Walter Biles

Thank you Michael.  I had pretty much lost interest just after Linda died, but have finally started regaining my interest.  I hope you and your family had a nice holiday season this past few months.  Did you ever get that engine made you were working on before I left?  

I am back.  I have been working hard on my Design CAD to get everything updated in 2D.  My frames are much better fitting than before, and I just need to finish up the ones between the Sections.  My different drawing plans agree much better than they ever did before.  I'll be back soon when I can start building again.  
 

I am back.  I have been working hard on my Design CAD to get everything updated in 2D.  My frames are much better fitting than before, and I just need to finish up the ones between the Sections.  My different drawing plans agree much better than they ever did before.  I'll be back soon when I can start building again.  
 

Is that a koala bear on the bow?  My eyes are not that good since I dropped my glasses on the patio, a bad case of road rash.  Excellent work.

Kevin,  I haven't been around for a long while, but in my research on the America, I ran across an explanation of the Hatch vs the companionway next to the skylight.  I seem to recall that the same frame trim for either one was used to either hold the grating, or it could be changed out by dropping the companionway down over the trim to hold the companionway.  Presumably that meant some sort of attachments so the companionway would stay in place.  
 
I loved your videos.  

All right then, no one else has, so I will ask.  How was your Voyage on Endeavor????

If you keep your eyes open, there are lots of things that can be repurposed in modeling.

Kevin......no..I'm cutting them from the square plastic pieces that fits in the trays. 
 
I can only get three out of each part.......but cutting out like this will make them look a bit more real.   I will need to look up whatever fish this is and try painting them.
 
I have seen so much Walter....good to see you BTW     I get a lot of my ideas from browsing through Hobby Lobby.......the bead dept......the jewelry dept mostly.

If you keep your eyes open, there are lots of things that can be repurposed in modeling.

If you keep your eyes open, there are lots of things that can be repurposed in modeling.

I'm just following along quietly, Denis and enjoying the ride.  Lovely and creative work you're doing.

oh......buoy!   it's been a really fun evening,  play'in with buoys!  bouncing,  bulbous,  and buoyant buoys!     if you've looked at the videos posted throughout the log,  there are buoys.  unlike the ones I've added to my earlier builds,  these are round.........there are many different types.  looking at images online will show you the many types there are.
  and come in different sizes...   
I saw the bib around the eye bolt.......eyelet......whatever attachment,  and I wondered if I could get this tiny bit of detail on my little bobbing orbs.  the start of the session had me doing other things......like adding eye bolts to the stern rail and roof of the pilot house.  the radar is in place now too.

the protruding end of the buoys were snipped off and sanded flush.......hee..hee.....snipping orbs!........what a guy!......      what's worse,  I added the eye bolts to them too!

the parts for the other flotation devices and the roller bars were painted,  along with the associated parts.

I will never use that rubber tube on any other models......the paint is still tacky....I fear it won't dry totally either.   I think it was the Mary Ann......I actually bought some oval beads.....should have done that instead {if I could find some small enough}.  the aft mast has also been cemented in place at this time.

so....the first thing I did in detailing my bevy of buoyant beauties,  was to take my binder punch and make me some circles.   I needed ten of them....pretty easy,  since it can do three at a time.

after drilling a hole in the center,  a tiny wedge was cut out of it.

this was placed around the eye bolt...like so.

a tiny bit of CA was used to cement it down......as it was pressed into place,  the edges of the paper closed up the wedge I had cut out of it,  making it a closed circle again.

it took a bit of time.........and we all know what Ca is famous for.........stuck fingers    even the buoys stuck....took some paint off >darn it!<  you know your having a bad day,  when you have an orb stuck to your fingers....I can tell ya that!  "what's that big boy,  an orb stuck to your finger,  or are ya just glad ta see me"   >very funny Chester<
 
anyway......they are all done now.........AT..ten.....shun!

takes a man to have such control over his buoys....ahhhh...hem!  OK.......now roll along and go play.  be back in time for touch ups....understand!   kids these days,  their so well rounded     I also finished the other buoys as well....added the orange plastic thingies,  gave them some stripes and put the flags on top.
   I will need to make some sort of rack for them in the back of the pilot house.

in the background,  the boom for the aft mast is drying...it got assembled and painted.  there are a few more things that need to be done yet.......I was thinking of making the catch rack that's featured in the Cux 87 model kit {I did one for the Mary Ann too},  but there really isn't much room for it.  I thought that if I ever cloned another Mary Ann hull {1:33 scale},  I just might try and model this boat.......it would be bigger......with more room to get even more stuff on it   
     in the words that my doctor told me......."no matter if it ties in the front or the back.......it's still a jacket"     night all.......  

