gjdale

Nice work Bug. Tedious, but the end result is worth the effort!

many thanks Denis and Albert for your
nice comments, much appreciated,
 
Update...
 
although there has been much work on the frame and stanchions for the boats deck with all that soldering job, there is not so much to be seen in the progress. All the davit bearings are on. The boatsdeck and the stairways will have to be done now.....
 
Nils
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Below I am adding a series of photos showing the final planking process and the current status before starting smoothing work. I will try to post some photos during sanding when I can. Thank you for watching and see you later!
 
Aydin
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Build day 26 & 27. 
 
2nd planking complete.
 
5 hours in both days.
 
95 hours into build in total.   I spent some 5 hours in last two days and the 2nd layer of planking seems to be complete now (hopefully).   Next few days of work will surely be the dustiest part of the entire project: rasping --> filing --> sanding, sanding, sanding... , filling the gaps, sanding sanding again... With this I am hoping to get rid of the impurities on the surface and get the model as smooth as possible.   The heaviest part of this "smoothing" work will no doubt be rounding of the two "mould arcs" in the back top. These 10mm thick mahogany arcs need to be shaped flush on the edges with all the other deck components which they are adjacent to.     Here are some examples of how much they have to be rasped and filed (tried to indicate the pattern with red lines):      

I have make the sills.
Painted them and now they are ready for the second planking.
Als place one canon to see if the gun port are on the right hight and YES.....they are         
Also one picture for Mike to show him an SotS with blue.
This is what I maybe will do.
But you don't want to read my English so here are the pictures.....
 
Sjors
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

sweet looking hull job Grant......very well done  

Finished up making the rope coils for all the rest of the carronades and as the glue set overnight I decided to do a test of a fully rigged tackle for the carronade by adding the side and in haul lines. The side line can be seen in the photo above and thanks to Jon I now know where the eyebolts on the deck are located for the in haul line. I also decided to trammel the in haul line like the side lines which would eliminate coils on the deck that would have got in the way, and makes them more visible. 
 
As I was adding them I was glad I did not glue all the deck structures in place as I trammeled the lines in place using .008" rope after being hooked to the eyebolts. I started out using 5" rope lengths and these need to be just a little longer for easier knotting once wrapped. Once rigged I sat back and pondered the results of the finished test. I decided that it looked a great deal more finished and complete looking than just a breech and side line. This also means a great deal more tedious work but I results will be fantastic. I started this ship for my son and it will now be for him and his new twin boys.
 

 
Here is a close up showing the trammeled lines. Ran out of blocks after the adjacent in haul line.
 

 
A rear view.
 

 
Placed an order with Chuck for more hooks, blocks and .008 Lt. Brown rope. I will add the balance of the rope coils while waiting for the order to arrive. 

Planking
 
Planking the hull turned out to be a little trickier than anticipated, and included a “near disaster”. Planking the first side, I followed as closely as I could the lining out marks, having first tapered the planks to fit against these. The problem was in the lateral bending of the planks. Ideally, they should have been spiled. However, the planks provided are not sufficiently wide enough to spile (and I didn’t have any sheet stock that I could substitute). The kit planks are also wide enough that edge bending is very difficult, if not impossible. The result was a less than even surface. On the second side, I decided to adjust the lining out marks to allow the first (chine) plank to fall naturally – which took it exactly one strake higher on the lining out marks at the bow. This meant that I had to insert a wedge shaped piece below this plank, but the remaining planks on that side went on somewhat more easily than the first side. The result also meant that I managed to maintain alignment of planks on either side at the bow.
 
The near disaster came when I went to give the hull an initial sanding to even out the surface. Following the lead of others who have gone before me, I broke out the powered mouse sander and set to. I must have been a little too aggressive in one place because I suddenly noticed that I had sanded through the entire thickness of the planking and could see the white plastic showing through. Oops…..  I also discovered that on the other side, one plank had developed a hole – not sure how, but the timber is very dry and brittle. Hmmmm, two repairs to make!
 
My first thought on repairing these was to use epoxy putty, but one of them was quite a large area and was going to look dreadful. After sleeping on it for a couple of nights, I decided that I would remove a section of the planking and patch it with new planks. Another few days to consider exactly how to achieve this, and I finally gave it a crack yesterday. I used a mini circular saw blade held in the Proxxon rotary tool and gently made some “stop” cuts at the extremities of the section I wanted to remove. I was then able to insert the blade of a No.11 Exacto knife and prise the damaged planking free. A quick clean up with the drum sander in the Proxxon to remove the residual glue and it was ready for the new timber. I took my time in shaping in the “patch” parts, and even managed to spile some thinner sections to get a very close fit. I also used some epoxy putty (Milliput) to blend the area at the bow where the timber transitions to the plastic sheeting of the hull bottom. After a careful HAND sanding, I was quite pleased with the results. Here are a couple of views of the completed repair job (forgot to take pictures of the “before”).
 

