gjdale

Thank you to everyone for the comments and likes.
 
 
 The handrail is finished and with that the heavy lifting for this ugly duck is done but I still have a couple of days adding the final details. After just four months the push boat portion of this build log is almost done and then it's onto making the barge.   
 
 I've answered all the initial port side questions as best I could and I'm pretty pleased with the results. In the beginning the port side blank spot had me intimidated but as I added known elements the port side mysteries slowly revealed themselves.
 
   
 

 

 

 
 I wish I could take credit for meticulous planning the pump placement where everything would fit like a glove but that's not the case. I placed it where I thought it should go but in truth it's much more of "even a blind hog finds an acorn every now and then". 

 

 
 Thank you for your support and for following along.
 
   Keith

Thank you all, your support means a lot! ☺️

Deck framing preparations
Here is the "final" deck layout that I settled on. Knee shape is quite approximate and would be refined on the model, but the carlings are all in their final spots. Ledges are omitted for clarity, but they would be placed on the top and middle part of the deck, leaving the bottom one fully bare. Depending on the visuals I might add the bottom row of carlings later on.

If anyone can spot any mistake - please let me know before it is too late!
Always a difficult decision point for me - what colour scheme to use for the next phase of the build?
I want some contrast, but not too much. 
After hours of scrolling through amazing build logs here on MSW as well as photos of classical models - settled on the following palette:
Carlings: boxwood, same as the beams. Lighter boxwood would represent the "heavy" timbers of the deck.
Lodging knees: light pear, non-steamed.
Hanging knees, beam arms: Swiss pear, steamed (darker variety)
Ledges: have not decided yet, will try cherry. Something dark, but not black. Hope cherry is not too grainy for these tiny pieces.
Here are the wood sheets planed to thickness and sanded. I will likely keep it unfinished, and use finish only for the top decks that might be touched.

Next is milling the stock for carlings. It took too much effort for pillars, so trying to refine my technology.

Ideally I just need a proper thickness sander, but I don't have one (or a space/time for the DYI variety), so was curious if my Proxxon FET table saw can do if I treat it with some love and care? Any tool shines better if you actually spend time tuning it..  
At least the fence angle needs to be adjusted to avoid pushing wood into the blade (or away from it), it does make a difference!
First was trying a slitting blade with 1mm kerf and no set. It leaves a fairly smooth finish, but tends to burn the wood and is harder to control.
Switched over to the regular carbide tipped blade which has an effective kerf of almost 2mm. Sounds wasteful, but it is easier to control, so fewer planks would end up in the scrap bin.
No burning, but the blade marks are slightly more visible.
Close-up of test pear strips cut with both types of the blade, the surfaces are quite different:

I do not have a proper "thin strip jig" that acts as a bump stop on the other side of the blade, but this saw also has a micro-adjuster that I have never tried before. Fiddly to use, but once you get the hang of it - it actually allows to move the fence quite precisely. 

If I need 4.0mm piece - I move the wheel to 6.0mm and with a blade kerf of almost 2mm I do get consistent 4.1mm thickness (with, say, +/- 0.05 tolerance). Not too bad for a saw that is not really designed for that kind of precision!

They are 0.2mm oversized, leaving just 0.1 on each side to remove saw marks and any imperfections
Boxwood carling blanks straight out of that saw, with no touch-up / sanding / scraping:

Then some very careful planing in my thicknessing jig, taking care to not take too much material. 

I was worried that strips would fall on a side and I will end up with parallelograms instead of squares, but with the narrow face of 2.5mm and a crisp edge it was not an issue, they were standing upright.
Now I have a bunch of blanks ready. They are straight, smooth and satisfyingly square in all directions and with dimensions down to +/-0.02mm! I did not expect to enjoy it that much   

After getting through a multitude of terribly sunny, warm and blue sky days where I just had to force myself to sit out on the back patio, then having yet another health issue I am dealing with, I finally got down to the shop today.

I have my lower guides spot glued and clamped so I’ll be ready to go.

I have all but one of the main wale pieces dry fitted on the bench. The one piece needs to be remade. It is not perfect, but I am aware of my capabilities/limitations and can recognize when my “good enough” has been reached.
 
Now to get that last set remade and start getting them on the model!

On to the mast and yards.  Again I start with bamboo toothpicks since I have to drill small holes for the pull threads and the shrouds.  Here are the mast sections.  I already hinged the lower masts using a crude version of the hidden hinge method that I borrowed from @John Fox III.  I've covered that in several previous build logs so I won't go into detail here.
 