Jim, I think some of those turrets might be selectively independently ranged and trained in stead of being run by the main directors.

Jim, I think some of those turrets might be selectively independently ranged and trained in stead of being run by the main directors.

Jim, I think some of those turrets might be selectively independently ranged and trained in stead of being run by the main directors.

Jim, I think some of those turrets might be selectively independently ranged and trained in stead of being run by the main directors.

Jim, I think some of those turrets might be selectively independently ranged and trained in stead of being run by the main directors.

Hi Denis
 
It's funny how a few details here and there add so much realism to the part being modeled and of course to the entire ship.
 
Keep it up 
 
Lou
 
PS: I actually wrote this last night but for some reason it didn't stick??????????????

thanks OC........and thanks for all the likes    ....couple of new names......well,  thanks for look'in in,  feel free to follow along.   I'm no Picasso,  but I do like to have fun.    I've got a couple of other aspects done on the Norden today.......I hope to get more done.....that is,  if I'm not breaking my tools in the process.   I was playing with the flotation balls.......thinking about that little bib round the eyelet.  I got it in my head that I could punch out perfect circles with an ordinary paper punch.   cutting off a piece of some .005 brass,  I put in in the jaws of the paper punch and squeezed so hard,  I began to crush the handles together.  of course,  it wouldn't punch out the circle.  after trying to straighten out the handles with a pair of pliers,  I took each side and tried to pull it apart like a wishbone.  the thing let go,  parts flying on the floor!  after picking up the pieces,  it hit the circular file......guess I'll never know how many holes it will take to fill the Albert Hall   
 
anyway........the shroud hardware is in place...almost ready to seat the main mast.

taking the larger of the kit supplied 'rope',  a length of it was 'stained' with some Testor's flat tan paint.   the anchor was lashed onto one end....on the other,  an eye bolt.

an eye bolt was added to the bow stem,   and a hole was drilled into the bow deck.   the anchor rope eye bolt was cemented in place,  the rope coiled and then cemented on the deck behind the sampson post.   the anchor ended up on top of the coil of rope.

this brings the time close to supper.........and I'm supposed to make my shaved steak subs.  I certainly will try to get more done.......I do,  and you'll see it here      as always.....thanks for look'in in.

Popeye, 
yes, Blue Jacket America is the plans I got on the 1/4" scale, and I had hoped to get the frame built and get ahold of the kit one day, and use the kit parts to do all the finishing.  When I saw the old kit on there, I figured I might get most of what I wanted from that.  The bid closed about 10 minutes before I got back online to follow it out.  $375 is a lot of money for the new kit.  From what I have seen of those frames, the grain all runs side to side on all of them, I can't see unless they are plywood, how they would hold up to the building.  I had intended to make them all in a 7 part frame each such as the real ones would be.  I figured if I could get a CAD model plan drawn, that once I build the 1/4" scale one I might do one in nearer to 1/2" scale for RC.  I really prefer my models built as much like the real ones as I can.  
 
I found out early on, that I did not like staying alone.  I invited my younger sister to come here to live.  She is on disability, and never could afford a place of her own.  We get along pretty well, and seem to tolerate each other quite well.  She appreciates the freedom to live here.  As a non-cook myself, but a fair house keeper, we each have skills to give.  

...and we waved a good bye to Kevin's car    saw it on the flat bed.......wish I was home to see it get loaded up    we were headed toward home when we saw it....snow encrusted and all.   now that the saga is over......I can have the garage back 
     yea.....been an up and down week.  I did manage to get some progress accomplished on the Norden.   the smoke stack is in place,  as well as the block tackle for the main mast boom.

the main mast is almost totally fitted out....just have the boom and gaff to add on there.   

the curved eye bracket at the top,  is one of those eye bolts that I bought at Hobby lobby,  in the bead section.  they have a 2" shaft,  so all I had to do was bend it to shape.  at the base of the mast,  all the cleats were added.

this picture is a bit blurry,  but you might be able to make out that the lenses are painted flat white.