 

 
 
And here is a close up of the bow, showing the alignment of the planking. The stem is not perfect, but as it will be covererd later by the cutwater, I’m happy with it as is.
 

 
Then, at last, it was time to start on the deck planking. The process starts with the attachment of the edge or margin boards. These are die cut parts, slightly oversized, and are relatively easy to fit. Once in place, the outer edges are sanded back flush with the sides, and a strip of white “caulking” (.04” x .08” styrene) is applied to the inboard edge. The next step is to place the centre plank on the forward deck. This requires that a length of caulking be sandwiched between two planks (3/8” wide mahogany), then shaped to fit the bow and fixed in place down the centreline. Compared to the hull side planking, this was dead easy!
 

 

 
The remainder of the deck planking will follow a similar pattern, with a plank being glued to a strip of “caulking” before being shaped and affixed as a pair.  I’ll be back when the deck planking is complete.

Planking
 
Planking the hull turned out to be a little trickier than anticipated, and included a “near disaster”. Planking the first side, I followed as closely as I could the lining out marks, having first tapered the planks to fit against these. The problem was in the lateral bending of the planks. Ideally, they should have been spiled. However, the planks provided are not sufficiently wide enough to spile (and I didn’t have any sheet stock that I could substitute). The kit planks are also wide enough that edge bending is very difficult, if not impossible. The result was a less than even surface. On the second side, I decided to adjust the lining out marks to allow the first (chine) plank to fall naturally – which took it exactly one strake higher on the lining out marks at the bow. This meant that I had to insert a wedge shaped piece below this plank, but the remaining planks on that side went on somewhat more easily than the first side. The result also meant that I managed to maintain alignment of planks on either side at the bow.
 
The near disaster came when I went to give the hull an initial sanding to even out the surface. Following the lead of others who have gone before me, I broke out the powered mouse sander and set to. I must have been a little too aggressive in one place because I suddenly noticed that I had sanded through the entire thickness of the planking and could see the white plastic showing through. Oops…..  I also discovered that on the other side, one plank had developed a hole – not sure how, but the timber is very dry and brittle. Hmmmm, two repairs to make!
 
My first thought on repairing these was to use epoxy putty, but one of them was quite a large area and was going to look dreadful. After sleeping on it for a couple of nights, I decided that I would remove a section of the planking and patch it with new planks. Another few days to consider exactly how to achieve this, and I finally gave it a crack yesterday. I used a mini circular saw blade held in the Proxxon rotary tool and gently made some “stop” cuts at the extremities of the section I wanted to remove. I was then able to insert the blade of a No.11 Exacto knife and prise the damaged planking free. A quick clean up with the drum sander in the Proxxon to remove the residual glue and it was ready for the new timber. I took my time in shaping in the “patch” parts, and even managed to spile some thinner sections to get a very close fit. I also used some epoxy putty (Milliput) to blend the area at the bow where the timber transitions to the plastic sheeting of the hull bottom. After a careful HAND sanding, I was quite pleased with the results. Here are a couple of views of the completed repair job (forgot to take pictures of the “before”).
 

 

 
 
And here is a close up of the bow, showing the alignment of the planking. The stem is not perfect, but as it will be covererd later by the cutwater, I’m happy with it as is.
 

 
Then, at last, it was time to start on the deck planking. The process starts with the attachment of the edge or margin boards. These are die cut parts, slightly oversized, and are relatively easy to fit. Once in place, the outer edges are sanded back flush with the sides, and a strip of white “caulking” (.04” x .08” styrene) is applied to the inboard edge. The next step is to place the centre plank on the forward deck. This requires that a length of caulking be sandwiched between two planks (3/8” wide mahogany), then shaped to fit the bow and fixed in place down the centreline. Compared to the hull side planking, this was dead easy!
 

 

 
The remainder of the deck planking will follow a similar pattern, with a plank being glued to a strip of “caulking” before being shaped and affixed as a pair.  I’ll be back when the deck planking is complete.

Once again, many thanks for all the kind words and to those who hit the 'like' button.  Progress has been slow lately due to other commitments, so only a mini-update this week. 
 
Installing the sub-decking was straight forward:
 

 
 Took the opportunity to fill some of the dings in the hull using a two-part Epoxy putty (Milliput Terracotta) and she is finally ready for planking.
 

