FriedClams

Good on them for promoting recycling. Our local dump does not allow you to pick up anything someone else left, for some reason.

Our local Solid Waste Disposal Site, aka “The Dump” has a large section where visitors can take away items thrown away by others.  The stuff is free.  They have one entire building full of furniture.   Next time I go there I’ll have to see if I can find any mahogany.  It’s probably all veneer but Duluth does have a large number of old very large homes, once residences to wealthy families, so maybe I’ll strike gold.
 
Roger

Nothing like an old table for modelling timber!  The spars of all my models to date come from an antique pine table top that had seen better days.
 
John

Keith.  The legs had woodworm - that is the table not the wife! That said she is looking a bit grubby today.
 
Eberhard. The only downside is it tends to be quite brittle when cut into thin strips. Otherwise it is lovely to work with.
 
Veszett. Yes you are correct - I sand a bevel on one edge of each plank to get a tight fit against the adjacent plank. 
 

Hi Keith,
 
with this thickness of the planks, wouldn't you need to sand down the edges to a little V shape, to fit the planks perfectly? I'm mainly thinking of the engine room area

Yep, nothing matches that old-time mahagony 👍🏻

It's a supportive wife that allows her husband to ripsaw the dinning room furniture for his ship modeling hobby.
 
 That table has given it's all for some beautiful hulls and is doing so again, good on ya ole table.  

Thank you Druxey, John, Pat and Nils for your supportive comments and thanks, as ever, to all of you who have left likes or just paid a visit.
 
And so on with the planking.
 
I started off by drawing a series of parallel lines on the hull. These act as a guide for judging the symmetry of planking on both sides of the hull.


The previous two builds consumed a whole leaf of my antique mahogany table so I dug out the second leaf from the back of the garage. I calculate that this second leaf plus the centre section will amply suffice for the remainder of my modelling career.

I cut it into 3" inch planks on my full size table saw before moving on to the Byrnes saw to cut it down further to .700" x .220" strips. I chose .220" as the nominal width of the planks because .250" seemed a little wide and .200" seemed a little narrow - very scientific!

I then cut a supply of planks sufficient to get a good start. I decided to make the planks nominally 1/16" thick (thin enough to bend easily while thick enough to give me a reasonable sanding margin). I ripped them over thickness and sanded them to thickness using my improvised drum sander.



My worry about hull sanding allowance made me stay cautiously a little above the 0.625" target plank thickness.

 
The table isn't wide enough to allow continuous planking runs so each rise takes 2 planks per side.
I am gluing the planks with waterproof PVA glue on both the back side and on the edges. The planks are pinned in place with cork notice board pins. These are "nailed" into pre drilled holes in the frames - quite a laborious task.
The first plank above (or is that below?) the previously installed plywood strake is parallel. I plan to install a number of parallel planks and then start shaping planks as I progress. Using my usual "suck it and see" approach.



I have managed to get the first 2 runs completed on both sides - 8 planks in total.

Obviously I have to give the glue time to dry before removing the pins so this makes the process a 2 planks per side per day job. At least I have plenty of time for tea breaks.
 
That's all for now folks.
 
 

Greetings!

Work continues on the saw shed. The floor was next. Instructions were a bit contradictory as the floor boards are to be the same length as the crossbeams however you are instructed to cut a notch in the boards to accommodate the vertical beams. This notch would not be needed if the boards are as long as the crossbeam so I did not do this. The 4 trusses were easy to construct using the template.


The trusses were then glued to the upper crossbeams. That takes us to constructions of the saw table. Construction was straightforward using the supplied plans as a template.

Some logs show 3 boards used to cover the table sides however I just used 2, similar to what is shown on the plans. 3 were used on the side where the end plate will be placed.
Next up is the hardware. I have several questions I hope someone on the forum can answer.

1. There is motor that sits on a platform above the table that has a drive shaft that is connected to a pulley and belt. The belt connects with the drive shaft wheel on the end-plate of the saw table. Connected to this pulley there is another drive shaft (pink circle in photo below). What would this shaft be connected to? The exact layout is not described in the instructions as it is hidden under the table so no need to build it. However this leads to the problem of how exactly does the saw / roller system work (see Q2 below).  I am assuming the motor runs the saw, but maybe not? If it is the saw, wouldn't it be more appropriate to line up the end-plate with the center hole of the saw (yellow circle)? I guess it could be offset with another set of pulleys and a belt to drive the saw.

