Walter Biles

I think it's only fair to post an update here.
I received a very badly damaged book in a totally unacceptable condition.
I sent a mail including some photos of the damage to Mr. H. Berti.
I received no answer whatsoever so 8 days later I sent a second mail requesting status of this matter.
Although I did not received an answer to this second email either, a new book, wrapped in plastic and in perfect condition  was received today.
No return request  of the damaged book was made by ANCRE.
So the matter was resolved to my satisfaction.
I own now 3 copies of this book: One in French in mint condition, a Spanish damaged copy and a brand new Spanish copy.
I think I am going to keep the damaged book in my shop so that I can consult it without fear of damaging it. I may even be able to write notes on it , something I would never do on a book of this price.
 
Credit due to ANCRE and Mr. H. Berti.

Bob,
 
I finally found that glass cloth I had remembered having. It was in my old box of plans etc. It should be the perfect weight to coat the hull. Also I found that Walmart carries the resin for the fiberglass in the automotive section. I may use that and disposable paint brushes for coating the outside of the hull. Then I'll sand lightly and build up a smooth resin layer like I used to do in the navy. I think if I work outside I can probably finish the hull in 1/2 hour to an hour. I may even paint the inside below the waterline with it. That would seal up the hull below the waterline.
 
Walt Biles

Thank you, Popeye, Bob,
 
I am really enjoying this build.  I can't imagine still being at it if I hadn't found this forum for help and interest.  Something about sharing the hobby with others with similar interests just makes all the difference.  Well, I am happy to announce that my wood order came in this late afternoon.  I still have to get the pulleys installed, and I think I will get some plastic tubing at the hardware store to act as guides for my control lines.  I want something big enough that I can re-string the rudder if necessary without fighting the line through each bulkhead.  I will also need to do that for the routes to each sail. 
 
Walt Biles

Thank you, Popeye, Bob,
 
I am really enjoying this build.  I can't imagine still being at it if I hadn't found this forum for help and interest.  Something about sharing the hobby with others with similar interests just makes all the difference.  Well, I am happy to announce that my wood order came in this late afternoon.  I still have to get the pulleys installed, and I think I will get some plastic tubing at the hardware store to act as guides for my control lines.  I want something big enough that I can re-string the rudder if necessary without fighting the line through each bulkhead.  I will also need to do that for the routes to each sail. 
 
Walt Biles

Looks very good Popeye,
 
How long do you think before she is finished?
 
When we are on the boat from Holland to England and back they had a lot of M&M stuff on board.
We where thinking of Phyllis then.
When she see that, I think you need another suitcase   
 
 

Hi Popeye,
 
Just catching up. thanks for dropping by my log my friend, much appreciated beautiful work as always Sir, those masts, rigging and sails look superb

I got the cabin sides cut and the window openings made. I am going to make a thinner outer side with the window openings to sandwich the plastic material between. That will help me get enough thickness to the side walls so there won't be any gaps at the floor, and make it easier to do the windows. All the cabin roof is planked and ready to install at the right time. I am still waiting for my wood for planking. I need to figure out just where the best angle of control line approach will be best to avoid any binding or other untidy mishaps. I am begining to go back to what someone mentioned about a pull - pull connection. I am beginning to think it may be my only way. That rudder down in that hole must have been operated with a set of gears, I'm thinking. Anyway, Pull - pull is the next area for investigation. I think the lady said my planks should arive about This next Thursday. I hope I can get this solved by then. Then I need to get the sail control lines routing tubes figured out before starting more planking. This boat/sail control leaves me a bit puzzled about how to plan it out. It is a whole new way of setting up controls to me.
 
Walter Biles

Continuation

This is the rebuilt of my built log of the Mare Nostrum, which I completed.
The pictures of the start of the built are missing, so I inserted the pics of the instruction sheet to show the start.
 
Trust the pictures are self explanatory, since I will only publish the pictures, not the comments.
 
Regards
John
 
 
 
 

Part 3: Masts and Yards
 
I had planned that in this update I would start describing how to build the keel.  However, things don't always go according to plan.
 
To this point, I've been reconstructing the earlier steps of this build so that the log will describe the entire process of digitally creating the model.  This is a rather tedious process that doesn't seem to make any forward progress, so as a break from the tedium I've started drawing up the masts.
 
McKay's plans for Pandora's masts and yardss include all the necessary dimensions, so I modelled these parts using the written dimensions, instead of taking measurements off the drawings.  As a bonus, this is much more accurate (and less frustrating) than measuring off of drawings.
 
So far, I've completed most of the mizzenmast (seen below, with first few parts of the mainmast) and mainyard.  Some parts, such as the trees and bibbs, still need to be rounded off, and a number of details (sheaves, eyebolts, holes, and the like) still need to be fitted.

 
As a quick test, I textured some of the spars and rendered them using Kerkythea (a program that's frequently used to render Sketchup models).  I'm probably going to use a different wood texture for the final renderings, but I'm otherwise happy with the overall appearance.  Below are pictures of the yardarm as it appeared in Sketchup and after rendering.


