FriedClams

I'm sure it is.    I quit writing in cursive many many years ago, I strictly print.
 
 Thank you, Keith.  

Have you tried doing joined up writing with one of those pen things recently. It is really hard.
 
They both fit together very nicely. Great job.
 

Eberhard, thank you for taking the time to question and comment.  
 
 Thank you, Keith. It makes me feel good knowing Lula gives folks a reason to smile.
 
 Thank you, Peter. 
 
 Thank you, Glen. 
 
 Thank you, Bob. Lord willing I would think we'll see a launch date by sometime in early June. 
 
 Thank you, Mark.
 
 Thank you, John. Glad to have you back home with us. 

Just catching up after some time away. They're looking great, Keith.
 
John

Super nice work, Keith. The tug and pile driver look great together.   

Hi Jacques, your Chilota is looking amazing. If you look in Chapter 9 of Chuck’s Cheerful monograph, it shows filing the upper portion of the chainplate to make it thinner in order to form a hook. Perhaps you could try something like that.

More adventures in serving and metalwork. This is all very simple, but I'm pleased with how it's turning out and with what I'm learning from this build.
 
First up, the shrouds. I decided to double the shrouds--that is, the two shrouds on each side are made from a single line looped around the masthead. I did this because most photos don't show a very big stack of loops around the masthead, so the fewer the better. Serving them was pretty straightforward because it was just a short length in the middle of the rope. I followed the instructions from Syren's Serv-o-matic and used a needle to run my serving thread (fly tying line) through the threads of the rope and then added a tiny dab of superglue. My setup is shown below, with the rope gripped at either end in the helping hands. This setup wouldn't work for very long lengths of serving, but for short ones it worked out ok.

 
Next, I trimmed the excess and then spun the spool of thread around the rope, maintaining an even pressure and slowly moving from left to right. It helps to have as little thread off the spool as possible so that you're basically just rolling it around the rope. Once I reached the correct length, I clipped on some locking tweezers to hold the thread in place, dabbed a bit of superglue to secure it, and then brushed diluted white glue onto the length of serving. As can be seen below, there was some minor inconsistency at the start, but overall it turned out well enough to use.

 
The shrouds are just dangling in place for now, and will be closer together for the final placement. Once I've painted the mast and added the metalwork to the masthead, I'll be able to secure them around the mast.

 
I've also begun work on the chainplates. At least two of them will flat metal strips. I used 1/64x1/16-inch brass strips for these, drilling a hole at one end for the nail which will secure them to the hull, and at the other end to attach the turnbuckles. Drilling brass is slow work. As can be seen, I have just one small drill bit with a pointed tip (top), while the rest have flat tips (like the one below). The pointed bit is useful for starting holes and drills much faster, but the bit is too wide for these narrow strips, so I have to switch to the narrower flat bit after starting and slowly grind through the metal. Tedious, but it works, at least until my hand cramps. (All holes were drilled through with the same smaller bit, but they look like different sizes because I switched which side I started drilling from.)

 
I'm still debating whether to use the same method for the other two chainplates, or whether to try to make some sort of metal hook for them. A hook would be cool, but I'm not sure how I could secure it to the hull. Super glue seems too fragile, but if the hook is made of a brass rod, I won't be able to drill a nail hole through it. I suppose I could try flattening it at the bottom end, but that seems tricky to do with brass, especially to get it to the right width where I could put a nail through it.

Thanks, that makes significantly more sense! 
 
I did a fake eye splice on the Canoa de Rancho build, but didn't think to use it here because I was worried that it wouldn't work with the line already served. But perhaps it would work, I suppose I would be serving back over the splice so any disruption to the original serving wouldn't be seen.

A common arrangement for the forestay and the jib-halliard is that the forestay is looped around the mast and the jib-block strop has an eye that goes around the stay just below the point were the loop of the stay closes. The strop is then fiddled from the top through the loop of the stay, effectively forming a kind of cow-hitch around the stay. The picture below is a model picture, but illustrates what I mean:

I think your image of the masthead above shows just an arrangement, rather than the one you have drawn.
On serving an eye: have you tried to make a 'fake' eye-splice? This mean going with the whole thread going through the thread (with the help of a needle or hypodermic needle) a couple of time and then securing this with a drop of varnish etc. That allows you to serve the splice quietely.

