Tigersteve

Thank you, CA!
 
My journey has been frought with errors. There will be more before it's over!  But the deck planking did turn out decently, much to my surprise!!!
 
Update:  Wales are ready...but too terrified to put them on tonight for fear of screwing up. Instead I finished the traveler rod and block on the transom. 
 
Moving on...tomorrow... after a beer!👍🏽

Thanks everyone for the nice comments, likes and visiting!
 
Bill, I notice those slots a while back but still long after everything was too late to disassemble. I will probably end up using my dremel to cut them out. Just have to go slow but they should cut out fine. I plan to do that before I do my final sanding and seal the hull in case I mess up the finished wood, I can more easily replace it.
 
Steve, the hull is 33 inches long, 13 inches tall and 8 inches at the widest. When completed it will be around 41 inches long, 30 inches tall and 18 inches wide at the main mast course yard. She is a big model!

Just skimmed your log here. Nice work! How big is the hull?
Steve

I'm finally starting fitting out the rudder. I always struggle with pintels and gudgeons.

I'm in. 
Steve

Now it's onto framing the transom and stern filler blocks.  This took a bit of time as there is quite a bit going on.  The horn timbers break if you stare at them incorrectly, luckily it happened only once.
 


I found it easiest to align the timbers and use a scrap blank and some mini cloths pins to keep them in place while the glue sets.

 
After I glued in the timbers I realized the profile was off a bit (the middle timbers were too low vs the outer timers).  So I ended up adding 3/32 square stock on top of the stiffeners to align to the tops of the outer timbers.  This ended up creating a nice arc much closer to the plans.  I might have a bit of trouble with the gun ports but the extra framing will be hidden.
 


Next is adding the arch board.  I found rubber bands were the easiest to get the correct force along the angle as there wasn't a place to really clamp onto.  I ended up using epoxy to hold the arch in place as the timber is relatively thick and has a slight arc.
 

Hi Mates,
 
Thanks so much for your comments, and likes – all so nice of you.
 
Working from three sets of plans creates continued confusion (Corel, Billings, and Vasa Museum).
Anyway I was going to remove the upper main sail to give it bit of ironing. It was much too creased compared to the others. Glad that I had not buttoned down and glued the parrel ropes into place.
Then as I was reinstalling-  it struck me that It was missing blocks with which to attach ropes from the main top gallant sail to the upper yard. Then went back to another plan and saw what the problem was.
=========================
Then going back to the foremast trying to visualize pin and anchor locations for shrouds from the installed sails – tried to loop one rope through one of those four blocks that I had attached to the grating frame and grrrr- realized that I had not pre-enlarged the block holes.
 
So- trying to “remove” that grating frame with a “pop” ended up detaching that white railing and then the tool dropped and fell onto that canon carriage; easy fixes but part of the process apologies for just droning on with this post.
 
The lower main sail is next up.
 
Regards,

Hello from Athens.
ccoyle thank's for your comment.
The construction began with complex of keel and frames. Before the deck was glued, the reinforcements (4x4mm strips) were placed.

Decks were glued, using white glue & "temporary" nails.

The union of the two halves of "loading decks" was sealed by putty. Directly below decks and between frames, glued reinforcements (4x4mm strips).

At this point, planked the aft deck strips & placed the front side of engine room (plywood 1mm thickness).

to be continued. Thank you.

Good morning to everyone from Athens-Greece. My name is Babis and before I start the presentation of my effort, I would like to thank you for the hosting.
I build wooden ship models for the last 25-30 years and for my opinion, our hobby is one of the best of the kind!!!
 
Brockley Combe, is a small British cargo ship built by Hill Charles & Sons-Bristol City shipyard. It was 52.6m at length and was powered diesel. Sank at the shores of Normandy, at Channel Islands on December 15, 1953 after it was cut in half. It’s a typical example of a small dry load cargo ship. Ships like this, make transportations even at our days, in many seas of our planet. 
The specific kit, is made from  Greek company named Navarino models.com in 1:72 scale. The completed model is 730mm in length. Opening the box, I find colored manual and two sheets of detailed plans. 

The kit includes, keel and frames of 6mm birch plywood, false decks of 1mm birch plywood, limewood strips for planking and all the necessary wooden strips for other parts of construction. 

Many of fittings, like cargo winch, windlass, smokestack and skylight are made of resin. But the most interesting item (for my opinion) are the aluminium sheets (6/10 mm thickness) for the hull's metal cladding.

A more light hearted post... first of all thanks to Karl for the links. I am working on the boat a bit now... I'll post more a bit later. But in the meantime. Its Saturday morning, wife asleep (she is a night NICU nurse), toddler occupied with siblings and I have a few hours of boat building. I am working on frames to shape the hull of the ships boat, watching a documentary on early jet development and generally really enjoying model shipwrighting. Such a great hobby that lets you be creative, work with your hands and still be pretty technical. Enjoy your day all... oh yeah... I am also cooking up french onion soup for dinner!

All the counting is done, most is there. Missing a few blocks and deadeyes, but shouldn't be an issue as I plan on upgrading to Chucks products. 
Started taking a look at the keel and its pretty darn straight! Shouldn't need to alter, and just needs a bit of light sanding.
The directions mention a keel that has to be assembled, nice surprise to see just one piece. 