 

Part 2: Reference Lines
 
In the previous part, I mentioned that I would be ignoring the station lines drawn on the sheer and lines plans.  This is because the plans helpfully provide the distance between station lines.  If these dimensions were not listed, I would have to go by what the lines on the drawings, which would not be as precise.  Starting from the fore perpendicular, which I have arbitrarily decided to use as a reference point, I marked off the specified distances and drew in the station lines on both the lines and sheer plans.
 
The lines highlited in red on the picture below are the ones drawn in.  Note that they do not line up with the lines on the plan (black).  Also note how the plans are somewhat blurry.  Some of that is due to the scan, and some is an artifact introduced when exporting the image from Sketchup.

 
Next, I drew a line following the bottom of the keel, transferred it over to where the model will be built (red arrow), and marked it with the stations (green arrows).  This line will become especially important when building up the shape of the hull later on.

 
The next post will cover setting up the keel and what to do when plans don't agree with each other.

Walter,
 
    Sorry to hear about what happen. A good amount of stuff when you install them will try and get you to have other stuff install, which is a problem all in it's own. I always say no to everything but what I am installing. I have also run into the same problem as you, but was able to get by it and uninstall the program. I have another drive that I have clone this drive to, and once a month I redo the clone in case I can't do a restore back to another date. It has save me more than once, I am a retire IT enginere and hate to work on my own computer so that is why I cover my butt as much as I can.

Part 1: Importing, Scaling, Levelling and Positioning Plans
 
Since there seems to be some interest in 3D modelling, I'm going to try and include as much detail, including pictures, as I can.
 
The first step in any build, be it wood, digital, scale, or full-size, is preparing the plans.  Scans of the sheer plan and outboard profile were combined in PicsBuilder Studio, a basic (and free) image editing program.  This creates a single plan with most of the details not seen on the sheer plan but that will be needed to construct the hull (wales, gunports, channels, etc).  Because Sketchup will reduce large images to 3000x3000 pixels, I divided the combined plans image into two halves (approx 2800x2800 pixels each) and imported them separately into Sketchup.
 
Anatomy of the Ship: Pandora includes the body and lines plans on the same pages as the sheer plan. If this was not the case, they would have to be imported separately using the same method.
 
Once in Sketchup, I scaled the plans to full size using the longest available dimension for greatest accuracy.  Before and after pictures for this are shown below (the marked length should be 120')


 
Next, the plans were rotated so that the sheer plan was horizontal. This rotation also made the body plan vertical, but the lines plan was now off by a few degrees.  This will be corrected soon.
 
By "Exploding" the imported images, I drew in lines to separate the individual plans (in Sketchup, lines define the edges of surfaces.  By placing one or more lines on a surface and connecting two edges, the surface is split into separate parts).  At this point, I rotated the lines plan to make the centreline parallel to the sheer plan.  It doesn't matter that the station lines on this plan are not at 90 degrees to the centreline, because I won't be using them.
 
Finally, I used the centreline and fore perpendicular as guides to move the body plan and sheer plan into position as shown below and drew in the load waterline and perpendiculars.

Fairly simple principle in theory, more complicated to build correctly in the innards of a ship.
 
The chain pump is type of a water pump in which several circular discs are positioned on an endless chain. One part of the chain dips in to the water, and the chain runs through a tube, slightly bigger than the diameter of the discs. As the chain is drawn up the tube, water becomes trapped between the discs and is lifted to and discharged at the top.
 

 
The discharge varied by vessel - some discharged directly to the deck and then the water would run off through the scuppers.  Others there was a pipe from the top to the scupper to contain the flow - particularly when the discharge was not on the spar deck.
 
 
There is a really good description of the different types of pumps used in Historic Ship Models by Wolfram Zu Mondfeld.  I found a preview on Google books - definitely need to get this book for my collection!

Based on what I saw in Zu Mondfeld, they were actually leather disks.  The pipe (tube) was almost a "U" shape but there was an opening in the bend at the bottom with openings in the tubes where the disks would pick up the water - apparently they never were out of the tubes. The return (down) tube was larger in diameter (reduced friction would be my guess) than the up (lift) tube (needed to be a tight fit to move the water up).  Supposedly, a good pump and crew could move about a ton of water per minute from the ship.
 
Here is a snapshot of the diagram from Zu Mondfeld.
 
 

Walt,
 
Your ton a minute figure corresponds to on the order of 250 gpm. I did not do the figure exact so I could easily be off 50 gpm, but that gives you an idea of the rough value.
 
Hoss

On these chain pumps, the volume/mass removed per minute is more a factor of the capability to turn the crank at a high enough rate.  Larger diameter pipe would mean more water in each deisk, more mass/weight to be lifted.  At some point, a critical relationship between strength of materials, crank speed and crew strength gets crossed.  I know in firefighting, we use 4 inch diameter hose from the hydrant to the pumper.  At hydrant pressure we get between 750 and 1250 Gallons Per Minute delivered to the pump.