I’ve mentioned before that this is the most complex rigging I’ve dealt with so far, even though it’s quite simple in relative terms, and it’s definitely posing a challenge. A few notes on working things out and progress on the build:
 
First, I came across this image from 1969, which I had somehow missed before. It has some good details on the shrouds and will be extremely useful when I attach the gaff, although I’ll be using rope-stropped blocks (which I’ve seen in other photos) rather than metal-stropped ones shown here. Unfortunately, it doesn’t show the masthead, which is the current site of my difficulties.

Source: https://www.bibliotecanacionaldigital.gob.cl/bnd/629/w3-article-644834.html
 
One of the main difficulties that I’m having is with the arrangement of the forestay and the jib halyard block at the masthead. It’s clear that the block needs to be lower than the forestay, but it’s not clear to me how this is arranged. Many photos are extremely unclear, like that below (which shows the same vessel as in the photo above but from a different angle). You can vaguely make out the jib halyard block, but not much else—it looks like it may be looped around the masthead, but that might be the forestay itself? (Incidentally, it also seems to show the shrouds as individual rather than doubled; at least a couple of them are also made out of a very unusual-looking, wide-braided wire).

Source: https://www.bibliotecanacionaldigital.gob.cl/bnd/629/w3-article-644836.html
 
Meanwhile, one of the clearest images (which isn’t saying much) looks to have a totally different arrangement. To me, it looks almost like the forestay itself doesn’t go directly around the masthead, instead passing through some sort of bullseye or something (which is instead looped around the masthead), making a sharp turn, and being attached to the jib halyard block. Maybe I’m misunderstanding the image, but this seems like a very odd way to do things, and I’m not sure how well a wire rope can withstand being placed through such a tight turn.

Source: https://www.bibliotecanacionaldigital.gob.cl/bnd/629/w3-article-164310.html
 
Here’s a simple drawing to try to explain better what I think I see (although, again, I could very easily be wrong and it seems quite strange to my eyes):

 
Images like this one are also rather hard to follow, but also seems to show the jib halyard block very close to the forestay, such that I’m not sure if they’re connected (as in the image above) or what.

Source: https://penobscotmarinemuseum.historyit.com/items/view/digital-collection/261854/gallery
 
I have similar questions about how the gaff throat halyard block would have been attached to the masthead, so far my best bet seems to be that it was on a rope that was just looped around the masthead. I’m less concerned about how to attach the gaff peak halyard block, as it’s pretty clear that it usually was connected to an eyebolt that was part of a bracket around the mast, and the block for the topping lift on at least some vessels was also attached to an eyebolt (often without a bracket) about midway up the masthead. Finally, I'm also trying to figure out the boom gooseneck, as there are no clear photos of it--about the only thing that is clear is that there was no associated bracket around the mast.
 
In any case, I have made a bit of progress. First, I decided to make my own cleats so that I could properly color them. I’ll just need to drill holes for pins to better attach them to the deck.

 
Second, I made a first attempt at serving an eye to loop around the masthead. Serving was quite tricky, as I don’t have any sort of serving machine or anything. Instead, I held the line between the jaws of a helping hands and spun the roll of serving thread (fly-tying thread) around the line. It was hard to maintain an even pressure, although I got better at it over the course of serving. Once it came time to form the eye, it was especially difficult to serve it, as I had to hold things so close to the jaws of the helping hands that I couldn’t get the serving thread all that close, so it bunched up and got very lumpy. Another difficulty was that I started the serving with a knot (which just wanted to spin around the rope instead of holding), but upon checking the instructions for the Syren Serving Machine, apparently it’s better to instead thread the serving thread between the strands of the rope to start. I also made the eye slightly too big, and served too long a stretch to join the eye. So, this first attempt won’t be kept, but it was a good learning experience that I hope to build on.