....and of course,  the winch is still in production....although now it's painted.  when I get back to the table,  this will likely be my starting point.

at one point here,  I was looking at the shroud / back stay parts and asking myself.......where's all the parts?   I had them in a pill bottle......but apparently,  these parts were what was on the floor.  so,  I began to assemble the parts again........because I put them in the Thermopylae tray,  thinking that's where they came from.  it's OK........I have more than enough spare parts to go around  

hi there........excuse the spotty log the last couple of weeks.  we are starting to get the jist of all the big changes that are to take place where I work.   hate to say it,  but if things don't work out,  I may be job hunting.  no love loss......I'm really starting to hate the place.   not so much the people I work with,  but the people who run it.   my mind has been preoccupied....... 
 
I did some work on her through the week......it started by doing some assembly on the winch.

the lower boom was fitted with the double blocks and the brass rod to fit into the gooseneck {or the reasonable facsimile of a gooseneck}

I'll paint it later....  the aft mast was fitted out.  instead of a ring for what appears to be a back stay,  I substituted it with a single block.

you recall my stripping out all the wire out of the red hose supplied in the kit.  I had done this so a brass rod could be substituted,  and a pin could be exposed at one end.   it was coiled,  and on the business end of the hose,  I made a nozzle for it.

the prop was shafted and painted.......and the float balls had to have the holes filled and concealed with wood.   eye bolts will be added to them later,  after they are painted.  I started to paint the radar too.

a hole was drilled in the base of the pilot house,  and the hose was installed.  the coiling was adjusted a bit more.

it came to painting the flotation balls.......I was going to paint them red.  I just couldn't shake the orange thing.......ha..ha!   I have a bout five bottles of Billing's orange....I ended up tossing three of them out.  they were bad....all jelled, and rendered useless.  it must be the lighting.....but it's an odd color orange.....It'll do just fine though.

the boom is now painted......

here is the Norden where she stands at the moment.

if you can see the winch,  I've added some of the lines that detail it.  it appears that they suggest using thread for them,  but to make these hug the casing better,  I thought to use brass rod.  the two that will go down to the base will be made up of soft wire, colored to simulate wiring.

more tomorrow....thanks for look'in in   
 
 

Dan, I am wondering what the T pipe behind the bridge boat storage might be.  The only thing I have come up with might be some sort of detection device. 
Walt

Thanks Pat and John .
 
I've finally got to the stage where both Superstructures need to be fitted to the deck. I hadn't been looking forward to this stage much, as I wasn't sure if they were going to fit properly. I needn't have worried - there were only two slight mis-calculations (one each side) where the side walls didn't quite line up with the marks :

 
Before gluing anything down I dry-fitted both assemblies and checked out the fit. Then I ran around the white edges of the deck with a grey PITT pen in case any white showed after gluing (I learnt this lesson from Amatsukaze, where I had to do a bit of rather difficult touch-up after installing the superstructure ). Next I taped a couple of stops to the deck to make perfect alignment easier, and only THEN reached for the glue bottle. I'm more than happy with the result :

 
With both assemblies now fitted I could finish off the rigging. First came the two Forestays for the main mast, which ended on either side of the funnel in two "turnbuckles" made from 0.2mm wire which I'd fitted earlier :


 
Then the rest of the antennae between the two masts. Four of these were a doubled line with a spacer at each end to keep them apart. There's probably a name for this arrangement, but I don't know it :


 
To set up these antennae I first separated the wires using a short length of 2.5mm square wood. I made the spacers from 2.5mm lengths if 0.3mm wire, which was glued to the lines with a tiny dab of PVA at each end. When these dried sufficiently I applied a tiny drop of CA to each joint. These will be painted black :

 
  Danny

....... continued from last post.
 
Hull skinning begins by first using a rounded stick and a piece of high-density foam to shape the sides where they are rounded :


 
Then the top edge of one side is glued to the edge of the deck :

 
And the other side is also glued along the deck edge :

 
The Keel edge at the bow is next pushed against the hull and glued to it, followed by the aft section of skin :

 
Finally the remaining sections are glued to the hull. If the hull has been shaped properly there should be no (or at least minimal) gaps :


 
Now we start fitting the cabin, starting with both sides :

 
Then the front and back :

 
And finally the roof, which in this case has a slight curvature. The white card needs to be painted to match the cabin - another poor piece of design by the manufacturer :

 
Railings and a screen are CA glued to the deck. A couple of tiny spots of PVA glue are used to position the pieces before the CA is applied :


 
Last things to fit are the rudder, prop shaft made from 0.4mm wire and a shaft support, and a PE prop :


 
  Danny