 
The instructions would have you just lay complete planks the length of the hull, from the chine up to the sheer. I tried that on one side and wasn’t happy, so ripped it all off again. Then I lined-off the hull using tick-strips in an attempt to do better by tapering planks fore and aft and having the same number of strakes throughout. Here is the lined-off hull:
 

 
So far, the tapering seems to be working quite well. I've been using a miniature plane to taper the planks and have to say, it beats the pants off sanding! Much easier and far less mess. The supplied planks are not wide enough to spile, so I will likely use some shorter plank lengths in addition to tapering, to cope with the bow curvature. I got as far as laying three strakes the second time around before I ran out of CA kicker – a real must for this process. So, it’s back on hold until I can pick up some more supplies.
 
More pics once substantial progress has been made with the planking.
 
 

Work on the aft area is now complete, except for items that won't be added until much later to avoid damage. This has involved doing the quarter badges, the lower finishing figure, the aft swivel gun mounts and the first part of the sheer molding.
 
The quarter badges are the kit castings, with the addition of more window framing to more closely match that shown in AOTS. I painted them to match the transom, using Pollyscale B&M blue, Floquil buff and Modelmaster wood colors. They were mounted over an area painted black and Micro Kristal Klear was used for glazing after mounting.
 
The lower finishing figure  is the kit casting painted with the same buff and wood colors.
 
The swivel gun mounts are made from boxwood strip, notched to fit over the hull and sheer rail, and then shaped with files. The metal band at the top was done with black painted paper. A hole was drilled in each for the gun mounting and the top of each was painted black.
 
After gluing the swivel mounts in place on the hull, I then began work on the sheer molding. My procedure here was somewhat different, and requires explanation. Firstly, I did not use the kit's metal strip for the molding, but went with wood. Secondly, rather than using a scraper to create the molding shape in a single strip of wood, I chose to use three separate half round wood strips to create the molding shape.This allowed me to paint the middle portion B&M blue cleanly and without any difficulty, while leaving the upper and lower portions natural wood.  Thirdly, rather than mounting the molding first and then notching the swivel mounts to fit over it, I chose to cut and fit the molding strips with the swivel mounts in place. I have found that this provides neater joinery and avoids having to cut neat and complicated notches.
 
The swivel guns themselves, and the port lids will be left off at this point to avoid the almost inevitable damage that would occur with them in place. I will now start to move forward with the hull detailing.
 
Bob

Build day 25
 
5 hours today.
 
90 hours into build in total.   Today I had more spare time with my Riva. I glued the upper deck plank sheets and was even able to proceed on the front deck planking strips. After today it looks like my Riva has started to reveal its beauty, though slowly, but surely   Upper deck mahogany sheets in place. Some of the gaps between the pieces were unavoidable, for example those on the side of the cockpit. I opted to leave equal gap on the other side for the sake of symmetry. Part of those gaps will be covered with ornaments and upholstery. Others, I will figure out either by filling with sawdust or just leaving like that and letting the varnish give its look:     Deck strips, 1x1mm lime and 1x3mm mahogany, to be glued in alternating turns. The same pattern will be used in front deck as shown as well as on the engine lid at the back:     Proceeding with the front deck planking. The ends on the cockpit side will be covered later with another mahogany sheet therefore the strips do not have to align perfectly on that side:     This is the status at the end of the day:     Thanks for watching. /Aydin

Another update on this project.
 
Alexandru

Getting there.
 
Next, the Anchors. The original photo shows no running plates for the anchor chain, but the instructions do. So I didn't do it.
 
 
 
The Kit provides a basic bit of blurry plastic, Pontos provides some blackened chain and befitting my OCD I went with North Star, using their patterned chain as is correct, a little bit out of scale, 2 days of pain. Seriously, my forearms and hands feel like a really good session on the heavy bag. At least one complete line is somewhere in my study of individual pieces flying around. I eventually figured out a technique using jewelers pliers, tweezers and back crams that worked, allowing me to close the loops so the thing does not fall to bits. .
 

 
Next, the Capstans, just plonked on, fit and look OK.
 
Then the anchors again after market (the kit ones are rubbish) joined with a proper metal loop.
 
Next, threaded in and attached to the deck. I had earlier drilled out the holes. I am leaving one sitting at length as it makes sense to have it on the sea floor given there nets will be out.
 
Next the stoppers;
 
Finally, the dandyfunk of vents, hawser covers, brakes and extra equipment boxes.
 
Finally I'm at that impasse where I have to do the turrets and big guns that will go under the rigging and inside the rails.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sushi   

As you know we have had this discussion before aka ratlines-shrouds-twice. I advised someone on this site who was having trouble with the placement of blocks and eyes and plans were.
 