2. Given the layout of the saw table rollers, I assume the path of the wood along the table would be the pink arrow in the photo below. The yellow line represent the saw blade.


If this were the case, would there not be a mechanism to move the blade up and down to accommodate movement of the wood? Either the blade would have to move downward to allow the wood to roll past and cut the wood as it is moving back up, or the blade move up and cuts when moved down like the illustration below.

My assumptions at this point are the drive shaft runs the blade and there is another set of pulleys and a belt under the table. As such, the blade would have to move downward to allow for the planks to roll past and be crosscut.
It seems to be an unusual set up and when looking at other build logs of this kit, I've always wondered how this set up would work

I am probably over thinking this but I would like to hear some opinions before i start to glue the gear on.  If you want to see a detailed description of how the motor and drive shafts are set up, refer to the log by gdale

thanks

Jeff

Interesting shot. That's some kind of "reacher" car to pull cars from the ferry without getting the engine onto the ferry. Next car is a baggage mail combine. Then two or three coaches, maybe unairconditioned, since there are no extensions off the clerestory roof. next to last car could be a food service car aka diner. Last car is first class, since it does show airconditioning ducts. And the shot is probably mid 30s or later, since that was when Pullman first installed airconditioning systems into passenger cars. I'm another model railroader who wanders into other aspects of modeling.

Never tried that and it depends on the chemistry of the solution. Some products may not work with certain metals.
 
I would get myself a small plastic beaker, big enough for the biggest part and pour just enough of the solution to cover the parts. Let it react and take it out, when ready. Process one piece by one piece, so that you can control the process better. If possible use plastic tweezers, not metal one. If you don't have/cannot get hold of plastic tweezers, two toothpicks will do the job as well. In this way, you minimise the amount of solution used.
 
BTW, never pour used solution back into the original container, that should only contain fresh, unused solution (that is standard good chemical lab practice to avoid contamination).

You will be using a few ml at a time only. Don't dunk your parts into the bottle! You probably won't even consume the chemistry in these few ml with your parts. So get a small chemicals bottle from the chemist, lable it properly and you are good for a few more parts.
 
Once the blackening process takes too long, this is an indication that the solutions is becoming spent. You can let it dry then (out of reach for children and pets, of course) and dispose of it in the general waste. The quantities of Se etc. from a fre ml of solution are minute and will not harm anyone. Even if there were rubbish scavengers on the tips of Mexico, the material will be dispersed in the general waste.
 
I know, certain people would throw their arms into the air about the above, but one has to be reasonable and practical. 

Bit of a change of plans. While I read a lot about how to use Birchwood Casey Brass Black and purchased a bottle, one thing that skipped my mind was how to dispose it. I live in an apartment, don't have a car, and all hazardous waste disposal sites are a bit of a trip from here. Carting a jar of acid and toxic waste around on a city bus doesn't seem like a great idea, and I certainly don't want to dump it down the drain (my building is pretty old). If I don't really have a way to dispose of the waste, I suppose my best bet is to try painting the brass.

Great to see your progress - coming along beautifully!

In the vol. 2 of the album "The Rogers Collection of Dockyard Models" there is a picture on page 113, that shows this particular detail on the English 3rd rate 70 guns from circa 1702-07, a little earlier than yours, but very similar slots in the quarterdeck. You did exactly the same on your Tiger!

Hello,
I know, it's the Sliding Foot Assembly. But I don't think that that was also used in 1745. Goodwin described it too. If you find it at a model from this period, send me a picture.

This is how this detail looks like on the HMS Victory in Portsmouth.

Hello,
the wheels are now installed and rigged.


And that is what you later will see of it. But the shipwright is pleased and spend a beer for the crew 

Hello,
the wheels are mostly ready. The paint would't dry, so it took a lot longer then normal. I don't know why 🤔

and that is what you will see when the mast is installed. When there also the binnacle stand in front of the mast, you will see nearly nothing of the wheels 

So, here they are in there full beauty 

But there is also a last problem. The rope to the tiller. In the drawing for the 1745 establishment they draw there something what I interpret as coamings with a lid. Most models have there nothing, or just two wholes in the deck, where the rope disappeared. 
I would at least build it so, but not so large and with two slits for the rope. But not with these sliding foots. I think, that they where a later innovation. But may be, someone of you know there more. 
  
 

Great job on the figures. BTW, I love your research. 

I enjoyed the history lesson Eberhard. As for the figures I need to find my magnifier!