 
 
 
For the mast tops, I take another bamboo stir stick and shave it down to about .5 mm and square off the sides.  Then I carve out a hole in the middle, drill tiny holes for the upper shrouds, and cut them to shape.
 

 
 
 
Here are the masts fully assembled.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The port side planking is complete. Played around with some WOP on the Hawes pieces. Going to start on the garboard strake tonight. 

Today I completed the first of two strakes below the main wale. I began with a laminate pear wing transom, this is added to the bottom of the chaser wing transom. First I trimmed up the lower counter so that the bottom is just at the top of the wing transom I then removed the bottom of the outter stern frame with a small razor saw, I then sanded what was left of it flat with a small stick sander
the laminate for the bottom of the transom is 3/64” and laser cut

Go ahead and clamp the piece in place and test fit a few times, it needs to be up against the inner post nice and tight. The outter edge of it is not as much of a concern as it will have planks covering it.

once satisfied with the fit I just coated it in pva and clamped it down. I also used
some small wedges on the outside to help with the bond. Once dry it can be block sanded down to match the other transoms, once completed it’s hard to tell it’s even there. There will also be a molding covering the original piece so you will really only see the laminate piece anyway.
Now you can begin adding the first strake, I just started from the front and tapered the plank to fit the printed guides.

I find it much easier to close up those tricky planks that terminate at the counter by leaving a gap open on the plank just before the last one, after that last plank is fitted then it’s just an easy run between the two ends


Once completed a small filler piece was added between the plank and wale, it’s not really necessary as it will be covered by scraped molding but I did it anyway, I saw it done on a contemporary model. 
Im going to add one more plank after this one and that will be all. But you can see the completed laminate piece compared to the one on the stbd side. 

if you look up the slots for the stern framing are now covered and the gap is closed up between the two transoms as shown in the drawings.
Next up is the garboard strake plus 1, gunports, counter frieze, sternpost and chap 2 is complete.
 
JJ

A bit of progress,


The appearance of the filling timber after assembly

Today I just released the stern frame jig. Now this is a little more complicated than the other parts. It required some cutting, since the main structure of the jig sits down into the bulkheads it needs to be lifted up for removal but we have stern structure that runs across horizontally into slots in the brackets, if we lifted the whole thing it would rip the stern apart. So I added some perforation on the brackets.
start by removing the upper extension wing brackets. 
I just sawed them right down the middle and removed the bracket.
From here go ahead and start cutting the perforation 

I used a micro saw blade on my xacto blade holder and cut them all on each bracket. It’s MDF so it cuts pretty easy.
once you have the main part of the Jig cut free it should just lift straight up and away.

From there the remaining jig is meant to slide out forward, note that the lower parts of the jig must pass through the slots on the bulkheads that the other part fit in.
you may need to saw off the ends of the horizontal frame brackets to help it out easier. 


If you made it through the stern assembly without gluing any parts to the jig then it should wiggle out gently and then pull right out.


now the bulkhead reinforcement hoops can be removed and we can begin fairing the inside of the hull. 

Penguins aside, it's time to work on the Queen's armament.  I'm using the diagram below as a guide.  It shows 7 gun ports on the main deck bulwark and 8 gun ports on the gun deck, so I'll make cannons to fit that configuration.
 
 
 
I start with the 14 carriages needed for the main deck guns.  Taking a thin (0.4 mm) piece of planking from my Constellation kit, I narrow it to 3mm wide.  Then I cut a bunch of pieces 1/8" long and an equal bunch of pieces 1/16" long.
   
 
 
 
Next, I glue the 1/16" pieces on top of the 1/8" pieces to give each carriage the semblance of the stairstep look you see from the side of carriages.
   
 
 
Next I take a small diamond grinding bit in my cordless rotary tool and hollow out a cradle for the cannon barrel.
  
 
 
 
The next step is making the cannon barrels.  I start with 20 gauge veterinary needles that are 0.8mm in diameter.  I like using vet needles because they are hollow like a real cannon barrel.  It's hard to see inside the bottle, but when you look at them close enough they look much better than the solid wire cannon barrels I used in my first SIB efforts.  I mark them off in 4mm lengths, then use a thin cutting wheel on my Dremel drill press to cut them into pieces.



 
 
 
The last steps are gluing the barrels into the carriage cradles and painting.

 
 
 
The gun deck cannons are much simpler since I don't build carriages for them.  I just cut slightly longer cannon barrels from the needles.  When the time comes, I will drill holes into the ports on the gun deck and insert these cannon barrels.  Here's the full armament ready to equip the Queen.

 
 

I'm aware that I need to get an update done. These photos represent what Surprise currently looks like.
 