 
Finally, I attached the bobstay. To do this, I used very fine black thread and made a very messy series of loops, in an attempt to represent something like the rather messy wire knots that were common on these vessels (which is visible in a lot of the photos I’ve shared). I’d give the results a “B” grade, and I may want to tone it down slightly for future such knots and use less super glue (which is part of why I don’t want to try redoing it), but I think it works. It also looks better in real life, as the whole knot is a little less than 1/8 inch long.

 

Nice progress. I wondered about giving the hull a hint of green (weed). I can't add much to the shroud question and to me the photos aren't much help. 

In 'normal' rigging practice, one would paired shrouds, but this is 'artisanal' practice and may also be determined by the available lengths of material.
 

I've been working on the mast head. First I trimmed down the sides, and then cut out slots for the crosstrees. I made them from basswood and followed the dimensions given in Garnham's diagram: 10cm wide by 45cm long at full scale. I also added the flagpole at the top, which I made from walnut or mahogany left over from the Maine Peapod kit. I figured that the pole may get snagged on something, and basswood would be much more likely to snap than a harder wood.

 

 
I decided to only attach the pole from about midway up the masthead. Many images show it running the full length, but some, like that below, show it partway up the masthead. Interestingly, it looks like there's a metal bracket running not just around the masthead, but around the flagpole, too, to support the peak halyard block.

Source: https://www.bibliotecanacionaldigital.gob.cl/bnd/629/w3-article-164310.html
 
As I move ahead, I'm finding that I have a few questions about the shrouds. These were made of wire, which I'll be representing with black rope from Ropes of Scale. (At least some photos seem to show that the standing rigging could be made of a multi-stranded braided wire rope, so the rope that I have should work just fine.) I'm not quite sure how to go about serving these around the loop that goes over the masthead. I think they probably would have been served to reduce wear on the mast, but I'm not sure whether this would have been a brown rope (and this representable with brown thread) or some other kind of rope (presumably synthetic by the 1980s, but for midcentury probably manilla or something similar?). Some photos seem to show the serving as a very dark color.
 
I'm also not sure how to go about arranging the shrouds. It's not clear to me from the photos I've seen whether each shroud would be a separare line, as at right in the drawing below, or if they would use a single line, looped in the middle, to make two shrouds, as at left.

 
Some images seem to show single shrouds, but on others they may be doubled, especially in cases where there are a large number of lines looped around the masthead at the crosstrees but the stack of served loops doesn't seem all that thick.
 
The image below, for instance, may show paired shrouds, but it’s not totally clear (also, it interestingly shows fore-and-aft crosstrees).

Source: https://www.memoriasdelsigloxx.cl/601/w3-article-1805.html
 
While the image below looks to me to show separated shrouds, given that each line seems to be pretty separated at the masthead.

Source: https://www.memoriasdelsigloxx.cl/601/w3-article-86078.html
 

Thanks, all! I appreciate the kind words and helpful suggestions. I do think I'll hold off on further weathering the hull until later, if at all.
 
I've started work on the bobstay, which I'll be making as just a hooked metal rod. I'm using this as a chance to try out painting metal parts. I wasn't able to find an etching primer at a reasonable cost/quantity, but I did find a spray primer, intended for painting wargaming miniatures. The salesman said it would work on metal, and comments on reddit agreed, so I figured I would give it a shot. I made the bobstay hook out of thin brass rod, cleaned it with dish soap, alcohol, and vinegar (separately), and then suspended it from a loop of my thinnest fly-tying thread for priming. I was quite happy with how the primer turned out--it adhered very well in a very thin coat. Subsequent coats of acrylic went on quite well, and it seems like the primer will work great for the other parts.

 
The real challenge is getting a good metal color. I wasn't happy with a flat black, so I tried more of a dark gray. I then dry brushed a bit of rust color, and used a soft pencil to try to give it a slight metallic sheen. As can be seen below, on its own it doesn't look too bad, but I think it suffers in comparison with the blackened turnbuckles, which look much more metallic. (I should note that my phone camera is making everything look a bit lighter against the black desktop background than it looks in real life.)

 
I'm not sure whether I should try to add more pencil highlights, or if I should invest in a more metallic paint. Comparing the above with the Vairo photos below, it may make the most sense to simply paint the turnbuckles, too, and add a bit more dry-brushed rust to everything, as nothing looks particularly shiny.

