Modeler12

Happy New Year
  

Happy New Year
  

Happy New Year
  

On my USS Constitution the plans are a bit sketchy about how the studding booms for the lower sails are attached and used.
After some scrutiny it turned out that the details are there for the fore mast sails. See below:

What is not clear to me is how and where those booms are stored for the main? I am, of course, referring to the lower studding sail booms.
I may have to look at my reference books, but I don't think they talk about that
 

Let me move on to some of the deck furnishings. I will only cover a couple that I think might be of interest. Again the processes were a deviation from the cookbook.
 
 
Before I do that, let me mention something that I found useful. It has to do with the order of installing exterior parts to the hull. There are several pieces that are quite delicate and when working on the deck parts such as the cannons, it is very easy to damage other parts. In particular I am referring to the cannon lids on the lower deck, the chain plates with deadeyes, and the netting on top of the rails. I went ahead with the cannon lids and ended up damaging some of the wire ‘pull ropes’. I did pre-fabricate the chain plates but held off installing them until I was finished with the deck. Likewise I have not yet installed the netting; even though I have already started with the masts, stays and sails.
 
 
I had made the twenty cannons using the blocks that were supplied with the kit for the tackles. I was not at all satisfied with the looks of the poor blocks. They were out of shape and way too big. So I ordered some good ones (2.5 mm) from a fellow in Utah. The difference is shown below.
 
The second has to do with making the support frames for the two steering wheels. The cookbook suggested making the two frames by cutting them out of a sheet of styrene. I quickly gave on that and decided to make them look more like the real thing. I formed the four legs as shown below and glued them to the center post. The two blocks were pressed after soaking the piece in warm water.

Jim, you are coming right along with those ratlines. Looking good, my friend.
I know that too much time doing those things gets to you and to switch to others lines along the way is good for the 'moral'.
Nice job on the bow lines.
 
I just got back from our 'vacation' and will follow you progress with interest. 
Have you given the sails any thought? I assume you are still planning to add those six sails!!!???

Just in time for Christmas.

 
And a Merry Christmas to all of you.
May the new year bring you good health and happiness with peace on earth.

A word of caution about copying carving plans: 'don't always assume the drawing is correct'.
 
Earlier I mentioned the book(s) by Lora Irish and how I found the examples very helpful. However, in her book of plans she makes mistakes. For example, the leaves of a rose are 'opposite' on the stem, not 'alternate'. Likewise those leaves are not lobed but serrated or toothed and much broader than hers. I realized this much later after I had carved her design.
 
Another example is her plan for some rope, part of which is shown below. I wanted to use this for the border of a sign but noticed that the rope she shows reversed the lay on the other side of the knot. That's impossible.

Likewise the knot is strange and not at all the way I tie a simple knot. So, I made a model and will change the design shown below to correspond to the green rope. The reason I decided to do this is that I wanted to do some 3-D carving.

Sorry, I just realized that her knot is a figure eight knot. That is probably better looking after all, but the rope is still wrong.

Ok Mark, if you don't mind let me add a few more comments along the way.
 
The outline of the design has been an issue here with Chuck providing the laser cut parts while I had been wondering how to cut the perimeter otherwise. I am still curious how others have approach this other than 'brute-force'. For large parts it is a bit easier but just as important.
I am not trying to give instructions here (after all I am very clumsy and new to the game), but let me continue to show how I am going about relief carving the roses. 
 
Carving the background comes first. In this case I wanted a simple depth cut. Because the design is rather busy I did not want to go any more than about 1/8 inch deep. The tricky part was the inside cuts, the open areas between the stem and leaves.
All of this was time consuming but involved several tools. I used the gouges and chisels for most but I did end up using a couple curved files to get underneath the edges. No sandpaper at this point.

The fun part starts with the leaves, stem and flower. Depth perception come into play.
For example, the leaf closest to the flower goes underneath. Hence it is cut deep at the tip. 
I might also mention that the design has a lot of notches on the leaves.
The leaves of roses don't have that (see earlier picture), so I will 'smooth' them a bit and make them a bit larger.
I'll show a few more steps later.

Thank you Aviaamator, and since you asked, let me show the last part of this experiment. Carving letters.
 
This basswood plague will be a Christmas present for my wife. Hopefully I can complete it in the next week or so.
Her picture will be inside the recessed opening.
Carving letters was a whole new experience for me. I selected an engravers font, printed it and transferred it to the wood. Then I used a V-gouge and knife to cut out the letters. They don't show too clearly, but on another piece I did the same thing and stained it quickly. That brought out the letters much clearer.
  
