Tim Curtis

Conntinuation.
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
The beginning of the relation is available at this address:
 
 
http://5500.forumact...ndre-1-24#66516
 
 
 
Regards, Pawel

He thanks for the nice welcome. The model is building the as many as 1 month. My English is weak ( translator). Nicely to get to know you

The log is not abandoned, just a very slow building due to an upcoming Christmas and everything related to it.
 
Notches lined up:

 
Whoopsie, forgot that wings are at an angle. Argh, redoing this piece again from scratch.

 
Two curved things are in place, one to go and then I can fair it nice and flush:

I've been doing a lot of experimentation over the past week trying to learn how to get clean looking rigging that doesn't look bulky and out of scale. With some mentoring along the way, I think that I have something that looks close to what I had envisioned.
 
The bobstay was made with .025 brown rope served with 50wt thread. http://www.syrenshipmodelcompany.com/serving-machine.php. 1.5mm thin wall brass tubing was used to make thimbles which were blackened and used at the end of each. http://store.spruebrothers.com/product_p/albmbt15.htm. I had to remove and replace the two eyebolts from the bowsprit as they were just too small to share a hook and block.
 
The bowsprit guys were made with .025 brown rope served with 50wt thread. I needed more room for the multiple wraps of the lanyard (.018 light brown), so those eyebolts were removed and replaced as well. I will be leaving all of the rope ends long for now should I need to change the tension later.
 

 

 

Thank you to all guys for very nice comments. Building of ship models is my big hobby that brings me a lot of joy. I am very happy that my model can bring some pleasure to you.
Next part - planksheer in the waist.

The carlings and beams are in place.  Knees are next.  Then I'll move aft with more beams.  It will soon be time to lay out the partners.
 

 
Maury

Thank you to all who have been watching and following quietly. And for the nice comments about the progress.
A little more work to report.
 
One of the eyebolts that holds the lower end of one of the funnel stays was missing. On close examination of those that are remaining they look to be formed from a Jump ring soldered to the head of a small brass escutcheon pin. After looking through the pin drawer and not finding the right size I had to make a pin. 
 
I used the blue third hand to set up to solder and used the weight of the clamp to create a steady pressure so that as the solder melted on the head the ring pressed down using gravity.
 

 

 
Yesterday after looking for the micro turnbuckles that Nils had Mentioned and not finding any really small ones I had a go at making one the same size as those of the ship and used one of the solid pretend ones as a guide.
 
I used a 00x90 thread into some .082 brass rod (actually I turned it all down from free machining brass rod) then machined a swivel hook for one end that fitted through a .040" hole in the bottom of the threaded center part. I annealed the swivel and made the eye with some round nose pliers. The threaded eye was also turned on the lathe. The eye was filed and drilled from a ball formed while turning. In retrospect it would have been better to form the eye the same way as the swivel end.
It is only a single acting because I don't have a 00x 90 left hand tap and die.
 

 
I found out that the car needs a new computer......Oh well, at least it warmed up a bit it's only -14C today.
 
Michael

The bullwarks, roughtree timbers etc at this scale are very thin, and also as this ship was constructed without full frames (no projected timbers), we needed to develop a jig which is shown in the photos below.  The jig screwed to the deck (in locations that will be covered later) and expands outwards.  The bulwarks were then built up against this jig which supported them during construction.  The jig will be fitted again soon to allow us to cut out the various ports and access gates.
 
We decided to experiment with the deck as the scale size of the 6 inch wide deck planks would have proved to be a nightmare in planking.  The deck arrangements were drawn up in CAD and then printed on timber veneer which was then glued down to a false deck.  This has proven to be a reasonable approach for this model (cost and time); although, we have yet to deal with the glue joint .
 
    
 
 
 
cheers
 
Pat

The upper steps in the deckhouse are now complete and the first finishing coats of poly applied.
 

 
As I think I previously said the chart table sits above the flag locker. I got a bit carried away with making it.
 




 
The charts cover the Western Isles from the Butt of Lewis to the Mull of Kintyre. The books are old friends - "The Yachtsman's Pilot to the West Coast of Scotland" and "Reeds Nautical Almanac".

I‘m ready!!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Well, not everything looks perfect, but I‘m very happy with the result. Next weekend I‘ll try to make some better photos for the gallery. I‘m satisfied with the kit and for this price the quallity of the kit supplied materials is good. It was always a great pleasure building this little schooner.
 
Again thank you all for your kind words, all your ‚Like it‘ or even looking.

Thanks again to all for the likes and encouragement
 
Yes, it really does spur you on when the pile of wood starts to look more ship-like...
 
Lots of progress today...
 
The rudder's on. Made up the anchors. Also put the channels on along with the peg boards inboard. I made replacements of these parts from beech to contrast the hull, rather than use the walnut ply, as I wanted them to look a little bit less flaky... Also made all the frame heads and swivel gun mounts out of beech to continue the theme...
 
Long story short, here's the progress so far...
 

 

 

 

 
Really pleased with how it's coming along.
 