Over this week, I'll prep some closer detail shots of construction etc that got me to this place. As you can see, she's changed quite a lot. The fit has been great throughout. I also need to paint those figures too! Please excuse photo quality. I did these with my phone.
 

I then removed the frames from the model and pulled them apart.  This was super easy due to label paper on the frames.   I then cut down each frame using the mill to create the air gaps.  I won't even get into how many hawse timbers I made to get to this point before everything looked right and fits properly with the first cant frame.  Next I will file in the hawse holes per the instructions in the Swan practicum.  I also still need to do a bit of shaping of the bollards to get them to fit properly on the tapered stem, and then I will try to shape the knight heads.

Adam

Thank you for the comments and the likes.
 
 I got the steam whistle line brace made and attached to the exhaust line. I couldn't connect the brace to the pilothouse wall as there just isn't enough room in that space to work and make a successful connection to the wall and lines. The distance between the steam whistle line and the exhaust line is 0.20 inches. I had to keep the brace higher than I wanted because I needed to get the jewelry plier jaws between the lines to work making the brace. It was fiddly delicate work, hopefully I learned a lesson and won't get ahead of myself in the future.
 
 The brace is made from a single piece of PE brass 0.011 inches thick and 0.042 inches wide looped around the lines with the ends meeting in the middle between the two lines and held together with CA.  
 
 
 It looks okayish and I'm happy it's done. Back on schedule. 

 
 Thank you to each of you for your support. 
 
   Keith

Thanks, Roel.  Your earlier comment is the reason I went into detail on the process.  Glad you found it worthwhile.  And yes, I use CA glue for just about everything because I'm too impatient to wait for PVA glue to dry!  The main exceptions are gluing the hull layers together (where I used wood glue with clamps) and when I need extended drying time like when I'm gluing things inside the bottle and need extra time to position things.  For inside the bottle gluing I use 30 minute epoxy, which I've found really gives you about 15 minutes before it becomes unworkable.
 
Also, you may be interested in what I use to drill the smallest holes.  For a long time I tried regular regular hobby drill bits, fitting them into the smallest collets on my Dremel.  But on the smallest bits, the collet could not keep the bit perfectly aligned and I would always have a bit of a wobble while spinning.  And even the tiniest amount of wobble makes it very hard to drill precision holes that small.  Then I discovered these circuit board routing bits on Amazon.
 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BWCPXYNP?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_2&th=1

 
 
They fit into a standard Dremel collet, have zero wobble, and are very cheap.  I got the 6 pack in the link above because I break the tiniest ones fairly often. 
  
          

That is a really cool build, Ian.  And my fireball is similar to the explosions on that sub with LED lighting and cotton balls for the explosion.  Plus, that builder did a nice job with his colors using a paint brush.  And glad to have you aboard here!
 
 
At least you had the courtesy of not saying it reminded you of Disco Inferno!  Any references to disco should be grounds for suspension from MSW.
 
 
The next step for the ship is making the channels, which is always a painstaking chore.  I'm not sure I've ever gone into much detail on how I make the channels so I'll give a little more info here.  I start with bamboo stir sticks that I borrowed from a Panera Bread restaurant.  I like to use bamboo on things I'm drilling tiny holes into because it does not splinter easily nor does it have any fuzz.  You can make very tiny and very clean holes.  

 
 
The shape of the stir sticks is almost a very flat ellipse.  So before drilling, I sand the tops and bottoms flat and square off the sides.  Next, I mark the channel holes 1/16" apart - 6 holes for the fore and main (4 shrouds and 2 backstays) and 4 holes for the mizzen (3 shrouds and 1 backstay).  Then I drill pilot holes with a .015" drill bit followed by the final hole at .018" diameter.  Uniform spacing and straight alignment of the holes is the biggest challenge for me.

 
 
To finish off the channels, I cut them apart then file down the sides as close as I can to the holes.  The narrower the channels, the easier it should be to push the ship in the bottle.   Without fail, however, my channels always seem to scrape the inside of the bottle's neck when I am inserting the ship.  Ugh.  After I took the pic below, I realized that I could get the margins closer to the holes on some of those channels, so I did.

 
 
Once I was happy with the channel construction, I glued them in place and decided it was time to give the Queen's outer hull her first coat of paint.  I took a screenshot from a movie clip to give me a color to try and match.  The sides are kind of a dirty, faded red (with ugly sails to match).
 
 
 
So here's my attempt at a color match.   I think I got fairly close, but I still may do a bit of smudging to dirty it up just a bit more. 

