MEPering

A little more progress - After carefully bending the railings above the lower windows,I painted them gold & black. I couldn`t get regular taffrail stanchions to fit to my liking,so I went shopping & found some plastic toothpicks with some nicely grooved shanks. After trimming them to fit,I painted them a medium brown & glued them in place. I think they look pretty good. The railing is not glued in place yet - I am still trying to determine exactly where to position them. Also the red on the doorway behind the railing now looks close to its actual color.
 

 

 
Mark

As promised here are some better pictures of the work I have been doing. All the decks have been planked, bulkheads, hatches and ladders installed. All the railings are up and some of the decorations are also installed. Now I am just missing the forecastle and the ships structure will be complete. Before I can install that though I have more canons to build first. 14 more on the spar deck. 5 to either side and 4 bow chasers. This is what I will be spending a good portion of my weekend doing. Then I can build my forecastle deck and on to the bits, kevels and racks for belaying pins and all those other various pieces needed for the rigging.
 
I also have to build a capstan which I only have one vague drawing of. I've been looking around at different logs trying to determine how it should look for an early 17th century. If anyone has a good suggestion I would love to hear it. 
 
Thanks for stopping by!  

Thanks for the comments and advice guys! Here are some pictures of the garboard. I did some measuring and such, and it looks to me like I have enough room to keep my planks at the width that they are at. There is also a picture of my transom. I know it is a little uneven as the planks make the twist, but I don't think the difference will show with paint on one side, and I am going to try to even it out. The reason it ended up this way was because early on planking I was not measuring the full distance needing planking. A beginner will make mistakes at some point. I plan on not making that mistake next build, mostly because I doubt I will paint the hull . Lastly, I am going to copper the whole keel, as not to show dents from carving rabbets and not to show the spacer I have. Anything above the waterline will be visible. I also apologize for not viewing all of your build logs. I will catch up on them when half the hull is planked, and then I will get back to planking.

Happy Fourth of July to All!
 
Back to ship pictures for skylight rail details. I formed a circle to size using 1/32" brass rod and then cut 3/32" long 1/16" tubes and fitted on the rail and fitted the circle ends within one tube and soldered. Then six 1/32" stanchions with mating flanges soldered in place. The deck flanges were cut and will be glued in place to conform to the deck crown once the deck is glued down to the hull. Here is a sequence of pictures. Pardon my misspelling of stanchions in photos. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
I decided to use a piece of stainless steel for the base plate; the painted brass one just did not look right. Now to add rails and cannon ball holders to hatch components and grates.

Hello all! I got three strakes done in the last two days, including the garboard on the starboard side. I took a lot of pictures, so I will let them explain themselves. I did surgery to remove a bad plank that had CA on it, and replaced it. The garboard points up at the same rate as the planks above do, so I think it works, but I would like to hear feedback on it. If I manage to get the next two strakes above the garboard, I will move on to the garboard on the port side. Really, after I get some planks on the lower part of the hull, on both sides, it will only be a matter of closing the gap. Onward !











I will update again at the halfway point! Thanks for any comments and help! Until next time.

Have been working off and on with helping with the kids renovation project and babysitting the grandchildren to get them away from loud equipment. But in the meantime did some work on the deck structures and here are some progress photos of the steering wheel, binnacles and aft skylight. These are somewhat small items scratch built from wood with the exception of the cast steering wheel parts that were painted and stained.

Here I used .035" rope around the axle and into the rope leads at the deck.
 
 
Here is a sequence of the binnacle using a .032" rod for center alignment and indexing into deck.



Here are the brass shrouds with a polished finish.

Finished up ready for installation.

 
Here is the aft skylight that required many angle cuts and a sacrificed core for the upper framing.
This is the base unit.


 
Here is the sacrificed wood core with framing being glued to it.

This shows the cutting away of the core before the bottom framing is added.

This shows the individual wood parts and before the brass bars were added to the upper cap.

Here is a test fit and I think I will paint the inside of the lower base white, and the deck plate steel gray.

Now back to work.
 
 
 
 

Jon here is an example why a lathe comes in handy. The kit smokestack was a POS casting with the mold being squeezed too much and formed an oval versus a round part aside from the rough porous surface it had. 
 
I started with a piece of 1/2" diameter bar stock and turned a new stack out of brass faster than it would take to cleanup the POS casting. Again I went to the images of the real ship and added the spark arrestor as well.
 
Here is a sequence of pictures explaining what I did to make it. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Now back to other parts.

Thanks for your kind words! I moved onto the capstan and started the anchors to work back and forth. I again checked the photos of the real ship for reference since the plans and instructions are a little sketchy. The laser cut parts center holes for the dowel to pass through were slightly off center; so the parts were trued up on the lathe once glued together. I added brass ring and solid polished top as well.
 
Here are a few pictures of what I did.
 

