reklein

Work started on the standing rigging.

Nestled against some other waterlined 15mm builds (a junk from an old PYRO War Junk kit and a Nationalist/Chicom patrol boat built salvaged from an old PT109 kit)

Ok, the mast on this thing is more complicated than a tall ship! At time you know when you’ve hit the level of incompetence. I think if Pontos didn’t reply on the kit mast to build upon it would have made the think possible to align at least. It’s pretty much a 4 day build, the other deck fittings and radar domes are ready for paint. 

WOW!

I'm a fan of making masts from straight grained square stock. Its the only way you can get a predictable taper. Mark the center of you spar on the end with a dot. Then taper the spar equally on four sides keeping your center dot in the middle. Then carve your tapered square stock into an octagon, again keeping your dot centered. Once you have an Octagon its easy to sand it round,and did I say keep the dot centered. Its pretty toough to taper bamboo although its true that its strong. Id recommend basswood just be sure of the straight grain. As you care the wood ,you can use a knife or a small spoke shave. There will be some grain direction so if the blade wants to dive into the wood revserse the direction of carving.   Good luck anyway, and replacing weak plastic aint a bad idea but proper rigging can strenghthen it just as on a real ship.   Bill

Thanks a lot for all the comments guys.  This is one of the great things about this forum, many different views on just about any facet of ships, be it models or full size ships!  I figured that someone here would be able to come up some answers, or at least where to look for them. 

If you look closely as the wood ratlines in the second picture from JHEARL above you can see a notch in the bar where the lashing is done.
 
CHAZZ

I'd leave the skin off altogether. Probably a bit late to drill some lightening holes?
 
Danny

This time T2 type Tanker in the Suez Canal.
jim

Hello,
the topic sort of says it all.
My father has been building a modell from scratch for the past 36 years. The scale is 1:38. He is 78 years old now and is starting to suffer from dimentia. Before Chirstmas 2017, he was at a point where he had stopped building for about 1 1/2 years. The standing rigging was about 1/4th of the way. The problem way, he was stuck and could no longer make any sense out of what he was reading in his books.
That is when I stepped in. We have now completed the standing rigging together. He can still make ropes, make thimbles, blocks, you name it. But he gets confused when he tries to atach ropes on his own so I am sort of the one who decides what we do next and then we do it together.
He can help when I tell him what needs to be done, but that is the problem: I do not know, either. So I am reading, doing research, we even did a trip to the original ship in Portsmouth in January together.
His background is electronic engineering and he has been doing woodwork as a hobby as long as I can think. I am a teacher and quilter - which sort of helps with the rigging, as I am good with thread work.
One goal is to get it done. Someday. Maybe. The more important goal is to challenge his memory and his manual abilities.
 
I think we have every book on the planet about the ship. The one thing I cannot find is a precise description about the size of the sails. You know - being a quilter, I sort of like patterns ;-) . Any suggestions?
 
Barbara

Glued and screwed (2" long) to the bottom and top plate. Also glued the cap floor and the side together. 
I got the straightest 3/4" x 4' x 4' marine plywood but once sawn and sanded, three pieces still warped a bit and two pieces cracked when I put the screw in and all holes were pre-drilled. So I filled everything with the Tightbond glue. 
I was surprised that when it was all put together and put it on the garage floor it was level. 
 
Next I need to draw a line down the middle lengthwise for all the struts and file them in an angle so sides will fit. 
Marcus  

Hello All,
I've been making pretty steady progress, but have been negligent in updating my build log, so here is a bit of a backlog. 
 
I'm going with dark green for the bulwarks and applied a couple of coats to get the effect. It isn't actually quite as dark as it appears to be in the photo. It was too early to paint, but I was anxious to see how it would look. It of course needs another coat, but that will come later.

 
I've finished the first layer of planking. This is a fairly easy hull to plank, with minimal bending of the planks required and it actually went quite quickly.

Wood filler - my best friend.

I've got a pretty smooth and even hull, ready for the final layer of planking.

 
Nothing addles my brain faster than plotting out a planking pattern for the deck. In the past I have always started out with high hopes and even some success, but by the time I get to the end it always devolves into looking like a gerbil did it. I'm always ok on the wide open areas, but as soon as I have to start accounting for openings and other obstacles on the deck that's when I get into trouble.
 
In an effort to avoid that outcome this time, I drew the plan out on paper and I'm happy to report that I successfully followed it from beginning to end.

 
There's no finish on the deck in the first picture below; I just wet the wood to try to get an idea of how it might look.

I have to decide what to do about the waterways next. In typical fashion for this kit, the plan indicates a piece of 3/32" x 3/32" rounded over, but of course there is no wood in the kit even approaching that dimension, nor listed on the parts list. I do have plenty of plenty of spare wood kicking around, so it shouldn't be a problem coming up with something but I'm not sure if it should be quarter round or simply beveled. I have the Reed book on modeling this ship and I notice that he simply installs a beveled board.
 
The question of how to finish a basswood deck is always a perplexing one. Basswood really doesn't take a stain well at all and browns usually end up looking very blotchy. It doesn't look too bad it it's just polyurethaned (kind of like the picture above) but that always looks a bit too bright to my eye.
 
