bartley

Post 43: Cannon tackle
 
These were made up from Syren 3mm blocks and 3mm hooks from Dafi.  There are all sorts of jigs described on this site for siezing these.  I found it pretty difficult to achieve a neat appearance on these small blocks.
 
Here's the jig I used
 

 
The blocks were held by two copper pins epoxied into the board. Syren 0.3mm rope was threaded through the hook then around the block and held in place by slots cut into the vertical board.   short length of fly tying thread was wrapped a couple of times between the block and the hook just to keep the hook from binding on the block.
 

 
The rope was glued to the block with 50:50 PVA and when this was dry it was tied off to the back of the block with a square knot.  After sealing this with hypo cement and trimmed off with a sharp scalpel blade.  Hereare some examples
 

 
The tacles were rigged on a jig with two eyebolts and jecked on a mock up gun before rigging to the guns on the deck.
 

 

 
Finally, rope cols were made by wrapping rgw rope around a 3.6 mm dowel and sealing with 50;50 PVA
 

 

 
I am not entirely satisfied with the look.  They are pretty untidy and the blocks are very close together (as I suppose they would be).  I could have used smaller diameter ringbolts but this would only have separated the blocks about by another 0.5 mm.  The only advantage would have been that it would probably have kept the hooks in place.  I found that they slipped out of these ringbolts very easly and so it was tricky to get both rings secured.
 
John
 
 

Post 42: Mounting the Carronades
 
Time to mount the carronades on the deck.  But first a couple of points I failed to mention earlier.
 
Blackening, the guns
 
The guns were blackened by the method suggested by chuck involving spraying with black paint (Vallejo warm black in my case) and then brushing with Rusty Brown weathering powder.
 

 
I have some etch primer for brass  but I find that it is quite viscous and destroys the detail a bit.  So I spayed the black directly on the brass cannons after washing them in soap and water and then a dip in acetone.  Because the coating is therefore a bit delicate, I gave them a final coating with matt lacquer. 
 
The final effect can be seen in earlier posts (38 and 41a)
 
Quoins
 
I avoided adding these until I had established the correct elevation of the guns.  I initially made the handles from wood which I thought were nicely to scale.  However they proved too fragile and broke at the slightest provocation.  They were a real pain to drill out and replace, especially if they were already glued to the carriage.  So in the end I replaced them with some slightly larger brass ones which I had obtained from Master Korabel.  They may be slightly over scale but at least they are more robust.
 

 
Mounting the Cannons
 
In post 41 you will see that the ring bolts for the bulwark are of the twisted pair type.  I am a bit paranoid about these pulling out.  They were shortened of course so as not to penetrate the hull planking. They fit tightly into a 0.6 mm hole which had been pre-drilled before the deck was planked.  A few that were a bit loose for some reason were  glued with a spot of epoxy.
 
The cannons were attached to the deck with a spot of PVA on the wheels.  This proved slightly problematic because although the seemed quite firm, a slight bump with my clumsy hands broke the bond.  The deck had a couple of coats of Poly so it was not really a wood to wood bond.  I notice that Stuntflyer pinned his rear wheels to the deck and I can see why he did that.  I decided that this was a lot of effort and just elected to reglue any that were dislodged. 
 
Here are the mounted cannons:
 

 
The next challenge is to make and fit the out-haul tackle.  I will need to think about this for a while.  I will be using Syren 3 mm blocks and 3mm hooks from Dafi.  These are pretty small for old hands!
 
John

Post 43: Cannon tackle
 
These were made up from Syren 3mm blocks and 3mm hooks from Dafi.  There are all sorts of jigs described on this site for siezing these.  I found it pretty difficult to achieve a neat appearance on these small blocks.
 
Here's the jig I used
 

 
The blocks were held by two copper pins epoxied into the board. Syren 0.3mm rope was threaded through the hook then around the block and held in place by slots cut into the vertical board.   short length of fly tying thread was wrapped a couple of times between the block and the hook just to keep the hook from binding on the block.
 

 
The rope was glued to the block with 50:50 PVA and when this was dry it was tied off to the back of the block with a square knot.  After sealing this with hypo cement and trimmed off with a sharp scalpel blade.  Hereare some examples
 

 
The tacles were rigged on a jig with two eyebolts and jecked on a mock up gun before rigging to the guns on the deck.
 