 

Source: https://www.carlosvairo.com/galeria-puerto-montt-lanchas-chilotas 
 
If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears!

Today's update is the rudder. This is the rudder as it was when the Discovery was in dry dock in Australia (a section from https://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/picturelibrary/catalogue/article/p83.6.2.3.2/:
 

 
The rudder is one piece, and quite wide (as wide as the sternpost), and doesn't seem to have much in the way of beveled edges. Here is the blank:
 

 
Rather than build a separate iron work for the pintle, I made the "iron" pintle holder out of wood, and glued slightly smaller dowel pieces above and below, and then shaped the wood that represents the iron holder semi-circular. The rudder was then painted hull red, as all of it is below the waterline.
 

 
The rest of the "iron work" was made from 1/4 inch copper tape that I cut to 1/8". I made the "bolt heads" with a nail and a ball peen hammer, and then painted the copper black, and added it to the rudder. The pintle was fitted into the previously made gudgeon, and the top of the rudder glued into place.
 

 
As always, thanks for looking in and the likes.
 
Regards,
George
 

Thanks Jared. Looks like it's going to work out in a good way, particularly given my father and in-laws advanced age.
 
Back to the actual ship (which had been sitting on the side for a bit while I did some work on the Kearsarge. The forecastle on Discovery is closed off, so I needed to build up a bulkhead with two doors. Here is a photo of the real ship (from the Scott Polar Institute website):

 
It's hard to see (although not on the original) that the bulkhead is made up of vertical sections of wood that appear to be about 3 feet thick, and there are two doors. The insides of the doors are white, but it looks like the outside is darker (and that is the way the ship is today - although that is of questionable value for here. I want the bulkhead on the model to be 1/16 inch thick and still show the vertical planking. 
 
First thing, was a took a piece of 1/32" thick stock and fitted it to the opening to the forecastle. Then I took my 1/32" stock and made 6 mm wide strips, which I cut and glued onto the piece I had cut out and fitted to the opening. Here it is partially complete:
 

 
And here it is, complete, partially sanded.
 

 
After sanding it to fit, I cut out the openings for the two doors, put some scrap behind the openings for the doors to fit into, and painted it white, as per the photograph. Then, install into the opening:
 

 
The base of the bulkhead is 1/32" square basswood stained red oak. I made the doors out of some scrap, scribed decking I had from another project, backed with 1/32" basswood. The doors were stained with red oak, so that the scribing still comes through, while providing some contrast. I glued a bit of stained 1/32" square bass on the base of the door as in on the bulkhead, and used leftover belaying pins for the doorknobs. The hinges were made out of brass. I didn't paint the hinges because they were within about 30 feet of the magnetic observatory, and would have fallen under the "no ferrous metal" rule, like the fore chainplates, which were made out of brass. One door was closed and the other left ajar:
 

 
Finally, I mounted a bit of 1/32" square stock painted white across the top of the bulkhead, a similar decorative touch is visible in the photograph.
 

 
All in all a lot of work, considering that the vertical lines are practically invisible. BTW, one of the reasons that the port door is open is so I can get to the anchor points for the lower forestays which are in the forecastle. So, the door should swing open more, but since there is nothing to see in there, it will likely stay only ajar once the stays are in place.
 
As always, thanks for looking in, and the likes! I hope everyone had a wonderful St. Patrick's Day if you indulge.
 
Regards,
George
 
 
 

Looking really good Eric! And I do remember the paper towels in runny plaster, very very messy.  The plaster cloth is a great n improvement.   

Coming along nicely, Eric. Excellent work. Looks like you've handled the vertical curves around your bridge with your pre-planned abutments.

That looks like a lot of fun work, Eric. I look forward to seeing how you make the geographical features. 

Continuing the scenery, I began working on the more robust parts of the landscape by installing webs of cardboard strips shaped to roughly outline the terrain I wanted. This is a tried and true method that gives a lot of flexibility and uses easily scavenged material. It'll be hard to recognize in photos but, as a geologist, I put a lot of thought and planning into shaping this terrain to match the real landscape here. As stated before, Rocheport is bookended to the west by a high ridge that the railroad tunneled right through, and to the east by a long series of high bluffs parallel to the Missouri River, with the rail line sandwiched between rock and river.



