FriedClams

Congratulations, Gary - beautiful model. Gary

Greetings all, Thanks so much for the wonderful comments, the thumbs-ups and for finding the time to visit this build. Bulwark Stanchions Before work could begin on the stanchions for the bulwark, I first had to finish up from the last post by adding five more deck beams where the span between existing beams was too great. With that done, I started on the stanchions which the drawings refer to as the “top timbers.” This boat has 106 top timbers and are spaced about every 18” (45.7cm). In full disclosure, there are several details of these timbers that I didn't model because I felt there would be little return on the effort invested. First of these details is a taper of the timbers from 4.75” (12cm) at the deck to 4” (10cm) at the underside of the rail. In 1:48 that's a difference of .016” (.39mm), so I used wood that doesn't taper and scales to 4.5” square instead. Also, the drawings call for chamfered edges on the inside facing corners - very nice, but no. The most glaring omission is that I didn't bevel the outside and inside faces as they approached the stem and stern. In the image below, the top timbers below the red line are obvious enough that I should have beveled them, but I didn't. Forward of the blue line will be a raised “whaleback”, so those extremely beveled timbers are all hidden. This is the profile of the whaleback (green) visible above the main rail (red). And the same thing aft, but there are no beveled timbers as they round the stern and there is little discernible bevel moving forward through midships. If it sounds like I'm constructing a justification for not beveling any of the top timbers, you're onto something. I made four off-model stanchion bulwark assemblies. One each for the port and starboard bulwarks forward of station #7 and two more for P/S aft of station #7. I created a template for each assembly based on the distance between bottom of deck at side and bottom of main rail. The top timbers are at a right angle to the waterline, not the rail. The angle of bend at each body plan station is found. The upper waist strake for the bulwark section is bent to the proper arc and then attached to the template with double-sided tape. The top timbers are then glued to it. The section of top timbers is affixed to the hull. Note that a strip of wood equal to the deck thickness has been glued to the upper most hull strake. The bottoms of all the top timbers are glued to its inside edge. The final eight timbers at the stern were placed individually. The scant number of timbers in the bow area were placed willy-nilly to temporarily hold the waist strake in its proper orientation until the bulwark is complete and the whaleback structure starts taking shape. Next up – finish planking the bulwark, installing the inside rail stringer and fitting the covering boards (oh boy!). Be safe and stay well. Gary

Excellent progress on the base, Glen. I particularly like the front row of pilings, those sticks really look fantastic! Gary

Beautiful, precise and clean work, Valeriy! Once again. Gary

Great progress, Keith. I really like the slide hammer and a nice start on the donkey - not wonky at all. Gary

I enjoy unusual build subjects, so your Philadelphia gunboat caught my eye. Best of luck on this interesting model. Gary

For what it's worth, Keith, I like Druxey's idea of a double layer solution. On a previous build, I used 1/64" aircraft ply for the planks on a lapstrake boat and found the material to be very flexible yet tough as nails. Gary

Excellent job coloring the sacks, crates and other accessories, Eric - they look great. I particularly like the coal bin and the fact that it's the real thing from your property is an added plus. Your model has a nice organic rustic feel to it - very realistic. It suggests the rough service these working boats performed without over doing it. Looking forward to the final display. Gary

What he said! Beautiful work, Paul. Gary

Beautiful hull, Keith - very nice. Gary

Sweet work, Gary - love the wheel rims. And everything else, too. Gary

Excellent start, Keith - terrific work! As already stated, you're moving quite fast on this barge construction. This suggests to me you are really enjoying the build, which is great and as it should be. I look forward to future updates. Gary

Congratulations on starting a new project, Rob, and what a beauty she is. I've popped in and out of your previous builds, but this will be first I've got in on from the beginning. With your passion for clippers, I know this will be a great ride. Good luck. Gary

Congratulations on setting her in the bottle, Glen. Interesting process and your videos make it understandable. Terrific work! Smoke, eh? Gary

Congratulations on finishing this wonderful model masterpiece! This log has been a real tour de force in miniature modeling techniques, so thanks for demonstrating these and the unique materials that you used such papers, etc. A beautiful model display and I look forward to the "glamor shots." Gary

This is complex model building, Andy, and what a great job you're doing. Your detailed CAD work really illustrates what is going on in the stern and of course the on-site images of the full-scale reconstruction are always a treat. "The good news is that the Trust have been successful in getting a further National Heritage grant to complete the replacement of the deck, which means Vigilance will now have a fighting chance of another 100 years afloat! Excellent! Gary

Well, Mr. Black, you have made my day. This is a fantastic project, and I can't wait for you to get started. This driver along with barge and dock will make an amazing and interesting display. Best of luck on this new project! Gary

Nice progress, Marc! Terrific work as always. Gary

Your paddle wheel turned out great as well as the connecting rods and cams. I think caving to peer-pressure on the connecting rods turned out to be a good call. Beautiful work, Eric - especially for being such a young lad! Gary

I haven't read all of your earlier SIB logs yet, but I've seen a few of them now and as great as they all are, Banshee II is fast becoming my favorite. You mentioned that one of your goals is to get better with each build and in my humble opinion this model is elevated work - bravo Glen! Can't wait to see it surrounded by glass. Gary

I bet that was fun and a tad nerve-racking. Beautiful work, Keith and a major milestone indeed, especially on such a long hull. Congratulations! Gary