 
 
   

Still working on deadeyes and straps.  Made a little more progress.  The starboard side is complete.   Now to complete the other side.
 

 

Last night I completed the port side main wale. I also began removing the frame jigs in order to fiar up the inside, especially the bow area so the beak head beam can be permanently installed and the remaining channel wale plank can be installed. I will be removing the stern frame jig soon and that requires a few steps in order to carefully extract it. Will be going over that soon

you’ll notice a slight notch was made in the hawse piece to slide the beam by. 

with the jigs removed and the planking completed (aside from the last channel wale planks), the hull is quite ridged now and will hold its shape without worry.

Thank you to each of you for your support with the likes and your kind comments.
 
 We reached a milestone today, the engine room is attached! It seems like this has been a long time coming.
 
 I finally got the bow work light (lightbulb) made and attached to top center of the front windows. I want to attach the deckhand so bad but I know if I do while there's still work to do I'm gonna pull a Bob (Knocklouder) and snap him right off! 

 
 I haven't posted this view in awhile. It was neat to have the engine room attached as I could finally hold, twist, and turn to view through the windows and doors with out the engine room falling to the floor.  

 
 All the water, exhaust, and steam lines have been added and attached, it's quite the maze but NOTHING like Roel's masterpiece. 

 

 

 
 The end is in sight for the push boat part of this build. I figure I've got about two weeks left if I don't dawdle about enjoying the moment. All that's left is the railing, chintzy hog chain support system, final weathering, poly wet down, and deckhand. 
 
 
 Thank you for being part of the journey.
 
   Keith

Planking on the port side from the frieze panels down including the channel wales completed.

Yes, that would sure make these projects a lot less stressful!!
 
Thanks, Gary.  Glad to have you join the fun!
 
 
Continuing the construction of the hull.  I stacked my hull layers and sanded the down to the hull's basic shape.  Before doing the final shaping, I decided to cut the tunnel for the LED and wires.  I also decided to wait on gluing the layers together until I was satisfied with the tunnel, hence the heavy clamping below.  The toothpick helps keep the layers aligned and gives me a way to secure the assembly in the vise for drilling the tunnel.

 
 
I used a 1/8" drill bit for the tunnel.  My main concern was keeping the bore straight and just below the gun deck (you can see the pencil marks for the gun ports below).

 
 
And a test fit of the wires:

 
 
Satisfied with the tunnel, I pulled the layers apart and cut the notches in the gun deck (2nd layer from right) where I will insert the cannon barrels later.

 
 
The next step was to glue all the layers together.  
 
 
Next was additional shaping of the hull followed by work on the bulwarks. 
 
 
 
Bulwarks installed:

 
 
Bowsprit added and another test fit of the LED (with light saber attached) and wires.

 

Back at it today with Portland, right off the plane and into the garage! I finished the port side hull planking, got it all blocked out and coated with WOP, now I can move onto the black strake and then the wales. 


Also some goodies shows up, the remaining carvings for the model. These are the first production run in boxwood and look pretty good.



With each set of boxwood carvings you order, a set of stainless scrapers are included. These moulding profiles are taken from the drawings or Portland and the contemporary example of Bristol. The instructions will have a key that shows where each profile belongs on the model.
I couldn’t help myself and had to take a test run on a few of the rejects. These are just taped on and fitting pretty rough but you get a good idea of how it will look. There’s still a long way to go on the quarter galleys and the stern of the model. Before the rest of the carvings can be attached.

JJ

I’m late to the party (again) Glen, but I’m in for the ride now. Once again, you’ve found a way to take your art to another level.

You’ve mentioned several times about not having an airbrush. I think this is nature’s way of providing you just the excuse you need to acquire one………(just sayin’ 😉…….)

Its workshop weekend at Syren Ship Model Company!!! So not much inventory being made but it will be fun.  A dozen fellas over at the shop for a little model fun.  If this interests anyone else close by, let me know and I can schedule more!!!  Its cheap...free except for a small fee to cover breakfast and lunch.  I am always opening up the shop for folks and thought I would ask for anyone close by.
 