With the webbing done to my liking (including some adjustments), I began using plaster cloth to make a solid base layer. The old-school way to do this was to mix up your own plaster and dip paper towels in it, but this was always super-messy and hard to get amounts right. The more modern approach involves various products that embed a light paper roll with dry plaster, and all you have to do is dip it in water. Virtually no mess and a lot easier to do.
 




You may have noticed the odd rectangular indentation in the bluff on the far right side of the scene. That's a specific local feature; the limestone in this region is pockmarked with karst features like caves, springs, etc. I'll be including some minor examples on the bluffs, but there was/is a larger cave-entrance overhang at the base of the bluffs right along the tracks. When this line was being built, the railroad walled in this opening to use as an explosives storage area. It remains today as a notable landmark along the modern rail trail, and I just had to include it. Here's what it looks like today:

So that'll be a fun mini-scratchbuild!
 
Next stage in the scenery is to start using plaster to really form the bedrock bluffs, river banks, and essentially seal in the landscape the way I want. This will take a while.
 
Other notes:
- I didn't really photograph the process, but you'll notice that the backdrops were installed. They're currently primed but I won't finish them until more foreground scenery is done.
- You'll also notice that I installed the fascia boards that seal in the front of the layout. Like the backdrop, I won't paint these until more scenery is done.
- The bluff on the left side, through which the tunnel runs, is pretty close to the actual scale height of the ridge there. It looks a bit "model railroad" if you don't realize it's exactly how the real thing is.
- The bluffs on the right side, along the Missouri River, are less than half the scale height of the real thing (on the layout they're a scale 90-100' high, in real life they're 200-300'). They still look a bit abrupt because of the horizontal shortening I had to do, and one of the scenic challenges here was finding the balance between making this scenery dramatic enough to capture the feel of the real thing, but not so dramatic that it looks "fake". I wish I had four more feel of horizontal space to make a really nice run of bluffs, the real railroad parallels these towering features for miles, but this is the best I can do.
 
Thanks for all the likes, comments, input, stories, etc.! I'm really looking forward to two things: getting some color on this scenery, and getting tracks laid so I can see some motion here! And I hope you'll enjoy getting there too. Soon I hope to write up some more background stuff to provide more context for the project. But I appreciate you all!
 

 
 

I sort of deduced that from their appearance in your photos. They did look like L-girders.  When I built mine I was surprised at how strong they were in terms of how much weight they can carry, yet be light enough to move the table around when needed. 
 
Your discussion of the history is most interesting.  

Jack, it's not clear from the photos and I didn't take any while assembling the benchwork, but it is a modified L-girder approach. The support frames are L-girders, on which the modules sit. I can always screw the modules down onto their support frames (though the L-girders) if desired, but it hasn't been necessary as they sit comfortably of their own accord and not screwing them in makes it easier to move them around as I continue work. But someday when I declare things "done" I'll probably drive a few holding screws in and then it becomes a really solid construction. 
 
Also, I've used homasote in the past but chose not to this time. Thanks for your perspectives!

When I built my N scale layout, I used the L-girder design for the framework (you could screw everything, into the inverted leg of the L from below, such as the 1x3 cross members). For the  top we used 3/8 inch plywood or sometimes 1/4 inch, glued to 3/4 (5/8 ??) Inch thick Homasote then the cork roadbed was tacked to the Homasote.
 
Build a simple L-Girder

Yep, I never claimed to invent the concept! And in fairness, modularity imposes design constraints that a permanent arrangement doesn't. We'll probably delve into that whenever I take the time to write up the background design story.

Modular layouts have been around for about 70 years, and yes it is the way to go when building larger layouts...
 
And OSB, (oriented strand board) makes a great foundation for a layout... Doesn't have to be perfect and is almost as strong as plywood... (besides being about a third the cost of good plywood)
 
Nice progress, watching with interest...
 
EG