Druxey, Keith A and Glen - thank you kindly for the nice comments. And as always, thanks to all for the "thumbs up". Hello Keith and thanks for your post. Yes, they did use a single plate to service two bunkers, and they did this by positioning it over the partition walls separating two bunkers. See the deck detail below. Notice the plate to the left is positioned entirely over one bunker, but a jog in the partition wall was constructed to share half of the opening. Or at least that is the way it appears to me. Obviously, the plate position is dictated by the deck beams and there just happens to be one over that partition. But I don't believe there is enough room at the top of the partition to sort of snorkel over it though. What baffles me is why not simply add more plates to where they are needed like the boat below, and I'd be willing to bet the photographer is standing with one right in front of his feet. Also, the plate spacing in the photo of the shipwright in the post above suggests to me that there will be a fourth one behind him in the area of the skid. Here's what I'm wondering. The Pelican was designed in 1943 during a time of severe metal shortages due to the war effort. Ration stamps for food and gasoline were a part of everyday life. No automobiles, commercial vehicles or auto part were manufactured from February 1942 to October 1945 and all focus had shifted to wartime production of ships, tanks, planes, etc. Large fishing vessels were conscripted for military activities, but smaller F/V prospered due to wartime protein demands. So, it seems you couldn't buy a new dump truck, but you could have a new F/V built. A wooden dragger does have quite a bit of steel and iron on it, most of which is necessary like a winch, diesel engine, gallows frames and steel cable. But are eight bunker plates necessary if you can get by with four? Or was it because every foundry no matter how small had shifted to military component production and bunker plates were simply hard to find? I don't know - just typing out loud. Thanks again. Gary

Greetings Fellow Modelers Marc, Valeriy and Jerome - thank you for your kind words and thanks to all for the "thumbs up" and stopping to take a look! Deck Beams I've been working on the deck beams and they are now in place. Even though I'll be using rather stout deck planking, I will most likely be adding intermediate beams where the spacing between them is too wide. I determined the crown of the beams by measuring the distance between the “top of main deck at side” and “top of main deck at center.” This measurement and the distance of the span across the hull, defines the beam at any given point along the length of the hull. And it provides a template in which to shape and cut the beam. The crown of the deck is not consistent from stem to stern meaning that in some areas the arc is flatter/shallower than other areas. I plotted the arc of each beam individually, but to be honest, they were so close to each other that this exercise felt unnecessary and at times pointless. The beams are scale 6” x 6” (15.24cm) and heat was applied to bend them. I over-bent them first and then compared and adjusted the relaxed beam to the template. The hatch openings were drawn and used as a construction guide. The hatch openings were placed using a tape edge as a centering guide. LED lighting is installed over the fish hold. Clearly, the deck will have to be light-leak proofed in some way. The beams are installed but as you can see a minimum of five more are needed to fill in the gaps. The drawings refer to the raised aft deck as the “break deck” which stands 8” (20.32cm) above the forward deck. It begins at the blue line shown below and extends to the stern. This keeps most of the water and fish sleaze forward of the winch and pilothouse. I'll be planking the forward deck first and then placing the forward most break deck beam on top of that, so in the photos below the break deck is still 10' (3.05m) short. Bunker Plates In a diversion from deck beams, I decided to make up the bunker plates. These plates are positioned over the fish bunkers and are used for filling them with ice and sometimes fish. Note the skid of uninstalled plates behind the shipwright below. The plate itself which has a cast no-slip surface, lifts out of the stationary outer ring. What look like three gigantic straight slot screws are actually quarter-turn latch mechanisms and in the center of the disc is the lifting point that accepts a hooked rod. The plate, not including the outer ring is 18” dia (45.7cm) which converts to 3/8” (9.5mm) in 1:48. The plate has some nice detail, but I don't have any machine tools and so I decided to make them from polymer clay with a brass perimeter ring. I began by cutting 1mm slices from 3/8” OD brass tube. This boat has only four bunker plates which bewilders me because it has eight bunkers. Other dragger drawings I've seen have one per bunker, typically eight. I'll talk more about this in a future post, but for now I'm making up only four. The perimeter rings are blackened using Jax Flemish Gray. I used Sculpey 3 polymer clay because it's readily available at craft stores. The stuff isn't really clay, but it's kneaded and worked in the same way. When your done forming the part, it goes into an oven to cure. Here's the process I used. Once kneaded, I rolled it to the thickness required. Then a fine brass screen was used to leave an impression in the clay. A 60-mesh screen - 60 apertures per linear inch (25.4mm). A section of the 3/8” OD brass tube leaves a surface impression on the clay. A scale template of the plate is printed on a clear laser sheet and the lift and latch locations are transferred. A modified toothpick for the latch mechanisms. Sharpened toothpick for the slots. Dowel for the center lift. The 3/8” brass tube is re-registered and pushed down like a cookie cutter. The reason this is done last and not first is that embedding the latch impressions into the clay deforms the circle if there is no surrounding clay mass. The sequence photos above were taken just to show the process. The bunker plates for the model were formed in white clay and on sheet steel for putting in the oven (bright lights and shiny steel don't make for good photography.) The lifting bar thingamajig. Primed gray and placed into the perimeter ring. A little rust color was added followed by a dry-brushing of silver enamel. The outer stationary ring/receiver that embeds into the deck will be made another time. Thanks for stopping by. Be safe and stay well. Gary

Fantastic planking, Keith - looking very smart! Great idea stacking mini sanding drums onto a dowel. Gary

Sweet work, Keith. Thanks for the tutorial - it certainly produces an excellent result. Gary