Nice work, 
I have a couple of sets of those unpainted Preiser N scale figures, but I only use them occasionally.  I never yet tried surgery on them.
Thanks for posting those historical photos, they are interesting and informative.
mcb

Thanks, Nils. I did see those before, but apart from the hefty price they also did not offer a suitable variety of poses.
 
I have not (yet) worked with these resins coming out of 3D-printers, but understand that they are rather brittle, so difficult to carve etc.

Eberhard,
 
I found some 1:160 "shapeways" figurines, they are more expensive than Preiser though ... perhaps some surgery necessary
Hope the link works
 
https://www.shapeways.com/marketplace/miniatures/figurines?q=&sort=popularity&facet[pdcId][]=141&facet[pdcId][]=342&facet[price][min]=1&facet[price][max]=2500&facet[price][from]=1&facet[price][to]=2500
 
Nils

The Crew
 
The WESPE-Class had a complement of around 80 crew, of which 3 where officers. This seems to be quite a number for a ship of only 46 m length. Unfortunately, there is no information on the different duties and the distribution of ratings. There are some crew photographs from the 1900 to 1910 era, but they manly show officers and petty-officers and in addition, they come from the short periods during which the boats were commissioned for exercises in groups and may show crew from a whole flotilla.
 
Gun drill on the WESPE-class around 1900
 
The intention was to show some gun-drill on the boat, as in the historical photograph above. There are about ten ratings visible and a couple more or so may be hidden behind the gun. There would be probably also a petty-officer in charge. On the bridge there would be two men at the helm and a couple of officers. In total, I estimated that about 15 figures would be needed to present a reasonable picture of activity.
Below the gun there would some ten men or more manning the cranks with which the gun is trained. In the boiler-room, some further ten crew would be working hard on stoking the fires, trimming coal etc. The same number of crew, would be on the off-watch. The machine would be tended by perhaps three to four engineers and petty officers. I am sure there are other duties, such as maintenance, signalling, plus a certain number on off-watches, but there is no information available on how these ships were ‘run’.

Officers of SMS HERTHA 1874-1877. Source: https://senckenbergarchiv.de/kolonialesbildarchiv/.
 
Uniforms
The 1870s were a time of transition as far as the naval uniforms are concerned. In the early years of the Empire much of the features of the uniforms of the Prussian navy were retained. To a certain degree the uniforms also followed the general fashion in terms of the height of the waste-line, the width of trousers and blouses, the shape of the caps etc. By the early 1880s the uniforms of all ranks were quite consolidated and were changed only in details until the early years of WW1. There is abundant information on these later years and on officers’ and petty-officers’ uniforms, but information on ratings in the early years is quite scarce in the primary and secondary literature. In particular, information on working kits is not very detailed. Normally, a certain ‘kit’ would be ordered for certain duties, but photographs show a certain variety of items worn and how they were worn, for instance some men would have the sleeves rolled up, while others would not.

Helmsmen on SMS HERTHA 1874-1877. Source: https://senckenbergarchiv.de/kolonialesbildarchiv/.
 
Photography was still rather new then and it was difficult to take ‘action’-pictures with the cumbersome equipment of the day. When a sailor had his likeness taken in a professional photographic studio, then it was in his Sunday-best parade-uniform and not in workaday fatigues. The same applies actually to all ranks. There are fortunately a couple of photo-albums from training-cruises in the mid-1870s (e.g. of the cruise of SMS HERTHA to the Far East in 1874-1877) which on purpose show the real-life of the crew, as much as was possible with the equipment of the day, thinking of heavy tripods and large-format cameras with wet glass-plates. These photographs are an important source of information on how the uniforms really looked like and how they were worn for different duties, although virtually all situations were ‘posed’.

Gun drill on SMS HERTHA 1874-1877. Source: https://senckenbergarchiv.de/kolonialesbildarchiv/.
 
Apart from photographs, there are a number of printed works can be considered as primary sources, as they were published at the time, and just two or three secondary publications, which mostly reproduce the plates from earlier publications:
 
ANONYM (1872): Uniformierungs-Liste der Königlich Preußischen Armee und der Kaiserlich Deutschen Marine. Zweite bis zu Gegenwart fortgeführte Auflage.-  114 p., Berlin (E.S. Mittler & Sohn).
 