 
Todays workshop (completed and it was fun) ....Intensive Rope making...soup to nuts.  5 hours give or take with a break for lunch
- Selecting material (natural or synthetic)  Not all cotton is the same...different results for different types of poly thread.  Some poly looks too plastic and shiny and slippery.  Mara vs E-threads.  Silk and linen too!!!  25 minutes
- Selecting the right color...so important. 15 minutes
- Basic rope making demo on Syren ropewalk.  3 strand, 4 strand, left and right hand twist.  1 hour
- group rope making...get on the factory floor and make your own.  2 hour
- How to make your own recipes so you have all the sizes you need for your models....lets make 5 five sizes (.008, .012, .018, .025 and .030 rope)  
- Using smaller size thread multiple strands vs large thread and less strands to make the same size rope (uh what?)...one just looks better.  30 minutes
- Making small ropes vs large ropes and cables
- Rope fuzz...yikes...how to get rid of it...NO BEESWAX PLEASE.  25 minutes
- Working with your ropes after you make a bunch...gluing, serving/seizing, How to get it to hang naturally and shop storage....NO wrapping around those small cards please!!! 1 hour
 
Tomorrows workshop...
 

 
Introduction to Painting miniature figures....5 hours give or take with a break for lunch
 
Get ready for painting miniatures for nautical scenes.  Lets get started!!!
 
It is important to use matte paints because a shiny finish will make any figure look like a toy.
 
Use a wet palette. This will keep the paint from drying out while you are painting. Acrylics will dry on a palette quite quickly. If you have to remix a color, it will be difficult to get it exactly right. Having it on the wet palette means you don’t have to re-create a color.
 
Acrylic paint will dry on your brush very quickly. It is important to clean your brush constantly.  When paint dries on your brush it will spread your bristles and you’ll not be able to form a point. Dried paint will also contaminate the fresh paint you are applying. When you have finished rinsing your brush in the cleaning cup dry it on your paper towel. You should not see any of the color on the towel. If you do, clean it some more.
 
Use 2 cups of water. One cup is for cleaning your brush, the other cup is for thinning the paint. If you use the same cup, the dirty water will contaminate your colors.
 
Thin your paints before using them. It should take two or three coats to completely cover the primer. This will prevent brushstrokes and buildup in nooks and crannies. 
 
At this scale, and for these purposes, our basic goal will be to have three shades on every part of the figure. There will be a basic tone, a highlight tone, and a shadow tone. The general procedure is to apply the mid tone and then the shadows, and finally some highlights. The procedure will change a little bit when we are painting flesh. When painting the hands and face, we will start with a dark tone, go over with a medium tone and pick out highlights such as the nose, ears, forehead, and fingers with the highlight tone.The highlights will appear where light is most direct on the figure and the shadows will be placed where light in general does not reach. At this scale, some exaggeration will produce a realistic effect. White and black are particularly difficult to paint. There is very little pure white and very little pure black to be found in nature. Only use pure white for the very tiniest of highlights and pure black for the very deepest shadows.
 
Do not attempt to paint eyes. Unless you are relatively close to a person, you will not see the white part of the eye. We will paint a shadow in the eye sockets, and then a lighter area in the deepest part of the socket, and then a dark dot to create the impression of an eye. This will look quite convincing.
 
The brass buttons, ribbon on the hat and hilt of the officers sword will be painted with brown, yellow, and white to create the impression of shiny metal. I will also bring some brass paint for those who don’t like that effect.
 
This is meant as a starters guide. Everyone will find their own style and procedure. First attempts do not frequently result in a satisfactory product. Fortunately, acrylic paint comes off relatively easily with paint remover, and these figures do not suffer from this procedure if it is not applied too aggressively.
(Yes, I’ve tried it.)
 
 

Tell the First Mate thank you very much, Bob!!
 
 
Well Keith, you made me anxious to try a test run so here it is.  It fit just fine without masts, yards, sails, etc.  Hopefully I can say the same thing after the ship construction is completed.  One thing I'm pretty sure of - the stern/poop deck area of the ship rises so high that it will have to be a separate piece and installed after the ship is in the bottle.

 
 
 
Thanks for the suggestion, Kauz.  I had not heard of those.  I found a marker sprayer on Amazon that I think is similar to what you are talking about and just ordered it.  Much cheaper than an air brush.  We will see how it works.
 
 
Glad to have you here, Grant!  Thanks for following along.
 
 
Thanks, Paul!  Glad to have you here as well.
 
 
Now that I've made a decent hole in the bottle and convinced myself I can make a reasonable looking fireball with the requisite wiring, it's time to begin the real construction of the ship.
 

I’m late to the party (again) Glen, but I’m in for the ride now. Once again, you’ve found a way to take your art to another level.

You’ve mentioned several times about not having an airbrush. I think this is nature’s way of providing you just the excuse you need to acquire one………(just sayin’ 😉…….)

I’m late to the party (again) Glen, but I’m in for the ride now. Once again, you’ve found a way to take your art to another level.

You’ve mentioned several times about not having an airbrush. I think this is nature’s way of providing you just the excuse you need to acquire one………(just sayin’ 😉…….)