to centre the skin for wrapping round both sides.
 
 
 
Okay with the top skin on another issue with the forms was found.  The rebate has been cut too long as can be seen by the top skin overhanging the edge.  This is also a form issue as the skins all match each other.  This end skin is bent on the sharp square corners so has been has been pre-scored from the backside with the knife and the bends formed initially and trial fitted to the end of the structure.
 

 
 
Once satisfied it fits the front face was glued and then the sides were folded back one side at a time to secure.  Because the forms were too short for the small return as mentioned above I cut some scrap card from the laser cut sheet and glued in to support the outside edge of the small return and can just be seen in the photo.
 

 
 
Moving to the other end this skin didn’t show bend marks but did have a little centre line for alignment.  Remember above, this end of the forms have small radius curves so I held the skin unglued against the ends and then folded the skins back to form the bends.
 
I also cut out the windows and placed some floppy disk glazing from behind and this looks pretty good on larger windows also.
 

 
 
Once I was happy with the bends on the ‘window’ skin I glued up the centre section first.  I have gripped the part between too rulers to apply pressure to the glued surface.  The purpose of the rulers is to spread the pressure because the side skins are only supported on the top and bottom edges by the forms and these is risk of pushing in the middle using fingers only to get a ‘starved cow’ effect.  I suffered from this poor bovine look in my early days of card modelling!
 

 
 
Doors 15f &g cut out and the close up shows they are handed.  The top, bottom and lock side edges were cut out using the usual ruler and knife but for the ‘hinge’ side I used the small ground chisel blade I made for removing windows and square openings as shown away back near the beginning of the log to work round the hinges first and then the straight sides.
 

 
 
The basic structure with the doors attached.  I like the effect of the doors and glazed windows.  Also there are a couple of smaller portholes on the top surface which were replaced with 1.6mm photo-etch using the same method as the hull skins.
 

 
 
Next up will be the skylights (15h) that run down each side.
 
Cheers
Slog

Wanted a featherboard for the table saw. Magswitch looked really good: https://www.amazon.com/Magswitch-Table-Feather-Universal-Model/dp/B001DSZ7EC
But I forgot that my table top is aluminum, not iron. So magnets are not working on it
So I bought this attachment, because I really liked the material (and it also includes all the hardware, bolts and knobs)
https://www.amazon.com/Magswitch-Vertical-Featherboard-Attachment/dp/B006SJH0SW
 
It was, obviously, too large for my saw, so I shortened it a bit, cutting off a long middle section and gluing the remaining parts with epoxy, reinforced with a wooden block inside the featherboard:

 
After squaring and shortening the bolts, it was a perfect fit and it works like a charm:

The second year of my build is almost over. Not much progress this year, but I hope that I can post a last update at New Year's Eve.
 
It's time to say Thank You to all who followed my log, to all who wrote their own log I where I found so much hints and inspiration and to the crew of this wonderful forum for their great job..
 

Nice work on the cradle Mark. Can't wait to see her free of the building jig.

Nice work on the cradle Mark. Can't wait to see her free of the building jig.

I added the sheer pole.  It is lashed to the outside of the shrouds above the deadeyes.  I painted it black but it could have been left natural also.  It is just a 1/32" x 1/32" strip with the edges rounded off a bit.
 
Then I started the ratlines with .012 rope.  You dont want to go heavy with these. The outside shrouds are simple square knots.  But I used clove hitches on each inside shrouds.  I urge folks to use them rather than simply tie a knot on all four shrouds.  The lines hang much better.  Its easy to do.
 

 

 
I used a card with both horizontal lines and lines to show the shrouds.  Its not enough to just use horizontal lines.   Having the shrouds drawn on the card will make it easier to watch your progress.  You dont want to gradually pull the shrouds in.  That hourglass shape for shrouds on a model is the kiss of death.  This helps you keep them straight and not pull them in as you progress.  I found it better to leave the ratlines a little loose rather than pull them tight and I try to shape them after its done.  
 

 
Only some watered down white glue was applied on the knots of the outer shrouds only.   The two inner shrouds have no glue at all.  I waited until a series of rows were complete so I could adjust them before adding the glue.  You can also see that I finally cut off all the loose ends at the belaying points after re-tensioning the lines and I added rope coils to the belaying points.
 

 
Now its time to start the ratlines on the starboard side.  Yay for me.  Merry Christmas everyone!!!
 
Chuck

Nice work on the cradle Mark. Can't wait to see her free of the building jig.

They look pretty good from this distance Bob!

Nice work on the cradle Mark. Can't wait to see her free of the building jig.

Nice work on the cradle Mark. Can't wait to see her free of the building jig.

Nice work on the cradle Mark. Can't wait to see her free of the building jig.

Nice work on the cradle Mark. Can't wait to see her free of the building jig.

Nice work on the cradle Mark. Can't wait to see her free of the building jig.

They look pretty good from this distance Bob!

Nice work on the cradle Mark. Can't wait to see her free of the building jig.