Many decks on real ships are actually grey in colour, so I've been experimenting with that. I stained the deck with a gray minwax, I think it's called weathered oak or something like that and the result is below. The basswood still looks a little inconsistent, but not nearly as much as with some brown stains and it has a natural look that I like. I think it will work well once I have all the various bits and pieces installed on the deck.

I've made a start on the final planking and it's going quite smoothly. These very thin top planks don't even need soaking. They bend readily on the gentle curves of this hull.

 
I've been working quite steadily at it but we're heading out tomorrow for a few days, so it will be next week before I'm back at it. 
 
Thanks for looking in and for the likes.
David

Cut out all the parts that are needed to get a good start building the mill. Tomorrow I need to do some sanding before I glue and screw the large pieces together. 
The picture with all the smaller pieces are for the cap. 
I did do a dry run as the picture shows. The two long pieces are screwed into the bottom plate. 
Marcus 

CL415 'superscooper' water bomber fire fighting aircraft. Designed specifically for Fire Fighting, built originally by Canadair, later by Bombardier. Seen here scooping up water to drop on to a Forrest fire.
15" X 11"
Jim

In theory this arrangement keeps the planks for sliding alongside one another resulting in a stiffer longitudinal structure.  In the hold of USS Constellation the ceiling planking has square cutouts across the seams into which a square block is inserted in order to stiffen the hull as well.  The attached photo shows these openings, some of which have had the blocks fall out.  Indicated in red are examples of an empty and a filled opening.  Other instances are apparent as well.
 
Wayne
 

Such joints are generally referred to as tabled joints.

Love your true-to original approach. Construction of a windmill cap may be complicated. Not surprising that " a brandy bottle was often used to lighten the heavy labour. When the cap was put on the mill, a special treat - brandy with sugar and nutmeg - was served" (from instructions for snuffmill model). Noticed that some windmill plans in 1:15 are mentioned also on Penterbak´s netsite.
http://www.penterbak.nl
 
I wonder if you have seen the impressive VideoDrone clip on Vimeo? Beautiful.
https://vimeo.com/64956881

Next I was concentrating into bridge items. First the steering wheel & machinery, and it`s movement into rudder. Form of Steering wheel is quite complicated, so the best way to build it was to draw it with CAD and machine from 1 mm thick Sikablock material using cnc router and 0,6 mm dia milling cutter. After trial & error and one prototype here is a machined steering wheel:

 
 
 
Steering mechanism was again build using a pair of module 0,5 gears and parts made of styrene & sikablock. On the top is the upper rudder shaft with middle flange and bearings. Below that the parts for rudder mechanism.

 
 
Parts painted, weathered and waiting installation into ship:

 
 
 
Steering wheel and mechanism with a protective desk installed on the bridge:

 
Upper rudder shaft with bearings installed between main and upper decks. Movement of the steering wheel is transferred from steering mechanism using wires, rods and chains located underneath of upper deck. Chains are taken from a thin necklage and painted dark:

 
 
Next item on the bridge was a searchlight. This was made using common materials styrene and sikablock. Here waiting paint:

 
Painted and weathered:

 
 
And installed onto bridge:

 
 
 

Again it is time to update the project. All details coming on the main deck have been made like bollards and anchor winch on the foredeck & ladders, funnel and some steam pipes at the middle. Those latter parts are difficult to photograph because they are situated in the shadows between decks, but I hope something can be seen.
 
 
 
Anchor winch under construction. It has been made of acrylic sheet, sikablock and a pair of suitable gears from which centrum has been turned away and replaced with new parts.

 
 
 
Anchor winch painted and installed on the foredeck together with bollards and smaller components.

 
 
 
Ladders leading to upper deck with handrails. At the background are the funnel & some steam pipes with valves.

 
 
 
Seen from the other side.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Update - the second planking with cherry veneer is now done! Not perfect,but I am pleased with it. Now for a little sanding - not too much as it would be easy to sand clear through the veneer. No drop planks or stealers were necessary.
 

 

 

 
 
 
Mark

Happy is the miller who lives by himself
As the wheel goes round he's gaining in his wealth
one hand in the hopper and the other in the bag
as the wheel goes round he cries out GRAB !
Thats when you tickle the little kid you're singing the song too. Origin unknown. My father in law sang it to his daughter and we sang it to our kids and grandson

Happy is the miller who lives by himself
As the wheel goes round he's gaining in his wealth
one hand in the hopper and the other in the bag
as the wheel goes round he cries out GRAB !
Thats when you tickle the little kid you're singing the song too. Origin unknown. My father in law sang it to his daughter and we sang it to our kids and grandson

Happy is the miller who lives by himself
As the wheel goes round he's gaining in his wealth
one hand in the hopper and the other in the bag
as the wheel goes round he cries out GRAB !
Thats when you tickle the little kid you're singing the song too. Origin unknown. My father in law sang it to his daughter and we sang it to our kids and grandson

Happy is the miller who lives by himself
As the wheel goes round he's gaining in his wealth
one hand in the hopper and the other in the bag
as the wheel goes round he cries out GRAB !
Thats when you tickle the little kid you're singing the song too. Origin unknown. My father in law sang it to his daughter and we sang it to our kids and grandson