Take care
 
Rob
 
[edited to restore photos, 11, 13 July 2017]

The officers toilet in the quarter galleries is shown here

 



 

Thanks guys.
 
Not a big update, but I've weathered the copper plating. I used the "bodily fluid"   method mentioned elsewhere on the site, and it worked out quite well. It took a few applications to even out due to some initial beading up that occurred. 
 
I have used the salt/water/vinegar method in the past on Model Expo tape, and tried it initially this time, but it didn't work properly. I think there is some type of coating on the copper, which is difficult to remove. 
 
I sealed the copper with Testor's Dullcote lacquer, applied with my airbrush. 
 
I am a bit further ahead than this, but need to catch up on photos. 

Alistair, I do hope that some day, you will restart your excellent build.
 
Indeed, the plank nipper is simple as fast to use (no soaking, no drying), it is cheap and you cannot get burnt by using it.  The only issue is convex shapes, as can be seen at the stern, or on the inner bulwark on the fore deck.  Now on this model, I took the risk, and after some careful sanding, filling, varnishing, the grooves of the nipper can hardly be seen, I dare say.
 
I forgot to mention that while doing the upper part of the second planking, I felt iut necessary to do the inner bulwarks.
 
Inner bulwarks
The original vessel was built as cheaply as possible, and therefore were single skinned.  Sergal suggests to make the inner planking with the same planks as the second planking which would have made a triple skinned vessel at that level.  Of course, no one would notice, but the overall thickness of the bulwarks would be too much: indeed, a single skinned vessel would most surely show the ends of frames, and I wanted this feature on my model.  So I used for the inner bulwark layer the battens left over from the deck, and added planks 3x1mm to simulate the ribs.  Everything was painted a nice green colour, but later on, a forum member mentioned that the bulwarks were indeed painted black, or grey, or left dark wood.  So I later repainted the whole area black.
 
Here are the following pics of the second planking:

















 
So that s how the project looks like now.  Present job is to add the garboard strakes or whatever they are named, then a second layer tinting varnish will be applied to the hull, then a layer of matt varnish, as the hull is way too glossy for my taste.
 
And then...Mmmmm: the ornaments, window frames, gunport and rudder hinges.

De rien, mon ami. It's just that commercial blocks usually come with 2 holes (like yours. The area between those holes simulate the wheel. . With your pencil, you just tint this area in metallic grey which is fairly the same as a metal wheel. You could also round this area off but that is a far more important job.
 
Besides, tinting brass with blackener is a pretty fast, efficient and good looking method to prevent the issue of paint peeling off. Just make sure that the copper is well cleaned off before.

After the galley stack the binnacle was the next deck furniture in line. I chose a simpler design than what Chuck shows on his Syren plans. It only consists of the basic binnacle elements: the usual box design with 2 compartments for the petroleum lamps on the left and right side and the compass in the middle. For indirect illumination of the compass the light chambers have little windows towards the compass. Sliding doors allow closing off the compass. 2 outside doors give access to the petroleum lamps. The ship’s bell is mounted on top of the binnacle.
 
Image 1 shows the construction of the binnacle box (using a combination of bass- and boxwood) and various components of the binnacle design such as the middle compartment walls with the windows, and the rail for the sliding doors out of boxwood. The windows were made using ‘Testors Clear Part Cement and Window Maker’. The compass (image 2) was built out of a piece of brass tube with the wall thickness turned down to scale proportions and a pear wood kernel turned to appropriate size so that it fit into the brass tube. I selected a compass rose image in the internet, used MS PowerPoint to scale it down to a suitable size, printed it with a Laser printer on white paper, and glued the printed picture on top of the wood kernel in the ‘compass’.  The whole design was finished off with a layer of high gloss clear lacquer to simulate the glass on top of the compass. The finished compass is seen in image 2c. The pixilation of the compass rose is only visible in the macro images shown in the build log; otherwise the overall effect is acceptable. In image 3 different assembly steps of the binnacle can be seen. In image 4 the front molding is mounted and one petroleum lamp is displayed on the binnacle (image 4a) and in its final place in the light compartment (images 4b – d). The kit-provided ship’s bell seemed a bit on the large side. So I made a bell out of brass more in line with Chuck’s plans (image 5). Images 6 and 7 show the assembled bell mounted on the binnacle and the side doors in place. At that scale some of the details look a bit ‘oversized’ in those macro images, but the overall effect of the binnacle in its final place on the Syren deck seems to be fine (images 8 – 10).
 
Thomas
 

Image 1
 

Image 2
 

Image 3
 

Image 4
 

Image 5
 

Image 6
 

Image 7
 

Image 8
 

Image 9
 

Image 10
 
 

Hi, my name is Thomas Gahm. My build log disappeared as so
many others during the recent crash, and I just try to reconstruct as much as I
can.
 

Bulkheads and filler blocks are being glued in place.
 

Gun ports are framed and the fairing of bulkheads is finished.
 

Planking of the upper part of the hull with bass wood
strips. The strips were selected for homogeneous color and texture.
 