 

 
Finally, rope cols were made by wrapping rgw rope around a 3.6 mm dowel and sealing with 50;50 PVA
 

 

 
I am not entirely satisfied with the look.  They are pretty untidy and the blocks are very close together (as I suppose they would be).  I could have used smaller diameter ringbolts but this would only have separated the blocks about by another 0.5 mm.  The only advantage would have been that it would probably have kept the hooks in place.  I found that they slipped out of these ringbolts very easly and so it was tricky to get both rings secured.
 
John
 
 

Post 43: Cannon tackle
 
These were made up from Syren 3mm blocks and 3mm hooks from Dafi.  There are all sorts of jigs described on this site for siezing these.  I found it pretty difficult to achieve a neat appearance on these small blocks.
 
Here's the jig I used
 

 
The blocks were held by two copper pins epoxied into the board. Syren 0.3mm rope was threaded through the hook then around the block and held in place by slots cut into the vertical board.   short length of fly tying thread was wrapped a couple of times between the block and the hook just to keep the hook from binding on the block.
 

 
The rope was glued to the block with 50:50 PVA and when this was dry it was tied off to the back of the block with a square knot.  After sealing this with hypo cement and trimmed off with a sharp scalpel blade.  Hereare some examples
 

 
The tacles were rigged on a jig with two eyebolts and jecked on a mock up gun before rigging to the guns on the deck.
 

 

 
Finally, rope cols were made by wrapping rgw rope around a 3.6 mm dowel and sealing with 50;50 PVA
 

 

 
I am not entirely satisfied with the look.  They are pretty untidy and the blocks are very close together (as I suppose they would be).  I could have used smaller diameter ringbolts but this would only have separated the blocks about by another 0.5 mm.  The only advantage would have been that it would probably have kept the hooks in place.  I found that they slipped out of these ringbolts very easly and so it was tricky to get both rings secured.
 
John
 
 

Post 43: Cannon tackle
 
These were made up from Syren 3mm blocks and 3mm hooks from Dafi.  There are all sorts of jigs described on this site for siezing these.  I found it pretty difficult to achieve a neat appearance on these small blocks.
 
Here's the jig I used
 

 
The blocks were held by two copper pins epoxied into the board. Syren 0.3mm rope was threaded through the hook then around the block and held in place by slots cut into the vertical board.   short length of fly tying thread was wrapped a couple of times between the block and the hook just to keep the hook from binding on the block.
 

 
The rope was glued to the block with 50:50 PVA and when this was dry it was tied off to the back of the block with a square knot.  After sealing this with hypo cement and trimmed off with a sharp scalpel blade.  Hereare some examples
 

 
The tacles were rigged on a jig with two eyebolts and jecked on a mock up gun before rigging to the guns on the deck.
 

 

 
Finally, rope cols were made by wrapping rgw rope around a 3.6 mm dowel and sealing with 50;50 PVA
 

 

 
I am not entirely satisfied with the look.  They are pretty untidy and the blocks are very close together (as I suppose they would be).  I could have used smaller diameter ringbolts but this would only have separated the blocks about by another 0.5 mm.  The only advantage would have been that it would probably have kept the hooks in place.  I found that they slipped out of these ringbolts very easly and so it was tricky to get both rings secured.
 
John
 
 

A method which I found somewhere on this site is to make a wooden "mouse shaped" former with a hole in the center for the rope and then cover this with fine gauze like surgical type.  Paint it black  and it gives a woven look and to me looks pretty authentic.
 
John

Post 19 - Treenails
 
I used Chuck's method of drilling and filling. I used 1.3 mm tape to ensure that the holes were in line and corresponded to bulkheads and predicted positions of frames
 
 
 
 
I then used a sharp HB pencil to line the holes ans simulate tar.  I found that care was needed here.  If I was too aggressive there was excess graphite around the hole which made the filler darker resulting in a variation in the colour of the treenails
 

 
The result is quite subtle - as I believe it should be.  The treenails can only really be seen from up close
 


 
 
 
When I was a boy two Dutch children arrived at my school - no English, but it didn't take long
 
 
After a year or so their father built a house for the family.
 
 
This house was unique for two reasons:
 
 
1. It was varnished - in those days all houses in our town were painted.
 
 
2. It was claimed that he used no nails.
 
 
It turned out that all of the external weather-boards were attached to the studs with wooden pegs - treenails! (although I didn't Know the term then)
 
 
When I visited the house after getting to know the Dutch children I found that from the road there was no evidence of any pegs..  It was only when one approached within a meter or so that the begs became obvious,
 
 
I don't know if he had worked in the ship building industry but the point was that the effect of the wooden pegs was quite subtle.
 