ANONYM (1887): Die Uniformen der Deutschen Marine in detaillierten Beschreibungen und Farbendarstellungen (Reprint 2007, Melchior Verlag, Wolfenbüttel).- 61 p., 18 Taf., Leipzig (Verlag von Moritz Ruhl).
 
BURGER, L. (1864): Uniformierung der preußischen Marine, Originalzeichnungen.- Über Land und Meer, Bd. 12, Jg. 6, Nr. 31: 487 u. 489.
 
HENCKEL, C. (1901): Atlas des Deutschen Reichsheeres und der Kaiserlichen Marine einschließlich kaiserlicher Schutztruppen in Afrika in ihrer Uniformierung und Einteilung.- 32 pl., Dresden (Militär-Kunst-Verlag MARS).
 
Lintz, G., Raecke, K.-H. (1978): Die königlich preußische Marine.- Z. für Heereskunde, 275: 20-21.
 
Marineamt [Ed.] (1984?): Die Geschichte der Matrosenuniform.- 79 p., Wilhelmshaven (Marineunterstützungskommando).
 
NOESKE, R.,  STEFANSKI, C.P. (2011): Die deutschen Marinen 1818–1918. Organisation, Uniformierung, Bewaffung und Ausrüstung.- 2 vols.: 1336 p., 304 pl., Wien (Verlag Militaria).
 
RUHL, M. [Ed.] (1887): Uniformen der deutschen Marine in detaillirten Beschreibungen und Farbendarstellungen, nebst Mittheilungen über Organisation, Stärke etc., sowie einer Liste sämtlicher Kriegsfahrzeuge und den genauen Abbildungen aller Standarten und Flaggen.- 98 p., 26 pl., Wolfenbüttel (Reprint 2007 by Melchior Historischer Verlag).
 
RUHL, M. (18936😞 Die Deutsche Marine und die Deutschen Schutztruppen für Ostafrika in ihrer neuesten Uniformierung.- 78 p., 20 pl., (Faksimile Fines Mundi).
 
RUHL, M. (1892): Uniformen der deutschen Marine.- Starnberg  (reprint 1989).
 
SCHLAWE, K. (1900): Die deutsche Marine in ihrer gegenwärtigen Uniformierung.- 98 p., (M. Ruhl).
 
WALDORF-ASTORIA [Hrsg.] (193?): Uniformen der Marine und Schutztruppen.- 14 p., 8 pl., München (Waldorf-Astoria Zigarettenfabrik).
 
ZIENERT, J. (1970): Unsere Marine-Uniform – Ihre geschichtliche Entstehung seit den ersten Anfängen und ihre zeitgemäße Weiterentwicklung von 1816 bis 1970.- 451 p., Hamburg (Helmut Gerhard Schulz Verlag).

Gun drill on SMS HERTHA 1874-1877 – note the high heels of the shoes at this time. Source: https://senckenbergarchiv.de/kolonialesbildarchiv/.
 
Preparing the Figures
Starting point is a set of unpainted figures by Preiser in 1/160 (N-scale). Compared to HO-scale the selection is much smaller and the sets of unpainted figures are not so easy to find. Individual figures were selected on the basis of their poses, but very few had vaguely useful dresses. Some of the railway officials formed a suitable a basis for the officers and petty-officers.
Fortunately, the figures are small, some 10 to 11 mm in height, so only a rather summary representation of their attire needs to/can be achieved.
All figures required quite a bit of carving and sculpting with ‘Green Stuff’. The single-breasted jackets of the railway staff had to be converted into the double-breasted, longer frock-coats of the time. The peak-caps of 1960s officials (many of the figures were originally modelled by Preiser in the early 1960s) looked quite different from those worn by naval officers in the 1870s – German (naval) peak-caps underwent a significant change in appearance between the 1870s and the early post-WWII years. 
Naval ratings required more substantial carving: jackets had to be cut away and blouses tucked into high-waist trousers had to be carved. Safety helmets were cut away and the characteristic sailor’s cap sculpted with ‘Green Stuff’. Shovels etc. were cut away and hands drilled for more appropriate implements. The sailors also got their traditional large collar.

The crew-member at various stages of modelling
 
Unfortunately, I forgot to take a ‘before’ picture, but the one above shows the 15 figures at various stages of the carving and sculpting exercise. Amputations and reassembly à la Dr. Frankenstein are difficult at this small scale and were not attempted with few minor exceptions.
 
Again, a text-heavy post, but it serves myself as a memo of my deliberations and what I did.
 
To be continued ....