I advised a modeler told me when I was having those same problems always read ahead always, somethings show up early and cause problems and then later in the plans assemblies pop up that should have been placed in the beginning always read ahead especially with foreign makers and translation problems. That happened to be you and that advice saved me a lot of grief.
 
Thanks for your support

Good call! Now, about them cats....

Good decision John - you won't regret that additional effort and time.

Good decision John - you won't regret that additional effort and time.

Druxey,
 
As we speak have made a new mast painted and pinned the bottom, have drilled a hole in the cap to add stability to the mast in addition to the pin. Learned a valuable lesson should have replaced the mast after the first or even the second break before the rigging was added. Shortcuts are nice but this one cost me time and I lost all impetus. This wasn't the first time all three decks were warped (ebay model my daughter bought they must have had it in the attic) instead of cutting new decks (I had the wood) I tried to steam and flatten those provided. Bad idea If you examine the decks really close it is apparent. Thankfully the average person will not be able to tell.
 
Enough of my whine got a good attitude rigging will be redone this date and I can move forward without the help of a Xanax.

Hello,
thank you so much!
Thanks also for the LIKES!
Meanwhile, I made more details:
-supplementing the 2nd companionway with a railing.

 

-robes ladder for shrouds, as you can see on cut model.

 

 

 

Cheers all for the likes and comments .  Latest full view with the main mast slotted in and mizzen started.  Getting to the point where I can see the finishing line now.  Which reminds me I must get round to making a cabinet for her soon.

Hi Greg,  This is good advice.  Although, I am in Southern California where the humidity is relatively low and constant.  Now that I said that, look out!  On another note, I was rereading and reviewing your work on Pegasus in TFFM Vol III last night. Beautifully done.  G

367 Hours into the voyage...
I am so close to nearing the completion of the framing, that I found myself rushing!  I really had to step back and pace myself.  I had hoped to finish the framing last night, but decided to just take it easy, fine tune and be patient.  Patience has never been a strong point for me.
 
I have just four frames to go.  They are built, all I need to do is fine tune them and install.  You will note the use of wood blocks and window/door shims.  These are used to tightly fay the floors together.  I should have employed their use sooner, as outlined in Ed's book.
 
Overall, I am still exceedingly happy with the results.  Its interesting to look at the my earlier framing and observe how heavy handed I was with a file.  Building 161 frames over seven months gives you the opportunity to refine your touch.
 
The first photo shows the rough framing wetted.  I am looking forward to what it will look like finished  (years from now...).
 
I estimate that this build will take anywhere from 1500-2000 hours to complete.  Since my primary interest in ship building is structural, I will do very minimal planking.
 
Please excuse the out of order photos. In addition, I am no longer able to add narratives below each photo.  I think it has something to do with my computer. 
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 167 – Helm Details
 
So, it has been a month since the last post – seems longer.  Not a lot of modeling being done this summer, mostly just odds and ends getting ready to start masts and rigging.  This week I made a replacement for the first wheel and added the bell to the rudder head enclosure.  First the wheel.
 
I wanted to make two improvements to the first wheel.  I wanted to add turned spokes to replace the simpler hand filed spokes on the first version shown in earlier posts.  I also wanted to downsize the section on the rim to make it lighter and less clunky than the first.  One of the turned spokes is shown in the first picture next to the belaying pin.  The picture shows the four sizes of spindle turned pieces on the model.  A different turning method was used for each.
 

 
The largest is a turning of one of the 8" beam support pillars.  The rounds on these were turned with a shaped tool.  To its right is a 4" fife rail, turned with a single pointed tool.  At the far right is a 2" belaying pin, turned from a round brass rod using a hardened steel filing guide.  These are the smallest turnings so far.  There are 300 of them on the ship. The methods used for these three turnings were described briefly in earlier posts. 
 
The wheel spokes were turned using a simple filing guide and fine files as shown in the next picture.
 

 
Because the 2½" spokes are so small and fragile I made the first set of European Boxwood.  The final set used in the wheel were turned from .032" cherry heartwood square strips.
 
Making the hub/rim was described earlier.  In the next picture the new wheel, with spokes installed, is being parted off in the lathe.
 

 
The final cherry wheel is shown in the next picture.
 

 
The bell is a simple brass turning drilled for the rod shown inserted below.
 

 
The bracket for the bell started out as a rectangular brass section.  In the next picture it is being shaped and polished.
 

 
The last picture shows the new wheel and bell mounted on the rudder head enclosure.
 

 
The wheel was finished with a small amount of polyurethane, instead of the wax finish I normally use.  So far, none of the deck has been waxed because there are still many rigging attachments to be made.  The enclosure itself is only temporarily fitted on pins and will be stored away until much later.
 
Ed