 

 
It is very difficult to cut a thin ring off a tube with out tearing it up when the cut through happens; so I just cut a groove to use as a guide for the saw blade.

 

 

 
This also shows an in progress anchor with metal straps added; the rest still need to be done. Note that the centering hole was not drilled completely through the brass top; the top wood pin was cut down to be used as an indexing pin into the partially drilled hole in the underside of the brass disc top.

 
Back to the rest of the structures to be completed.
 

It has been a while for an update but I have been working albeit slowly.
 
I finished the channels and painted them black, then added pins to them to reinforce them on the hull. Here they are temporarily in place. I will be adding the lower deadeyes to these before permanently gluing them to the hull.
 

 

 
They are pretty hard to see in those photos because of the black on black.
 
I also finished the two fixed blocks I am adding to the waist rail. I made these from a single block of wood in the mill, using varying depths to simulate the sheave.
 

 

 
Now I am stropping the lower deadeyes to get these all ready for the channels. Updates to come once I have the process nailed down.
 
 

Hello All,
It's been a while since I last posted or even worked on my model. There are just too many outdoor demands on my time and it never feels right holed up in my basement when the weather is absolutely glorious. Nevertheless I have a little progress to report. I have almost finished the chainplates. The biggest problem I had with them was getting their length correct, but I developed a little system that worked well enough. Working one channel at a time, I pinned them in place temporarily and let them protrude up through the holes in the channel. (This of course brings me to my frequent complaint about all those little brass nails they include in the kit for no reason that's apparent to me. On this build I actually need little nails to attach the chainplates, but the ones included in the kit are about three times too big to fit the holes in the chainplates. I had to buy new ones. They're about the size of a #75 drill. Why do they do these things?) Working one chainplate at a time, I snipped it off flush with the top of the channel and then removed it. I then snipped about 1/16" more off of it and then soldered on the deadeye. I slipped them back into position, let them hang loose and painted them below the channel before attaching them permanently. Once all are in place, I'm painting the channel and deadeyes and touching up black and white paint where necessary.
 
I'm also planning ahead for the netting along the railing. I had bought some tulle at a fabric store some time ago, but I'm beginning to think the little diamond openings are too big for the scale. I don't know whether tulle comes in different "gauges" or not. (At any rate, gauge is certainly not a word to use at a fabric store; I got a very odd look.) Today I took a stroll through a dollar store to see if I could find anything else that might work. I did find two different cheap black mesh zippered bags which I can cut up. One also seems a bit too big, but the other looks like it might be ok. I'm going to experiment with all three.
 
That's all until next time. We're told to expect beautiful weather right through the weekend and then plenty of rain on Monday, so maybe I'll be able to have indoor recess all day!
David

Finished up building the three fife rails. One word of advice for those who follow cut in the front brace to the forward posts as noted for strength due to the weakness of the laser cut arm parts with holes having a tendency to break very easily while handling. They also will be able to hold the posts in place to locate holes in the deck for the locating pins. These braces will have the center portions cut away once the fife rails are finally glued in place. As for now all the spar deck structures will be fabricated and set in place for now including the deck itself. I also cut sheaves on my Sherline lathe to be cut into the posts with a 1/32" axle for turning if necessary. Here are a sequence of pictures.
 

 

 

 

 

 
I then started at the bow with the structures and am working towards the stern, which will be a slow going process since most will be scratch built like these.
 

 

 
Now back to building.
 
 

Hi all - another small update. I once again cut out all those window panes in the middle gallery windows & painted them.There seems to be no definitive color scheme,so I am just painting everything as I see fit. Giving it a curve to match the stern fascia,it set on the deck with no filing on the bottom. The slant of the side openings matched the angle of the fascia very nicely also. The side entry pieces are VERY fragile - I broke one twice just fitting the parts to the deck - a bit of paint hides the repair. The assembly must be placed carefully so the side entries go up against the back of the fascia.
 

 

 
Mark

Well,I decided to re-do those knees to better match the edge of the deck. Not to difficult - the old ones just popped right off. I think it looks a little better.
 

 
Mark

Another small update - after tweaking that lower deck a little more,I glued it down. I had some nice brass moulding left over from a previous build,so I formed it to fit the edge of the deck & glued it on. Then I decided to make some small knees to go under the rear edge of the deck at the top of the columns. they are simply 2x5 walnut with a radius filed in them & painted gold to match the columns. They are shown on the plans,but are not part of the castings. After clamping the fascia in place the lower railings line up nicely with the outer edge of the moulding.
 

 

 

 
Mark

First of all,thanks Nils & Michael for your nice comments.
 
Keith - I have circled the areas where the lower deck overhangs the lower windows. I will do some more checking,but I don`t think I am too far off.
 