I have a long way to go with the carving, but this probably will be the last post of this series.
After all, this is a model ship forum.
PS Aviaamator, being northeast of St. Petersburg you must have some cold weather and lots of snow. Nice for Christmas

The tulip is done as far as carving is concerned. It was my first attempt other than the scroll that was done with an Exacto blade (#11).
I learned a lot about how to use carving tools, things I had taken for granted in the past.
Keeping the edge sharp is obvious, but it did not take me long to learn that 'slicing' the wood is so much better than forcing the gouge or knife straight into the wood. I try to show that in my next project.
 
The small gouge was used to remove some of the background material. I guided the blade with my right hand and pushed the gouge to the right with my left hand. This produced a 'slice' rather than a 'chip'.
  
After the slice was removed, I used a knife to trim up the edges.

At this point I will repeat the steps to cut the background deeper.
 
Slicing versus dicing is something I know about in the kitchen. I now have a tendency to move the knife back and forth as I 'slice' green onions or anything else.
I am curious if that could be applied to razor blades.
How about slanting the cartridge at a small angle Mr. Gillett?  

Sorry, I need to explain one more thing about grain direction
 
After I applied a coat of Tung oil to the tulip it really showed the problem I have had with this thing. 
The center of the 'trunk' is clearly shown on the back of this piece,
and it translates to the front. Carving was difficult......and I simply could not get rid of the pimple.
That reminds me of my younger days
     
 
So, for relief carving stay away from this kind of wood.

Ok, final picture and some comments about grain direction.
 
I thought it would be 'cute' to carve this using a slice of a basswood branch.
Never again!!!  (well not in the near future if I can help it).
Although my knives and gouges were very sharp and cut through wood like butter when the grain was 'right',
in this case the oval shape of the growth rings made it very difficult to go 'with the grain'.
 
For relief carving of ship decorations I will keep this in mind.
For carving solid figures, if I ever graduate there, it was a lesson learned.
BTW I will do a bit of sanding around the perimeter, give it a coat of sealer and call it 'Tulip #1'.
It's yours Carl.

One more thing about carving tools. Earlier I showed the set of knives and gouges that I bought from Flexcut. They work extremely well, hold an edge quite long and only need an occasional stropping. The only one I seldom use in the set is the curved knife.

However, for detailed work I needed some small chisels. I ordered a set of four Flexcuts ranging from 1/16 to 1/4 inch wide. Again they did a nice job of cutting away the background material for the tulip that I am playing around with. I am referring to the narrow channels between the leaves and flower. They still need some 'cleanup work'.
   
I am not trying to sell the brand, I know Flexcut tools are expensive. But now I have what I need when it comes to relief carving. 
The 'practice board' has moved to a larger design as you can see. The actual tulip will be fun to bring out next.
btw. The grain direction has given me some hick-ups.
But after a while I got used to the idea of grain in this piece.
Notice that the center of the branch is in the bottom left corner of the tulip. It is a dark patch. 

In just a week or two I have learned a lot about carving, including how to hold my work piece to the table.
At first I used a piece of plywood with two 'fences'. That was awkward and it kept on slipping on the table, while clamps were in the way.
A search through our linen closet yielded a rubber mat, the kind used in showers or bathtubs to prevent you from slipping. It has suction cups on the back side and the front is non-slip -- ideal for the glass top of my desk. The slight pressure from carving is enough to prevent the work piece from sliding. But yet, it allows me to rotate the work with no effort.

The piece you see is basswood but because it is a section of a branch, the grain runs all over the place making this a bit more of a challenge. The design is a tulip (in honor of Carl, of course).
Here is the practice board I showed earlier. That was a good lesson.

Here are a couple more of my trial board carving.
I am a bit shaky and that does not help. It takes a steady, continues cutting action when using the chip knife. 
The cross grain try to the far left was done with a V-gouge and the results also leaves a lot to be desired.
But a little more practice should be in order.
  
I think I will leave the rest for later. This is not the right place for this discussion.

A word of caution about copying carving plans: 'don't always assume the drawing is correct'.
 
Earlier I mentioned the book(s) by Lora Irish and how I found the examples very helpful. However, in her book of plans she makes mistakes. For example, the leaves of a rose are 'opposite' on the stem, not 'alternate'. Likewise those leaves are not lobed but serrated or toothed and much broader than hers. I realized this much later after I had carved her design.
 
Another example is her plan for some rope, part of which is shown below. I wanted to use this for the border of a sign but noticed that the rope she shows reversed the lay on the other side of the knot. That's impossible.

Likewise the knot is strange and not at all the way I tie a simple knot. So, I made a model and will change the design shown below to correspond to the green rope. The reason I decided to do this is that I wanted to do some 3-D carving.

Sorry, I just realized that her knot is a figure eight knot. That is probably better looking after all, but the rope is still wrong.

A word of caution about copying carving plans: 'don't always assume the drawing is correct'.
 
Earlier I mentioned the book(s) by Lora Irish and how I found the examples very helpful. However, in her book of plans she makes mistakes. For example, the leaves of a rose are 'opposite' on the stem, not 'alternate'. Likewise those leaves are not lobed but serrated or toothed and much broader than hers. I realized this much later after I had carved her design.
 