 
John
 
 
 

Post 18
 
I have now completed the planking. Not in Chuck's league by any means - there are a few places where the planks could be tighter but on the whole it looks OK. Its all a learning exercise for me.

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Time to move on to the treenails now
 

A method which I found somewhere on this site is to make a wooden "mouse shaped" former with a hole in the center for the rope and then cover this with fine gauze like surgical type.  Paint it black  and it gives a woven look and to me looks pretty authentic.
 
John

Justin,
 
Yes, disposal is always an issue.  I am a professional chemist and so disposal is part of our trade.  Sparex once dissolved is essentially sulfuric acid. So to dispose of it you should pour it slowly into bicarbonate.  It will fizz so do it slowly.  Once the fizzing stops the Sparex is neutralized and you can dispose of it down the sink,  The blackening solution is another matter.  This, when fresh, is selenious acid.  When you use it it is converted to black selenium metal  and copper sulfate That's the blue colour.  But you cant neutralise or destroy the selenium. or copper.  So a spent solution contains selenium in one form or another and copper sulfate.  Neither of these is too good for the environment but you only have small quantities.  You shouldn't dispose of it down the sink so absorbing onto paper and burying it is probably OK.  Over here we can take such things to a toxic chemicals disposal site.
 
John

I actually posted this elsewhere but it is probably more appropriate here.
 
This is an example of a blackening problem which others may have experienced without knowing the reason.
 
These belaying pins were sold as being brass so on the right I used my usual technique of treating for 5 min with sodium hydrogen sulfate then blackening.  Even after about 1 min the result was poor.
On reflection they were very shiny so were probably lacquered. So on the left the treatment was: - rub with steel wool, soak in acetone for about 1 min, 5 min in sodium hydrogen sulfate then blackening. After only for 10 sec the result was excellent.
 

 
Incidentally, Sparex is just a very expensive packet of sodium hydrogen sulfate. So if you have access to the chemical itself it is much cheaper
 
John
 

Lego works well as well.
 
John

Lego works well as well.
 
John

Lego works well as well.
 
John

I don't think so.  At least not the way I do it.  When I make the octagonal shape using a V jig there is no taper.  I establish the taper during the sanding.  I calculate the diameter about  5 or six times over the length and then keep checking with a micrometer as I go.
 
John

This my home made wood lathe. 
 

 
The plate contains a roller blade bearing and there is a ledge on the back so I can clamp it to the table.  The id of this is about 10 mm . for narrower spars I insert a wooden "washer".  I have two of these boards and for long masts I place one in the center to add more support.

This my home made wood lathe. 
 

 
The plate contains a roller blade bearing and there is a ledge on the back so I can clamp it to the table.  The id of this is about 10 mm . for narrower spars I insert a wooden "washer".  I have two of these boards and for long masts I place one in the center to add more support.

It also helps to reduce the spar to an octagon first and then apply any of the methods described above.  There are several reports on this forum about how to produce a regular octagon.
 
John

I don't think so.  At least not the way I do it.  When I make the octagonal shape using a V jig there is no taper.  I establish the taper during the sanding.  I calculate the diameter about  5 or six times over the length and then keep checking with a micrometer as I go.
 
John

I don't think so.  At least not the way I do it.  When I make the octagonal shape using a V jig there is no taper.  I establish the taper during the sanding.  I calculate the diameter about  5 or six times over the length and then keep checking with a micrometer as I go.
 
John

This my home made wood lathe. 
 

 
The plate contains a roller blade bearing and there is a ledge on the back so I can clamp it to the table.  The id of this is about 10 mm . for narrower spars I insert a wooden "washer".  I have two of these boards and for long masts I place one in the center to add more support.

This my home made wood lathe. 
 

 
The plate contains a roller blade bearing and there is a ledge on the back so I can clamp it to the table.  The id of this is about 10 mm . for narrower spars I insert a wooden "washer".  I have two of these boards and for long masts I place one in the center to add more support.

This my home made wood lathe. 
 

 
The plate contains a roller blade bearing and there is a ledge on the back so I can clamp it to the table.  The id of this is about 10 mm . for narrower spars I insert a wooden "washer".  I have two of these boards and for long masts I place one in the center to add more support.

No, I haven't tried any of these products on synthetic rope.  The rope I show is Syren rope.  I am sure the effect will be different on polyester rope.  The fly tying cements hold quite well but they are an expensive option and as Bob says, shellac is pretty cheap.
 
John

It also helps to reduce the spar to an octagon first and then apply any of the methods described above.  There are several reports on this forum about how to produce a regular octagon.
 
John