 

 
Mark

Hi all - a small update. After scratching my head,checking the plans,& Pete`s info I am slowly proceeding with the stern. The stern fascia is flat & needs to be curved,so I put it in some water for a short time & clamped it to a hard plastic oval shaped waste container. When dry it retained a proper curve. Since it is made of an ugly mahogany plywood I planked it with some leftover hull planks.
 

 
After clamping it to the back of the hull,I could proceed to make the deck it sits on.
 

 

 

 
One other note - while sorting out the upper row of windows they appear to be mis-marked according to what the plans show. If I laid them out according to the plans,they don`t fit the openings.
 

 
After shuffling them around,they then matched the openings.
 

 
Mark
 
 

That turning looks 100% better than the brittania castings that come with the kit, Ken.  Especially considering that these parts on the prototype are bright finished wood.  The deck looks great too.
 
Matt

That turning looks 100% better than the brittania castings that come with the kit, Ken.  Especially considering that these parts on the prototype are bright finished wood.  The deck looks great too.
 
Matt

That turning looks 100% better than the brittania castings that come with the kit, Ken.  Especially considering that these parts on the prototype are bright finished wood.  The deck looks great too.
 
Matt

That turning looks 100% better than the brittania castings that come with the kit, Ken.  Especially considering that these parts on the prototype are bright finished wood.  The deck looks great too.
 
Matt

That turning looks 100% better than the brittania castings that come with the kit, Ken.  Especially considering that these parts on the prototype are bright finished wood.  The deck looks great too.
 
Matt

Had a great getaway weekend in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Sequoia National Park. Those Sequoia trees are huge! I could not imagine how many model ships could be built from just one. Now into serious babysitting of grand kids as the wood flooring is being installed and sanded. Soon we will be heading out to the zoo for the morning.
 
I have had an opportunity to do a little work and finished up the spar decking and stained it Golden Oak. I then installed it back on the hull with the wedges to dry. I am still trying to sort out the 1/32 raised planking section towards the stern from the capstan back to the mizzen fife rail. Any insight on this detail is welcome since it does not appear on the real ship; but need to resolve it before adding the structures. In the meantime I made the mast boots and started on the fife rails and have decided to turn the supports rather than using the kit's castings. I am using maple for these since they will turn better and hold the details such as the saw cuts for the sheaves. I also am adding the sheave pins using .020" brass rod.  
 
Here are the boots and decking sections so far.

 

 
Here I am starting the fife rails and using steel blocks to assure squareness as glued together.
 

 
Here is the test turning and also note the 1/32" drill bit on the right for the location pin to index into the deck.

 
Will be working away on the turnings since 14 are needed.

Geoff has a good idea

Actually, Geoff, the rivets go all the way through, but are flush with the back of the bulwark planks.  CA or super glue will probably be applied from the back to hold them in position, relying on capillary action to suck the glue in.  The problem with this is that it stiffens the plank quite a lot.  So heating the plank will be necessary to make it fit after the studs are mounted, and after the fairing has occurred.  This may be easier than it appears, since the copper wire conducts heat very quickly.  Brass wire would do so almost as quickly. 
 
This being said, I think that the bulwarks should be done on the interior of the deck before the external planking should go on.  This allows for mistakes to be removed more easily.  Of course, this means exterior planking, at least for the bulwarks, needs to be perfect.  Due to less curvature in the outer planking, I think this should be the better approach.
 
I wish I could get to the ship to test some of these things, but it has been so busy this summer, I can't seem to do this at this time.  Building this deck off the house is taking all of my time at the moment, and probably will through the first of July... Possibly longer.  But this gives me time to think, so it is not all bad.  As a first ship for me, I think I should be spending about 10 hours of thinking for 1 hour of building.  The building I miss though, and I shall return to it as soon as I can get to it.
 
Matt

Actually, Geoff, the rivets go all the way through, but are flush with the back of the bulwark planks.  CA or super glue will probably be applied from the back to hold them in position, relying on capillary action to suck the glue in.  The problem with this is that it stiffens the plank quite a lot.  So heating the plank will be necessary to make it fit after the studs are mounted, and after the fairing has occurred.  This may be easier than it appears, since the copper wire conducts heat very quickly.  Brass wire would do so almost as quickly. 
 
This being said, I think that the bulwarks should be done on the interior of the deck before the external planking should go on.  This allows for mistakes to be removed more easily.  Of course, this means exterior planking, at least for the bulwarks, needs to be perfect.  Due to less curvature in the outer planking, I think this should be the better approach.
 
I wish I could get to the ship to test some of these things, but it has been so busy this summer, I can't seem to do this at this time.  Building this deck off the house is taking all of my time at the moment, and probably will through the first of July... Possibly longer.  But this gives me time to think, so it is not all bad.  As a first ship for me, I think I should be spending about 10 hours of thinking for 1 hour of building.  The building I miss though, and I shall return to it as soon as I can get to it.
 
Matt