Another example is her plan for some rope, part of which is shown below. I wanted to use this for the border of a sign but noticed that the rope she shows reversed the lay on the other side of the knot. That's impossible.

Likewise the knot is strange and not at all the way I tie a simple knot. So, I made a model and will change the design shown below to correspond to the green rope. The reason I decided to do this is that I wanted to do some 3-D carving.

Sorry, I just realized that her knot is a figure eight knot. That is probably better looking after all, but the rope is still wrong.

A word of caution about copying carving plans: 'don't always assume the drawing is correct'.
 
Earlier I mentioned the book(s) by Lora Irish and how I found the examples very helpful. However, in her book of plans she makes mistakes. For example, the leaves of a rose are 'opposite' on the stem, not 'alternate'. Likewise those leaves are not lobed but serrated or toothed and much broader than hers. I realized this much later after I had carved her design.
 
Another example is her plan for some rope, part of which is shown below. I wanted to use this for the border of a sign but noticed that the rope she shows reversed the lay on the other side of the knot. That's impossible.

Likewise the knot is strange and not at all the way I tie a simple knot. So, I made a model and will change the design shown below to correspond to the green rope. The reason I decided to do this is that I wanted to do some 3-D carving.

Sorry, I just realized that her knot is a figure eight knot. That is probably better looking after all, but the rope is still wrong.

A word of caution about copying carving plans: 'don't always assume the drawing is correct'.
 
Earlier I mentioned the book(s) by Lora Irish and how I found the examples very helpful. However, in her book of plans she makes mistakes. For example, the leaves of a rose are 'opposite' on the stem, not 'alternate'. Likewise those leaves are not lobed but serrated or toothed and much broader than hers. I realized this much later after I had carved her design.
 
Another example is her plan for some rope, part of which is shown below. I wanted to use this for the border of a sign but noticed that the rope she shows reversed the lay on the other side of the knot. That's impossible.

Likewise the knot is strange and not at all the way I tie a simple knot. So, I made a model and will change the design shown below to correspond to the green rope. The reason I decided to do this is that I wanted to do some 3-D carving.

Sorry, I just realized that her knot is a figure eight knot. That is probably better looking after all, but the rope is still wrong.

A word of caution about copying carving plans: 'don't always assume the drawing is correct'.
 
Earlier I mentioned the book(s) by Lora Irish and how I found the examples very helpful. However, in her book of plans she makes mistakes. For example, the leaves of a rose are 'opposite' on the stem, not 'alternate'. Likewise those leaves are not lobed but serrated or toothed and much broader than hers. I realized this much later after I had carved her design.
 
Another example is her plan for some rope, part of which is shown below. I wanted to use this for the border of a sign but noticed that the rope she shows reversed the lay on the other side of the knot. That's impossible.

Likewise the knot is strange and not at all the way I tie a simple knot. So, I made a model and will change the design shown below to correspond to the green rope. The reason I decided to do this is that I wanted to do some 3-D carving.

Sorry, I just realized that her knot is a figure eight knot. That is probably better looking after all, but the rope is still wrong.

A word of caution about copying carving plans: 'don't always assume the drawing is correct'.
 
Earlier I mentioned the book(s) by Lora Irish and how I found the examples very helpful. However, in her book of plans she makes mistakes. For example, the leaves of a rose are 'opposite' on the stem, not 'alternate'. Likewise those leaves are not lobed but serrated or toothed and much broader than hers. I realized this much later after I had carved her design.
 
Another example is her plan for some rope, part of which is shown below. I wanted to use this for the border of a sign but noticed that the rope she shows reversed the lay on the other side of the knot. That's impossible.

Likewise the knot is strange and not at all the way I tie a simple knot. So, I made a model and will change the design shown below to correspond to the green rope. The reason I decided to do this is that I wanted to do some 3-D carving.

Sorry, I just realized that her knot is a figure eight knot. That is probably better looking after all, but the rope is still wrong.

By "Rose of Sharon", I meant your lovely wife.
 
Jim

Beautiful work, Jay.  She'll love it.   

Thank you guys. 
The three projects thus far were fun and I learned a lot about carving and the tools involved.
For future designs that involve model ship decorations I now have a better feel for what it takes.
To be sure, what I have done so far is on a larger scale and I need to consider smaller tools in the future. 
But is that not what modeling is all about? 
We shrink the big things and try to duplicate them the best we can. Think big, work small.
 
I do have one more project but I won't get into the details here.
It involves making a display sign using wood and carved letters for my USS Constitution model.
I was hoping to do that using a piece of the real ship but (alas) I don't have one of those pieces that was promised to me in the past.
 
PS. Jim, the 'Rose of Sharon' is actually not a rose but a flower that is part of the hibiscus family. It just did not fit my design.