Treenailing using the wood filler based method described by
Chuck in the instruction book. During my last ship model build (Anfora kit
Ictineo II) the combination of the applied wood stain and the slight fuzziness
of the treenail hole edges led to a larger treenail appearance than initially
intended. To avoid this effect I drilled holes which were slightly smaller than
the intended treenail size of 0.5mm and I opened them up with a needle of a
slightly larger diameter (0.53mm). This led to well defined, round holes with
sharp edges, which once filled with wood filler gave me the intended
treenailing effect.
 

Planking of the lower hull with bass wood strips. As this
part of the hull will be covered later by copper sheaths I did not particularly
select the wood strips for texture or color.
 

Finished hull planking.
 

Lower part of hull planking. Two brass pipes were buried in
the keel to allow for the possibility to mount the model later via two brass
carriers inserted in these pipes. If these mounts should not be needed the
holes can be covered up via the false keel.
 

Stern view of the Syren. Mounting the Syren name turned out
to be a bit tricky due to the small size of the photo etched letters. The
following method worked for me: I painted the letters (white) while they were
still attached to the photo etch grid. After separating them from the brass
grid I arranged them to form the name “SYREN” on a sticky tape mounted on a
flat piece of wood with the sticky side up. Once I was satisfied with the
arrangement of the letters I covered them with a second piece of transparent
tape with the sticky side towards the letters. After turning the whole
arrangement upside down so that the first tape was on top and the second tape
underneath the letters I removed the first tape while carefully making sure
that the letters did not come loose from the second tape. Now all that remained
to do was to apply some superglue to the uncovered letter backs and transfer
the name as a whole in its final arrangement to its destination on the stern.
The use of a transparent tape allowed for precise positioning. Once the letters
were glued to the hull the tape could be removed. 
 

Building of the stern transom. To form the stern transom I
modeled it first with a piece of paper which I then used to cut out the wooden
(bass wood) counterpart. This was then soaked in hot water and bent to its
final shape in a jig. 
 

The formed transom is glued in place.
 

Finished transom.
 

Front view of the Syren. The planks are stained with a
mixture of 1 part Minwax Golden Oak and 2 parts Minwax Natural wood stain. 
 

Stern view of the Syren.
 

Planking of the deck using selected basswood strips. The
planks were tapered towards the stern.
 

Finished deck planking with waterways. I painted the
locations of the future gratings black to prevent the possibility of the deck
planking to be seen through the openings of the gratings. The deck was stained
with Minwax Natural wood stain.
 

Stern view of the deck with treenailing.
 

Plank nibbing.
 

Deck view.
 

Excellent job indeed.
A little and easy idea: try to insert a #2 pencil into the blocks to simulate the metal wheel: easy and effective.

Hi Tim,
I checked your build log because I too am new to building model wood ships.  I also chose the Scottish Maid for the same reasons as you, however, I have not yet started...I'm reading a couple books on the how to first.  Additionally I am building up the courage to start as I would like to do as well as you have. Your build looks very nice to my newbie eye.  I'll check back on your progress and dive in soon!
 
Cheers,
Gary

Tim, your coppering and rigging definitely take this kit up a few notches. Very good for a 2nd (or any) build!

Have done some work on the foremast trees, shrouds etc, and was able to dryfit the top mast. I also have fitted a toprope although not shown in the AL plans. Not sure if this correct. Having fun...slow progress.

This is my second ever build so I am a learner. I am busy working hard and have three kids so build progress will also be slow. I chose the Maid because it seemed like a pretty simple cheap kit to cut my teeth on. I am going with a slightly unhistorical colour scheme, inspired by Clayton Osterling's Experiment
(See here: http://www.shipmodel.com/models/experiment-full-hull-nav).
 
I would welcome feedback, encouragement and advice. Thanks!
 
But despite being new to this, I am totally hooked.

Thanks Chris.
 
I am also trying to serve rope for the shrouds. Have not done this before and don't have Syren's wonderful Servomatic machine or equivalent. But managed to do these by hand.
 

Thank you for your interest and comments on "Eagle" 1847,
 
Before starting masts/rigging, I will cover fabrication and installation of the ship's boat. Key points include:
 
>>> Ship's boat was fabricated using Bob Hunt's mini-practicum on Ship's Boats
>>> Ship's boat was fabricated from laminated basswood sheet with a CL bulkhead
>>> Boat interior was carved out using rotary tools (picture attached)
>>> Oar locks were silver soldered
>>> After painting, the ship's boat was rigged to the boat davits
>>> Final installation and boat's outfit will follow rigging completion
 
Following posts will address masting, rigging setup, sail making, and brining it all together.
 
Pete Jaquith
Shipbuilder

Welcome to the Topsail Schooner "Eagle" 1847 build log,
 
Finishing up with the deck furniture, key points include:
 
>>> Main sheet horse fitted
>>> Shinkicker steering gear design/fabricated/painted/installed
>>> Steering gear design based on "Eagle" 1847 and "Kate Cory" 1856 drawings
>>> Belaying pins fitted to poop deck rails
 
Pete Jaquith
Shipbuilder