These are the pictures from the first Cardboard mockup I did
of the hull. After I got them all cut and fitted, I let my little
neighbor boy come over and "Help me build the boat frame". He's In
kindergarden or first grade this year, and was thrilled to be thought
of for the job. It didn't take long for his part, and I'm going to add
some cardboard "planking" and give it to him, if he wants it.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
I learned more about 3D interferences doing these mockups. I did 3
through the hull framing, learning about where the interferences were.
 
 
This ends my posts for tonight. Walt Biles

Hi all,
 
Years ago I read "Sailing Alone Around the World" by Joshua Slocum, and in January 2012 I decided that I would build his boat, the "SPRAY", in 1/48 scale POF with bent framing. The way Slocum built it.  I started asking questions on this forum, and I want to thank all those who answerd with help.  The information on this forum is invaluable.
 
Then the research began.  In the first chapter of his book, Slocum said he was given an old "fishing smack".  So I looked for fishing smacks of 1800.  About when his was built.  Someone suggested the "Emma C Berry" for framing, so I hunted for information on that boat.  I also gathered as many plan drawings of the "Spray" as I could find.  About five.
 
Now it was time to check and redraw the plans.  The first thing I discovered was that ALL the plans had errors.  Things like, the shear and section views would agree and the shear and the plan views would agree, but the width of the plan was no where near the same as the width of the sections.  Of the drawings I had, the drawing from the appendix in the book was the closest.  So I traced that into an old copy of AutoCad and worked out the errors.
 
Checking the fishing smacks plans had shown a frame spacing of from 15" to 22" I chose 18" for framing the Spray.  I drew a section at each frame.  I offset a line .031" inside to subtract the 1.5" planking Slocum used.  The frames will be 3" X 5" so again I offset another line .062 inside the planking for the frames.  This gave me the section lines for the plug I will carve to shape the frames.
 
I am going to plank only half the deck and deck houses so I can show the insides, taken from the sketches in Slocum's book. (See below)
 
Bob
 

hi Mark!  thanks for the good word......be proud to have you follow along!  this will definitely get this build up to snuff......the hull paint!  I used the Billing's paint on this.......I went with copper for the bottom.




the slots in the skylight roof was filled with the window maker,  and then the inside walls of the structure was painted flat white......the bottom was painted flat black,


the masking tape was removed........this copper is more of an earthy tone.....not a real shiny copper color....once the sheen calms down,  it should be good.


I had to do two coats.......I used a brush instead of the airbrush.   I should have used it......I am so spoiled now!  the copper had dried long enough, I think........so, the upper portion was masked up and it got it's first coat of black.


and there it is.........I am all caught up!   I have more progress,  but it's still in the camera.  I took tomorrow off,  so I'll try to get more done.....my morning will be a busy one though.....both grand kids are coming over!  can't wait to see them!
 

OK........so, I got the planking done.   I messed around with the deck fittings next.   I also separated the bag of fittings as well.......and wouldn't you know it!   I lost one of the tiny perls beads for the booms!  I looked around for it.....but it was long gone!   luckily,  I had bought a container of them for the Gothenborg and noted that they were the same size.  so, I added a couple to replace the one gone,  and went on my merry way.   I started to work on the structures.

the companionway plug and the skylight plug.   I couldn't do much with the companionway plug,  but I thought of something for the skylight plug.   I wanted to make it look open inside,  so I cut two slivers of the plug and glued on the sides.  I will add a bottom.


this is what it looks like sanded and cleaned up.  with a flat black bottom,  it will look open inside.




the tiller seat, trim ring and companionway is partially assembled.  the grate on the deck looked a bit out of sorts too......too tall and both grate pieces wouldn't fit on the plug for them  I framed them in and made them lower to the deck.


so, then I did a dry fit

Popeye, Good to see you back.  I like that kit.  looks like it would be fun.  Enjoy!  The Navy's newer version of her was in the slip right next to my build, The Meridea, back in 1969.             Walter Biles

to continue the build log is quite easy.......I'm liking this a lot.....my hat's off to you folks here at MSW
 
this next section occurred on new year's eve day......and into the eveining.  I used the deck platforms to keep the ribs in correct alignment over night,  until the glue had dried.  I did the assmbly of the keel halves,  decking,  and even the planking,  in a different order.  I felt it easier for me to do it this way.  it begins with cementing the halves together.

the rudder


keel assembly

the stand

I did not cement in place the transom ribs yet......I wanted to make sure they were even and level to each other.   here is how I did this.


....and then the bow rabbits

the deck sections will be planked before they are installed.   it was shown in the instructions as full length planking......I'm sure there is staggering involved,  but I went with it even though logic told me not to.  I used the archive pen to simulate the calking.



then they were trimmed and sanded.


....and then given two coats of semi gloss lacquer.

Walter,
So far you only have one page.  Down near the bottom on the left, is a printer icon and a download icon.  That might be what you are looking for.