That looks great. 
Steve

I LOVE your beautiful model. This is one of my favourite build logs. You set a wonderful standard for us to aspire to.  One day, in my dreams.....
Tim

Hi Jim -
Good choice!  So far I am very pleased with the CONFEDERACY kit for the same reasons I liked SYREN so much.  I really appreciate Chuck Passaro's design elements and the inclusion of laser cut wood parts that might be otherwise difficult to fabricate.  And both kits incorporate a lot more fine detail than I found in FAIR AMERICAN or BENJAMIN W. LATHAM.   I think Model Shipways is now using much better quality plywood for the bulkheads and bulkhead former. The stuff that came with my kit is first rate.  The color Instruction Manual is a great help as well.  I have learned many modeling skills from them. The cautions from Dirk's build log are worth noting though. 
 
<<Gary>>

Well...TGIF!  
 
Finally decided to bear down and attack the ladder. The thing is tiny and scratch building it (even with the help of the small ladder schematic in Chuck's practicum) is difficult. 
 
I tried a few techniques to get a straight ladder and let's just say I was demoralized by the results. Also considered (and tried) using heavy paper. No dice. 
 
Finally jumped on line a saw a YouTube video of a lady making a dollhouse ladder using toothpicks and a drill. Easy enough!  I just scaled down and used two pins (clipped with wire cutters) to make the tiny frame... Then added the steps. WaaaaLaaaa!!!
 
Not perfect. But also not awful. Will NOT be trying to improve on this result. 
 
Moving on....

Dave great job considering no lathe! Down the road consider a lathe purchase. I use my lathe for turning metal, wood and serving shroud lines. I cannot imagine starting a ship model of this level without one. Hat's off for your efforts!

Hi Rich, some pictures of my 1:96 Argus, one of my first ships:

Nicely done. I also intend to add the boat hook(if I can finally get this planking done!) 
Steve

Splashguards
I toyed with the idea of making replacements out of Boxwood, but on reflection  I think the kit provided items are just fine, particularly as they are painted.
I did some preparatory painting before gluing the two elements together, the panel faces, and inner moulding edges. The guards were then sanded down to around 0.9mm in thickness.
Before fitting, the seat back needed some very careful paring back using a scalpel and light sanding. I also needed to shape down the backrest top to fall just below the splashguard top edges.
This all needs to be done with soft hands and by fine degrees, any slips at this point could prove problematic in restoration.
The guards require the water /heat treatment to impart some curve to follow the line of the rail. This is another exercise that requires some care.
It was good to have a spare unit in the kit as I did break one.
I was a little concerned that the water would weaken the pva, but immersion was only for a few seconds before  pegging around a jar top to apply the heat.
On my Pinnace at least, two curves were required, a short one where the guard passed around the seat back, and a more gentle curve forward.

0968
Forming the aft curve.

0970
and the forward curve.
Getting the curve right is necessary for the guard to sit on the rail without tension, otherwise gluing it will be a difficult task.
 

0974
Once I was happy with the fit I painted the exterior face of the guard.

0975
To get a good grip it was necessary to scrape a paint free line along the top of the rail. This was carefully done with a scalpel point.

0981
The actual fitting of the guards was problem free with quick grab using full strength pva. The inside faces of the guards were painted once in place.

0982

0983

0984
So the Pinnace is effectively finished, some fettlin' to do, and a base to make which I don't think will take too long.
 
B.E.
 
 
 
 

You're doing a great job on this. Looks great!
Steve

Nicely done. I also intend to add the boat hook(if I can finally get this planking done!) 
Steve

Laser cut sandpaper. ;-)
Steve

Interior structurally done, and exterior stained.
I made hauser pipes from brass tubing and glued the kit-supplied end pieces over the ends after the staining (as per the Ships in Scale series on this build, which I have found enormously helpful).
Then built the carriages, glued the cannon tubes together, stained the carriages to match the exterior stain, airbrushed the cannon tubes, and blackened the various bits including the washers for the transverse bolts (I used black covered 19 gauge wire for those) and the trunion caps (used Bluejacket pewter blackener for those as brass blackener won't work on brittania metal), and put everything together. Fasteners for the trunion caps made from a loop of black wire on one end, and brass wire flattened on one end with a hole drilled for the fastening bolt. Nails again simulated with inserted and trimmed monofilament line.
I did not glue the trunion caps down; they can be removed as I will want to remove the cannon tubes during further construction.

Hi friends.
Thanks to all for the kind comments.
 
The stern prepared.
 
Karl
 
 
Part 2






 

Patrick
I have thought for some time that Chuck's practicum is probably the best thing that ever happened to this kit! For that matter to solid hull kits/builds in general and that Model Shipways is missing the boat so to speak by not modifying the kit to reflect the modified building method. I hate having to carve out the bulwarks and making them thin enough to be scale. They include his practicum on their website but have not made any alterations to the hull or included the additional material in the kit.
 
In the case of taking one for the team, you can't win there because as the male half of team you are EXPECTED to take all the damage if there is any need.  I suppose the best you can hope for is a pat on the head by your wife for doing a good boy. (Or more likely in my case get chewed out for being stupid!)
Lou